Caribbean Beach or Pop Century

[scrappinginontario]

The amount of hype I am hearing about Banana Cabana! I guess we really should try it out. And good to hear on the 50s section! We're currently booked in a standard pool view room because I didn't want the possibility of a parking lot view--is the bowling pool noisy?

I would recommend saving even more and moving to a standard room if you can. While the pool isn't normally too noisy, you're not really getting much of a 'view' that you're paying extra for. Pop rooms are all accessed from outdoor walkways so if you have your curtains open to see the 'view' it's basically a railing about 3' across from your window and everyone who walks by can see in your room too.

From this link: https://touringplans.com/walt-disney-world/hotels/disneys-pop-century-resort I would recommend clicking the 'find a great room' link and you can get an idea of what every single room sees from it's window. Disney does a great job of disguising 'parking lot' views with trees.

E.g. This is room is a 50's room on the 4th floor with a 'parking lot' view


My suggestion is to save even more money by moving from a Standard Pool View room to a Standard Room.

 

[andy_dangg]

I would recommend saving even more and moving to a standard room if you can. While the pool isn't normally too noisy, you're not really getting much of a 'view' that you're paying extra for. Pop rooms are all accessed from outdoor walkways so if you have your curtains open to see the 'view' it's basically a railing about 3' across from your window and everyone who walks by can see in your room too.

From this link: https://touringplans.com/walt-disney-world/hotels/disneys-pop-century-resort I would recommend clicking the 'find a great room' link and you can get an idea of what every single room sees from it's window. Disney does a great job of disguising 'parking lot' views with trees.

E.g. This is room is a 50's room on the 4th floor with a 'parking lot' view
View attachment 512925

My suggestion is to save even more money by moving from a Standard Pool View room to a Standard Room.

I love looking at the Touring Plan room views! The pool view is only $5 more a night than a standard view, but I was considering moving to a standard room for the possibility of facing the lake. The only reason I'm keeping the pool view is because I really want to be in the 50s section and the standard pool views are either in 50s or 80s. I personally have had mixed luck getting Disney to honor my room requests, lol.

 

[andy_dangg]

Thanks for all the input everyone! I think we'll keep our reservation at Pop. We only owe $150 at check in, and I don't personally think the benefits of CBR are worth $250. Plus, we're considering adding an extra night, and I think I'd rather have five nights at Pop instead of four at CBR.

 

[scrappinginontario]

I've heard Pop is only using the 50's, 60's and 70's right now so really not a bad room in the bunch!

 

[VH103428]

We like both and have stayed at both many times. Due to having a resort day, I would choose CBR. The grounds are beautiful and relaxing. Have fun!

 

[WEDWDW]

I love looking at the Touring Plan room views! The pool view is only $5 more a night than a standard view, but I was considering moving to a standard room for the possibility of facing the lake. The only reason I'm keeping the pool view is because I really want to be in the 50s section and the standard pool views are either in 50s or 80s. I personally have had mixed luck getting Disney to honor my room requests, lol.

Even with having a Standard Pool View Room reserved,you can still ask on arrival if there would possibly be a 1950s/Lake View room available.

Just call the number provided with your Room Text and say something like:

"We have a Pool View Room Reservation,but were just wondering if you might have a Lake View Room in the 1950s available.We don't mind waiting until later in the day and we aren't worried about the $5.00 per night difference being refunded.If you have time to check on that we would appreciate it so much."

We have done this on occasion and most times,but not always,they were able to help us.

One time that comes to mind was one trip to All-Star Movies we were only able to secure a Preferred Room reservation.

We love to stay in Mighty Ducks because of its proximity to All-Star Music so we asked about a possible move to Ducks when we arrived and they found us a room in Ducks that would be available later that day!

We told them we did not expect them to refund the difference between Preferred and Standard,but they did anyway!

The Room Assignors at Disney World really are wonderful and try their best.

It just depends on if you want to "invest" a little Vacation time in trying to secure a room change.

 

[NC State]

Also keep in mind what restaurants are not open at the resorts. I noticed CSR doesn't have any open until October.

 

[andy_dangg]

Even with having a Standard Pool View Room reserved,you can still ask on arrival if there would possibly be a 1950s/Lake View room available.

Just call the number provided with your Room Text and say something like:

"We have a Pool View Room Reservation,but were just wondering if you might have a Lake View Room in the 1950s available.We don't mind waiting until later in the day and we aren't worried about the $5.00 per night difference being refunded.If you have time to check on that we would appreciate it so much."

We have done this on occasion and most times,but not always,they were able to help us.

One time that comes to mind was one trip to All-Star Movies we were only able to secure a Preferred Room reservation.

We love to stay in Mighty Ducks because of its proximity to All-Star Music so we asked about a possible move to Ducks when we arrived and they found us a room in Ducks that would be available later that day!

We told them we did not expect them to refund the difference between Preferred and Standard,but they did anyway!

The Room Assignors at Disney World really are wonderful and try their best.

