Pop Century Room Renovations

[Haley R]

One note - I noticed during our stay. Flooring is being partially replaced in at least 4 rooms on the fourth floor. The refurb hadn’t been that long ago, and I’m wondering what’s up..and in my opinion it’s too soon and frankly doesn’t add up.

That’s a little strange and concerning all at once...

 

[Shellyb84]

Sorry if I've missed this, but does anyone know if they are going to be refurbishing the food court? A lot of the booth seats seem pretty worn out.

 

[Disneygrl71]

We are here now and have a refurb room! We love it and love the resort (first time staying at a value and honestly will probably be our place of choice). Buses have been usually a 7-10 min wait. Little bit of a walk to the bus station from the 80s bldg but nothing terrible. Food court is awesome. Housekeeping has been hit n miss in our room, they never leave coffee/cups etc so I have to call down when we return to the room each night. They make the beds, leave towels and that’s it. Plenty of storage in the room and the shower is amazing. We sleep with a noise machine and haven’t had any issues while asleep, but without the noise machine we could hear the toilets flushing, doors slamming and a child crying in the room next to us. We got lucky and got a top floor, so no noise above us Just my 2 cents....

 

[Haley R]

We are here now and have a refurb room! We love it and love the resort (first time staying at a value and honestly will probably be our place of choice). Buses have been usually a 7-10 min wait. Little bit of a walk to the bus station from the 80s bldg but nothing terrible. Food court is awesome. Housekeeping has been hit n miss in our room, they never leave coffee/cups etc so I have to call down when we return to the room each night. They make the beds, leave towels and that’s it. Plenty of storage in the room and the shower is amazing. We sleep with a noise machine and haven’t had any issues while asleep, but without the noise machine we could hear the toilets flushing, doors slamming and a child crying in the room next to us. We got lucky and got a top floor, so no noise above us Just my 2 cents....

Do you walk through the parking lot to get to the buses? I've heard that can save time.

 

[Disneygrl71]

Do you walk through the parking lot to get to the buses? I've heard that can save time.

Yes, we figured that out after the first night lol

 

[scrappinginontario]

Sorry if I've missed this, but does anyone know if they are going to be refurbishing the food court? A lot of the booth seats seem pretty worn out.

There hasn't been an official announcement that the food court is being refurbished. There have been rumours but nothing official. I agree though that it could use it.

 

[HopperFan]

Do you walk through the parking lot to get to the buses? I've heard that can save time.

One reason I hate those buildings is the walk to the bus (and I think that's why they put the tour groups there) but we stay on the sidewalk and walk around the parking lot. It slows us down maybe a minute or so but it's safer ... too many bad drivers in FL hawking for spots not watching.

 

[musika]

Already considering a return trip now that we are home and I ended up sick with flu last 3 days which was awful - debating trying somewhere new or returning to pop - also thought I had my dates 4/22-4/27 but now I saw two places state heavy crowds two of those days - cheer competitions which I want no part of - anyone have April advice?? Or is there a thread dedicated?? I know first week is out for Easter but any advice is appreciated!!

We are going 4/11-4/18. Chosen specifically to avoid Easter and the Star Wars Marathon. There is an April thread but it seems rather quiet.

Staying at the Pop now through Christmas and I appreciate all the feedback on this thread. We usually stay at a Deluxe but needed two rooms cause Grandma is joining us midtrip. I requested connecting rooms in the 80’s or 90’s when I called to make them, and that what we got when we checked in. Our rooms are on the fourth floor of the 90’s. Haven’t noticed hardly any noise but we do sleep with sound machines. Our family of 6 fits perfectly in two rooms. All our children do sleep in the Murphy beds and we have been closing them each day to eat.

Yes it’s a bit of a walk to food but since we mostly eat breakfast and supper in our rooms that doesn’t matter. It’s close to my car as we plan to drive to most parks and other resorts and Target for supplies.

We are here now and have a refurb room! We love it and love the resort (first time staying at a value and honestly will probably be our place of choice). Buses have been usually a 7-10 min wait. Little bit of a walk to the bus station from the 80s bldg but nothing terrible. Food court is awesome. Housekeeping has been hit n miss in our room, they never leave coffee/cups etc so I have to call down when we return to the room each night. They make the beds, leave towels and that’s it. Plenty of storage in the room and the shower is amazing. We sleep with a noise machine and haven’t had any issues while asleep, but without the noise machine we could hear the toilets flushing, doors slamming and a child crying in the room next to us. We got lucky and got a top floor, so no noise above us Just my 2 cents....

Curious, because I keep seeing "It's a bit of a walk" - how far is it, especially with little kids? 5 minutes? 10 minutes? Need a little perspective before we put our room request in Also FWIW, we are likely renting a car for at least some of our days.

 

[fla4fun]

One note - I noticed during our stay. Flooring is being partially replaced in at least 4 rooms on the fourth floor. The refurb hadn’t been that long ago, and I’m wondering what’s up..and in my opinion it’s too soon and frankly doesn’t add up.

