Nervous About Pop

[Terk-1]

We are staying at Pop Century for this first time later this year and are beginning to become nervous about our stay. I've heard more negative (especially regarding check-in), rather than positive and am concerned about our stay there and am wondering if we should try and move over to the Movies.

Can anyone help us? Should we stay at Pop or try and move to the Movies? We've already stayed there once, were very happy and just thought it would be fun to stay somewhere different.

HELP!!

 

[got2lovedisney]

We checked in during Spring Break around 5-ish and were the only one's in line. I've stayed at both Pop and Movies. I liked Pop better and the swing factor for me is the ques(sp?) for the buses(much more orderly). Eliminates the ugly looks and aggravation first thing in the morning.

Take the plunge...

 

[disneyjunkie]

We stayed at PC during our Easter trip. We had a blast! We never had a problem with noise or the bus service. Check in did take awhile, but the CMs take their time with each guest. They don't try to rush you out, they are willing to answer whatever questions you may have.

PC doesn't share buses with any other resorts.

We're staying there again in December.

All of the disney resorts have both negative and positve reports. We have all different experiences and expectations.

 

[Clay&Matt'sMom]

Hi Terk-1,
I just got back yesterday from POP. I'll have to say I was pretty nervous too. I had read such bad comments from people. Boy was I surprised........check in was fast. I was the 8th person in line and was up to the counter within five minutes. I gave them my credit card and they gave me my room number with a map of the resort. We were in the 50's section in the "Tramp" building on the second floor. Just around the corner from us was the elevator and ice machine (very convenient). We parked away from the crowd and were able to easily walk to our room within a few minutes.

The rooms are your standard value resort size. We got the "Mickey" soap and shampoo every which I saved and brought home. Now I did notice the toilet was a little scary. When that thing flushes, you better be standing away from it or you'll get sucked in ......very powerful!!!! We also noticed a little noise coming through the walls, but it wasn't too bad. I've noticed the same thing at other resorts. I was expecting so much worse from reading what others have said.

We were also nervous about the A/C. We had heard it was run by motion sensors in the room. We didn't have that problem in our room. It was set on 68 and stayed that way the entire trip. We never touched it. Housekeeping was great! We got cute little towel animals everyday and our room was spotless.

We loved the "Hippy-Dippy" pool. The food courts had lots of choices and the lines moved very fast. We normally hit the food court around 7:00 a.m. or a little later. There was hardly anybody in there. On check-out day, we came in right around 9:00 a.m. It was very busy then. But the lines moved very quick. In fact, I had not made up my mind yet and it was already my turn. The gift shop was very big and I bought way too much.

We will definitely be going back next year. We have always stayed at the luxury resorts, but we just aren't in the rooms enough to justify the cost. My two boys loved this resort. My husband loved the price. I just loved the fact that I was in Disney!!!!!

Hope that helps,
Kim

 

[catherines_mama]

Relax!

Your trip is what you make of it. If you check in at the prime checkin times it may be a wait, but enjoy your wait and don't try to rush your vacation. The Neg feedback is from people who have their expectations set too high and are easily disappointed. I LOVED the POP! I checked in at about 2pm and had a SLOW CM (he was from the Contemp usually) and had a tad of an attidude. BUT that was not about to ruin my vacation. This was MY Vacation and I was going to enjoy it to the fullest. Why let one slow CM ruin it.. the rest was MORE than magical!

Enjoy your trip!

 

[Daisy64]

I agree, relax and breathe!! We stayed at Pop and LOVED IT!!
You'll have a wonderful time!!

Daisy

 

[cardramblues]

Just got back from POP and had a blast. AC was cold, bus service was great, food court was fine and the pools were wet!!!

 

[knoxt]

We loved PC when we went in May!!!

Now I did notice the toilet was a little scary. When that thing flushes, you better be standing away from it or you'll get sucked in ......very powerful!!!!

