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

[mickeysmith]

Good luck and keep smiling - I mean swimming!!

Thank you! I'll let you all know how it goes tomorrow!

 

[prettypatchesmsu]

I totally sympathize. Our 4pm arrival was less than magical with all the problems today. Here in 70s, new fridge, old bedding. Towel Mickey head was cute and a first.

Ok, so at first no KTTW cards, told only DH MB would work on door, that mine wouldn't. But was supposed to have dining plan, purchasing, tickets working on both. Told to check back later... When we ha to go back to get our shipped box that was never delivered at about 5pm as we were tired of waiting. We went to concierge. Lovely guy from Austrailia found our box, printed our KTTW cards, fixed MB (which did already open my door...not sure anything was wrong with mine anyways) and gave us two 2013 MB sliders.

Requested 60s but got 70s, but I like the location, we are close. Hoping all goes well with park admission tomorrow. Just did Downtown Disney tonight.

 

[Kat016]

I totally sympathize. Our 4pm arrival was less than magical with all the problems today. Here in 70s, new fridge, old bedding. Towel Mickey head was cute and a first.

Ok, so at first no KTTW cards, told only DH MB would work on door, that mine wouldn't. But was supposed to have dining plan, purchasing, tickets working on both. Told to check back later... When we ha to go back to get our shipped box that was never delivered at about 5pm as we were tired of waiting. We went to concierge. Lovely guy from Austrailia found our box, printed our KTTW cards, fixed MB (which did already open my door...not sure anything was wrong with mine anyways) and gave us two 2013 MB sliders.

Requested 60s but got 70s, but I like the location, we are close. Hoping all goes well with park admission tomorrow. Just did Downtown Disney tonight.

Not sounding promising with all the MB problems. I'd be happy with the KTTW cards and DP cards. At least than you know it'll work.
Hopefully tomorrow will go smoother for you

 

[Disneylover99]

Without KTTW cards, MBs sporadically working are our only hope. This sucks! I haven't even been able to access our dining plan. Had to pay cash for everything today. Trying to stay positive, but not happy with my decision to stay at Pop. These problems appear to be at Pop, not other resorts.

I am at the concierge now. 3rd time about magic bands. Still don't work. Just keep swimming...

This is terrible and so frustrating. I'm sending you both some pixie dust for better days ahead.

 

[prettypatchesmsu]

Good luck to all you other Pop'ers today. Hopefully our MB will work in the park today. Little worried with all the problems yesterday everyone was having. Although our first two hours here were aggravating trying to get everything fixed, I'm really sorry to see problems that jade and others had that were much more time consuming. Guess we were lucky to check in a little later that it only took two hours and they were getting it figured out.

 

[shyjade]

Update: after spending more than an hour in line last night (only 1 CM was working the online check in desk and there were several of us in line to get cards printed plus those waiting to check in), we were assured everything would work. Hiked back to the room...nope! Pure exhaustion & frustration had set in. Hiked back to the desk, they "recoded" the bands & cards and sent a runner to meet us at the room you make sure they worked.

You guessed it....nope! I lost it at this point, as did DD15, and we both started crying. We had been up since 2am traveling, and it was beyond ridiculous. The night manager called and assured me they were working on it. In the meantime, we were stuck in our room with no way back in if we left it.

Finally at 10:15pm the manager came to our room with bands and cards that worked to room door. We will see today if they work for everything else.

I have to say, all but 1 CM at the front desk (all 4 times we were up there) were extremely friendly and amazing (not their fault the "system" is so screwed up). Several CMs who tried assisting me at HS made it clear there are MANY glitches with this system.

Although our visit to HS was awesome last night, our resort time has exhausting and downright bad. After all that last night we went to grab a night to east and the lines were so slow! It took 45 minutes to get 1 order of chicken nuggets and pay. Guess we won't be eating there much.

I did request a fridge before going to HS and we returned to find a new one which made me very happy.

