Help!! Did I Make A Mistake Booking Pop??

[Shir Kahn]

The rooms are small, but the theming is fantastic, the bus service is wonderful, Everything Pop is perfect, can't say enough about how much we love Pop Century!

 

[Reginak]

We liked Pop but we only stayed for one night before moving to the BW. I think that you will enjoy it. Of course, the Poly is better but I think that you will still have a good time.
Now you do have two other possible options: You can split your stay between Pop and a nicer resort or you can rent DVC points. Often when you figure the cost it is not that much more than a value, depending on when you want to travel.
Also, see if an annual pass discount is available when you are going; sometimes you can get a 40% discount which is more than the cost to upgrade one ticket.

Regina

 

[MousekaMaddi]

love POP
DD5 loves walking around to see the icons!
why stay anywhere else, we do the parks commando all week long and are out of room by 9 and enter the room again at midnite- Pop is perfect for us.

 

[stemikger]

It's really like comparing apples and oranges. They are two totally different experiences, but Pop is a great value resort and very fun to be there. It is actually my favoriate on-site resort.

 

[BabyPiglet]

Don't be mislead, POP is not a greasy ol' motel or something. Just because it's a value doesn't mean it's not Disney themed, clean and full of friendly CM's.

Go and enjoy yourself. If you go in with the attitude that it's beneath you (not that you will) then you won't have a good time.

(P.S. Of course it won't compare to AKL though!)

 

[leighe]

OP - I totally understand! DH and I are taking a budget trip over spring break and we have booked Pop. We have the dining plan as well so I'm hoping we'll spend so much time in the parks and dining at other resorts that I won't have time to miss the moderates or deluxes. We've stayed there before and I just didn't love it - although I was pregnant at the time so maybe that's why that trip wasn't as much fun.

I'm trying to focus on how cute the theming is and how bright and colorful everything is!

 

[The Fetherstons]

We stayed at POP last September and had a great time, like you say your not in the room long enough, but Pop itself was great and brilliant if you have children.

 

[bella-alexander]

thanks everyone. i don't want anyone to get the wrong idea, i don't want to sound like i'm too good for a value resort. it's just that my family and i only take one big vacation a year (we do little weekend getaways here and there)so when that time of year comes around we like to splurge and go big. but, #1 we are doing alot of renovating on our house right now, so we are lucky to even be able to afford to go to disney this year, and #2 i kind of feel like hey, we wait all year to be able to take a nice vacation why can't we spoil ourselves. however, last year we stayed at the ak for 10 days and we saw that hotel MAYBE 2 hours a day. yes, it was beautiful but i hate the thought of spending triple the amount of money to shower and sleep in a delux. i'm not saying i'll never do a delux again. in fact, if possible i really want to try the poly next year. and of coarse one day i hope to be lucky enough to experience the gf. we are going during spring break this year so, we already have the mind set that it is going to be unbelievably crowded. so i really don't think that anywhere else is going to be less noisy during the busiest weeks of the year, incuding the deluxes. i understand that requesting a perferred room is our best bet. any more advice, i'd love to hear it.

 

[Knavey]

I have stayed at POP and AKL so I can compare them for you. AKL is gorgeous and so unique. I thought POP was really cute but the room is very small. Just be prepared for that. POP was better than what I was expecting. We had a good time there. If you are not in the room that much then I think you'll be fine.

Have a great trip!

Joanne

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1718646&page=1&highlight=

Here is a trip report I wrote from January. We like AKL but booked POP because we had a pretty good discount. Read the post for the rest of the story.

 

[Kaler131]

We LOVE Pop!!!!

 

[stemikger]

The bottom line is you really can't go wrong as long as you stay on-site. Disney resorts are magical, no matter what category they are in.

Just keep in mind that the experiences are different from Deluxe, Moderate and Value, but they are all great times and they are all Disney Magic and Quality.

Disney has set the standard for quality and innovation - everyone else just tries to keep up.

 

[BabyPiglet]

thanks everyone. i don't want anyone to get the wrong idea, i don't want to sound like i'm too good for a value resort. it's just that my family and i only take one big vacation a year (we do little weekend getaways here and there)so when that time of year comes around we like to splurge and go big. but, #1 we are doing alot of renovating on our house right now, so we are lucky to even be able to afford to go to disney this year, and #2 i kind of feel like hey, we wait all year to be able to take a nice vacation why can't we spoil ourselves. however, last year we stayed at the ak for 10 days and we saw that hotel MAYBE 2 hours a day. yes, it was beautiful but i hate the thought of spending triple the amount of money to shower and sleep in a delux. i'm not saying i'll never do a delux again. in fact, if possible i really want to try the poly next year. and of coarse one day i hope to be lucky enough to experience the gf. we are going during spring break this year so, we already have the mind set that it is going to be unbelievably crowded. so i really don't think that anywhere else is going to be less noisy during the busiest weeks of the year, incuding the deluxes. i understand that requesting a perferred room is our best bet. any more advice, i'd love to hear it.

