The GROOVIER New Pop Century FAQ Thread Chapter 4! ~ Posts #1, #2 & #3 are MUST sees!

[Minnesota!]

Just back yesterday from our wonderful stay at Pop!

We were in room 3213....backside of building 3. Corner...overlooking the lake and building 2. Awesome location!!!! I absolutely loved it!

The place was amazing...immaculate, CM's were above and beyond friendly. Food court was never crowded, always clean.

We spent a day in the bowling pin pool, and our nights either at the wading pool (beer for DH and I, swimming for the kids!), or in the game room.

best trip so far (12 under my belt!).

Any questions...I will try and answer!

 

[Momto2PrncChrmgs]

Just back yesterday from our wonderful stay at Pop!

We were in room 3213....backside of building 3. Corner...overlooking the lake and building 2. Awesome location!!!! I absolutely loved it!

The place was amazing...immaculate, CM's were above and beyond friendly. Food court was never crowded, always clean.

We spent a day in the bowling pin pool, and our nights either at the wading pool (beer for DH and I, swimming for the kids!), or in the game room.

best trip so far (12 under my belt!).

Any questions...I will try and answer!

Thanks for the update!!! Can NOT WAIT! In 96 hrs I will be leaving my house on the way to the airport!!!!!!

 

[KELLY]

Thanks for the update!!! Can NOT WAIT! In 96 hrs I will be leaving my house on the way to the airport!!!!!!

Have a awesome trip. I have to many more to count.

 

[Colleen27]

Just to let y'all know, the hippy dippy pool closure is 100% officially confirmed now - I got this letter from Disney in today's mail:

"Dear Disney's Pop Century Resort Guest,

We are delighted you have selected the Walt Disney World Resort as your vacation destination.

In order for Disney's Pop Century Resort to continue to flourish as a magical destination, it is necessary for us to make enhancements from time to time.

If you have stayed with us before you are most likely familiar with the Hippy Dippy Pool complex. To ensure our facilities are maintained to our quality standards, we will be conducting mainenance on the pool. Beginning Monday, Februray 14, the pool will be closed to Guests so we may complete this effort. We expect the pool o reopen in mid-March.

During this time the Bowling Pool and Computer Pool will continue to be available for your enjoyment.

Thank you and we look forward to your upcoming stay. If you have any questions regarding your reservation, please contact your original booking agent listed on your confirmation letter.

Sincerely,
The Cast of Disney's Pop Century Resort"

No mention of the kiddie pool either way, so if those of you who are traveling between now and then could report back what you know or maybe even ask a CM, I would much appreciate it!

 

[Minnie&Nana]

Just back yesterday from our wonderful stay at Pop!

We were in room 3213....backside of building 3. Corner...overlooking the lake and building 2. Awesome location!!!! I absolutely loved it!

We were in the same room, only 4th floor on our second POP stay. GREAT location and view - especially evenings when you cans step outside the door and watch the top of IllumiNations! Could you see the top of Spaceship Earth from the 2nd floor as well?

Welcome back and so happy you had a wodnerful trip!!

 

[The 4 "Quay"balleros]

Just got home and looking through my mail I found a letter from Disney. On the front it has Mickey, Goofy and Donald next to the words "For Your Future Enjoyment" surrounded by stars. I'm thinking I got an upgrade or something special. Open it up and it's nice stationary with the big 3 again. I start reading it and it says they are delighted I selected POP as my vk destination. YA-DA YA-DA YA-DA it is necessary to make enhancements from time to time. Turns out this is telling me that the Hippy Dippy pool is closed. It says that I am most likely familiar with the Hippy Dippy pool complex and that the pool will be closed for maintenance. It only says the pool is closed, so hopefully the kiddie pool is open.
__________________

 

[pooh'smate]

Just to let y'all know, the hippy dippy pool closure is 100% officially confirmed now - I got this letter from Disney in today's mail:

"Dear Disney's Pop Century Resort Guest,

We are delighted you have selected the Walt Disney World Resort as your vacation destination.

In order for Disney's Pop Century Resort to continue to flourish as a magical destination, it is necessary for us to make enhancements from time to time.

If you have stayed with us before you are most likely familiar with the Hippy Dippy Pool complex. To ensure our facilities are maintained to our quality standards, we will be conducting mainenance on the pool. Beginning Monday, Februray 14, the pool will be closed to Guests so we may complete this effort. We expect the pool o reopen in mid-March.

