Pop Century Review for 10/22-10/29...Long

[kessieann]

I went with realistic expectations and I knew it would be more like a motel then a hotel. That being said-we will never stay there again.

When we arrived we were put in the one building I absolutely did not want (the 90's) I mentioned that we had requeted either the 50's or the 70's and the girl checking us in asked if I had guaranteed those requests. I looked very kindly at her and told her that she knew as well as I did that there was no guarantee of anything but I politley asked her to do what she could. She was able to get us two adjoining rooms in the 50's after about 1/2 an hour.

The good: The mousekeeping service was great. We had a towel animal everyday and my dd was just thrilled with them. The rooms were cleaned quite well and we never had any problem with the room not being done if we wanted to go back for a nap. The pools were also nice. They do not turn on the flowers in the Hippy Pool until 11 a.m. for some reason. The hotel did a good job communicating with us during the hurricane and they only closed everything down for 1/2 a day.

The bad: It is absolutely true...the walls are paper thin and it is ridiculous how bad it is. We were people who said "who cares about the room it is just a place to rest your head". Only problem with that is the rooms are so badly insulated that the little sleep we got was bad sleep at best and by the end of the week we were totally sleep deprived. How bad was it you may wonder? Well we heard someone in another room peeing and I kid you not we heard every little last drop of it. EWWWW!!!! Also there is the CONSTANT noise of suitcases being rolled outside your room at all hours. It is concrete so you hear everything. I pity anyone who has a baby next door to them. We had one for a few nights. Not at all the baby's fault, just a baby being a baby but we heard every gurgle, coo and cry that baby made.

The ugly: We had done ME and getting to the hotel was fine but the bus service from Pop to anywhere convinced us that we will be getting a rental car next time. One morning we waited 40 minutes to get a bus to MK. It was around the park opening so I don't know why they would not plan for more busses to be running. We were always waiting for busses and more times then not we stood for the ride. Keep in mind that you are going at highway speeds and if the bus slams on its brakes and if you are standing you will go flying. This happened on a bus from AK back to Pop and we were lucky enough not to be standing but an awful lot of people fell on us.
I kid you not when I say that the we waited more for the busses then we did for any ride we went on.

Overall I was not impressed with Pop. It was true that the lines in the food court were huge! Also, they are still not very well versed in what you can an can't get on the Dining Plan. One woman working in the back told me to ignore the cashiers because they didn't know what they were talking about...nice!

One side note...not Disney's fault just an observation. There were people riding those scooters EVERYWHERE! 99% of the time we had to wait for 1 or 2 scooters to board the bus. Dh noticed that it seemed like a convenient way to go. You never have to wait in line you just drive up and you are on the next bus that comes. At the shows that we saw the scooters were always in the best seats. Overall we just saw an awful lot of people who looked like they would have been fine without one. Please keep in mind I have no gripe what so ever for people who are truly handicapped it is the people taking advantage of it that just really annoy me. The same people you would see walking around in the restaurants later in the day. You could also tell the people who typically have a scooter or wheelchair because they knew how to drive the darn things. My mom almost got run over by a lady who could not figure out who to drive her scooter.

So take what you will from my review. I am just one person out of many and maybe we just got some exceptionally noisy rooms. I just know that I would not chance it again because in the end even though not a lot of time was spent in our room it is still very important to get a good nights sleep.

 

[huey578]

I went with realistic expectations and I knew it would be more like a motel then a hotel. That being said-we will never stay there again.

When we arrived we were put in the one building I absolutely did not want (the 90's) I mentioned that we had requeted either the 50's or the 70's and the girl checking us in asked if I had guaranteed those requests. I looked very kindly at her and told her that she knew as well as I did that there was no guarantee of anything but I politley asked her to do what she could. She was able to get us two adjoining rooms in the 50's after about 1/2 an hour.

The good: The mousekeeping service was great. We had a towel animal everyday and my dd was just thrilled with them. The rooms were cleaned quite well and we never had any problem with the room not being done if we wanted to go back for a nap. The pools were also nice. They do not turn on the flowers in the Hippy Pool until 11 a.m. for some reason. The hotel did a good job communicating with us during the hurricane and they only closed everything down for 1/2 a day.

