chesirekate
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Sep 12, 2004
- Messages
- 698
Just got back from Pop a couple hours ago. I'm a bit wired at the moment so I thought I'd post my review of Pop while it's still fresh in my memory (my memory's going pretty quickly these days and I only just turned thirty last month!).
We checked in about 1pm last Sunday. Didn't wait at all, just walked to the line and a CM called us right over. Took all of a couple minutes to check us in. We had faxed our requests a couple days ago and it looked like everything was perfect. When we got to our room (50's buiding C, third floor, room 3303, overlooking the bowling pin pool), it looked exactly right. King bed, in the building we wanted. Then DH peeked into the bathroom and saw it was handicap accessible (i.e. no tub, open showering design with bench). Darn! So close but yet so far. With a 2-year old we needed a tub for baths, and I felt bad that we could be taking a room from someone who needs handicap accessibility when we don't need it ourselves. Just an FYI, we had requested a king typical, not handicap. So, we had to switch rooms.
Ended up on the same floor, but around the corner, with double beds as no king typicals were available.
We were now facing the lake, which was fine with me as those rooms are quieter. It only took us a minute to switch rooms, but because we co-sleep, the image of that huge king bed haunted me for the rest of the week. Usually at around 2am when Kate was kicking me full in the face and I was hanging half off the bed.
Anyway, they moved our small amount of luggage while we headed to DTD. All week mousekeeping was fine, made the beds, emptied the garbage and left towels. No towel animals, though we left a decent tip every day.
The toilets are loud, yes, but you get used to them. I never heard our neighbors, except sometimes in the a.m. you could just hear the shower running.
We only ate one meal at Pop, except for a few snacks. I had some chicken fingers that are just like those all over Disney, and DH had grilled chicken nachos, a special request the cooks made up for him. We mostly just grab snacks at Pop and we think the food is just fine for the most part.
The buses were great for the most part. We never had to wait too long for one to arrive. I do wish Disney would work out something better though. What?, I have no idea, but I just think they could come up with *something* better. Having to stand for 15-20 minutes sometimes is not much fun, though I know the alternatives also have their downsides. We had our stroller this year too, which didn't help. I hated having to break down the stroller and find a place for it on a crowded bus, but loved having Kate's own reclining stroller in the parks and walking to and from the buses. Catch-22 I guess. At least we won't need to bring it next year as Kate will be old enought to walk those distances and we'll just do the rental thing.
And now, the one complaint:
There were packs of prepubescent Pop Warner cheerleaders and footballers all over the darn place. They took over the pools and the walkways. DH went down to the pool one day and came back about 10 minutes later, claiming the rambunctious hooligans chased him away with their screaming and shrieking. I dunno, I don't swim.
Anyway, I had heard that the Pop Warner kids stayed at the All Stars and Riverside and maybe Caribbean Beach, not Pop Century. But they are definitely there this year, and they'll probably be there from now on, so we will never stay at Pop again this time of the year. When we stayed at Pop in September, we loved it. There was just your usual mix of kids and adults and that was great. But with all of these young teens roaming around, it's just not as nice.
But you know, I'm pretty intolerant of kids that age, they just bug me for some reason, so if they don't bother you then you'll probably be just fine. I have to admit I had several un-Disney thoughts when I saw those hordes and I don't like having those thoughts!
So we'll stay here at another time of the year, or switch to Coronado Springs if we come back during Pop Warner in the future.
We checked in about 1pm last Sunday. Didn't wait at all, just walked to the line and a CM called us right over. Took all of a couple minutes to check us in. We had faxed our requests a couple days ago and it looked like everything was perfect. When we got to our room (50's buiding C, third floor, room 3303, overlooking the bowling pin pool), it looked exactly right. King bed, in the building we wanted. Then DH peeked into the bathroom and saw it was handicap accessible (i.e. no tub, open showering design with bench). Darn! So close but yet so far. With a 2-year old we needed a tub for baths, and I felt bad that we could be taking a room from someone who needs handicap accessibility when we don't need it ourselves. Just an FYI, we had requested a king typical, not handicap. So, we had to switch rooms.
Ended up on the same floor, but around the corner, with double beds as no king typicals were available.
We were now facing the lake, which was fine with me as those rooms are quieter. It only took us a minute to switch rooms, but because we co-sleep, the image of that huge king bed haunted me for the rest of the week. Usually at around 2am when Kate was kicking me full in the face and I was hanging half off the bed. Anyway, they moved our small amount of luggage while we headed to DTD. All week mousekeeping was fine, made the beds, emptied the garbage and left towels. No towel animals, though we left a decent tip every day.
The toilets are loud, yes, but you get used to them. I never heard our neighbors, except sometimes in the a.m. you could just hear the shower running.
We only ate one meal at Pop, except for a few snacks. I had some chicken fingers that are just like those all over Disney, and DH had grilled chicken nachos, a special request the cooks made up for him. We mostly just grab snacks at Pop and we think the food is just fine for the most part.
The buses were great for the most part. We never had to wait too long for one to arrive. I do wish Disney would work out something better though. What?, I have no idea, but I just think they could come up with *something* better. Having to stand for 15-20 minutes sometimes is not much fun, though I know the alternatives also have their downsides. We had our stroller this year too, which didn't help. I hated having to break down the stroller and find a place for it on a crowded bus, but loved having Kate's own reclining stroller in the parks and walking to and from the buses. Catch-22 I guess. At least we won't need to bring it next year as Kate will be old enought to walk those distances and we'll just do the rental thing.
And now, the one complaint:
There were packs of prepubescent Pop Warner cheerleaders and footballers all over the darn place. They took over the pools and the walkways. DH went down to the pool one day and came back about 10 minutes later, claiming the rambunctious hooligans chased him away with their screaming and shrieking. I dunno, I don't swim.
Anyway, I had heard that the Pop Warner kids stayed at the All Stars and Riverside and maybe Caribbean Beach, not Pop Century. But they are definitely there this year, and they'll probably be there from now on, so we will never stay at Pop again this time of the year. When we stayed at Pop in September, we loved it. There was just your usual mix of kids and adults and that was great. But with all of these young teens roaming around, it's just not as nice.
But you know, I'm pretty intolerant of kids that age, they just bug me for some reason, so if they don't bother you then you'll probably be just fine. I have to admit I had several un-Disney thoughts when I saw those hordes and I don't like having those thoughts!
So we'll stay here at another time of the year, or switch to Coronado Springs if we come back during Pop Warner in the future.
And we rode the bus back to Pop on the last day with two cheer moms who talked all the way back about the competitions and how Disney was closing MGM early that night and opening it especially for them. I would think that if they were at Pop this year than chances are they will be there next year. 
