Disney's POP CENTURY RESORT Information & Questions

[terrybsw]

Yes.

Or you can go to the front desk with Cash and they will give you a "Laundry card" to use-a lot of The 15s did that when we were at WDW in July.

All Washers and Dryers are controlled from a single "box" on the wall.

Thanks!

 

[dansdad]

Is some of the walking by-passed if you take the minnie van?

Unless something changed from last week, no.

 

[NavyDad]

We never drive. I like to take advantage of the free transportation. We never had issues with pop buses getting to the parks but we would leave an hour or more before the park opened so there weren’t very many people in line. We only waited one time for a bus and it was coming back from ak. We waited 20-30 minutes.

Almost always going to be quicker to drive and you also have more control. The bus stops are usually a shorter walk than where you will park although that is partially negated because Pop bus stop is always the farthest away for some reason. We usually drive to every park except MK but honestly it's just a matter of personal preference. I like to control when I come and go - there is nothing worse than waiting on a bus when you are an impatient person and you have no control of when it is going to come. The times we have flown we did not get a rental car and just depended on buses and it was just fine. Just had to get through the rare (but memorable) times when 3-4 busses came for every park other than the one you are looking for...

 

[NavyDad]

I would be interested to know if anyone who has had to wait ‘an hour’ for a bus actually timed it on their watch? After taking hundreds of buses to and from Pop in 25+ stays there (those often 7 days or more) I have never waited an hour for a bus. Has it felt like it? Yes!!! But when I’ve actually timed it the longest have been 30-45 minutes and that’s when the lines have been long and we’ve waited 2 or 3 buses to ensure we get a seat.

I’m not saying that people don’t wait an hour at times for a bus, I just think it’s rare to wait that long and not the norm.

We have only ever had to wait more than 30 minutes for any bus anywhere at WDW as far as I can remember. Last January at POR we waited at the bust stop at the back of the resort for just over 50 minutes. It was our first evening and we were riding over to MK to see Christmas lights before they were taken down. We had just missed a bus as we were walking up but figured the next bus would be along shortly. The arrival time on the screen showed about 30 minutes until next bus and we were surprised. There must have been some sort of issue because the time kept moving back and we waited close to an hour. We had left our room around 5:30 and hoped to get to MK around 6 PM for an 8 PM close. We figured 2 hours would be enough to experience the lights and maybe ride a couple of rides. Well, we ended up getting through the turnstile right around 6:50. Much shorter time but wasn't the end of the world.

The only bad experience we had with busses at Pop were on our first trip. One time line was so long at the resort that we were on the third bus that pulled up. We would have been on the second bus but we had a couple of people with scooters ride up right before we got on so ended up waiting until the third bus. On Another morning we waited around 30 minutes for a bus that was going to Typhoon Lagoon. It was an unpleasant wait in the hot sun but we were going to a water park so, again not the end of the world. I think we had similar issues with the joint busses going to TL/DD that trip for some reason...

 

[ColoradoMom12]

Laundry Room Question:
Can you use magic bands or are the machines cash?
TIA

Credit card only. I find it rather annoying that everything at Disney is MagicBand, but you have to remember your card for doing laundry. So often we do laundry while we’re at the pool...I’m not sure what to do with my credit card while I swim. I guess I could just put it in the bottom of the bag we take to the pool, but I don’t like to take a chance like that. Usually I end up putting it into the front of my swimsuit. At least I know it won’t go missing. And I can’t even count the number of times I have walked from our room to the laundry room only to discover I don’t have my credit card! I need to come up with a better system, I think. A lanyard or something.

 

[Haley R]

Almost always going to be quicker to drive and you also have more control. The bus stops are usually a shorter walk than where you will park although that is partially negated because Pop bus stop is always the farthest away for some reason. We usually drive to every park except MK but honestly it's just a matter of personal preference. I like to control when I come and go - there is nothing worse than waiting on a bus when you are an impatient person and you have no control of when it is going to come. The times we have flown we did not get a rental car and just depended on buses and it was just fine. Just had to get through the rare (but memorable) times when 3-4 busses came for every park other than the one you are looking for...

