Pop Century v All Star Movies

[garyh]

Hi

After a few opinions on these 2 hotels from people who have stayed at them please.

Being quoted exactly the same price from Newcastle for both resorts, and having trouble picking one!
Reviews on trip advisor suggest Pop Century gets better reviews, but I would rather opinions from real people who have stayed there.

Would be travelling with 2 young children (2 & 4), without car 3rd May 08.

Any opinions / reviews of resorts good or bad would be appreciated

thanks
gary

[crabbie1]

Hi gary
We stayed at POP last november for 8 nights befor we moved onto the CBR.I loved POP and with our daughter who is 4 she loved all the huge icons,pools sPlash fountains etc.The shop here is amazing and was much better than the one at CBR.The bus service was excellent and we never waited more than 5 mins for a bus.It is classed as a value hotel but compare it to uk basic and I would say moderate.It is only a base and the rooms are ample for your needs.A lot of people say pop is too spread out but we stayed in the 90's building which is one of the furthest away and it took no longer than 5 mins slow walk to get to the bus stop and main food area.To me 5-10 mins walk after walking all day round the parks is nothing and it is a pleasurable walk and of course it is disney:love:
I know pop is a newer resort but I wouldn't hesitate to try the all stars either.I know all stars share the buses and they pick up from sports first and I think movies and music are more popular.Either one of these you will have a very colourful and great time.You do tend to loose a bit of the disney theming as you go up the ladder(like the big icons etc.,but you gain in other areas.
Good luck and hope this helps.:thumbsup2

[carolfoy]

I loved the ASMo, we stayed for two weeks in th etoy story section, it was during november, we never had any problem with the busses, never had to wait long and even the drop offs at ASMu and ASSp didn't take long. easy walk to the food court too.
we stayed at POP for one week during september last year and were too far from the food court to just 'pop' in for drinks, it was a heck of a walk back to the room at the end ofthe day, it was also much more crowded than ASMo and the busses were constantly full.

[natalielongstaff]

i think POP is a great hotel :) ive never stayed at any of the AS resorts though so i can't compare the two

[poohmadmum]

We've stayed at ASMu and ASMo but not Pop. We really liked the resorts but especially ASMo where we stayed in the Toy Story building as we requested. Your children should love the resorts with their huge icons and lovely pools. Plenty of photo opportunities around the resorts.

Rooms are basic but fine and clean and usually only used as a sleeping base anyway.

All Stars do share a bus and ASMo is picked up at last. However, we didn't have a problem with the buses. Yes, they are busy at park close etc but sometimes they do put on extra buses for ASMo separately.

Pop is a newer resort but otherwise I think they are very similar. I would go for the resort you like the theme of the best. For young children I would guess ASMo would have the edge.

[paulh]

a thead about pop with pics http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1424996
Paulh

[jen_uk]

Ive stayed at ASMO and Pop and I prefer Pop, you don't have to share buses and its a bit more central to the parks, ASMO is a bit tucked away. :goodvibes

[mom of princess]

Hi

After a few opinions on these 2 hotels from people who have stayed at them please.

Being quoted exactly the same price from Newcastle for both resorts, and having trouble picking one!
Reviews on trip advisor suggest Pop Century gets better reviews, but I would rather opinions from real people who have stayed there.

Would be travelling with 2 young children (2 & 4), without car 3rd May 08.

Any opinions / reviews of resorts good or bad would be appreciated

thanks
gary


If you can wait to book until in August, I can give you an opinion. We are staying at POP for 1st time with 3 year old.
Our last 2 times at WDW we have stayed at ASMovies. It was just my husband and myself then though. We had Toy Story('01) and the Dalmations ('99). We loved it!! Our only problem was that last trip we overlapped with the jumprope competition so there were alot of teenagers running loose, being pains on the bus. The resort had its own bus, no sharing with the other two All Stars. My husband is a high school teacher and he said it was like being at school, not on vacation. Otherwise, the rooms were big enough for us and busing was good. We especially like the fact that we can stay at least one extra night by putting up with the kids. Things will be different for us this time since we are now parents.
I know that all of the hotels decorate with your souveniers but they even used our purchases to decorate our window!! And we were adults!! If you are worried about noise at the Movies, ask for a room facing out - we had a wonderful view of the parking lot where our rental car sat for 8-days!!
Hope this helps!!

[Mrs Stonfiesta]

another vote for the All stars, although we have never stayed at Pop, i would say the rooms are pretty much similar in size etc... so it is probably more down to which theme you would prefer... i suppose Movies is aimed at the younger age group

[Still thinking......]

We stayed at ASMovies in 2001 in the Dalmations block. Dd (8) loved it! The room was standard size and very clean. Nice pool and the buses to the parks were good. Victoria loved the huge icons especially Pongo and Perdita who were just outside our room.

[wils]

We had the choice for our Christmas trip. Was tempted to try POP (we've done ASMo twice) but decided on ASMu as it a smaller resort (we've got 2 little ones) and also as I am sure I'm heard about people taking hours to check in at POP.

Love ASMo we've stayed in Toy Story and Dalmations but Music came in cheaper so we are giving it a go

[PaulaSB12]

We had the choice for our Christmas trip. Was tempted to try POP (we've done ASMo twice) but decided on ASMu as it a smaller resort (we've got 2 little ones) and also as I am sure I'm heard about people taking hours to check in at POP.

Love ASMo we've stayed in Toy Story and Dalmations but Music came in cheaper so we are giving it a go

I went to Pop Century last year (going back in 2008) I arrived in the us at about 3.30pm and got to the hotel and in the room at about 4.40 so an hour and 10 minutes to get through customs,immigration, travel to the hotel and check in.

[mobius]

I just stayed at pop. and the rooms are good, the busses are usually full at park closing, but they usually put another one on right away so no waiting. the theming at pop is excelent. but i haven't done any of the all stars though

[musketeer]

We stayed at the pop last november no problem with the buses one evening we left Magic Kingdom at park closing yes the queue was long but the lady radioed for another bus which was there quickly. no problems with the maids either or the food court didn't find it that busy but it could be different in peak season.
We've never felt so relaxed as we did last year on holiday.

[garyh]

Thanks for all reply's.

After much thought, we've finally decided on All Star Movies, and booked for next May going with Thomson from Newcastle.

Never stayed on site before, always been on I Drive in past, so looking forward to seeing the resort (but not as much as my little girl :) )

Thanks again

Gary