Thought I'd stop back and comment about our first stay at Pop last week for 5 nights. I had requested the 80's building but got 70's our second choice so it was fine. We were on the 3rd floor. The walk wasn't bad at all. Loved the food court, all the food options we tried were good. What I really loved was the bathroom area and all the cubbies and shelf space. We travel so much and have stayed in hotels all over and this has to be the most space I've ever had in the bathroom area. I do wish there had been a tub but mainly for selfish reasons and soaking my feet at the end of the night - Haha! Our beds were comfy but the pillows were so big and fluffy. They hurt my neck so I like super flat pillows so I had to dig around for the one that could be compressed the most. Our son slept in the pull-down bed and he thought that was cool. The only bad thing and wasn't Pop's fault was that he bought a
lego set at Disney Springs and was putting it together on the bed and a piece went flying and went back in the mechanics of the bed. We could see it and tried everything to get it but couldn't reach it. We didn't even bother calling anyone because the bed would have had to be taken apart so we just called Lego to send us a new one.
Anyway - this was a short trip for us since we were down there seeing our daughter march with her band so we were going non-stop from open to close. We barely had any time to explore the resort and we never even made it out of our building area which was a bummer. And didn't get to swim. So that is one bad thing is that we didn't get to experience the resort as much as we would have liked. I am super excited about the Skyliner and would definitely stay here again to take advantage of that. As for the buses, we had no problems at all. Our longest wait was the morning of Animal Kingdom's EMH and it was maybe 20-25 min or so but the buses were coming right after the other so it didn't seem too bad. I want to say we got in line a few min after 7 and we still made it to the park for rope drop at 8. Oh and the "Service Your Way" option was a surprise - I didn't realize they were doing that! She asked me at check-in and I said sure and within 30 min, I had the $40 gift card emailed. The weird thing though is that on our 3rd day I think, housekeeping had come in and cleaned, changed towels and took trash. Which I kind of wish I knew they were going to do that because usually we put our medications and electronics away but we left them out because we didn't think anyone would be coming in. All was fine though.
My only slight complaint was our flight was at 7am which I was expecting to have to get the Magic Express super early but the paper said we had to be down there at 3:20 for a 3:35 departure time. So we got up at 3am, after having gone to bed at midnight....and were down there right on time at 3:20 but the bus didn't even show up until 3:45. I even asked at the desk the night before and he said you have to check-in out there at 3:20. There was no one out there except others like us waiting. So the bus gets there at 3:45, the driver looks at our papers and we get one. We are at the airport by 4:20, through check-in and security and at our gate by 4:40. The flight is at 7. I know they don't want to take any chances but I feel like that was a little too early, especially having us be down there by 3:20 when the bus itself was late. We had actually thought about calling an uber instead but I feel like we are paying for the resort for their services like Magic Express and should use them.
The weather was also PERFECT!! This was our first time this time of year and I really liked it. It was low 80's every day and only one day was it slightly chilly in the morning at 50 but it warmed up so quick. We mostly go in the summer which you know is miserable. And we've been once in early Dec which was great but I would love to avoid summer trips from now on. The weather really reminded me of how it was out in CA when we went to
Disneyland in 2017. It was probably low to mid 80's and yes the sun was still hot but no humidity at all!
I was also a little shocked at the crowds. It really felt like peak summer especially at Magic Kingdom. I know it was technically considered Spring Break but I thought with everyone's spring breaks being different over a months time frame that the crowds might be spread out a little over that time but it was so crowded especially at MK and AK. HS was tolerable and Epcot wasn't bad.
So - we had a great stay at Pop and would stay here again although I like to stay at new places when we go so not sure when we'll make it back. But I wouldn't hesitate to stay here again!
