Pop Century or All-Star Music? WWYD?

[godders]

So I'm head back to Disney for my annual trip in October. I'm adding 4 nights to the trip and as I'm trying to work my way around the resorts I'm looking at two I have never stayed at - Pop and ASMusic

Price wise Pop is about £100 more expensive than a standard room at ASMu.

Buses - Pop/AoA are known to have awful lines and are generally the furthest away.

BUT I am very curious about the refurbished rooms at Pop. They look ideal for me as a solo traveller. So the question is...which should I go for?

If you were me would curiosity win out or if you've stayed at both which do you prefer? Are the cons to Pop just silly and I should definitely jump at the chance to stay there?

Help me oh great and wise DISers help me

 

[wonderstruck88]

I prefer Pop in general - I guess partly just because it's newer and I feel like that shows. But also because I really like the look of the refurbished rooms and am eager to try them out! I like my extra bed space.

 

[Denise K W]

Pop Century but that is just me though

 

[Disneylover99]

I would request a standard refurbished room at Pop before the prices go up.
If you decide on Music, go preferred due to the layout.

 

[tinkerbellandeeyor]

Pop music shares a bus with two other resorts and for that reason my family picked pop

 

[dansdad]

Pop music shares a bus with two other resorts and for that reason my family picked pop

While it's true that they do share sometimes, it is rare. Usually it's only during the slow travel times of the day. With over 45 nights total across all 3 All Stars, we were on a shared bus a grand total of 4 times. And each time there were maybe 6 other people on the bus.

 

[anneboleyn]

I am going against the grain here and voting for a Preferred Room at All Star Music. I have stayed at both, and the bus situation is what made me vow never to go back to Pop. While it is true they don't share a bus with other resorts except sometimes AoA, this just made the buses so packed that it was unreal. My daughter is still traumatized lol. The buses at All Star Music were less crowded, showed up more often, and as a result had much shorter lines at the bus stops.

I will admit that transportation is one of my biggest concerns tho, so if that stuff generally doesn't bother you, then the issues I had may not affect you at all!

 

[Sue M]

I voted Pop, refurb room. I don't have any experience with bus situation, as I've not stayed at Allstars, and only at Pop one night. But the theming of Allstars doesn't appeal to me.
I haven't heard of Pop sharing with AoA at all.

 

[godders]

I am going against the grain here and voting for a Preferred Room at All Star Music. I have stayed at both, and the bus situation is what made me vow never to go back to Pop. While it is true they don't share a bus with other resorts except sometimes AoA, this just made the buses so packed that it was unreal. My daughter is still traumatized lol. The buses at All Star Music were less crowded, showed up more often, and as a result had much shorter lines at the bus stops.

I will admit that transportation is one of my biggest concerns tho, so if that stuff generally doesn't bother you, then the issues I had may not affect you at all!

I completely rely on buses while I'm at Disney but the only big lines I usually encounter are the end of the night ones. For the most part it doesn't bother me but I will be 4 months into communting 2 hours everyday so a less packed/short queue bus might be the way to go.

 

[godders]

While it's true that they do share sometimes, it is rare. Usually it's only during the slow travel times of the day. With over 45 nights total across all 3 All Stars, we were on a shared bus a grand total of 4 times. And each time there were maybe 6 other people on the bus.

Yes I've stayed at Movies a couple of times and won't be travelling around during the day too much so that wouldn't be too much of a problem.

 

[godders]

How about the other amenities at the resorts? Does one food court/shop win out over the other?

I'm not generally a pool person so that doesn't bother me too much.

Or should I get in Pop before Disney puts the prices up

 

[HopperFan]

Picked POP refurbished because why not
but I would still pick POP standard over Music.
I'd pick offsite over Music so there was no contest.

 

[loves to dive]

I'd go with whichever one is less. The new Pop rooms look great but you aren't guaranteed to get one so unless the entire place is done, that's a risk. I've stayed at Pop and I've stayed at Sports and I like Sports better. It's a smaller resort, which means the common areas like the food court and the lobby are less crowded and noisy. As far as preferred, the All Stars are all pretty small, I can't tell you how many times I accidentally ended up at a different one while going to my car, so I don't really see any reason to pay extra for preferred. When I stayed at Pop, I got up early every morning and walked around the entire resort and over to AoA and around that resort and had to do another round around Pop to get 1/2 hour in so, for me, even the farthest room away, isn't really that far, so again, I wouldn't pay for preferred.

 

[HopperFan]

I'd go with whichever one is less. The new Pop rooms look great but you aren't guaranteed to get one so unless the entire place is done, that's a risk. I've stayed at Pop and I've stayed at Sports and I like Sports better. It's a smaller resort, which means the common areas like the food court and the lobby are less crowded and noisy. As far as preferred, the All Stars are all pretty small, I can't tell you how many times I accidentally ended up at a different one while going to my car, so I don't really see any reason to pay extra for preferred. When I stayed at Pop, I got up early every morning and walked around the entire resort and over to AoA and around that resort and had to do another round around Pop to get 1/2 hour in so, for me, even the farthest room away, isn't really that far, so again, I wouldn't pay for preferred.

AMSu is laid out different from all other values and so standards can be a very long walk, and at night a dark walk. I never book preferred at any resort, but ASMu would be a place I would book it.

 

[Catvondita]

I love POP but i think the new rooms look sterile and not cozy at all

 

[lampshadehead]

Even with the new rooms, I would never pay more to stay at POP again.

 

[Magalex]

Next week we will be staying at ASMU for the first time. This last minute trip was booked in May so we went with the choice our discount code matched the best with. It is the first time at Music. We stayed at POP 2 times. I never really had major problems at any of the Disney resorts. If room is clean, food court clean and cast members polite and friendly we are happy. I will try to return to this thread to give a quick review after our trip.

 

[Tulles]

What about a split stay? I too have a dream of staying at each resort and have found split stays make it easier to get them all checked off.

 

[warrenz1963]

We've stayed at both. I like the food better at POP. Never had a bus issue at either. I prefer the resort layout at POP. I felt the room was quieter at POP; room at All Stars seemed to have thinner walls. Front desk was more efficient, and more helpful, at POP. My vote is for POP.

 

[bookgirl]

I prefer Music to PoP.

I found the long lines and crowded buses at POP to be a bigger hassle than sharing the occasional bus with Sports and Movies.

I also found that Music was quieter than PoP.

I voted for preferred but I don't think the rooms are all that bad in the back of the resort so if you do go for a standard it's not awful.

Music is my favorite of the 5 values.