Pop Century Room Renovations

I'm curious what kind of random issues you had.

Let's see what I remember... nothing major actually.

Toy Story Midway Mania broke down when we did it as our last ride of the day. We actually had already finished the ride when it broke, and we were just a few yards away from the exit. They have a whole procedure they have to do first before they let you get out, so we sat there awhile. It never moved again so we had to be evacuated on the track, which was pretty cool. To make it up to everyone, they scanned us for Anytime Fastpasses good for any park the next day. When she scanned us she had problems with her scanner so only mine showed up. We had already walked away at that point and had to head back (park was already closed but we were still in the general area). There were a few people there for the same reason. Not all got the green CHECK mark when they got scanned. She got a new scanner and re-scanned everyone but me (I wanted to be honest and told her mine showed up in the app already, even though I badly wanted another one. LOL). Then somehow later when we checked the app we got a total of 6. Not sure why 6 when it seemed like if the other three in my party got theirs twice it would have been 7 total. We actually wondered if she gave extra because we all had to go back to her again... (Especially since she tried to scan me again after I told her mine showed up in the app and theirs didn't.) Anyway... So that was SIX FPs.

Next morning I took a chance and went down to the front desk at Pop and just told a cast member what happened. I explained that now we didn't have an even amount and wondered if we could get two more to even it out. I actually thought she would say No, Sorry, but she offered to request approval for two more. She said if they got approved I would see them in the app later that day. When I checked (while at MK), we got an additional four instead of two. So now we had two extra again. We said "Oh well, that was a bonus" and we would just let our girls use them to go on whatever ride they wanted. So that was now TEN.

Then when we used them for 7DMT the FP scanners all turned green for us, but later when we checked the app we still had four Anytimes. No idea why. So that brought us up to FOURTEEN. So we used them again, and later we saw we still had three left. Not sure why only three... So anyway now we had three additional. No idea why. Maybe a glitch or the Disney gods loved us. We actually thought maybe she gave us unlimited FPs but when we checked again after we used them that was the end of it. So that was SEVENTEEN.

Then we went on Winnie the Pooh ride and it broke down before we could even get on. We were next on line. We got four more Anytimes for MK. We used them for a ride with a much longer wait time and went on Winnie the Pooh when the wait was short. So that's now at TWENTY-ONE.

Okay, wait....

I forgot we had an issue at Epcot. I went to buy popcorn while my daughter made a purchase at the Seas with my husband and other daughter. She has charging privileges on her MB. They left the store and were about 30 feet away when the cast member chased after them saying they didn't actually pay. My husband said it was somewhat embarrassing. Because my daughter didn't want a bag for her purchase (a plush) it probably looked to others like they tried to walk out without paying. The cast member insisted that kids don't have charging privileges and it didn't go through so she made my husband scan his MB even though he told her that she's been using it for over a week. Then she told him that didn't go through and he tried paying with his Disney Visa card. That didn't go through. ??? Probably because it was already paid by MB, because it did eventually show as paid and they got the plush and left. Anyway.... He told me what happened while we were waiting to meet Baymax. I checked the room charges in the app and sure enough it was charged twice. (He didn't know he could check that, and they didn't tell him.) He had to go all the way back there for the refund. The manager who saw what happened earlier helped him. He had to wait while they called Pop to reverse it. They couldn't just "refund" him for some reason. So to make it up to him the manager gave us 4 Anytime FPs for Test Track (she asked which ride he wanted).

So we actually got TWENTY-FIVE anytime FPs.
 
Let's see what I remember... nothing major actually.

Toy Story Midway Mania broke down when we did it as our last ride of the day. We actually had already finished the ride when it broke, and we were just a few yards away from the exit. They have a whole procedure they have to do first before they let you get out, so we sat there awhile. It never moved again so we had to be evacuated on the track, which was pretty cool. To make it up to everyone, they scanned us for Anytime Fastpasses good for any park the next day. When she scanned us she had problems with her scanner so only mine showed up. We had already walked away at that point and had to head back (park was already closed but we were still in the general area). There were a few people there for the same reason. Not all got the green CHECK mark when they got scanned. She got a new scanner and re-scanned everyone but me (I wanted to be honest and told her mine showed up in the app already, even though I badly wanted another one. LOL). Then somehow later when we checked the app we got a total of 6. Not sure why 6 when it seemed like if the other three in my party got theirs twice it would have been 7 total. We actually wondered if she gave extra because we all had to go back to her again... (Especially since she tried to scan me again after I told her mine showed up in the app and theirs didn't.) Anyway... So that was SIX FPs.

