The Groovy New Pop Century FAQ Thread!

[WDW1st-timers]

The pool times may change in September but we just returned yesterday and the pool hours at the Hippy Dippy Pool were from 7am - midnight. The lifeguards went off duty at 11pm and I'm not sure how early the lifeguards actually started. I will say that I was very impressed with the Lifeguards. At any given time while they were on duty you could count 5-6 guards around the Hippy Dippy Pool and only one was stationary in a chair, the rest were constantly moving and very alert. My children enjoyed the time at the pool as much as they did the times in the parks.

Thanks alot....that is very helpful information; also very reasurring that the Lifegaurds are on duty and not daydreaming. Thanks again...

 

[Kristina]

Thanks Geetey and Daisyduck123 for answering my questions about check in times and taxis! I think we will transport our own luggage, although we will be dead tired we will have bought some food items so I guess it makes more sense to get it right into the electric cooler we are renting. Eeek I can't wait!!! We are now at the 30 day mark!!!

For the poster who wondered if there was anything special going on at the Pop over labor day, one thing that I missed last time but have now in my itinerary is the times for twist and hustle! Everybody knows about this right? That the staff of the Everything Pop food court breaks into dance at these times? Yay I can't wait, makes filling our mugs with our morning coffee all the more fun!!! I plan on dancing right along with them!

The Twist is at 8am and the Hustle is at 6pm

 

[DisneyMom5]

Just back from 6 nights at POP. Checked in Sun. 21st. around 5 (ish), no wait. Got my non-smoking, connecting rooms (guarenteed for small children) no problem. Medical fridge and pack n play were already in the room by the time we got there.

Edited to add: We were in room 2126 and 2127, which were the second and third rooms on the first floor, down the hall to the to the right of the jukebox when looking at it. The room faced the parking lot, but there was a screen of trees and bushes between it and us. This gave us very easy access to our van, and to the pool/laundry. Everything Pop was not too long a walk, as well as the hippy dippy pool. We LOVED the location, very easy for us.

Our mousekeeper was awesome, arranging the kids toys, leaving extra towels as needed, a few towel animals (our first), writing cute notes back and forth, and on our second to last evening there were balloons and an autographed pic of the Mickey Mouse gang, which we have no idea who sent them but think maybe the mousekeeper put in a good word. (We tip good, but its not to get towel animals or anything, its because we have six children and they are pretty disgusting! I know, I clean up after them everyday. )

The food court was great and the only counter service place we ate at. We used the dining plan without problem.

Bus service was excellent, longest wait was 10 and I think we were the first to arrive after a bus had left.

Happy to answer any questions.

 

[Dsnymouse]

This may have been asked, forgive me if it has. What time can you check in at the Pop Century? Trying to hit a park mid afternoon and hoping to get into the hotel before then. Thanks!

 

[DisneyMommyMichelle]

i believe it's 4pm. To get your room. However you can check in whenever and get your keys and tickets, but no room number. They give you a phoone number to call and get the room number when it is ready. HTH!

 

[WDW1st-timers]

This may have been asked, forgive me if it has. What time can you check in at the Pop Century? Trying to hit a park mid afternoon and hoping to get into the hotel before then. Thanks!

Actually check in time is at 3pm.

 

[angelkisses]

We arrived at 8:30am and were fortunate to have a room ready for us that early. If you are going on a package deal you can go ahead and pre-register early in the morning even if your room is not available and they will give you everything you need to start enjoying the parks and dining priveleges while you are waiting on a room. You can go to the park for a few hours and check back at the resort later to get situated in your room.

 

[Planner999]

The POP sticky is great - thanks ! I'm moving this here from the main thread. We're going to be in POP in September but will not have a preferred room. Can anybody suggest where we might ask to stay ? Are the top floors really quieter without being more trouble to get to ? Can you request a room in the 50s area that is close to the food court ? Viewing the lake is not important to me but it might be nice to see the fireworks from the room or even from walking outside the building if the kids (or adults !) are too tired to stay in the park. If you just ask for a particular area of the building at check in will they really help you get what you want or do you need to request it ahead of time (how ? AAA ?) ? We definitely want a non-smoking room due to allergies.

Thanks

 

[DisneyMom5]

I also wanted to add that we used the kiddie pool, which is located at the hippy dippy pool, on the opposite side from Classic Hall. It is a walk in type little pool, only as deep in the middle as my 2 year olds knees, and there are 5 fountains shooting up. They LOVED this. We also saw Goofy's pop jets which are on the other side of the sixties bldg. to the right of hippy dippy if you are facing Classic Hall.

Also - When did the numbers go up at the Legendary years? We were excited to see that. Does that mean they are still working on them and getting closer to finishing them?

 

[DisneyMom5]

The POP sticky is great - thanks ! I'm moving this here from the main thread. We're going to be in POP in September but will not have a preferred room. Can anybody suggest where we might ask to stay ? Are the top floors really quieter without being more trouble to get to ? Can you request a room in the 50s area that is close to the food court ? Viewing the lake is not important to me but it might be nice to see the fireworks from the room or even from walking outside the building if the kids (or adults !) are too tired to stay in the park. If you just ask for a particular area of the building at check in will they really help you get what you want or do you need to request it ahead of time (how ? AAA ?) ? We definitely want a non-smoking room due to allergies.

Thanks

Make your requests when you make your reservations, whether directly with Disney or with an agent. We requested non-smoking, connecting rooms, frig for medication, and close to the front -- either 50s or 70s. We pretty much got everthing we asked for. We were in 50s, and could have been closer to Everything pop, but we loved it. You definately cannot be close to the front and viewing fireworks, so pick one or the other. Have fun!

