Here are the 5 Reasons Why I Love Pop Century Over The All Stars:
1. Pop Century opened in 2003. It’s rooms are about the same as an All Star room, but since it is newer the rooms are in better shape.
2. Pop Century has 3 different pools. The All Star Resorts only have 2 different pools. If your kids like to pool hop, they will enjoy the multiple options at Pop Century.
3. Pop Century is quieter. I say this because All Star Sports tends to have most of the athletic teams (think chanting cheerleaders) staying there and sometimes they spill over into the other All Star resorts. Now they aren’t always there, but that is the hotel they tend to gravitate towards. Pop also does not allow groups at their hotel.
4. Pop Century does not share a bus with any other resort. Once you are on the bus, you are heading straight to your destination. The All Stars sometimes share a bus with one another. When we were at Disney, we often saw the All Stars waiting area at the park’s bus hubs backed up and Pop’s wouldn’t be because the buses ran so often for Pop.
5. Pop Century is a big resort. It has 2880 rooms. Each All Star has 1920 rooms, but since they are all on the same campus, that is 5,760 rooms collectively making it one of the largest resorts on the planet.
Learn more about the Walt Disney World Resorts and contact Destinations in Florida to help you book your perfect resort.
We love the values, but tend to lean towards the all-stars where we have always had an outstanding experience. Stayed at Pop in 2013 and it was also not a good experience for us. The clientele staying when we were there were terribly rude, appeared to feel entitled, and constantly had families screaming at each other and yellling at kids. We only used the pool once as it wasn’t enjoyable to hang out there. However we are there for the parks and a bed so we didnt let it ruin our disney magic. The food was not up to par and they appeared to run out of stuff and were short staffed. The soda area was atrociously messy and dirty. Was a bummer after hearing all the great things about POP. Hopefully this was an anomaly when we were there.
Let’s remember that there are TWO pools at EACH resort and you can use any of them, no matter which of the 3 you are staying at – also there are THREE food courts, not one and 3 bus stops, not 1. The shared bus thing is old – they have improved that greatly over the last few years. While we rarely stay at values anymore, the bus thing was not an issue the last time we did.. Each resort has it’s own stop at most places.. and if mid-day when they are empty, they share them – it’s not that big a deal – Even the deluxe resorts do that – Disney is dedicated to being as Green as possible and I applaud them for that!!
My family stayed at Pop in February 2015 and I have to clarify that they DEFINITELY allow groups at Pop. There were hoards of cheerleaders who were loud and rude and, since they travelled in large groups, would take over the food court and bus for long periods! The hotel itself was great and the service from Disney staff was exceptional (as always) but we will not stay at a Value resort again (at least, not during the off season!).
Actually Pop does allow groups. I heard from my friend who was one of the cast members that opened Pop. She still says it’s the best of the value resorts and they try and keep groups to a minimum, but they do happen there.
I did not like the value resorts/pop at all. Too loud, unsupervised kids around the pool at all hours, crowded – if you’ve only seen this as your disney experience, you are missing out. The nicer property hotels are so worth it and maybe I am funny but I like a bed that fits me, not a subfull sized tiny thing. My favs – contemporary and Yacht and Beach club and yes, if I was going to stay on property I would save up for this and have a really nice experience. Or….I would stay offsite at the Hilton or doubletree. Even something lesser offsite is better than the value resorts.
We are on our 5th Disney trip in 3 years. I have to say Pop Century was not my favorite hotel. We stayed there on everyone’s recommendations because it was supposed to be so great and a major perk was the dedicated busses, we just didn’t find that. The front desk staff could use some customer service training and the bus wait was just atrocious, waiting almost an hour in the September heat! It was so terrible that I called Disney directly and they apologized profusely and sent me 8 park tickets for a future use. All Star Movies, I actually liked even with all the cheerleaders. And if you are willing to splurge, the Polynesian is just awesome! There is so much to do there, they have beach parties and movies at night. We are trying Coronado Springs in December, but I am worried it can not match the Polynesian.
we always stay at pop century. we love it i have 4 kiddos and i dont need a highend room when we spend 90% of our time at the parks. we also maximize our vaca budget by purchasing the park hopper and quick service dining. we saved over $600 from the previous year we went by having our food already paid for at a discounted price.
Me and my fiance will be celebrating our honeymoon, and first time ever to disney for both of us march 4-10th at POP!!!! Glad to hear it is FUN!!!! Can’t wait to have the experience!!!
Sadly the days of buses running only to Pop are over in 2012 as the Art of Animation resort will be sharing the same bus service. I’m hoping that our May 2012 trip will happen before the bus perk comes to an end.
Well, we just got back from our 5 night/6 day stay at POP’s (50’s building). We all had a magicial time but I would have to question staying there again. It seemed like all of the bus stops for the POP’s resort were the farest way from the exit at all of the parks and they were also the most crowded… The rooms were ok (considering it was just used to sleep in) but the two bad things I noticed were the walls are very thin… (really thin if there is a crying baby/toddler next to you)… and the door to the bathroom was way to big for the small area (yes, my granddaughter cut toe on it). Pool was very fun…and I would definately get the meal plan for my family again (I did not spend any extra money on food other then once). The workers there are all VERY nice and very helpful. I was not able to make it into the Toy Story 4 show as it was down the day I was there and they had covered the “fastpass” ticket machines the 2nd time and the wait was 2 hours! Hoping for next time…
I would also like to say a very special “thank you” for the great information from your website. It came in very helpful on alot of the things we did!
