Pop Century: Why do you love it or not?

[VandVsmama]

I have just started planning a first ever adults-only trip to WDW for DH & I. YAY!!! DH has left the resort choice up to me. Probably going to be at WDW for a week (so 6 or 7 nights). I am considering Pop Century for a few different reasons, but I'm really interested in what YOUR experiences have been there. If you really liked Pop Century, why did you like it? If you didn't like it that much or you thought it was just "Meh, ok, but next time we'd rather stay elsewhere," why was that?

Give me the good, bad, and the ugly.

We will be using Magical Express & the associated luggage delivery. Probably not doing a split stay on this trip.

Some stuff I'm curious about:

• What did you think of the room?
• How was the check in process compared to other on site hotels you've stayed at?
• How busy was it in the food court in the morning getting breakfast?
• If you did or did not use housekeeping while you were there, what was that like?
• Are there towels at the pool or do you have to bring towels from your room?
• What was the bus service like going to the parks & getting back later in the day?
• If you used Uber, Lyft, or a Minnie Van, where was the pick up?
• What's your favorite building to stay in?
• If you were in a building with a longer walk to the food court/main building, how long was the walk?

 

[DavidL]

We've stayed at all of the value resorts (All 3 All-Stars, Pop, and Art of Animation) and also stayed at Caribbean Beach Resort.

Pop by far is our favorite of all of the resorts.

The rooms have been refurbished and have queen size beds.

Check-In process was the same as the other value resorts, and similar to check-in at a regular hotel.

The food court crowds depend on the exact time of day. It can be busy, but the food courts are big enough and have enough seating to handle the crowds that I've encoutered.

We've had housekeeping, and we've also opted out. We found both beneficial depending on the trip. When we were going to the Disney Theme Parks early in the morning and coming back late in the evenings we liked having housekeeping. We did a "waterparks only" trip this summer and declined housekeeping as we had time to take out the garbage ourselves, and we able to spend a few more minutes in the room taking care of tidying things up.

There are lots of towels at poolside. No worries there.

The buses can be busy at times, but we still believe that it is better than driving our own vehicle and dealing with the hassles of driving.

We've never used ride sharing. Can't comment

We've stayed in a few different rooms at Pop. The resort is well laid out and we didn't find that any of the rooms were too far away from the food court and buses. Learn the layout of the resort and figure out the shortest path to the food court, and keep in mind that if you are in a room at the rear of the resort, you can scoot across the bridge to Art of Animation and use their food court too

 

[lorenae]

It’s “ok”. Not tiny rooms but not large. It can be noisy in preferred rooms ( people returning at park close walking right by your room, sometimes yelling to their friends), and the food court is better than some. The pools are nice. The lake view rooms are quieter. the bus service is really good.

 

[lorenae]

Oh, we like the 50s, but NOT the preferred rooms. Preferred rooms are very close to the airline check in but can be very noisy. Non preferred rooms, upper floors, lake view, are the best but of course a bit further walk to the bus stop (but not bad).

 

[jaiminee krikit]

My first time at Pop was my first solo trip. The young woman checking me in was so excited for me and my solo trip, and really got the trip started perfectly. I’ve stayed there a few other times, and besides having to wait until almost 4 one time, the check-in process has been fine. We’ve had good experiences checking in, and we’ve had bad. My first stay at Pop has probably been the best ever.

I stayed one time when the 15s were there. The food court was crazy every morning and evening, packed, I avoided it at all costs. Other than that, it’s never been that bad, and I’ve honestly enjoyed the food.

I always use housekeeping. They do a fine job. My only complaint has been one day I came back for my afternoon nap and while they were servicing the room next to mine, they used the safety latch to keep the door propped open and let the door slam over and over again. There were two of them for some reason and it was constant for about an hour. I did complain and it never happened again.
We don’t typically use the pool, so I can’t remember but I believe there are supposed to be towels.
Bus service was hit or miss. I do like that the bus lines have queues at the resort, but they’re uncovered so it gets hot standing there, and if it’s raining you get soaked. I also don’t like that the stops for Pop and AoA are the furthest at each park. That is a very long time walk at the end of the day.
We’ve never used a car service from Pop.
My favorite section is the 50s. It’s quiet, I love the theming, and it’s purple. I also prefer the food court being on the way to the bus stop so I can fill my water bottle on the way. I stayed in the 80s section one trip and I really liked it there, too, just prefer 50s
The furthest we’ve been was the 80s, but we’d usually cut through the parking lot to get to the main buildings. The resort really isn’t that big.
[/QUOTE]