The bad: It is absolutely true...the walls are paper thin and it is ridiculous how bad it is. We were people who said "who cares about the room it is just a place to rest your head". Only problem with that is the rooms are so badly insulated that the little sleep we got was bad sleep at best and by the end of the week we were totally sleep deprived. How bad was it you may wonder? Well we heard someone in another room peeing and I kid you not we heard every little last drop of it. EWWWW!!!! Also there is the CONSTANT noise of suitcases being rolled outside your room at all hours. It is concrete so you hear everything. I pity anyone who has a baby next door to them. We had one for a few nights. Not at all the baby's fault, just a baby being a baby but we heard every gurgle, coo and cry that baby made.

The ugly: We had done ME and getting to the hotel was fine but the bus service from Pop to anywhere convinced us that we will be getting a rental car next time. One morning we waited 40 minutes to get a bus to MK. It was around the park opening so I don't know why they would not plan for more busses to be running. We were always waiting for busses and more times then not we stood for the ride. Keep in mind that you are going at highway speeds and if the bus slams on its brakes and if you are standing you will go flying. This happened on a bus from AK back to Pop and we were lucky enough not to be standing but an awful lot of people fell on us.
I kid you not when I say that the we waited more for the busses then we did for any ride we went on.

Overall I was not impressed with Pop. It was true that the lines in the food court were huge! Also, they are still not very well versed in what you can an can't get on the Dining Plan. One woman working in the back told me to ignore the cashiers because they didn't know what they were talking about...nice!

One side note...not Disney's fault just an observation. There were people riding those scooters EVERYWHERE! 99% of the time we had to wait for 1 or 2 scooters to board the bus. Dh noticed that it seemed like a convenient way to go. You never have to wait in line you just drive up and you are on the next bus that comes. At the shows that we saw the scooters were always in the best seats. Overall we just saw an awful lot of people who looked like they would have been fine without one. Please keep in mind I have no gripe what so ever for people who are truly handicapped it is the people taking advantage of it that just really annoy me. The same people you would see walking around in the restaurants later in the day. You could also tell the people who typically have a scooter or wheelchair because they knew how to drive the darn things. My mom almost got run over by a lady who could not figure out who to drive her scooter.

So take what you will from my review. I am just one person out of many and maybe we just got some exceptionally noisy rooms. I just know that I would not chance it again because in the end even though not a lot of time was spent in our room it is still very important to get a good nights sleep.

We were there too 10/22-10/28, we stayed in the 80's section. Had no problems. Sounds like you got a bad roll of dice.

 

[kessieann]

We were there too 10/22-10/28, we stayed in the 80's section. Had no problems. Sounds like you got a bad roll of dice.

I have alwasy teased DH that is must just be us LOL! I try to be a fairly easy going person but the lack of sleep was really making me cranky towards the end

 

[eblack0409]

I hate it that you didn't enjoy POP....DH and I stayed there for our Honeymoon and loved it....the only noise we heard was the morning we were leaving....a girl about 10 years old was throwing a tantrum over having to leave....and instead of picking her up and carrying her out, her dad tried to talk to her for 25 minutes telling her they would be back soon....

Other than that we loved POP....we were in the 50's section right across from the bowling pin pool!

I am glad you didn't let it ruin your time at Disney...hopefully next time you will be able to get more sleep!

 

[CaliforniaDreaming]

Thank you for the review. I'm sorry you didn't like PC.

 

[SolitaryPhoenix]

Sorry you had a bad time at Pop Century. I went with my family [7 of us], for a week at the beginning of October, and we had a great time. Loved PC, would definitely go again.

I also wanted to address what you mentioned about the 'scooters', and please don't take my reply in the wrong way; I'm not writing this to be mean or 'flame' anyone. Yes, I'm sure there are people that take advantage, and being able-bodied myself, I have to admit there were times when I was kind of irritated by those in wheelchairs getting on the bus with their families, while I waited in line with mine. However, my situation is a little different in that 2 of my family members are handicapped, but try their hardest not to use ECV's.

My mother, who is 70, has a handicapped license plate due to mobility problems [arthritis, degenerative disk disease], as well having diabetes and a history of heart problems - nothing you would necessarily be able to detect just by looking at her. I got her one of those walkers with a seat specifically for this trip, because she really hates using the scooter. Unfortunately, after day one, it was just too much walking for her, so we wound up renting an ECV for her while we were in the parks.