Preffered rooms are right in front of the pool, the noisiest spot in the whole resort. I'd request a lakeview room instead.

 

[spatter1234]

My family and I have stayed in most resorts including deluxe all the way to the value. We like them all. Of the value, POP is definitely my favorite over the All Stars because it is much smaller. I just keep reminding myself when we have to go on budget and stay in POP it is all about my DSs 5 & 3 having a good time. They could care less about the room and had actually rather stay in a value resort because the pools are bigger and the food courts better. You will have a great time no matter where you stay. It is DISNEY after all! I hope you enjoy POP.

 

[PatsGirl]

Of all the places we've stayed, my kids and I prefer POP over all the others, although to be fair the only deluxe we've stayed at is at Universal, the Portofino Bay Hotel. But if the PBH had been at Disney, we would have preferred POP believe it or not and I'm sure there's some of you out there going "who put something in her wine tonight?" At Disney, we just aren't in the room long enough to spend any significant $$. We like the food court, the bus system has always treated us well, the mousekeeping is excellent (except not leaving me a Bounceback card last year ) -- we have had no complaints at all.

 

[JackJack08]

Pop is great! Fun and colorful for the kids...and easier on the pocketbook. We love it! When my kids are small I will always stay at value. If I ever get to go on a romantic trip to DW with DH , when the kids are all grown up...then I will do deluxe...cuz' maybe I'll see more of the room then!

 

[Eeyore's My Favorite]

Preffered rooms are right in front of the pool, the noisiest spot in the whole resort. I'd request a lakeview room instead.

Preferred rooms are not all in front of a pool - believe me! We paid for a preferred room in September 07 & got stuck on the back side of the 60's with a view of nothing, far away from the pool, elevator, food court & busses & it stunk! Not what I paid the extra $$ for. They're really spread out now as far as what Disney considers a preferred room.

 

[tiggerfan4me]

We stayed at POP with two teenagers in 2006 and we all loved it. You aren't in your room all that much, even with young children. The food court is neat and there are a lot of things to walk around and see. Nice pools too. I will definitely stay at POP. Like one of the other people posted, Disney is such a magical place and they make everything up great. Plus by staying at the resorts in Disney you get the chance to go into parks early and stay later plus have the opportunity to use the Disney Transportation. I am sure you will enjoy your stay. I am going after thanksgiving with 5 adults, we wanted to stay at pop but would have to get two rooms, so we opted for Fort Wilderness and staying in a cabin. Looking forward to something different. Variety is the spice of life and when you can save money and have extra money for other things in Disney, it is well worth it.

 

[Minnie]

We've stayed at every level of resort on Disney property and last year we even stayd "off-site" as the AP rates weren't available.

IMO there is a huge difference between the Pop and either of the deluxes you have stayed in. If this was for a quick weekend trip then it might not be bad, but if this is for a week trip. IMO I wouldn't

Now YMMV but we found huge differences between the options and if we were staying a week and couldn't do a value then we'd pick the off-site 3bed/3bath townhouse w/splash pool for about the same $$$ as the value.

We have found the values to be noisy (we had a supposed quiet location ), room very small (2 adults 2 kids for a week ), and extremely crowded. Very cute theming though and yeck for a 1 night tagged on to the end of a business trip last year I picked the Pop as it fit my needs of a place to crash after EMH and a very early morning flight. If I'd had more time I would have made a different decision.

Good luck to you in your choice. If you decide to consider off-site check out the other Orlando hotel options board for suggetions

 

[seobaina]

I loved Pop...I think you'll be fine!

 

[kelma]

We've never stayed at Deluxe, but I can say that our entire family (me, dh, dd -8 and ds 6 and babies to young to know ) that we all much preferred POP. POR was very quiet, but had absolutely no Disney theming and we found it to be just as crowded as POP. I think you'll be very happy there - the resort was lots of fun and very whimsical and my kids thought it was amazing! Having said that, we didn't love ASMovies, but it's been a few years, so maybe we would even like that now.

I know you'll have a great time