Pop Century vs. a moderate

[lovedoggies]

I cant believe it but I made us reservations for Jan using the Disney visa deal. We are going to Disneyland in Dec so it almost seems silly to go again so soon but this deal really seemed too good to pass up.

I made our reservation at Pop Century but now I am thinking that maybe we should upgrade to one of the moderate hotels. We stayed at the Yacht Club last time we went and loved it. I am afraid that Pop Century will be too much of a downgrade. It looks like a fun place to stay but doesnt seem to have all the services that the Yacht Club had. Does Pop Century have hot tubs? The parks all close early in January, what do people with kids do at night? Kind of cold to swim, but a hot tub would be nice. What other things? Downtown Disney?

SO I guess I want to know if you think we will be dissapointed with Pop Century and wish we had upgraded. I dont know how much it would be to go to the moderate from the price we have, I guess I should find out before I make a decision. Any advice is welcome!

Thanks

 

[hmillerbarilla]

Do you mind me asking, what Disney visa deal? I have a disney visa... What's the deal?

I have stayed at ASMu once.. and for one night. We're a moderate resort family... If you liked the YC I would guess you might be thankful you went with a moderate. But then again, I don't even know if all the moderates have hot tubs... but they are lovely. We love the CBR. It's peaceful and beautiful, and really a great place to stay. Everyone has their favorite resort though, so I'm sure you'll get a lot of advice!

 

[Lollipop's Mom]

hmiller - look at the top of this resorts board and go to the codes/rates board - you will find all the deals there.

 

[Ham Ham]

We loved Pop and would stay there again without hesitation!

We've also stayed at Saratoga Springs, Beach Club Villas and All Star Music.

The latter would be the only one we would not stay at again. Due to what I found to be very crowded buses that are shared by all the All Star Resorts.

Bus service seemed better at Pop.

 

[minnie61650]

We loved Pop and would stay there again without hesitation!

We've also stayed at Saratoga Springs, Beach Club Villas and All Star Music.

The latter would be the only one we would not stay at again. Due to what I found to be very crowded buses that are shared by all the All Star Resorts.

Bus service seemed better at Pop.

I think the bus situation has changed at All Star Music since you were there.

All Star Music has a decicated bus going to the parks in the mornings.
We headed straight to theparks even if the bus was less than half full.
WORD ABOUT BUS SHARING

To me Bus Sharing at the All Stars is really a non issue.

In the mornings during Park opening hours each All Star usually has a dedicated bus.
During mid day it is usually just our stop and maybe one more on the way to the parks. On the way back sometimes it is all 3 but often Sports and Movies share and Music has it's own bus back. Each of the All Stars usually has it's own dedicated bus back from the MK.
That is a big plus. It seems like the Music bus stop usually has the shortest of the three All Star bus lines.
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!)

---------------------------------------------------------------------
Mod vs. value:

POFQ is not as spread out as the other mods or the values.


POR CBR and CSR are very spread out.

The Values are laid out closer together.

The mods have pool slides, a hot tub and a sit down restaurant (POFQ doses not have a sit down restaurant but shares with POR.

There is not much room size difference between a mod and a value.

Here is the layout of a mod.
The bathroom is about the same size as the All Stars but you will have 2 sinks instead of one.

POR room lay out

here is the All Star room layout'

All Star room layout

The mod has 54 square feet more than the value.
That means if both the mod and the value room were 27 feet long than the mod would be 2 feet wider. Just enough room for a double sink or a sink with larger vanity area instead of a single sink.

To me there is not a lot of room size difference.

The theming at the values are a lot fun and the color are bright.
Little ones seem yo really enjoy the icons at the values.

The theming atthe mods is more laid back.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[Ham Ham]

I think the bus situation has changed at All Star Music since you were there.

All Star Music has a decicated bus going to the parks in the mornings.
We headed straight to theparks even if the bus was less than half full.
WORD ABOUT BUS SHARING

To me Bus Sharing at the All Stars is really a non issue.