My sister was in a major car accident over a decade ago, and there was very little of her that wasn't broken. She does have a limp, so her problem is apparent - when she's walking. She has pins in her legs, and is often in pain, but she also tries not to use ECV's because she hates people staring at her; she's also just plain old stubborn and doesn't like to admit to being disabled. She was trying to get away with just using her cane during the trip, but as everyone knows, walking in those parks is tough even on those without mobility issues. Again, a day of walking was too much; she woke up miserable and in pain, so we also rented ECV's for her in the parks for the rest of our stay.

They are both pretty proficient in the operation of electric scooters, although I wish with all my heart they didn't have to be. More often than not, it's the people walking around that either ignore them entirely or run in front of them, that cause them to have to start and stop like they're driving on a city street in rush hour. I can't tell you how frustrating it is, and how many times I've longed to be the manners police and let someone have it, but... I digress. As I mentioned, I understand how you feel about some people possibly taking advantage, particularly when I know what my mom and sister go though -and especially when they both desperately try not to take advantage when they really could- but I also know that most of the people using wheelchairs or ECV's really, really wish they didn't have to. That's what I think about, standing in line for the bus with my mom and her walker, and my sister leaning on a cane or on one of her big, teenage sons.

Hope your next resort visit is better.

 

[Mom of Sleepy Bashful and BabyDoc]

I have alwasy teased DH that is must just be us LOL! I try to be a fairly easy going person but the lack of sleep was really making me cranky towards the end

Sorry you didn't have a good time at POP. I've heard so many conflicting reviews on this hotel, I don't know what to think.

But, I can give those that want to try it some advice. GET A NOISE MACHINE OR BRING A FAN.

We stay offsite in 2 bedroom condos now, so I don't worry about much noise, but I still always bring my handy-dandy fan with me. I just sleep better.

And even when we stayed on-site, we drove. We haven't had tons of problems with the buses when at WDW, but all it takes is one time trying to get to our ADR for Hoop de Doo, or CRT or whatever, to make me nuts! I must be a control freak because I like the control having my own vehicle gives me.

It's OK. Now, when planning the next trip, you have one less hotel to choose from..........but there are so many others, right?

 

[kaytieeldr]

Okay, I'm not going to say it's too bad you didn't like Pop Century - because the more Guests that don't like it, the more better the availability will be for those of us who do

But I feel I do need to address your assessment of Guests using ECVs.
In my case, I have arthritis, I broke my hip and I have other leg problems. Do I use a scooter at home? No. Do I look like I can get around easily? Except for the days I need a crutch or a cane, or the days I limp, sure. Do I cover upwards of six miles a day on foot at home? Also no. The only way I can enjoy Disney or any theme park is by using an ECV to get around.
The bus drivers load the ECVs and wheelchairs first because they take longer, because they need space to maneuver which would not be available if passengers on foot were permitted on the bus first and because they need to be fastened down for safety.
I disagree with your observation that Guests in wheelchairs/ECVs get the "best" seats at show. MANY times, wheelchair seating is at the BACK of the theater. In my opinion, being at or near the front, or being able to choose one's own row/seat, is "best".
All the restaurants at which I've dined, with the exception of Pop's food court and Olivia's (and Cosmic Ray's, which I still haven't figured out how to enter unassisted) request or prefer that the ECV be left outside the restaurant, given that there's really not much room to maneuver between the tables.
As for knowing how to operate an ECV, well, I do. I can operate a variety of models - the ones in the supermarkets with the carts on the front, the off-site rentals, the Universal rentals, the SeaWorld rentals, even the Disney rentals... but the latter are EXTREMELY bulky and cumbersome. So even Guests who do go out and practice beforehand have problems. Those problems are exacerbated by walking Guests who either just don't 'see' the ECV, or who are under the mistaken impression that this several hundred pound machine stops instantly. NOT saying this is what happened in your mom's situation.

 

[WyndyB]

Sorry about the bad experience We had a great room overlooking the lake in the 70's rooms . We never heard anything except one night at midnight . I woke up to find that they were shooting of fireworks at one of the parks. I could see the potential for noise in that hotel . I could see a prob with being around the pools or being there duing a peek season. When we were there It seemed as if people never slept. We would come in at 2:00am and see families in the pool yelling and screaming as if it were noon. that is why I could see pool rooms being noisey.

 

[jennymouse]

I always cringe when healthy folks complain about people on the ECVs because I believe in karma and the fact that whatever you throw out there comes back to you, most of the time ten fold. I don't use the ECVs as a rule but I did have to get one once. You do have to wait in line like everyone else and you don't get the best seats at shows at all. My 80yo father gets one when I take him and believe me, he'd much rather be able to walk and gets embarassed and nervous because of people like you who stare and complain while he's trying to get on the buses.

