Disney's POP CENTURY RESORT Information & Questions

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Well, the topic did come up... But have any of you tried the dining cost calculator? It compares the cost of OOP vs Dining Plan. Since we didn't get free dining we wanted to make sure the DP was worth purchasing. Turns out for us it wasn't.

You do have to plan your restaurants and look at menu prices and enter them, but when we saw how much we would really spend OOP vs DP, it was worth the time. Since appetizers and alchoholic drinks aren't included in the plan I didn't include that. Also, for the most part we drink water, but I did include soft drinks because I love Coke or Pepsi on vacation, my husband might order an iced tea, and my kids will once in a while order a lemonade.

I think there are a few websites that have calculators, but I liked the Excel spreadsheet one because I was able to save it. Our savings were anywhere from $400-900 depending on a few menu choices.

I used the calculators on this website:
http://www.dadsguidetowdw.com/walt-disney-world-dining-plan.html
 
Hoping someone can help me decide what our best check in option would be.

Just got a Disney Destinations email, we check in on Tuesday, offering us the option of on-line check in. While it sounds convenient, we were planning on doing a traditional check-in in case we run into any issues, but now I'm questioning if that really the best choice?

We've got 2 rooms booked. Mine, in my name, and the the other, for my brothers family, in his name. Connecting rooms is our top priority, so we made that our only room request. Because of this are we still better off checking in when we arrive? My brother booked both rooms, so I will need to talk with a CM anyways to make sure my credit card is attached to my MB. Also though that if Checked in and talked directly to a CM, we could see if any refurbished connecting rooms are available. Know it would be a long shot, but doesn't hurt asking.
 
I also have an online check-in question. I've never really been too specific on requests before, but I am doing a short three-day trip and staying at Pop in August so I want to maximize my time. I requested staying in the 70s building and close to transportation in my online check in. We have reserved a preferred room, and when I called to book my package I put in a request for a king-sized bed. Will my requests for 70s building and close to transportation override the king bed request? My husband and I are miserable sleeping in double beds together and would have to sleep separately if given a room with two double beds, so I would rather get the king-sized bed!
 
Elsaalltheway said:
Wow how do you charge 1200? I'm not sure I could do that. I'm somewhat of a penny pincher. I may splurge this time. My whole cost for my nine day stay was 1400.00
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scrappinginontario said:
I kinda wondered the same thing at first but depending on the size of your family, if you choose to pay for food using a credit card, those costs alone would quickly add up!! Dining at Disney (or any theme park, event location) comes at a cost. We travel with the dining plan but we still see what it would have cost us for a character meal if we were paying OOP and one of those alone for a family of 4 can be well over $200!
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DisneyMom93 said:
Dining! I expect our dining to be around $3,000.00 for a family of four. Doing Quick dining and Table Service dining combinations over a period of 16 nights.

We usually get Free Dining but not this trip. Our cost is usually just the upgrade to include Table Service. This is our first trip as a family (aside from Disneyland) where we will be paying for dining.
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That $1200 was on Day 4 of our 7 day vacation. We had another $800 charge at the end of the stay. And that didn't include most of our souvenirs as we usually charge those directly to our Disney Visa to get the discount. We don't spend frivolously but we also aren't penny-pinchers, we're just a large family. We have 4 "kids" traveling with us and 3 of those "kids" are late teens/early twenties and one is an early teen...so basically 6 adults. And we don't do the dining plan so we're paying for all of our meals, snacks, drinks, etc. OOP and charging those directly to our room. We eat breakfast in the room (out of convenience) and do mostly QS meals but usually throw in a few TS meals during the week. It adds up quickly. :) I was very happy when they upped the charging limit to $1500 from $500. We got caught in the "you've reached your credit limit" debacle a few times while we were trying to pay for things in the parks. Luckily it only took a phone call to the resort to take care of that, but it still would take a few minutes and hold up the line of people behind us. I always felt bad for them.
 
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bluezy said:
That $1200 was on Day 4 of our 7 day vacation. We had another $800 charge at the end of the stay. And that didn't include most of our souvenirs as we usually charge those directly to our Disney Visa to get the discount. We don't spend frivolously but we also aren't penny-pinchers, we're just a large family. We had 4 "kids" traveling with us and 3 of those "kids" are late teens/early twenties and one is an early teen...so basically 6 adults. And we don't do the dining plan so we're paying for all of our meals, snacks, drinks, etc. OOP and charging those directly to our room. We eat breakfast in the room (out of convenience) and do mostly QS meals but usually throw in a few TS meals during the week. It adds up quickly. :) I was very happy when they upped the charging limit to $1500 from $500. We got caught in the "you've reached your credit limit" debacle" a few times while we were trying to pay for things in the parks. Luckily it only took a phone call to the resort to take care of that, but it still would take a few minutes and hold up the line of people behind us. I always felt bad for them.
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I can see that, and wow 500 a max to the room isn't much. Thats like two meals for some people.
 
