I stayed at Pop over spring break. It was my first Value experience, and I went in with low expectations only because I figured crowds would be horrendous!
Pop was awesome! Would I stay there again? Definitely if I couldn't afford to go Moderate (during Spring Break, the rates at Pop were rivaling those of a moderate during normal season :rolleyes) It was a lot of fun to check out all the cool things that they have at Pop like the shadowboxes in the lobby and the giant playdoh can that was next to our room! Like I said, i still prefer moderate because we do spend a lot of time at the hotel and I appreciate the nicer pools and relaxed themes, but this is a great resort also.
I did run into an issue but I was very happy at the way it was handled. I had called the day before arriving to pay off the room and gave a credit card to even put on the room, but when I arrived the guy checking me in said it showed I had a balance left. After explaining the situation, he tried to get the managers attention behind him, but the manager paid no attention to him except to look up and mumble something. He said since they were shwoing a balance we obviously had one. I forked over my credit card hoping I wouldn't have to deal with this later on. The guy who checked us in was very good. He assigned us to the 70s but I was hoping for a 60s room since we payed preferred and I just envisioned that nice courtyard area (I know the 70s is preferred but it was worth a try to ask) so I asked him, and without hesitation he looked and found a room in the 60s at peak season during spring break! I was very happy because I've had less than stellar check in experiences and really really really really bad luck with good rooms at these resorts! In the end, 2 days after my return I got an email from Discover stating that money had been refunded by a merchant, and whaddya know? It was Disney! I don't blame anyone but the computer systems, obviously it just hadn't been posted yet.
A few things I took notice too:
1) Crowds and buses? Not a problem! I didn't like how they have the bus stations set up like a ride line, but we had great bus timing and although we had to stand practically every time, we never had to wait for a second bus. Even mid-day at MGM, we walked up as a bus pulled out and not 5 minutes later another one came and got us, and it was only us and this one other family. Noise and crowds were non-existant. I went to the food court each morning, never waited on a line.
2) Mousekeeping: When we arrived we had a really cute easter bunny towel animal and I thought for sure we were finally going to get to stay a hotel that does the towel animal thing every day! Charlie even wanted to buy a stuffed animal just to have them mess with it...good thing he didn't because it was a one time only thing and we did tip each day. Rooms were clean though so I guess thats all you can ask for.
3) Room decorations. I've never seen so many people get into their rooms at a resort! We saw several windows with Easter clings attached to the windows I thought that was so cute!
Misc: One morning at around 7:45 i walked to the food court from the room and passed the pool and I guess they were cleaning it but the smell of the bleach and chlorine gave me such a headache and it was nauseating! Nothing they could help but maybe they could start earlier? I noticed a lot of people not liking the smell
Pics coming up next post, hope I helped anyone!