 

[VandVsmama]

My first time at Pop was my first solo trip. The young woman checking me in was so excited for me and my solo trip, and really got the trip started perfectly. I’ve stayed there a few other times, and besides having to wait until almost 4 one time, the check-in process has been fine. We’ve had good experiences checking in, and we’ve had bad. My first stay at Pop has probably been the best ever.

I stayed one time when the 15s were there. The food court was crazy every morning and evening, packed, I avoided it at all costs. Other than that, it’s never been that bad, and I’ve honestly enjoyed the food.

I've read comments on other threads about 'the 15s.' What is that?

 

[Sue M]

I’ve stayed at Pop a couple of times when I was arriving late then transfer to the resort I was staying at for rest of the time.

A couple of years ago I had a 10 day stay early Dec. resort was in the middle of renovating rooms. We got a new room.

I love the new rooms. Check in was fine, a bit of a long wait. check in queue was long.
CMs were very good. We always get housekeeping and they did a good job cleaning, but had to phone housekeeping several times because things weren’t stocked.

It was winter so I didn’t swim. But the pool near us was just a cement hole in the ground. No shrubbery, landscaping, I missed having a hot tub.

Our room was imo far from Main Hall. I’ve been told it was highly unusual from other people who have stayed several times but during our 10 days the busses were awful consistently. 30 min waits were the norm.

Not my fav food court, but has plentiful seating.

This is just my opinion, but although the rooms are great, it’s still a value resort, big motel style block buildings and not very relaxing. Lacking the amenities of the other resorts.

It’s good for young families with children. But if it’s just you and your husband I’d look at the moderates. Our fav is POR Riverside in the mansion side. It’s beautifully themed and landscaped. Love strolling along the river paths, there’s carriage rides, quiet pools as well as main pool. Fun evening entertainment in River Roost Lounge. The food court is very good.
Many like French Quarter for its small size. We enjoyed a stay there too.

 

[paradesintherain]

• What did you think of the room?
• How was the check in process compared to other on site hotels you've stayed at?
• How busy was it in the food court in the morning getting breakfast?
• If you did or did not use housekeeping while you were there, what was that like?
• Are there towels at the pool or do you have to bring towels from your room?
• What was the bus service like going to the parks & getting back later in the day?
• If you used Uber, Lyft, or a Minnie Van, where was the pick up?
• What's your favorite building to stay in?
• If you were in a building with a longer walk to the food court/main building, how long was the walk?

I've been lucky enough to stay mostly Deluxe with some sporadic Moderates recently. Last summer I stayed at Pop for the first time since 2005 and I actually really loved it!

• Thought the room was fabulous. It's obviously a smaller room, but it's got fantastic storage areas and they've really utilized the space well. I had no issues with the hardwood floors being dirty, and found the beds very comfortable. Bathroom is nice and bright which is great for putting on makeup!
• Check-in was basically the same. If you get there on Magical Express you could potentially be behind a big group of people, but you can also just check in online. Also, I got there at like 10:30 am and was lucky enough that my room was available, and in basically the exact location I had asked for.
• Food court was busy, but I didn't find it unmanageable. I grabbed breakfast there most days.
• I opted out of housekeeping and got the gift card. It was just fine! I liked them not replacing my towels daily. I'm perfectly capable of reusing a towel!
• I didn't use the pool, but I believe all pools have towels.
• Bus service did seem slow to me. I could have just been hitting the stops after a bus had left, though. The good thing was that Art of Animation was usually much more reliable so I'd just hop on that bus and walk across the bridge. I had requested a room close to the bridge for this reason.
• Dropped off with Lyft once at the front doors of Pop Century.
• I had room 4155, which is the backside of one of the 60s buildings. I loved this location because it was close to Art of Animation, as well as the Pop Century food court. It also seemed more quiet because the view was of the lake/trees.
• My walk was not long to the food court at Pop Century or Art of Animation!

