beach – Page 4 – Wanderlist Vacations

MSC Divina – Debark and Final Thoughts on Yacht Club

After some debate on the way home, I’ve decided to split my final MSC-related post of this trip in to two. This one will focus solely on our final thoughts about this sailing, while my next will be more of a comparison of the MSC experience to that of some of the more typical cruise lines that sail from US ports.

Starting with disembarkation, it went pretty smoothly once again. On our Christmas sailing, I was pretty impressed with how easily we got off, but the Yacht Club experience was obviously better yet again. Instead of having to deal with crowds getting to either the buffet or MDR for one last breakfast, we packed up and headed down the hall to Top Sail to grab something off of the buffet in there. Talking to a couple of friends who were also in Yacht Club, The One Pool was open for breakfast as well, with the same hot foods I’d eaten the previous two days. We’d planned on going to Le Muse, but were pretty tired when we got up, and none of us were really hungry enough to justify the walk. I’m sure it was delicious!

After eating a little bit in Top Sail, we went over to the concierge desk to get one last butler escort off the ship. They called Jacques, who came over and escorted 5 of us off the ship:

The escort off was an interesting experience. He led us down the elevator, through Piazza del Doge and the casino, and then into a small passageway that was closed off. As we came out, we were right at the front of one of the debark lines, cutting directly in front of the passengers waiting to get off. That marked the first time I really felt uncomfortable with any of the YC benefits, as I’m not big into cutting in line.

After the walk off, we headed to baggage claim, where our bags were already off the belt and waiting. All in all, it might have been 20-30 minutes from the time we left the concierge on 15 until we were at our car in the parking garage. Very, very smooth.

Moving on to final thoughts on the sailing, the short version is that we had an absolute blast this past week. While we had fun in December and enjoyed everything MSC had to offer under the Bella experience, the differences between that and Yacht Club cannot be understated. From the little things, like the sliding door that opens and allows you in to Yacht Club when you slide your ship card:

(be sure to hit the play button)

To the bigger things, like the far more relaxing private pool area:

The differences made the added cost totally worth it to us, and really are too much to list in a single post, so I recommend reading about them on MSC’s site. The service was better, the food was better, and all of the added perks and private areas made it a more relaxing cruise for all three of us. All of that should be expected, considering the gap in cost to move up to Yacht Club, but I felt it important to call it out, as we felt they nailed it. Here’s our full list of positives and negatives from this sailing:

Positives:

