Hey all, I just got back from a short stay at Pop (3/11-3/15). Just thought I'd share a few observations from someone who stayed once before, in Feb. 2004, and has stayed at both moderates and deluxes as well. It was around $140 a night for preferred room at Pop during a busy and more expensive time... we were quoted over $400 a night for Wilderness Lodge for the same dates (Woods view).
I want to say up front and clearly, that for the price difference, it was definitely a decent value and by no means am I trying to disaparage the resort- we had a good time there. I just felt I should share some of my feelings on my repeat visit (after really enjoying it last time around)... the room was clean and nice looking, although I'd say some details were definitely missed (i.e. the top of the drawer on the nightstand was all sticky when I opened it). The ambiance of the resort was just as I remembered it... over the top, but very fun and cute. I was impressed with the location of our room. We were in the 70s, 2nd floor, room 265, very close to the buses and food court. I appreciated that for the extra money, they definitely did make it worth it, especially since my mother, who has some trouble getting around anymore, came with me.
The beds.... HORRIBLE. Apparently when we stayed there before, the beds were still new enough to not be a problem. This time, both of the double beds in our room had NO give to them whatsoever... they were literally like lying on the floor. Probably because, as we discovered, there were multiple pieces of pressed boards between the mattress and the box spring/base. Now, this may not be the case in every room... we talked to a guy at the bus stop one night who was complaining about his bed.... he had the opposite problem, his was so worn and "squishy" that he could feel every spring in the mattress digging into his back... I just found it incredibly ironic that they would put a brochure in the room for their "resort collection" featuring plushy mattresses, fluffy pillows, nice sheets & blankets, and thick absorbent towels. It was like a cruel joke. Nonetheless, I have to say, at least it is a place that wears you out, so frankly, I still slept alright, cuz I was so tired at night. I did wake up with some back aches though... not fun.
The food court was better than I remembered, albeit at times a bit chaotic, though not the fault so much of the resort. LOTS of people abusing the mug policy, using old Pop mugs, other resort mugs, personal water bottles, etc. They have a really nice variety of stuff in the food court- for breakfast you can get just about anything you can think up, hot or cold. I also really like the "mom's dinner" thing in the evening with the tv trays. The food was good and it was a decent deal.
Noise wise, it was more or less what I expected- some loud people end up just about everywhere.
Bus service was excellent. We stayed at Port Orleans on one of our last trips and were constantly annoyed by the numerous stops and crowdedness of the bus. It took forever to get ANYWHERE there... here we were on the first bus almost every time and almost every time we were able to sit. Buses were timely and clean and efficient.
The people working at the Pop were extremely friendly and helpful and efficient.
All in all, it was a good stay. I would consider staying there again, if budget was a major consideration, though the bed experience makes me think I'll save up a bit longer next time and at least take one step up to a moderate to save my back (though the bus service makes me think better of Pop...).
If anyone has any questions I can answer, let me know... again, this was merely my observations, I know some people probably don't have issues with the same things I do, so take it all with a grain of salt
I hope you saw the couple of photo links in Post #1, too. If I remember correctly, there are also more arcade pics in the "DIS Pop Picture Posting" link towards the top of the post.
