[cloverboy]

Ok, just came back yesterday from a week long stay at POP Century.
Here are a few notes and annoyances that I had during the trip:

1 POP Century Resort - Still love it there, had a great time, and the kiddie pool and splash area are great. There are alarm clocks, hairdryers and irons and ironing boards in every room. The cleaning staff were less than wonderful. We stayed here last year and had some minor complaints. It just isn't like it used to be. Some days, the room wasn't vacuumed, no cups left, no towel animals for my kid. I left a $5 tip every day, but the service wasn't that great.

When I check in, and I'm speaking english, I ask that you also speak english during my entire transaction. When speaking to other staff about me and my reservation, please speak english. Thank you.

As for the parks, the crowds were average, but the lines for the rides were nonexistant. We walked on almost every ride. Even when FastPass was running, it was like people didn't realize how to do it, because they waited in line and we didn't...

I found the bathrooms in the parks to be dirtier than I remember. They didn't seem to be cleaned as often...

We used the dining plan to the max, and enjoyed several great meals.
The best was Wolfgang Pucks at Downtown Disney. Le Cellier was excellent, Chef Mickey's breakfast was outstanding.

Liberty Tree Tavern was marginal at best. Service bad. Really bad. Food so-so. Wouldn't go again.

Had a good time all in all. Any questions, fire away......

cloverboy

[jo-jo]

I'm amazed at the stories of very short lines for the rides. I haven't been to disney in Sept since never....I think about 10 yrs ago we went late oct/early nov., So this will be something different for me.


Were you at the parks on Sat. night? If so, which park and how were the crowds? Our last trip in May we stayed out of the MK on Sat night cause we found it to be mobbed in early Dec.

[Experiment6-2-6]

The parks are WONDERFUL when they are empty...

Bummer about the housekeeping, though.

Frankly, I'm kinda surprised..

Luckily, I've never encountered this problem at Disneyland.

[cloverboy]

We arrived on Saturday, and went to the Magic Kingdom on Sunday. The crowds were heavy in my opinion but the lines for the rides were short. It just seemed like there was a ton of people in the park, just walking around aimlessly, not going on rides. Weird. Found this to be the case last year when we went around the same time. Lots of people, no lines. During the week, the crowds were noticably smaller, and alot of the kiosk food places were not even open. Epcot on monday was in my opinion desolate!

cloverboy

[Dopey]

ok, welcome back. Please a more detailed trip report. Which rides did you ride? what did you eat and where? You know. Just a little bit more please

[Dana]

Thanks for your insights. I love to read about other's experiences at the different resorts. I agree on the english thing...that always makes me feel like they are talking about me and we are in america after all...speak the language spoken to you.

[MissDisney]

Sorry about housekeeping! And please elaborate on Liberty Tree Tavern... I thought it was really good???

[cloverboy]

Well, as for the Liberty Tree Tavern, I thought the food was so-so. It was pretty standard fare. The server was very short with us, she never came back to offer refills or ask how everything was. It just wasn't the attentive service that we are used to at Disney. In contrast, the service at Le Cellier was excellent. The server was very friendly, never did she seem rushed, and my glass was never empty. The food came quickly and it was perfect.

I'm sure that some people really like Liberty Tree Tavern, it just wasn't that great to us. The characters were good for the kids. I was happy to leave there though.

Ok, we rode most every ride. Amazingly, we never got on Everest in AK. Not that we avoided it, we just ran out of time. There were 7 of us, so moving from place to place took a great effort.

We rode Splash Mountain, about a 10 min. wait. Pirates of the Carrib. looked great with the new additions. Only a 5 min wait for that.
My wife rode the roller coasters and those kind of rides (not for me)
I think the longest we waited for a ride was 10 minutes in any park.

We drove to all the parks, so didn't use the bus system. There were these annoying little bugs everywhere. Supposedly they only last 2 weeks, but they were everywhere. They look like mutant bugs up close. The skycap told us they bred them on purpose to eat mosquito larve, but it didn't work, and they bred like crazy. Oooppss!

The bag check thing held us up only for a few moments. We watched some English try to bring a 6 pack of bud into MGM one day. The guard told him to get rid of it.

As for the little ones, we looked far and near for Little Einstein merchandise and found nothing but DVD and CD. A cast member told us that the merchandise is exclusive to Disney stores and online. My kiddo was VERY disappointed. Not a whole lot of Cars merchandise either. I expected more. They roll out Lightning McQueen and Mater at MGM a couple times a day so that people can pose with them. Kiddo loved that.

We took the Living with the land boat ride. They have the new recorded voice telling you everything. Its not the same as having a live person onboard telling the stories.

I went through my dining experience in the Disney Dining section.

Oh, the muppets fountain was closed down and surrounded by walls at MGM. I kind of missed seeing the fountain.

Thats all I can think of for now.
cloverboy

[Dopey]

Thank you, that was very enlightening. It seems that nowadays no one goes to the Tiki Room anymore. At least no one mentions it. I love the Tiki Room. I am always so excited to see Fritz the German Cockatoo

[Cavey]

We had so-so housekeeping at PC as well. Of course, now that we use our own camper at FW, housing keeping is REALLY bad.

[grandmael]

Oops we are going to DW day after tomorrow for 8 days. Sorry to hear about the rest rooms and no english. Was in DW 3 years ago in August and all seemed perfect. Stayed at Boardwalk that time. To Wilderness Lodge this time. Hope those bugs are gone.
Too late to get avon skin so soft that is supposed to be a good repellant

[cloverboy]

Those bugs didn't bite, they were just annoying. They fly all around you, landing on you and crawling around. They were all over the door to our room (outside) when we came back at night. They were just an annoyance. When we rode the flying dinosaur ride at Animal Kingdom, they were swarming the car you ride in. The cast members had little towels that they used to swat them away.

The other stuff was really quite minor. I didn't let it bother us at all, they were just a few of my pet peeves while there. My kid just replaced the vacuumed up crumbs with new ones, so it didn't really matter. I just wish they would leave new cups every day.

Along the lines of pet peeves, what's with all the cell phones in the Happiest Place on Earth???? Everywhere I turned, there were people talking on cell phones. Unless you're the president or Oprah, we're just not that important!!!
Why take away from the whole experience by standing there talking with someone at home about what Joe next door is doing.
I was happy my phone never rang all week.......

cloverboy