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

[FLkid]

Oh my gosh only 3 weeks to go!

First time staying at pop (or on site in general)

Quick question,


I will be arriving late Sunday night (11ish)
My vacation "officially" starts Monday. (Going up there the night before so I don't lose any park time making the 3 1/2 hour drive)

Would you rather spend $40 to stay at super 8 (5-8 mins away) for the night and just check into pop at 3 on Monday (planned to go check in during a break from HS)

Or

Pay the cost (at least $100) to get into my room at pop a day early? Will the extra $60-$70 be worth not having to check in on Monday?

Thanks guys

 

[mara512]

Oh my gosh only 3 weeks to go! First time staying at pop (or on site in general) Quick question, I will be arriving late Sunday night (11ish) My vacation "officially" starts Monday. (Going up there the night before so I don't lose any park time making the 3 1/2 hour drive) Would you rather spend $40 to stay at super 8 (5-8 mins away) for the night and just check into pop at 3 on Monday (planned to go check in during a break from HS) Or Pay the cost (at least $100) to get into my room at pop a day early? Will the extra $60-$70 be worth not having to check in on Monday? Thanks guys

I think opinions may differ here but for me it would absolutely be worth paying the extra cost to be at Pop and settled in and not have to worry about it on Monday. If manageable, I say go for it! Hope you have a trip filled with magic!

 

[wingnut3443]

I was at POP a couple of weeks ago. I didn't have a fridge, at first. I asked for the rebate and they told me they aren't doing the rebates anymore. I pitched a fit enough to get a fridge delivered. The only reason I pushed the issue was because I was assured twice that I'd have one.

When we arrived today and got to room, we called about a fridge, said they would get us one, so we headed to Epcot for day. Upon return to room some 9 hrs late, and only to discover no fridge. Calling once again to a reply of, "I guess we will get you one when we have one"
To me, this is not cool, yes I can live without one, and I know recalls can occur, however the last 2 nights we stayed offsite in a hotel that not only had a fridge but a mircowave and coffee maker in room.
Come on disney, you want us to stay here and not in the "real" world, then start giving us comparable amenities.
So yes because other have and I don't,and we are paying the same, I will be asking.

 

[chanda7]

I checked into Pop today, 50s section, with a workng fridge.

 

[smidgy]

Oh my gosh only 3 weeks to go!

First time staying at pop (or on site in general)

Quick question,


I will be arriving late Sunday night (11ish)
My vacation "officially" starts Monday. (Going up there the night before so I don't lose any park time making the 3 1/2 hour drive)

Would you rather spend $40 to stay at super 8 (5-8 mins away) for the night and just check into pop at 3 on Monday (planned to go check in during a break from HS)

Or

Pay the cost (at least $100) to get into my room at pop a day early? Will the extra $60-$70 be worth not having to check in on Monday?

Thanks guys

are you driving or flying? if driving
pick up a Room saver's hotel discount book. you can probably do better than $40 , with a coupon try the motel 6 the rodeway inn, or the knight's inn on 192.
get there earlier, have dinner somewhere (ponderosa is a good deal) get to bed early.
get up super early, check in to pop really early. leave your bags with them and go to the park. (I think earlier check in gives you a better choice of rooms, esp if you are willing to wait for a room.) come back to settle in when the rooms ready, or later if it's ready early,

 

[stitchlovestink]

are you driving or flying? if driving
pick up a Room saver's hotel discount book. you can probably do better than $40 , with a coupon try the motel 6 the rodeway inn, or the knight's inn on 192.
get there earlier, have dinner somewhere (ponderosa is a good deal) get to bed early.
get up super early, check in to pop really early. leave your bags with them and go to the park. (I think earlier check in gives you a better choice of rooms, esp if you are willing to wait for a room.) come back to settle in when the rooms ready, or later if it's ready early,

Mmmmm.....I kinda disagree with a super early check in giving you a better choice of rooms. If you do a super early check in and then head off to the parks, more than likely you are going to wait to receive a text from them with your room number. And if you aren't pleased with it, you are going to need to head back to the resort then and depending on what time it is, (like say they assigned you a room at 1pm) they may not know if they will have what you want available and be able to give you a new room number until later since 'official' check in isn't until 3pm. So, it 'can' work against you if you have specific preferences...now that doesn't mean it will!! But it could.

And Personally, I would avoid that Ponderosa on International Drive at ALL costs!!! LOL! We have eaten there previously and did NOT have any positive experiences. We gave it multiple tries because of nostalgic reasons but it just wasn't positive ANY of the times we have tried it! Sigh....

I think if it were me, I would just spend the extra$$$ and check in a day early at POP and be done with it, but that's just me. Too many of the cheaper motels around there are just too dirty and sketchy IMO! Not worth it!!! Good Luck with your decision and hope you have a wonderful trip!

 

[HappyGal]

I'd pay for an extra night at Pop. Do they have a room available?

 

[OMG Andrea]

Question about the POP breakfast:

We are on the dining plan & want to try the POP breakfast at least one time. Is there someone there that will check our MagicBands to use a Counter Service credit? And what does that entail? Do we get the waffles, breakfast burritos, omelets, etc? Or just choose one thing?

Thanks!!