I thought the same thing and my DD3 hates the noisy tiolets and the automatic flush toilets, so I had to take her to the bathroom, let her do her business and take her in the adjoining room before I could flush it, LOL!!! But that wouldn't stop me from staying there again!

Clay&Matt'sMom
It soundslike we were in the same room! 50's, Tramp, 2nd floor, right off the elevators and close to vending machine! I think our rooms were 45 & 46! What were yours?

Anyway, Don't Worry, you'll have FUN wherever you stay, the trip will be what you make of it!
Have Hun,
Julie

 

[Epscot]

I'm booked at POP in Oct. The guy that sits right across from me at work just returned last week from POP.

He said the bus lines at the theme parks heading to POP were longer than those for any other resort. He said that in the morning his family consistently waited 15-20 minutes from the time they got in line until they were on a bus. I stayed at ASMo last Oct and probably averaged waiting 5-10 minutes for a bus in the morning.

He said POP seemed to be very crowded - check-in, food court, pool, etc. I hope it is because POP is the "new hotel" combined with the fact that he went during the first full week of June and all of the kids are finally out of school (although school has been out here for almost a month).

Anyway, I hope things settle down by October, but somehow expect they will still be busy.

 

[CDizney]

I stayed at Pop Century in January 2004 and I have to say that I had a pretty nice time. The rooms are nice decorated, the beds fine, and the help there quite nice. I enjoyed their food court and their onsite shopping and I would not hesitate to stay again actually. I was suprised myself for saying this since I am used to staying at either Deluxe or Moderate resorts at Disney.

 

[Terk-1]

Whew! Little more relieved now after reading your posts.

Is the Tramp building one of the "preferred" buildings? How far is it to the main building? What about to a parking lot? Are the pools heated? We're renting a car, so I think the use of the buses will be pretty limited. Are there alot of connecting rooms or will it be difficult to get them?

Thanks again for you help!!

 

[knoxt]

No, 50's section is not "PREFERRED", but it to me was not that much difference of a walk to justify $10 extra dollars/night!!! Every morning on the way to the Food Court my DD3 enjoyed walking because you never knew what kind of wildlife you might see... bunnies, ducks, squirrels and towel animals displayed in the windows!!! I REALLY enjoyed the 50's section! I miss our BIG BOWLING PIN!

 

[Clay&Matt'sMom]

Hi Knoxt,
We may have been right next to each other. Our room was 3246. I sure wish I was there right now. I am counting down the days until we go back! My husband was worried about the toilet. He said he was scared of it and could feel a whoosh of air as it flushed. I never saw a man run out of the bathroom before.

Terk-1,

As Knoxt said, the 50's building is not preferred and I wouldn't pay for a preferred room. We were close enough to the food court and main building. It was only a 2-3 minute walk along a nice path. And we also saw squirrels, rabbits, etc. It was so peaceful.

We also did not have any trouble with the buses. The bus was there waiting on us when we walked out. When we left at 9:30 that night, we waited about 3 minutes and the bus came. As we were on our way back, we passed another bus going to MK to pick up. I never saw a huge line and we never waited more than 5-10 minutes. It was nice not to share a bus with any other resorts!!!

Kim

 

[HaleyB]

Originally posted by Epscot
I'm booked at POP in Oct. The guy that sits right across from me at work just returned last week from POP.

He said the bus lines at the theme parks heading to POP were longer than those for any other resort. He said that in the morning his family consistently waited 15-20 minutes from the time they got in line until they were on a bus. I stayed at ASMo last Oct and probably averaged waiting 5-10 minutes for a bus in the morning.

He said POP seemed to be very crowded - check-in, food court, pool, etc. I hope it is because POP is the "new hotel" combined with the fact that he went during the first full week of June and all of the kids are finally out of school (although school has been out here for almost a month).

Anyway, I hope things settle down by October, but somehow expect they will still be busy.

I was there June 1-9th.

