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Pop Century Disney
I've always stayed at moderate resorts and this is my first time I've booked a value resort. What are your thoughts? Is it worth the extra money to upgrade to a moderate? Also, my primary concern is busing. How long did it take you to get to point a to point b? When I stayed at Port Orleans it was taking an hour to get to any park. I've heard the bus system is better for Pop Century but I am worried that it will be overly crowded and won't be worth it. Thoughts?
Re: Pop Century Disney
The resort was huge and we got lost twice in the dark. I also walked to the store for some tums around 6:30 on Friday morning and a rat - not a mouse, a full grown rat - ran across the path right in front of me. I know it's no reflection on the hotel, that there is wilderness around, but it really freaked me out.
There were tour groups and dancers/cheerleaders there. It depends on when you go, but values are known for hosting large groups. It slowed the busses and made the rides close to unbearable. Riiding the buses with teen cheerleaders in the evening was torture. I felt so bad for the parents with sleeping children because these girls were out of control and the adults they were with never once asked them to quiet down. But, the busses were consistent and we never waited more than 20 mins to ride.
I don't think we'll go back to Pop. If its ever just H and I again we will do a mod and if we have our girls we will go back to Art of Animation, which blows Pop out of the water. In this instance, we got what we paid for - a place to shower & sleep on the property.
My sister and I have stayed at Pop Century before but it was way back in 2007 I believe. It was a very nice hotel but crowded as well. We went in March and usually you will get a lot of spring breakers and families with kids who are on break. It is iffy but it just depends. I have not been back since but heard about newer hotels opening up.
My sister and I really liked our room. It was clean but we were hardly in it and were at the parks daily. I think there was a bit of a wait for the buses but probably due to it being a peak time to visit. I have also been there in the summer months and it is worse. I have heard a good time to visit is in September or October. Almost all of the kids will be back in school and parks and hotels will be less crowded.
I have stayed at the All Star Music or Movies Resort before and it was nice as well. There was a very long wait in the mornings to go to the parks. Usually the buses to go to the waterparks were not that busy. It helps to plan ahead I believe. Make a plan of which parks you want to visit. I think the buses were backed up due to certain days and hours for the Extra and Early Hours at the Parks.
Overall, the hotels were both pretty nice. Like I said it has been a long time since I have been to Disney so I am not sure how much it has changed..Good luck with everything!!
we stayed at Pop Century in 2011. It was DH and I with another couple- before kids. We thought it was good... but i think it depends on what you're looking for. If you're planning to be at the parks all day, everyday and just need a place to sleep and shower- its great! BUT if you're planning to have a couple days to just hang out at the resort/in the room then its worth upgrading to a moderate.
we had a regular room with 2 queen beds- it was fine for 2 of us, but would probably be a little cramped with 4 people (especially kids with all their stuff! :-) They have a couple pools that we used a couple times and they were nice. We really liked all of the HUGE figures (Big Wheels, Laptop,Rubix cube) that are all around- it was fun to walk around and check those out!
The food court area made it easy to grab breakfast in the morning before hitting the parks all day. And the buses were fine- they had a seperate one to each park, and we nver waited more than i would say 15/20 minutes. The rides weren't unbreably long either. This was in mid-may, so not really a peak time.
So- overall i would say its not bad- especially if its a quick trip and you'll be out at the parks most of the day anyway.
Pop Century is our favorite value, we spend all of our time at the parks and only use the hotel to sleep so it is not worth it to upgrade to a moderate for us. Most moderate hotel properties are huge and rooms can be far from the main amenities, and have several bus stops (which is nice because your room is always near a bus stop... but it takes longer and you have to keep shuffling around.) Pop Century is not as spread out and only has one bus stop... so you get on the bus and you go directly to the park. I might consider the extra $5/night to go to Art of Animation, although their standard rooms are quite far from the center of the resort... but all my clients that have stayed there said it was worth the little extra distance.
ETA: the moderates and Pop are about the same distance to parks so it will take about as long to get there. People will swear some resorts get better bus service, but i think it all evens out.
For me it's worth the extra $. I always like staying at Port Orleans French Quarter. It's smaller than most of their properties.
I've been twice over Spring Break and Stayed there. I never once had to wait for a bus coming or going. I feel like that's all you do at a value.
My mom and I took a girls' trip to WDW in October 2010 and stayed at Pop. We had a great trip. Our room was clean and perfect for us. We were barely in the room anyway because we were usually at the parks all day long.
One complaint we had was the bus service - it took forever for us to get anywhere. One night we were leaving one of the parks (Hollywood Studios, I believe) and it took almost an hour for a bus to come pick us up. It was late at night, babies and younger kids were crying, hungry, tired... I felt so bad for them and their parents. There were buses for a ton of the other resorts coming to get them the whole time we waited.
We actually prefer the Pop century to any of the moderates. However, pay extra for a preferred room, it's worth it.
I have stayed in preferred rooms at PO and CB and still felt so far from everything. The multiple bus stops and chaos trying to just get on the bus since there were no true lines at the bus stops made us actually take our car to the parks. Never waited more than 10 mins for a bus at Pop and the trips were quick since they only make one stop and don't share the buses with another resort (athough, they might share with AoA now, not sure)
Also, it doesn't feel as crowded as the moderates do. Anyway, that's been our experience.
FYI, Pop & AoA have separate busses.
I would suggest checking some of the Disney blogs/sites, but I would not upgrade. I have been at least 8 times in the last 10 years and would only upgrade if I was doing it to be on the monorail line. With kids that is a luxury i would appreciate. All the resorts are a bit cheesy for my taste. I will say that some of the renovations to the rooms at Coronado are really nice, but it has a conference center so that may add to the crowd factor.
I would just be certain to call and make any special request for the room. Sometimes adding that online does not have the same impact- not sure why, but that has been my experience.
We loved pop century and would stay there again- can't beat the price.
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