Pop Century 3/21-3/25

[excited4Disney]

Well I'm back from my 1st trip to Disney since 1st grade (I'm 21 now) & I have to admit--I had a GREAT time. For those of you who have not seen the new castle..it's a must. It's absolutely gorgeous. After reading some nightmarish trip reports about bad stays at the pop, I was a little worried..but our room was clean and easily accessible (we stayed in the 70's building) however our room was a connecting room. We did not get very much sleep the whole week because the children in the other room woke about 5:30am & the parents allowed them to scream and loudly play until about 8am when my alarm went off. I am not sure if the kids were just extremely loud or because of the connecting door the noise just came in much easier. Also he first day we got to our room & our keys wouldn't work. We called the front desk & they said they would send someone...20 min. later, a housekeeping person asked why we had been standing there so long. He also made a call & let us in to our room. Someone came & changed the battery, but that didn't help..finally we just got new keys.
We only had 3 day park hoppers and I found it difficult to squeeze in all 4 parks in 3 days. We also took advantage of every evening magic hour which helped out A LOT! Its amazing how much detail disney puts in to the rides, decorations, etc. This is definitely the start of more trips to disney! This might not have been much help, but this is my first post on DIS. If anyone had questions, just ask!!
BTW- It's a small world is so pretty now! They did a really good job. Don't miss the Lion King, Tarzan or Beauty & the Beast shows. My favorite ride: Soaring at Epcot! It's so relaxing. (unless you get motion sick or scared of heights!)

 

[Carol Ann]

I'm glad that you had such a great time! We are staying at Pop in June and are looking forward to it. You are very right that it is IMPOSSIBLE to fit everything in in four days...luckily, it just sets the stage for your next trip!

Best,

 

[cottontail]

Hi: Glad you got back to wdw. Just wondering what floor were you on at the pop? Would you stay there again? Also how long were the average waits for rides?

Thanks,

Deb.

 

[excited4Disney]

I was on the 1st floor (rm 6122). I was a little worried about noise from upstairs, but there was none. I would stay at the pop again because it was a pretty nice place to stay (especially if you have kids). The bus system was great at pop..rarely had to wait longer than 10 min. for a bus ride. I've heard it is much worse at other resorts. The parks were pretty busy, so we used fast pass quite often..but the average wait for most rides in the standby lines were 60 min. Hope this helps!! feel free to ask more questions

 

[Sister Spooky]

Is Soarin' open full time now, or are they just open a little each day?

 

[excited4Disney]

I am really not sure. I would say that it is open all day but right now it is just "unofficially" opened. We stumbled upon it looking for something else and was in the late afternoon. I also looked back through my map for epcot & it said nothing about it being opened only specific times. The actual entrance is boarded up (we thought they were still building it) and will be unveiled at the dedication ceremony in May. We just saw a line of people around a corner and decided to check it out. The CM also said that on the day it is officially opened, the wait will be at least 3 hours. Definitely get your fast pass!!!

 

[JDarling]

Glad you had a great time! We're staying there in December for the 1st time. I'm excited! Thankfully, most of the things I've heard are GOOD things! Glad you had a blast!

And you're right - the door is what makes the other room seem so much louder. We stayed at the All-Star Music and had a connecting room. In the other room was a fussy baby (cried all night long!) and the room on the other side of us had the same problem! We asked to be moved, but the other rooms were smoking only - ew... oh well! We just turned up the TV.