Just back from POP Century

[dyna]

Our 1st visit at Pop always stayed at Sports in the past.

I will stay at POP again I do like the Icons better at POP the whole theme thing. Did not care for the 70's, 80's or 90's Icons as much as the 50's and 60's tho.

Our room was in building 1 as requested but was at the very end of the building facing the pool I'd requested not pool side but we was on 4th floor so the noise was not much of a problem not being crowded while we was there helped the noise level too I'm sure.

Enjoyed looking out at the bowling pin pool and Tramp and the back side of Lady.

NO towel animals all week. But there seemed to be a shortage of those in my section of the resort not sure why.

Only got breakfast in the food court once the day we was leaving. The breakfast platter with the scrambled eggs bacon sausage potatoes and biscuit was OK DH and I shared it along with a turnover. It was plenty to get us started for the day.

The biscuit was a bit small but we was on the dining plan and had plenty to eat all week so we really was not hungry but didn't want to have to stop right away once we was on the road for home.

I did not care for the gift shop and the food court being together the way they are I could imagine it costing many parents extra dollars going thru the gift shop on the way to the bus. There are other entrances to the food court and if I had a little one with me I'd avoid that gift shop even if I did have to walk a few extra steps.

The gift shop being right there with the food court just tended to add to the chaos at the food court. It was VERY noisy at breakfast and again after the parks closed which I tend to avoid the food court and gift shop at those times anyway so not a big problem for me.

The last day when DH and I was doing some shoppin in the gift shop we both reached our limit on the noise and crowd level in a short time made our purchase took that stuff out to the van and went back in to eat breakfast which gave us a bit of a break from the noise and chaos.

I can't say that POP was any worse than Sports with the noise and chaos tho it's just that we are not used to that much noise. Food court and gift shop not a place we'd spend a lot of time at anyway.

BTW I did notice that unlike at Sports you can't buy milk and snacks at the gift shop only the food court. At Sports the milk and snack stuff was always cheaper and it was less crowded than the food court. It was not a problem this trip as we was on the dining plan never needed milk for the room.

 

[deadhedjen]

Thanks for the info about POP. Yes, I'm one of those mommies that would prefer not to have to cart my kids through a gift shop just to get to the food court and back. Drives me crazy when places do that.

While I'm still in the planning stages, POP, POFQ, CBR, and ASMo are on our list. The difference for 2 rooms at value versus Mod for us is about $1000 (rack rates during reg season 8 nights). Really having a hard time deciding which to stay at. Leaning towards POFQ, but would LOVE to be able to spend that $1000 on other things KWIM? I plan on doing the AAA discount, but I think the % off is the same for value and mod.
I'd love to do the value, but the noise and volume of guests is what's keeping me away. Also I like the pools better at the mods. Still undecided. (sigh)

Any input that would help swing my vote towards the value resort???

Jennifer.

 

[andychris14]

We also just came back and stayed in building 3. We were neighbors. As for the towel animals, we got 5 of them. The kids could not wait to get back to the room and find another animal.
The food court and gift shop did have some activity but I did not think in a bad way. We never had to wait on any long lines.
Buses were also running excellent. A bus was always pulling up to the stop when we would arrive there.

 

[dyna]

I agree the bus service was wonderful only waited for a bus one time to Epcot and we just happened to be about 30 seconds to late gettin to the bus stop that time.

POP really did a good job with the buses to and from the parks opening mid day and closing as well. Best bus service I've ever had little better than Sports and a HUGE improvement over POFQ which had TERRIBLE bus service.

I think the towel animals depended on the mousekeeper and if they knew how to make them or not. Also this was an adults only visit for us no kids in tow this time that might have made a bit of a difference.

The room was always clean and the mousekeeper had done a good job cleaning and left us extra towels for the pool even when we didn't ask for them. The towel animals are cute but not getting them was no big deal. Actually I think I enjoyed looking at them in other ppls windows as much as I would have in my own room.

