All Star Movies vs. Pop

[Megan12]

I've only ever stayed at Pop. Planning a trip and All-Star Movies is $50/night less than Pop. So, my question is, are all of the various advantages of Pop, including the Skyliner, worth $50/night? We plan on leaving very early in the morning most days, so I suspect we'd be taking buses anyway that early. But the fun of hopping on a Skyliner at the International Gateway and flying home sounds amazing.

For what it's worth, this is a 5-night trip so it's $250 we're taking about!

 

[CastAStone]

To me, no. Movies is fully renovated with basically the exact same rooms as Pop. To me the only advantage of Pop is the Skyliner, and that goes to the 2 parks I am likely to spend the least time at on my trips. Some people say the crowd at Pop is (slightly) quieter as well. But I'd keep the $250.

But that's just my opinion!

 

[Moliphino]

I'd still go with Pop. It's more centrally located, so most bus rides are shorter. The skyliner is great. We only got to use it one day last trip (we left on opening day), but I'm really excited to get to use it more often next time.

 

[loves to dive]

I'd say no. The skyliner isn't totally reliable yet and the bus from Pop to those parks only runs one per hour. I've stayed at all three all stars and pop and the noise level seems the same to me. When staying at the value resorts, I book whichever one is less

 

[KayaWildfire]

Unless you are planning on ending the majority of your days at HS or Epcot, no it is not worth it. We stayed at AoA over Christmas for a short stay primarily to try the Skyliner, after staying for the previous week at All Star Music. It was awesome having the Skyliner, but what we gave up in bus service to the other two parks just was not worth it.

 

[goofyintoronto]

To me, no. Movies is fully renovated with basically the exact same rooms as Pop. To me the only advantage of Pop is the Skyliner, and that goes to the 2 parks I am likely to spend the least time at on my trips. Some people say the crowd at Pop is (slightly) quieter as well. But I'd keep the $250.

But that's just my opinion!

Good point here! It all depends on which parks you know you'll be spending more time in. For example, I love going to Food & Wine at epcot, so i'd benefit greatly with the skyliner. For those who dont like HS or Epcot, staying at Pop might feel like a waste of money. Still for me, $250 is a lot of money! I'd be more inclined to keep the $250 and stay at Movies. As stated, the rooms are almost identical since they're both renovated.

I'd still go with Pop. It's more centrally located, so most bus rides are shorter. The skyliner is great. We only got to use it one day last trip (we left on opening day), but I'm really excited to get to use it more often next time.

Meh, not that much shorter tbh. Not enough to notice a major difference anyway.

 

[GoofysGal67]

Just got back from a four day trip where we used the Skyliner a lot. (Stayed at AoA) It's definitely a fun perk. It does have issues now and again, so it's not perfect, but it was really a nice change from taking the bus!

Pop is my usual go to resort. I hadn't realized that ASMo has similar rooms now, might have to give it a try in the future. (Stayed there a loooong time ago and loved the theming.) Personally, I would probably choose to stay at Pop and not think about the extra money because I enjoy it there. But...you don't have to be staying at a hotel to try out the Skyliner. Maybe it would be worth it to save the money and just ride it first to see if you even like it. It's easy to catch from HS or Epcot and hop between those parks.

IF you're interested in timing - from my door at AoA (we were in the farthest room from the Skyliner!) to tapping through the front gate at HS - it took just about twenty minutes (at around 8:45am - we had breakfast reservations so we weren't in the morning rush that day), even with having to switch lines at the CBR station. That's with everything running smoothly. It's a relaxing way to travel and if it's not insanely busy, the CMs usually give you your own gondola. (we were only two and had one to ourselves several times ) Oh, and if it breaks down, they run extra buses at the resort.

 

[brockash]

I've only ever stayed at Pop. Planning a trip and All-Star Movies is $50/night less than Pop. So, my question is, are all of the various advantages of Pop, including the Skyliner, worth $50/night? We plan on leaving very early in the morning most days, so I suspect we'd be taking buses anyway that early. But the fun of hopping on a Skyliner at the International Gateway and flying home sounds amazing.

For what it's worth, this is a 5-night trip so it's $250 we're taking about!

Honestly, we prefer Movies over Pop anyways, so it def. wouldn't be worth it to us.

 

[MrsDuck]

Nope. Movies has the upper hand for us. Even with the Skyliner.

 

[tguz]

I love both resorts and if the price was closer to being the same, I would stay at Pop. But, $50/night is a pretty good savings which with newly renovated Movies rooms.....would make me choose Movies. We never had any noise issue at either place so that is a non issue. We did like to food court at Movies better but Pop has the Skyliner. To remedy my Skyliner fix, we would treat it like the Monorail....hop aboard and take it for a ride.

