Pop, AoA, or CBR?

[michellej47]

I know, the dreaded help me choose post. I promise I've searched posts and done a lot of reading, but I'm typically an indecisive person and need some help...hahah!

We are (crazily) planning a late June trip. My son and I were supposed to go in April for a band trip and it got cancelled. We are hoping that the parks will be open in June, and if not, we'll just reschedule.

I have it narrowed down to Pop, AoA, and CBR. In most of my trips to Disney, we went with my parents and stayed at Shades of Green. I was definitely spoiled by the room size there! In February 2019, my daughter and I went and stayed at Pop, my first and only onsite stay. We really liked Pop. We did a preferred room and were in the 60's section and very close to the pool, food court, and bus stop. My only reservation about doing Pop again this time is that we are adding a grown man and a very tall teenaged boy, and Pop felt small to me when it was just my 9 year old (at the time) and I. I think we could swing it, but it would be tight. Is there any noticable difference in the room sizes here? I looked them all up but I'm not good at visualizing measurements!

 

[MsOnceUponATime]

I have stayed at all three. AoA when it was brand new, Pop after refurbishments and CBR with adults only.

If it were me, I'd stay in CBR. If nothing else, it's a great location....

 

[Lumpy1106]

Assuming you are staying in a studio NMW, I'd do POP. CBR is REALLY spread out - you could very well need to take a bus to get to the Skyliner or food service. AoA is really nice but the studios are in the far reaches - it's a bit of a walk back to the lobby. POP and AoA have very similar facilities. There's a slight difference in the unit sizes between POP/AoA and CBR but I don't think you'll notice.

 

[olwyngdh]

How much time are you planning on spending in the room? We stay at Pop, and have with our daughters, the first time our youngest was 7 and our older daughter 27. It worked even though our younger daughter kicked the &#^( out of her big sister in the full size bed. Now, with queen beds and added storage it would be easier. We don't spend time in the room though--it is a place to sleep, shower, and store our stuff. Our next trip is just my husband and me and two scooters. With the table bed and the queen size mattress, I think we will be fine. If we were spend time at the resort people we would probably go for a Mod, just for the hot tub, but after staying at Hard Rock at universal, probably not since I couldn't get the hubby into his suit and in the hot tub anyway.

 

[michellej47]

We do one day at the resort for pool and stuff, but we are park people. Just need a place to rest our head!

 

[JenBush]

If you're comparing a standard Littler Mermaid room at AoA to Pop, then I would choose Pop Century. The rooms are the same size yet about $40 less per night at Pop. The rooms at CBR are slightly larger than Pop, but if you are park people that might not really make a difference. It really just depends on how much your family likes to spread out in the hotel room. A couple years ago I stayed at Pop with my mom, sister(18 at the time), and family friend(21 at the time) and we didn't have any issues with space.

 

[Boopuff]

I stayed at POP with 3 adults. I felt it was snug. We did AOA suite, fantastic lots of room for 5 on that trip. I stayed at CBR many years ago, but the rooms there are a bit larger.

 

[TigerlilyAJ]

1) POP wins for price. I've considered it over getting AoA LM rooms again, because $40/day would be nice to have for souvenirs. Plus, they have queen beds to AoA's full.
But
2) I really like AoA resort theming a LOT better, including the pools, and I like AoA's Landscape of Flavors better than POP's eatery. I definitely would look over the menus if you think you might need to grab some food (breakfast snack, late-night snack, meals on your resort day) at your resort. (Same with looking at CBR's menus.)
3) CBR has two advantages: it's a moderate, so a step up in a lot of ways (including its restaurants), but they charge accordingly, and it's the Hub for Skyliner, so you can go directly to Epcot or DHS without changing gondolas. But if you won't spend much time there, won't eat at the restaurants, it might not be worthwhile unless you really value travel simplicity to two parks.

Really, they all have things to recommend them, and you'll enjoy your trip. GL!