 

[KNovacovschi]

Update: after spending more than an hour in line last night (only 1 CM was working the online check in desk and there were several of us in line to get cards printed plus those waiting to check in), we were assured everything would work. Hiked back to the room...nope! Pure exhaustion & frustration had set in. Hiked back to the desk, they "recoded" the bands & cards and sent a runner to meet us at the room you make sure they worked. You guessed it....nope! I lost it at this point, as did DD15, and we both started crying. We had been up since 2am traveling, and it was beyond ridiculous. The night manager called and assured me they were working on it. In the meantime, we were stuck in our room with no way back in if we left it. Finally at 10:15pm the manager came to our room with bands and cards that worked to room door. We will see today if they work for everything else. I have to say, all but 1 CM at the front desk (all 4 times we were up there) were extremely friendly and amazing (not their fault the "system" is so screwed up). Several CMs who tried assisting me at HS made it clear there are MANY glitches with this system. Although our visit to HS was awesome last night, our resort time has exhausting and downright bad. After all that last night we went to grab a night to east and the lines were so slow! It took 45 minutes to get 1 order of chicken nuggets and pay. Guess we won't be eating there much. I did request a fridge before going to HS and we returned to find a new one which made me very happy.

Sorry to hear it took so long to get things straightened out last night. Hope things go better today. Enjoy your day!!

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

 

[Disneylover99]

Update: after spending more than an hour in line last night (only 1 CM was working the online check in desk and there were several of us in line to get cards printed plus those waiting to check in), we were assured everything would work. Hiked back to the room...nope! Pure exhaustion & frustration had set in. Hiked back to the desk, they "recoded" the bands & cards and sent a runner to meet us at the room you make sure they worked.

You guessed it....nope! I lost it at this point, as did DD15, and we both started crying. We had been up since 2am traveling, and it was beyond ridiculous. The night manager called and assured me they were working on it. In the meantime, we were stuck in our room with no way back in if we left it.

.

The exact same situation happened to us in August. Only we were left outside of our room. Boy did I get hysterical! After trekking back and forth numerous times, I was told I was just using the MB incorrectly on my door. My children actually fell asleep on the ground outside the door because it took so long for someone to come. When someone finally came, they said, oh yeah, it doesn't work.

The good news is that our trip got better after they finally figured everything out. I'm hoping it gets better for you too.

 

[freckles04]

Hi again everyone! I haven't been posting on the Pop boards for over a year now, but I'm so excited to be coming back to POP in January. After a stay at a moderate, I've decided I'm a POP kinda girl... gosh, I missed it!!!

So sorry to hear of all the glitches going on there right now.

I have a question about Magical Express, since we're flying for the first time next trip. Our flight going home takes off at 2:25PM. Those with experience with ME, about what time will we need to be back at POP and ready to board the ME bus? I was hoping to go to DHS at rope drop and spend some time there before leaving.

Thanks for any insight!

 

[buteraa]

Good morning everyone. With the negative posts I just read about for others arriving yesterday, I thought I would give you some good news. My DH and I arrived yesterday and we are traveling with my DS and her friend. We book a preferred room and my sister had a regular room. Our flights went well and when we arrived to the magical express, we are all nervous to see if our MB's worked and they did! We were addressed by name, we got on the bus and within 5 minutes we were on our way. Our bus stopped at AOA first and then it was our stop. This is our first visit to POP and we are not disappointed. The on-line check line had a about 5-6 other families so they had cast members checking in guests with iPads while they were still in line. Check-in took about 10 minutes and they upgraded my DS to a preferred room two doors down from us because we had linked our reservations. They gave us 2 out of our 3 requests. Top floor, quiet view and our 3rd request was a king bed and we did not get that, but I know they are limited. We are in the 60's building and when we arrived to our room.....YES, the MB worked to let us in, no problems!

Our room is very clean and has a new black fridge. I don't think the bedding is new, but I cannot say since this is our first visit. The bedspread is blue and tan with the decades...I would guess they are not new. We had cute towel animals around the room and DS's room was just as nice and she had no problems with her MB.

We had booked fast passes for EPCOT (Test Track, Under the Sea and Soarin. All fast passes worked great with no problems. While the Fast Pass lines looked long, they moved along fairly quickly. We made a few purchases, water at the kiosk and a lanyard at the store and again used the MB with no problems. We did not attempt to go around the world for F&W since it was Saturday. However, we did experience a few people that clearly had a few too many and one man was using pretty foul language. Weather was pretty muggy and warm but its supposed to get better over the next few days with a little rain. All in all we had a great first day and we are headed to MK today.

