POP Century ~ Unofficially the Grooviest FAQ Thread #6 ~April 2012

[StacyMarie]

This june will be my first stay at the POP as well. I'm really hoping I love it! Last june we went and stayed at the Poly (my husband had just gotten back from Afghanistan, so we went all out) and fell in love with it. It would be nice to fall in love with somewhere a bit more affordable!! In september we have a trip planned at the Contemporary, but we wanted to stay at a monorail resort since we will have 3 little ones, we figure it will make coming back for naps easier! However, if POP goes over well, I have a feeling we will be staying there for quite a few future trips!

We stayed at the Poly in 2010 and I was skeptical about going to Pop in 2011 BUT we will never stay deluxe again. My kids enjoyed Pop so much more. The buses are efficient because they don't share with another resort. The pools are great. The food court is the BEST. I bet you will LOVE Pop Your kids will LOVE pop!

 

[Janet B]

My parents finally called. She said they are really enjoying pop. The only real thing my dad misses is the celing fan of all things. She said the room is really clean and they are in a preferred room in the 50's. She said now that they are there they would have liked to been in the 60's. But she did mention that the main pool was really loud. they have ben enjoying the 50's pool and have ate at the food court quite a bit. But my mom said my dad would stay there again.

Kelly: Happy your parents are feeling the love of POP! We really like the 60s area, but prefer the 50s pool too as it is usually quieter.

Now another thing to add to our POP wish list ... ceiling fans!! I mean we did get fridges and wifi so ceiling fans are a possibility too!

Thanks, JB!!!

jb!!!

You're welcome JB!

Yes it does and THANKS!!

No problem! You're welcome!

I wouldn't count too much on the wifi. It is there but it barely works unless you are in the main building. Also trouble connecting during "peak" times. aka when everyone is at the resort and not the parks!

Well, hope there is a way that Disney will eventually improve the service. Free is nice but not very useful if it isn't reliable. Good thing I don't plan on using it much when we're there.

 

[Janet B]

I can't believe I'm subbing for the SIXTH time!

THANKS JANET!!!!

Happy to have you aboard!!

I know this is just a wish...but it would be so nice and convenient to have.

So you want it ALL?? Wifi, fridges, Disney has certainly been spoiling us! (my wish, my own soda pop machine in my room!)

Our family booked Pop for our Aug 5-11 Stay. So EXCITED!

Happy planning!!

 

[Princesca]

Just got back from a week-long stay at Pop... had a couple of observations that I thought people might be interested in.

We've decided that this isn't really the resort for us - no harm, no foul. It wasn't awful or anything, but we don't have kids (at this point) and Pop was MOBBED even on days when the resort crowd level was supposed to be a 5/10. It's clearly the most popular Value option, and I can see why. I loved getting to hear the "decades" music and commercials/TV themes on the buses. That was awesome. We also never had to wait long for a bus, though one thing I didn't realize before is that the Value resort bus stops are usually furthest away at the parks. I'm sure other people knew that, but man, is it a long walk!

So onto the points... Pop's satellite TV was out, for us, almost every day we were there. If we were lucky, we MIGHT get Animal Planet for 15 minutes in the morning before it went to "no signal". In general, the non-resort channels didn't seem to work.

The free wi-fi is definitely nice, but kind of a pain to connect to and the connection was spotty. It sometimes took forEVER to load pages.

Other than that, it was nice... I thought the rooms were spacious for the price. We booked there primarily for my niece, though, and I think she didn't get a ton of benefit from the theming, so when we go back, with or without the rest of our group, we're probably going to stay elsewhere. It's definitely the best option for people on a budget, especially if you have younger kids. Just be prepared - it's definitely chaotic.

 

[englishrose47]

I have stayed there with and without kids !!I totally agree with the distance to the bus stops at the parks, but I never found it chaotic, the foodcourt was busy in the breakfast times and sometimes the line for the buses was long ,also for the front desk.I still prefer Pop, but may be giving AOA a try this year.

 

[melissafox18]

I have stayed there with and without kids !!I totally agree with the distance to the bus stops at the parks, but I never found it chaotic, the foodcourt was busy in the breakfast times and sometimes the line for the buses was long ,also for the front desk.I still prefer Pop, but may be giving AOA a try this year.

