Disney's POP CENTURY RESORT Information & Questions

[dansdad]

Has anyone stayed here when the football players are in town for pop Warner? I booked for 12/9-12 and wondering if I will regret it.

We have 4 times and have never had any issues. If it wasn't for seeing them in their jerseys, we would not have known it was Pop Warner week.

 

[disneymagicgirl]

We have 4 times and have never had any issues. If it wasn't for seeing them in their jerseys, we would not have known it was Pop Warner week.

Perfect! Thank you! I checked the pop warner website and made sure the cheerleaders are booking elsewhere.

 

[Atrain13]

I'm not going to skim the whole thing for this answer, but we have a preferred room, 2 adults and 2 kids, what would be a good room for us to have? Our youngest will need afternoon naps so it would be nice to have something quieter.

Any help with this would be great. Thank you!

 

[musika]

I'm not going to skim the whole thing for this answer, but we have a preferred room, 2 adults and 2 kids, what would be a good room for us to have? Our youngest will need afternoon naps so it would be nice to have something quieter.

Any help with this would be great. Thank you!

Your best best is likely requesting a top floor. I assume you have a stroller? When we travelled with ours aged 6 and 2, we stayed top floor 80s, lake view, and it was fine. Bit of a walk to the food court, but certainly manageable. We had a standard view room though. With preferred you're bound to be closer.

 

[SaintsManiac]

I'm not going to skim the whole thing for this answer, but we have a preferred room, 2 adults and 2 kids, what would be a good room for us to have? Our youngest will need afternoon naps so it would be nice to have something quieter.

Any help with this would be great. Thank you!

As @musika said, ask for top floor. We checked in Sunday and they had us assigned to one, but offered a 2nd floor that was ready. It’s definitely a bit loud at times. It’s the first time we haven’t been on the top floor.

 

[Frozen2014]

Question about cancelling and re-booking. We originally booked Pop for 3 nights for end of next summer (over labor day weekend). This is post cruise. We just realized that there is an extra week of summer this year, meaning there is a week between camp and our cruise. So....we can switch up our plan and do a few days at Disney first, then the cruise. (And this give us 3.5 park days instead of 2.5 days). Flights are cheaper this way.

So my question....how easy is it to cancel our existing Pop reservation ? We just need to move the dates and add another day. Would they just charge us the difference? I assume its best to call and do this over the phone vs via the computer. We booked directly with Disney.

 

[scrappinginontario]

Question about cancelling and re-booking. We originally booked Pop for 3 nights for end of next summer (over labor day weekend). This is post cruise. We just realized that there is an extra week of summer this year, meaning there is a week between camp and our cruise. So....we can switch up our plan and do a few days at Disney first, then the cruise. (And this give us 3.5 park days instead of 2.5 days). Flights are cheaper this way.

So my question....how easy is it to cancel our existing Pop reservation ? We just need to move the dates and add another day. Would they just charge us the difference? I assume its best to call and do this over the phone vs via the computer. We booked directly with Disney.

is this just a straight booking or a pkg?

Have you tried doing a mock reservation online to see if there is av availability for your new dates?

If you booked your original reservation yourself, there is possibly a modify/change button that you can use.

If you original booking is a package where you paid a $200 deposit there shouldn’t be any difference as your new reservation should also be a package. If you booked only a room, it may be more or less of a deposit depending on the room prices between original Ncnew reservation.

Sorry, it’s not an easy ABC answer,

 

[Frozen2014]

is this just a straight booking or a pkg?

Have you tried doing a mock reservation online to see if there is av availability for your new dates?

If you booked your original reservation yourself, there is possibly a modify/change button that you can use.

If you original booking is a package where you paid a $200 deposit there shouldn’t be any difference as your new reservation should also be a package. If you booked only a room, it may be more or less of a deposit depending on the room prices between original Ncnew reservation.

Sorry, it’s not an easy ABC answer,

Thanks. Appreciate the response. We booked room only. No free dining (yet) and we'll purchase the Canadian Park discount tickets separately.

The cost is slightly down for the new dates but need 4 instead of 3 nights. Yes looks like available for our dates. (Or we can save a bit and switch resorts but I like the Skyliner convenience).

 

[scrappinginontario]

Thanks. Appreciate the response. We booked room only. No free dining (yet) and we'll purchase the Canadian Park discount tickets separately.

The cost is slightly down for the new dates but need 4 instead of 3 nights. Yes looks like available for our dates. (Or we can save a bit and switch resorts but I like the Skyliner convenience).

Great! If you have the modify option you can try to change your existing reservation. You can also try to do this by calling in.

Hopefully FD will come out for your dates. I’m guessing you’re aware of this but IF FD comes out you’ll need to purchase park tickets to secure FD so you may wish to hold off purchasing your park tickets until either FD is offered or, the CDN ticket discount is about to expire.

Hope this helps a bit.

 

[Frozen2014]

Great! If you have the modify option you can try to change your existing reservation. You can also try to do this by calling in.