Next morning I took a chance and went down to the front desk at Pop and just told a cast member what happened. I explained that now we didn't have an even amount and wondered if we could get two more to even it out. I actually thought she would say No, Sorry, but she offered to request approval for two more. She said if they got approved I would see them in the app later that day. When I checked (while at MK), we got an additional four instead of two. So now we had two extra again. We said "Oh well, that was a bonus" and we would just let our girls use them to go on whatever ride they wanted. So that was now TEN.

Then when we used them for 7DMT the FP scanners all turned green for us, but later when we checked the app we still had four Anytimes. No idea why. So that brought us up to FOURTEEN. So we used them again, and later we saw we still had three left. Not sure why only three... So anyway now we had three additional. No idea why. Maybe a glitch or the Disney gods loved us. We actually thought maybe she gave us unlimited FPs but when we checked again after we used them that was the end of it. So that was SEVENTEEN.

Then we went on Winnie the Pooh ride and it broke down before we could even get on. We were next on line. We got four more Anytimes for MK. We used them for a ride with a much longer wait time and went on Winnie the Pooh when the wait was short. So that's now at TWENTY-ONE.

Okay, wait....

I forgot we had an issue at Epcot. I went to buy popcorn while my daughter made a purchase at the Seas with my husband and other daughter. She has charging privileges on her MB. They left the store and were about 30 feet away when the cast member chased after them saying they didn't actually pay. My husband said it was somewhat embarrassing. Because my daughter didn't want a bag for her purchase (a plush) it probably looked to others like they tried to walk out without paying. The cast member insisted that kids don't have charging privileges and it didn't go through so she made my husband scan his MB even though he told her that she's been using it for over a week. Then she told him that didn't go through and he tried paying with his Disney Visa card. That didn't go through. ??? Probably because it was already paid by MB, because it did eventually show as paid and they got the plush and left. Anyway.... He told me what happened while we were waiting to meet Baymax. I checked the room charges in the app and sure enough it was charged twice. (He didn't know he could check that, and they didn't tell him.) He had to go all the way back there for the refund. The manager who saw what happened earlier helped him. He had to wait while they called Pop to reverse it. They couldn't just "refund" him for some reason. So to make it up to him the manager gave us 4 Anytime FPs for Test Track (she asked which ride he wanted).

So we actually got TWENTY-FIVE anytime FPs.

That story is just unbelievable! Not that I would want to go through what you did with ride breakdowns and purchasing issues....but if I was guaranteed 25 anytime FPs? MAYBE it might be worth it... ;) But you and your family must have definitely been selected by the FP+ gods. Congrats!
 
That story is just unbelievable! Not that I would want to go through what you did with ride breakdowns and purchasing issues....but if I was guaranteed 25 anytime FPs? MAYBE it might be worth it... ;) But you and your family must have definitely been selected by the FP+ gods. Congrats!

Thanks!

I would go through it again! LOL.

Seriously, it was worth it. We did actually get to do Midway Mania when it broke, and the park was closed anyway, although we did miss the 8pm show we wanted to see. We should have made it out in time for it. Oh well.

The store purchase fiasco wasn't THAT bad because he came back in time for Baymax meet and greet. Line was long enough that he just made it back. Only issue was he has a bad ankle and had to walk extra...
 


Let's see what I remember... nothing major actually.

