Pop transportation

[OtherFigment]

Hi! Hoping someone can soothe my paranoia. Just booked room only at pop for end of January. We've never stayed at a value before, but we need a vacation after a year of doctors appointments and can't afford a mod right now. I'm fine with everything about the hotel for the most part, looks super cute and we don't spend a lot of time in the room, so I'm not worried about room size. What I am worried about is transportation. When we've been in the past, the pop bus lines always look insane! Please tell me the end of January is slow enough that we won't spend hours waiting for a bus!

 

[I Love Pluto]

I have never been to WDW in January (teacher schedule). BUT - I can tell you that although Pop's bus lines are long, they are extremely well managed. Pop has a larger crowd, so it seems that more buses are sent to move that larger crowd along.

I can remember being in a Mod line - watching the Pop line (next to ours), and wishing I had stayed Value at that moment. I WAS WAITING A LONG TIME, the Pop line waited about HALF the time we did.

Hopefully, you'll get the same luck. Pop is big, but well controlled.

 

[DisneyRookie2007]

Hi! Hoping someone can soothe my paranoia. Just booked room only at pop for end of January. We've never stayed at a value before, but we need a vacation after a year of doctors appointments and can't afford a mod right now. I'm fine with everything about the hotel for the most part, looks super cute and we don't spend a lot of time in the room, so I'm not worried about room size. What I am worried about is transportation. When we've been in the past, the pop bus lines always look insane! Please tell me the end of January is slow enough that we won't spend hours waiting for a bus!

You won't spend hours waiting for a bus.

As the PP mentioned, the lines can sometimes be long - but as POP is a large resort there always seems to be another bus that comes along within a short period of time. Most parks will have long lines if you leave @ closing time or just after Wishes/Illuminations - best bet if you don't want to be at the end of a long line is to leave 10-15 minutes before the majority are expected to leave.

 

[jenny105]

I used to go at the end of January a lot and we always stayed at Pop. Never had any long lines for the buses. The worst will be coming back from a park at closing but during that time of year, even that's not that bad. Don't worry!

 

[wdwgirl100]

I was there last year at the end of January and I thought we had great service. I have stayed at all resort levels and thought Pop was the best managed. At park closing it was a long line but it moved fast. Usually as one bus was filling up another would pull up. I always waited for a bus I could get a seat on ( I was holding an 8 month old), and it never added more than 10 minutes to the wait to get a seat. Don't worry!

 

[OtherFigment]

Thanks, all!!! Your reassurances help a ton!!!

 

[heatherbynum]

I have never been in January but we went October 29th through November 5th. The longest lines we endured were at the end of the night at Magic Kingdom even that was about 10 minute wait. The lines at Pop were short as well as the other theme parks.

 

[MSSANDRA]

We always go January( LOVE IT) and have stayed from value to deluxe. While the facilities at a Deluxe are nicer, we have found that the bus service and the kindness of the CM's at pop could not be beat ANYWHERE we have stayed. We really like the resort. Were staying there this year but had a great discount pin and there were no room available at pop with it and it was cheaper to do a moderate than pop so we are doing CRS resort. however, do your homework and play with the codes and discounts if you really want a moderate. Pretty sure the DDP is free that week and the upgrade to a regular plan at a moderate might be worth the switch. You however, will LOVE pop.

 

[Patience]

We stayed at POP the first week of October and were pleased with the bus service.

 

[Colleen27]

We've been to quite a few different resorts at all levels, and felt that Pop's bus service was the best of them all. We were there around Mardi Gras last year, not a slow time at all, and while the lines at the stops could be long at peak times Disney did a great job dispatching enough buses to keep it moving. We didn't encounter any unreasonably long waits, and the fact that Pop has its own buses and only one bus stop at the resort is a wonderful perk that no other Disney resort can match.

