Pop Century or Art of Animation?

[Megan138]

Hi! I'd appreciate your thoughts on which resort to choose for a December trip. We've never stayed at either of these hotels before but want to stay at a sky liner resort. There are 6 of us (2 adults, 3 teens and 11 year old) so we'd get a suite at AoA or two rooms at Pop Century. Thanks!

 

[fla4fun]

Hi! I'd appreciate your thoughts on which resort to choose for a December trip. We've never stayed at either of these hotels before but want to stay at a sky liner resort. There are 6 of us (2 adults, 3 teens and 11 year old) so we'd get a suite at AoA or two rooms at Pop Century. Thanks!

Will the kids have a problem sharing beds? At AoA there is a Murphy bed for two and a sofa bed for two (in addition to the bed in the bedroom which I assume the adults will use). At Pop you would have a total of four beds, so two kids would have to share a bed and the other two could sleep separately. That would be the decision maker for me. Keep in mind that you may not get connecting rooms at Pop (they are by request only and not guaranteed since there are two adults in the party).

Personally, I would prefer the AoA suite, even with the more restrictive sleeping situation. I like having the kitchenette and I like the walk in shower (some rooms at Pop have a walk in shower, but they aren’t guaranteed either). I prefer the theming as well. But both resorts are great and I have stayed at each of them several times.

 

[scrappinginontario]

Does budget play into your decision? Do you plan to use the kitchenette?

Art of Animation
- 1 queen
- 1 double pulldown bed
- 1double pullout sofa

Pop (based on 2 rooms)
- 2 queen beds
- 2 queen table beds (same mattress as regular queen bed)

Personally, I would always choose a bed over a pullout couch.

Pop is my favourite resort so my recommendation is Pop, especially as 2 standard rooms at Pop are approx $80 less/night than Cars or Lion King rooms in December and an even bigger savings vs Nemo Rooms.

Bigger beds, better mattresses and saves money. Pop is my recommendation.

 

[gottalovepluto]

Pop would give more privacy but can you trust the kids in their own room? Hopefully it will be connecting but even then it’s still more private than an AoA suite.

 

[saraheliz]

Like others have said, Pop gives you more sleeping space. That being said, we are a family of 5 ( two teens and an tween) and prefer the setup in the suites at Art of Animation. We like the setup (the two beds in the main area are a bit more separated, bigger fridge, microwave) but we only have one younger kiddo on the sofa. If we had two teens starting the sofaI might feel differently.

We did give our older teens (who share the table bed) the option of moving to two rooms this year and they both preferred staying at AoA to moving to two rooms at POP. We suggested other non-skyliner resorts too but it’s they favorite mode of transportation by far.

 

[Duckyswims1720]

Never stayed at Pop, but have stayed in the AoA family suites a few times. While I absolutely love that resort for my young family, the suites are not comfortable for 6 nearly grown people unless you’re used to roughing it. The pullout sofa is awful. Unless you have your heart set on using the pools there or having a microwave in the room, I would do 2 rooms at Pop.

I really hope AoA gets the sofa/queen murphy bed treatment in the next few years. I’d love it even more if they put actual fridges in the kitchenettes again. Right now the price just isn’t there for the value which is probably why Disney has to keep discounting the suites to fill them.

 

[Megan138]

Will the kids have a problem sharing beds? At AoA there is a Murphy bed for two and a sofa bed for two (in addition to the bed in the bedroom which I assume the adults will use). At Pop you would have a total of four beds, so two kids would have to share a bed and the other two could sleep separately. That would be the decision maker for me. Keep in mind that you may not get connecting rooms at Pop (they are by request only and not guaranteed since there are two adults in the party).

Personally, I would prefer the AoA suite, even with the more restrictive sleeping situation. I like having the kitchenette and I like the walk in shower (some rooms at Pop have a walk in shower, but they aren’t guaranteed either). I prefer the theming as well. But both resorts are great and I have stayed at each of them several times.

Thanks for this - the kids do like to sleep separately. It's ok if 2 have to share a bed but usually we try to rotate. That wouldn't work if there's only 3 sleeping surfaces. I don't think we would use the kitchenette but would miss the walk in shower.

Does budget play into your decision? Do you plan to use the kitchenette?

Art of Animation
- 1 queen
- 1 double pulldown bed
- 1double pullout sofa

Pop (based on 2 rooms)
- 2 queen beds
- 2 queen table beds (same mattress as regular queen bed)

Personally, I would always choose a bed over a pullout couch.

