noticeable differnces between POP and AND ALL STARS?

[allisonwonderland]

hi....i am booking our room now for our WDW visit in June.We hafta stay at a value resort if we wanna stay onsite(broke as always..hahha) however I had wanted to stay at POP cuz it 'looked" cool(well yeah a lil cheesy,,but fun),,,,,at its 99 a night for our stay(OUUCHHH) well so are the all stars,,,BUT I can get a AAA rate for all stars for 85 a night....not a hUGE savings,,BUT its enough to think twice......are there any huge reasons that would make me sway one way or the other?I know POP has liitle soaps,shampoo,,etc which are CUTE but are they worth 45 bucks?anyway thanks!!!!!

 

[MagicOurWay]

I have stayed at both. The problem with All-Stars, at least then, is that they all share the same buses. Pop gets its own bus. Can get real crowded depending on when/where you are going. If you are going off-season or prefer to drive your own car, I wouldn't think this would be a problem. Interesting, Pop Century is in a different county and the Tax rates are slightly less, but we are only talking like maybe a $1/night difference (I think).

Not sure if any of that is worth $45 bucks.

 

[spiceycat]

I like the lake at Pop Century.

you can't get the AAA discount at Pop Century just the All stars?

It isn't worth the $15 extra - although I certainly do love Pop!!!

 

[allisonwonderland]

yeah..I am not sooo sure we would do the buses anyway,,we like to come and go when we want.....DH prolly would not wanna wait for BUS but who knows? we will be doing AK and MGM (with hopper passes) ,,,,,which is closer to either of these?

 

[allisonwonderland]

I like the lake at Pop Century.

you can't get the AAA discount at Pop Century just the All stars?

It isn't worth the $15 extra - although I certainly do love Pop!!!

welll it was not on AAA website,,,but I guess i could call and ask(I JUST HATE TALKING ON THE PHONE<<HOW SILLY IS THAT?) hehheh......

 

[spiceycat]

definitely ask.

the Pop is right next door to the Studios(MGM).

the All Star is closer to AK.

not helpful right?

 

[allisonwonderland]

thanks!!!! should I call WDW and ask about the AAA rate for POP or should call AAA?not sure if it makes a diff or not............

 

[spiceycat]

I would call WDW and ask about the AAA discounts. then you make the reservation (or change it) then.

 

[MommyPoppins]

hi....i am booking our room now for our WDW visit in June.We hafta stay at a value resort if we wanna stay onsite(broke as always..hahha) however I had wanted to stay at POP cuz it 'looked" cool(well yeah a lil cheesy,,but fun),,,,,at its 99 a night for our stay(OUUCHHH) well so are the all stars,,,BUT I can get a AAA rate for all stars for 85 a night....not a hUGE savings,,BUT its enough to think twice......are there any huge reasons that would make me sway one way or the other?I know POP has liitle soaps,shampoo,,etc which are CUTE but are they worth 45 bucks?anyway thanks!!!!!

We have stayed at both Pop and ASMu. We like ASMu better. Even though the All-Stars share busses they were less full and the wait times less than at Pop. We went to ASMu Labor Day weekend 2003 and were at Pop Oct. 2004 and it was HORRIBLY crowded. We always had to wait at the back of a LONG line for the bus and we had to stand almost every trip. After staying at a Moderate, we won't go back unless we HAVE to. We got POR last Sept. for $79 and are hoping for a comparable rate for this May. But if we ever have to go back to a value it will be ASMu or ASM.

 

[loriann526]

Just wanted to say that we were able to get AAA rates for Pop Century for Oct 2005. We were quoted a rate of 68 dollars a night.

 

[allisonwonderland]

thanks,,did u call AAA or WDW?i think october may be a value month,,but at least now I know AAA can get POP rooms,,,trying to decide who to call......

 

[speedyf]

I originally booked AAA rate at Pop Century last May (2004) for $85 per night. I called WDW and booked direct.

Then, the Disney Visa Code came out for $69 per night....so, I was able to switch to that code and save even more.

Then, the Disney Visa Dreammaker 7 Nights for the price of 4 Nights came out....so, I switched to that package because it was even cheaper....

Anyway...the point is....if you book direct with WDW, you can apply other codes that may come out.

