Hello,
Here is my 2nd trip report of late. The first was a stay at AKL and the report can be found here
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1712874
Briefly, my wife and I have a 2.5 year old son so keep that in mind as you read this. We grew up in Florida so are experienced with the parks, but less so with the resorts. I have only stayed one other time at AKL. I know some people will say you cannot compare the two and that is not my intention. I am only writing my observations based on previous experiences. This is probably a bit more negative than my AKL report, because I am moving down from a deluxe to a value resort.
And so it begins...
We received a Florida resident’s discount pass for a resort, and since the dates were convenient, we chose POP Century based on the recommendations of this board and the price. This was a spur of the moment trip…reservations on Friday arrive on Sunday stay through Thursday. This will highlight some of the positives and negatives of this trip.
My first issue was instead of charging me $63.50 for a deposit, they charged me $6350! I caught this on the confirmation email but since it was late in the day and a Friday, they couldn’t transfer me to accounting because no one was answering the phones. A manager told me that they would correct it first thing on Monday. At about 5pm on the same day, the manager called me back and told me that it had been fixed but that I could confirm it when I checked in on Sunday evening.
We drove over from Tampa and arrived before my son's nap. My first impression upon driving up to the resort was that it was huge...and a bit bland and dated looking. There was also a pretty large crowd gathered at the bus stops...larger than I had ever seen over at AKL. We parked and I went inside to check in and the line to check in was not much shorter than the bus stop. It moved relatively quickly though and the CMs were very efficient with getting people checked in. The interior reminded me of a bus terminal for some reason!
I asked for a lake view room, because I did not want to deal with the pool noise. Our reservations were for 2 beds and a refrigerator. I know I should have confirmed those at the front desk, but I forgot. When I got to the room...1 king size bed and a fridge. It also wasn't lakeside either, but it was a preferred room. Well, I went back down to see the CM about getting a different room...one with 2 beds. She told me the new one was a lakeside room (after consulting her chart) but when we got there, it was a poolside room! Too tired to do another room change all over again, we called guest services to get the fridge moved over. They did a good job with that request but it came back to haunt us as you shall see! Housekeeping is on top of things at POP. When I was down changing our rooms over, my wife and son are sitting in the old one. Housekeeping arrived to clean the old room even before I got back up there to move our stuff over to the new room. Was probably the easiest turnaround she had ever had to do.
Impressions...we were in the 60s wing, by the big Mowgli and Baloo. The stairways and exterior corridors were wet and a bit moldy in places. I didn't really like the exterior access to the rooms and the whole place just felt damp. My son wanted to take the stairs at the end of the wing that were encased by a big yo-yo. We did it, but it smelled like vomit inside of them so we did not do it again.
The room: 2 full size beds...if you are not used to sleeping with someone in a full sized bed, you may be in for a surprise. Bryan got a lot of sleep that night...mom and dad much less. The fridge in the room would make a VERY loud clunk every time the compressor kicked on, which was quite often. The pool quiet hours - weren't...and it sounded as if the AK safari was down there until about 2AM. It wasn't that people were purposely being loud...it is just that the resort walls and doors can't handle even the normal noise load. We were able to hear people in the rooms next to us, and that was a problem starting at about 6AM when the girls next door to us got up...so did we. Again, it was not because they were being overly loud...the excitement of Disney combined with thin walls made it that way.
The room was clean, with plenty of towels to go around. When we went down to the pool, we asked room service for extras and they were delivered before we got back from the pool. This differs from AKL since they have towels at the pool, but it worked out fine.
The pool: We only did the main pool in the middle by our room. A very large heated pool (it was 50ish outside but our son wanted to go) and VERY attentive life guards...about 6 of them. I was impressed with how closely they watched the pool. They have little water jets at the bottom of the pool that create warm spots and once you find one of them, you tend to park when it is that cold outside (Hey, I am from Florida). They had balls to throw around and some water showers around the edges of the pool for the kids to splash in. It seemed to be a uniform depth throughout the pool, but I am not sure of that.
The dining: We ate at the walk in restaurant at POP (I cannot think of its name) and the food was good. Plenty of room, condiments were everywhere, and it was not crowded. I bought one of the refill mugs - they are worth it if you DONT LOSE IT! I lost it, if you haven’t guessed.
The grounds: I was impressed with the décor once we got past the main entrance. Bryan loved walking around looking at the large Play-doh container and the statues were very impressive. The pool was kept very clean (I saw them pressure washing it in the morning) and the staff was very attentive to the grounds.
In summary: Well, 4 hours of sleep, coupled with a bed that was smaller than what we were used to and a failing fridge, I went down to the lobby in the AM and requested to move to AKL for the remainder of the trip. I suppose I have been spoiled by AKL but I just wasn’t going to be happy at POP for 3 more nights…no way, no how. Overall it just struck me as more of a budget hotel than a Disney resort for the price that we were paying – even with the FL resident discount. I know some people will say you just sleep there, but that is just not true for us. When we stay for 4 nights, you tend to “move in” and want to come back to someplace that you can relax. I am afraid that I was just not going to be able to do that at POP Century because I was dreading the late nights with little sleep and I saw no resolution to that situation.
Sorry about being so negative but I wanted to give my true impressions instead of a pass review that might be misleading.