Toy Story Midway Mania broke down when we did it as our last ride of the day. We actually had already finished the ride when it broke, and we were just a few yards away from the exit. They have a whole procedure they have to do first before they let you get out, so we sat there awhile. It never moved again so we had to be evacuated on the track, which was pretty cool. To make it up to everyone, they scanned us for Anytime Fastpasses good for any park the next day. When she scanned us she had problems with her scanner so only mine showed up. We had already walked away at that point and had to head back (park was already closed but we were still in the general area). There were a few people there for the same reason. Not all got the green CHECK mark when they got scanned. She got a new scanner and re-scanned everyone but me (I wanted to be honest and told her mine showed up in the app already, even though I badly wanted another one. LOL). Then somehow later when we checked the app we got a total of 6. Not sure why 6 when it seemed like if the other three in my party got theirs twice it would have been 7 total. We actually wondered if she gave extra because we all had to go back to her again... (Especially since she tried to scan me again after I told her mine showed up in the app and theirs didn't.) Anyway... So that was SIX FPs.

Next morning I took a chance and went down to the front desk at Pop and just told a cast member what happened. I explained that now we didn't have an even amount and wondered if we could get two more to even it out. I actually thought she would say No, Sorry, but she offered to request approval for two more. She said if they got approved I would see them in the app later that day. When I checked (while at MK), we got an additional four instead of two. So now we had two extra again. We said "Oh well, that was a bonus" and we would just let our girls use them to go on whatever ride they wanted. So that was now TEN.

Then when we used them for 7DMT the FP scanners all turned green for us, but later when we checked the app we still had four Anytimes. No idea why. So that brought us up to FOURTEEN. So we used them again, and later we saw we still had three left. Not sure why only three... So anyway now we had three additional. No idea why. Maybe a glitch or the Disney gods loved us. We actually thought maybe she gave us unlimited FPs but when we checked again after we used them that was the end of it. So that was SEVENTEEN.

Then we went on Winnie the Pooh ride and it broke down before we could even get on. We were next on line. We got four more Anytimes for MK. We used them for a ride with a much longer wait time and went on Winnie the Pooh when the wait was short. So that's now at TWENTY-ONE.

Okay, wait....

I forgot we had an issue at Epcot. I went to buy popcorn while my daughter made a purchase at the Seas with my husband and other daughter. She has charging privileges on her MB. They left the store and were about 30 feet away when the cast member chased after them saying they didn't actually pay. My husband said it was somewhat embarrassing. Because my daughter didn't want a bag for her purchase (a plush) it probably looked to others like they tried to walk out without paying. The cast member insisted that kids don't have charging privileges and it didn't go through so she made my husband scan his MB even though he told her that she's been using it for over a week. Then she told him that didn't go through and he tried paying with his Disney Visa card. That didn't go through. ??? Probably because it was already paid by MB, because it did eventually show as paid and they got the plush and left. Anyway.... He told me what happened while we were waiting to meet Baymax. I checked the room charges in the app and sure enough it was charged twice. (He didn't know he could check that, and they didn't tell him.) He had to go all the way back there for the refund. The manager who saw what happened earlier helped him. He had to wait while they called Pop to reverse it. They couldn't just "refund" him for some reason. So to make it up to him the manager gave us 4 Anytime FPs for Test Track (she asked which ride he wanted).

So we actually got TWENTY-FIVE anytime FPs.
Wow that is a lot of issues to have happen! I can see why the FP lines keep getting longer, though. I can't decide if I like that they hand anytime FPs out or not. I've never been affected by it personally, but I could see how it would make the standby line even longer.
 
Wow that is a lot of issues to have happen! I can see why the FP lines keep getting longer, though. I can't decide if I like that they hand anytime FPs out or not. I've never been affected by it personally, but I could see how it would make the standby line even longer.
True. I agree. We decided to wait on standby 60 minute line for Navi because it was our last day to ride it. They closed the park earlier with I think only one day’s notice for a private event so a lot of FPs for last two hours of day were changed to Anytime FPs. Our wait time on standby was two hours! We’ve never waited for a ride for one hour, let alone two. If it said two hour wait we never would have went on the line. Once it went to over an hour wait we didn’t know what to do. We already invested an hour and didn’t know how much longer it would be. But that was all in the morning. The rest of the day went great so no complaints.

So our 25 FPs maybe offset that experience. Lol.
 