 

[Lindsey17]

I would still go with Pop. Although it was Music and not Movies we stayed at recently I did not think their bus service was very good. Even though our resort bus stops were busy in the mornings and would warrant their own bus we still wound up sharing with the other All Stars and there seemed to be a longer period of time in between buses than with Pop. Now granted that literally could have just been a lucky timing thing on our part with Pop, but for it to seem like everyday I don't think so.

Yes the skyliner is breaking down on occasion and they may not be the parks you're going to a ton, but I also like the idea that if I'm having a resort day I can hop on the skyliner and try to eat at CBR, Riv, or even the Epoct resorts without a ton of hassle.

 

[WEDWDW]

Yes the skyliner is breaking down on occasion

But I like my odds-we took 26 Flights last week on all 3 lines without even a hint of a problem.

Disney Skyliner equals GAME CHANGER!

 

[CastAStone]

I would still go with Pop. Although it was Music and not Movies we stayed at recently I did not think their bus service was very good. Even though our resort bus stops were busy in the mornings and would warrant their own bus we still wound up sharing with the other All Stars and there seemed to be a longer period of time in between buses than with Pop. Now granted that literally could have just been a lucky timing thing on our part with Pop, but for it to seem like everyday I don't think so.

Yes the skyliner is breaking down on occasion and they may not be the parks you're going to a ton, but I also like the idea that if I'm having a resort day I can hop on the skyliner and try to eat at CBR, Riv, or even the Epoct resorts without a ton of hassle.

How long ago and what time of day were you sharing buses? It’s been a while since someone reported All Star bus sharing on the Dis and I’m curious to hear the details of when they’re still doing it or if they’ve increased it.

 

[Lindsey17]

How long ago and what time of day were you sharing buses? It’s been a while since someone reported All Star bus sharing on the Dis and I’m curious to hear the details of when they’re still doing it or if they’ve increased it.

It was back in August. I was surprised as well because I was a little nervous about it, but everyone said it's not done any more and lo and behold it still was. It was more going to the parks in the morning, but still prime time I think for everyone trying to make rope drop. I would completely understand if it was the afternoon sharing buses as they don't fill up as quickly.

I will say that even though they share it was nice to have 3 bus lines to choose at the end of the night. If ours seemed like we would never get on the 1st bus then we would gauge the other lines and walk over to Music.

 

[Lindsey17]

But I like my odds-we took 26 Flights last week on all 3 lines without even a hint of a problem.

Disney Skyliner equals GAME CHANGER!

Yeah I don't think that would deter me away either. You take the same risk getting on an attraction.

 

[CastAStone]

It was back in August. I was surprised as well because I was a little nervous about it, but everyone said it's not done any more and lo and behold it still was. It was more going to the parks in the morning, but still prime time I think for everyone trying to make rope drop. I would completely understand if it was the afternoon sharing buses as they don't fill up as quickly.

I will say that even though they share it was nice to have 3 bus lines to choose at the end of the night. If ours seemed like we would never get on the 1st bus then we would gauge the other lines and walk over to Music.

Huh. What a bummer! I‘d love to understand how Disney makes those decisions because ensuring All Star guests don’t have a WDW-based reason to rent a car just makes a day trip to Universal that much more expensive, and captures more of your food dollars at Disney. I’d think they’d want the best bus service possible.

 

[scrappinginontario]

I asked myself the same question as that's quite a lot of $$ to save. For our September trip we're booked at Pop. I'll reevaluate after that to see if I feel Pop is worth the additional $$.

I'm pretty sure if I can find it in the budget, we'll continue to stay at Pop but am willing to consider other options.

 

[Megan12]

Thanks everyone! I've decided to stick with Movies, but I will post my thoughts after our April trip! We do plan on spending most of our time at HS and EPCOT, so that return home skyliner trip was appealing. But it's a lot of money. I feel like I can justify some other extra thing (a character meal or a ticketed event, etc.) by doing it this way.

 

[Disneyfan754321]

You could do this all day... there is always a resort that is just a few more dollars. I think it comes down to how much time you spend in your room. We love AS hotels the money difference is like a free upgrade- food, photopass, minnie vans what ever you like.
Have fun looking forward to your review.

 

[Arthur2990]

Thanks everyone! I've decided to stick with Movies, but I will post my thoughts after our April trip! We do plan on spending most of our time at HS and EPCOT, so that return home skyliner trip was appealing. But it's a lot of money. I feel like I can justify some other extra thing (a character meal or a ticketed event, etc.) by doing it this way.

The absolute worst case is if you don't want to take the bus one way or the other you can take the savings and put it toward a Lyft/Uber.