 

[Mome Rath]

We will be using Magical Express & the associated luggage delivery.

If you ever wait longer than around 3 and a half hours for your luggage, go ahead and call down and ask bell services for an update (we've had experiences at Pop, and other hotels, where the luggage is there but they haven't gotten around to delivering it yet, the most recent time was at Pop. No big deal, just FYI.)

What did you think of the room?

We've stayed several times in the refurbed rooms and really like them. I like the clean, modern look and the beds are so comfortable (yes, that includes the murphy bed!)

How was the check in process compared to other on site hotels you've stayed at?

Same as at all the rest, but I would recommend doing everything you can on MDE to expedite the process as the front desk can get swamped. I do online check-in and have had good luck with not having to go to the front desk.

How busy was it in the food court in the morning getting breakfast?

If you go at a peak season, and then down to the court at a peak time, it can get really busy, but it still moves fairly fast. I like to go at off times (re: early) for breakfast and it's almost empty. As someone else mentioned, the 15's were the biggest impact I've ran into and they aren't there all year round. When is your trip?

If you did or did not use housekeeping while you were there, what was that like?

Same as everywhere else really. I like to keep housekeeping, as that functions as the security check most days, and if they've been in to make up the room, you can be fairly sure no one will come knocking on your door.

What was the bus service like going to the parks & getting back later in the day?

I don't want to jinx it for you, but the bus service at Pop always seems quicker to me, again, only exception was when a wave of 15's were in front of us at EPCOT trying to go back... that took forever. We just stayed and used the Skyliners; fantastic experience for us.

What's your favorite building to stay in?

I don't have a fav, but I like quiet, so I always try for the highest floor, and I like a lake view. My biggest advice there is to really look at a map, and then determine shortest walking path. I just stayed in 90's and it appears extremely far away, but just cut through the parking lot and your golden.

If you were in a building with a longer walk to the food court/main building, how long was the walk?

I go by time and it only took me maybe 5 min from the 90's building to the buses, but I was alone a lot and walk fairly fast.

I've read comments on other threads about 'the 15s.' What is that?

Large groups of mainly females from different Spanish-speaking countries celebrating their Quinceañera in Disney. They are a sight to see, but can gum up the works at the hotels they stay at, and in lines at the parks. There can be lots of chanting, clapping, singing, etc.... and they all stay together. They come at different times of the year, so it depends on when you are there if that will be an issue or not, and it may not bother you at all. For us, it was fine except they still used some of the buses from the parks to the resort and it would take 2 whole buses just to get them back, and those buses can be 20 min apart, so you'd wait an hour for a bus.

 

[Moliphino]

• What did you think of the room? - The refurbed rooms are great. Queen beds, lots of storage space.
• How was the check in process compared to other on site hotels you've stayed at? - We do online check in and haven't had to go to the lobby in years now.
• If you did or did not use housekeeping while you were there, what was that like? - We always have housekeeping and have had no issues. We're in the parks all day, so have never been disturbed.
• What was the bus service like going to the parks & getting back later in the day? - Buses are usually above average. There can be long lines leaving parks in the evenings, but they send a lot of buses for Pop so you don't have to wait very long. Now they have the Skyliner, which we liked more than the buses.
• What's your favorite building to stay in? - We like 60s and 70s. Nice and central.

 

[Searc]

I've stayed at Pop a couple times, but I would never choose it for a trip with my husband alone. The rooms are nice after being refurbed and have queen beds and good storage. The size isn't bad if you can keep the murphy bed up all the time and use the table there instead. I liked the bus service and especially the dedicated bus queues. I wish they had those at all the resorts.

Three major reasons why I wouldn't go back...the entire resort is loud. Toilets flushing at all hours, people talking through thin walls and outside, and since it is a concrete jungle, there is nothing to absorb the sound.

The landscaping is meh and there is a lot of concrete/hard surfaces and on vacation, I prefer a more lush landscape (POFQ is one of my favorite resorts, especially for a couples trip).

The food court was crazy chaos, especially at regular meal times.

 

[sunsetbeachgal]

Our favorite stay at Pop was when we had a corner lake view room. When you stepped out the door in the morning the view across the lake was serene and beautiful. Also very easy to walk to the bridge connecting to AofA to watch fireworks. We love to walk and the walking paths are great.