We NEVER have a car, though. I would much rather take the free transportation and allow for extra time than pay extra per night for a car to be rented. I will say that DH and I arrive at park opening, don't take afternoon breaks, and stay until park close so we usually aren't waiting long for a bus. That time we waited at AK was because we took our niece and she needed an afternoon break after doing DAH the night before.

 

[mikegood2]

We NEVER have a car, though. I would much rather take the free transportation and allow for extra time than pay extra per night for a car to be rented. I will say that DH and I arrive at park opening, don't take afternoon breaks, and stay until park close so we usually aren't waiting long for a bus. That time we waited at AK was because we took our niece and she needed an afternoon break after doing DAH the night before.

Like NavyDad and others have said, it comes down to a matter of preference. The obvious big factor is whether you drive or fly. Since we fly we never rent a car. Also, part of the vacation for my brother is not having to worry about driving. Also, we are a party of 5, and 2 are kids who needed car seats, so renting a car would be little more complicated (ie Expensive).

I wonder how much of an impact that all resorts now charge for parking has? My first though is it would increase people taking busses, because fewer would be driving because of the fees. Then I wondered if it could actually increase people driving to the parks, because if your paying for parking your gonna make sure you get use out of your car every day.

 

[scrappinginontario]

Like NavyDad and others have said, it comes down to a matter of preference. The obvious big factor is whether you drive or fly. Since we fly we never rent a car. Also, part of the vacation for my brother is not having to worry about driving. Also, we are a party of 5, and 2 are kids who needed car seats, so renting a car would be little more complicated (ie Expensive).

I wonder how much of an impact that all resorts now charge for parking has? My first though is it would increase people taking busses, because fewer would be driving because of the fees. Then I wondered if it could actually increase people driving to the parks, because if your paying for parking your gonna make sure you get use out of your car every day.

we were at Pop in August and cannot say I really noticed a difference one sY or the other. The numbers of people in lines for the buses about what we had experienced in the past. There were many times that we arrived and buses showed up almost immediately and other times we had to wait a bit but never anything unreasonable.

I guess I look at waiting for buses as just part of a Disney trip. It’s expected and acceptable as normally it’s in a reasonable amount of time. I only have to take one trip into our closest major city anywhere between 5am and 9am or, 3pm and 7pm to immediately be reminded how amazingly well Disney moves thousands and thousands of people quickly and efficiently!! Many cities could take a lesson from Disney when it comes to efficiently moving people.

 

[WEDWDW]

Another thing about taking the Buses that we like is we meet other Guests from ALL OVER THE WORLD on the Buses and really have had some fun conversations in route.

 

[tink1957]

I would be interested to know if anyone who has had to wait ‘an hour’ for a bus actually timed it on their watch? After taking hundreds of buses to and from Pop in 25+ stays there (those often 7 days or more) I have never waited an hour for a bus. Has it felt like it? Yes!!! But when I’ve actually timed it the longest have been 30-45 minutes and that’s when the lines have been long and we’ve waited 2 or 3 buses to ensure we get a seat.

I’m not saying that people don’t wait an hour at times for a bus, I just think it’s rare to wait that long and not the norm.

We waited around 50 minutes and 8 buses until we got on during EMH at MK last week. I was afraid we wouldn't have time to use our last quick service meal since the food court closed at 11. We got in line around 10...we were lined up after the queuing area 4 lines deep. In all my stays at Pop this was the longest time i've ever waited. We did make it to the food court since they stayed open until 11:30 to accommodate all of the people getting off the buses but naturally the choices were limited.

Lesson learned...no more EMH for us and no more waiting until the last minute to use up our DP credits.

