deal of value?

[youngwdwlover]

Hi. I'm planning a trip to WDW for March with a friend of mine. :sohappy: I'm looking into staying at the Pop Century resort. I am on a tight budget so i figured a value resort was the best way to go. Is it the best deal to stay in a value resort such as this or does anyone recommend another way to go about saving money?

 

[Kingdom Konsultant]

I suggest you go with the Value. If a discounted package is released you can either stay put or upgrade to a moderate with the money you are saving. Either way you will have a great time.

Good Luck!

Pam

 

[shoppingnut]

Pop is a great resort and staying on property gives you many perks. There are other ways to save money and I know there are other threads listing various ways. You could bring Thomas' bagels with you and toast them at the foodcourt, butter is free, cream cheese you have to pay for. There are many others, but you get the idea.

 

[youngwdwlover]

Thanks a lot. We were thinking about going to some type of grocery store once we got settled in. There is so much to think about. I never realized it before.

 

[slappy magoo]

Thanks a lot. We were thinking about going to some type of grocery store once we got settled in. There is so much to think about. I never realized it before.

Will you have a car to get to a grocery store?

 

[shoppingnut]

If you have a car to go to the grocery store, I'd recommend going to the Walmart on rte 535, since it has a grocery store in it and there prices excellent.

 

[imamouse]

I love Pop and stay there all the time, but if you are planning to buy and store groceries, keep in mind that the value resorts do not have refrigerators in the rooms, but the moderates and deluxe resorts do.

Kingdom Konsultant (travel agent responded in this thread - see post #2) can book your resort and/or package, and then they will monitor your reservations for a better rate. I've used them for years and in addition to providing excellent customer service, they 'take the hassle out of the castle' by handling everything. They are also a sponsor on this site.

 

[BigNormsMom]

We have always stayed at the Value Resorts. We always go to Goodings on our first night there. We purchase milk, sweet rolls, bread, lunchmeat,juice and anything else we may want to snack on and a large bag of ice. Then we put it in our COOLER!! We never travel without one. Driving down, we have food stuffs in it and Pepsi products. My late husband only drank Pepsi and always threw a fit because you could not get it at the resort, so we always took a couple of cases and would put some in the cooler every night. Usually every other night we'd make an ice run or treat run so that was not a problem. Take a large cooler. :slurp:

 

[youngwdwlover]

I had no idea that there was no refrigerator. I have a friend who lives in the area and has offered to drive to the grocery store. Or i was going to look into public transportation. We are flying down and aren't old enough to rent a car so we are sort of at the mercy of the universe.

 

[ThinkTink721]

Value is probably the best way to go.
You get the WDW transportation & all the little extras that go along w/ staying at a WDW resort.
In my opinion, Pop is the best of the value resorts because it has it's own buses & it is the newest of the values.
:wave:

 

[stmize]

I had no idea that there was no refrigerator. I have a friend who lives in the area and has offered to drive to the grocery store. Or i was going to look into public transportation. We are flying down and aren't old enough to rent a car so we are sort of at the mercy of the universe.

If you are not old enough to rent a car, are you old enough to check in and reserve a room. I think you have to be at least 18

 

[BroodyGirl23]

If you are not old enough to rent a car, are you old enough to check in and reserve a room. I think you have to be at least 18

I'm sure she is 18 or older, but you have to be 25 to rent a car, which is a big difference from 18.

 

[dove_]

If you guys are willing to rough it a bit and have the required equipment, you could always try Ft. Wilderness!
My friends and I (in a similar situation), were planning on that. It's only $50 a night during value season (still about half the price of a real room at any other season I think).

And if any of you have AAA, look into that for discounts, too.

Any other questions, just ask me! I managed to get my 3 friends and I down to WDW for about $450 for 6 days (flight included but not food). Granted, some of that was luck, but really, I've done a bunch of research for this already.

Good luck! :wave:

 

[youngwdwlover]

I'm sure she is 18 or older, but you have to be 25 to rent a car, which is a big difference from 18.

As a matter of fact you're right. I'll be 21 at the time of my trip.


Also, $450 for 6 days including flight?!?! How on earth did you manage that?

 

[disneychic71]

I had no idea that there was no refrigerator. I have a friend who lives in the area and has offered to drive to the grocery store. Or i was going to look into public transportation. We are flying down and aren't old enough to rent a car so we are sort of at the mercy of the universe.

Because we always fly down and use DME, we don't have a car for shopping. My most recent solution was to stuff non-perishable food items in our suitcases; I had granola bars, candy, those foam bowls with cereal in them (less crushable than boxes), fruit snacks, a small jar of peanut butter, and so on. This way we eliminated trips to the vending machines for candy and treats, and were able to eat a quick breakfast or snack in the room. If your friend can bring soda/water/milk and one of those cheap foam coolers with ice, you'll be in excellent shape! Otherwise, buy the refillable mug (we shared one!). You can also share meals at most of the restuarants for a small additional charge. If you want to treat yourselves to a fun dinner, try Tony's Town Square--you can easily split the spaghetti and meatballs; it feeds an army! If you are strictly counter service, don't forget the kids meals if your appetite is small--they're pretty good and usually pretty inexpensive.

 

[Mikester71]

We will also be staying at Pop this upcoming March (our March Break/Spring Break actually). :wave: Luckily we drive down, so we will be hitting up the grocery stores after we check in on the Saturday. We usually just bring a cooler, as some have mentioned on here, and just refill it with ice in the morning before we head out to the parks and at night before we go to sleep. Worked out beautifully our last two trips. We keep our milk and some Sunny D in there at all times. :lol:

 

[dove_]

Also, $450 for 6 days including flight?!?! How on earth did you manage that?

I snagged some $200 flights, and got the room taken care of by a DVC friend (my ex's mom, actually.. I may hate him, but the fam and I are still close). So rather than each of us chipping in $70 for camping (value season), we got a 1-bedroom at Saratoga Springs (absolutely free.. I love them!). And the park tickets are $267 (military discount).

So it's not that bad, if you can find cheap flights and do camping during value season ($50 a night, plus we were going to have a AAA discount).

Been obsessively planning this since April... haha

 

[youngwdwlover]

A cooler would certainly suffice cause we don't need to store much in the line of perishables. You have all been a huge help. Thanks so much for all of your advice and by all keep it coming