Hopefully FD will come out for your dates. I’m guessing you’re aware of this but IF FD comes out you’ll need to purchase park tickets to secure FD so you may wish to hold off purchasing your park tickets until either FD is offered or, the CDN ticket discount is about to expire.

Hope this helps a bit.

Thanks for the comments and your note. The Canadian discount tickets have to be purchased by Feb 7th, and i think FD is announced much later? So guess you can't combine the two?

 

[scrappinginontario]

Thanks for the comments and your note. The Canadian discount tickets have to be purchased by Feb 7th, and i think FD is announced much later? So guess you can't combine the two?

No, unfortunately you cannot stack FD with a ticket discount. You can only stack the CDN tickets with a room discount.

Normally the FD offer comes out in late April but last year we were all shocked when it dropped on Jan 2nd!! IF that happens again then you’ll be able to run the numbers and see which saves you more.

My daughter and I stay at Pop and for the 2 of us the FD offer is always a greater savings over the room discount plus CDN tickets when we purchase a dining plan.

 

[Frozen2014]

No, unfortunately you cannot stack FD with a ticket discount. You can only stack the CDN tickets with a room discount.

Normally the FD offer comes out in late April but last year we were all shocked when it dropped on Jan 2nd!! IF that happens again then you’ll be able to run the numbers and see which saves you more.

My daughter and I stay at Pop and for the 2 of us the FD offer is always a greater savings over the room discount plus CDN tickets when we purchase a dining plan.

Thanks so much for your help. Ok...so sounds like we'll just purchase the Canadian tickets if no early announcement of FD that you had last year. With the flights we're looking at, we would only have 3 full days plus 1/3 - 1/2 a day. But since the Canadian discount for 4 days is the same price as 3 day regular park ticket, we figure we may as well buy the 4 day Canadian discount and get a few hours in.

We wouldn't purchase dining for this trip but was thinking if it happens to be offered, then nice bonus.

Anyways...gonna call about changing our Pop dates (or see if modify option). We booked room only BUT did pay the $200 deposit (or it's more in CAD).

 

[luvnwdwgal]

I encourage those who are considering Free Dining to really make sure everybody in your party is going to eat that much food. My sister and I went in September and realized that it was really TOO much food. There were times when we would split meals and still not finish everything. I wish I would have just taken the room discount and paid OOP instead. We ended up with 10 quick service meals and 2 snacks left over and ended up with 32 snacks to take home with us.

 

[karly05]

I'm not going to skim the whole thing for this answer, but we have a preferred room, 2 adults and 2 kids, what would be a good room for us to have? Our youngest will need afternoon naps so it would be nice to have something quieter.

Any help with this would be great. Thank you!

On my last WDW trip and first stay at POP, I had a Preferred room in the 70s and loved it - I booked a Standard for my upcoming trip and am requesting 70s again. It is the only section without a pool, which I think cuts a bit of noise / traffic.

I was on the ground floor and had no problems, but I would agree with requesting a top floor room if you're concerned. I think I benefitted from being at the end of the building and having no connecting door with the next room.

 

[EACarlson]

Right now, my almost 4 year old is napping in our room on the first floor of building 3. Haven't heard a thing from outside.

 

[scrappinginontario]

I encourage those who are considering Free Dining to really make sure everybody in your party is going to eat that much food. My sister and I went in September and realized that it was really TOO much food. There were times when we would split meals and still not finish everything. I wish I would have just taken the room discount and paid OOP instead. We ended up with 10 quick service meals and 2 snacks left over and ended up with 32 snacks to take home with us.

While I respect your post, I encourage people to run the numbers for themselves. Even though you may no eat all the food, it’s normally still a better savings for guests at Pop to use the FD offer over a room discount offer.

Normally a room discount at Pop is 15-20% off. I just priced a standard room at Pop Century for the 4th of July (guessing this would be a higher Priced night compared to most) and rooms were between
$233 and $258/night.

Doing the math of this room for the most expensive type of room and a 20% discount, that room discount would be $51.60.

I can’t see many families that can feed their entire family (meals, beverages and snacks for $51.60/day) for the entire room!!

While you may not want/need all the food offered with free dining, it is still normally a better deal $$ wise for guests staying at a value resort to take advantage of free dining over a room discount.

If I was paying for the dining plan my scenarios would be different but when FD is part of the equation I have never found an instance when the room discount would be a better offer when there were 2 or more people in the room.

 

[luvnwdwgal]

While I respect your post, I encourage people to run the numbers for themselves. Even though you may no eat all the food, it’s normally still a better savings for guests at Pop to use the FD offer over a room discount offer.

Normally a room discount at Pop is 15-20% off. I just priced a standard room at Pop Century for the 4th of July (guessing this would be a higher Priced night compared to most) and rooms were between
$233 and $258/night.

Doing the math of this room for the most expensive type of room and a 20% discount, that room discount would be $51.60.

I can’t see many families that can feed their entire family (meals, beverages and snacks for $51.60/day) for the entire room!!

