POP Century Review

Pop Review

After leaving Contemporary Resort (which I loved) it was hard to move to Pop.  I’ve stayed in All Star Sports and Art of Animation before, but everyone raves about Pop.  I thought I would try it.  I had high expectations since Pop is usually a few dollars more than All Stars.

My first impression of the lobby was pretty good.  I had done online check in and we knew we were checking in a little early.  My main concern was that I thought I had left our Magic Bands for this part of the trip at home, so my first order of business was to make sure the bands from the first part of the trip worked.  And we all know about my terrible luck with the Magic Bands!

The Cast Member checking me in told me I had too many Magic Bands, but I already knew that!  Disney now allows for opting out of new bands each trip, but remember the batteries in them only last for two years. She was finally able to get them working and we headed to our room in the 50’s.

First impression of our room prompted a “WHAT was I thinking!” moment!  Small, dark, smelly.  NOT what I was hoping for.

Lighting in this room was useless, even in broad day light!  I knew there would be no overhead ceiling fan, but the lack of air circulation made the room very VERY smelly.

Dark wall did nothing to help make it brighter!

Standard Bathroom area

Small Closet area

Dark.  All lights were on.  Noon

After unpacking, we took a trip to All Star to check on something for a client.  Coming back to Pop, our first clue that something was wrong was our Magic Bands would not open the gate!  Then none of our four bands would open our room door.  Another trip to the lobby and the problem was fixed (after an hour).  Of course, remembering our problem in February, I asked if the PIN was still active on our bands for charging privileges.   After another 45 minutes that was fixed.

Going from a queen sized bed to a double was hard.  Adding a tiny, dark room gave a very claustrophobic feel to the whole stay. 

One thing I found odd was the way the door swung inward towards the bed.  The door almost hit the bed when you opened it.  Made for some very interesting ‘dances’ when someone was coming in or out…especially with luggage!

I did not enjoy the food court.  Seriously, with a million different drink stations, how could they ALL be out of straws, coffee, napkins, hot chocolate…at the same time!  I can only imagine what it would be like if we went during a busy ‘meal time’!  Since we went several times during this trip for drinks, I can tell you it did not matter if it was morning, afternoon or night. 

We found the in room refrigerator/ice box to be way too small for a family of four.  Morning juice and water for 4 people was impossible! 

The worst experience we had was the maid service or ‘Mousekeeping’.  We had the same lady for the whole stay.  She did a good job of cleaning (at least she did the best she could with what she was working with) but she was very adamant that we had to be out of the room each morning by 8:45!  Since most mornings we left at that time it was not an issue.  However on the morning we left it became an issue.

When you do online check in one of the questions it asks you is what time you are planning on checking out.  Don’t worry too much about that answer since it doesn’t get relayed to anyone!  We were in the process of loading up the van, leaving the kids in the room, when she came to our room.  (at the 8:45 mark!)  She yelled at the kids and told them they had to leave.  So of course, my special needs son gets scared and runs out of the room to the parking lot to find us.  He is terrified, doesn’t look at traffic and, luckily, missed being hit. 

My daughter grabbed a couple bags and left the room…however, we were still packing up so I had to go back in to finish…the Mouse Keeper did not want to let me in the room.  She was cleaning and I would have to go away!  It took her a few minutes to realize I wasn’t leaving, so she went out saying something (not in English) but propped the door open!

I did report it to management.  I was told she was a new hire and that they would look into some retraining.  While I did not want her to get into trouble, I did find it important to let Disney know that:  1- I had paid for the room until 11 am, which is check out time; and 2-we were very lucky my son did not get hit by a car running through the parking lot scared!

I don’t want you to think the whole stay was all filled with cons, but the only pro my family had was the laundry was very convenient to our room!

While I know my opinion of Pop was tainted by our stay at Contemporary, as far as Value Resorts go it was my least favorite stay.  Since it runs a couple dollars more than All Star, while quite a bit less than Art of Animation, I would not recommend this resort for my Value conscious guests.  All Star is a much better value for the money.