 

[Simba77]

Question about the POP breakfast:

We are on the dining plan & want to try the POP breakfast at least one time. Is there someone there that will check our MagicBands to use a Counter Service credit? And what does that entail? Do we get the waffles, breakfast burritos, omelets, etc? Or just choose one thing?

Thanks!!

Breakfast is like the other meals - you choose what you want (just one "meal"... like french toast, breakfast burrito, bounty platter, etc) and go to the checkout CM to deduct meal credits. With breakfast, you get the choice of one item and a drink. Since you're on the dining plan, you'll probably have the refillable mugs, so you can bring the mugs to get soda/coffee/etc and then choose a bottled drink like orange juice or soda as your drink item to have later. That's what we always did when we ate at the food court.

 

[OMG Andrea]

Breakfast is like the other meals - you choose what you want (just one "meal"... like french toast, breakfast burrito, bounty platter, etc) and go to the checkout CM to deduct meal credits. With breakfast, you get the choice of one item and a drink. Since you're on the dining plan, you'll probably have the refillable mugs, so you can bring the mugs to get soda/coffee/etc and then choose a bottled drink like orange juice or soda as your drink item to have later. That's what we always did when we ate at the food court.

FABULOUS tip - I never would have thought of that. Thank you! We haven't stayed on property before or used the DP or eaten as CS restaurants before, so I am new to this

 

[OMG Andrea]

One more question: if we want to be at HS for EMH, which start at 8am, what time should we be to the buses? We will be doing breakfast at POP that morning

 

[Pikester]

From our experience with breakfast. I don't like to eat big so even though we were on the QS dining plan I paid out of pocket for a breakfast pastry. My DH found out that the pastry, a container of cut up fruit and a bottled drink counted as a CS credit.

Of course we found that out after I had paid for a few pastries.

 

[Disneylover99]

One more question: if we want to be at HS for EMH, which start at 8am, what time should we be to the buses? We will be doing breakfast at POP that morning

I would be at the bus stop by 7am. The earlier you get there the better.

 

[OMG Andrea]

I would be at the bus stop by 7am. The earlier you get there the better.

Thanks!

 

[MamaJessie]

are you driving or flying? if driving
pick up a Room saver's hotel discount book. you can probably do better than $40 , with a coupon try the motel 6 the rodeway inn, or the knight's inn on 192.
get there earlier, have dinner somewhere (ponderosa is a good deal) get to bed early.
get up super early, check in to pop really early. leave your bags with them and go to the park. (I think earlier check in gives you a better choice of rooms, esp if you are willing to wait for a room.) come back to settle in when the rooms ready, or later if it's ready early,

I agree with this. Unless I had FD and could justify the extra $$ with meal credits for the family I would be more inclined to go offsite for the first night.

 

[Kat016]

I think opinions may differ here but for me it would absolutely be worth paying the extra cost to be at Pop and settled in and not have to worry about it on Monday. If manageable, I say go for it! Hope you have a trip filled with magic!

I agree with this...pay the extra money and enjoy your trip!!

 

[bluezy]

I think opinions may differ here but for me it would absolutely be worth paying the extra cost to be at Pop and settled in and not have to worry about it on Monday. If manageable, I say go for it! Hope you have a trip filled with magic!

I completely agree. We drive (from PA) and typically arrive at Disney around noon. We like to get settled in at the resort and make sure we get a good night's sleep so we can hit the ground running in the morning and not have to worry about packing up and moving to a new hotel/resort. The first few times we visited Disney we would not go to a park that first night -- we just took a bus to MK and rode the monorail to EPCOT and then took a bus back to Pop to let the kids swim a little bit before heading to bed for the night. We also did DTD on arrival day one time. Now we buy tickets so we have a park entry for every day we're there and usually spend a few hours at Epcot on our arrival day but still get back to the hotel by 8:00 or so and get a good night's sleep for our first full day in the parks.

 

[KNovacovschi]

Only 5 days till we are "home". Lol. My MB status has finally changed from Act quickly to you can pick up your bands at your resort guest relations. So excited.

 

[Disneylover99]

Only 5 days till we are "home". Lol. My MB status has finally changed from Act quickly to you can pick up your bands at your resort guest relations. So excited.

It takes forever for your status to change when you are Canadian and you have to pick up your bands at the resort. Enjoy your trip!

 

[FLkid]

are you driving or flying? if driving pick up a Room saver's hotel discount book. you can probably do better than $40 , with a coupon try the motel 6 the rodeway inn, or the knight's inn on 192. get there earlier, have dinner somewhere (ponderosa is a good deal) get to bed early. get up super early, check in to pop really early. leave your bags with them and go to the park. (I think earlier check in gives you a better choice of rooms, esp if you are willing to wait for a room.) come back to settle in when the rooms ready, or later if it's ready early,

I will be driving up there. I'm working that day so leaving earlier isn't an option as of right now, I'm assuming I'll hit Kissimmee around 10-11pm



Also I only have a FL weekday select pass so going to the parks that day isn't a possibility either way. Although I would have loved to spend that evening at DTD.

We stayed at the super 8 in October so I know it is clean and accommodating, where I'm torn is how staying there will mean I will have to deal with the whole check in process/getting settled on one of my park days. I'm starting to lean towards paying the extra