 

[scrappinginontario]

Just a quick mention that the MyDisneyExperience website was completely updated overnight. I went in today to look at some things and everything was new! I'm hoping these changes account for some of the glitches we've been experiencing lately.

I thought I'd take it for a real test drive and try to add room requests to our December trip. LOL - clicked the button that should provide options for rooms and voila - blank. Nothing at all in the drop down. Guess I was hoping for too much with this overhaul.

I'm excited to give the new website a try though and see how it goes!

Update: So far, so good. Like the new, sleek design and other than room requests it's working well. If people are finding they can't see their reservations, try logging out, clearing cashe and cookies and then logging in again.

 

[Iowamomof4]

Just a quick mention that the MyDisneyExperience website was completely updated overnight. I went in today to look at some things and everything was new! I'm hoping these changes account for some of the glitches we've been experiencing lately.

I thought I'd take it for a real test drive and try to add room requests to our December trip. LOL - clicked the button that should provide options for rooms and voila - blank. Nothing at all in the drop down. Guess I was hoping for too much with this overhaul.

I'm excited to give the new website a try though and see how it goes!

I read on a FB group that they are removing room requests from MDE and the only way to add them will be to call or fax. No idea if that is accurate, but it would make sense with your experience this morning.

 

[scrappinginontario]

I read on a FB group that they are removing room requests from MDE and the only way to add them will be to call or fax. No idea if that is accurate, but it would make sense with your experience this morning.

Could be! Time will tell. I know (at least for Pop) that room requests have not worked well for a very long time.

 

[Haley R]

Another thing about taking the Buses that we like is we meet other Guests from ALL OVER THE WORLD on the Buses and really have had some fun conversations in route.

We like this too! Especially when we meet someone from close to where we live.

 

[rstevens333]

FWIW, I was in 50s building 3 last week and it was nicely refurbed. Great view of the Skyliner station from the 4th floor.

 

[Tera]

Another thing about taking the Buses that we like is we meet other Guests from ALL OVER THE WORLD on the Buses and really have had some fun conversations in route.

That is true. We met two different families from Canada on our trips to the parks. We have only driven to Epcot and haven't had any issues with the buses. We did go for the magic hours to Animal Kingdom and there was a huge line by 7:10am and only a regular size bus and not one of those double ones. We had to wait for the second bus even though we were in line by 7:00am but only had to wait a few minutes for the second bus. Coming back to POP, we only waited maybe 10 minutes. We have been leaving the parks by 2:00-3:00ish, so probably not when the majority of people leaving at that time.

 

[scrappinginontario]

That is true. We met two different families from Canada on our trips to the parks. We have only driven to Epcot and haven't had any issues with the buses. We did go for the magic hours to Animal Kingdom and there was a huge line by 7:10am and only a regular size bus and not one of those double ones. We had to wait for the second bus even though we were in line by 7:00am but only had to wait a few minutes for the second bus. Coming back to POP, we only waited maybe 10 minutes. We have been leaving the parks by 2:00-3:00ish, so probably not when the majority of people leaving at that time.

Glad you didn’t wait long.

A quick word about the articulated buses. Those only go to and from the Magic Kingdom as they had to build special bus stops to accommodate them at the MK. They work at Pop because they are the first stop. You will currently never take one of those longer buses go any park except the MK.

 

[straychicken]

We transferred from Pop Century yesterday after staying 2 nights at POR. We liked POR but we like Pop better. The room is so nice and mattress is great (finally some good sleep). We did online check in and went straight to our room on the back side of the 60s, We used the luggage transfer service and our 6 bags were in our room waiting for us. So excited to be here. It just suits us.

 

[jcarwash]

I thought I'd take it for a real test drive and try to add room requests to our December trip. LOL - clicked the button that should provide options for rooms and voila - blank. Nothing at all in the drop down. Guess I was hoping for too much with this overhaul.

The online requests was the first thing I checked. :-(

 

[Lsdolphin]

Anyone there know if they still have the waffle fries in the food court and whether they have the Halloweencups?