The only thing to be aware of, and I wouldn’t actually call it a complaint because we know to expect it at Values is big teen groups. And some of these teen groups can be noisy at times. Cheerleaders cheer and sports groups organize informal games in common areas. Our last stay at Pop there was a huge group of teen girls from Argentina celebrating “quincinero”. They had a separate area in the buffet set up for their breakfast and separate buses so they didn’t overwhelm the bus stops. Disney obviously does their best to keep them together in room block areas, but you will encounter extra noise, it’s inevitable.

But we love Pop and wouldn’t hesitate to stay there again?

 

[VandVsmama]

If you go at a peak season, and then down to the court at a peak time, it can get really busy, but it still moves fairly fast. I like to go at off times (re: early) for breakfast and it's almost empty. As someone else mentioned, the 15's were the biggest impact I've ran into and they aren't there all year round. When is your trip?

We'll be going some time in Jan/Feb 2021.

 

[sullyfam]

Stayed there on a couples trip in May. It was a one and done for us. We were in the 90's building which is the furthest away so walks were long to and from the room. The rooms were updated nicely but they are on the smaller side. Fine for 2 people though. The food court was always crazy and so were the buses. Lots of people stay here and it's a big resort so chances are, the buses will be full all the time. It's also one of the furthest bus stops away from the parks. So lots of extra steps at the end of a long day to get back to your bus line. Uber pick up will be right in front of the main lobby. Mousekeeping missed us one day not sure why but I guess that could happen anywhere. It looks and feels like a big motel to me, lots of concrete, not an overly relaxing atmosphere but some people love it. It gets a lot of love on these boards. We found it to be just OK and would not choose to stay there again.

 

[Disneylvr1971]

Just back from a Sept stay at Pop. We opted out of housekeeping and got the gift card. No problem there, just had to call for towels, etc. Busses were fine, love the new rooms. You also can hop over to AOA for their busses or food court if you want. No problems with check in. It is a busy resort, but we didn't have any problems with noise (were in the 70's section).

 

[AngiTN]

It's the one resort I will never return to.
Many of the issues were those that aren't likely to happen again but their horrible handling of it was enough to steer me clear
First, we arrived via ME (our first time using it by the way) and this went well. That's where the good ended.
We walked in and were told they couldn't check us in, give us park tickets, mugs, even let us use the dining plan. It was the first day of the first generation of MDE. Resorts were still using KTTW cards, this was the generation before MB testing began. We rolled with it, having not planned a park that day anyway, we were going to the Christmas Party that night.
They were giving all guests arriving 1 day park hopper tickets, nonexpiring, since no one could access park tickets they'd purchased. Upon their suggestion I saved these since we weren't going to the park. Then we changed and headed to the pool. I kept checking every hour or so to see if they were checking guests in yet. Nope was always the answer. Finally 4:00 rolled around and we really needed a room so I got rather insistent by that point. Lo and behold they managed to find a way to put us in a room. Guess I just needed to make a fuss earlier. I did get a 2nd set of 1 day non-expiring tickets. So I ended up with 6 single-day tickets.
The whole time there was also no way to use dining plan credits. They told guests to pay out of pocket, get it refunded and applied to a credit later, once the system was working. It was manageable for us since it was only 3 of us but I can only imagine the predicament that a large family who arrived expecting most food to be paid for would be in. That would be a large outflow of money. And it was out for 2 meals, at least. 3 if you'd been there for breakfast. We did get the credit/cash done but it was just one more pain that I didn't really want to spend time dealing with. Especially since so many others were doing the same.

The room was really unpleasant too. VERY long walk back and forth to the lobby. I believe our room was in the 80's. Would have been fine had someone driven, the parking lot was right there. Awful for buses.
The door couldn't even open all the way, it hit the bed. Full beds too, at that time. We rented a stroller for DGD, just a single regular old stroller, and it wouldn't fit in the door without being folded down, because of the door hitting the bed. I joked that we had to step outside the change our mind.

Food was awful. DD and I both threw away one meal. Food court was louder than a rock concert. AoA wasn't built so no other food court to go to.

Bottom line is I learned Value resorts are just not for us. I'd come within a few seconds of switching to WL and I wish I had. The other resorts seemed to have handled the issues smoother.

