Just got back from an 8 day trip - I can post more later (lots to catch up on); but just my quick observations:
- Pop Century did a pretty solid job. We had 3 towel/coffee/trash take outs without calling and called another time and had what we needed right away. No visible piled garbage this time, and the main pool area and landscaping were in great shape. The main building was not as clean as it used to be, and the Food Court is very blah. Still, much better than what I was expecting, and way better than our Coronado experience earlier this summer.
- The parks were WAY overcrowded. I would never recommend a first timer visit now. It was wall to wall people, with lots more rude folks (super hot, too crowded, and crazy wait times will do that to people). We have a "touring plan" of our own that works pretty well, but it was still brutal. Simply awful if you were a once and done or Disney rookie.
- Cast Members were a toss up; I'd say about a third were awesome; a third were ok, and the other third were untrained or awful. I get all the economics and HR issues, but not the typical 85% awesome, 13% ok, and 2% yuck Disney standard of the past.
- 80% of the sanitizer stations weren't full/working.
- Bathrooms were either sparkling or trashed. I didn't see any piled trash.
- Animal Kingdom and Hollywood seem to have it together. Epcots's back half is still fun, albeit gutted without the Cultural Reps and live music/shows. Food booths we tried were excellent. They front half of Epcot is brutally hot (whose idea was it to make those dividing walls black in the summer heat?) and ugly.
- Magic Kingdom was a hot mess. We did two full days there, and two nights for Happily Ever After. By far the worst crowds, clueless cast members, terrible lines, mess, angry folks...simply awful. It's my daughter's favorite park, and we were celebrating her graduation, but she even said, "this trip ALMOST killed Magic Kingdom for me." It. was. awful.
- If you need a Disability Access Pass, I will post about that later. It was dangerously terrible at Magic. I get that I'm biased, but putting untrained Cast Members in that job is not a fit, and downright dangerous. Two terrible experiences.
In summary, unless you have sunk costs like we did (airline vouchers that expired and a kid leaving for college) I would NOT visit now, especially Magic Kingdom. Yes, we found ways to enjoy things and make memories, but it was very rough.