kes601
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Oct 29, 2018
So, we made a last minute reservation (well, decided 10 days out) to go to WDW over Labor Day weekend. Obviously too late to get DVC so we booked a stay at Pop. This used to be one of our favorites......but, ya, never again.....
Started with our flight arriving 45 minutes early...yippee. So we would get some time in the park that evening. Had an alert when we got off the plane that our room was ready. Building 5, right by the skyliner. But, wait.....there was no room assginment in MDE. Huh? So we stopped by the front desk to quickly get it resolved so we could get to HS for our SDD and Smuggler's LL's before getting to Epcot to do our ILL for Guardians and end of the night LL at Remy's. Quick...not so much. We waited an hour to get it resolved. Disney's back end system wouldn't talk to the front end at the resort. So finally they just re-booked us with a 2nd reservation at $0 a night. But we had to get a new room assignment. This time in the 90s section which is as far as anything could be from anything else. By that time it was too late for SDD and Smuggler's...compensation was a free quickserve meal....
At any rate, that was resolved, we scarfed down dinner and headed to Epcot. We were able to do our Guardians. We then went to Remy's to use the only G+ we could actually use that day and it broke down while we were on it. So we now know what Remy's looks like with the lights on while being evacuated. They did give us an anytime LL for the next day good on anything in any park except for the ILLs. We decided to stop by guest relations on the way out of the park to see if they would hold pity on us for the hotel causing us to miss the other 2 G+ reservations we had as Remy's was the only one we got to use. This is where things started turning around. They gave us G+ for the next day so we wouldn't have to purchase it since we really didn't get to use it on anything, so that was very nice.
Saturday morning we get to the Pop skyliner at about 6:45 and are on it by 6:55. We get off at CBR to transfer, and I kid you not, there was NOBODY in line from CBR. It was bizzaro world. We hopped onto the HS stop and were first at the tap stye we picked. We then did something we never do, we rope dropped Rise and were off of it before the official start of early entry. If I can remember correctly we did the following that morning: Rise, Smuggler's, Mania, Mickey and Minnie's, Slinky (G+), Saucers (G+), Mania (G+), Smugglers (G+), early lunch at ABC Commissary, TOT (G+). We were done by 11:00. We then went and relaxed in the Pop room for a little while before skylining over to Riviera to enjoy the coffee shop and relax some more. We then headed to Epcot at about 2:00 where we did Remy's (G+), Journey, Soarin (G+), Living with the Land (G+), Frozen (G+ from previous night), and 7 or 8 food booths. We did all of this by 5:00.
Sunday morning was MK. This was the moment where I remembered why I really don't like value resorts -- buses. They are packed so full compared to what we are used to. At most DVC resorts we've been able to get out to the bus stop before times are posted and an MK bus would come by. Not so here. Don't get me wrong, we were not late, but I can't stand to be on a standing room only bus. But, it didn't cause the day to go badly. We did 10 rides before 11:00 at MK and then ate at Tony's before calling it a morning. We took a bus back to Riviera and just hung out for a while before heading back to Pop for a bit. We snagged a reservation at Beaches and Cream so took the skyliner back to the boardwalk and had a yummy dinner.
Monday morning we had planned on going to Epcot. We were on the skyliner getting ready to transfer at CBR and my wife did the virtual queue for Guardian's and I grabbed a Frozen G+. She got 53 for a callback but it claimed we wouldn't get called back until 5:30p. With a 4:00p flight that wouldn't work. I also left her off the Frozen G+ and didn't realize it in time to add her to the same time slot. So.....on the skyliner between CBR and Riviera we changed our park pass to MK, hopped off the skyliner at Riviera and took a mostly empty bus to MK for the 7:30a early entry. We arrived at 7:45a. This is where more bizzaro world kicked in. This is what we did between 7:45a and 10:00a -- returned a shirt, Buzz, Space, bought a couple of shirts, Pooh, 7DMT (literally a walk on after regular park opening), Big Thunder, Haunted, Pirates, Buzz again, Space again, Peter Pan.
Moral of my post.....Labor Day weekend is an awesome time to go to WDW.....but I missed my DVC. We probably will never use points to book at Labor Day because we have an Oct UY and if flights and/or vacation time doesn't work out we would lose the points if we had to cancel but we will budget to either book a cash stay via DVC or a deluxe via WDW.