Last year....for the mid-April thru early-July timeframe you had:

AAA Discount at $85 per night
General Public Code discount (BBY) at $74 per night
Disney Visa Code discount at $69 per night
AP Code discount at $59 per night

That's the good thing about booking through WDW....

speed

 

[Jockaroo]

One difference not mentioned yet is that POP has an extra pool. Pop also seems like a larger, more spread out resort, so that probably equals out. Pop has a small shelf above the sink for toiletry items and a larger in-room safe. The curtains completely overlap to prevent light from filtering in. Those are the primary differences I noticed.

 

[Andrew_Lubow]

Let me add Pop also has an interior Bar in addition to a pool bar. The store is bigger than an All Stars. There seem to me more check in stations at the front desk. There are three self service islands for drinks as opposed to the single island at an All Star. Pop Jets for children to play in near the 70's buildings. The bus stop has rope dividers to stop line cutting.

 

[WillCAD]

The beds at Pop were like bricks compared to the All-Stars. Actually, they were like bricks compared to bricks. My back hurts just thinking about them.

I noticed a lower quality of food in the Pop food court, even though the menu is mostly the same as the All-Stars; it's just not prepared as well.

Bus service at Pop was much quicker than the All-Stars, however every bus I rode in December was PACKED to the gills, SRO, in some cases DANGEROUSLY over-filled.

Pop is newer, prettier, and has a better location than the All-Stars. But All-Star Music seemed a little quieter, more subdued than Pop.

Picking up delivered packages at the Pop gift shop was way slower than at the All-Stars. Pop's store room is far away from the shop, while the All-Stars have store rooms behind the counters.

You can see some of the higher parts of Illuminations from Pop.

Parking at Pop is at a premium. If you have a car, it's much easier to get an up-close parking spot at the All-Stars.

Overall I liked Pop. I just like ASMU better.

 

[Amy&Dan]

I just got back from Pop today! It was in most ways very, very similar to ASMO (we stayed there in October). The only thing I liked better about Pop was that bathroom shelf a previous poster talked about! Really handy given the size of those sink areas. The larger safe was also nice. But we did like ASMO better. The food court at Movies was cleaner, less crowded and the food was better. I missed the salads I got there that I never did see at Pop. We also missed the total Disney theming of ASMO. I loved them both but we are staying at ASMO in May, that's what the kids picked! Pop is a great location. The buses were more crowded, we waited for over 30 minutes on Saturday night (this was around 45 minutes after park closing and it was still packed) and never waited more than 15 for a bus at MK back in October. I think you cannot go wrong with either. Our room at Pop was spotless and the mousekeeping was equally great at both. The check in at Pop took around 40 minutes on Friday the 28th at 11:30 at night. We had checked in at ASMO that exact same time (same flight for both trips) in October and it took maybe 5 minutes. Don't know if that is the norm or not. Parking was really a problem on Friday and Saturday nights in the 90's parking lot. We had to park in a totally different area which was no fun when we were taking all of those bags up! Sunday-Thursday was fine for parking. We also found the layout more confusing at first but we got used to it. I think Pop is really popular right now since it is newer but if you can save some money that might be a deciding factor. Good luck, hope this helps!

 

[Bobb G]

You can get the AAA rate for the POP. I did for July 4-13...$85 a night!

 

[areno79]

I was able to get the AAA with Pop too for May 1-7. I think it's easier to book directly with Disney's CRO though...plus if a better code comes along you can always change it if you've booked directly with Disney!

 

[Madi100]

My husband didn't like Pop. He liked Movies and Music. Pop is bigger, so while they don't share a bus, they have more people to put on it. I know at least in the morning for going to the parks, they are very good at getting the buses to the All Stars because there are so many people to get onto them. We stood a lot at Pop.

We aren't lazy by any means, but we thought that it was more convenient to get from the bus to through the main building at All Stars than at Pop. All Star Movies had a better Disney theme.

I think that given the same price that we would stay at Movies again vs. Pop if we were just going to be there to sleep. If we were going to be at the resort for any length of time I might choose Pop because the grounds are bigger and there is more to do.

 

[allisonwonderland]

ok..after reading everything and altoiugh i think POP looks wayyy cooler,,we will do the all stars,,,,the thinkgs that got me were the BUSES and the beds....we are going in JUNE..so less wait on a crowded bus for sure means somehting ..also......the beds,,,i have a hard enough time sleeping on hotel beds,,,sooooo.... all stars won..thanks!!!!