The lack of smoking, as called out last time, too. As non-smokers, this is a huge draw for us, especially in the casino.
Our butler Jacques and his assistant were outstanding. They always had smiles on their faces, would stop to chat with us, and were always receptive to anything we needed. Far better cabin experience than last time.
The private Yacht Club areas: I wasn’t sure what to expect here, as I generally don’t like sitting around in more subdued areas and was concerned I’d get bored pretty easily. That wasn’t the case at all, Frankly, I loved having Top Sail and The One Pool available whenever we wanted to use them. They were never crowded when we were in either, and we didn’t have to deal with people yelling or running around. Much more peaceful.
Also a Yacht Club exclusive, not having to pay for drinks: This only applies in Yacht Club areas, but we never felt the need to buy as much as a soda in the main areas because we always had the option of grabbing something (Alcoholic or non) from Top Sail, the One Pool, or even our own mini-bar, since those drinks and snacks are included in the cost, too.
The butler escort on and off the ship when in port was excellent. With the line to get off in St Thomas last time ridiculously long (and we waited at least a half hour *after* it started to go down), having that service this time and being able to get off with no wait was a very nice touch.
Our cabin was nice, and a pretty good size for the three of us. We were in 15028, a shorter YC1 than most, but as mentioned before, what you lose in length, you gain in width. There are only 4 of these on our floor, and 4 on 16, and if we’d been in a normal YC1, it would have been much closer quarters (and we’d have had a much narrower balcony, as shown here). Check the deck plans for deck 15 and deck 16 to see where these wider ones are.
Pizza delivery to the room at no added cost was cool, too. You call the concierge, they call down to La Cantina di Bacco and order what you want, and a little while later, one of the butlers delivers your pie. All pizza we’ve had on this ship is amazing. Best pizza at sea!
All of the children we encountered in Yacht Club were very well behaved. Every age group was represented, and at no time were any of them loud, running around in places they shouldn’t have been (restaurants, Top Sail, etc) or out of control. A very stark difference compared to walking around the main buffet or pool areas.
Le Muse: We’ve never eaten in a main dining room so often on a ship. I think we ate there for lunch almost every day and did so for every dinner, and one breakfast. The food was really good for the most part (best burger on the ship, too), and the service far exceeded that of the regular MDR. I don’t think any meal took longer than 1.5 hours, while the MDR on our last sailing could exceed 2-2.5 hours for the same 3-course meal due to how overworked the servers in Black Crab appeared to be. Service in Le Muse was outstanding, from the maitre d’, to our waiter and assistant waiter. It’s also a much smaller setting, and as such has a far more relaxing feel to it.
The entertainment: Once again, MSC delivers. With the shows being mostly the same as last sailing, we only attended a few, focusing on the ones with acrobatics (The Mask, the Paris show, TI, and the Michael Jackson tribute). All were excellent once again.
The entertainment team: Just as good, if not better than last time. Most of the team from December were still there last week, which we were happy to see, as they all look like they’re truly having fun, and work really well together. There are plenty of activities throughout the day, as well. Things like trivia, Scattergories, Taboo, Jenga, and even a few pool games that you’d see on the more American lines (belly flop contest, Mr sexy legs, etc). The entertainment team is a definite highlight of the Divina experience for us.
On both cruises, one of the cleanest ships we’ve sailed on. They are always working to ensure the public areas remain clean, and it shows.

Negatives:

The only Yacht Club area we were iffy on was the concierge desk. Most of the time they were helpful, but on occasion, appeared to be throwing attitude. As an example, on one of our pizza orders, she asked why we were ordering again so soon, having just ordered a pizza an hour earlier. Yea, that wasn’t us. Someone two doors down had ordered one, and for some reason she thought it was us and gave Bayley some attitude in the process.
It would have been nice to have reserved seating in the shows for Yacht Club like some other lines do for suite guests. With the quality of the shows on the ship, getting good seats means getting there pretty early without any reserved seating.
The soft-serve ice cream dispensers were an issue yet again. Only open from 2pm-5pm daily (but closed at least 30min early on two days), I’d hope they’d be well maintained. On both sailings, this wasn’t the case. Most times we stopped, it was all too soft to be edible, only two of four machines on each side were open, and they were totally messy. This is one area where there more contemporary lines do a much better job.
Better internet speeds: On both sailings, speeds were better than what we saw on the Norwegian Escape last November, but uploading anything other than simple pictures or text was painfully slow. Because I’m constantly posting pictures and the occasional blog post (and sharing time with Bayley and Jen), I tend to buy as much time as we can, but I heard a guy at lunch complaining how slow it was for even basic email, to the point he was on his second $50 package. Do not underestimate how much time you need, because the packages appear to be more expensive on-board than they are if you buy them in advance or on the first day. On day 5, the login page showed the 24-hour package at $199, whereas I paid $120 for it by buying in advance. You can see Scott Sanfilippo’s screenshots from the same page on day 1 of his sailing here and here, showing the same prices I saw (and paid) online prior to sailing. Compare that to what the login page looked like on day 5, and ouch. No way.

Well, I think that about covers it for this trip. We really enjoyed our time in Yacht Club, and look forward to sailing in this level again when the MSC Seaside arrives in late 2017! Hope you’ve enjoyed reading these posts and found them helpful! If you missed any from this sailing, you can find them all here:

http://blog.wanderlistvaca.com/tag/mscdivinasb16/

Or if you want to see how things compared to our Bella experience on the Divina, those are available here:

http://blog.wanderlistvaca.com/tag/mscdivina1215/

MSC Divina Day 7 – Do We Really Have to Get Off?