True. I agree. We decided to wait on standby 60 minute line for Navi because it was our last day to ride it. They closed the park earlier with I think only one day’s notice for a private event so a lot of FPs for last two hours of day were changed to Anytime FPs. Our wait time on standby was two hours! We’ve never waited for a ride for one hour, let alone two. If it said two hour wait we never would have went on the line. Once it went to over an hour wait we didn’t know what to do. We already invested an hour and didn’t know how much longer it would be. But that was all in the morning. The rest of the day went great so no complaints.

So our 25 FPs maybe offset that experience. Lol.
I think you did the right thing by staying in line. If you've already been waiting for an hour, even though it's frustrating, it makes sense to just keep waiting unless the line gets to be ridiculously long like I've seen for FOP. I've only waited 2 hours for one ride and that was 7DMT.

I still can't wrap my head around the 25 FPs lol
 


Oh, by the way, I had asked about the Pop Dining area being refurbished and I don’t think I ever got an answer. I think the booths, tables, and chairs have all been redone since 2013. Not sure if that’s accurate, but I recall the booths looking like they were falling apart. And I’m pretty sure the chairs are all new.
 
Yes, they are everywhere on property.
I’ve seen deer around WL & FW, wild turkeys, rabbits, & gators. Fortunately I haven’t come across cougars, I’m sure they keep to the forested areas. We have cougars at home too, and not uncommon to come across a bear from time to time. Always hope to come across an armadillo along WL trail but only thing I’ve seen are deer & bunnies. Lol.
 
We stayed for 13 nights recently. Here are a few of my thoughts:

Requested Refurbed Room, 4th floor on our reservation ONLY - got refurbed 3rd floor in building 9 in the wing closest to busses/main building. Couldn’t have received a better room IMO. I did online check in the night before arrival.

We opted out of housekeeping and received a gift card for $120 - hello new Dooney. We are vacationers, we don’t like to be disturbed by housekeeping unless the timing is convenient for us. We are back in our room every day, sometimes by noon, and when we leave again depends on how long we lay around for. We ALWAYS have the DND sign out because, well, we don’t want to be disturbed. Receiving cash for something we already did was fantastic.
-Every other day I grabbed our trash and dropped it in the can we walked past every morning on our way to the busses. I know they pick up if you place your trash outside your door but I don’t think my neighbours should have to look at that while on vacation.
-I knew we’d want fresh sheets mid trip and I would be “charged” $10 - that is exactly what happened. I called for mousekeeping when it was convenient for US and by the time we were back in our room everything was ship shape.
-requested coffee refills and had them delivered within minutes.
- same with toiletries

Coffee maker in the room was amazing. :lovestruc

Oddly enough there is no Housekeeping button on the phone anymore and when we called Resort Services (? I can’t remember it’s exact name) many times it didn’t get answered. We just stopped at concierge on our way in/out. Not ideal. One cast member told us we didn’t have to ask in person so I explained we couldn’t get through on the phone and he said “he’d look into it”. He seemed genuinely concerned we couldn’t call through to housekeeping.

We use a white noise machine and I use earlplugs too. The only noise complaint I have is from mousekeeping servicing surrounding rooms. The fact that they let the doors bang closed on the latches while they are in and out of rooms is beyond annoying. I wish they had a way to prop the doors open in order to avoid this but since that’s my only noise complaint I’ll take it.

The rooms have tonnes of storage space now. We did bring a few dollar store pop up bins to keep odds and ends contained.

I hated the fact that we didn’t have a table with the Murphy down. Once we arrived I pulled the bed down and it stayed there for the duration. There’s no reason a small table or pop up wall desk could not have been added in between the beverage stand and dresser. As it was I pulled out the coffee drawer and used that to eat on while my DD straddled the side of the dresser and ate there. Definitely not ideal, or comfortable. Before we went I was apprehensive about the lack of table but I didn’t want to make final judgement until we experienced it. One more time - I hated not having a table. Huge miss IMO.

I think that’s all I have to report. I’ll edit if I recall anything new.

Happy to answer any questions. :goodvibes
 
Several people on Facebook are posting building 6 rooms almost ready. All furniture in in the rooms! Hopefully they are picking up steam and finding less large issues.