While you may not want/need all the food offered with free dining, it is still normally a better deal $$ wise for guests staying at a value resort to take advantage of free dining over a room discount.

If I was paying for the dining plan my scenarios would be different but when FD is part of the equation I have never found an instance when the room discount would be a better offer when there were 2 or more people in the room.

Exactly! That’s why I said I encourage people to make sure they’re going to be able to eat that much food and that it’s actually a good deal for them. If you’re able to split meals then you’d be better off paying OOP.

 

[Mabel67]

Hi! I have a few questions about the pool.
We arrive on Friday. How late will the pool be open? Does it close early at a certain temperature? If so what’s is that temperature?

Also, how late does the pool bar stay open?

Thank you! Getting sooooo excited for our first stay!

 

[bluezy]

While I respect your post, I encourage people to run the numbers for themselves. Even though you may no eat all the food, it’s normally still a better savings for guests at Pop to use the FD offer over a room discount offer.

Normally a room discount at Pop is 15-20% off. I just priced a standard room at Pop Century for the 4th of July (guessing this would be a higher Priced night compared to most) and rooms were between
$233 and $258/night.

Doing the math of this room for the most expensive type of room and a 20% discount, that room discount would be $51.60.

I can’t see many families that can feed their entire family (meals, beverages and snacks for $51.60/day) for the entire room!!

While you may not want/need all the food offered with free dining, it is still normally a better deal $$ wise for guests staying at a value resort to take advantage of free dining over a room discount.

If I was paying for the dining plan my scenarios would be different but when FD is part of the equation I have never found an instance when the room discount would be a better offer when there were 2 or more people in the room.

I agree -- people need to run the numbers for their families, but free dining can definitely be a far better savings than the room discount at Value resorts...especially with a large family who would be eating mostly QS meals anyway. The last time we had "full" free dining we had 5 Disney "adults" (actually 2 adults, 2 teens, 1 tween) and 2 rooms at Pop Century. We know our eating habits at Disney (mostly QS meals, my daughter and I often get kids meals or share an adult meal, and we buy drinks and snacks in the parks every day). On that trip, I don't remember what the specific discount was for our 7-day trip but I remember it was going to save us about $600 between the 2 rooms. I knew our OOP QS/snack food costs would be $1000-1200 (based on our food costs from previous trips). Taking the free dining over the room discount was a no brainer even if we didn't use all of the credits -- which we did, but it took some effort to use up all the snack credits even though we used several every day. On our last day we still had 22 snack credits to use.

When we went in 2018, we booked under the Summer Meal Deal (1 QS meal/day -- no snack credits, no refillable mug). We were at AoA that trip. The room discount would have saved us about $650. The SMD saved us about $750. That did take a little work though. I made sure we used the "free" meals on the most expensive meals we were buying. I knew we were going to BOG and WPE during the week so we used meal credits for all of the meals at those 2 places. At all the other restaurants throughout the week I would do a quick evaluation of what everyone was ordering at any given meal and tell the cashier which meals I wanted to use credits for and which ones I wanted to pay OOP for (The "magic number" for using a meal credit was $15 -- if it was less than that we paid OOP. I had done the math and knew that's what we needed to average per meal credit to save more than the room discount would have saved us). I'm not sure if I would take that deal again...it would depend on where we planned to eat and how many people were on the trip.

As long as we're taking at least one or two kids (now late teens/adults) with us on a trip and staying at a Value resort, I'll always take the Free Dining over the room discount (unless they're offering a ~40% room discount....which did happen once, but there was no free dining offered at that time). We're currently booked with a Free Dining BB at AoA next June. We'll see what other deals come out between now and then, but I doubt there will be anything that will save us more than free dining on that trip.

 

[Disneylover99]

While I respect your post, I encourage people to run the numbers for themselves. Even though you may no eat all the food, it’s normally still a better savings for guests at Pop to use the FD offer over a room discount offer.

Normally a room discount at Pop is 15-20% off. I just priced a standard room at Pop Century for the 4th of July (guessing this would be a higher Priced night compared to most) and rooms were between
$233 and $258/night.

Doing the math of this room for the most expensive type of room and a 20% discount, that room discount would be $51.60.

I can’t see many families that can feed their entire family (meals, beverages and snacks for $51.60/day) for the entire room!!

While you may not want/need all the food offered with free dining, it is still normally a better deal $$ wise for guests staying at a value resort to take advantage of free dining over a room discount.

If I was paying for the dining plan my scenarios would be different but when FD is part of the equation I have never found an instance when the room discount would be a better offer when there were 2 or more people in the room.

People should also remember to factor in any discount they can get on tickets, I know with the Canadian discounted tickets, we can get an additional discount of $106.72 per day for our party of four. That’s significant. Coupled with the room discount, not getting fd saves us almost $158 per day on a week long stay. We can eat quick service for a week for less then that. For a family of 2, it would be a savings of about $105 per day.

We still love fd, but date based tickets and rising resort rack rates have definitely made fd less of a deal, especially for us Canadians.