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

[chellewashere]

I was looking at the map of the resort..we did preferred and I wanted to be in the back overlooking the lake. Well my DH just looked at the parking situation and it seems like a very very long walk from the parking lot to the hotel rooms. Is it a long walk? We will be arriving with alot of luggage to lug around. Do they have golf carts where they will take you to your room or anything like that? Just thinking about the long walk at night too with a tired 5 year old

 

[jenseib]

JEN- Possibly alot of things going on that may bring us back to POP again! Although it's like my Home Away From Home so I'm not complaining but it's a strong possibility! Just trying to figure it all out first before making any final decisions

I can understand that

I was looking at the map of the resort..we did preferred and I wanted to be in the back overlooking the lake. Well my DH just looked at the parking situation and it seems like a very very long walk from the parking lot to the hotel rooms. Is it a long walk? We will be arriving with alot of luggage to lug around. Do they have golf carts where they will take you to your room or anything like that? Just thinking about the long walk at night too with a tired 5 year old

No golf carts for guest use. I think you might be looking at a standard room though. Prefferred are closer to the food court. Most lakeview rooms are not preferred

 

[kschafer]

I was looking at the map of the resort..we did preferred and I wanted to be in the back overlooking the lake. Well my DH just looked at the parking situation and it seems like a very very long walk from the parking lot to the hotel rooms. Is it a long walk? We will be arriving with alot of luggage to lug around. Do they have golf carts where they will take you to your room or anything like that? Just thinking about the long walk at night too with a tired 5 year old

I have been contemplating the same thing (haven't stayed at POP yet but have been researching like crazy!)

I'm leaning toward a request for lakeside of 50's, building 3 since it seems to be closest to a parking lot but not a lot view. My kids would prefer a pool side room but I'm thinking my parents and I would like the quieter lakeside better Save some money off the preferred!

 

[Luvmepluto]

This thread is quite long...I have a question and I apologize in advance if it has been answered......have all the rooms been refurbished? I am hearing yes and no.

 

[KELLY]

This thread is quite long...I have a question and I apologize in advance if it has been answered......have all the rooms been refurbished? I am hearing yes and no.

Yes they have been.

 

[summerrluvv]

Yes they have been.

I feel like I keep saying this LOL...but someone reported recently that they stayed in the 50's and 80's this year and the rooms were NOT refurbished. I haven't seen her post the room numbers though, so not sure what the deal is and if they were just skipped or what.

 

[Luvmepluto]

Thank you!

 

[WEDWDW]

Yes they have been.

Completed in December.

 

[Tinkermom76]

I stayed in 50's in december and the room was refurbished

 

[Goofy22]

Not sure if this is gonna work. I have maps of all the Pop buildings with the room numbers overlayed. I got it from this thread, but it was a year's worth of pages back I think. I'm going to see if I can copy/paste.

Nope... won't work. My notes say rooms... 4143 to 4155 and 5118 to 5131 are desirable. Wish I could figure out how to copy the screen clipping. Its in my Microsoft One Note Disney notebook.

Thank You I really Appreciate the insight! We were there last yr and I tried to remember the numbers of those rooms but I didnt write them down! Lol We were in the 80's near the computer pool great location and our room was REFURBED! But to far with DD and not walking properly

 

[tommi]

We are headed to WDW 21-24 March. Mom and two older kids. Dad is working anyway we are deciding on Pop with the military discount or renting points and a staying at Boardwalk. Price difference is only $80 total so renting is not much worse financially.

We have stayed previously at Shades of Green, Riverside and Wilderness Lodge. I am afraid we may be spoiled and am worried about how we will like a value resort. But with DVC points I am worried how I will do without daily maid service and two kids on my own...decisions...decisions...

Small stuff but did I read correctly that at Pop you can get luggage brought to your room or is it just to the building? And odd one but, what about the soap and shampoo, is it really a dispenser on the wall or do you get new each day? And lastly, will mousekeeping do the cute towel animals at Pop? My daughter says this is her favorite part of Disney...go figure

Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

 

[LittleFlounder]

Can anyone tell me what the height and width of the shelves in in the TV unit are? I'm heading to POP in just 4 days and I would like to pick up some collapsible baskets to put in the shelves.

 

[Buckeye Lurker]

I was looking at the map of the resort..we did preferred and I wanted to be in the back overlooking the lake. Well my DH just looked at the parking situation and it seems like a very very long walk from the parking lot to the hotel rooms. Is it a long walk? We will be arriving with alot of luggage to lug around. Do they have golf carts where they will take you to your room or anything like that? Just thinking about the long walk at night too with a tired 5 year old

I point this out about once a year. Download Google Earth. Zoom in on Pop. Use the ruler function. EVERY building is close to some parking lot or another, and honestly bell services will be glad to bring the luggage from your car to your room for $5.

