All Stars Movies or Pop Century

[TexasTSL]

We have stayed at Pop Century twice before and loved it. This year it will just be myself and DS9. I booked at All Stars Movies to try something new and also because it saves us about $350. Now I am having second thoughts due to transportation mostly. Opinions on whether the gondola system and dedicated buses at Pop are worth the extra money. Also, is there anything else anyone feels is better/worse at one resort vs. the other. Thanks!

 

[SarahC97]

I just stayed at All Star Movies last week and I have to say that they shared buses more than I remembered between the 3 AS resorts. I honestly think that with the addition of the skyliner that Pop is overall a better resort for transportation.

 

[rosenthalmary1371]

I stayed at All Star Movies in early November 2019 in a refurbished room and it was great! I honestly thought the buses there were not bad. What time of year are you going? If it is going to be a busy season, that would sway me over to recommending Pop Century. Just as a FYI, I believe as a result of the skyliner being in place they are decreasing the number of buses running to Epcot and HS. Just in case you or your Son were planning on using both the buses and skyliner to those parks.

 

[mom to minnie&mickey]

The rooms are exactly the same and $350 is a lot of money. Also, keep in mind that because of the skyliner Pop has really cut back on the buses to Epcot/HS to once per hour. MK and AK do not have the gondolas so it all comes down to which parks you will frequent the most and how much use you feel you will get out of the gondolas. We have stayed at POP 5 times over the years but now the price there resembles more a moderate hotel so we stick with the All Stars. They sometimes share buses during the day but not early morning or at park closing.

 

[SarahC97]

The rooms are exactly the same and $350 is a lot of money. Also, keep in mind that because of the skyliner Pop has really cut back on the buses to Epcot/HS to once per hour. MK and AK do not have the gondolas so it all comes down to which parks you will frequent the most and how much use you feel you will get out of the gondolas. We have stayed at POP 5 times over the years but now the price there resembles more a moderate hotel so we stick with the All Stars. They sometimes share buses during the day but not early morning or at park closing.

I was just there (AS Movies) last week and buses were shared at park closing, which was very surprising to me. It's not been this way during previous stays -- maybe it was a fluke, but it was not a great situation.

 

[ClapYourHands]

The skyliner will only help with transportation to Epcot and HS. You'll still be boarding buses for MK and AK, but you'll be paying the Pop upcharge for days you're not using the skyliner.

Plus, $350 can pay for a LOT of rides with Uber/Lyft, if you really don't want to wait for a bus. You could even splurge on a Minnie Van or two and still come out ahead.

 

[Nick6300]

Many people like Movies the best of the Allstars for its theming, and because the refurb is completely done there. I personally always pick Sports, strictly because of the shared busing, and Sports people get picked up first and dropped off first if you're in a shared bus. It happens a fraction of the time, but especially in the am for RD, when there were only a few people in line, you sometimes end up going to the other 2 resorts to pick up more guests and you're not at the park as early as you hoped. But Sports can be loud and busy during Pop Warner in early Dec and the various cheer competitions - more so than the other Values.

We used to go to Pop a lot more, and less often now because the price difference between the AllStars are widening. But the transportation would be the advantage for the extra cost at Pop. The dining is a bit more popular there too over the Allstars, can also walk to AoA, Flavor of colors.

We found some discounted Pop rooms for this Sept, that we haven't booked yet on other travel sites that were only $10 more per night. I think the lowest I've seen were $145+ tax/night, but for sites like Orbitz/Travelocity you can get an extra 15% off your 1st booking via the app. Allstars were like $129 and up. For us, if only $15 more/night, I'd consider Pop. For $350, I'd go with an Allstar. As a prior post stated, that's a lot of Uber fares, dining, whatever.

 

[CastAStone]

From earlier this week....
https://www.disboards.com/threads/all-star-movies-vs-pop.3789056/#post-61493227