We’re nearing the end of our final day on the Divina, and having just finished the final trivia game of the sailing, I figured I’d get in one last blog post on board.

The last couple of days have been a continuation of the fun we’ve had so far. Yesterday was our “final” sea day, and I quote that because we also treated today’s stop in Nassau as a sea day too. On our November and December cruises, we’d gotten day passes at a couple of different resorts, but this time decided we’d spend most of the day on the ship, as there was really nothing we wanted to do here. Sure, Atlantis is cool, but it’s also pretty expensive these days, and with the crowds we expected in port (with 5 ships docked), we just didn’t feel it’d be worth the cost. We did get off for about a half hour so Bayley could get her hair braided and buy a few items for friends, but that was it for Nassau.

On both days, we participated in a variety of activities around the ship, including trivia, bingo, a scavenger hunt and a handful of other stuff. We managed to win one round of trivia yesterday, and finished second on the scavenger hunt, so we’re going home with a few prizes.

Additionally, we attended the main shows last night and tonight, even though we saw both the last time we were on Divina. Last night’s show was Treasure Island, a pirate themed show packed with singing, dancing, acrobatics, and even a little magic. This is my favorite, and one I recommend you do not miss if you’re sailing on the Divina.

Tonight was the Michael Jackson tribute. A fantastic show if you are an MJ fan. The dancer who plays Michael is amazing, and really brings Jackson’s moves to life.

We also stayed up for the late night activities in the Black and White lounge both nights. Last night, they played Quest, basically a scavenger hunt where you don’t leave the room. I’ll leave out the details, but suffice it to say that I *might* have been up in the center of the room dressed in women’s shoes, a bra (over my shirt), a purse, and lipstick. I’ve gotta make sure that picture never sees the light of day 🙂

Tonight’s late night event was a dancing competition (think Dancing with the Stars). Jen volunteered to be a judge, and really had fun with it. I know I’ve said it before, but the entertainment team on this ship are really good at their jobs. We’ve had a blast every single day participating in the events they run. They all really seem to love what they do, and it shows every time we see them.

Moving back to Yacht Club since that’s really where I wanted to focus these posts, we spent plenty of time yesterday and today in Top Sail Lounge, which we’re really finding to be a nice place to relax, grab a quick drink, and maybe even a snack. We haven’t paid for a single drink on the boat, thanks to the included beverages in Top Sail, Le Muse, The One Pool, and our minibar.

I hadn’t tried The One Pool for breakfast until yesterday, and am a bit sad I didn’t do so earlier. Both the scrambled eggs and bacon up there are so much better than the main buffet (on any ship we’ve been on). Add the quiet atmosphere as you eat with the ocean in view, and it’s a great place to grab breakfast if you’re staying in Yacht Club! We also spent some time up there again today getting sun. The glass along the side does a great job of blocking external noise, as the Carnival Victory was parked next to us today and had music blaring the entire time, but up there, I really couldn’t hear it.

We hit the waterslides today, too, right after getting sun at The One Pool. We must have ridden half a dozen times, as it was dead since a lot of people were off in Nassau. Their slide is fun, but seeing the Escape in port, and remembering how much fun their slides are, I admit to a little jealousy every time I looked over. Regardless, we had a blast.

Bayley and I followed the waterslides up with a trip to the F1 simulator. We did this last time, too, and did horribly that time. I think we were both expecting it to be more arcade-style, while it’s actually pretty realistic. This time around, knowing that, we both did better. It’s really fun, just know that knowledge of shift points, proper apex techniques, and familiarity with paddle shifters really helps. Oh, and apparently they recently stopped allowing anyone under 16 to use it, though. Something about a kid racking up a large bill on it.