 

[cobbler]

Sorry you had a bad expirence at POP. I live in the city so I can tune noise out pretty easily but I don't recall hearing anymore then a toilet flush now and again. Even while at FQ we heard that but nto a big deal. Or maybe I have subconsciously blocked it out

And the suitcases, you will hear that noise at any value or moderate you go to as well as OKW and SSR as they have outdoor corridors.

And the bus and people falling on you, well that can happen on a bus from AKL to Epcot. I actually found the bus service to be much better at POP then at the All-Stars.

Hopefully if you decide to stay there again it won't be so bad. I do agree that I would try my best not to stay there, values just aren't my cup of tea. However I sure would stay again if it meant not going at all

 

[calypso*a*go-go]

We were there 10/25-10/31 and only experienced a problem with a long wait time to check-in. We stayed in a corner room in the 70's. Now I'm glad we didn't pay for a preferred room as I think those sections may be a lot more crowded than the other buildings, which would create more noise. We had no problems with the food court but that's probably because we tend to sleep in past park opening times and enter an hour or two later just to avoid long lines for buses, etc. As a matter of fact, in our case, the buses were fabulous -- we never had to wait more than 10 minutes and several times made it in time to just walk on a bus. We loved Pop and would stay again in a heartbeat.

 

[mickeymom55]

The bus service from the Pop seems to be inconsistent - to say the least. One trip the lines waiting for busses were horrendous and the next visit, the busses were stacked two at a time for return trips from MK.
The walls are very thin and if you are unlucky enough to have noisey neighbors, you may have some trouble sleeping. We had a good experiences because on one trip the room on one side was empty the whole time and the second time, members of our family were on both sides.
I have to admit that I too have looked suspiciously at some folks riding ECV's. However, on our last trip, a very nice man using an EVC struck up a conversation with me and although he looked robust and healthy, he had double knee replacements and wouldn't be able to tolerate the rigors of touring WDW without the EVC. After that, I guess I was much more tolerant of those people riding the EVC's. I was just glad that it wasn't me (as the man was around my age). I think the other key to WDW is to relax - I'm always on a time schedule at home and when I'm on vacation, I try to take a deep breath and relax - that is why we are all there, right?

 

[TDC Nala]

I'm not into the karma stuff but I do believe that there are many ECV riders who can walk short distances. They are just not able to cover the major walking distances required in the parks, and a scooter is much easier on the rest of the party than a wheelchair, which must be pushed by someone else.

They must be loaded on the bus first because the seating needs to be adjusted and the ECV must be strapped down. Letting the rider's family board first ensures that they will all be on the same bus, although it does result in them getting seats when other riders end up having to stand. Big whoop.

On the flip side, everyone else gets to disembark the bus before the driver can go back and unstrap the ECV. Other riders are probably inside the park before the ECV person was even able to get off the bus.

 

[snowwhitesmom]

We're booked at POP in January - please tell me any tips and what you LIKED about it! TIA!

 

[staci]

Our experience at Pop left much to be desired as well. It was a really cute resort (I have NO problems with the physical resort), but the bus service and the clueless front desk staff were the worst that I have ever experienced on Disney property. Because of those two things, I dont think we will be returning to Pop.

 

[cree]

