Sports/music versus pop

Izzy4672

Earning My Ears
Joined
Oct 18, 2019
We currently have a reservation at pop century. Considering switching to music/sports as it is $200 cheaper. Planning to be at parks most of the days. Booked pop century because of Skyliner and renovated rooms. But I’ve read on these forums that the pop rooms are loud and the main pool is being refurbished.

I would prefer pop century, but don’t know if it’s worth the extra money. What would you do?
 
I'd do Pop. Sports and Music are in pretty desperate need of refurb and the rooms at Pop are so nice now. And Pop has the Skyliner and a more central location.
 
We just stayed at Music and stayed at POP on our last family trip down. Other than the lack of Skyliner I can't say I felt a huge difference between POP and Music. Room size was the same, and Music is currently in the process of getting the same renovation as POP. If anything, I felt like we had more bus options with Music (Because during the busy times you can take ANY All star bus and it's a pretty easy walk to any other All Star resort).

RE: Noise, depending on when you go (if there's a big cheer/gymnastics/dance event going on) you'll get noise at ANY of the value resorts since that's the most common place for those groups to book blocks. We went late September and end of August, and while neither resort was "quiet", we never experienced an issue with outrageous noise.

IMO if I had the chance to save some $$ by switching to an All Star, I would.
 
And,as we have already seen,there is no guarantee Skyliner will be up during your trip.
 


I'd stay at POP for the renovated rooms alone. It's loud at all the values IMO so I wouldn't use that to sway a decision.
 
I like the choices at the All-Stars. 3 bus stop, 3 food courts, 6 pools. Depending on your room location, you can choose buses at 2 resorts. We stayed at Mighty Ducks at Movies and we were closer to the Music Bus Stop and food court, so generally used that one. The parking lots are all one giant snaking lot. You are most likely to get on the first bus at an All-Star since there are about 700 less rooms than Pop. Same with the wait at the food court.

Your amenities are the same type and the rooms are the same size. Movies was remodeled within the last couple of years, not sure about Sports. Music is starting now.
 
I'd do Pop. Sports and Music are in pretty desperate need of refurb and the rooms at Pop are so nice now. And Pop has the Skyliner and a more central location.
Exactly this! Keep pop! Pop is renovated and very nice. Love their new rooms. Very clean and modern.
And im sorry but there is no way in heck the other values (such as sports/music) are any quieter than Pop. Lol. No way. So i wouldnt let that sway your decision at all. Since Pop has reno'd rooms and the sky liner, i'd go with pop. Oh, not to mention the pretty lake. I always get a lakeview room. Such a nice quiet serene view. :)

If you really want the $200 and feel strongly on switching, i'd definitely pick sports over music. The layout is better, more compact. So it wont take you long to get to your room. Plus if the buses do share, sports is picked up and dropped off first. I hate the layout of music. Very narrow. So if youre not preferred, it'll take forever to get to your room. Plus that resort looks more dated. The main pool theme at sports is much nicer with the boardwalk and huge surf boards.
 


RE choices: I think the menu is the same for all 3 All Stars food courts, at least that is what I concluded for several stays there over the past 20 years..
 
RE choices: I think the menu is the same for all 3 All Stars food courts, at least that is what I concluded for several stays there over the past 20 years..

Possibly all the basics. Movies has a secret menu.

The layout of Music is not that bad. I would guess the fuethest room atMusic is closer to the bus than the furthest room at Pop.

It's all personal preference. No right or wrong answer.
 
RE choices: I think the menu is the same for all 3 All Stars food courts, at least that is what I concluded for several stays there over the past 20 years..
No, there are definitely differences. They do have soms foods in common, but also some unique to each resort.
 
Pop is in a much better location with regard to the amount of time you'll spend on the buses/Skyliner - Pop is closer to all of the parks except Animal Kingdom, and also quite a bit closer to Disney Springs.
 