I think that about covers the past two days. We’re all packed, and our suitcases are outside awaiting pickup, sadly. We’ve had an absolute blast this trip, and the Yacht Club experience has made this feel like a completely different cruise from our Christmas sailing. Over the weekend, I’ll get a blog post up summarizing our thoughts on the trip, including all the positives and negatives. For now, goodnight from somewhere between Nassau and Miami!

MSC Divina Day 5 – Port Fun!

The end of day 5 saw us ready for the upcoming sea day, giving us a chance to sleep in and recover from the past two days. Back to back port days can be exhausting, especially when you have a couple of pretty active excursions planned in each port. Before I get to that, another nice thing about being in Yacht Club is the butler escort off of the ship when you’re in port. Last time we sailed this itinerary, getting off in St Thomas was really, really slow, even though we waited a half hour or so after debark started. This time, I have no idea how long the line was in either port, we just got off. You meet a butler at the concierge area on 15, and he escorts you down to 4, out a side door right next to the gangway, stops one of the lines so his group can (more or less) cut in, and you then have your card scanned and get off the boat. If you’re on an MSC excursion, he’ll escort you over to that meeting point as well. All in all, less than 5 minutes start to finish. Very nice benefit! Here’s our butler, Jacques, after escorting us off the ship in San Juan:

For both of our first two stops, we (and by “we”, I mean Jen) booked independent excursions with an outside company, Island Marketing. We’d never used them before, but the reviews were good, and the excursions were things that sounded like a lot of fun. They didn’t disappoint, either. So what did we do at each stop?

St Thomas: After arriving in port and walking around the shops a bit, we grabbed a cab and headed for Oasis Marina Cove. We were booked on a snorkeling excursion with Captain Nautica, and had to meet there at 11:15am. Turns out, the rest of the people in our group (off the Norwegian Spirit) didn’t arrive until after 12, so we were there a bit early. No biggie. After everyone was there, we were given a bit of a talk on what was going to happen, along with a safety briefing. This wasn’t just a “hop on our boat and we’ll take you to a cove” excursion, we actually got to drive our own Zodiac over to Christmas Cove for snorkeling. It was a bumpy but really fun ride over and back in the little boat. I think it took around 25min or so to get there, and about the same to get back. Somehow I managed to keep Jen and Bayley in the boat, a tough task with all of the waves we were jumping in that thing :).

The snorkeling wasn’t bad. Not a lot of fish, but plenty of sea turtles, and even a couple of small stingrays! One of the guides was swimming around checking on people, and even grabbed my GoPro and swam down next to one of the turtles to get some video. One of the shots below (right next to the turtle) is a screengrab from that clip.

All in all, it was a really fun day in St Thomas. The guides were awesome, and it really wasn’t a crowded trip. There were 16 people, including us, on the excursion, and the cove had hardly any other tourists in it, so it wasn’t like Buck Island where you have a whole lot of excursions crowding you. I think we’d all recommend Captain Nautica to others coming here!

San Juan: Again, Jen booked us through Island Marketing, this time on a rainforest hike in El Yunque. The rainforest excursions are a popular thing on the cruise ships, but most of them only take you to a couple of stops, and maybe a small walk, and usually you’re in a larger bus with a bunch of people. Not us. We were in a van with a family of 4, also off of our boat (their first cruise!). We did have a longer ride to the park than expected, but only because a tree was blocking the main road, and our driver had to find a back way in. No problem, he got us in, giving us a history of the island along the way.

Once there, we stopped at a local food stand to get a pre-hike snack, which consisted of some local, really delicious food. I had a pizza turnover, Jen had a beef taco, and Bayley had a chicken taco. All really, really good. After eating, we then headed to Yokahu observation tower so we could walk up to the top and check out the view of the surrounding area. I haven’t pulled any of the pictures of that off the GoPro yet, but when I do, I’ll be posting them on our Instagram feed. The top of the tower provided some awesome views of the mountains and coast. Incidentally, the MSC tour of the rainforest was there at the same time as us. One thing we learned with their tours, they send one of the ship’s photographers along to take pictures of the guests, a nice touch we haven’t seen from any other line we sailed.

