Disney's POP CENTURY RESORT Information & Questions

[WEDWDW]

Hello! First want to thank everyone who has contributed to this thread, we've found answers to all of our questions as we prepare for our upcoming trip Especially @scrappinginontario for the very detailed info found on the first page of this thread!!

Two questions:

Can anyone who has stayed recently confirm Lemonade is still available for refillable mugs? It's a family member's favorite drink


Is the food court microwave accessible before the 7am opening? I'm guessing no based on other comments I read in the thread but wanted to ask. Not having one in the room it would be good to have access to one before the 7:30am early entries!

Some Guests have reported recently that they were able to access Everything Pop Food Court at 6:30 AM through the "side doors" and refill their Mugs,so that would also allow access to the Microwaves and Toasters.YMMV!

During Covid,the Microwaves and Toasters were removed from Everything Pop Food Court.

Because of that,the Resort brought in a limited number of Microwaves for Guests to use in their rooms during Covid by request.

Reports are that Guests are still being allowed to request those Microwaves for in room use,so definitely worth a call to Housekeeping to check availability.

 

[ExcitedForWDW]

Hello! First want to thank everyone who has contributed to this thread, we've found answers to all of our questions as we prepare for our upcoming trip Especially @scrappinginontario for the very detailed info found on the first page of this thread!!

Two questions:

Can anyone who has stayed recently confirm Lemonade is still available for refillable mugs? It's a family member's favorite drink


Is the food court microwave accessible before the 7am opening? I'm guessing no based on other comments I read in the thread but wanted to ask. Not having one in the room it would be good to have access to one before the 7:30am early entries!

We were there in March and my daughter says she had the lemonade, quite frequently , from the fountain stations

 

[Gzub1003]

Here now! They do have lemonade in the fountain. It is sugar free tho.

 

[PhillyAli20]

Hello All! I'm planning a trip for November (week before Thanksgiving to hopefully avoid some of the crowds!) and leaning towards staying at POP. I have two questions that I hope someone could help with:

1. This would be my first time staying at Skyliner resort, although I did ride it in January 2023 to go from HS to Epcot. Is there anyway to know if the Skyliner is shut down for weather when returning from Epcot, besides just walking to it and finding out? And if that is the case I've seen some reports there will be busses at the nearby walkable hotels. Is that true or are you required to walk to the front of Epcot?

2. Is there filtered water in the fountains or water bottle refill stations at POP that any bottle could be filled? I plan to buy a reusable mug but would like to bring a bigger bottle that I could fill just with water.

Thank you!

 

[scrappinginontario]

Hello All! I'm planning a trip for November (week before Thanksgiving to hopefully avoid some of the crowds!) and leaning towards staying at POP. I have two questions that I hope someone could help with:

1. This would be my first time staying at Skyliner resort, although I did ride it in January 2023 to go from HS to Epcot. Is there anyway to know if the Skyliner is shut down for weather when returning from Epcot, besides just walking to it and finding out? And if that is the case I've seen some reports there will be busses at the nearby walkable hotels. Is that true or are you required to walk to the front of Epcot?

2. Is there filtered water in the fountains or water bottle refill stations at POP that any bottle could be filled? I plan to buy a reusable mug but would like to bring a bigger bottle that I could fill just with water.

Thank you!

1. Unfortunately there isn't an easy way to know if Skyliner is closed ahead of time due to weather. I wish they would 'push' something on the app or, have a place to look but they do not. But, as you've said, if the Skyliner is closed there are buses available from IG. Location can vary (sometimes is behind the scenes) so it's best to ask a CM.

2. There is a water option on all soda fountains. It's normally a tiny black button near one of the soda options.

 

[hertamaniac]

Hello All! I'm planning a trip for November (week before Thanksgiving to hopefully avoid some of the crowds!) and leaning towards staying at POP. I have two questions that I hope someone could help with:

1. This would be my first time staying at Skyliner resort, although I did ride it in January 2023 to go from HS to Epcot. Is there anyway to know if the Skyliner is shut down for weather when returning from Epcot, besides just walking to it and finding out? And if that is the case I've seen some reports there will be busses at the nearby walkable hotels. Is that true or are you required to walk to the front of Epcot?

2. Is there filtered water in the fountains or water bottle refill stations at POP that any bottle could be filled? I plan to buy a reusable mug but would like to bring a bigger bottle that I could fill just with water.

