First time staying value... Pop Century?

[ADisnerdsLifeForMe]

Good morning, folks! We are currently booked in a preferred pool view room at Pop Century in May & are generally very excited! I stayed here long before I had kids, which was also long before the room renovations. LOL. So it's basically going to be brand-new to us! During our most recent trip to WDW, we stayed club level at Poly for the week. We enjoyed ourselves, but it wasn't really "us". We hopped over to Pop to try out there QS and actually liked it way more than we liked Capt. Cook's, too!

Anyhow, we typically stay at a deluxe resort and I'm a little worried that we won't be happy going to a value. Last year, we did Yacht Club, Animal Kingdom Lodge, and Wilderness Lodge. We actually also stayed at CBR, too, once - last year, as well. My kiddos are still young enough that the theme of the resort is really appealing, we loved the QS, and of course the price point is DEFINITELY far better at Pop! We will miss the splash pads and waterslides and even boat/monorail to MK, but the savings was too good to pass up!

Has anyone else here done this as well - typically stayed deluxe and then gone to Pop? I know my concerns are really unfounded and we'll be totally fine - it's just a big change for us! As long as it's clean & our family enjoys our vacation, that's what matters.

Having said that, tell me your favorite things about Pop Century. Any issues with outside noise at all or mouse keeping?

 

[igrsod]

My kids loved POP when they were little. We had no issues when we stayed there.. loved the QS options (which as you know are less desirable at most Deluxe resorts), the buses were always well timed, didn't notice any trouble with noise or mouse keeping. The pool was fun with the squirting flowers, and staying in preferred is nice as you will be close to all the action. I think your family will love it.. it's Disney... and you'll have less guilt with all the money you are saving. ENJOY!!!!

 

[Ross Kratter]

Pop will have a Skyliner station, so that's a nice alternative to the buses, at least for DHS and Epcot. The Skyliner opens September 29th of this year.

 

[tguz]

We love the POP and have stayed there this Summer and last. We have had no issues with noise or mousekeeping. The skyliner is a big bonus and I wished it was running when we were there. We did get to see it running but it was just testing. We only ate there once, breakfast on our check out day and it was good.

 

[CinderellaDream]

We're also a mostly Deluxe family (have stayed at CR, GF, Poly, BW, AKL) and always steered clear of the values because of the double beds. One night in AsMu was enough for me to swear off values several years back. However, this past spring we gave Pop a try for one night pre-cruise and were pleasantly surprised at how much we liked the new rooms and bigger beds. We are returning to Pop in November if that tells you anything! For longer stays I would probably still want to go deluxe but for a quick trip with a heavy parks focus I find that Pop is a great option!

 

[sponica]

I've never stayed deluxe, but my first on site stays were at Pop, so I'm sentimental about the hotel. I don't remember it being loud, but I have nightmares from the disco music in the 70s courtyard.

If I'm doing a parks heavy trip (open to close, no time at resort, just need to sleep/shower), then I'm perfectly happy staying at Pop Century.

 

[LizGirl]

The only thing that started steering us to moderates was that I got tired of sharing a small double bed with my husband! Now that Pop has regular queens, we are giving it another try. We enjoy the food court and the simplicity of staying there. The deluxe resorts are wonderful but it's hard for us to justify the price point. So we stay value or moderate and go more often!

 

[WelshMorgan92]

me and the wife swear by Pop since the renovations and along with the new skyliner it will only get better! if you get the right block you have the choice of two food courts (AoA and Pop) which is great!

 

[Disneylvr1971]

We are DVC and stay Deluxe every year, but when paying out of pocket, we do the values and have no problem with them. Just like you stated, the savings is worth it. Our favorite is also POP, stayed there last year and again this Sept. Have a great time!

 

[honeymo78]

I’m a former DVC owner (usually 1br or larger) that is now a PoP convert. The room renovations really did it for me, between the larger beds and upgraded/updated bathrooms. I do miss MK view and Boardwalk balconies along with short walks to the parks. However we do book preferred pool view and request first floor and there are tables just steps away from out door so it almost feels like a balcony. And with the skyliner opening soon, there will be another fun mode of transportation (not that we’ve had issues at PoP). If I had plenty of money, of course I’d stay deluxe (or buy DVC again), but staying at PoP let’s me visit for nearly 3 weeks over the course of a year rather than just one week. We had talked about possibly moving to a moderate next year for my mom’s 70th birthday trip but we all realized that we actually really enjoy staying at PoP.