Our walk up the tower over, our guide took us over to the trailhead. We had a 1.5mi hike ahead of us, and he estimated it’d take us about 1h 15m, maybe a little longer. He gave us instructions for hiking down to a waterfall, then back up another trail, and told us he’d meet us at the top of that other trail at 1:15pm. His times were pretty close to accurate, too. It was obviously quite wet on the hike, but we were ready for that. We walked down the first trail to the waterfall, stopping along the way to enjoy the river and other scenery. When we got to the waterfall we didn’t go in the water, as it had rained pretty hard the night before and the water was moving at a good clip, but we did walk out on the rocks on the left hand side for some pictures. After a short stop there, we walked up the other trail. This portion got pretty steep in some areas, so if you do a trip like this, just know that hiking down means you eventually have to hike back up, and be prepared for it. We got back up fine, but there were a few other people (not in our group) who really looked like they didn’t want to be there anymore.

Once the hike was over, we headed back to the little food stand we’d stopped at before, this time to enjoy more of a lunch (the previous stop was unplanned, but the little boys in our group were hungry. Fine with us, that place was delicious!)

We’ve really been having a lot of fun on this trip on the ship, too. We attended the Flower Glory party on the evening of the second sea day and somehow managed to get caught up in a bunch of the video from it since we were out on the dance floor for most of it, but did miss the white party the night before San Juan. Just too tired to make it to 11pm. Last night we caught the Italian party, which was a blast too. The entertainment team really goes the extra mile to make sure everyone’s having fun. In one of the shots here, Carlos has loaned me some of his gear at the Flower Glory party 🙂

One more note – As previously mentioned, our Maitre’ D has been great. Another example, we decided to eat dinner the past couple of nights with a two other people we know onboard, also in Yacht Club, and without warning the first night, he set us up pretty quickly in Le Muse. He always has a smile on his face and is constantly walking the restaurant checking on his guests. We couldn’t be happier with the service in Le Muse!

That’s about it for now, but we have the final sea day on tap, along with a stop in Nassau. We’re not doing anything in port this time, just getting off so Bayley can get her hair braided, then spending the rest of the day on the boat. Figured we’d rather have another “sea day” than do anything here.

Oh, and if you’re not following us on Instagram / Twitter / Facebook, you’re missing out, I just posted a comparison of our YC1 balcony to the one next to us. Yes, it’s YC1 as well, but about half the size! (for reference, a deck plan of our deck). Follow us to see more from Yacht Club!

MSC Divina Day 3 – The Yacht Club Fun Continues!

As the end of our second sea day approaches, I wanted to get another post up on our time in Yacht Club so far. As I think I mentioned before, we weren’t really sure what to expect going in, but so far we’ve been really happy with everything the suites have to offer.

The past two days have been filled with a mix of activities for us. We’ve participated in several of our normal activities, from Taboo to trivia, and even another round of Scattergories, and have had a blast at all of them. I know I’ve mentioned how great the entertainment staff is in several previous posts on the Divina, but it really can’t be understated. This team is really fun to be around, and they do their best to ensure all participants are having a good time. They always have a smile on their faces. Always. So glad Bingo Boys are still a thing, too. Those guys make bingo fun (even if you don’t play), and that’s no easy task.

Having covered the normal activates in the posts about our Christmas sailing, I’d like to focus this more on the Yacht Club aspect of this trip. So far, it’s been worth every penny. I recognize it’s not a cheap upgrade, but it’s one that I wouldn’t hesitate to go for again. On the last sailing, the service from our dining room team and cabin attendant was somewhat lacking, as I covered in those posts, but this trip has been the exact opposite:

Cabin: Our butler Jaques and his assistant have been outstanding. Our cabin always looks great, and they always seem to be around, greeting us with a smile. Some of the best cabin service we’ve had on any sailing.

