We had an early flight to Orlando out of John Wayne airport. Can I just say how much I love SNA? So quick and easy!
We packed three carry-ons and checked one piece of luggage. Disney mailed us luggage tags beforehand since we were staying at a Disney property and we gave them our flight information beforehand. Once we checked the bag, it was delivered straight to our hotel room about three hours after our plane landed. So convenient!
Before we landed, I had everyone put on their Magic Bands. (Make sure you do not pack them in your checked luggage). After we landed, we followed the signs to the Magical Express shuttles. They scanned our Magic Bands (no other paper/receipt necessary) and directed us to the Pop Century/Art of Animation shuttle.
I checked my phone and I had a text that our room was ready, along with our room number. We were able to bypass the front check-in desk and go straight to our room. The Magic Band acted as our “key” to the room. Wow, these Magic Bands did feel like “magic”! And of course, the kids loved being able to open the room by themselves and had to take turns doing so.
The Pop Century rooms recently received a makeover, and I really liked the modern, tasteful decor. The carpetless floors made it feel cleaner as well. Although the rooms are not large, they utilize the space well. One neat feature is the desk that turns into a second queen-sized bed. I ended up sleeping on both beds during the course of our stay, and while the regular bed is more comfortable, the murphy bed is not bad.
Here are the kids demonstrating how the desk turns into a bed.
The bathroom had a good amount of storage space despite its small size.
I failed to take a picture of the cabinet to the left of the television/dresser. It contained a nice glass-front mini refrigerator, a coffee maker and additional shelving.
After settling in a bit, we ate dinner at the Pop Century cafeteria. This is n enjoying his kids’ salmon plate. We also shared a grilled chicken sandwich and chicken parmesan. The food was just ok, nothing special. However, this was the only meal we ate at the hotel (aside from a partial breakfast on our last day) so this was not a big deal for us.
After dinner we headed for the Hippy Dippy pool. Almost as soon as we arrived, it started to rain! Welcome to Florida in June, I guess. The pool was quite warm so the cool rain actually felt nice.
Our room was in the 60’s building. “Take a right at the giant Duncan yo-yo!” We were fairly close to the cafeteria and most importantly, the buses!
There is a nice lake right behind the hotel with a 1.3 mile running trail. This is D looking sad because he was not able to do much running during our vacation.
We saw the Skyliner project in progress. Eventually this will be a gondola system that connects Pop Century (along with some other hotels) with Epcot and Hollywood Studios.
Once the Skyliner project is completed (estimated Fall 2019), this will be another good reason to consider Pop Century!