Snick Family Trip Report
Days of 7/10 through 7/17 2021
Group of 9 from age 5 to age 71
I will speak primarily about myself (40), wife (38), and 2 kids (son age 5 & daughter age 7). Also in the group is my sister (40s), BIL (40s), and Niece (11). As well as my parents (70 & 71).
We all stayed at Pop Century. 3 rooms next to each other (2 were connecting).
This same group traveled to Disneyland about 4 years ago together, so I may compare the 2 once in a while.
There is so much I want to talk about. Let's get started!
Let's talk about Arriving!
We arrived at the Orlando airport about 1230pm on Saturday. We got to the hotel at 2pm. Everything went very smooth and fast. Luggage was ready for us pretty quickly. A man offered to help, so we tipped him and he grabbed a cart and led us on our way. No line to check in for Magical Express. We were the 2nd or 3rd stop to get dropped off. Overall an hour and half from landing to being at the hotel. I was very satisfied with this time frame.
Let's talk about the hotel!
We arrived at Pop Century about 2pm. The room was not ready until about 4:30, so there was a good amount of meandering around. My parents picked up the scooter they ordered (BP company). We hit the arcade for a while. Looked around in the gift shop. Got some snacks and drinks at the cafeteria. Arcade was fun (they enjoyed the ride simulator thing) but kids got bored after a bit. The food was pretty decent, although we were starving so anything would have been good! We got cinnamon roll, tie dye cheesecake, french fries, and a danish. My daughter loved the tie dye cheesecake! I really enjoyed the fries, they were good here all week long. Also in this time, my Walmart delivery came with snacks/drinks/breakfast for the week. Finally the room was ready!
Let's talk about the room!
Preferred room in the 70s section building 10. At first I didn't understand why this was a preferred room. It seemed just a tad long from the lobby (and thus the bus) as well as a little ways from the skyliner. But when I looked at the map, I realized how much further other buildings are! Also I can't complain as this was a "free upgrade" from All Star Sports hotel being closed. The room was pretty cool honestly. Beds were very comfortable! I normally don't say that easily too. I liked the little coffee station (though I brought my own small keurig machine) and made that the little breakfast nook. Filled the fridge with drinks, replacing as needed. I'll mention here that I ordered way too many drinks, considering the fact that nobody wants to lug multiple bottles of water or Gatorade or whatever with them in the park. I wasn't thinking about that when I ordered so much. Thankfully the room service staff took some of the extras at the end of the week. Anyways, the shower was strong and hot, the toilet flushed well, the sink was fine, the lighting was bright, the TV was large... My favorite thing may have been how high the beds are (even the pull down bed) so that you can put your luggage under it. Saves so much space! All in all I loved the room even if it was a bit tight for 4 people. My parents, even with the scooter in the room, had way more room with the 2nd bed up and being used as a table. The kids joined them (connecting rooms) to eat at the table most mornings. Room service seemed to only come twice during our stay. Didn't really mind at all. I brought garbage bags we used and disposed of, and if we needed towels we asked for them if we saw staff with a cart.
Let's talk about transportation!
Ok so the Skyliner is awesome in my opinion but is not for everybody! I loved it. Its super fast, never waited long at all, even at peak hours such as park open/close or after Epcot fireworks. Maybe I got lucky. There were also times we rode with my parents with a scooter onboard, and that went smoothly as well. Sometimes it was slightly faster and sometimes it was slightly slower than the regular gondolas. Basically, it was fast no matter what. The only thing is when it stops and sometimes you swing midair... yeah some may not like that! I think the longest we were stopped was 2 minutes but it felt much longer! The line for the bus in the morning would get pretty big. We'd be there an hour and half before park opening, and there would be a crowd. But they stuff you in there, and there is also another bus waiting to pull up as well. We had extremely good luck with buses. Always getting on the first or second (which is really just the 2nd first bus in a way) every morning. And never waiting long for one when leaving a park. The longest wait was about 15 minutes from Hollywood Studios to go to Magic Kingdom one day. We must have just missed it because the line was empty. Even after MK fireworks, we got right on a bus. They just keep sending them!
Let's talk about maybe the only negative of transportation!
I don't want to dwell on this, but it has to be mentioned. A lot of bus drivers are not exactly friendly. This doesn't go for all. But I encountered zero unfriendly staff anywhere my entire stay except for a few bus drivers. Yelling at people to move all the way back, more back, even more back. Or to move strollers out of the way so others can stand there. Things like that. A lot of passive aggressiveness or snarky comments. This seemed to be the case way more with the morning drivers. Also one morning we got on the first bus to go to Animal Kingdom... only he went to Magic Kingdom. This wasted a half hour of everybody's time plus got the entire bus in a foul mood. I noticed it about halfway through and tried to say something, but was too far back in the bus to get word there in time. To end this section on a positive, I will mention there was one bus driver (from HS to MK) who was hilarious, cracking jokes the entire ride. He seriously put on a full routine. I missed his name, but it made for a memorable and uplifting ride.
Let's talk about the itinerary!
So that there's an idea of how the week went...
7/10 arrive at hotel, get situated, go to boardwalk for dinner and dessert
7/11 MK rope drop, stay until fireworks
7/12 HS rope drop, do as much as possible all day, Oga's after park close
7/13 Epcot rope drop, do as much as possible all day, stay for fireworks
7/14 HS rope drop, do what we didn't the first time, park hop to MK later on
7/15 AK rope drop, do as much as possible all day, stay until park close, MK park hop
7/16 MK rope drop, take it easy doing a few things still left, go back to hotel for pool
7/17 Breakfast at hotel, Pool, go to airport
To Be Continued...