During this time the Bowling Pool and Computer Pool will continue to be available for your enjoyment.

Thank you and we look forward to your upcoming stay. If you have any questions regarding your reservation, please contact your original booking agent listed on your confirmation letter.

Sincerely,
The Cast of Disney's Pop Century Resort"

No mention of the kiddie pool either way, so if those of you who are traveling between now and then could report back what you know or maybe even ask a CM, I would much appreciate it!

We will be there from 2/1 - 2/16 so I will report back when I find out.

 

[Minnesota!]

We were in the same room, only 4th floor on our second POP stay. GREAT location and view - especially evenings when you cans step outside the door and watch the top of IllumiNations! Could you see the top of Spaceship Earth from the 2nd floor as well?

Welcome back and so happy you had a wodnerful trip!!

I couldn't see SE, but I could see the fireworks. Really, truly, an amazing location!!!

 

[MellyBeans]

Hey everyone! My DH and I just booked a May trip to Pop! I'm so excited! This will be our third time traveling to the world together. Both other times, we tried to book Pop but it was booked! (We aren't in the habit of booking our trips very far out). This time, however, I made sure we booked far enough in advance to get the value resort we wanted!

I'm so excited! We weren't planning on going back to Disney until our anniversary this coming August, and planned to book free dining. However, I quickly realized that ship (most likely) sailed back in December, and without free dining, August really doesn't appeal to us. Since we don't have kids yet, and aren't tied to take our Disney vacations during the summer, we'd rather avoid the high crowds, hurricanes, and humidity of August if we can help it! We've been twice in May, and both trips were divine...so it'll be a three month early anniversary vacation for us!

My question...we booked a preferred room. DH's only request is that he wants a quiet room. He is probably the lightest sleeper that I know, so pool side Hippy Dippy pool is probably out. My big thing is that I want to be near the buses/Classic Hall. Ideally we'd like a king bed, but ultimately that's not as important to us. Any Pop experts, how should I word my location preferences? I've thought about just winging it and let Disney fate put us where we may, since it looks like Pop is pretty compact, and I really can't decide what "decade" I want to stay in. However, like I said, if we end up ground floor pool-side, DH probably won't be a happy camper, so I'm nervous to leave it up to chance. The one time I didn't request was when we stayed in All-Star Music back in 2007. Of course we didn't book prefered that time, but we ended up all the way in back in the Country Fair section. Not that it ruined our trip or anything, but it kind of sucked having to walk soooooo far from the food court/buses to our room. For that reason only, I feel like I need to put in a request. Any suggestions for where we should (try) to stay? MUCH appreciated!!!

 

[KELLY]

Hey everyone! My DH and I just booked a May trip to Pop! I'm so excited! This will be our third time traveling to the world together. Both other times, we tried to book Pop but it was booked! (We aren't in the habit of booking our trips very far out). This time, however, I made sure we booked far enough in advance to get the value resort we wanted!

I'm so excited! We weren't planning on going back to Disney until our anniversary this coming August, and planned to book free dining. However, I quickly realized that ship (most likely) sailed back in December, and without free dining, August really doesn't appeal to us. Since we don't have kids yet, and aren't tied to take our Disney vacations during the summer, we'd rather avoid the high crowds, hurricanes, and humidity of August if we can help it! We've been twice in May, and both trips were divine...so it'll be a three month early anniversary vacation for us!

My question...we booked a preferred room. DH's only request is that he wants a quiet room. He is probably the lightest sleeper that I know, so pool side Hippy Dippy pool is probably out. My big thing is that I want to be near the buses/Classic Hall. Ideally we'd like a king bed, but ultimately that's not as important to us. Any Pop experts, how should I word my location preferences? I've thought about just winging it and let Disney fate put us where we may, since it looks like Pop is pretty compact, and I really can't decide what "decade" I want to stay in. However, like I said, if we end up ground floor pool-side, DH probably won't be a happy camper, so I'm nervous to leave it up to chance. The one time I didn't request was when we stayed in All-Star Music back in 2007. Of course we didn't book prefered that time, but we ended up all the way in back in the Country Fair section. Not that it ruined our trip or anything, but it kind of sucked having to walk soooooo far from the food court/buses to our room. For that reason only, I feel like I need to put in a request. Any suggestions for where we should (try) to stay? MUCH appreciated!!!

