POP Century~Unofficially the Grooviest FAQ Thread #8~July 2013

[circus4u]

Just returned from 14 days at Pop. We have stayed at the All Stars in the past and this was our first time at Pop. On the positive side, the CMs were always courteous and helpful. Housekeeping was great. The room was quiet and close to the buses. However, we have decided that we will not be returning to Pop and will go back to the All Stars Movies for our November trip. The food court was always crowded and extremely noisy. Return bus service from the parks was generally terrible, not because of infrequency, but because there were so many people in line. Twice, we returned from Magic Kingdom about 1-2 hours before closing. The bus lines for Pop extended all the way to the end of the construction walls for the new bus stops (Pop bus stop is at the far end of the row). During both these times, Disney was loading two POP buses at a time, but the lines still took over an hour to get to a bus. Buses from the other parks were not as bad for return. Personally, I believe the problem is because Pop is such a large resort, they just can't handle the volume of people on the buses. Many times, we just rode the Art of Animation bus and walked across the bridge, as there were far fewer riders for those buses. Also, the folks abusing the electric scooters and wheel chairs did not help in the loading and transportation. Can't count the number of times we saw people use the park wheel chairs to get to the front of the line and then just leave them at the bus stop when they boarded the bus. Although not related to the bus issue, I was impressed to see some people in wheel chairs who obviously needed them, go through the line like everyone else. They would get out of the chair and make their way up the steps while someone folded the chair and carried it on. We saw the same thing in many of the ride lines.

 

[Lilly Skye]

I'm really just a lurker, and not a poster, but after reading quite a few negative comments today, I wanted to post.

I'm on day 11 of a 14 day trip, and I'd give this place a 95% positive review. That's a grade of an "A", right?

We're on a trip with mom (me) and and 13 year old and a 4 year old. Our room is 1st floor, pool side preferred, and you definitely can hear people having fun outside, but that sound is muted. We expected the happy noises and that is part of why we chose this location. We like to be in the middle of the action. It's great to walk out the door and into the Hippy Dippy Pool. I can't imagine a better place to have a room. But that's my preference. The one problem we had here was a group of teenagers in the pool at 3:30ish (a.m.) who were being loud. Security pulled them out and closed the pool but they stayed pool side and continued their yelling and singing. Security had to be called AGAIN to get them to leave.

Food has been pretty good, but we eat here a lot, and now at 11 days we're a bit bored of it. The portion sizes are huge and I feel terrible throwing out half of my meal, but I know my health is more important that not wasting food. We use the Allergy coordinators a lot, and they are very friendly and helpful. No sections of the food court have been closed, except for late at night, some sections close earlier than others. I think from 11-12 there is only 1 section open.


The kids pin trade a lot and the cast members have been very good and patient with them. All trips to concierge have been with friendly cast members. Sometimes it would take a team of CMs to answer questions. Magic Bands still stump them sometimes.

I'm happy to answer any questions.

 

[Lilly Skye]

We are staying in the 60's section of POP and will sometimes take the bus from the parks back to AoA for lunch or dinner, and then walk over the bridge back to POP. Or we will just make the walk from and to our room. I was very surprised (and pleased) to discover how close the AoA food court actually is to certain parts of POP. Depending on where your room is at either of the resorts this could really double your dining choices. I suggest you give the walk a try at the beginning of your trip to see if this is an option for you. We wish we had known this from the beginning of our trip.

 

[heidihoho50]

I'm really just a lurker, and not a poster, but after reading quite a few negative comments today, I wanted to post.

I'm on day 11 of a 14 day trip, and I'd give this place a 95% positive review. That's a grade of an "A", right?

We're on a trip with mom (me) and and 13 year old and a 4 year old. Our room is 1st floor, pool side preferred, and you definitely can hear people having fun outside, but that sound is muted. We expected the happy noises and that is part of why we chose this location. We like to be in the middle of the action. It's great to walk out the door and into the Hippy Dippy Pool. I can't imagine a better place to have a room. But that's my preference. The one problem we had here was a group of teenagers in the pool at 3:30ish (a.m.) who were being loud. Security pulled them out and closed the pool but they stayed pool side and continued their yelling and singing. Security had to be called AGAIN to get them to leave.

Food has been pretty good, but we eat here a lot, and now at 11 days we're a bit bored of it. The portion sizes are huge and I feel terrible throwing out half of my meal, but I know my health is more important that not wasting food. We use the Allergy coordinators a lot, and they are very friendly and helpful. No sections of the food court have been closed, except for late at night, some sections close earlier than others. I think from 11-12 there is only 1 section open.