Glad to hear they've worked on the bus issue.

Here's a little of what we endured

The whole week were there, in August of '06, it was shared buses and it was horrible.

Buses would arrive full at the ALL Star Music. Often had to wait for 2 or 3 buses to come before we were able to get on.

Always massive lines at the parks to return to the ALL Star resorts, no dedicated buses.

We were told that since it was not 'peak season' that that is how the schedule for transportation worked.

Experiencing what we went through I wouldn't describe as "non issue".

It we every need to stay at a moderate again POP Century is our choice.

Excellent comparison between Value and Moderate resorts.

 

[mickeystoontown]

I think you might want to consider a stay at the Caribbean Beach Resort. It's not the Yacht Club you loved so much but it has a Caribbean/beach feel to it.

The rooms at the CBR are a little larger than the other moderates at 340 square feet. The extra space comes in handy especially since I always bring too much stuff and I always buy too much stuff while on vacation.

The CBR is a large resort but that's the appeal of it. It's large enough the guests are distributed all around and you never get the crowded feeling. the walk around the lake's resort is just 1.4 miles and the food court/full service
restaurant/marina are in the middle so, even if you are situated at the furthest point, you are never more than half of the 1.4 mile walk. You can pay for a preferred location and you'll be very near Old Port Royale.

The bus service ran efficiently during both of our stays. We never waited long for a bus and sometimes, in the mornings, there were two and three buses at the bus stop at once. The bus stops at the CBR are covered keeping you sheltered from the Florida weather. We also found that the evening buses ran frequently. Only twice did we have to wait for two buses to run before we got a seat but it was our choice both times. I saw many families behind us that had small children and we let them pass in front of us. Our son is 10 now and he doesn't mind getting back to the room a little later.

Because the CBR is centrally located, it never took us long to reach any Disney destination. I actually timed our ride to MGM Studios and, from the time we boarded, made our round around the resort and pulled into our bus stop at MGM, the ride was just 11 minutes!

The food court at the CBR had a pretty large selection of foods to choose from. You could find the typical burgers, hot dogs, chicken strips (kids' meals come in a sand pail they can keep), and pizzas. But, you could also dine on the fresh made salads, deli sandwiches, rotissiere meats and vegetables. The breakfast foods were good too especially the fresh baked items we found in the grab n go section.

Each CBR village has a quiet pool and a white sandy beach. The beaches hammocks and beach chairs and we watched some of the Epcot fireworks from the beach.

The island in the middle of the lake is a nice place to get in a little quiet time. There are picnic tables, hammocks and plenty of benches and gliders. Steel drum music plays around the island too.

At the marina, you can rent watermice, pontoon boats, bicycles and surrey bikes. We rode the surrey bikes and we walked around the promenade and got a look at the rest of the resort. There were lots of tropical trees, foliage and flowers growing. We also saw ducks, cranes, squirrels, bunnies and lots of little scampering lizards.

We really like the CBR and would highly recommend it to anyone.

Hope this helps in your decision making process.

 

[mollyseven]

We have stayed at POP and CBR and this time are choosing POR.
We would have stayed at CBR in a minute except for the construction. RIght now there are pictures posted of the construction on the beach but starting in Jan. the main pool will also be closed. That is a big deal for us.
We loved loved loved CBR though and will stay there again another time.
We really wanted CSR but it is full so choose POR because we wanted to upgrade from POP.
THe rooms although not much larger sure do feel bigger. The extra hooks above the storage bench and the storage bench are great....the beds are high enough to put luggage under and the extra space around the sinks and the curtain are lovely. We love the fridge...a bottle of wine or breakfast stuff is great in there.....we keep milk and water cold in there also.
The mod's are also more about ambiance...they have lots and lots of trees and it is more relaxing....although my kids and us loved pop....it is very motel-ish....no trees and very busy with small families...plus the 1 bus stop....that is crazy....although in January it won't be an issue!
Definitely if you can afford it---upgrade you won't be dissappointed that you did but if you don't you might be dissappointed that you didn't.

enjoy.