It just seems long when you are standing in the heat. I just got back from 8 nights at Pop and we never waited more than 10 minutes, even if a bus was leaving as we walked up. We were always going for park open, so maybe the buses run a bit faster early in the AM. Leaving the parks to go back it was anywhere from 5-20 minutes, but it was the same for all the resorts (I was watching). We did have one bus break down at the bus stop and that took a little while to work out, maybe 10 extra minutes.

Crowds. We split our stay between PC and AKL. Crowds were the same. Busy the two weekends and Mondays. I checked in twice at PC (Dream MAker and room only) and didn't wait more than 5 minutes. I also needed to ask questions at the front twice and didn't wait then either.

The pool was a bit rowdy but it was a kid pool and this is a resort that attracts families for the most part. Everything is set up well so you never really have to walk too far for anything. I had no trouble doing laundry. Food court was very busy around dinner time and 10am but not at other times.

 

[HaleyB]

I was also in the 50's Tramp building and loved the location (50's B), we were in room 3352 I think- we had a lake view, lol.
I think the Lady building (50's A) is a good one too.
At check in I asked for anything but the 90's!

 

[cavepig]

We just got back from Pop. We stayed there from June 5 - 19. We had no problems with check-in, noises, or buses. We were in the 50's tramp side 4th floor, 3444 & 3445. We had no problem getting adjoining rooms (We called about a month before so it was noted on our reservations along with non-smoking). We also ended up right next to my brother who had a room for the night. He was put in 3446. Neither of us requested this it just happened, maybe they matched last names, or it was just luck since he checked in only about 20 minutes before us.

The foodcourt is noisy, but most foodcourts are. Castmembers seemed friendly for the most part.

Buses were great. We caught the bus every morning between 7:30 am and 8:30 am and never waited more than 10 min. max. At night buses came quickly. Even at Mk after fireworks they had 2 bus stops for Pop. The main one and the one to the left of it, so they were loading 2 buses at once most of the time. In the morning the park with early entry seemed to have the longest line.

We stayed at Movies in 2002 and prefer Pop. It has the added benefit of the lake and being able to watch Illuminations and Wishes from your resort. Also being new makes it seem fresh and clean.

All resorts get negative reviews. I think Pop is just getting more now since it is the newest and some people have set their expectations too high. We loved Pop.

Feel free to ask any questions.

 

[StillaCubsfan1964]

I was at Pop from 6/13 to 6/19. Overall the hotel is very nice. I did have a few problems though but didn't let it ruin my vacation. There was no wait when I checked in but first problem was my reservation somehow was changed from Pop to AS Music. After about 20 mintues and three very nice CM's, I had a room! Monday we went to MK and left about 9:30 (before the fire works) and (this is no lie) waited over an hour to finally get on a bus! The bus line was past all of the AS hotels. Most of the other time there was 10-15 minute waits if that. The pool areas (checked out all of them) were very nice and clean with plenty of chairs. I'm a very light sleeper so I did hear other toilets flushing and showers going. Had no problems with lines at the cafeteria and the food was good. Everybody was friendly.

 

[Terk-1]

Thanks again everyone for your input. Will put in a request for connecting rooms in the Tramp building. Can you connect more than 2 rooms? What I mean is that we may possibly have a total of 3 rooms, rather than 2.

Thanks again for the room suggestions too. I'm trying to make this as magical of a trip as I can for everyone.

 

[knoxt]

I think only 2 rooms will connect, but you could request to have the 3rd room be next door to the adjoining rooms! (But you would have to go outside and enter the door of the 3rd room instead of using the doors that adjoin!)

 

[Dgentrysim]

Nice to hear all the opinons from everyone about the Pop Century resort. My cousin & I (no men this trip! lol) are going from Dec 11 -16. We're staying at the Pop for the 11th and then going to the BCV for the rest of the time. I've looked up the Pop on the internet...I think it looks like fun! I've just discovered this website and it's wonderful reading all the different posts about anything dealing with DISNEY!!!! I wonder how crowded it'll be the middle of Dec. with the school kids still in school? First time going in December.