Both times we have requested 60's facing the lake and got it. The first year we didn't have the most thoughtful neighbors and they slamed the door all the time. But they were only there for 2 days. Last year same spot just diffrent building we had wonderful neighbors all 10 days. I would suggest for quite areas that are close 60's,50's or 70's facing the lake.

 

[seadd67]

The great thing about POP is that all the buildings are fairly close to the main building. This year I am just going with non peffered room and leaving it up as a suprise. We have stay around the Bowiling pin pool everytime except the last July trip. We where on the 4th floor overlooking the hippy dippy pool(we requested that one) This year I just want to be suprised.

 

[chocovrdmicears]

Does anyone know if the food court has real half & half or if it's just non-dairy creamer?

thank you

I am not sure. It comes out of a machine (sort of the same set up as an ice machine thingy). In all the bazillion cups of coffee I have had a POP I never noticed -

 

[1tufgt]

Looks like we will be staying here come this Oct.

Last value we stayed at was the All-Star Movies so I guess I should expect the same. Can't wait!!!

 

[chocovrdmicears]

Any suggestions for where we should (try) to stay? MUCH appreciated!!!

For me - our most quiet stays were in non-preferred rooms. As Kelly mentioned, we also stayed in the 60's facing the lake and it was amazingly quiet.
I haven't looked at the map lately ... - but I think that a lot of preferred rooms face the pools...depending on when you go, this may not be the *quietest* location. I think your best chance of a quiet location would be any of the rooms facing the lake.

 

[reader]

Anyway recently back from POP......do the rooms have coffee makers after the renovation?

 

[MellyBeans]

Thanks for the input, guys! I knew I could count on all of you knowledgeable Dis'ers!

I thought about requesting a room facing the lake in the 60s building, but looking at the Pop map, it didn't seem like any of the lake views, in any area, were actually preferred rooms? Can anyone clarify that for me? Also, how is the construction going across the lake at the new resort? If we were to get a lake-view room, would we get a daily viewing pleasure of cranes and construction noise? Sorry for all my annoying questions...

Ultimately, none of this is THAT important. I'm just so stinking happy to be heading back to my happy place, that they could set me up in a tent outside The Magic Kingdom, and I'd probably be happy as a clam.

 

[tinkbug]

We booked a standard room in May just because I didn't want to be near the noise of the pool. Our last time at WDW we stayed at POP with 2 other families, one of which had a preferred room. We were told the only difference between preferred and standard was the closeness to the pools.

 

[tinkbug]

What I forgot to mention is that I would just change your preferred to standard as there is really no difference in the room itself.

 

[lighttech]

Ack! My head is spinning looking at these property maps!
I'd like to request a lakeside (for light sleepers in the group), and maybe get a shot at fireworks (thought it would be kind of nice if we came home to let the LOs get some rest one night if DH and I could hang out outside the room while they settled in. - Ahhhh.... the things we do for romance w/ small children.

So, if I wanted to go for Building 3... I realize that you can only see SE from the far end of the building. Can I actually request the "end" of the building. Or should I say "Space ship earth view?" etc.?

Honestly, I'm SO excited to be staying at POP - this will be a first for us - so, I won't be in the least disappointed. But, if I'm going to put in a request, I want to do it right. And, I'm not sure how I should word it. (The only thing I ever requested before was a King bed, and that's out b/c there will be 4 of us now that youngest DS is here.) I'd love any suggestions on protocol.

 

[disneydreamin247]

Ack! My head is spinning looking at these property maps!
I'd like to request a lakeside (for light sleepers in the group), and maybe get a shot at fireworks (thought it would be kind of nice if we came home to let the LOs get some rest one night if DH and I could hang out outside the room while they settled in. - Ahhhh.... the things we do for romance w/ small children.

So, if I wanted to go for Building 3... I realize that you can only see SE from the far end of the building. Can I actually request the "end" of the building. Or should I say "Space ship earth view?" etc.?

Honestly, I'm SO excited to be staying at POP - this will be a first for us - so, I won't be in the least disappointed. But, if I'm going to put in a request, I want to do it right. And, I'm not sure how I should word it. (The only thing I ever requested before was a King bed, and that's out b/c there will be 4 of us now that youngest DS is here.) I'd love any suggestions on protocol.

With requests it's always important to remember that the more you add, the less likely you are to get exactly what you want. I always start with the most important first. For example at Pop I always request "First floor, in the 60's, facing the pool."

First floor is my primary request, then the 60's section, and if I can get pool facing then great. If not, no big.