Here is my 2nd trip report of late. The first was a stay at AKL and the report can be found here
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1712874
Briefly, my wife and I have a 2.5 year old son so keep that in mind as you read this. We grew up in Florida so are experienced with the parks, but less so with the resorts. I have only stayed one other time at AKL. I know some people will say you cannot compare the two and that is not my intention. I am only writing my observations based on previous experiences. This is probably a bit more negative than my AKL report, because I am moving down from a deluxe to a value resort.
And so it begins...
We received a Florida resident’s discount pass for a resort, and since the dates were convenient, we chose POP Century based on the recommendations of this board and the price. This was a spur of the moment trip…reservations on Friday arrive on Sunday stay through Thursday. This will highlight some of the positives and negatives of this trip.
My first issue was instead of charging me $63.50 for a deposit, they charged me $6350! I caught this on the confirmation email but since it was late in the day and a Friday, they couldn’t transfer me to accounting because no one was answering the phones. A manager told me that they would correct it first thing on Monday. At about 5pm on the same day, the manager called me back and told me that it had been fixed but that I could confirm it when I checked in on Sunday evening.
We drove over from Tampa and arrived before my son's nap. My first impression upon driving up to the resort was that it was huge...and a bit bland and dated looking. There was also a pretty large crowd gathered at the bus stops...larger than I had ever seen over at AKL. We parked and I went inside to check in and the line to check in was not much shorter than the bus stop. It moved relatively quickly though and the CMs were very efficient with getting people checked in. The interior reminded me of a bus terminal for some reason!
I asked for a lake view room, because I did not want to deal with the pool noise. Our reservations were for 2 beds and a refrigerator. I know I should have confirmed those at the front desk, but I forgot. When I got to the room...1 king size bed and a fridge. It also wasn't lakeside either, but it was a preferred room. Well, I went back down to see the CM about getting a different room...one with 2 beds. She told me the new one was a lakeside room (after consulting her chart) but when we got there, it was a poolside room! Too tired to do another room change all over again, we called guest services to get the fridge moved over. They did a good job with that request but it came back to haunt us as you shall see! Housekeeping is on top of things at POP. When I was down changing our rooms over, my wife and son are sitting in the old one. Housekeeping arrived to clean the old room even before I got back up there to move our stuff over to the new room. Was probably the easiest turnaround she had ever had to do.
Impressions...we were in the 60s wing, by the big Mowgli and Baloo. The stairways and exterior corridors were wet and a bit moldy in places. I didn't really like the exterior access to the rooms and the whole place just felt damp. My son wanted to take the stairs at the end of the wing that were encased by a big yo-yo. We did it, but it smelled like vomit inside of them so we did not do it again.
The room: 2 full size beds...if you are not used to sleeping with someone in a full sized bed, you may be in for a surprise. Bryan got a lot of sleep that night...mom and dad much less. The fridge in the room would make a VERY loud clunk every time the compressor kicked on, which was quite often. The pool quiet hours - weren't...and it sounded as if the AK safari was down there until about 2AM. It wasn't that people were purposely being loud...it is just that the resort walls and doors can't handle even the normal noise load. We were able to hear people in the rooms next to us, and that was a problem starting at about 6AM when the girls next door to us got up...so did we. Again, it was not because they were being overly loud...the excitement of Disney combined with thin walls made it that way.
The room was clean, with plenty of towels to go around. When we went down to the pool, we asked room service for extras and they were delivered before we got back from the pool. This differs from AKL since they have towels at the pool, but it worked out fine.
The pool: We only did the main pool in the middle by our room. A very large heated pool (it was 50ish outside but our son wanted to go) and VERY attentive life guards...about 6 of them. I was impressed with how closely they watched the pool. They have little water jets at the bottom of the pool that create warm spots and once you find one of them, you tend to park when it is that cold outside (Hey, I am from Florida). They had balls to throw around and some water showers around the edges of the pool for the kids to splash in. It seemed to be a uniform depth throughout the pool, but I am not sure of that.
The dining: We ate at the walk in restaurant at POP (I cannot think of its name) and the food was good. Plenty of room, condiments were everywhere, and it was not crowded. I bought one of the refill mugs - they are worth it if you DONT LOSE IT! I lost it, if you haven’t guessed.
The grounds: I was impressed with the décor once we got past the main entrance. Bryan loved walking around looking at the large Play-doh container and the statues were very impressive. The pool was kept very clean (I saw them pressure washing it in the morning) and the staff was very attentive to the grounds.
In summary: Well, 4 hours of sleep, coupled with a bed that was smaller than what we were used to and a failing fridge, I went down to the lobby in the AM and requested to move to AKL for the remainder of the trip. I suppose I have been spoiled by AKL but I just wasn’t going to be happy at POP for 3 more nights…no way, no how. Overall it just struck me as more of a budget hotel than a Disney resort for the price that we were paying – even with the FL resident discount. I know some people will say you just sleep there, but that is just not true for us. When we stay for 4 nights, you tend to “move in” and want to come back to someplace that you can relax. I am afraid that I was just not going to be able to do that at POP Century because I was dreading the late nights with little sleep and I saw no resolution to that situation.
Sorry about being so negative but I wanted to give my true impressions instead of a pass review that might be misleading.
What a shame you didn't enjoy POP. We had a great stay at POP. I am glad it seems you enjoyed the rest of your stay though.