 

[lovedoggies]

thanks for all the input. I am still torn! The deal we have is so awesome, and its about $300 more for the 5 nights to upgrade. Im wondering if its worth $60 something more a night to go to a moderate... I can afford it, thats not the issue - it kind of takes away some of the feeling of getting such a great deal.

But if I get there and wish I would have upgraded, that'd be a worse feeling. I need more convincing I think!

 

[mollyseven]

60 bucks a night is what we have just paid to upgrade for our 9 nights in march....I think it's a deal
when I think of our 2 stays (pop and cbr)
better pools with slides
bigger rooms
a sit down restaurant (we never used) is nice to know you have if you decide
better bus service for sure
rooms with a fridge and coffe maker for sure
beautiful surroundings which you definitley DO NOT get with values....mod's have lovely gardens and beautiful mature trees...you look out your window or sit outside your room surrounded by trees....even in January...we were there in january this year and sat out on our porch everynight...they also have little patios in each area of rooms with tables and chairs it's lovely.
It is definitely worth it plus with the upgrade you are rreally only paying slightly more than you would've if you hadn't gotten a deal at all!!!

you won't regret it!

 

[hmillerbarilla]

I have to say, with little kids the fridge is such a benefit. If you pay for a fridge at POP that will just make your deal not as great.
I am also a HUGE CBR fan, just LOVE it there. And, I usually have a pack-n-play with me and I can't imagine fitting a crib in the values. We could barely move around in it and that was just me, my sister & my DD at the time. Now with having 2 kids I can't imagine doing a value. I really appreciate the extra 50+ sq ft. Maybe I just pack too much too.... Seems like little kids just need so much equiptment! The double stroller, the crib, the everything!!!!!!!!!

 

[Calgary DISHeads]

Now it's been awhile since we were at CBR but the bus service was much worse than either ASsports or Pop. We really liked Pop and would go back in a flash. To us the determination between a value, moderate and deluxe is how much time we are spending at the resort. This time we are planning on a fair amount of time so are staying deluxe. Last time was all parks, then we moved to Hard Rock Hotel and had our down time there so we stayed at Pop. We were there in Jan and found that we had no problem filling in the evenings with dinnner, different parks being open later and we almost always swam when we got back to Pop, usually around 9, 10pm.

 

[spalady]

My DD's are 15 and 12,we are in the process of planning our trip in June. DH and I want to stay at WL or even POR but my kids want to go back to POP. They loved it there. We have stayed at several resorts but I guess they like the fun POP has to offer. Even though it is a smaller resort it didn't seem to bother us at all~we weren't in our rooms very much~even some nights we just went to the food court or hung out. We had a blast at POP but I do know how confusing the decision can be. Good luck!!!

 

[michelle1]

We usually stay at moderates but I just came back from a 4 night stay at POP with just myself and DD. While I enjoyed POP for the short time we were there, anything longer and with my whole family I would stay at a moderate again. The rooms are a little bigger but seemed quieter at the mods. The POP walls are thin and we heard quite a bit of noise from other rooms. POP is a fun atmosphere but we did miss the waterslide and the hot tub at the end of the day. CSR is a great mod with a big water slide, huge pool and hot tub as well as beach volleyball, ping pong, bike and boat rentals so if it is a little cool to swim there are other things to do. Have fun whatever you decide!

 

[eyeheartgoofy]

I've never stayed at POP, but I stayed at POR two weeks ago for a 3 night trip.

I was waffling back and forth between POP and POR. On the one hand, I had stayed at a moderate before (CBR) and was not at all impressed with the place. On the other hand, I really liked the idea of a privacy curtain, a fridge and an extra sink at POR. Then again, POP was CHEAPER and seems to get very good reviews on the Disboards!

I was also very worried about bus service at POR as I had read lots of bad reviews (tried to book POFQ, but no AP rate was available for my dates). I figured the bus service would be fine at POP because I really haven't read that many complaints.