I agree as well. The food court seemed chaotic at times, but we barely saw anyone where our room was. It was usually 1-2 passing groups of people. We spent most of our time in the parks while we were there. POP was just a place for us to sleep. If you went to the food court during breakfast or as people were unloading after parks closed, it was busy, but a lot of the time it seemed pretty quiet.

I definitely would not suggest eating around 9 am though. We did that once and never did it again. Much better to have a granola bar and head to parks for rope drop and then get a bite there once we got fast passes and got a few rides with minimal wait.

Totally agree with the wifi being sketchy at best. I suppose I shouldn't complain about something that's free...

 

[KELLY]

Just got back from a week-long stay at Pop... had a couple of observations that I thought people might be interested in.

We've decided that this isn't really the resort for us - no harm, no foul. It wasn't awful or anything, but we don't have kids (at this point) and Pop was MOBBED even on days when the resort crowd level was supposed to be a 5/10. It's clearly the most popular Value option, and I can see why. I loved getting to hear the "decades" music and commercials/TV themes on the buses. That was awesome. We also never had to wait long for a bus, though one thing I didn't realize before is that the Value resort bus stops are usually furthest away at the parks. I'm sure other people knew that, but man, is it a long walk!

So onto the points... Pop's satellite TV was out, for us, almost every day we were there. If we were lucky, we MIGHT get Animal Planet for 15 minutes in the morning before it went to "no signal". In general, the non-resort channels didn't seem to work.

The free wi-fi is definitely nice, but kind of a pain to connect to and the connection was spotty. It sometimes took forEVER to load pages.

Other than that, it was nice... I thought the rooms were spacious for the price. We booked there primarily for my niece, though, and I think she didn't get a ton of benefit from the theming, so when we go back, with or without the rest of our group, we're probably going to stay elsewhere. It's definitely the best option for people on a budget, especially if you have younger kids. Just be prepared - it's definitely chaotic.

My parents are there now and I did for warn them it was a busy and a little bit on the louder side compared to the moderates. I think I might of scared them a bit but I wanted them to be prepared since they are in there 60 's and a kid free vacation. Sometimes they take my older niece with them but not this trip. They really love it there. My mom said the main pool was a bit loud bit other than that they have enjoyed it.. She actually said there was a lot of older people there also.I will say my mom owns a daycare so I'm sure 12 kids not screaming her name all at once was pure bliss.

 

[Princesca]

Yeah - the pool was never very crowded and we didn't feel crowded when we were around the room. But one day we did try to get breakfast there, and let's just say we will definitely never be doing that again. LOL.

I really don't get the complaints about the room being too small, though. They're very well laid-out, and though we only had two people, I definitely don't think we'd have felt too cramped even if we'd had two kids with us.

 

[TwiddleDeeTwiddleDum]

Our family booked Pop for our Aug 5-11 Stay. So EXCITED!

Excited with you! We'll be there for your dates - see ya at Petals HURRY AUG!

Hey, all you POPers! We booked POFQ for June 21-25 and then added a night but couldn't get POFQ, so GUESS WHAT? We're staying at POP the 20th-21st! We've never stayed there but DD wanted to check it out, so here we are! I assume it will be easy enough to have our luggage transferred over to POFQ? And then having ME drop us off at POP then pick us up at POFQ shouldn't be a problem, right? I'm excited to see the resort and hopefully become a POP lover too!

Should not be any problem at all We're doing our first split stay in AUG starting at POP & ending at POR. From what I understand, luggage services will indeed handle moving your stuff from one WDW resort to the other. I'm planning to talk to guest services about this when I check in. Due to the resorts involved, I made a lunch ADR at T-Rex on "moving" day so I can keep a few "essentials" I don't want luggage services to handle that I can easily haul with me on the bus to DTD. After lunch we plan to ride the ferry over to POR. I think it will be a fun way to arrive at the resort and check in.

When I made my POR reservation, they assured me ME can indeed drop us off at POP and pick up from POR.

 

[SoarinSC]

Howdy. I'm researching POP for a possible stay this fall and wondered about the beds. My wife and I are not fans of hard beds. We prefer the softer "dream" style mattresses. We had some of the worst sleeping experiences at Port Orleans Riverside a few years ago because of the hard beds, but had a great stay at Coronado that had the newer mattresses. Have all the resorts been refitted with the softer mattresses now? POP in particular? Thanks!!

