Pop Century!

[Mr_Incredible]

Just booked for September 15-21, 2012. (so excited yay!) and we will be staying at Pop for the first time. I am looking soooooo forward to it. We always usually stay at sports or movies. So this will be a nice change for us.

My wife is worried it will be too crowded.....busses, cafe' etc. We are going end of September (slow times) so I am not worried. She is a bit of a worry-wart (don't tell her I said that :lookaroun )

So any word of advice would be great! Thanks!

 

[Mr_Incredible]

Also, if we book now, and free dinning is announced later, we can always change it before we go to take advantage of the free dinning promotion correct? If so, what if it's announced less than 45 days from our vaca?

 

[Gig 'Em Mickey]

Don't worry. We've stayed there twice. Never had really crowded busses except at park opening times. And then we only waited for one bus. The food court is actually pretty big and laid out very well. Never felt too crowded for us. We love it, and are staying there again at the beginning of May. Have fun.

 

[pixiesteno]

We have stayed at POP several times and have had hit and miss on the buses. We went 3 times in the beginning of Dec and the first two times it was nice and slow, the third time in Dec 2008 it was a mad house! They did that free dining thing and the place was packed with screaming kids. But with you going in Sept it should be fine. Most of the kids will be back in school and not on vacation. There will always be full buses during peak times of park opening and closing, you know, if it is too packed wait for the next bus. That's the thing, there will usually be another bus along. You'll have a fantastic time. Take some time to wander the main hall and all the displays on the wall. Around the walk ways there are signs for each year and a history fact for that year, find the year you were born. One time we were there and it was just before dinner and all of a sudden the CM in the dining area started doing "the Hustle" when the song came on. Lots of fun

 

[Mr_Incredible]

We have stayed at POP several times and have had hit and miss on the buses. We went 3 times in the beginning of Dec and the first two times it was nice and slow, the third time in Dec 2008 it was a mad house! They did that free dining thing and the place was packed with screaming kids. But with you going in Sept it should be fine. Most of the kids will be back in school and not on vacation. There will always be full buses during peak times of park opening and closing, you know, if it is too packed wait for the next bus. That's the thing, there will usually be another bus along. You'll have a fantastic time. Take some time to wander the main hall and all the displays on the wall. Around the walk ways there are signs for each year and a history fact for that year, find the year you were born. One time we were there and it was just before dinner and all of a sudden the CM in the dining area started doing "the Hustle" when the song came on. Lots of fun

Thats sounds awesome!!! We can't wait, we always have heard such great things about the resort. We really will enjoy our own bus. We are so excited.....

 

[lunchbox1175]

actually, i don't think you can add it on to pre-existing reservations, you may want to double check with them though.

 

[lunchbox1175]

Just booked for September 15-21, 2012. (so excited yay!) and we will be staying at Pop for the first time. I am looking soooooo forward to it. We always usually stay at sports or movies. So this will be a nice change for us.

My wife is worried it will be too crowded.....busses, cafe' etc. We are going end of September (slow times) so I am not worried. She is a bit of a worry-wart (don't tell her I said that :lookaroun )

So any word of advice would be great! Thanks!

As much as I liked the better options at the food court, and I thought the gift shop was nicer than most, I will never stay at POP again, it was way too crowded, it is the largest resort, and they are almost always at 90% capacity, which means while you have your own bus, it is almost always one of the longest walks leaving the park to your station, and if you are leaving the MK after the fireworks, the wait for your bus will easily be 20 minutes, i have seen the line actually work through the entire cue and back up past the next two resort lines on numerous occasions. It is a great family environment resort, but you have to give yourself an extra 20 minutes if you are going anywhere.

 

[Master Yoda]

Also, if we book now, and free dinning is announced later, we can always change it before we go to take advantage of the free dinning promotion correct? If so, what if it's announced less than 45 days from our vaca?

Yes, you can add it to your reservation IF there is availability at your resort. When these promotions are released not all dates and resorts are included. If Pop Century is meeting or exceeding is projected occupancy, the promotion might be blacked out for your dates and/or resort. Package promotions are rarely released inside of 45 day but if it were to happen you would be subject to a change fee to get the promotion.

 

[triplela]

We stayed at Pop Century for Mardi Gras this past March, which was the beginning of Spring Break. Yes the resort was crowded. The Food Court was packed. The lines at the cashier leaving the Food Court were long. With that said, we didn't have a problem finding a table at the Food Court. The lines for the bus were long. But the longest we really had to wait was maybe 10-15 minutes. If we missed one, there was usually another one within 10-15 minutes. The only time we had to wait a good while for a bus was at Downtown Disney, but that seems to be a problem for all the resorts. We liked Pop Century and would stay there again, even with the crowds. We're skipping this year and going back for Mardi Gras 2013. We're booked at Art of Animation for February 8-16, 2013 and can't wait to see that resort.

 

[tink65]

We've stayed at all the value resorts but since Pop Century opened we've made it our "home" resort. We love it! Sure it's crowded but so is everything else. We've always (pretty much) gone in late September and we've never had any major issues with wait times for the buses. Of course, during peak time (park opening or closing after fireworks) you will have to wait some but nothing that amounts to an obsence amount of time! We actually splurged and stayed at PORS this past September and really, really loved it....but to be fair we thought the food court at Pop had more selection! You're going to have a great time!

 

[DisneyRunner]

i have seen the line actually work through the entire cue and back up past the next two resort lines on numerous occasions.

That is what happened to us last August. It was awful. Perhaps it was the last trip for some, as school started the following Monday. We were there on Saturday. Here is what it looked like.

This is crazyfordisneymom's picture.

 

[Poofiesdream]

Staying at Pop in two weeks for the fourth time. You will love it!

 

[lilclerk]

Pop's bus line does get insanely busy, but in my experience, they pump people out of there faster than other resorts. I've been there when there are two or three buses loading people in at a time. I've even gotten to ride a Mears bus that they were using as backup back to the resort. That was a comfy ride :lol:

 

[DisneyRunner]

Pop's bus line does get insanely busy, but in my experience, they pump people out of there faster than other resorts. I've been there when there are two or three buses loading people in at a time. I've even gotten to ride a Mears bus that they were using as backup back to the resort. That was a comfy ride :lol:

We had this occurr on the previous mentioned August trip, too. Multiple buses lined up to and from the parks. A Mears bus in the morning to EPCOT.

 

[Strzinmyeyes87]

We stayed at the Pop last year in February and our coming trip is in 33 days! We have chosen to stay at the Pop again this year and there is a few reasons why. Since we are both going during less busy times of the year, I can tell you that the resort was not to crowded. I would avoid the cafe around breakfast and when people first get back from park closing because it always seemed to be crazy. Our own bus line was awesome, alot of the time we just walked right onto a bus with no to minimal wait. The night we left the Magic Kingdom after the fireworks the line was very very long but we only waited about 10 minutes because they loaded 3 buses for Pop. You also have a very short ride to hollywood, epcot, and animal because they are very close, MK takes a bit but still not to bad. We had a room that overlooked the lake in the 70's building and it was very quiet as well even with neighbors. Overall we loved Pop and it is going to be our hotel from now on! Hope you have a great time!! :wave:

 

[pop lover]

We have stayed at Pop twice and is going back again in May for two weeks. We have never had an issue with the buses leaving or coming back from the parks. If you r at MK watching the fireworks and the park is opened late we always just hang around for an hr and then there is no line for the buses and at Epcot we always leave a couple of minutes before the fireworks are over and the most we have ever waited is for the next bus. You wouldnt want to stay at Caribbean Beach their bus is horriable and the food court is small and no choices like Pop. We love Pop over Caribbean Beach.

 

[MickeyPeace]

That is what happened to us last August. It was awful. Perhaps it was the last trip for some, as school started the following Monday. We were there on Saturday. Here is what it looked like.

This is crazyfordisneymom's picture.

I stayed at Pop in Sept of 2010. This is what the bus lines looked like also coming back from MK. The food court in the resort was extremely loud and packed with screaming kids.

If you are going without children or want a semi peaceful environment at the resort, skip this one.

Here is my review of my experience at Pop-
http://wdwprince.com/?p=3473

 

[jayhawkmickey]

We went last year at the same time and pop was fine, not too crowded except the food court right before closing time. The busses wern't bad except one morning we slept in and caught the after breakfast rush by the stroller crowd. We also booked in January and added the free dining later with no trouble. It's good advice to leave a little early or hang out in the parks for awhile to miss the closing bus crazyness. A half hour in a sweaty line for a bus or a half hour enjoying a quieter park is a no brainer. We had a blast, enjoy!

 

[WDWLOYAL1971]

We switched to the Pop from the ASM because the buses are great. You don't have to worry about them stopping at other resorts before getting to yours. The dinning area is quite spacious. We have been at the food court during peak dinning time and have always found a table. We love it there. I hope you have a fantastice time.:wave:

 

[plaz10]

We've stayed at POP on our last 4 trips. We love it for exactly what it is - a clean place to sleep and shower. We are early risers and we usually stay out late. So we're really just sleeping and showering there.

Food Court - B
We eat there usually only for breakfast and I give their breakfast an A. Their grab n go section is fantastic for mornings (muffins/bagels/danishes/etc...) and they also have the staples of eggs, pancakes, french toast. Good stuff.
Their lunch options were not that good (for me anyway - I'm a picky eater) and we only ate dinner their once (pizza). But the breakfast options are great so thats why it got a B even though I'd give lunch and dinner a C.

Bus System - B-
In the mornings - Bus system is good. They have busses running pretty often (unless it's to Downtown Disney/Typhoon Lagoon - then you're waiting probably 20 min - half an hour for a bus). The evenings - the bus lines are PACKED at the parks. I'd recommend leisurely taking your time back to the busses. But they usually send a few busses because they know it's crowded. But expect to wait a good while if you follow the rush out.

Rooms - A-
They get the minus for space. Otherwise they are clean. And thats all I really need!

Resort itself - B
Pretty big and spread out which can make it hard to navigate. But the pools are nice and spread out enough that they usually aren't crazy crowded.

We love POP and plan to book it again for our trip in April