The kids pin trade a lot and the cast members have been very good and patient with them. All trips to concierge have been with friendly cast members. Sometimes it would take a team of CMs to answer questions. Magic Bands still stump them sometimes.

I'm happy to answer any questions.

How is your experience been with the bus Situation??

 

[KNovacovschi]

Boo it won't let me check in online. It says "Sorry we are unable to complete your online checkin at this time. Please try again later." Has anyone else had this issue trying to checkin today.

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

 

[heidihoho50]

Boo it won't let me check in online. It says "Sorry we are unable to complete your online checkin at this time. Please try again later." Has anyone else had this issue trying to checkin today.

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

That happened to me last week when I tried. I just keep hitting try again button. After about 8 tries it accepted it!

 

[KNovacovschi]

That happened to me last week when I tried. I just keep hitting try again button. After about 8 tries it accepted it!

I left it alone for a bit and just went back, now I don't even have the option to do check in.

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

 

[Lilly Skye]

The Bus situation from Pop has been the same as always. Average wait I'd guess.... 6 minutes. Often less than 5, but occasionally 10-15. People often need to stand on the morning buses. Leaving the parks, wait time depends. When we stayed for Wishes and then went out to the bus, we probably got on the 4th or 5th bus. Long lines. When we leave before the parade we probably get on the 2nd bus. I don't understand how the bussing is coordinated here. Sometimes busses show up 2 minutes apart, and sometimes 10 minutes apart. It's really a game of chance. We have been super lucky with transfers. We went from Pop to DTD for Disney Quest, then to AoA so we could get to Hollywood Studios. Our luck had us get off one bus and right onto the next. I'm being super nice all of the time, just in case there is such a thing as Karma. They do run double buses for busy times, which is nice. I'm not seeing much obvious Scooter abuse. There probably is scooter abuse, but I don't notice it a lot. Friendly bus drivers, it seems. But my 4 year old usually greets them with "Hello, Sir." Or "Good morning." And a smile. That helps a lot.

 

[bikerjenn]

cant do online check in either.....I went through once and it let me click on fastpass plus but said date range not available? check in 11/12/13 I so hope we get magic bands

 

[jcarwash]

....a CM told me that the worst thing they did was open AoA ...because it cut into POP's 'business" ...even the bartender at Petals said that.

Hmm, many if they are low on "business" Disney will consider adjusting the room rates? I stayed at Pop four times in a row until this year, when I decided I didn't want to pay a $10 premium per night vs. an All-Star resort.

For 2014 there remains a room rate difference between rooms at Pop and rooms at All-Stars (and between Little Mermaid rooms and Pop rooms -- LM is more expensive).

Perhaps AoA is drawing away former/potential Pop guests willing to pay extra for a different experience (room types, theming, etc.). It may also be happening the other way -- why pay extra for Pop when a similar experience can be had at an All-Star resort? You can get an unplugged fridge at both!

 

[pookiener]

We are flying and will have a rental car - but we are just going to pack a soft-sided cooler for the room.

Ok, glad I'm not just the only one who's going to be doing this. The only reason we really "need" a fridge is our 2 yo drinks milk for most of his fluids. But if using the soft-sided cooler gets to be too much of a hassle or doesn't keep the milk cold enough, we'll just buy milk everyday from the resort.

BTW, my travel agent gave me the # of a place that rents fridges:

The web site is KM-rentals.com and the phone number is 1-407-363-7388 or 1-855-643-6107

A week's rental is $70. I was going to do this, but when I called I was told we would have to be present to accept and return the fridge. We're flying in Sunday night (after the company closes for the day) and leaving Sunday afternoon.

I decided not to worry too much about the fridge situation. I just hope there's enough ice for our coolers. LOL

 

[angelmom27]

Ok, glad I'm not just the only one who's going to be doing this. The only reason we really "need" a fridge is our 2 yo drinks milk for most of his fluids. But if using the soft-sided cooler gets to be too much of a hassle or doesn't keep the milk cold enough, we'll just buy milk everyday from the resort.

BTW, my travel agent gave me the # of a place that rents fridges:

The web site is KM-rentals.com and the phone number is 1-407-363-7388 or 1-855-643-6107

A week's rental is $70. I was going to do this, but when I called I was told we would have to be present to accept and return the fridge. We're flying in Sunday night (after the company closes for the day) and leaving Sunday afternoon.

