Though I'd been to Orlando four times before (staying on International Drive each time - last visit 2000) this was my fiance's first visit to both Orlando and America.
We stayed at Pop Century in January 2007 for two weeks. Upon arrival we headed straight for check in. There was no-one else in the check in queue so everything was sorted within 5 minutes. The staff were both helpful and friendly. I had arranged for a gift basket to be delivered to the hotel as a gift for my fiance - the staff brought it straight out and made as big fuss on discovering we were celebrating an anniversary during our stay.
We were allocated a room in the 50's section of the hotel. Though our room was one of the furthest away from the main building in the hotel, this did not affect the enjoyment of our holiday in any way. The walk was no more than 3 minutes from our room to the food court, pools and shops.
The room itself was fairly simple but gave us everything we needed. The main room consisted of two double beds, a table and chairs set, a TV, drawers and space for clothes, ironing board, iron, sink area, hairdryer and safe. Previous to our visit we had read that iron and hairdryers were not provided in Pop rooms but we found this information to be untrue. The bathroom was fairly small but was very very clean.
As we visited Pop in January we rarely visited the pool area (our room overlooked one of the three pools within the hotel). On the occasions we did visit the pool, there was organised activities for children and the lifeguards were always in attendance (more than one lifeguard per pool).
During our stay we purchased a "Refillable Mug" from the food court. This was $11.99 plus tax (approx £7.50). This allowed us unlimited refills of any soft drink, slush drink, coffee and hot chocolate for our entire stay (the mug can only be refilled at the hotel). This was fantastic value for money and I would recommend it to anyone staying at the hotel. The refillable mug was the only purchase we made at the food court. The food court was always busy and didn't sell the types of meals we would normallt eat. It is my only disadvantage of the hotel. However there are so many restaurants locally - both in and out of Disney - this was only a minor quibble.
We chose not to use the Disney bus service during our trip so I cannot review this part of the hotel's facilities. We used our hire car for all of our journeys.
Finally I must comment on the staff at the hotel. They simply cannot be faulted. Each day our maid cleaned the room very well. She made a "Towel Animal" and left it in a different place each day - one day it was watching tv, the next it was looking out of the window. It was a nice little touch to her service. Also the hotel became aware it was our anniversary so the staff left an anniversary balloon and card from Mickey for us. This was simply not expected from a value hotel - the service was above and beyond what we expected.
We booked our stay with Virgin Holidays - the package cost approxiametely £750 per adult including return flights from Manchester and the hire car. I believe the hotel is $79 per night if booking separetely.
Our stay at Pop can only be described as fantastic. When we eventually return to Orlando, Pop will be our first choice hotel. In fact we regulary say "I miss Pop".
Pictures of Disney's Pop Century Resort, Orlando
Pop Century
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