When you put the google ruler on the resort, you really find out that nothing is more than 900 ft away from anything. If 200-300 feet are going to make or break your choices, stay away from the northern buildings (50s area) and request southern buildings (80s 90s) because you will save about 300 feet on walking to the bus load area. Otherwise, the parking is all pretty much equidistant. Make some teenager's day and spiff him a fiver to get the bags to your room so you and your five year old can run ahead in excitement to discover the hotel versus lugging the bags.

The noise is....noise. Keep in mind they didn't build out Pop like originally planned. So even though it has more rooms than the all stars, the all stars were planned to share transportation. So you have pop with just under 3,000 rooms and EACH all stars with just under 2,000 rooms.

Unless you are there during a marching band contest or a demolition convention, you aren't going to notice much other than your own rooms HVAC and if you are unlucky like us the drunk neighbors coming home at midnight each night. If you are really worried about noise grab several sets of foam earplugs to throw in the suitcase, or just leave the room tv on the disney preview channel and fall asleep hearing about the great time you will have tomorrow.

We spend so much of our hard earned money and hard earned freetime on these vacations that we are guilty of planning the trips like a military invasion.

If a room is on a third floor versus a first it is a 20 second elevator ride. If you are facing a parking lot versus a pool or the lagoon your drapes were shut almost the whole time anyway. If a family member with a medical condition has to walk an extra 200 feet, that is such a small drop in the bucket compared to what they are going to do at the park that day.

Don't sweat the small stuff. And P.S. it is almost all small stuff.

 

[Buckeye Lurker]

We are headed to WDW 21-24 March. Mom and two older kids. Dad is working anyway we are deciding on Pop with the military discount or renting points and a staying at Boardwalk. Price difference is only $80 total so renting is not much worse financially.

We have stayed previously at Shades of Green, Riverside and Wilderness Lodge. I am afraid we may be spoiled and am worried about how we will like a value resort. But with DVC points I am worried how I will do without daily maid service and two kids on my own...decisions...decisions...

Small stuff but did I read correctly that at Pop you can get luggage brought to your room or is it just to the building? And odd one but, what about the soap and shampoo, is it really a dispenser on the wall or do you get new each day? And lastly, will mousekeeping do the cute towel animals at Pop? My daughter says this is her favorite part of Disney...go figure

Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

They bring bags to your door. Last 3 trips we have used Magical Express, All stars, contemporary, POP.....there is no difference with any resort in getting your bags. Every eager teenager working in bell services will gladly bring your luggage to your door for a small tip.

The sundries were the small bottles and packages every place we stayed. And honestly it was probably the same product. Shampoo, conditioner, hand lotion, 2 bars of soap. And just call housekeeping if you need more per day.

We had towel animals at ASMovies, not at contemporary, and sporadically at POP. They have tip envelopes online that you can download and leave a tip on the first day for mousekeeping..point out your daughter loves the animals.

Moderates have slightly bigger rooms and might have more sinks or separate sinks, for instance. Crazy thing is if you put the google earth ruler on the moderates, they are almost all physically bigger than the values, so you wind up walking more at the moderates, even if you have an extra 80 square feet. My personal opinon is you also end up paying a transportation price at the moderates, as they all end up dropping off at more bus stops, it seems.

I have, over the years, stayed at values, moderates, deluxes and villas. i wouldn't trade any single experience away. To this day, I wouldn't hesitate to stay at an All stars, pop, POR, Contemporary, Wilderness lodge or a villa. It would just depend upon what was important to me that trip. Has it been a bad year and I need to scrimp on money? Are my inlaws traveling with us? Are we at a point where we'd like to have some home cooking versus a meal plan?


Pop ain't going to be Wilderness Lodge. And it sure isn't going to be Boardwalk. Walking to and from Epcot, having all the dining, shopping and entertainment right there, and having a guest footprint that is about 1/8 what pop is (something like 500 rooms/villa rooms versus just under 3,000 at pop.) And sit down dining etc.

You are very fortunate that your money is not going to dictate the choice. (Disney is running good public and PIN offers right now that might be better than your military discount, current disney offers expire 2/28.) Just make yourself a list...what is important. Room size. Transportation that is geared up for a large footprint so you know it is always on versus the constant Boardwalk transportation waits people complain about. Sit down dining available. Walking to one park. Being able to walk home after the light show versus having to ride transportation. Arriving front of Epcot versus world showcase gate....