 

[SmallWorld71]

I've stayed at all 3 levels and overall I find the values to have to best transportation. In particular I find them to be the best at getting you to the parks in the morning. Pop has it's own stop and even the All-Stars don't usually share in the am. I stayed at Boardwalk before, and while we loved the resort in proximity to Epcot, it took A LOT longer to get to MK than it did from the values because of all the stops. These days it can even take longer to MK from a monorail resort because of all the problems the monorail has been having.

I have had to wait a while at the end of the day for a bus when staying at a value - most notably after Fantasmic - but it was certainly not hours. The longest I've waited after night time entertainment was actually about 25 minutes, but it can feel like a long time if you're tired and I think that generates some of the horror stories. People often go by what they feel like and don't actually check the time. I do also find that the lines for the larger resorts (POP, POR etc..) can look really scary after the night time entertainment but as PP's mentioned, they send extra buses and the lines move quickly. Just don't be like the foolish people who thought they would try to go the the front of the Movies line after Fantasmic one night instead of getting in line; they made some people quite angry. Then they pretended they didn't know there was a line. Yes, all 200 of us just felt like standing around.

 

[sPaRkLeSpAz]

We go to Disney every January and we usually stay at Pop! The lines have never been too bad! We always get on first because my little sister is in a wheelchair, but some of the other people in our party wait in line and thus far we have always ended up on the same bus!

 

[Hockeyman]

We just got home from a 6 night stay at Pop and didnt really have much of a problem at all with the buses. Last Friday night we left Hollywood Studios just before closing and walked up to the line, it was backed up almost 2 stations down and figured we would be sitting there for a while. There seemed to be a CM across the lot where the buses pull in that redirects them as needed. We had 4 buses roll in there one right after the other and got that line down fast. That was really the busiest we had.

 

[Zippa D Doodah]

We have stayed at Pop three times, and have found the bus service to be consistently fine. The only time I was left a bit frazzled by Pop bus service has been high density times such as at park closing.

 

[DopeysGal82]

We just got back from a week at Pop ( our 2nd trip) and found the bus service to be very very good.

On our first night we were leaving DHS toward the end of EMH and the line was pretty backed up and there were 7, count 'em SEVEN scooters on the line. This meant that for the next 3-7 buses, the bus would have to stop to load the scooters first. I was starting to feel despair while they were loading the scooter when another bus came alongside the bus and loaded us from the line and did not load any scooters. it helped to clear the line while the scooters were loading. I was so happy.

Generally Pop did seem to have long bus lines, but we only ONCE all week had to wait long for a bus.Unlike prior stays at All Stars and POFQ, we never had to wait for a second bus, we always got on the first one, even at park closing.

 

[missy120]

The only resort I have ever stayed in is Pop. We normally go, Around April-May and I have been there in March and the week between Christmas and New Years.

We have never had a problem with the transportation there. At the end of the night sometimes the lines can get long but so do the other resorts and the wait was never that bad.

When we went during Christmas the busiest time we never had a problem with the lines to get to and from the resorts.

 

[Huff]

Worst line we had was after MK closed. POP bus was the furthest one. Line was backed all the way up behind 1st Resort bus line. Mega huge! After about 10 minutes at least 4 buses showed up at the same time for POP and then 1 right after another until the line was pretty much gone. We waited maybe 20 minutes total. Otherwise its been 5-10 minutes average.

Worst bus waits we've consistantly had has been from AK or AKL to almost anywhere else.

Are you aware that end of January has free dining available? You'd have to add I think a 1 or 2 day park pass for each person but makes for cheap meals!!

 

[DisDiva2]

We love POP...no worries.You will be fine and while your there you can sneak over and check out the new Animation resort
I have a few pics on my blog if you want to check them out...

http://disneychronicles.com/category/disney-world-resort-reviews-photos/http://disneychronicles.com/category/disney-world-resort-reviews-photos/


Have a great trip!

 

[OtherFigment]

Thanks, everyone! I definitely thought about the free dining, but it's just my husband and myself, so the room only discount actually made more sense financially. You have all helped us feel so much better about transportation!