Dining room: In Le Muse, I finally see the purpose of a Maître D. In a large MDR, you never really see what they’re doing, and generally they only stop by once a cruise (unless there are issues raised), which can make you feel like they only showed up to get the extra tip that’s common for the Maître D on some lines. In a smaller setting like Le Muse, you really get to see him (or her) work. Our Maitre D has been outstanding, taking care of our seating arrangements, stopping by more than once per meal, and always engaging in short conversation asking how your day has been, how the meal is, etc. All with a smile on his face. We’ve eaten in there for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and he always seems to be there ensuring guests are happy.

Our head waiter (Dejan) and his assistant have been outstanding. Always there to get what you need, and doing an excellent job keeping our glasses full. Also, I’m not sure if it’s intentional, but when we’ve eaten in there for breakfast and lunch, we’ve had the same head waiter for (I think) each of those meals as well, even though we’ve been at different tables. A nice touch if it is part of the plan.

Food: The food in Le Muse has so far been consistently better than what we remember of the MDR. We did have some good food there, but it was almost a hit or miss thing, with one night being good, the next night no so much, etc. In Le Muse, I don’t think we’ve had anything we didn’t like yet. Yes, the Easter dinner menu was the same in our restaurant as it was in the MDR, but other than that they’ve had little overlap, and we’ve had some good quality food compared to our previous MDR experience on the Divina.

Other perks of Yacht Club have been great as well:

Captain’s reception: Earlier today, there was a reception in the Top Sail lounge specifically for Yacht Club guests to meet the captain. Other than our trip on the Celebrity Summit, I’m not sure we’ve ever attended the captain’s events on previous ships. This time, we took advantage and hung out in the lounge with some drinks as the captain made his way around. He stopped by each table and chatted with the guests for a few minutes. Jen was sure to tell him how much we enjoy the entertainment staff, hope they get some recognition out of that!

Pool deck: This is where the whole “ship within a ship” concept stands out. We didn’t lay by the pool at all yesterday, but in walking the 14^th and 15^th decks outside have noticed how full it is during the day. There are a crazy amount of deck chairs out all around (pretty much any open spot on either deck front to back), and they’re always full. Either people are laying out in them, or they’ve got towels and bags on them. Can’t say I remember any ship we’ve been on where you really couldn’t find two or three chairs together anywhere unless you got down there really, really early. In Yacht Club, no such nonsense. We laid out today after lunch, and were easily able to find open space (plenty of it, in my opinion), and it was very peaceful. No kids running around yelling, and no real noise other than the waves. So relaxing. Here are a couple of comparison shots taken this afternoon:

It doesn’t hurt that there are a really good selection of drinks (both alcoholic and non) available at no additional cost in Yacht Club J

One additional thing to call out in regards to my mention of no kids running around the pool, it’s not that there aren’t any children in Yacht Club, because there are. What we’ve seen so far is that they’re really well behaved. Whether it’s in Le Muse, Top Sail, or up in the Yacht Club pool area, they’ve all been very polite and well-mannered regardless of age. I’m not saying all kids outside of this area aren’t, since good behavior is certainly not reserved for suite guests, but overall it’s been a nice change of pace compared to some of the ones we’ve run in to (literally, sometimes) while out in other areas of the ship.

Overall, we’re having a great time, and even with the same itinerary as Christmas, this feels like a completely different cruise. With a day in St Thomas on tap for tomorrow, can’t wait to see where the rest of the trip takes us!

Good night from cabin 15028!

Hotel Review – Disney’s Coronado Springs

For our Thanksgiving trip to Disney World, we’d originally booked a room at Pop Century Resort, one we’ve stayed at in the past, but a few weeks out from this trip, we were able to move the reservation to Coronado Springs for a relatively small increase. Having never stayed there, we decided to give it a try.