I noticed random rooms in the buildings that have been open for a while appearing to be in the middle of the renovation - like they got missed somehow. Maybe they had to wait for something to repair damage specific to those rooms before they could complete the renovation in that particular room. I was in building 7 last week, and there were two rooms in building 8 and one in 7 this was happening to.

 

[Haley R]

Yes, we figured that out after the first night lol

Oh, haha well at least you figured it out before you left!

One reason I hate those buildings is the walk to the bus (and I think that's why they put the tour groups there) but we stay on the sidewalk and walk around the parking lot. It slows us down maybe a minute or so but it's safer ... too many bad drivers in FL hawking for spots not watching.

Yeah I could see people tearing through the parking lot just to get a spot. Is it still faster than going through the resort, though? I've never stayed at POP, but we are staying in February/March.

 

[lundve]

Sorry for the delay - here’s a picture from last night. This is the fourth floor of the 90’s building. I noticed the worker coming and going yesterday with boxes of flooring. The curtains have been tied up in the four rooms on this floor I saw. One thing that stands out to me if you look close is the visual color difference of flooring that’s being replaced. This color difference isn’t as bad as another I saw on this floor. Some of the other rooms were worse. In my opinion, It cheapens the look of the refurb to me - and what’s making them have to do this I wonder so soon after???

 

[lundve]

We are going 4/11-4/18. Chosen specifically to avoid Easter and the Star Wars Marathon. There is an April thread but it seems rather quiet.





Curious, because I keep seeing "It's a bit of a walk" - how far is it, especially with little kids? 5 minutes? 10 minutes? Need a little perspective before we put our room request in Also FWIW, we are likely renting a car for at least some of our days.

I’d say from our fourth floor 90s room the bus using the sidewalk is an 8 min walk - 2 to 3 of which is getting outside our building either by steps or elevator.

 

[dansdad]

and what’s making them have to do this I wonder so soon after???

I believe there was water damage.

 

[Sue M]

Conversely, it could be viewed as your arrival at the bus area was frequently/always a matter of bad timing. Did you experience the same extensive waits heading back to Pop?

No. Its late, so give me a minute (all numbers approximate.)

There are six wings in each building, with 48 rooms in each wing.
Right now, there are six refurbished standard pool view wings; 20* refurbished standard standard wings; four refurbished preferred wings; and 30 unrefurbished wings.

Without breaking down the types of undone rooms:
You have a 1/2 chance of getting a refurbished room
Of the refurbished rooms, 2/3 are standard standard
1/2 x 2/3 = 2/6, which reduces to 1/3.



*assumes all of building six will be open

Don’t think during a 10 day stay every day could be considered bad timing. There is always a day or 2 at any resort that busses are bad timing. But not 10 days worth.
Yes, they were pretty bad at parks too. But worse at Pop. I’ve been to WDW enough to know this hasn’t been the usual. My friend who stays at Pop a lot also said this was the worst service she’s ever had with Pop busses.

 

[Haley R]

Don’t think during a 10 day stay every day could be considered bad timing. There is always a day or 2 at any resort that busses are bad timing. But not 10 days worth.
Yes, they were pretty bad at parks too. But worse at Pop. I’ve been to WDW enough to know this hasn’t been the usual. My friend who stays at Pop a lot also said this was the worst service she’s ever had with Pop busses.

I wonder why their buses have been so bad lately.

 

[dansdad]

I wonder why their buses have been so bad lately.

It's not just Pop, it's property wide. I've been seeing this complaint in just about every Resort FAQ Thread since Thanksgiving.

They don't just have a housekeeping shortage but now bus drivers too.

 

[FinnsMom7]

It's not just Pop, it's property wide. I've been seeing this complaint in just about every Resort FAQ Thread since Thanksgiving.

They don't just have a housekeeping shortage but now bus drivers too.

When I was there one of the drivers was doing trivia with the riders (bless his heart it was 12:45am after MVMCP and not many were entertained) he said they are about 400 drivers short of what Disney needs to function when at higher capacity. One day leaving Epcot no Pop bus for over 30 mins so we got on the AofA and the driver made two stops for us.

 

[Haley R]

It's not just Pop, it's property wide. I've been seeing this complaint in just about every Resort FAQ Thread since Thanksgiving.

They don't just have a housekeeping shortage but now bus drivers too.

Oh okay. I've only been looking at POP threads because that's where we will be staying.

When I was there one of the drivers was doing trivia with the riders (bless his heart it was 12:45am after MVMCP and not many were entertained) he said they are about 400 drivers short of what Disney needs to function when at higher capacity. One day leaving Epcot no Pop bus for over 30 mins so we got on the AofA and the driver made two stops for us.

That's a huge shortage of bus drivers!

 

[HopperFan]

It's not just Pop, it's property wide. I've been seeing this complaint in just about every Resort FAQ Thread since Thanksgiving.

They don't just have a housekeeping shortage but now bus drivers too.

So short they are offering hiring bonuses ...........

Transportation Bus Driver- Full Time - $500 Hiring Bonus

Housekeeping- Full Time - $500 Hiring Bonus

 

[FinnsMom7]

Well booked airfare for April it was $118 each then I had points for my flight so how could I not - just debating another Pop stay or try a moderate - help!!!