 

[nluvwithmickey]

Oh, I didn't know that the gift shop doesn't sell beverages and snacks....that's too bad. We haven't been to the Pop yet but really looking forward to trying it on our next trip after having been to all of the All-star resorts.... I am one of the ones that buys the milk at the gift shop(cheaper») and brings it back to the room in order to share with our in-room breakfast. Too bad.

But the Pop sounds like so much fun....I may just not be able to resist not going.

 

[minnie61650]

Thanks for the info about POP. Yes, I'm one of those mommies that would prefer not to have to cart my kids through a gift shop just to get to the food court and back. Drives me crazy when places do that.

While I'm still in the planning stages, POP, POFQ, CBR, and ASMo are on our list. The difference for 2 rooms at value versus Mod for us is about $1000 (rack rates during reg season 8 nights). Really having a hard time deciding which to stay at. Leaning towards POFQ, but would LOVE to be able to spend that $1000 on other things KWIM? I plan on doing the AAA discount, but I think the % off is the same for value and mod.
I'd love to do the value, but the noise and volume of guests is what's keeping me away. Also I like the pools better at the mods. Still undecided. (sigh)

Any input that would help swing my vote towards the value resort???

Jennifer.

Try Staying at the All Stars.
At the All Stars the food court and gift shop are seperate.

The rooms at POP and at the ALL stars are both 260 square feet. They are also laid out the same.

The PC rooms seem smaller because the bed is closer to the door with a bigger gap being between the bathroom wall and the far bed. At All-Stars this gap is about one foot wide.

http://allearsnet.com/acc/asmv59.jpg
http://allearsnet.com/acc/popcent56.jpg

You will notice in PC pic the bed is closer to the door by looking at how close the headboard is while at Movies you have a little more room.
The beds at POP are Bolted to the floor so you can't move them.
You can move the beds at All Stars so you push one the beds against the wall.
Thus giving you more usuable floor space.

All Stars is my favorite resort.

I am 55 years old and travel several times a year. I often stay at 4 star hotels.
So the deluxe resorts do not have anything special for me.
All Star is like being in the heart of the Magic and that is where I want to be.

All Star Music is my favorite.It is quieter because more couples stay there. I love staying at the Clypso building. It is closer to the pool,food court and bus stop.

Here is a site with a map of All Star Sports and All Star Music.
http://www.wdwinfo.com/resortmaps/allstarmap.htm
Scroll down.All Star Music is at the bottom of the page.
The Calypso buildings at All Star Music are #1 and #10 are nearest to the food court and bus stop.
They are the preferred buildings and cost about $12 extra per night.
The Calypso pool at ASMU has Donald Duck.

Here is the map of All Movies.
http://www.wdwinfo.com/resortmaps/allstarmovie.JPG
The Fantasia Buildings are the preferred buildings.
The All Star Movie Fantasia pool has Mickey.
It is a great place to stay .
Preschoolers love it.
It is like being in the middle of a Disney Movie Fantasyland.
All Star Movies has suuirt fountains .
The buses are wonderful.

Bus rides are quite short from the ALL Stars according to PassPorter.com

All Star Buses-CBR buses---POP buses--PO buses--- Contemporary
MK 20 min---- 20 min-----25 min------10 min---20 min(mono)
Epcot 10 min-- 15 min-----20 min------10 min---15 min
MGM 10 min----12 min-----15min------15 min---20min
AK 10 min------20min-------15 min----15 min---20 min
DTD 15 min----20 min------20 min-----15 min---35 min

It only takes 10 minutes to get to Epcot,MGM and AK from All Stars.
MK is 20 min away. That's the same amount of time it takes on the monorail from the Contemporary.

The All Star resorts have 1960 rooms each.
Pop has 2,880rooms.
That means more people in the pools,food court and in line waiting for the bus at POP.
When phase 2 of POP is built it will be 2 bus stops at POP and the 2 POPs will have the same # of rooms as the 3 All Stars.

Also All Star is closer to the main road to get to parks and thats why bus rides are shorter from there than from POP.

A WORD ABOUT BUS SHARING:

It is usually just our stop and maybe one more on the way to the parks. On the way back sometimes its all 3 but often Sports and Music share and Movies has it's own bus back.

