An All Star resort or POP?

[AnnaGiselle]

I'm planning my bachelorette party trip to WDW in late January. Yay! We definitely want to aim for one of the value resorts. I was thinking POP since I haven't been there, but I read in the resort thread that the buses only come on in as needed basis. Does this have an affect on how long it takes to get to the parks?

Also, just in general, which of the value resorts would you all recommend? I wish I could do Art of Animation, but it's just not as "value" as the others, and I'm trying to remain cost conscious for the whole party.

 

[WEDWDW]

POP's buses run regularly to all Parks(about every 20 minutes).

I would go with POP-it has a Lake and awesome background music(at the resort and on the buses).

 

[POOHsie]

I'd pick Pop, too. Then you have 2 food courts to choose from (AoA + Pop). Plus, Pop's gift shop is much bigger, more selections than any of the All Star shops. My personal beef with All Stars is no espresso machines. Pop has espresso service. Yay!

At Pop, if you ask for lake view you aren't paying preferred price. All preferred rooms face the main pool or are closest to the main bldg. I'd choose Bldg 4, 5 or 6 lake view standard.

Buses at Pop run on the same schedule as any other resort. At POR, I've seen transportation CMs at the Bus Depot during high crowd times, managing bus demand. Maybe Pop does that, too. Otherwise, a bus driver arriving at Pop might radio a supervisor that the MK bus line is long and requires an additional bus (for example). But I don't know of regular resort-to-park buses being on an as-needed basis. If you happen to be at AoA for a meal, you can take a park bus from there as well.

Preferred rooms marked by yellow lines.

 

[HopperFan]

POP and the buses there run great! I've never waited long for one and I've stayed 16 times.

 

[hskaggs11]

We stayed at POP last year and never had an issue with buses from POP to where we wanted to go, one was there within 15mins. It is crowded coming back from parks around closing, but that's with most resort lines, not just POP. What I LOVED about POP was that we didn't have to stop at two other resorts before getting to ours VS when we stated at an All Stars the year prior, since all three All Stars do bus share. One night, there was a particularly LONG line at POP but a much shorter line at AOA. We got the AOA bus then walked through to the lake bridge and got back to POP that way. It was nice, and we got to see AOA that way Very pleasant walk at night. And, I liked the theming at POP, especially the 80's stuff since that's when I grew up. I stated at All Star Sports the year before, and I liked POP over it. I do think All Star Movies might be cute as well.