Pop is my favourite resort so my recommendation is Pop, especially as 2 standard rooms at Pop are approx $80 less/night than Cars or Lion King rooms in December and an even bigger savings vs Nemo Rooms.

Bigger beds, better mattresses and saves money. Pop is my recommendation.

I appreciate the response - no we don't plan on using the kitchenette. Usually we'll bring easy breakfast foods from home (breakfast bars, pop tarts, etc.) and eat lunch and dinner outside the room. I definitely like having more beds.

Pop would give more privacy but can you trust the kids in their own room? Hopefully it will be connecting but even then it’s still more private than an AoA suite.

Thanks - yes I trust them. When we were there in December 2024 we had two rooms at the Yacht Club and the kids did well in their own room. We've also done vacations since then where they were in separate hotel rooms (sometimes on different floors) and it wasn't an issue.

 

[Megan138]

Like others have said, Pop gives you more sleeping space. That being said, we are a family of 5 ( two teens and an tween) and prefer the setup in the suites at Art of Animation. We like the setup (the two beds in the main area are a bit more separated, bigger fridge, microwave) but we only have one younger kiddo on the sofa. If we had two teens starting the sofaI might feel differently.

We did give our older teens (who share the table bed) the option of moving to two rooms this year and they both preferred staying at AoA to moving to two rooms at POP. We suggested other non-skyliner resorts too but it’s they favorite mode of transportation by far.

Thanks so much! That's nice your teens wanted to stay at AoA - it must be a great resort. We took the Skyliner for "fun" when we were last at Disney and everyone loved it too so that's why I want to stay at one of the resorts this time.

Never stayed at Pop, but have stayed in the AoA family suites a few times. While I absolutely love that resort for my young family, the suites are not comfortable for 6 nearly grown people unless you’re used to roughing it. The pullout sofa is awful. Unless you have your heart set on using the pools there or having a microwave in the room, I would do 2 rooms at Pop.

I really hope AoA gets the sofa/queen murphy bed treatment in the next few years. I’d love it even more if they put actual fridges in the kitchenettes again. Right now the price just isn’t there for the value which is probably why Disney has to keep discounting the suites to fill them.

I appreciate this - with 3 older teens (18, 17 and 15) I think AoA will probably not work for us. We don't plan on being at the resort too much for this trip except for sleeping so I think the sleep surfaces are the most important consideration for us.

 

[brockash]

Hi! I'd appreciate your thoughts on which resort to choose for a December trip. We've never stayed at either of these hotels before but want to stay at a sky liner resort. There are 6 of us (2 adults, 3 teens and 11 year old) so we'd get a suite at AoA or two rooms at Pop Century. Thanks!

Hi! I'd appreciate your thoughts on which resort to choose for a December trip. We've never stayed at either of these hotels before but want to stay at a sky liner resort. There are 6 of us (2 adults, 3 teens and 11 year old) so we'd get a suite at AoA or two rooms at Pop Century. Thanks!

We'd probably do 2 rooms at Pop...better sleeping arrangements and probably cheaper. - While connecting rooms are never guaranteed; we have been going for over 20 yrs. at least once a yr needing connecting rooms and have always gotten it at any resort (Pop included several times) we've stayed at, so I cannot imagine you not getting it.

 

[Megan138]

We'd probably do 2 rooms at Pop...better sleeping arrangements and probably cheaper. - While connecting rooms are never guaranteed; we have been going for over 20 yrs. at least once a yr needing connecting rooms and have always gotten it at any resort (Pop included several times) we've stayed at, so I cannot imagine you not getting it.

Thanks! Yes - connecting rooms would be ideal. I'm glad you've gotten your request consistently. That definitely gives me hope!

 

[CarolynFH]

Thanks! Yes - connecting rooms would be ideal. I'm glad you've gotten your request consistently. That definitely gives me hope!

I’ve read here that if you call to book, instead of booking online, both rooms will be under the same confirmation number so more likely to connect.

 

[Megan138]

I’ve read here that if you call to book, instead of booking online, both rooms will be under the same confirmation number so more likely to connect.

Great - I'll do that. Thanks!

 

[Megan138]

Thanks everyone for all your responses! I've book 2 rooms at Pop for December. Looking forward to it!