I guess some people who stay at POP see all 3 All Star names on the return sign of our bus stop when they head to the POP bus stop and think All Stars also has 3 stops on the way to the park.
(Even when we stop at another AS resort to load up it has not taken more than 5 minutes and we are on our way!)

I love the All Star Resorts --they can't be beat. I have visited WDW more than a dozen times with the 1st time in Oct. 1971. It was brand new. I've stayed at FW, Disney Inn, a few the of Hotels on hotel Blvd., CBR and the towers at the Contemporary. I got to see the MK from my balcony at the Contemporary and I'm happy I got to experience it once. I just prefer the All Star Resorts.
The theaming is pure Disney.
My last 4 visits have been at The All Stars and this fall when we take dd,dsil, and our grandson age 3 we are staying at the All Stars Music. I thought about AKL and even though we can well afford AKL I just wanted Alex to experience the Disney Magic at the All Stars on his first visit.
Where else can one find Donald Duck or Mickey Mouse at the pool?
Have a great time at Disney!
Linda

 

[WHIT1]

my husband needs to be at the ttc by 7:30 or sooner so he can get a shuttle to petty experience ,will the buses be up and running early enough to get us there from pop?

 

[deadhedjen]

Minnie thanks for the info about the All-Stars. Since our family is travelling with another family this trip (and includes 7 kids total...ages 3,4,5,8,10,11,13)...I think they would really get a kick out of the theming at either the pop or asmo. They seem totally geared for the kids. However, the grown-ups in the group need a resort that they can enjoy as well.
I guess I'm afraid that staying at the values might feel like I'm stuck in kiddie wonderland or something. I want to at least feel like living in grownup-ville for even a portion of this trip.
Last year we stayed at HIFS (now the Nick Hotel) off site. It was totally geared for kids. Yes we had a great time, but it was all about the kids there. The biggest thrill for DH and I was that the bedroom door had a lock on it, LOL! Otherwise it was kid everything 24/7.
I'm quite certain I'd be able to sneak away with my other mommy friend and do a gals night out for a nice dinner, spa trip or shopping sans kids...we can leave them with the DH's. That would save my sanity I'm sure. I just don't know if I can stand those giant icons looking at me, the lack of adult oriented grounds and decor, and the sheer volume of kids found at the values.....maybe I am over reacting and just some reassurance is all I need to be more comfortable with the value resorts. I think It's gonna take some time to make a final decision, lol.

Did anyone else feel this way?? Or am I just getting too carried away with the details?


Jennifer.

 

[dgaston]

DH and I are leaving soon for a long weekend at Pop. We have stayed there twice before, each time without the kids and have really enjoyed it. The trivia signs along the lake, and the memorabilia inside Everything Pop are about MY childhood. I'm hoping we'll get the 50's so I can enjoy Lady and the Tramp.

I would love to play a Twister game or two with your crew Dedhedjen. I think you will enjoy the resort perhaps more than the children!

 

[deadhedjen]

I would love to play a Twister game or two with your crew Dedhedjen. I think you will enjoy the resort perhaps more than the children!

LOL!
Yikes! Now there's a game I haven't played in ...um, well a really long time, lol.


Well, if you're gonna be there next July 4th, then maybe we'll do just that, LOL!


Jennifer.

 

[dyna]

I really didn't feel like I was in KIDDIELAND at POP I'm old enough to remember most of the memorbilia stuff tend to like the older more than the newer but the newer reminds me of my DD's childhood.

The Corvette over with Goofy and the Popup Jets is just like the one I drove years ago only mine was white. The vette brought back many memories as well.

OH and I agree the rooms at All Stars are a bit bigger giving you more floor space by the beds being moved over a foot further towards the bathroom wall. At All Stars that 2nd bed is up against the wall makes it hard to get in and out of bed on that side but with kids that shouldn't matter much. DH and I always took the bed by the door and gave DD the bed by the wall.