We stayed at the Pop Resort in March of 2009 and it was great. We also had a room right near the hippy dippy pool and noise was never an issue. It was so nice to be just steps away from the cafeteria so one of us could go and get breakfast while the others got ready.
Is this the only disney resort you have stayed or do you feel it is the best one from staying at a few?
Is this the only resort you stay at every year you go?
Hi Lori..Idk about anyone else, but I’ve stayed at Port Orleans and the All Stars. I MUCH prefer POP b/c of the reasons stated here. Just need a bed, a clean room and a shower so I can’t justify the extra cost of Port Orleans…and buses to the all stars….ouch!
Just wondering, as a Fl. resident who has never stayed in a Disney resort, is there any reason to not encourage people who are saving money to try to stay somewhere off of Disney property cheaper? I always stayed at a cheaper hotel (like a hilton because I get incredible discounts) that either offered transport as well, or that was less than 5 miles from the parks. .
I prefer onsite to off because of the extra magic hours. Also, you don’t have to pay for parking if you would drive to the parks. That alone saves $14/day!
Can’t wait! I just booked our trip yesterday for the week before Christmas and we are staying at Pop!
I’ve stayed @ POP a dozen times since it first opened (Florida resident). Great article on the resort, but I have to disagree with you on one thing: groups. Unless it is a recent rule, I’ve been to POP on 3 occasions when very large groups have been there. Most notorious is the Pop Warner football players and cheerleaders. Not the best time to stay there, I can assure you. Perhaps they are overflow from the All-Stars resorts, but they were there. I felt sorry for anyone facing the pools during that time. Hoards of screaming preteens were everywhere, and not very well supervised either.
I am finally going after 3yrs. I saved enough for 2nt at Pop Century and 1 day at MK. I am trying like crazy to get into The Royal Castle for dinner. My DD is celebrating her 3rd party. I am in the middle of setting up how to surprise my two DS and my DD.She has never been to WDW so I can’t wait to see her face.
BTW if anyone is booking thru Expedia.com they can use code FROST11 to take $10 of their booking.
I’ve stayed at Pop Century twice, and love it. Really like the Food Court. I’ve had a view of Hourglass Lake (requested) both times. Really nice view except for the empty building across the way. It’s nice to walk to Hourglass Lake in the evenings.
We have 4 boys. Could we stay here without having to get 2 rooms?
No, you would have to get 2 rooms. You could however stay here: http://www.mousesavers.com/allstarmusicsuites.html
would it be cheaper to get two rooms at a value resort?
yes!
We are a family of 8. 2 adults and 6 kids. We are staying at POP next week. We get connecting rooms!!
AJ (The Disney Food Blog) just posted this today…
http://www.popcenturysite.com/
Yippee!!!
Wow Theresa, that is terrible!!! I hate that happened to you, but it could happen at any hotel. From what I’ve read in the past year, Disney does not punish guests for disobeying rules, they just move those who are being disturbed by the rule breakers. It sucks.
I once stayed at the All Star Sports resort and yes there were lots of cheerleaders but in this value resort Vince Gill was staying there also. I got to meet him. So nice! His daughter was cheering! He even rode the bus with us to Magic Kingdom and all other parks. So you never know who you will meet at the value resort!
We just recently stayed at Pop Century over Christmas and I hated it!!!! I will probably never stay there again. Maybe it was because we had terrible neighbors. We had an end room on the 3rd floor in the 60’s building. Our neighbor and her teenage daughters would hang out in front of our room and smoke pot, drink beer and throw things at our door. We have a 4 and 7 year old and didn’t want to expose them to this and called the front desk at Pop. Their solution instead of kicking “them” out was to move us to a different floor. So we had to pack our all of our things up and move mid stay. I was NOT happy!!!
Hi! I’m a new follower. I agree with all your comments about Pop Century. Staying at a value resort makes sense to me. Disney is all about the parks. After an entire day of walking and excitement, I don’t care whether my bed is at The Grand Floridian or The Pop Century just as long as there is a BED to collapse on. It did seem though that the beds were not quite fulls…maybe 3/4 beds. They just seemed a little smaller. I would definitely stay there again!
Great info! We stayed at All Star Movies in August. The buses could definitely be an issue. We left Magic Kingdom one night to discover that there was a 2-hour wait for a bus. Disney did respond within 45 minutes with extra buses. But, when it is late and the little ones are exhausted from all that magic, lol…
LOL…perfect timing…..how did you know i was trying to decide whether to stay at pop century or another hotel for vacation :) Thanks for the info.
We love POP! I think we’ve stayed there five or six times now (lost count, but twice just last year) and will be headed back in May. Their Lost & Found is excellent, too. Twice we’ve forgotten silly things in the room and they’ve found & had the item at our door in a couple of days. We’ve stayed in 50s & 60s so far. I have to say, even with a room right on the Hippy Dippy pool, noise was never an issue. It’s a super nice resort!
Pop is our all-time favorite, too! We also love it because of the food court.
The last time, we stayed in the 70’s building facing the lake. It was ultra quiet!
For our trip in November, it’s Pop all the way!
We were at Pop in Oct 2008- Loved it!!! We were in the 70’s building, I found that to be a great location and close to the bus stop and dining.
Confession: When I saw the photos online I thought it was cheesy…but once there it was wonderful and not at all tacky. I would never stay anywhere but on property.