The Groovy New Pop Century FAQ Thread!

[Stich's girlfriend]

Trip Dates 5/17/05-5/21/05

So I’m a little tardy posting. But I promised myself that I would personally thank the entire group posting to this discussion board when I returned. Because of your thoroughness and of all of the amazing information I found I had a wonderful time.

Here a few things I noticed that I haven’t seen mentioned on the thread.
-Pool Side showers they are available in the Hippity Dippity area and the Bowling Pin area. Those extended checkouts are great but if your plane leaves at 6:00pm, and you want to run through the park one last time before you board. Also the showers are handicapped accessible.

-Beyond just being manicured beautifully the organization of the resort was really better thought out than the other resorts I have stayed at or toured. Distance to the parks wasn’t a problem and chatting with people in line during the Star Wars Weekend revealed that Pop Century Busses were timelier and more frequent.

Other things I appreciated
-The food court was great and the meals were enjoyable.
-Check-in was very smooth even with the new introduction of the magical express
-Lifeguards were great
-Our room location was perfect and I didn’t request anything special but our room was right under “Lady” which was a short walk to everything. I think the 50’s section.
-This resort was exceedingly clean in fact I watched one afternoon the maintenance staff power wash the sidewalks and then BUFF them.

Problems
-Magical Express well I am sure they have worked out the kinks by now but if you get a bad day for Mears I’ll share what happened.

My way to Pop Century was perfectly fine no problems, no lines, and speedy service.
My way to the airport was a little dicey. The shuttle hadn’t arrived for the previous 3 departure times so there was quite a pile-up in front of the resort. The Mears person lost his cool after trying to get busses to Pop Century for an hour. Finally the resort manager was alerted and those folks that were getting close to missing their flights received complimentary taxis. I did get a bus and had no problem getting to airport on time.

-The Magic Your Way Program: well it’s confusing at best. When we purchased our tickets in February I thought we asked all the right questions. Some how we were short on extra parks entrances (Waterparks, Disney Quest etc). So review this carefully when you are purchasing your tickets. We had 5 days of Park Hopper and only 3 days of extra parks. Last year the tickets were better because they did not limit you to the extra parks. I would guess because of people like me that choose not to sleep when they are at Disney.

Would I stay at Pop Century again? Oh yes and again and again…my next trip is a conference so I’ll be at Coronado Springs. After touring the United States and staying in just about every major city hitting every major tourist attraction and traveling to the real Caribbean a few times. I think it’s safe to assume that Mickey has my money. The pirates are friendlier in the world.

Off Site March 1985 WDW
Off Site November 1987 WDW
Off Site July 1989 WDW
Off Site April 1991 WDW
Off Site May 1998 WDW
Off Site March 2001 Disneyland
Caribbean Beach 2004
Pop Century 2005
Coronado Springs 2006

 

[bride03]

So can anyone who has been since this started tell me what exactly this is?? I thought that the busses just took you to the resort. Is there more to it than that? Is there a hotel check or special line you get in when you get to the resort? Any info would be appreciated. I was hoping that this magical express would be as wonderful as it seems.

 

[tink2020]

Hello! I'm fairly new to the DIS boards and have spent WAAAAY too many hours reading 70+ page threads in order to try and find a specific answer to something I'm looking for. That being said......... this time I'm just going to ask. Sorry if it's posted a hundred times already, but I promise after this I'll keep up with the new pages!

I keep hearing about which buildings are closer to the bus-stops, food court, etc but we are driving most of the time in the World to avoid extra waiting for the busses (especially at the end of the day!). Is the 50's building a good request, in order to be fairly close to the food court but still with "good parking"? It appears on the map that each building has it's own parking, but I have heard several complaints about not being able to find a spot behind "your" building and having to park several lots away. We will be going at a fairly un-crowded time.

Is it worth making a request, and what are your opinions on the best places?

 

[geetey]

Tink2020,
Yes, I would request the 50s for your case. You shouldn't have much of a problem since the entire side of that lot is for the 50s. I think most people just want the front row. We were there in June and had a car and didn't have any problems with parking (crowded time of year) but we also utilized the buses each day. They get you much closer to the parks then driving yourself.