I hope all of you that are arriving soon have the same great experience we did with the MB (I hope I didn't just jinx myself)!!

 

[buteraa]

Generally ME will pick you up at the resort 2-3 hours prior to your flight so I would say 10:30-11:00am just to be safe.

 

[ktdid23]

Generally ME will pick you up at the resort 2-3 hours prior to your flight so I would say 10:30-11:00am just to be safe.

How do you know when ME will come? Do they give you a pick up time?

 

[buteraa]

Yes, you will get a notice with your pick up time at the end of your stay. Have a great trip.

 

[ktdid23]

Yes, you will get a notice with your pick up time at the end of your stay. Have a great trip.

Thank you!

 

[sargenca]

Good morning everyone. With the negative posts I just read about for others arriving yesterday, I thought I would give you some good news. My DH and I arrived yesterday and we are traveling with my DS and her friend. We book a preferred room and my sister had a regular room. Our flights went well and when we arrived to the magical express, we are all nervous to see if our MB's worked and they did! We were addressed by name, we got on the bus and within 5 minutes we were on our way. Our bus stopped at AOA first and then it was our stop. This is our first visit to POP and we are not disappointed. The on-line check line had a about 5-6 other families so they had cast members checking in guests with iPads while they were still in line. Check-in took about 10 minutes and they upgraded my DS to a preferred room two doors down from us because we had linked our reservations. They gave us 2 out of our 3 requests. Top floor, quiet view and our 3rd request was a king bed and we did not get that, but I know they are limited. We are in the 60's building and when we arrived to our room.....YES, the MB worked to let us in, no problems! Our room is very clean and has a new black fridge. I don't think the bedding is new, but I cannot say since this is our first visit. The bedspread is blue and tan with the decades...I would guess they are not new. We had cute towel animals around the room and DS's room was just as nice and she had no problems with her MB. We had booked fast passes for EPCOT (Test Track, Under the Sea and Soarin. All fast passes worked great with no problems. While the Fast Pass lines looked long, they moved along fairly quickly. We made a few purchases, water at the kiosk and a lanyard at the store and again used the MB with no problems. We did not attempt to go around the world for F&W since it was Saturday. However, we did experience a few people that clearly had a few too many and one man was using pretty foul language. Weather was pretty muggy and warm but its supposed to get better over the next few days with a little rain. All in all we had a great first day and we are headed to MK today. I hope all of you that are arriving soon have the same great experience we did with the MB (I hope I didn't just jinx myself)!!

Glad your trip is off to a GREAT start!! Thanks for the update.

 

[Christine9125]

Yes, you will get a notice with your pick up time at the end of your stay. Have a great trip.

If you don't have it on your door, call the front desk and ask. We never received our envelope with info in it. One of many non-magical issues we experienced this time with POP.

 

[freckles04]

Generally ME will pick you up at the resort 2-3 hours prior to your flight so I would say 10:30-11:00am just to be safe.

Thank you! Although, that doesn't give us much time for DHS... but we will really only want to do TSMM, Star Tours, RnRC, and ToT. Maybe we would be better off taking our own luggage and hiring a taxi service to get back to the airport as I was hoping to head to the airport around 12pm. I have not flown on an airplane since pre-9/11 so don't know if that's realistic for a 2:25pm flight.

 

[mickeysmith]

Good news! Bands worked no problem in MK. Just pulled FP-, also! Must be a glitch they were on quickly. The door issue should be resolved by the time we get back tonight! Thanks for the pixie dust!

 

[Kat016]

Good news! Bands worked no problem in MK. Just pulled FP-, also! Must be a glitch they were on quickly. The door issue should be resolved by the time we get back tonight! Thanks for the pixie dust!

What about the dining plan? Is it on your bands? That's my biggest question....

 

[mickeysmith]

What about the dining plan? Is it on your bands? That's my biggest question....

We did not do dining plan. Just walked up for BOG res no problem!! I think it will be ok for you. I hope shyjade is ok on the do today!