I decided not to worry too much about the fridge situation. I just hope there's enough ice for our coolers. LOL

There was another mom who posted about her child needing milk and they offered a fridge for medical reason. The CM told her that was a medical reason to have and they gave it to her. So maybe see if they will do the same.

 

[MamaJessie]

Boo it won't let me check in online. It says "Sorry we are unable to complete your online checkin at this time. Please try again later." Has anyone else had this issue trying to checkin today.

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

I got an error message when I hit submit at the end of online check in but when I logged into MDE it said 'modify online check in' so it must have went through

I couldn't think of a preference, so it will be luck of the draw.

 

[reelmom]

MDE say my magic bands are being customized now and will ship soon. When can I expect them?

We got ours the next day after receiving the being customized message. It was next day air from UPS.

 

[sjhanksaz]

I called last night to check on our room requests.

Good thing I did because some how our Magical Express was lost. We had already recieved our tages and luggage stuff. She added them back on for us.

Our "WDW first trip" was also lost from our reservation too.

I asked about the Fridge thing and was told they are in process of replacing them and that she would put in a request.

Long story short - maybe a good idea to just call and check on your reservations and special requests.

 

[stego]

My wife and I will be arriving at POP on Oct 17, for 7 nights. In order to get the FD, we made a single night reservation for that night. I duly made our room requests on both our reservations. I've received our magic bands, our ME vouchers, and our commerative luggage tags(new style this year; and a different attachment/strap).
Our request was for Building 3, 4th floor, facing the lake. We'll see. I've stayed at POP 1 night a few years back. The reason why we chose POP was because of the dining situation at ASSp. My wife and I love ASMu, but the turn off was having all those folks from sports coming on over. So this year, we thought we would give POP a try.
I've read numerous accounts about the food court, and we typically don't go during busy hours. We pack cereal/protein shakes for in the room. Of course, I am open to walking across the bridge to AOA, as many other people have stated. It's usually for a few dinner & lunch services. We have a tendency to eat dinner early (6ish).
I've also heard about the fridge situation and I come here to check almost daily. That's what I will continue to do until the night before. I have a soft sided cooler that we received last year from Disney for our anniversary, which I can pack easily. Over the years I have modified our packing plans so I am pretty minimalist.
I've created an ever changing document that reflects my latest plans and packing. I know I am obsessive but it works...really. I am on board fully with the nextgen system and am willing to give it the old college try. That doesn't mean I won't bring my lanyard along, but I will take each day as it comes.
I personally don't believe in cases of water; I take a couple of refillable water bottles and a couple of small liquid add in's. When it comes to touring in the parks, minimal is the theme.
And speaking of theme, yes, I am one of those that HAS to match my clothing each day at the world. That is how obsessive I am.
To conclude our trip this year, my wife has a wound care conference over at the CR, so we have a split stay from Oct 24-27 there. We scored a super rate for the garden wing, and I arranged to go to MNSSHP on Fri Oct 25. It will be seriously cool to walk back to the CR after the party. I've gone over to easywdw to figure out how to plan my evening and our character photo quest. Trust me when I tell you there are many online resources for visiting the world.
Lastly, I want to thank the DIS community for being such a wonderful resource in our planning over the years!
Over and out...stego

 

[EpcotBill]

My wife and I will be arriving at POP on Oct 17, for 7 nights. In order to get the FD, we made a single night reservation for that night.
...stego

I don't understand this. Did you extend your reservation by adding a night at the beginning of your vacation? You wouldn't have gotten free dining with a single night reservation, you had to book at least 3 nights for free dining.

 

[OhioDisneyLover]

W stayed at Pop in January 2013 and had a fridge in our room that was free of charge. Did they change that back to having to request a fridge?

Sorry if the answer is somewhere in this thread....I haven't read it all yet.

 

[vleeth]

W stayed at Pop in January 2013 and had a fridge in our room that was free of charge. Did they change that back to having to request a fridge?

Sorry if the answer is somewhere in this thread....I haven't read it all yet.

They are having to replace all of the fridges and haven't gotten to Pop yet.

 

[angelmom27]

W stayed at Pop in January 2013 and had a fridge in our room that was free of charge. Did they change that back to having to request a fridge?

Sorry if the answer is somewhere in this thread....I haven't read it all yet.

From what I have heard technically it wasn't free just included in price.