Thank you!

I can share that the Skyliner was shutdown due to severe thunderstorms a few weeks ago during our Pop stay. What I learned is that even once the storm passes, there is a somewhat lengthy test period before the all-clear is given to load guests. I timed it at nearly 25 minutes from the weather clearing to going back on-line while seeing XX of Skyliner vehicles cycle empty.

 

[sinclaje]

1. Unfortunately there isn't an easy way to know if Skyliner is closed ahead of time due to weather. I wish they would 'push' something on the app or, have a place to look but they do not. But, as you've said, if the Skyliner is closed there are buses available from IG. Location can vary (sometimes is behind the scenes) so it's best to ask a CM.

2. There is a water option on all soda fountains. It's normally a tiny black button near one of the soda options.

View attachment 859052

Hello All! I'm planning a trip for November (week before Thanksgiving to hopefully avoid some of the crowds!) and leaning towards staying at POP. I have two questions that I hope someone could help with:

1. This would be my first time staying at Skyliner resort, although I did ride it in January 2023 to go from HS to Epcot. Is there anyway to know if the Skyliner is shut down for weather when returning from Epcot, besides just walking to it and finding out? And if that is the case I've seen some reports there will be busses at the nearby walkable hotels. Is that true or are you required to walk to the front of Epcot?

2. Is there filtered water in the fountains or water bottle refill stations at POP that any bottle could be filled? I plan to buy a reusable mug but would like to bring a bigger bottle that I could fill just with water.

Thank you!

There is a bottle filling station across from the everything pop store…right as you go toward the washrooms. The water from that was good and it was available all the time. If we were very early in the morning, we got ice for our water bottles at petals…available all the time and filled with water at the bottle filling station.

 

[Dug720]

I can share that the Skyliner was shutdown due to severe thunderstorms a few weeks ago during our Pop stay. What I learned is that even once the storm passes, there is a somewhat lengthy test period before the all-clear is given to load guests. I timed it at nearly 25 minutes from the weather clearing to going back on-line while seeing XX of Skyliner vehicles cycle empty.

I believe there is also a radius that has to be lightning-free for a set amount of time - so even though the storm may have cleared from your exact spot, it could still be in the radius. (Most people are used to swimming pools closing when there is lightning until a set amount of time without hearing thunder/seeing lightning. But there is a much bigger radius for the Skyliner.)

 

[bluezy]

I believe there is also a radius that has to be lightning-free for a set amount of time - so even though the storm may have cleared from your exact spot, it could still be in the radius. (Most people are used to swimming pools closing when there is lightning until a set amount of time without hearing thunder/seeing lightning. But there is a much bigger radius for the Skyliner.)

Yes, this! We experienced Skyliner going down due to lighting in the 10 mile (I think that's what it is) radius while we were at the CBR hub. The weather looked fine, but Skyliner shut down due to lightning. The nice thing was that due to closing down before that storm became visible meant that we were on a bus to DHS before the rain hit.

 

[Mouse Tracker]

How quick did the buses show up?

 

[Mouse Tracker]

Hello All! I'm planning a trip for November (week before Thanksgiving to hopefully avoid some of the crowds!) and leaning towards staying at POP. I have two questions that I hope someone could help with:

1. This would be my first time staying at Skyliner resort, although I did ride it in January 2023 to go from HS to Epcot. Is there anyway to know if the Skyliner is shut down for weather when returning from Epcot, besides just walking to it and finding out? And if that is the case I've seen some reports there will be busses at the nearby walkable hotels. Is that true or are you required to walk to the front of Epcot?

2. Is there filtered water in the fountains or water bottle refill stations at POP that any bottle could be filled? I plan to buy a reusable mug but would like to bring a bigger bottle that I could fill just with water.

Thank you!

Local knowledge of typical weather pattern for Orlando in November would be your most help in trying to determine if staying at Pop.
Once there, stay tuned into the weather forecast and monitor radar, MDE app may show status of Skyliner.

 

[scrappinginontario]

It's a personal decision but personally I would not allow weather to determine if I stayed at Pop in November. In the summer possibly but not November.

We were at Pop for 11 days in late Aug 2023 and only one time were we diverted from Skyliner to bus and August is prime storm season in FL.

 

[afan]

It's a personal decision but personally I would not allow weather to determine if I stayed at Pop in November. In the summer possibly but not November.

