I had a great time at Disney's Pop Century Resort. I added a post on the resort board with photos of my room #0203 that was a refurbished roll-in shower unit, queen size bed that was lower than standard rooms, and a Murphy bed, table that was also a lower queen size bed. Very nice room in my opinion.
Here is a link to that thread:
https://www.disboards.com/threads/d...ll-in-shower-room-review-with-photos.3692568/
This was a very busy time at the parks during July 3rd and 4th, but otherwise very manageable. I thought it would be a lot busier. But, I have never been in June.
I bought a resort refillable mug and I used it every day. I didn't realize that it had some kind of chip in it to recognize that you are using it. For those that may not know, you have to place the mug on the soda stand for the chip to read. Then push the button for soda. If you hold the mug in the air it won't work. Sometimes I had to try another spout for it to read properly, but it worked every time.
I saw a couple of people trying to use their mugs, but they wouldn't work. They said they bought them from their last trip. The chip in the mug could tell the difference.
Also, next time I am going to buy one of those refillable popcorn buckets at the parks. I think they only charge about $1.75 for refills.
It was interesting to see several white, tall charter buses, like they use for magical express, picking up people from the resort and the parks. Staff says, Disney contracted these non-Disney buses and drivers during busy times. They will not use their wheelchair lifts, but Disney seemed to send a regular Disney bus soon after. If you have strollers, they just put them in the large storage areas without having to fold them up.
I wish they would make all of the park bus queues and the resort bus queues the same. I like the ones at Magic Kingdom where I can go through the regular queue with everyone else until I get to the front and there is a separate gate with the accessible wheelchair symbol. Everyone else continues the short distance up to the bus entrance line. I just push the gate open and go through and place myself next to the short twelve food metal fence and wait for the bus driver to wave me on. If the bus is already loading, I have to wait for the next bus. If the bus just rolls up, the wheelchairs load first so that is easier to parallel park and tie down the wheelchair before there is standing room only. Then the bus is filled, usually standing room only during this trip. If you didn't know, when the bus arrives at its destination, the bus has to empty first and the wheelchairs are let off last for the same reason. It is hard to park or move a wheelchair around in a crowded bus.
I have seen the EPCOT park bus queue line do the same as the Magic Kingdom. But I don't know if all of the queues at EPCOT are like that.
I do not like the confusing Animal Kingdom Park bus queue line for wheelchairs. I never know which side of the chain to line up with. At least Pop Century Resort has a clearly marked area with a yellow rectangle. But I still wish all of the resort and park queues were build just like Magic Kindom with the separate accessible gate so that I can go through the bus queue line with everyone else.
I do not like Disney Hollywood Studios either for the same reason, but at least it is clearer where to go to load the bus.
I used the no housekeeping $5.00 credit per night option. They sent me an email with a barcode and number that I could use to purchase anything. I didn't have a printer to print it out. The staff told me that I could use it as the credit on my final checkout bill. I should just go to the front desk the night before I check out and ask them to credit the e-e-gift to my bill. The next day, on my door, was my bill with the credit showing up.
I enjoyed the food court. I seemed to like the fried half chicken or the beef dinners with green beans and mashed potatoes.
I really liked their salads. They put a lot of lettuce/greens with whatever topping that you want. I liked the chicken chunks, cherry tomatoes, diced cucumbers, swiss cheese, croutons, and something else. They added whatever dressing you wanted and then mixed it all together in a large metal bowl with tongs. Then they transferred the mixed salad into a large, clear plastic container. This could be a huge salad. I had to take my leftover salad back to the room. I am not a shy eater, but this was huge for two meals for me. Probably three or four meals for a regular person...ha...ha...ha.
I was disappointed they only use soft serve ice cream now for sundaes and cones, but it was still good.
I like the small cups of pineapple soft serve ice cream too.
I was disappointed by the chicken and pasta. The chicken was very dry and thin. The sauces seemed less favorable and almost watered down. Maybe I had a bad preparer that day, but I didn't try it again.
I didn't prefer the Mickey waffles either because they were so soft. They were selling so many of them, I guess that I got some that weren't cooked all of the way, so that they were firmer. They had more of a pancake texture.
The carrot cake cookies at DHS were huge and good.
I enjoyed the Magic Kingdom Fireworks Terrace party on July 3rd. It was nice to sit down with unobstructed views and away from all of the crowds. I don't know if the price is worth it, but I treated myself. The white chocolate covered strawberries and Oreo cookies topped with the grey stuff were good. Also, the various other desserts were good. The kids decorated their own desserts and made marshmallow cookies. I stayed after the fireworks for the crowds to thin out and watched the light show on the castle.
July 4th EPCOT fireworks were delayed about 45 minutes for a lot of lighting and rain, but it was great and the crowds were crazy. I had my poncho and umbrella that didn't keep me very dry as the rain was very heavy at times and other times the wind had the rain coming sideways.
I also saw a NASA liftoff. I was on the Pop/Animator's bridge, but the next time I suggest to go to the bus area and look straight ahead instead. The lights on the bridge made it more limited to get any good photos.
I didn't get to use the Disney Magical Express from the airport. They directed me to the Mears accessible van that took me to my resort.
When checking out, I took my luggage to the back of the front desk building. This is clearly marked. On the back side is the laundry room and pool. They gave me my airline ticket and I was ready to go.
I double checked with the front desk to make sure my Disney Magical Express letter was correct to depart.
On the way back, it was a disaster. The magical express bus was actually a
Disney Cruise Line bus. The driver drove up to the curb and was too far away for the lift to lower on the curb. I tried to tell him. Then he tried to lower the lift. He says he never used the lift before. He said it is different than the Magical Express buses. I kept trying to tell him the bus was too far away from the sidewalk. He kept trying to lower the lift. Twenty minutes later after he finally lowered it, there was only one foot on the pavement to make a turn onto the lift. He scratched his head and tried to put the lift back up. He still couldn't remember how to do this. Another fifteen minutes he finally got the lift back on the bus and he had to move the bus closer. Then is started all over again. He could not figure out how to lower the lift all of the way. Several people tried to help him. Finally, another Disney Magical Express bus driver knew how to activate the lift and he got me on the bus. Guess what they didn't move the seats for and wheelchair. The bus was full except for two people. They moved two people to other seats and pushed the seat forward to allow room for my wheelchair. It was too tight and it blocked the bathroom. Oh...and there were no more seats available. They strapped me in. Guess what the other passengers couldn't get on the bus since it was full and the second bus filled their bus except for three people left behind. I guess this is why we leave for the airport three hours before our flight. Can you believe this took over an hour? Many of the passengers were upset. I felt sorry for them having to wait for me and I apologized profusely. I really felt sorry for those that had to wait for a third bus to the airport.
Hopefully, this won't happen again. It was just one of those things. But...my or my.
Well, if I think of anything else, I'll try and post.
