Is Pop Century worth it???

[luvdisney81]

I am starting to plan my next trip to Disney and wondering if staying in Pop Century is worth it over the Music section? I have been told the wait is an hour to check in and crowded. What do you think?

 

[trola2]

We did not feel that POP lived up to all the hype. It was terribly crowded...waits were awful and it was much louder than AS Music or AS Movies. We just couldn't seem to get away from the noise. For us, it would not be our first choice, but certainly we enjoyed walking through the resort.

Hope that helps.
~~Beth

 

[luvdisney81]

Oh it does very much, thank you!

 

[Cruisin]

We have stayed at the POP Century twice now and have never had much of a wait to register at all. It all went very quickly and smoothly for us. Sometimes the food court is crowded but things seemed to move along well also when we were there.

I have never stayed at the other places so I can't comment on whether one is better than the other but the POP Century seemed okay to us.

 

[oogieboogie]

I like POP, especially the food court. I didn't find any noisier than the AS resorts. We were in the 70's building and were literally 1 minute walk to the bus stop/food court.

I thought it was a very nicely themed resort and it has the added plus of not having those horrid shampoo/soap dispenser! I like having my Mickey soaps.

My only gripe and this is for all the value resorts is that because there are a lot more people staying there, the buses seem crowded no matter what time we tried to go. That and the bus stops at the parks seem to be the farthest out. After walking all day in the parks the last thing I want to do is walk another mile to my bus stop, wait in the neverending line, then have to stand on the bus again.

 

[luvdisney81]

Bump

 

[Aimeedyan]

We won't return to POP again... but I haven't stayed at the All Stars either, so I can't compare. The moderates are usually not that much more a night, and much much much much better.

It was just plain noisy. Our family had a HARD time sleeping. The walls are paperthin, I honestly don't think there is any insulation in them at all. We could hear the conversation next door as plain as day. When their alarm went off at 6am, we heard it like it was ours. They weren't being loud at all, either. We heard every word people said walking outside the rooms, doors slamming, toilets flushing, etc. Very very noisy.

We decided that when on vacation, esp at WDW, one MUST get some sleep - and paying an extra $20 a night to stay at a quieter resort is worth the extra cash.

The theming is cute, and we didn't use the buses - just drove our own car to the parks. We only dined in the food court once and it was okay in a bind. The room decor was nice =)

Good luck in your decision!

 

[hrh_disney_queen]

I had none of these bad experiences when I stayed at the PC this September. But WDW in general was not crowded at all, so I probably don't have the whole picture. We are going back in 10 days, I am hoping it won't be like stated above. I chose it for the pricing, theming and because it has it's own busses. When I stayed at ASMo last year, in the a.m. the bus was so crowded by the time it came to our stop (after loading up at the lother two All Stars) I thought we weren't going to get on..This wasn't at a particularly busy time, and I just kept thinking how p-o'd I would be if they kept filling the busses up at the other two resorts and had to pass us by......I loved my stay at PC, and I don't know why a moderate resort would be any less noisy on any given day than a value??? What does the $20 price difference have to do with it?

I always take a fan, a noise machine, or leave the bathroom fan on to combat exterior noises anyway..

 

[mom2boys]

We stayed at POP in Jan - we enjoyed it. No problems with registration lines. Food court was good. The first night, we heard noise from the 90's pool - after that, not a peep. We have stayed at Movies & Sports - won't go back to Sports. We had a bad experience at Sports with nosie from a school group - CM's couldn't do much about it. Would definitely go back to Movies or Pop. We are big fans of the value resorts. We find them to be the best value for our $. That said, if we aren't thinking about the money, we go deluxe. For us, we can't justify the add'l cost of a moderate since we are still sleeping in a double bed. Double beds for us mean one parent & one child per bed - DH & I can't sleep in a double together. One of us is a bedhog - he says it's me, I say it's him.

 

[laurenk]

We stayed at Pop over 4th of July and thought it was great. I am going again for 5 nights on Friday. We enjoyed the food court, and my kids loved the themeing. We didn't have our car this time, and I am glad because parking was a nightmare.

 

[EsmeraldaX]

I haven't stayed there yet, but I will be in Dec. so I'm reading up on it alot and here is what I've heard and what I think...