Just an FYI - the only time we waited for an extra bus was at Epcot after Illuminations. Four buses arrived one after another - at one point, there were 2 buses side by side. Total time waiting was around 20 minutes.

You might want to try the buses for the mornings. We did use our car for Downtown Disney, grocery runs, and Typhoon Lagoon.

 

[littlestix]

Well...............it has taken me several hours to read this entire thread and I must say it is packed with lots of great info. I had to choose between AS sports and Pop for my trip this Oct. I chose Pop and after reading this I think I made a great decsion. I know now to call and ask for room in the 50's building.

 

[maxsmom]

Does anyone know what kind of crib they have? Are they pack-n-plays or something else. I need to bring my own sheets due to DS allergies. Thanks!

 

[maxsmom]

Ok, I know it sounds weird. Ds (15mths) drinks milk like crazy right now. I believe milk isn't included in the refillable mugs. He also still likes it early in the morning and then he goes back to sleep on his own. Can anyone tell me what size milks they offer and how much they are? That's one option.

Another is to rent a fridge. Do they have a store where I can buy 1/2 gallon or a gallon of milk at the pop? If so, are there other things like cans of pop that you can buy? If we have a fridge we might as well use it.
Or we could order some things from wegoshoppe instead of shipping a package and get milk this way. I'm still unsure if we need to ship a package yet or though.
Or we could rent a car for the 1st day, but that seems a little rediculous.

Any advise would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

 

[BuckNaked]

Does anyone know what kind of crib they have? Are they pack-n-plays or something else. I need to bring my own sheets due to DS allergies. Thanks!

Yes, they're pack-n-plays. When we were there last week, they delivered one to our room by mistake and set it up.

 

[Nik's Mom]

I had always heard that Pop has great bus service. I know it doesn't share a bus with another resort, which is a huge plus for us. We plan on going in May, and was just wondering what you all thought of bus service recently. I've read a few threads that really seemed to be negative about the Pop bus service, so now I'm worried. I need some reassurances. All in all, do you feel the bus service was good. We always arrive at least 30 minutes before the park open, and leave the park well before closing. But I'd hate to be stuck in a long line waiting for the bus to come.

 

[BuckNaked]

I've read a few threads that really seemed to be negative about the Pop bus service, so now I'm worried. I need some reassurances. All in all, do you feel the bus service was good. We always arrive at least 30 minutes before the park open, and leave the park well before closing. But I'd hate to be stuck in a long line waiting for the bus to come.

We were there last week, and all in all, no, I did not think the bus service was all that great. Granted, POP was packed full - no available rooms according to CRO, but I still thought that Disney could have done a better job with the buses.

 

[Zandy595]

We were there in April and the bus service was good. The only little problem we had was one time we waited about 30 minutes for the DTD bus.

 

[Zandy595]

Ok, I know it sounds weird. Ds (15mths) drinks milk like crazy right now. I believe milk isn't included in the refillable mugs. He also still likes it early in the morning and then he goes back to sleep on his own. Can anyone tell me what size milks they offer and how much they are? That's one option.

Another is to rent a fridge. Do they have a store where I can buy 1/2 gallon or a gallon of milk at the pop? If so, are there other things like cans of pop that you can buy? If we have a fridge we might as well use it.
Or we could order some things from wegoshoppe instead of shipping a package and get milk this way. I'm still unsure if we need to ship a package yet or though.
Or we could rent a car for the 1st day, but that seems a little rediculous.

Any advise would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Sorry, I don't know the answer, but I thought I'd give your question a bump so people don't miss it.

 

[Patsfan7]

Another is to rent a fridge. Do they have a store where I can buy 1/2 gallon or a gallon of milk at the pop? If so, are there other things like cans of pop that you can buy?