 

[Sue M]

I’d stay at CBR and Pop and I noticed a big difference in room size. CBR rooms are the largest of the moderates. With 4 people no way I’d stay at Pop. When we stayed at CBR it was pre Skyliner, and resort overhaul. But we were in Jamaica and was a short pleasant walk over to food court and very close to bus stop. With Skyliner it would be nearby that too. Location is everything at many WDW resorts and I do my research and make my requests accordingly.

 

[Shellyred8]

The CBR rooms are larger...just make sure you don't get a "Pirate" room. Those rooms have double beds, not queen sized beds. If space is an issue, I would lean towards CBR. I agree that Pop might feel a bit cramped with your 4 people. But if you won't be in the room much, it might not matter that much.

I liked Pop because if nothing in their food court looked good, we just walked over to AoA's food court.

 

[hes122]

I've stayed at Pop on 4 trips and would pick that over AoA for the bed size alone. It's easy to go over to Landscape of Flavors for meals (we did that on this last trip) if you want a change of scenery. We had 3 adults on that trip and for all the time we actually spent in the room the closeness didn't bother us. I've not stayed at CBR, but if you're planning on significant resort time I would pick there over the other 2.

 

[OKWFan88]

I've stayed at Pop on 4 trips and would pick that over AoA for the bed size alone. It's easy to go over to Landscape of Flavors for meals (we did that on this last trip) if you want a change of scenery. We had 3 adults on that trip and for all the time we actually spent in the room the closeness didn't bother us. I've not stayed at CBR, but if you're planning on significant resort time I would pick there over the other 2.

How long is the walk from the POP food court to the AoA food court?

 

[hes122]

How long is the walk from the POP food court to the AoA food court?

Depends on which way you go. We took the long route (the outside path) and stopped to take pictures along the way. I'd say 10 minutes tops if you take the Generation gap bridge and don't stop to look around.

 

[Sue M]

The CBR rooms are larger...just make sure you don't get a "Pirate" room. Those rooms have double beds, not queen sized beds. If space is an issue, I would lean towards CBR. I agree that Pop might feel a bit cramped with your 4 people. But if you won't be in the room much, it might not matter that much.

I liked Pop because if nothing in their food court looked good, we just walked over to AoA's food court.

And at CBR you can walk over to the Riviera ! I’m Excited to try their CS option!

 

[Shellyred8]

And at CBR you can walk over to the Riviera ! I’m Excited to try their CS option!

We ate breakfast at Riviera's CS location the last time we were there. It was decent. They had some really good looking items in their bakery case too, so don't forget to look at that!

 

[Sue M]

We ate breakfast at Riviera's CS location the last time we were there. It was decent. They had some really good looking items in their bakery case too, so don't forget to look at that!

I was looking at menus and Riviera looked good. I was disappointed with new CBR food court. The old one had so many options. Now it just looks like a sterilized version of old one. Less options and zero atmosphere.

 

[maryj11]

We ate breakfast at Riviera's CS location the last time we were there. It was decent. They had some really good looking items in their bakery case too, so don't forget to look at that!

We are staying at CBR and plan to check out the CS over there. What is the name of the CS area?

 

[rascooby]

We are (hopefully) going in November. I did a lot of research trying to decide between CBR and POP. We have always stayed moderate. I ended up choosing POP because there were so many recent bus reviews for CBR that were terrible. We fly in and don't bring a car. I don't want to have to pay more for CBR and then add Uber to that. We have to get 2 rooms because my mom comes with us and we pay half her room in exchange for sending two of our 3 kids to that room. So, we only have 3 to a room. We aren't in our rooms much anyway. If I was going to switch to a moderate, POFQ would probably be my choice over CBR.

 

[maxiesmom]

If you listed any other moderate I would have said, pick that moderate. I dislike CBR. But I think 4 in Pop will be tight. Is there any other moderate available?

 

[maryj11]

If you listed any other moderate I would have said, pick that moderate. I dislike CBR. But I think 4 in Pop will be tight. Is there any other moderate available?

What do you not like about CBR? That’s what we have booked and I’m not sure if we will like it or not. I hear good things and bad things about it.