We stayed at Pop this past weekend and despite it being January, people were in the pool area fairly late.
We were in the '50s building on the very end. I didn't think it was a terribly long walk to the food court. I think the '50s non-preferred rooms are closer than the '80s and '90s non-preferred rooms. Our '50s building was very quiet and I enjoyed it very much.
If you're going in non-winter months, I can only imagine how loud and crowded that pool would be. I would recommend getting a room in the '50s area. The "preferred" part of the '50s section is pretty close to the food court and like I said, I didn't find the "non-preferred" section to be a terrible walk. This area also has its own pool, but it wasn't ever as "hoppin" as the main pool when we were there.