We have milk lovers in our family too. What we did was pack our collapsable cooler as though it was luggage. (We used it for toiletries, curling iron etc.) When it was unpacked we used it as a cooler in the room. POP does sell "bulk milk" I think it was a half gallon size, because buying it by the single serving is crazy expensive! [One visit we got very lucky and there just happened to be a fridge in our armoire!] The soda is expensive too. Everywhere I saw it, it was 2.50 a bottle, for the 16oz serving I think it was. You know, the bottle type for a single person. (not a 2 liter) For that we went with the refillable mugs.

 

[InnerStrength]

My son is 4 and still loves his milk AND it has to be coffee milk - so in Florida I believe I will be in trouble (ie. no coffee syrup there). I wouldn't mind renting the refridge. if it ends up being used often as I don't want to waste the money. We will not be renting a car this trip so no trips to the market for us however purchasing bulk milk from the food court would probably be a good idea as well as bringing along a bottle of coffee syrup for DS.

We will most likely purchase 2 mugs for soda and/or coffee/hot chocolate. I know it is WDW and we will be on vacation and all, but I have a big problem paying $2.50 for a 22oz bottle of Coke when I can buy the same Coke at home for $1.00 - even better ~ at times $1.00 for a whole liter bottle when it is "on sale" at the market. I think that 2 mugs will be plenty since I prefer water (bottled or filtered) anyhow. I wonder if large size water can be purchased at the food court as well - then the added cost of the refridge would be more worth it to me.

 

[Patsfan7]

There was just a post on the budget board about having water sent to the hotel. The title of the thread was something like 48 bottles of water sent to your hotel for 8.00. It may be worth looking into.

 

[Tinkerbellz]

I had always heard that Pop has great bus service. I know it doesn't share a bus with another resort, which is a huge plus for us. We plan on going in May, and was just wondering what you all thought of bus service recently. I've read a few threads that really seemed to be negative about the Pop bus service, so now I'm worried. I need some reassurances. All in all, do you feel the bus service was good. We always arrive at least 30 minutes before the park open, and leave the park well before closing. But I'd hate to be stuck in a long line waiting for the bus to come.

We were there Thanksgiving week and never waited more than 15 minutes for a bus, with the exception of our first day at Animal Kingdom. Waited quite a bit longer (30 minutes). But overall the bus service was great The fact that Pop does not share service is the main reason we will stay there again next summer.

Enjoy your trip!

 

[Mykelogan]

I was at Pop the first week in June, endcapped with Memorial Day and Gay Days, and I thought the bus service was pretty much spot on perfect. 15min waits at the most and increased busses (at least it seemed this way) during the bad rain, aka most days that week! hehe

Mike

 

[Zandy595]

My son is 4 and still loves his milk AND it has to be coffee milk - so in Florida I believe I will be in trouble (ie. no coffee syrup there). I wouldn't mind renting the refridge. if it ends up being used often as I don't want to waste the money. We will not be renting a car this trip so no trips to the market for us however purchasing bulk milk from the food court would probably be a good idea as well as bringing along a bottle of coffee syrup for DS.

I'm curious. What exactly is coffee milk? Is it like chocolate milk, but with coffee flavor instead? I'm not a coffee drinker so it sounds yucky to me.

 

[InnerStrength]

I'm curious. What exactly is coffee milk? Is it like chocolate milk, but with coffee flavor instead? I'm not a coffee drinker so it sounds yucky to me.

Z,

It is coffee flavored milk - or rather coffee-flavored syrup that is added to milk and yes, on the idea of chocolate flavored milk. It doesn't do a thing for me either so I have no idea how my DS was turned onto it. Last year he loved chocolate milk (I used the Ovaltine mix-in then) - thank heavens when we went on the Disney cruise last year it was his chocolate milk phase instead of the coffee milk one as the choc. milk flowed freely. - well, no where close to "free" on a Disney cruise, LOL. I believe it is mainly a New England thing and we live in MA. The syrup we use is manufactured in Rhode Island.

L

 

[Kimber1963]

Hey everyone-

Love this thread! Question though, when should I make my room requests and what is the best way to do it? Fax or call? Thanks for all the info.