This would be great but I'll be the first to say I find it hard to believe!! Those rooms have been closed for 20 days and the average room renos are taking 84 days! Unless something MAJOR has changed (which would be great!) I don't think we'll see Building 6 rooms in circulation anytime soon.

I can say with certainty these rooms aren’t close to ready. We walked around building 6 last Friday (17th) and there were workers and power tools and chaos galore going on building wide. I suppose they could open wing by wing but from what we witnessed I can’t imagine that happening any time soon.
 
My trip is a week and a day away! I'm so excited :cloud9:
I don't think not getting a refurbished room would break my vacation, but I decided I'm gonna try sending a fax anyway.

When before my stay should I send the fax?
 
We never do online check in. We just go to the desk when we get there. Do you have a better chance of getting a refurb room if you do online check in? It's the only request that's on our reservation right now.
 
Here now! We got a refurbished room in the 70's, which is what I'd requested so I am extremely happy. Love the new room! My one big issue is how dirty the floor is already. We've only been here a few hours, and I'm walking around in socks that were white on the bottom when we arrive but are now greyish black. Ick. We took our shoes off upon entering the room to try to prevent tracking in dirt, but obviously the dirt was here before we were.

They were power washing the outside of building 10 when we arrived. Building 6 is seriously under construction and in no way looks ready to be occupied anytime soon. There are opaque coverings on the windows, so I'm not able to look in right now but will try to get a look tomorrow during the day if we're around.
 
-I knew we’d want fresh sheets mid trip and I would be “charged” $10 - that is exactly what happened. I called for mousekeeping when it was convenient for US and by the time we were back in our room everything was ship shape.
-requested coffee refills and had them delivered within minutes.
- same with toiletries
:goodvibes

Sounds like you had a great trip! So if you opt out of mousekeeping, but want your sheets changed, they will charge you for it? I wonder if you can stop by the front desk (or have them delivered, along with toiletries/coffee refills) to get them and change them yourself and save the $10?
 
Here now! We got a refurbished room in the 70's, which is what I'd requested so I am extremely happy. Love the new room! My one big issue is how dirty the floor is already. We've only been here a few hours, and I'm walking around in socks that were white on the bottom when we arrive but are now greyish black. Ick. We took our shoes off upon entering the room to try to prevent tracking in dirt, but obviously the dirt was here before we were.

They were power washing the outside of building 10 when we arrived. Building 6 is seriously under construction and in no way looks ready to be occupied anytime soon. There are opaque coverings on the windows, so I'm not able to look in right now but will try to get a look tomorrow during the day if we're around.


How did you request for refurbished? I want to stay in the 70s as well. Did you have a preferred room? Thanks for the update!
 
How did you request for refurbished? I want to stay in the 70s as well. Did you have a preferred room? Thanks for the update!
I did everything I could think of to request the refurbished room, LOL. I called and added a request for a refurbished room, I used online check-in and requested 70s, and I used a touring plans fax. In the TP request, I selected a 70s room and then added in the comments that we would like any refurbished room. My DD is really happy to not be in the 90s, but I would have been just as happy there. We booked a standard room.
 
We never do online check in. We just go to the desk when we get there. Do you have a better chance of getting a refurb room if you do online check in? It's the only request that's on our reservation right now.

I’m in the “keep it simple” camp but based on the many reports of my fellow Dissers on how they make their room requests I’m not sure what the magic combination is.

We ONLY made our requests on the initial reservation - Refurbed room, 4th floor.

I did online check in the night before simply to make our check in a bit faster. At this time I did not make any requests. It would have been pointless anyways as our room would already have been assigned. We are international so we have to go to the check in desk for our bands anyways.

We checked in about 1pm and when I approached the CM at check in I politely mentioned to her that we have a 13 night stay ahead of us and we would really like a new room and would be more than happy to wait to make that happen. Her response was “ok, I’ll see what I can do here”. Luckily enough our room was ready and it was a refurbed room but I think she would have done what she could to get us a new room if that had not been the case.

If your approach is kind,reasonable and not demanding or entitled I think the CMs will try their best to meet your requests.
 

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