Days of 7/10 through 7/17 2021
Group of 9 from age 5 to age 71
I will speak primarily about myself (40), wife (38), and 2 kids (son age 5 & daughter age 7). Also in the group is my sister (40s), BIL (40s), and Niece (11). As well as my parents (70 & 71).
We all stayed at Pop Century. 3 rooms next to each other (2 were connecting).
This same group traveled to Disneyland about 4 years ago together, so I may compare the 2 once in a while.
There is so much I want to talk about. Let's get started!
Let's talk about Arriving!
We arrived at the Orlando airport about 1230pm on Saturday. We got to the hotel at 2pm. Everything went very smooth and fast. Luggage was ready for us pretty quickly. A man offered to help, so we tipped him and he grabbed a cart and led us on our way. No line to check in for Magical Express. We were the 2nd or 3rd stop to get dropped off. Overall an hour and half from landing to being at the hotel. I was very satisfied with this time frame.
Let's talk about the hotel!
We arrived at Pop Century about 2pm. The room was not ready until about 4:30, so there was a good amount of meandering around. My parents picked up the scooter they ordered (BP company). We hit the arcade for a while. Looked around in the gift shop. Got some snacks and drinks at the cafeteria. Arcade was fun (they enjoyed the ride simulator thing) but kids got bored after a bit. The food was pretty decent, although we were starving so anything would have been good! We got cinnamon roll, tie dye cheesecake, french fries, and a danish. My daughter loved the tie dye cheesecake! I really enjoyed the fries, they were good here all week long. Also in this time, my Walmart delivery came with snacks/drinks/breakfast for the week. Finally the room was ready!
Let's talk about the room!
Preferred room in the 70s section building 10. At first I didn't understand why this was a preferred room. It seemed just a tad long from the lobby (and thus the bus) as well as a little ways from the skyliner. But when I looked at the map, I realized how much further other buildings are! Also I can't complain as this was a "free upgrade" from All Star Sports hotel being closed. The room was pretty cool honestly. Beds were very comfortable! I normally don't say that easily too. I liked the little coffee station (though I brought my own small keurig machine) and made that the little breakfast nook. Filled the fridge with drinks, replacing as needed. I'll mention here that I ordered way too many drinks, considering the fact that nobody wants to lug multiple bottles of water or Gatorade or whatever with them in the park. I wasn't thinking about that when I ordered so much. Thankfully the room service staff took some of the extras at the end of the week. Anyways, the shower was strong and hot, the toilet flushed well, the sink was fine, the lighting was bright, the TV was large... My favorite thing may have been how high the beds are (even the pull down bed) so that you can put your luggage under it. Saves so much space! All in all I loved the room even if it was a bit tight for 4 people. My parents, even with the scooter in the room, had way more room with the 2nd bed up and being used as a table. The kids joined them (connecting rooms) to eat at the table most mornings. Room service seemed to only come twice during our stay. Didn't really mind at all. I brought garbage bags we used and disposed of, and if we needed towels we asked for them if we saw staff with a cart.
Let's talk about transportation!
Ok so the Skyliner is awesome in my opinion but is not for everybody! I loved it. Its super fast, never waited long at all, even at peak hours such as park open/close or after Epcot fireworks. Maybe I got lucky. There were also times we rode with my parents with a scooter onboard, and that went smoothly as well. Sometimes it was slightly faster and sometimes it was slightly slower than the regular gondolas. Basically, it was fast no matter what. The only thing is when it stops and sometimes you swing midair... yeah some may not like that! I think the longest we were stopped was 2 minutes but it felt much longer! The line for the bus in the morning would get pretty big. We'd be there an hour and half before park opening, and there would be a crowd. But they stuff you in there, and there is also another bus waiting to pull up as well. We had extremely good luck with buses. Always getting on the first or second (which is really just the 2nd first bus in a way) every morning. And never waiting long for one when leaving a park. The longest wait was about 15 minutes from Hollywood Studios to go to Magic Kingdom one day. We must have just missed it because the line was empty. Even after MK fireworks, we got right on a bus. They just keep sending them!
Let's talk about maybe the only negative of transportation!
I don't want to dwell on this, but it has to be mentioned. A lot of bus drivers are not exactly friendly. This doesn't go for all. But I encountered zero unfriendly staff anywhere my entire stay except for a few bus drivers. Yelling at people to move all the way back, more back, even more back. Or to move strollers out of the way so others can stand there. Things like that. A lot of passive aggressiveness or snarky comments. This seemed to be the case way more with the morning drivers. Also one morning we got on the first bus to go to Animal Kingdom... only he went to Magic Kingdom. This wasted a half hour of everybody's time plus got the entire bus in a foul mood. I noticed it about halfway through and tried to say something, but was too far back in the bus to get word there in time. To end this section on a positive, I will mention there was one bus driver (from HS to MK) who was hilarious, cracking jokes the entire ride. He seriously put on a full routine. I missed his name, but it made for a memorable and uplifting ride.
Let's talk about the itinerary!
So that there's an idea of how the week went...
7/10 arrive at hotel, get situated, go to boardwalk for dinner and dessert
7/11 MK rope drop, stay until fireworks
7/12 HS rope drop, do as much as possible all day, Oga's after park close
7/13 Epcot rope drop, do as much as possible all day, stay for fireworks
7/14 HS rope drop, do what we didn't the first time, park hop to MK later on
7/15 AK rope drop, do as much as possible all day, stay until park close, MK park hop
7/16 MK rope drop, take it easy doing a few things still left, go back to hotel for pool
7/17 Breakfast at hotel, Pool, go to airport
To Be Continued...