 

[Zuzu03]

Excited with you! We'll be there for your dates - see ya at Petals HURRY AUG!



Should not be any problem at all We're doing our first split stay in AUG starting at POP & ending at POR. From what I understand, luggage services will indeed handle moving your stuff from one WDW resort to the other. I'm planning to talk to guest services about this when I check in. Due to the resorts involved, I made a lunch ADR at T-Rex on "moving" day so I can keep a few "essentials" I don't want luggage services to handle that I can easily haul with me on the bus to DTD. After lunch we plan to ride the ferry over to POR. I think it will be a fun way to arrive at the resort and check in.

When I made my POR reservation, they assured me ME can indeed drop us off at POP and pick up from POR.

Awesome, thank you! That's a great idea about heading to DTD and then taking the boat to POR!

 

[Princesca]

Howdy. I'm researching POP for a possible stay this fall and wondered about the beds. My wife and I are not fans of hard beds. We prefer the softer "dream" style mattresses. We had some of the worst sleeping experiences at Port Orleans Riverside a few years ago because of the hard beds, but had a great stay at Coronado that had the newer mattresses. Have all the resorts been refitted with the softer mattresses now? POP in particular? Thanks!!

I was there just last week, and I found the beds to be pretty hard. I like that, so it wasn't a problem for me. Or, more aptly, I was so tired every night that I could have slept on a big pile of broken glass and slept like a baby. But no, I wouldn't say the mattresses were soft.

 

[TwiddleDeeTwiddleDum]

Awesome, thank you! That's a great idea about heading to DTD and then taking the boat to POR!

Thank you! I thought so & I hope you enjoy if you decide to follow suit

I was there just last week, and I found the beds to be pretty hard. I like that, so it wasn't a problem for me. Or, more aptly, I was so tired every night that I could have slept on a big pile of broken glass and slept like a baby. But no, I wouldn't say the mattresses were soft.

Glad I wasn't drinking a pop when I read this

I love THAT kind of tired - disney "boy did I have a great day" tired

 

[englishrose47]

I didn't find the mattresses hard at Pop !!But I am not a good judge as I fall asleep quickly on any mattress !!!Pop does have an awesome Foodcourt though !!!

 

[Sandi]

Howdy. I'm researching POP for a possible stay this fall and wondered about the beds. My wife and I are not fans of hard beds. We prefer the softer "dream" style mattresses. We had some of the worst sleeping experiences at Port Orleans Riverside a few years ago because of the hard beds, but had a great stay at Coronado that had the newer mattresses. Have all the resorts been refitted with the softer mattresses now? POP in particular? Thanks!!

There is a definite difference between the mattresses at Pop and those at CSR. In fact, when we stayed at CSR a few years ago, I asked WDW what those mattresses were so I could buy the residential equivalent for our home. I liked it that much! But, that being said, I find the Pop mattresses to be fine. They just aren't what you'd find at a higher end hotel.

 

[KNovacovschi]

Thanks Janet B for taking the time to post this information. I'll be there from Oct 14-20. Hoping for building 1 in the '50's area since that is where we have stayed the last 2 times. I just wish Oct would hurry up and come.

 

[BellAbbeys Mom]

WOW I am sooooo excited with everyone giving reviews and talking about POP..22 Days and counting...

 

[StacyMarie]

Is anybody else having a crappy Monday. I sure wish it was August and I was checking into Pop for a week of relaxation, well as much relaxation as I can get with 4 teenage girls, two 17 year olds, one 16 year old, and one 15 year old, lol. COME ON AUGUST!

 

[JavArmy]

Is anybody else having a crappy Monday. I sure wish it was August and I was checking into Pop for a week of relaxation, well as much relaxation as I can get with 4 teenage girls, two 17 year olds, one 16 year old, and one 15 year old, lol. COME ON AUGUST!

It must be a rough day for you if you consider hanging with 4 teenagers relaxing! Hope you survive monday!!

 

[StacyMarie]

It must be a rough day for you if you consider hanging with 4 teenagers relaxing! Hope you survive monday!!

I can shoo the kids away, lol. They know their way around enough to go off on their own AND I have my own room