 

[dawsonsdad9401]

I'm headed to POP for my 10 anniversary in October. Wife and I are high school sweethearts from the 80's. But few people make meantion of the 80's buildings. Any reason why we would not want to stay there? Is there a preferred side or area we should request?

This is our first trip to the Magic so any help would be appreciated.

 

[angelkisses]

We took the advice of many of the Dis'ers to request a room in the 50's which was granted. We were on the bottom floor of building 3. However, after arriving we realized we really really wanted to be in the 60's building closer to "Everything POP" and especially closer to the Hippy Dippy Pool. We were able to switch rooms and pay the $10 extra per night to get the preferred location. It was great to be able to watch the kids in the pool from our room (there were 6 lifeguards on duty) and to watch the fireworks. I understand fireworks are viewable from the 50's but we had a perfect view from our 4th floor 60's building. We were in building 5 by the way "Peace and Love". Being in this location we also used the refillable mugs much more than we would have in the 50's. If you are taking children consider paying the difference and stay poolside in the 60's. It was a bit noisy at times from the pool but everything quitened by 11pm. Having children of my own it didn't seem to bother me at the least. In fact, my kids were probably the loudest. I'm sure being on the 4th floor also helped with the noise level. If you like to drink there's a cool bar by the Hippy Dippy Pool, we do not drink and did not go there but it is available and the drinks did look refreshing. Also, the laundry was very convenient. I enjoyed my morning walks & coffee on the generation bridge which is also convenient to the 60's. My children did not like the pool by the 50's building as it was much warmer and well just not as much fun. Sorry to go on and on but I wish someone would have clued me in a little more on the conveniences of the 60's before I made my reservations. There are 4 different 60's buildings so if you do request a 60's be sure to ask for one nearest Everything POP and the Hippy Dippy Pool otherwise it probably would not be worth the difference in price. The CM let me go see where the room was actually located before I switched room.

 

[angelkisses]

I took a few pictures from the 60's area. If anyone would be interested in looking at them just send me your email address.

 

[matchtrader]

We have three kids, 6, 4 and 9 months. Would POP or All-Star Movies be a better bet? Thanks in advance.

 

[Melwood23]

I'm headed to POP for my 10 anniversary in October. Wife and I are high school sweethearts from the 80's. But few people make meantion of the 80's buildings. Any reason why we would not want to stay there? Is there a preferred side or area we should request?

This is our first trip to the Magic so any help would be appreciated.

There is nothing wrong with them, I think people with kids just try to be as close to the main area, because of the food court, arcade, etc. I just prefer the 50 and 60's, but will accept the 70's too (after all it was the decade of Star Wars ) But the 80's/90's area had the computer pool which I thought was a nice pool. Depending on which building your in, you possibly could be close to the buses. You will love the outside stairs icons

Congrats on the 10 years.

 

[dbogen]

Just drove into the driveway after a great week at the POP 8/21-8/28. If there are any questions I will be happy to answer. We stayed in the 60's and were on the dining plan (way to much food).

Deanna

 

[Planner999]

Somewhere I read that you couldn't make room requests until 3 days before arriving. Is that true ? Or should I be emailing my AAA rep to make a request now ? I think she already requested the connecting rooms for us, but I'm not sure I mentioned non-smoking. Also, from reading this is sounds like we want to be on the top floor in the 50s area as close to the food court as possible.

 

[Planner999]

Just drove into the driveway after a great week at the POP 8/21-8/28. If there are any questions I will be happy to answer. We stayed in the 60's and were on the dining plan (way to much food).

Deanna

I hope you had a great time and aren't exhausted. Since you offered I'll ask ! Were you able to get one of those large breakfast platters as a CS meal ? What counts as a "dessert" at breakfast for CS ? Also, what drinks were available at POP with the CS plan ?

Thanks !

 

[angelkisses]

Planner999,

You can get the large breakfast platters as a CS meal. Also any of their fresh baked pastries were included as a desert. (Loved those chocolate croissants). This made it very easy to share CS Meals. I asked the cashier what beverages were included and she told me anything they had that was non-alcoholic. We would usually get a large bottled water and save it for later and use our refillable mugs with our meals.

Also, I would go ahead and make my room request. We did about two weeks in advance. We originally requested 4th floor of 50's building facing lake after reading everyone's recommendation on this site, we ended up in 50's building on bottom floor with a side view of lake. It was not bad but after checking into our room we realized we really wanted to be in the 60's building near the Hippy Dippy Pool which is a preferred location and is closer to Everything POP. We were able to move to the 60's and got on the 4th floor in building number 5. We also had a great view of fireworks. We had to pay the extra $10 a night for the preferred location but to us it was worth every penny. They let us go view the location of the new room before we made the change as some of the 60's are in a building further away. If we return (WE WILL RETURN) I would ask for a room in the same area. Loved it! Go ahead and put in your request. Although I requested a more specific area in the 50's buildings my request only had listed that we wanted to be in the 50's section.

 

[dbogen]

I hope angelkisses answered your question. I can tell you that we didn't go with any room request. We paid for preferred and when we checked in the cast member asked if we wanted poolside. With two boys we said yes and we were in room 5263. The building to the left second floor 3rd room from the end. Perfect not alot of pool noise and very little traffic. Maybe that was a sprinkle of pikie dust for us.

As for breakfast we shared the platters every day. For the dessert we would get a danish or muffin, this was enough for me. We would also get milk for the drinks for the boys as we used the refil mugs for the coffee for us. A few days DH got himself an orangejuice for that balanced breakfast.

Deanna