We were at Pop for 11 days in late Aug 2023 and only one time were we diverted from Skyliner to bus and August is prime storm season in FL.

I like when I can see the skyliner from my room or close to it because it tells me which way to go after my afternoon break. If you aren't able to see if it's running until you are almost there the easier thing may be to take a bus from AoA instead of back tracking to the Pop bus stop.

If you are at DHS it's fine you just keep walking to the busses. The bummer is when you're at epcot, especially if you were at the front of the park and walked to to back to catch it. The walk back up front for the bus sucks then. I try and plan my epcot days better if I'm worried about a storm so I don't have that back and forth. I also hops which makes that easier.

 

[brockash]

It's a personal decision but personally I would not allow weather to determine if I stayed at Pop in November. In the summer possibly but not November.

We were at Pop for 11 days in late Aug 2023 and only one time were we diverted from Skyliner to bus and August is prime storm season in FL.

I agree, in November I would have no issue staying at Pop as it's much less likely for it to go down. We stay at Pop every Feb and really enjoy it and love the skyliner. I think we've lucked out and have never had it go down on us. Having saif that we would not stay there during the rainy months. - We had a terrible experience one Aug. and won't do it again. - The biggest issue to me about thr situation is that in our experience Disney is not super proactive about getting buses ready and they're terrible at communicating if it's running or not and even what to do/where to go if it's closed.
In November though this should have a pretty small chance of impacting you.

 

[scrappinginontario]

I like when I can see the skyliner from my room or close to it because it tells me which way to go after my afternoon break. If you aren't able to see if it's running until you are almost there the easier thing may be to take a bus from AoA instead of back tracking to the Pop bus stop.

If you are at DHS it's fine you just keep walking to the busses. The bummer is when you're at epcot, especially if you were at the front of the park and walked to to back to catch it. The walk back up front for the bus sucks then. I try and plan my epcot days better if I'm worried about a storm so I don't have that back and forth. I also hops which makes that easier.

There is no need to walk back to the front of Epcot. When the Skyliner is down they run buses from the IG area. Ask a CM and they can direct you to the buses.

 

[Chernabob]

There is no need to walk back to the front of Epcot. When the Skyliner is down they run buses from the IG area. Ask a CM and they can direct you to the buses.

I never knew this!!! We've always schlepped to the front of the park to catch the bus back to Pop when the Skyliner was down. Good to know!

 

[scrappinginontario]

I never knew this!!! We've always schlepped to the front of the park to catch the bus back to Pop when the Skyliner was down. Good to know!

You may need to ask a CM but my understanding is, this is something Disney offers when the Skyliner shuts down for weather.

 

[WEDWDW]

I never knew this!!! We've always schlepped to the front of the park to catch the bus back to Pop when the Skyliner was down. Good to know!

The sign near the IG exit points Guests inside Epcot to the Epcot Bus Depot.

But they have to have buses for Skyliner Resort Guests who may have been visiting the Boardwalk area,etc. and are not inside Epcot.

It appears they want as few Guests as possible using these buses so they point as many Guests as possible to the Epcot Bus Depot.

The location of theses buses has varied from The Boardwalk to The Beach Club to backstage close to the IG Skyliner Station.

The way Disney handles getting out info about Skyliner closure has always been ABYSMAL and they seemingly show no interest in improving it.

 

[afan]

There is no need to walk back to the front of Epcot. When the Skyliner is down they run buses from the IG area. Ask a CM and they can direct you to the buses.

The CM was who told me to get a bus at the front of the park. I hadn't noticed it not running until I got out there. I seem to recall it not being a pleasant conversation, which I get a lot of people are going to show up to use it but put a sign at the exit and I wouldn't have left the park that way.

They really need to do push notifications with what to do and be more proactive about it. I realize getting busses there as quick as people would like will be hard but they need to do better when the skyliner goes down.

 

[Chernabob]

The CM was who told me to get a bus at the front of the park. I hadn't noticed it not running until I got out there. I seem to recall it not being a pleasant conversation, which I get a lot of people are going to show up to use it but put a sign at the exit and I wouldn't have left the park that way.

They really need to do push notifications with what to do and be more proactive about it. I realize getting busses there as quick as people would like will be hard but they need to do better when the skyliner goes down.

Agreed 1000%. That's my only real complaint about Skyliner--not sending those notices. I totally get not being able to operate during inclement weather, but some notification system is needed.