I think once you decide what is important to you for this tripk, your choice is going to leap out at you.

 

[livibug]

We like the top floor facing the lake. VERY quiet - so one above you and not much outside noise. We had "loud" neighbors but did not hear them - how do we know? Because they were our travel partners and once the doors were shut we did not hear a peep and there was a whole lot of yelling going on! Also as long as we closed the door to the bathroom, the flushing toilet noise was very, very minimal. I could imagine a lower floor being louder from what others have said. We were in building 4- 4413 I think - we had a nice view of the epcot fireworks, facing the lake Take this for what its worth as everyones mileage and opinions will vary! However, I am not sure how quiet it will be now that Art and Animation is under construction across the lake, but I cant imagine it to be that bad.

 

[heathernfrankie]

We're coming in a day earlier. Our flight leaves on September 18th at 5:40 pm, so we won't get in Orlando until 8pm. I figure we can just hang at the pool and relax that night before we start our trip on Monday.

 

[GOOFYsince71]

I am worried how I will do without daily maid service and two kids on my own...decisions...decisions...

Small stuff but did I read correctly that at Pop you can get luggage brought to your room or is it just to the building? And odd one but, what about the soap and shampoo, is it really a dispenser on the wall or do you get new each day? And lastly, will mousekeeping do the cute towel animals at Pop? My daughter says this is her favorite part of Disney...go figure

Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

Pop is just like any other Disney resort in that they bring your bags into your room (if you want) The Disney logo soaps and shampoo's are replaced daily and the beds are made and the sinks and bathrooms are cleaned....It has always been kept up well. I have stayed at Every WDW resort, and will still come back to Pop because of the convenience.......It is comfy and fun, and the food court and Store are among the best on WDW property! We stayed there 4 previous times and got towel animals each time,,,and had NO kids in the room! So just ask,,and you should receive!! Have fun

 

[mommy2mrb]

We are headed to WDW 21-24 March. Mom and two older kids. Dad is working anyway we are deciding on Pop with the military discount or renting points and a staying at Boardwalk. Price difference is only $80 total so renting is not much worse financially.

We have stayed previously at Shades of Green, Riverside and Wilderness Lodge. I am afraid we may be spoiled and am worried about how we will like a value resort. But with DVC points I am worried how I will do without daily maid service and two kids on my own...decisions...decisions...

Small stuff but did I read correctly that at Pop you can get luggage brought to your room or is it just to the building? And odd one but, what about the soap and shampoo, is it really a dispenser on the wall or do you get new each day? And lastly, will mousekeeping do the cute towel animals at Pop? My daughter says this is her favorite part of Disney...go figure

Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

we are staying at POP for the third time coming up! looking forward to the refurbished rooms....always had great service, no problems with busses and love the food court and store!
most nights we got towel animals too...leaving a little "mousekeeping" tip might help get one too!
we have always stayed on the 4th floors, away from pool and only once had noise from fighting neighbor's (actually had to call security, a screaming woman and child) other than normal walking outside...but then I bring earplugs!

enjoy your trip!

 

[Luvmepluto]

I can't wait to stay. This will be our first "value" stay. We also (if it opens on schedule) want to stay at the Animation Resort next year. We want to go for two weeks next year so my fall trip will be shorter than normal. We will only go for 4 or 5 nights this go around.

 

[jcarwash]

I feel like I keep saying this LOL...but someone reported recently that they stayed in the 50's and 80's this year and the rooms were NOT refurbished. I haven't seen her post the room numbers though, so not sure what the deal is and if they were just skipped or what.

Yeah this one has been bugging me too. Without more details we really don't know what was up with those 50s and 80s rooms, if they were completely skipped, or only partially refurbed, or if they were refurbed and are already in a bad state, or what. It's not enough info for my taste to say that refurbishments aren't complete.

I think what we do know for sure is that:
1. Last year people on site at Pop witnessed major room refurb work going on throughout all buildings. It was hard to miss when you saw it -- entire floors being worked on at once and signing indicating refurbs going on. No one is witnessing that type of work going on anymore, so we declare that refurbs are done. Maybe we need to say that refurb *work* is done.
2. Rooms are indeed refurbed across the property. We've seen them in person. You really can expect to get a refurbed room in any building because all buildings had room refurb work done in 2010.

Whether the refurbs are complete 100% in every single room everywhere, I guess cannot know for sure until we get more detail.