Check in was pretty easy here. I’d actually checked in online the day before, and just before noon on our scheduled day of arrival, I got a text letting me know our room was ready for us. Upon arrival, we hit the registration counter, got our keys and some basic information. While the main building lookd fine, one thing that stood out were the lack of Christmas decorations. Jen and I ate dinner at Beaches and Cream that night, and seeing both Beach Club and Yacht Club pretty well saturated in Christmas, were a bit surprised that Coronado Springs had yet to get any love in this area, or maybe it was just so subtle we didn’t’ see them.

After checking in, we headed over to our room, located in the Cabanas section (building 9A, specifically). We’d requested a water view, and got just that, as we had a corner room overlooking the Cabanas village pool. Our room itself was pretty disappointing, especially for a hotel classified as a moderate. Disney really needs to gut these rooms and start over, as they feel like they haven’t been touched in 20 years. We never had an issue with it being clean, it just felt worn and dated. Additionally, one thing we really liked about French Quarter back in May was that there were two sinks, allowing us to get ready faster in the morning. Not so here, as shown in the room pics.

The Cabanas section does have a little beach with a few hammocks hung, which was kinda cool:

After getting settled, we spent some time walking the grounds. There are some cool views here, but if you’re out in one of the farther building groups, like Ranchos (property map), it could be a bit of a hike to get to the main building. Ours wasn’t too bad, but I’d say that we definitely didn’t fill our soda mugs up nearly as often due to the added distance from the main building (vs French Quarter). In addition to the main building, there’s also a large pool area in the middle of the property, referred to as the “Dig Site”. This is actually kinda cool, with a Mayan theme to it, and it’s complete with a pool, play area, sand volleyball court, and cantina.

Back on the Christmas decorations, we did notice a tree and some wreaths in the lobby on one of our last nights there, so either we just didn’t see them initially, or they didn’t decorate the place until after the higher-end hotels were done. We’d visited a couple more properties as part of our Disney Dining plan dinners, and all of those were pretty heavily decorated, so it kinda felt like Coronado Springs was an afterthought in this regard. Frankly, it seemed like a number of areas of this resort were worn and needed attention. Case in point, there are automatic gates on the road that surrounds the property. As you turn in to Coronado Springs, you can turn left or right to get to guest areas before you get to the main gate. Our building was to the right, with one of the automatic gates right there. In our case, the gate in was never working while we were there, it was stuck in the up position. Fear not, however, the “out” gate was working fine, just to be sure that no riff-raff were able to escape the property without a short delay to wait for the arm to raise. We did see someone working on the gate on day 2 or 3, but he wasn’t able to fix it, as the “in” gate remained up the rest of our stay.

Overall, if we were presented with the same choice in the future, I’d probably opt to save my money and keep the Pop Century reservation. The added cost for this being a moderate just didn’t feel warranted in my opinion. Disney knows they’re going to get guests staying here since it’s got a convention center, and as such, may not be concerned about renovating it. Maybe I’m wrong, but this just didn’t live up to ‘moderate’ standards for me.

Here’s a quick rundown of the good/bad, along with a few more pictures of the property:

(Note – I can’t speak to any of the restaurants here, as we didn’t try any)

Pros

Easy and quick check-in, room was ready 3 hours ahead of time
Some great views around the property
Our housekeeper took good care of our room
The Dig Site’s a great place for families to hang out when not at parks
Queen sized beds, a “moderate standard” (also mentioned in the cons list)
Had close-able doors between the beds and bathroom area so people could get ready without bothering those still sleeping
Bus transportation was pretty good, and the hotel is pretty close to all parks
Pretty good gift shop in the main building
Landscaping well done and kept up nicely

Cons

The rooms need a lot of TLC. They look like they haven’t been renovated in a looooong time.
The beds weren’t comfortable at all to me. Felt like someone grabbed a bunch of random worn-out padding and jammed it in a queen bed shell.
Some of the other buildings could make guests feel disconnected from the rest of the resort due to distance from the main building, but that holds true at other hotels on property, too.
I can see where it could get really busy when the convention center is full utilized

And of course, a few more pics: