Disney's POP CENTURY RESORT Information & Questions

[Ladyfish77]

Getting excited! I'll be staying at Pop for the first time in 3 days! My DS stayed there 3 years ago with his HS guitar group. He enjoyed it and I know we will too!

 

[Haley R]

Getting excited! I'll be staying at Pop for the first time in 3 days! My DS stayed there 3 years ago with his HS guitar group. He enjoyed it and I know we will too!

Guitar group?

 

[Ladyfish77]

Guitar group?

DS's high school had a guitar class. Like a band trip, but for the guitar class. They were a smaller group of around 45 but there were competitions for them and they performed at WDW! They had a blast!

 

[Haley R]

DS's high school had a guitar class. Like a band trip, but for the guitar class. They were a smaller group of around 45 but there were competitions for them and they performed at WDW! They had a blast!

Wow that’s really cool! I had never heard of that before!

 

[Tk0021]

Just got back yesterday from our first stay at pop. Me my wife, two daughters (5 and 7), my parents and mother in law. We really liked it. It was our first time staying at a value. We did stay one night at all star sports. All the adults thought the rooms we small and dingy. The rest of the resort seemed nice, but my wife thought the main building looked cheap. My daughters loved the sports theme.

We thought the updated rooms we great at pop and we would and probably will stay again. It was cold so no pool time for us. We were in The 70’s building so pretty close to the main building which we liked.

The bus stops were always packed in the morning and at night at the parks. Pop always had the longest lines at the parks and sometimes the only lines, but they always sent extra buses to get us home. This might have been because we had free dining and pop was one of the resorts you could get it, so maybe our resort was just really busy.

We had some issues with costumer service. Our luggage was sent from our first night at all star sports to pop. We were told the bags would be in our room when we got back from Epcot but they weren’t. I went to the luggage area in the lobby and he pulled out all our bags from a back room. He expected us to take them ourselves (7 people 6 bags with 3 people in their seventies) which I could have done , but I would like a cart. He did get a cart, then offered to take them for us. We came across this situation a few times at Disney this time. Cast memebers throw out the idea of you doing it yourself then if you seem hesitant they offer to do it for you. We also had an issue with the dinning plan. While in Epcot they scanned our bands for dinner and said my parents room did not have dinning. I called and the pop century rep said we did not check in yet so it was not activated. I told them I did online check in for both rooms and she verified that I did but there was some error on their end. Again, she asked me to take care of it like the luggage guy and then she thought better of it and did it herself. I overheard this same situation at the parks with cast memebers too. I don’t know if it is a new trend or not.

If it is not in their job description to do something that is fine and I am pretty handy, but the luggage guy takes care of luggage and the front desk person takes care of reservations and check in so both seem well with in their job scope.

Again, I don’t want those two situations to take away from my overall review of a good stay at pop. We liked the hotel, my wife and kids are already planning our next trip and it includes pop unless we would stay offsite this time which I doubt.

 

[scrappinginontario]

Just got back yesterday from our first stay at pop. Me my wife, two daughters (5 and 7), my parents and mother in law. We really liked it. It was our first time staying at a value. We did stay one night at all star sports. All the adults thought the rooms we small and dingy. The rest of the resort seemed nice, but my wife thought the main building looked cheap. My daughters loved the sports theme.

We thought the updated rooms we great at pop and we would and probably will stay again. It was cold so no pool time for us. We were in The 70’s building so pretty close to the main building which we liked.

The bus stops were always packed in the morning and at night at the parks. Pop always had the longest lines at the parks and sometimes the only lines, but they always sent extra buses to get us home. This might have been because we had free dining and pop was one of the resorts you could get it, so maybe our resort was just really busy.

We had some issues with costumer service. Our luggage was sent from our first night at all star sports to pop. We were told the bags would be in our room when we got back from Epcot but they weren’t. I went to the luggage area in the lobby and he pulled out all our bags from a back room. He expected us to take them ourselves (7 people 6 bags with 3 people in their seventies) which I could have done , but I would like a cart. He did get a cart, then offered to take them for us. We came across this situation a few times at Disney this time. Cast memebers throw out the idea of you doing it yourself then if you seem hesitant they offer to do it for you. We also had an issue with the dinning plan. While in Epcot they scanned our bands for dinner and said my parents room did not have dinning. I called and the pop century rep said we did not check in yet so it was not activated. I told them I did online check in for both rooms and she verified that I did but there was some error on their end. Again, she asked me to take care of it like the luggage guy and then she thought better of it and did it herself. I overheard this same situation at the parks with cast memebers too. I don’t know if it is a new trend or not.

If it is not in their job description to do something that is fine and I am pretty handy, but the luggage guy takes care of luggage and the front desk person takes care of reservations and check in so both seem well with in their job scope.

Again, I don’t want those two situations to take away from my overall review of a good stay at pop. We liked the hotel, my wife and kids are already planning our next trip and it includes pop unless we would stay offsite this time which I doubt.

What you’re mentioning about the dining plan seems to be the new trend as we ran into it also as did friends.

Even with checking in online, our tickets and dining plan were not active until we had received either a ‘Your room is ready’ text/email or, ‘your room is not ready’ text or email. We arrived around noon Saturday and had not received any notifications. Check in was busy with 2 lines of at least 8 families each. I asked one of the people with an iPad if we could just leave our luggage with luggage services. She said we could but until we received a text that our bands would not work for dining, mugs, etc. (Have seen lots of Christmas mugs available each morning and often at night.)

While we were in line we received the ‘Room not ready’ email so we stepped out of line, checked our luggage and went to Typhoon Lagoon.

We had a similar situation with our luggage but it was just 2 of us so we were okay to transport what they had ourselves.

Pop appears to be running at 100% capacity but handling it well. Crowds seem very big to us this week but buses have been good and ride wait times okay too. Just crowded wherever we walk compared to what we are used to in Sept, expected in Dec though.

Enjoying another great stay at Pop!

 

[Tk0021]

What you’re mentioning about the dining plan seems to be the new trend as we ran into it also as did friends.

Even with checking in online, our tickets and dining plan were not active until we had received either a ‘Yourvriom is ready’ text/email or, ‘your room is not ready’ text or email. We arrived around noon Saturday and had not received any notifications. Checkin was busy with 2 lines of at least 18 families each. I asked one of the people with an iPad if we could just leave our luggage with luggage services. She said we could but until we received a text that our bands would not work for dining, mugs, etc. (Have seen lots of Christmas mugs available each morning and often at night.)

While we were in line we received the ‘Riom not ready’ email so we stepped out of line, checked our luggage and went to Typhoon Lagoon.

We had a similar situation with our luggage but it was just 2 of us so we were okay to transport what they had ourselves.

Pop appears to be running at 100% capacity but handling it well. Crowds seem very big to us this week but buses have been good and ride wait times okay too. Just crowded wherever we walk compared to what we are used to in Sept, expected in Dec though.

Enjoying another great stay at Pop!

Thanks for the comment. What was strange is we got a quick service breakfast at Epcot around 9:30. We definitely did not have our room is ready emails by then , but we used our dinning plan and had no issues. We went to dinner and the server said the one room had no dining plan, I called and we got the information about not checking in but what about our breakfast? Why could we get that but not the table service? Tuesday was our last day and my parents room had 3 quick service meals still on it. I asked at the front desk thinking they charged those breakfast to my credit card. Nope cast member at pop said we were lucky and Disney gave us three free quick service meals.

 

[Haley R]

Thanks for the comment. What was strange is we got a quick service breakfast at Epcot around 9:30. We definitely did not have our room is ready emails by then , but we used our dinning plan and had no issues. We went to dinner and the server said the one room had no dining plan, I called and we got the information about not checking in but what about our breakfast? Why could we get that but not the table service? Tuesday was our last day and my parents room had 3 quick service meals still on it. I asked at the front desk thinking they charged those breakfast to my credit card. Nope cast member at pop said we were lucky and Disney gave us three free quick service meals.

Well that doesn’t make any sense. Why would they give you free meals and not even tell you lol? Something seems fishy

 

[Tk0021]

Also a nice thing at pop was my daughters are into pin trading and we generally let my seven year old trade on her own even if she is getting a lesser pin in the trade unless it is a pin that is special. Apparently she traded a lesser pin and the cast member at pop felt bad and gave her a really nice tink pin on top of the trade. Which was really nice.

 

[Tk0021]

Well that doesn’t make any sense. Why would they give you free meals and not even tell you lol? Something seems fishy

I think he was reluctantly to say they made a mistake and just said they gave us the meals. I was sure they were charged to my credit card but he checked and I checked and they weren’t.

 

[steph12]

We are staying at All Star Sports tomorrow for one night, and then checking into Pop on Saturday for 6 nights. We have a package with tickets and dining at Pop. I was planning on just going straight to Epcot on Saturday for rope drop and we have a lunch ADR at Garden Grill. Are we going to be ok doing this? We have done online check in, but from what you just went thru, does this mean I need to go to Pop before Epcot to make sure they check us in? Can this be done at Epcot park? I don't want to have problems with our tickets and dining that day.

 

[Tk0021]

We are staying at All Star Sports tomorrow for one night, and then checking into Pop on Saturday for 6 nights. We have a package with tickets and dining at Pop. I was planning on just going straight to Epcot on Saturday for rope drop and we have a lunch ADR at Garden Grill. Are we going to be ok doing this? We have done online check in, but from what you just went thru, does this mean I need to go to Pop before Epcot to make sure they check us in? Can this be done at Epcot park? I don't want to have problems with our tickets and dining that day.

Maybe call pop before you use your dinning plan and make sure everything is set up. It just took about a 5 minute phone call to work it out and then scanning the magic band worked.

 

[steph12]

Maybe call pop before you use your dinning plan and make sure everything is set up. It just took about a 5 minute phone call to work it out and then scanning the magic band worked.

Do you have the phone # that I would need to call? Did you have any problems with tickets that morning?

 

[Ladyfish77]

Even with checking in online, our tickets and dining plan were not active until we had received either a ‘Yourvriom is ready’ text/email or, ‘your room is not ready’ text or email.

This is good to know. We will stop at Pop to drop off our carry-ons but it will be around noon, so rooms may not be ready. I'll make sure we check in if we haven't gotten the check-in text!

Thanks for the comment. What was strange is we got a quick service breakfast at Epcot around 9:30. We definitely did not have our room is ready emails by then , but we used our dinning plan and had no issues. We went to dinner and the server said the one room had no dining plan, I called and we got the information about not checking in but what about our breakfast? Why could we get that but not the table service? Tuesday was our last day and my parents room had 3 quick service meals still on it. I asked at the front desk thinking they charged those breakfast to my credit card. Nope cast member at pop said we were lucky and Disney gave us three free quick service meals.

I would have guessed they put all the meals on your room, but you didn't seem to "lose" three meals while you were there so that is weird that they weren't charged anywhere.

The bag issue seems to be an ongoing concern. Guess we'll plan to check the room and go pick up bags at bell services if they haven't arrived. We plan to head to a park after we arrive, and won't be back until after park closing.

 

[Tk0021]

Do you have the phone # that I would need to call? Did you have any problems with tickets that morning?

I called (407) 938-4050. It was in an email that I received. A customer service person answered and then forwarded me to pop after I explained the issue.

 

[steph12]

I called (407) 938-4050. It was in an email that I received. A customer service person answered and then forwarded me to pop after I explained the issue.

Thanks so much! Hopefully I won't need to call if I'm prepared!

 

[Tk0021]

No problem.

Thanks so much! Hopefully I won't need to call if I'm prepared!

No problem. Hope this information helps. When the server brought this to our attention at Akerhous the worst case scenarios started running through my head, like we didn’t have the dinning plan for that room, but it was worked out quickly before our meal was over.

 

[Arianabtd]

At the airport waiting for our flight to Miami for our cruise as I type this...

I miss Pop already
We had such a great stay! (Dec 8th-13th)
We did have a few problems in our room that someone had to come fix a couple times, but nothing major.

Busses and Food were good like usual, and all the CM's were very nice to us.

If you get John from VA's (party) bus you're in for a treat! He is so fun!

Not sure when we will be back but we for sure will be!

Spoiler

 

[bluezy]

At the airport waiting for our flight to Miami for our cruise as I type this...

I miss Pop already
We had such a great stay! (Dec 8th-13th)
We did have a few problems in our room that someone had to come fix a couple times, but nothing major.

Busses and Food were good like usual, and all the CM's were very nice to us.

If you get John from VA's (party) bus you're in for a treat! He is so fun!

Not sure when we will be back but we for sure will be!

I think we were on John from VA's bus a few years ago. We were coming back from AK and going to AoA or Pop. There were only about a dozen people on the bus and he launched in to a comedy routine basically "working the room" and joking with everyone. The next day we had a driver from the same town in VA and mentioned that we had John the day before as we were surprised to have 2 drivers from the same town. Turns out they were long-time friends and one of them had "retired" a few years prior to that and moved to FL to work at Disney. He loved it so much he convinced the other one to do the same thing. (Of course, I could be wrong about one of them being "John from VA" as I'm not 100% sure our driver was from VA but I know it was either VA, MD, or DE. Whoever we had that day was a HOOT!)

 

[Experiment 629]

Few questions i hope someone can answer quickly. Are there any charges for leaving the room too dirty or messy at check out? (We have a lot of trash left). Also, is it ok to take the room occupied sign?