Online Check-in. We did the online check-in/request thing and also stopped at the desk when we arrived. The 'normal' check-in line was long and we were the only ones in the 'online-check-in' line - so even if you plan on stopping at the desk, do the online check in - it gives you access to the shorter line :) And who knows, you may get your request. You dont have to make a request to do the online check-in. I guess I am just saying that I dont think it will hurt to do the online check-in & as a bonus, you wont have to wait in the long normal check-in line :)
 
ChloeChipper said:
Online Check-in. We did the online check-in/request thing and also stopped at the desk when we arrived. The 'normal' check-in line was long and we were the only ones in the 'online-check-in' line - so even if you plan on stopping at the desk, do the online check in - it gives you access to the shorter line :) And who knows, you may get your request. You dont have to make a request to do the online check-in. I guess I am just saying that I dont think it will hurt to do the online check-in & as a bonus, you wont have to wait in the long normal check-in line :)
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Thanks @ChloeChipper

If we we're just doing a single room, I completely agree with your assessment. Guess my main concern is that we have two rooms in different names, although they are connected thru MDE. Also think you made some valid points about being able to still got thru a shorter line, if necessary. Think I need to talk to my brother about it tomorrow. Maybe I'll even call the POP and see what they have to say about it.

Anyone else have an opinion?
 
mikegood2 said:
Thanks @ChloeChipper

If we we're just doing a single room, I completely agree with your assessment. Guess my main concern is that we have two rooms in different names, although they are connected thru MDE. Also think you made some valid points about being able to still got thru a shorter line, if necessary. Think I need to talk to my brother about it tomorrow. Maybe I'll even call the POP and see what they have to say about it.

Anyone else have an opinion?
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If it was me, I'd still do online check-in. As long as you don't indicate any room location requests during online check-in, you won't mess up the request you've already made. By doing online check-in, you can indicate what time you plan to arrive and there's a higher possibility that your rooms will be ready when when you get there. Also, you'll be able to put your credit card information in during the process. If you enter your credit card information ahead of time, there's a good chance you'll be able to go directly to your room when you arrive. If you get direct-to-room check-in, you'll get a text with your room number about an hour before you arrive. You'll be able to check with your brother to see if he got his room assignment and you'll know if you got connecting rooms. If you don't get assigned connecting rooms, you can go to the online check-in line at the front desk and see if they can change your room assignments so that you have connecting rooms. And if they don't have any available, ask if they would have something the next day. It seems like most people who request but don't get assigned to connecting rooms at check-in can usually move to connecting rooms by the next day.

Plus, as ChloeChipper mentioned, if you do online check-in and still need to go to the front desk, at least you have the option of going to the online check-in station if that line is shorter. You can also go to the regular check-in stations if that line is shorter.

Side notes:

1. When you call "Pop Century" or any resort, you're calling a call center that may not even be in Orlando (even when you dial the front desk from your room). You're not actually talking to someone at the resort. The phone CMs are notorious for giving incorrect and incomplete information. You will get better advice here from people who have actual experience. :)

2. I'm not sure I'm clear on your room/credit card situation so I'm just going to throw this out there as general information. If your brother's credit card was/is attached to both rooms and you make a change to have your credit card attached to your room, I highly suggest that both you and your brother make a few purchases using your MBs on your arrival day and then stop by the front desk that night or the next morning to get a print out of charges for each of your rooms to make sure everything is assigned correctly. They will be able to fix it if it isn't, but if you do that little test right away, you won't have a week's worth of charges to sort out when you get your final room charge statement. :)
 
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PolyRob said:
That can either be provided when booking your resort online, calling the reservations number and adding it, or filling out this form: https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/airport-transportation-reservation/

Online check-in just asks what time you should arrive at the resort. Completely separate from DME reservation.
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Thank you for this link!!! I book close to 20 trips a year for family and friends and didn't know this link existed. Just submitted 2 requests and off to add another one.
 
scrappinginontario said:
Thank you for this link!!! I book close to 20 trips a year for family and friends and didn't know this link existed. Just submitted 2 requests and off to add another one.
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No problem! I keep it in a handy notepad on my phone. I love being able to take care of aspects like this on my own. Glad it will make your planning easier!

If something changes, you can also resubmit and check-off that you previously submitted an earlier request. It overrides the original. I have called to verify information twice after doing this and all was correct!
 
bobf320 said:
This is a pic from Monday for the bus line to MK. Soon after I took the pic, the line reached down to the big tall year icons in front of Pop. The line for Hollywood Studios wrapped around the other direction. Been staying at Pop since they opened, and even with certain buildings closed for reno it was still crazy busy. Was there from 5/29-6/6.
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We've stayed at Pop twice (in June) and have never seen lines like that! We will have our car so we might end up just driving to the parks.
 
First renovated rooms open for guests!!!

Pictures available and questions are being answered on the renovation thread. Excited to request one of these rooms in September?
 
bobf320 said:
This is a pic from Monday for the bus line to MK. Soon after I took the pic, the line reached down to the big tall year icons in front of Pop. The line for Hollywood Studios wrapped around the other direction. Been staying at Pop since they opened, and even with certain buildings closed for reno it was still crazy busy. Was there from 5/29-6/6.
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:eek: Holy cow! Wow. Why? Just because summer started? I know kids in FL finished school. That's why we take out kids out of school for Disney. I can't deal with that. :sad2:
 
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