Started with our flight arriving 45 minutes early...yippee. So we would get some time in the park that evening. Had an alert when we got off the plane that our room was ready. Building 5, right by the skyliner. But, wait.....there was no room assginment in MDE. Huh? So we stopped by the front desk to quickly get it resolved so we could get to HS for our SDD and Smuggler's LL's before getting to Epcot to do our ILL for Guardians and end of the night LL at Remy's. Quick...not so much. We waited an hour to get it resolved. Disney's back end system wouldn't talk to the front end at the resort. So finally they just re-booked us with a 2nd reservation at $0 a night. But we had to get a new room assignment. This time in the 90s section which is as far as anything could be from anything else. By that time it was too late for SDD and Smuggler's...compensation was a free quickserve meal....
At any rate, that was resolved, we scarfed down dinner and headed to Epcot. We were able to do our Guardians. We then went to Remy's to use the only G+ we could actually use that day and it broke down while we were on it. So we now know what Remy's looks like with the lights on while being evacuated. They did give us an anytime LL for the next day good on anything in any park except for the ILLs. We decided to stop by guest relations on the way out of the park to see if they would hold pity on us for the hotel causing us to miss the other 2 G+ reservations we had as Remy's was the only one we got to use. This is where things started turning around. They gave us G+ for the next day so we wouldn't have to purchase it since we really didn't get to use it on anything, so that was very nice.
Saturday morning we get to the Pop skyliner at about 6:45 and are on it by 6:55. We get off at CBR to transfer, and I kid you not, there was NOBODY in line from CBR. It was bizzaro world. We hopped onto the HS stop and were first at the tap stye we picked. We then did something we never do, we rope dropped Rise and were off of it before the official start of early entry. If I can remember correctly we did the following that morning: Rise, Smuggler's, Mania, Mickey and Minnie's, Slinky (G+), Saucers (G+), Mania (G+), Smugglers (G+), early lunch at ABC Commissary, TOT (G+). We were done by 11:00. We then went and relaxed in the Pop room for a little while before skylining over to Riviera to enjoy the coffee shop and relax some more. We then headed to Epcot at about 2:00 where we did Remy's (G+), Journey, Soarin (G+), Living with the Land (G+), Frozen (G+ from previous night), and 7 or 8 food booths. We did all of this by 5:00.
Sunday morning was MK. This was the moment where I remembered why I really don't like value resorts -- buses. They are packed so full compared to what we are used to. At most DVC resorts we've been able to get out to the bus stop before times are posted and an MK bus would come by. Not so here. Don't get me wrong, we were not late, but I can't stand to be on a standing room only bus. But, it didn't cause the day to go badly. We did 10 rides before 11:00 at MK and then ate at Tony's before calling it a morning. We took a bus back to Riviera and just hung out for a while before heading back to Pop for a bit. We snagged a reservation at Beaches and Cream so took the skyliner back to the boardwalk and had a yummy dinner.
Monday morning we had planned on going to Epcot. We were on the skyliner getting ready to transfer at CBR and my wife did the virtual queue for Guardian's and I grabbed a Frozen G+. She got 53 for a callback but it claimed we wouldn't get called back until 5:30p. With a 4:00p flight that wouldn't work. I also left her off the Frozen G+ and didn't realize it in time to add her to the same time slot. So.....on the skyliner between CBR and Riviera we changed our park pass to MK, hopped off the skyliner at Riviera and took a mostly empty bus to MK for the 7:30a early entry. We arrived at 7:45a. This is where more bizzaro world kicked in. This is what we did between 7:45a and 10:00a -- returned a shirt, Buzz, Space, bought a couple of shirts, Pooh, 7DMT (literally a walk on after regular park opening), Big Thunder, Haunted, Pirates, Buzz again, Space again, Peter Pan.
Moral of my post.....Labor Day weekend is an awesome time to go to WDW.....but I missed my DVC. We probably will never use points to book at Labor Day because we have an Oct UY and if flights and/or vacation time doesn't work out we would lose the points if we had to cancel but we will budget to either book a cash stay via DVC or a deluxe via WDW.
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I stayed there with two gal pals in 2021, and found it to be a cute value resort with the bonus of the skyline nearby. Then I stayed there for older DS's spring break trip at the beginning of March 2022, and then DH, younger DS, DS's buddy and I stayed there for the high school spring break in late March 2022. For a value resort, I think it's great. The skyline makes it a no brainer where you're looking for a less expensive place to crash when you're a commando park family. 