My wife and I just got back from our honeymoon the other day, during which we stayed at Pop Century. The only people at the resort who seemed worthy of their paycheck were the DME/luggage check people who were able to renegotiate our return flight when Delta lost our reservations.
Front desk people: absolutely clueless and, when a problem arose at check-in (there was supposed to be disney dollars on our card, hooked to an amex card; the money wasn't there, the amex card couldn't be linked, and the mailed confirmation of all this was at home), we were told that when we found proper documentation we could come back and sort it out. My parents (who booked the trip) talked to the manager for a while (they didn't care that my cell phone kept dying, so my parents had to call the hotel) and everything was sorted out as we tried to enjoy MNSSHP, my big surprise that we ended up getting to late. When we got back, there was a message from my parents saying we were to exchange our keys at the front desk for new ones that had charging capabilities, so we went ahead and did it. After getting talked down to by the second clerk for the night, we find that the keys don't work in the door, so I go back. Deal with the same guy again who explains that I must have put them near something magnetic (I guess he meant my hand, since that's where I carried them). (Later in the trip I overheard a clerk say not to put the keys anywhere near change because this erases them) Key didn't work again. Had someone come out and let us into the room, she assured us it would be taken care of first thing in the morning, which it wasn't; we waited, we know. Eventually, it all worked out. Except the wife's key stopped working the second day.
Housekeeping: was fine, they left us a towel bouquet, which was nice. They also left trash in our trash cans from before we checked in.
Cafeteria/Shop: between the girl who explained what a terrible week she's been having because they decided to switch her to nights, etc. etc., as we tried to buy a pizza, and the guy who said, "just married? I'm sorry for you," and then went on to explain how he had been married twice before and was a widower, we didn't feel the need to spend much time eating or buying things there.
Actually, all of this combined made us want to spend as little time there as possible. The walls were thin, I guess, and the plumbing is loud, but nothing really terrible. Being next to the pool might get loud, I could see that. It was really just the people that work there that made us a lot more tense than we needed be on our honeymoon.
Could all of this happened at another resort? Yes. Do a lot of reviews of this resort seem to say the same thing? Yes. I was really hoping that it wasn't as bad as some of the reviews had said, unfortunately, it appears to be.
me: "How often do the buses run?"
clerk: "Every 20 minutes."
me: "Is that on the hour, or...?"
clerk: "Uh...you catch them out front."
If you enjoy this resort, more power to you, you can have what would be our room in the future.

On ECVs, there were a lot. People have their reasons for using them. I saw people rolling themselves in wheelchairs who needed to be lifted onto rides, and I saw people in ECVs who could stand in an 80 minute line. To each his own, what goes around comes around.
What bothered me more than able bodied people more or less mocking the handicapped was the daily show of how to mismanage your child. Small children running around, no parents in sight, kids vomiting on the bus after being fed too much candy, kids swinging upside down on rails, the list goes on and on. For every paremt I saw slapping their kid, there were two people judging them whose kids were breaking ahead of people in line or doing god knows what else.
Anyway, sorry this was a long reply, just had to get a few things off my chest.

 

[PrincessKitty1]

We love POP but it is very noisy! We forgot to bring our white noise machine the last 2 times we stayed at POP (just got back today, as a matter of fact!)--our bad!

ECVs--as Nala said, many people who use them at Disney are able to walk, but only short distances. That's why some ECV riders may appear to be inexperienced drivers--indeed, many probably do not have ECVs at home.

When my father was alive, we received many wierd looks at the malls in South Florida when he would get out of his wheelchair--like people thought he shouldn't use a wheelchair if he could walk! He could only walk about 30 feet at a time, though, so even though he may not have appeared "truly handicapped," he was.

It is TOUGH pushing manual wheelchairs up slopes, ramps, etc.--family members who do this are no doubt exhausted by a day at Disney--electric scooters are much easier if at all possible (Dad had Alzheimers and therefore his cognitive disability did not allow him to propel a scooter).

People in scooters and wheelchairs in general do not get special privileges at WDW. They generally have to wait in line with everybody else for the buses (although they are loaded first, if you are waiting 40 minutes for a bus, they are also waiting 40 minutes for a bus!) and the only place I noticed special seating for people in scooters and wheelchairs, the seats were all the way in the back of the theatre (this was at the movie about Walt Disney at MGM). There may indeed be places where wheelchair/scooter seating is "the best," but not everywhere.

If you object to waiting for scooters to be loaded on the buses, why not rent a car? Although we drive to WDW (we are 2 hours away), we generally find the bus service to be pretty good, and prefer to use Disney's buses to drving back and forth.

I guess because I have had a close family member with a disabilty, plus I work in health care, I am thrilled to be in a place as accessible as WDW.

 

[thelionqueen]

We stayed in October and had a great time. I think the end of the buildings have the least amount of noise (just an observation, we were in the end and heard absolutely NOTHING during our trip...not even the infamous toilet flush). We had never stayed at a value before and I was very skeptical, but very happily surprised. If there is ever a need to stay at a value again, or the free dining package, I will stay at POP in a heartbeat..
Hope you had a great trip besides your POP experience. Thanks for the post!

 

[daisy_77]

My DH and I are going to be at Pop in 3 weeks. I am hoping that we have a good experience there. We switched from POFQ to Pop b/c my DH wanted to save some money....I hope that it was worth it.