Well, I am really glad I ended up choosing POR. The resort was delightful. The main pool area was so nicely themed and the grounds were really nice and peaceful. We didn't have any problems with bus service and our room in the mansion section was about 5 minutes from the main building and about 5 minutes from a bus stop (that was not the bus stop in front of the main building - that stop was busy, ours was not!). We enjoyed a trip to DTD on the boat. I just found POR to be a nice, relaxing place - a great place to unwind after the parks. I actually enjoyed POR more than OKW - the marina and pool areas just seemed nicer to me at POR.

I did get a chance to visit POP. The food court was really good (never ate at POR food court, so can't comment) and the pool area looked lively. But I just didn't get the relaxing vibe. There is no escaping the POP theming! I can see why little kids would LOVE the place, but it was too much for me (my favorite resort is WL - I like the perceived isolation after a day in the parks).

 

[fakereadhed]

Just back from another stay at POP. I don't know what age your kids are but my 3yo DS loves Goofy's Pop Jets. There are also 3 themed pools, no slides, but the kids enjoy them just the same. There is no hot tub. The walk by the lake is relaxing, and you can head to the 50's section 4th floor balcony to view Illuminations at night. There are hoola hoops and chalk out front for the kids, and ping pong by the pool. If you feel you need a fridge, head over to the budget board and get in on a fridge swap. I have done one before, but we really didn't use it that much so I probably won't do it again myself

Is it the Yacht Club? No way! But it has it's own charm.
POP is a great value and I don't think you will be disappointed.

 

[whogirl'smom]

We, just stayed at Pop last month and really enjoyed it. No, there aren't any hottubs, but the pools were great. Food at the food court was very good, too, and no, it didn't seem like a very long walk there and we were in the 50's. To us, a moderate just isn't worth the extra money when the rooms aren't much bigger, and even though they have two sinks, most of them are pedestal and you lose the counter space. Both have double beds. Next time we are looking at the Swan or Wilderness Lodge; I would definitely stay at Pop again, or pay a little more for a deluxe but that's just us!

 

[1DISNEYLVR]

I have stayed at POP twice and also stayed at POFQ this past summer. I don't think I would ever spend the extra money to stay at a mod resort again. We just liked POP so much better. We didn't like the food court at POFQ. The food court at POP was much larger & had a bigger variety. The bus service at POP was also much, much better in my opinion. All the stops at POR made it take forever to get anywhere. We really liked the fun atmosphere at POP too. I have heard people complain about the noise & "thin walls" at POP. We never had any problems with noise there at all. From now on I will either stay at a deluxe or POP.

 

[daboss]

I have stayed at all three levels and let me say that the delux resorts are awsome. However, I would probably not stay at a moderate again. To me the additions is not worth the bang for your buck. POP is a wonderful resort and if unable to afford the delux would prefer to stay there. I think it depends on what you want out of the vacation. The few extra sq. feet in the room is not important to me. The sit down rest in CBR would likely not be a repeat performance for me, so no benfit there. the CBR pool is nice, but we can live without the slide. (I will miss the hot tub)! When we do the parks during the shorter park hours we usually only get a quick swim in at night anyway. DS and I are going in a few days and staying at POP. We are planning on a lazy trip and he is perfectly happy with the pool at POP. We are only going to MK for the MVMCP. I think we can spend our $60 a day much better, we are going to try Quest this trip. It is all personal preference and how you chose to spend your money.

 

[lovedoggies]

I want to thank you all for your comments and suggestions. We have decided to stay at Pop Century and instead of spending money to upgrade we'll make the trip more fun by allowing my daughter to bring a friend.

I know the room will be a tight squeeze, but I think even the moderate room would be, too. I am sure the girls (both 10 year olds) will enjoy the in your face theming of Pop Century and it'll be fine.

The only thing my daughter really wants to do is get a hairwrap. Do they do them anywhere at this hotel or will we have to go to the Yacht & Beach club for it? Not that I mind going there, of course. We love that place!