 

[Mome Rath]

We'll be going some time in Jan/Feb 2021.

Yes, there's a secondary wave of 15's at Disney in Jan/Feb, so if you think that may bother you guys, you may want to see if anyone knows the dates they'll be there. (I've not stayed at Pop when they are there that time of year, so I can't help there.)

 

[sponica]

@VandVsmama I've bolded my answers. Some disclaimers: my stays are EXTREMELY outdated (2004/2005 and then again in 2010). That being said I will stay at Pop if I'm looking for a place to shower/sleep. But for now we're more moderate resorts people.

Some stuff I'm curious about:

• What did you think of the room? I stayed back when it was 2 full beds, with 3 other girls. I don't remember it being small, but I don't pay attention to those things.
• How was the check in process compared to other on site hotels you've stayed at? This was pre online check in, so you still had to go to the front desk to get the key to the world. I thought it was appropriately staffed to handle the DME offloads
• How busy was it in the food court in the morning getting breakfast? I remember it being crowded whatever meal we ate there (disclaimer one trip was christmas/new years)
• If you did or did not use housekeeping while you were there, what was that like? Fine? Not a detail I pay attention to...
• Are there towels at the pool or do you have to bring towels from your room? I've never gone to a disney pool, never enough time
• What was the bus service like going to the parks & getting back later in the day? I don't remember it being a problem. But those were "soft attendance" years
• If you used Uber, Lyft, or a Minnie Van, where was the pick up? N/A. Pre ride share days
• What's your favorite building to stay in? I liked the 50s area more than the 70s.
• If you were in a building with a longer walk to the food court/main building, how long was the walk? I don't pay attention to these things.

 

[Shellyred8]

We were just there in Sept of this year and we liked it. I would definitely go back. We were in building 3, close to the lake. It was quite, except when the people above us would drop something on the floor. Since they have the laminate flooring, you can hear the click, click, click when people above you drop something. It wasn't horrible, but we noticed it once in a while. Getting a top floor would eliminate that noise.
We were fairly close to the bridge to AoA, so we went over to that food court a couple of times just to try some different things.
I liked the rooms. There are LOTS of USB ports and plenty of storage for 2 people. The beds were pretty comfy.
I liked that we could take either AoA or Pop buses back from the parks or DS. Whichever one got there first is the one we got on. Again, since our room was close to the bridge, it wasn't a big deal to walk from AoA to our room.
We opted out of housekeeping. We were only there for 4 nights, so we figured we wouldn't have that much trash.
We were there just before the skyliner opened, so we didn't get to use that. But that is a HUGE plus for us for that resort and one of the big reasons why I wouldn't hesitate to stay there again. If you can get building 4 or 5, that will put you closest to the skyliner. Bulidings 3 and 6 would be the next closest.
The one negative thing was that my sunglasses case went missing while we were there. We arrived from a cruise and I had it when we arrived. When we arrived at the resort, we left our bags with bell services and I didn't check for it until it was time to leave. So, I'm not sure if it went missing at bell services or during one of the "daily room inspections". It wasn't a huge issue, just something I'm calling out so you make sure you secure any valuables. This is good advice for any hotel though.

 

[tguz]

We love the Pop. We have stayed there the last 2 Summers. We didn't have to visit the desk upon check in at all. We received a text or email notification when our room was ready and we went right to the room without issue. I requested top floor, building 3, and lake view so we could see the Skyliner testing. We got the room we wanted. We only used the Bowling Pin pool that was in our area and it was pretty calm as it was not the main pool and there were always plenty of loungers available. There are towels provided at the pool. We thought the bus service was great. Because the POP is such a large resort, the bus lines coming back to the resort from a park can be quite long near park closing. A tip that does work sometimes is, take the AoA bus back to the resort. If the POP bus line is jammed full you may have to wait for the second or third bus. If you get lucky and an AoA bus just left leaving their bus line small, take it. Pop is just a short walk across the bridge from AoA and you can get to your room faster. The bus stalls for the 2 resorts are usually side by side. We only ate breakfast at the Pop on our departure morning and it was pretty jammed. I'd guess we were in line 15 minutes so it wasn't bad. All in all, we love the Pop Century.