It just depends on if you want to "invest" a little Vacation time in trying to secure a room change.

This is such a fantastic idea! Our arrival day will be spent at Epcot, so being able to call is something that I was not aware of.

 

[andy_dangg]

In an interesting turn of events...we are not staying at Pop Century OR Caribbean Beach. I found a really great deal on the David's DVC rental site...there happened to be a confirmed reservation for our exact dates for four nights at Boulder Ridge. It was discounted to $9 a point, so we got the same four nights for $12 more TOTAL than Pop Century!!! Moral of the story...it's never a bad idea to look through the DVC confirmed reservations for rent for a great deal!

 

[WEDWDW]

In an interesting turn of events...we are not staying at Pop Century OR Caribbean Beach. I found a really great deal on the David's DVC rental site...there happened to be a confirmed reservation for our exact dates for four nights at Boulder Ridge. It was discounted to $9 a point, so we got the same four nights for $12 more TOTAL than Pop Century!!! Moral of the story...it's never a bad idea to look through the DVC confirmed reservations for rent for a great deal!

Awesome!

I still suggest you hop on the Skyliner at Epcot or DHS one day and do a "Joyflight" just for fun!

Fly all the way to Pop Century-it is really cool flying over Hourglass Lake.

 

[JennyDrake]

IF you like pool time, definitely CBR as the quiet pools are open 24 hours. I love the Spyglass Cafe and consider it among the best food on WDW property.

I have multiple stays at both resorts and think you will have a food time no matter which one you choose!

 

[andy_dangg]

Awesome!

I still suggest you hop on the Skyliner at Epcot or DHS one day and do a "Joyflight" just for fun!

Fly all the way to Pop Century-it is really cool flying over Hourglass Lake.

I was planning on it! Maybe on our Epcot day. I’ve used the Skyliner before and LOVE it, so I’d like to show it to my boyfriend too.

 

[supercrossfox21]

If $250 is a pretty big deal for you, and it is for a lot of us, I would recommend staying at Pop. DH and I went last year and I really liked the room for just the two of us. If there were more than two people, I would change my recommendation. You can slide your luggage under the bed so it's out of the way. They have LOTS of USB ports for charging your electronics. I actually liked the bathroom area. You don't want to plan for both of you to be at the vanity/sink area at the same time, because you will be cozy. But they have some pretty decent storage space in that area to keep all of your toiletries and what not.

We stayed in the "50's" section and found it to be quite pleasant. We didn't hear a lot of screaming kids. It was a pretty close walk to the Skyliner too. I really liked that section because it's close to the lake and just made it feel more peaceful. We also enjoyed walking around both Pop and AoA. AoA has a fun walking trail around the resort with lots of "fun facts" signs that talk about details specific to the section of the resort you are walking by (Cars, Little Mermaid, etc...).

One other factor that might come it to play is this: do you want a hot tub at the pool? Pop does not have hot tubs at the pools.

In regards to food options, if you don't feel like eating what Pop has, you can always hop on the Skyliner to CBR or Riviera.

I was told by disney that you are not allowed to hotel hop right now. Has anyone had any experience with this? I was told to go to the boardwalk if I did not want to repeatedly eat at POP.

 

[Shellyred8]

I was told by disney that you are not allowed to hotel hop right now. Has anyone had any experience with this? I was told to go to the boardwalk if I did not want to repeatedly eat at POP.

If you use Disney transportation, or walk, to go from hotel to hotel, you are able to do hop. We did it several times while we were there last week. If you try to take your own transportation to a different hotel, you will be stopped at the gate if you don't have a dining reservation.

 

[WAHMto5]

I was actually trying to make the same choice and decided on Pop. We stayed at CBR a couple of years ago and really enjoyed it but I would rather spend the extra $$ at the parks then the resort. To me Pop just “screams” Disney and even though our kids are all much older now and only the youngest 2 travel with us (16 & 19), they love Pop as well!

 

[Dug720]

I have stayed at both and am returning to CBR in January. Pop's rooms feel too sterile for me - more like an institution. Plus CBR has the easy walk to Riviera as an advantage which opens it up to more possibilities.

 

[Laura's Dad]

I would save the $250 and stay at POP but book a dinner on your resort day at Sebastian's Bistro at CB and then stroll around the grounds before or after dinner.

Sebastians is currently closed.

 

[PinGorilla]

I've stayed at Pop many times and recently just stayed at CBR last week. I'd pick Pop over CBR going forward. I wasn't impressed with CBR. I don't think it's worth the xtra money. If FQ or Riverside were open I'd stay at one of those over Pop. The dining at CBR is very limited right now and after two meals at CBR I found ourselves trying to avoid to eat there after the first two days of our trip. The rooms at CBR are just mehhh... And the skyliner is a moot point IMO as its only useful if going to Epcot, forget trying to get a boarding group for RoTR if taking the skyliner at rope drop. Also anytime there is lightning the skyliner goes offline which was pretty often my last stay unfortunately.