I have heard MOSTLY good reviews on the resort board. I have NOT heard many bad reviews on the Resorts board. The most common problems people had were :

Size
Noise, primarily water noise such as showers and toilets flushing
Parking

I think if you are looking for a larger resort room, to actually spend time in, PC is probably not your best bet. You probably would want to move up to a moderate.

Usually, by the time we get home, everyone else is sound asleep. So noise is not a big concern. I've had noise issues at all kinds of hotels, from 5 star resorts all the way to motel 6 type places. But then, I've also had perfect silence at everywhere in between as well. I think it's really just the luck of the draw....

I have heard showers and toilets at almost every hotel I have ever stayed at, ever though. It's just what happens when you have tons of rooms working off the same system.

Parking won't be an issue if you don't have a car. We will, so this should be interesting since we usually stay at Pleasure Island until it closes. Though, we'll probably be using busses to get to and from PI. So hopefully we'll already be parked by then and then hop on a bus.

I picked Pop because we are only going for 6 days and we don't plan on spending much time in our rooms. We leave at 8 am and come home at 1 am. This was a quick trip because we couldn't wait a whole year and the price was right.

Keep in mind, I have seen about as many bad reviews of Poly Concierge as I have of Pop. So who knows.

Have a good trip, whatever you decide to do.

 

[Davep421]

We stayed there in August. We have stayed at the CB and AKL and the PC was no noisier than the other two. The most we heard from another room was the noise of the shower, but I hear that at any hotel I have stayed at on my travels for work. We were by the Hippy Dippy Pool and the noise was not bad at all and we were there for Charley so there was quite a few people there. We loved the themeing and even at it's busiest the lines in Everything POP were not all that bad. I would stay there again in a second.

 

[bubba's mom]

Originally posted by EsmeraldaX
Parking won't be an issue if you don't have a car. We will, so this should be interesting since we usually stay at Pleasure Island until it closes. Though, we'll probably be using busses to get to and from PI. So hopefully we'll already be parked by then and then hop on a bus.

I always thought people who drove and parked their cars at their resorts, still used Disney transportation......wouldn't it make more sense?....especially if you get yourself a good parking space!!

 

[EsmeraldaX]

Originally posted by bubba's mom
I always thought people who drove and parked their cars at their resorts, still used Disney transportation......wouldn't it make more sense?....especially if you get yourself a good parking space!!

I'm VERY claustrophic. I *can* ride on the busses but I prefer not to since I usually have to wait until one comes that is not packed and we prefer to get at the parks when they open and stay till close. (it's just two adults here) So that is when the busses are usually the most packed.

The only time we'd probably take the bus is to other resorts to eat or to Pleasure Island so we can BOTH have a few Kungalooshes at the AC.

 

[Pooh93]

We stayed there in June and did not have problems with noise, crowds or lines. The castmembers that work there were all extremely nice. If you're trying to save a few $$$, I would give it a shot and stay there.

 

[Missy1961]

Did you also check out the Disney Resorts board? I think they have entire threads about this resort--pro and con.

 

[bubba's mom]

Originally posted by EsmeraldaX
The only time we'd probably take the bus is to other resorts to eat or to Pleasure Island so we can BOTH have a few Kungalooshes at the AC.

aaahhhh......been many a years (and drinks) since PI for us...... can't remember everything there....too busy knockin' back drinks .....from what we remember, a really great time......

 

[EsmeraldaX]

Originally posted by bubba's mom
aaahhhh......been many a years (and drinks) since PI for us...... can't remember everything there....too busy knockin' back drinks .....from what we remember, a really great time......

LOL. I have to have a Kungaloosh in a cocunut head at the AC. Actually, the AC is the only place on PI we go. We could spend hours there just people watching.

 

[jennyL]

We stayed at the POP last Jan. We had no problems with noise. We were in the 70s building and it was very close to the buses and the food court. We loved the food selection at the food court. We have stayed at all of the value resorts and our favorites in order are POP, ASMovies, ASMusic and the ASSports. We really didn't like sports at all but it could have been that we stayed there in May and it was almost 100 everyday so the whole trip was pretty miserable. LOL

 

[Poohbear123]

twice this year, and will be going in Dec. AGAIN! Yes, thats how much I like it!