Wow that's a great view, where was your room? I want to put in a request for when we go but I'm not sure what to put!
We were in rooms 2302 and 2303, which is building 2 (the jukebox building in the 50s section.) It's the furthest 50's building from Classic Hall (which is basically straight ahead and then towards the left in my picture I posted), but we were right next to the jukebox, so
just around the corner were the ice machine, elevators, and main staircase.
We got all the requests we put in, which was the 50s section, a pool-side view room, 3rd or 4th floor, and connecting rooms. I had the
travel agency note our requests on our reservation, and I also sent a fax about 4 days ahead to make sure our requests got in.
All the POP CMs were good, and our mousekeeping was excellent. A couple of times they came before we left the room, and all I had to do was pop my head out the door and they apologized and said they'd come back later. We left a request for extra towels for the pool and they left them, and everything was always clean and perfect when we got back.
The rooms we had were showing some signs of age - there were some black marks on the walls from this or that, and up on the wall above the television dresser there was a black streak from what looked like a shoe... how it got up there I have no idea, but I have images of some kid chucking his sneakers up there
. Other than that sort of "minor" thing though, the rooms were great. I don't really expect a perfectly pristine room - the fact of the matter is that families are staying here, and they just can't re-paint the rooms after every guest. If I was paying $400 per night I would have been disappointed with little things like that, but for the price we pay at POP, you get such a wonderful all-around resort. Great food court, three excellent pools, great views, music everywhere you go, and a very nice gift shop.
The beds were great, but a little firm for my tastes. Admittedly though, I like a really, really soft mattress. The mattresses were definitely new, as well as the box springs underneath, which were Sealy.
The food was really good. Some of the menu had changed since our last visit 4 years ago. The ruben flatbread was really good. Mom's turkey dinner was surprisingly tasty. The breakfast selection is good, too. We bought the mugs as always, and definitely got our money's worth on those things. I can't count the number of times we filled them up. We had coffee, frozen cokes, juice, and soda soda soda soda soda soda (and somehow I still lost 3 pounds)
Bus service to and from POP was generally extremely good. We rarely waited more than 10 minutes for a bus. Most of the time it would be no more than 5 minutes before another bus would pull up. The only real delays with the buses was when they had to unload/load the scooters, but believe me, I'm not blaming anyone for that. On the contrary, it must be frustrating to have to get around with a
scooter and the lack of freedom that comes along with it. I don't think anyone should have to sacrifice their enjoyment of a Disney trip just because of health or disability issues. But for the most part, the bus situation was extremely good, aside from the occasional lapse/quirk in the system.
When it gets near park closing, don't count on getting a seat on a bus back to POP, as there's a good chance you'll have to stand. Especially from MK or Epcot after illuminations. It's a madhouse. The lines are HUGE, and although they can usually get most of the guests with 2 or 3 buses, it's a zoo. People are tired, babies are crying, children are cranky. I almost always ended up giving my seat up to someone who looked like they needed it more than I did, but man, standing for the trip back from MK can be miserable if your legs are tired
I thought September was supposed to be better than the summer
... I almost think it was worse! (darn you
free dining!!!!)
And with regard to the buses - trips to DHS are by far the shortest and fastest. Epcot is second, and AK and MK are a tie for last. AK wouldn't be so bad, but they stop at Blizzard Beach both on the way to AK
and on the way back, so that adds a lot of travel time. The only benefit AK buses have is that they're rarely full and there's no "big event" at AK that causes a mass-exodus of people from the park.
Although this isn't directly POP related, I thought I'd mention that park hopping via park-to-park buses is a really fast way to get around. They're rarely (if ever) full, and taking a bus from AK to DHS, for example, is an extremely fast trip. The park-to-park buses seem to run quite often, and are easy to get on. If you go from DHS or AK to MK (or vice versa), I believe, however, that you can only go to the TTC, then from there take a boat or the monorail to MK. I could be wrong, but that's something to keep in mind. Obviously for MK to Epcot the monorail is the only way to go.
Oh, and the turtles are still in the lake! You might have to wait to see them, but you can always see the bubbles coming up near the bottom of the generation gap bridge. There must be dozens of them down there. Every so often they'll surface for air. Some of them are really big! There used to be food dispensers where you could get some turtle food for $.25 and feed them, but they're gone. I wonder why? Anyway, there are also fish in the water, and tons of little lizards in the foliage around the bridge. It can be a fun/quick walk down by the bridge to check out the turtles, lizards, fish, and often times the birds that are around that area. There's no shade down there, though, so go when it's not scorching out.
If not, we'd take a cab. Good luck and have fun!
I thought you had to take a bus to a resort and then another bus to the park you wanted to hop to.
That frightens me! But then again, it could have happened ANYWHERE. It certainly doesn't excuse it or make it right, but I'm sure horror stories have happened at every resort that we just haven't heard about.