All Stars a great alternative for having gift shop and food court totally seperate but you can get in the food court without going thru the gift shop but kids can still see in the gift shop. Kids see everything especially if it costs money LOL

My DD wants to stay at Pop when we take her early summer 06 thank goodness she is old enough to know she can't have everything she sees but I do see her stopping to look as we are tryin to get on bus for the parks I think the rule is gonna be on way back from parks she is free to look and catch up with us in a bit. She's gonna be almost 16 then and plenty old enough to be on her own for a bit.

Funny Story a bit off topic but fits in as well.

When my older DD's was little I lived in the middle of town of course the ice cream truck came by at least once a day during the warm months. Thank god it had a bell on it and I always heard it coming. When I heard that bell it was always time to go in the house for something and take the DD's with me. I knew 1 time of even seeing neighbor kids get ice cream from that truck and my own would be asking for ice cream too and rather than have to say NO all the time I just avoided the truck. Thankfully we moved to the country before the DD's got past 6 and 7 I prolly wasn't gonna be able to hide from the ice cream truck much longer lol

One of my DD's was like 19 yrs old she'd been to town she came home said MOM you remember that truck with the bell on it when we lived in town? I said YES. DD asked did you know it sold ice cream? I looked at her and smiled and asked WHY DO YOU THINK IT WAS ALWAYS TIME TO GO INSIDE WHEN I HEARD THE BELL COMING???

DD ended up feeling a bit deprived but was also old enough to know WHY I avoided the truck with the bell on it.

 

[ceecee]

Minnie thanks for the info about the All-Stars. Since our family is travelling with another family this trip (and includes 7 kids total...ages 3,4,5,8,10,11,13)...I think they would really get a kick out of the theming at either the pop or asmo. They seem totally geared for the kids. However, the grown-ups in the group need a resort that they can enjoy as well.
I guess I'm afraid that staying at the values might feel like I'm stuck in kiddie wonderland or something. I want to at least feel like living in grownup-ville for even a portion of this trip.
Last year we stayed at HIFS (now the Nick Hotel) off site. It was totally geared for kids. Yes we had a great time, but it was all about the kids there. The biggest thrill for DH and I was that the bedroom door had a lock on it, LOL! Otherwise it was kid everything 24/7.
I'm quite certain I'd be able to sneak away with my other mommy friend and do a gals night out for a nice dinner, spa trip or shopping sans kids...we can leave them with the DH's. That would save my sanity I'm sure. I just don't know if I can stand those giant icons looking at me, the lack of adult oriented grounds and decor, and the sheer volume of kids found at the values.....maybe I am over reacting and just some reassurance is all I need to be more comfortable with the value resorts. I think It's gonna take some time to make a final decision, lol.

Did anyone else feel this way?? Or am I just getting too carried away with the details?


Jennifer.

While it may be geared towards kids, it's still fun. But with 7 kids total each family will need to get 2 rooms so you might as well go for the moderate. I personally think the value rooms are too small for more than one child unless they are younger.

 

[chniki88]

We went to POP in May and loved it.

The food court and gift shop are connected but there are 6 doors that lead from food court outside so you have the option not to go thru the gift shop if you choose.

Great place- we stayed near the lady and the tramp and everyone from me , the kids and grandma had a wonderful time

 

[MEK]

I just returned from CBR. So why am I writing about POP? Because it was within walking/running distance from CBR by way of the service access roads. I went to explore over there on several occasions during my morning runs. I, like many others, was afraid to try POP because I thought it would be too "over the top" for me. My impression of the resort was quite the opposite. I loved it! I kept wanting to go back and see more.

My opinion is that this resort was very smartly done. The theming was excellent. I took my camera back one morning to take pictures. There was nothing gawdy about the place. I thought the most visually appealing buildings were in the 60's section. I loved the yellow. The landscaping surrounding the front and the back of the 60's buildings was nicely done. Each of the pools was unique in its own way. I thought the food court looked great and the gift shop was nicer than the one at CBR and it had a great selection of items.

The nice thing about this resort is that you can either face a pool or towards the lake. If you want quiet - ask to face the lake. Everything was close and within easy walking distance (remember - I had to go back to CBR each morning when I was done exploring so I am not exaggerating).