 

[SaintsManiac]

Here's a look at how we've gone the last 2 years:

Beach Club
Pop
Contemporary
Pop
Animal Kingdom Lodge
Pop


We love Pop. When we do a longer trip and want resort time we've gone deluxe and ONLY because we got great rates. 4-5 nights we do Pop.

 

[supitscarrie]

I prefer the moderates overall, but I swear by Pop, especially since the renovations. I would say the renovated rooms "feel" more like a moderate due to the bigger beds and overall vibe of the room (even though they haven't been made any bigger). I'll be back at Pop for five nights in less than a month now, actually!

A quick list of what I really enjoy about the resort:
-Price point - I don't think you can beat the actual value you get by staying at Pop when compared to the other values, especially. Since the room renovation the room feels much more like a resort room, and getting all of the onsite benefits like MDE and booking windows is fabulous.
-Transportation - I've never had problems with the Pop buses running late, and I like the way that there's just one stop for the resort at large that's queued into a proper line (rather than having multiple stops around a moderate where there's no real organization)
-Overall theming - Maybe I'm just nostalgic for some stuff, but I love the larger-than-life icons seen around the resort. Obviously this isn't for everyone, but it feels very Disney compared to the more subdued theming of the moderates/deluxes
-Food court - I mean, it's a food court. I wouldn't say there's anything special about it, but it's well-organized and even at its busiest things don't feel like they're running out of stock, and the checkout lines move quickly. Quality of food is usually solid and there's generally a good variety for even the pickiest kids to choose from.

If you're a fan of resort pools, I think you'll enjoy the Hippie Dippie Pool, which is the center/feature pool. It's got cute little fountains and whatnot, and they play a lot of fun games for the kids around the pool throughout the day.
As far as the noise? That'll depend on how cool your neighbors are at the resort. I think people on these boards generally say that if you want less noise, request an upper floor - but I've stayed on the ground floor and never had a problem, and I've heard noise from the upper floor. So basically - your mileage may vary.

 

[NavyDad]

Good morning, folks! We are currently booked in a preferred pool view room at Pop Century in May & are generally very excited! I stayed here long before I had kids, which was also long before the room renovations. LOL. So it's basically going to be brand-new to us! During our most recent trip to WDW, we stayed club level at Poly for the week. We enjoyed ourselves, but it wasn't really "us". We hopped over to Pop to try out there QS and actually liked it way more than we liked Capt. Cook's, too!

Anyhow, we typically stay at a deluxe resort and I'm a little worried that we won't be happy going to a value. Last year, we did Yacht Club, Animal Kingdom Lodge, and Wilderness Lodge. We actually also stayed at CBR, too, once - last year, as well. My kiddos are still young enough that the theme of the resort is really appealing, we loved the QS, and of course the price point is DEFINITELY far better at Pop! We will miss the splash pads and waterslides and even boat/monorail to MK, but the savings was too good to pass up!

Has anyone else here done this as well - typically stayed deluxe and then gone to Pop? I know my concerns are really unfounded and we'll be totally fine - it's just a big change for us! As long as it's clean & our family enjoys our vacation, that's what matters.

Having said that, tell me your favorite things about Pop Century. Any issues with outside noise at all or mouse keeping?

I have said the same thing in a few other threads but here goes: We have stayed multiple times at every level of resort at WDW and still find Pop to be one of our absolute favorite resorts and the absolute best bang for your buck of any WDW resort.

One of our favorite things is the over the top theming. My wife and I are children of the 80's with a love of everything 50's and 60's. The characters and theming are just awesome for us and we like to take a walk around the resort each trip to enjoy it all.

Another favorite part for us is the fact that we can walk across the bridge to AoA and enjoy their food court (a little better than Pop in our opinion) and all of their awesome theming. The two resorts are basically sister resorts. You can pay way less at Pop and enjoy most of the accommodations at AoA at the same time.