Having multiple stays in each of the values, _I_ give and edge to All Stars. Music is my personal fave. I'm scratching my head at PPer who said "badly in need of rehab"??? I was at Music in May and Sports in August and honestly, they were both FINE.
At ANY of the values you want to ask for TOP floor LANDSCAPE view to aim for the quietest rooms.
 
I have stayed at Pop and Sports in the last 8 months and for our next stay in February we picked Music. Our stay in April at Pop was the worst experience we have had on Disney property. We generally switch it up between the levels of resorts and like to try different ones. Comparing All Stars to Pop. We found bus service was better at all stars, shared a bus once in a week. At pop the line ups were long and often did not get on the first bus. Twice took Lyft instead of waiting. Plus often took bys to AOA and walked nbacki at the end of the night. The distance may be a bit further to some parks but by minutes. I liked being able to walk to AOA from Pop and I enjoy their food and gift shop.

Our room at ASP was actually cleaner and in better condition than my MIL at Pop which was renovated. (the shower head actually fell off and hit her in the head, we all heard her yell as the bathroom door didn't shut properly. Maintenance took their time with the issue. Housekeeping got a piece of clothing caught in the shower track that was drying and they left it their for us to discover, the item was ruined. Found the cast members at All Stars beyond helpful and friendly compared to Pop.

No one in our party will stay at Pop again, I know that their is a serious fan base for it but we are not in it.
 
WE have had generally good experiences at all the value resorts. I slightly prefer POP, but they may change now with the Skyliner. IDK as I haven't stayed there yet since the Skyliner has started. I don't see any reason for it not to be a positive though, even if we don't ride it, as others will likely do so.

If the $$ saved will help the budget, I would happily stay in any All Star Resort. ASSp is the most convenient, IMO, and we like the layout. ASMu is pretty, but we generally try to stay in a preferred room there - which would probably negate your savings.

Good luck choosing!
 
When is your trip? Music is currently going through a refurb right now so depending on when you go, you should hedge your bets on getting a renovated room if that's important to you. This a resort where getting a preferred room is a must either way.

I guess it comes down to whether or not you really want to use the Skyliner.
 
We had our worst stay at a value at Pop. Mainly because of the other guests being loud and letting their kids run around the resort unsupervised. We actually saw a room with its door open where the adults might have had a keg...as they were all enjoying drinks in red solo cups...We also saw two cars get bumped in the parking lot and the culprit just left. There was also trash in the stairwells. I feel like there were lots of baseball teams when we were there and the CMs just couldn't keep up with it all.

On the other hand, we have had great stays at ASMo and ASMu. We are going back to ASMo this January. To save the money I would go to an All-Star. The skyliner scares me so that wouldn't even entice me to pay extra to have it go to my resort. You can always take a ride on it, even if it doesn't go directly to your resort.
 
We’ve only stayed at Pop in the value category. We enjoyed it and thought the bus line ropes helped the pandemonium of getting on. We liked the room and the decor. Would definitely stay again if going value.
But we did see numerous rooms with open doors and people sitting outside with their red solo cups. Just assumed it was a thing there. They had their coolers pulled outside too. Didn’t bother me as they were friendly.
 
I'd do All Stars. I've stayed at Pop, Sports and Movies and frankly a value resort is a value resort as far as we were concerned. We just go with whichever one is less, especially if all you are doing is sleeping there.
 
Having multiple stays in each of the values, _I_ give and edge to All Stars. Music is my personal fave. I'm scratching my head at PPer who said "badly in need of rehab"??? I was at Music in May and Sports in August and honestly, they were both FINE.
At ANY of the values you want to ask for TOP floor LANDSCAPE view to aim for the quietest rooms.

That was me. We were at Movies just before it was refurbed and the room was just plain shabby. The electrical sockets were so worn out that nothing would stay plugged in. Thankfully we were only there one night. I haven't been to Sports since 2009, but it felt a bit worn down even then.
 

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