I did not see the inside of a room, so I can not comment on that. I will comment that there was much more early morning activity at POP compared to CBR. I suspect this was due to the proximity of all the POP buildings. I can't imagine there are 2880 rooms at POP, as a previous poster mentioned. The only eyesore is the unfinished POP buildings across the lake. Maybe 2880 is the number of rooms POP will have when it is completed in its entirety.

Anyway - bottom line - next time I go back to Disney I will not hesitate to stay at POP. I think it is a great option for the budget conscious traveler or someone who just wants a unique lodging experience.

_________________________________________________

Max is my favorite cat!

 

[BriarRosie]

my husband needs to be at the ttc by 7:30 or sooner so he can get a shuttle to petty experience ,will the buses be up and running early enough to get us there from pop?

My advice: Take a cab. I think the resorts have an arrangement to
drop off the Richard Petty Experience participants, as the entrance is
really not convenient by the Magic Kingdom bus.

I'm not sure if there's a voucher system involved. I'd ask the Front Desk
cast member if they will arrange transporation to the driving experience or
if you need to pay for the cab.

 

[sPaRkLeSpAz]

We stayed at Pop back in January. Our parents had a rule, that my sister and I couldn't get anything from the gift shop until our last day there. So that worked out well. The food court was pretty loud though. It kind of added to the excitement.

 

[natalielongstaff]

We stayed at Pop back in January. Our parents had a rule, that my sister and I couldn't get anything from the gift shop until our last day there. So that worked out well. The food court was pretty loud though. It kind of added to the excitement.

that is a very good rule and one i will remember to use on my kids in TWO weeks !!

 

[minnie61650]

.........I just returned from CBR. So why am I writing about POP?
The nice thing about this resort is that you can either face a pool or towards the lake. If you want quiet - ask to face the lake. Everything was close and within easy walking distance (remember - I had to go back to CBR each morning when I was done exploring so I am not exaggerating).

. I can't imagine there are 2880 rooms at POP, as a previous poster mentioned. The only eyesore is the unfinished POP buildings across the lake. Maybe 2880 is the number of rooms POP will have when it is completed in its entirety.

Anyway - bottom line - next time I go back to Disney I will not hesitate to stay at POP. I think it is a great option for the budget conscious traveler or someone who just wants a unique lodging experience.

_________________________________________________

Max is my favorite cat!

Pop presently has 2880 rooms. When Phase 2 of Pop is completed there will be a total of 5,760 rooms.
Just wanted to clear that up.
I think both Pop and All Stars have a lot to offer.
My children are all grown and I really enjoy staying at Music.There is a nice pool bar. There are plenty of lounge chairs by the pool. If you want a quieter resort that is not over run by children. Choose Music. It is quieter because more couples stay there. The All Stars do share pools with other All Stars so if the kids want to go to Mickey's pool it's a very short walk over from Music. We are going to take our grandson over to Movies to enjoy the Mickey pool and squit fountians at Movies when we stay at Music next month.When I first saw pictures of the value resorts I thought the icons were kinda gawdy. Seeing them in person is just so awesome.One gets a much different perspective in peson. Now I love those icons. When we pull up in our Towncar and I see those icons I know I am at Disney!
Have fun wherever you choose to stay!
Linda

 

[andychris14]

minnie61650-Do you know when phase 2 will be done? When we were there last week we saw there is no work going on.
If you go over the bridge on pops property. There is a building which resembles classic hall with the large numbers up. Is that going to be the classic hall(or whatever they will be calling it)?
We should of asked someone there but always forgot.

 

[lacy1101]

Another reason I like All-Stars over Pop is because of the A/C. Because Pop has the motion detectors on their thermostats sometimes in the middle of the night it stops running. I like a cold room. At All Stars we set the room to 65 and oh how wonderful it was when we came back from a hot day at the parks.

Uh-oh. I, too, like a cool room, especially when sleeping. This will be our first stay at Pop. I have read somewhere that there are things you can do to trick the motion sensor into keeping the air running. Anybody remember what those are? A small fan blowing in front of it, maybe?