You will see many people complain about noise at values but we always request lake view 50's and our room is super quiet with nice views across the lake. I see that you have a preferred room which you may decide to keep. We never go proffered because they are actually not that much closer to the main building but tend to be in a much noisier area of the resort (close to main pool area). If you get a room on the back side of 50's or 70's you may only have 2-3 minutes more walking but be in a MUCH quieter location.

The new rooms are super nice. Feel to us like they are easier to keep clean. Smaller than deluxe rooms but laid out very efficiently. Pop rooms feel much more light and airy than our worn out room looked and felt at Beach Club.

My wife and I like to visit a few really nice TS places per trip but for our resort we find the food courts at Pop and AoA to be much more convenient than the quick options we had at any of our deluxe stay. Many more quick options than the small marketplaces at Beach Club and Grand Floridian for sure. We really like being able to grab a quick and cheap meal at our resort whenever we want. The food court at Pop is good but like I said we REALLY love the food court at AoA which is a quick walk across the bridge.

The pools are certainly much nicer at the deluxe resorts but our 3 kids have always loved the Hippy Dippy pool at Pop. The atmosphere there with 60's music feels much more like a party for us. Where the Grand Floridian pool area felt more like a nice country club, the main pool area at Pop feels like 60's themed pool party in your neighborhood.

 

[ADisnerdsLifeForMe]

Thanks for all the excellent advice, everyone. This definitely eases my mind! Do you guys think preferred pool view is the way to go as far as rooms? My husband is a disabled veteran and we really just wanted to be as close to the food court, lobby, bus stop, and even the skyliner as possible. So I feel like we picked a good room type?!

 

[supitscarrie]

Thanks for all the excellent advice, everyone. This definitely eases my mind! Do you guys think preferred pool view is the way to go as far as rooms? My husband is a disabled veteran and we really just wanted to be as close to the food court, lobby, bus stop, and even the skyliner as possible. So I feel like we picked a good room type?!

Preferred Pool booking will place you smack dab in the middle of the 1960s section, which will be close to the main hall (food court/shopping), bus stops, skyliner, etc. Because you'll be right on the main feature pool you will run the risk of it being noisier during the day, so keep that in mind if you're the kind of folks to take midday naps during time spent at WDW. You may also be able to request a ground floor room if he has trouble with stairs, but I've also never had any issues with the elevators at Pop.

 

[NavyDad]

Thanks for all the excellent advice, everyone. This definitely eases my mind! Do you guys think preferred pool view is the way to go as far as rooms? My husband is a disabled veteran and we really just wanted to be as close to the food court, lobby, bus stop, and even the skyliner as possible. So I feel like we picked a good room type?!

If you want to be close as possible then preferred is the way to go for sure - so if that is your main concern you picked the perfect category. If you are worried about noise though, the preferred rooms are often the very nosiest by far - because they are in the middle of all of the action. If you want to avoid noise a standard room in 50's or 70's is the way to go and its not really that much farther to the main building but might be even more convenient to the skyline and bridge.

Honestly you can't grow wrong with any building at Pop. In your circumstances you would probably just want to avoid the 80's / 90's area.

 

[Mome Rath]

As others have mentioned, there's preferred, and then there's preferred pool view. If you want as close to the pools as possible, then go with preferred pool (those are also close to the other main areas as well), if you want to be near the main areas, but don't mind a short walk to the pool, then just do preferred. I avoid pool views because I do find it a bit more noisy and chaotic at certain times. If I were you guys, I'd just look at a map and pick that way.

As to what I like about Pop; love the lake, and walking around it, and access to AoA. Now we'll have the skyliner along with the buses (to me, Pop has a great track record with buses). Lots to choose from in the food court. Lots of excitement and energy at Pop (esp. with the music).

 

[tnolan]

We enjoy everything about the Pop, they are even better since the renovations! You will have a good time staying there.

 

[Disneypro1]

POP is great..We also love Music at the all stars. The value resorts are just unbeatable. For the price and all. Great resorts.
Bus system great at any of the values. We always use Disney transport.

 

[ADisnerdsLifeForMe]

We just happened to notice that we could also stay at French Quarter for about $300 more total for the week. Would you guys to suggest switching there, or stick with Pop?