Pop or AS Movies????

[edk35]

Any takers on which one they preferred? Has anyone stayed at both? What parks are they each close to?

 

[annie1995]

I definately would say POP, you don't need to share buses like at the all stars. I think POP is close to MGM if I am remembering correctly!

 

[mimiloveswdw]

Yes, we've stayed at both and we have just returned from a wonderful stay at POP, so I would recommend POP based on overall atmosphere, good transportation (as stated before, you do not share busses), and location (you're extremely close to MGM). I hope you have as magical a trip as we had!

Mimi, sad that she's not going back until next year!

 

[DreaminDisney]

My family just had this dilemma about which one.....POP or ASMo.... We decided on ASMo. My DS (8) made final decision. Felt ASMo was just more "Disney"

 

[minnie61650]

I prefer the All Star resorts.

Here is a site with a map of All Star Sports and All Star Music.
http://www.wdwinfo.com/resortmaps/allstarmap.htm
Scroll down.All Star Music is at the bottom of the page.
The Calypso buildings at All Star Music are #1 and #10 are nearest to the food court and bus stop.
They are the preferred buildings and cost about $12 extra per night.
The Calypso pool at ASMU has Donald Duck.

Here is the map of All Movies.
http://www.wdwinfo.com/resortmaps/allstarmovie.JPG
The Fantasia Buildings are the preferred buildings.
The All Star Movie Fantasia pool has Mickey.
The buses are wonderful.
Bus ride times according to PassPorter.com
All Star Movies has pop up fountains now also.
Bus rides are shorter from the ALL Stars than POP according to PassPorter.com

All Star Buses------------Pop buses
MK 20 min---------------MK 25 min
Epcot 10 min------------Epcot 20 min
MGM 10 min--------------MGM 15 min
AK 10 min----------------AK 15 min
DTD 15 min---------------DTD 20 min

The All Star resorts have 1960 rooms each.
Pop has 2,880rooms.
That means more people in the pools,food court and in line waiting for the bus at POP.
When phase 2 of POP is built it will be 2 bus stops at POP and the 2 POPs will have the same # of rooms as the 3 All Stars.

Also All Star is closer to the main road to get to parks and thats why bus rides are shorter from there than from POP.

A WORD ABOUT BUS SHARING:

It is usually just our stop and maybe one more on the way to the parks. On the way back sometimes its all 3 but often Sports and Music share and Movies has it's qwn bus back.

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!)

I love the All Star Resorts --they can't be beat. I have visited WDW more than a dozen times with the 1st time in Oct. 1971. It was brand new. I've stayed at FW, Disney Inn, a few the of Hotels on hotel Blvd., CBR and the towers at the Contemporary. I got to see the MK from my balcony at the Contemporary and I'm happy I got to experience it once. I just prefer the All Star Resorts.
The theaming is pure Disney.
My last 4 visits have been at The All Stars and this fall when we take dd,dsil, and our grandson age 3 we are staying at the All Stars Music. I thought about AKL and even though we can well afford AKL I just wanted Alex to experience the Disney Magic at the All Stars on his first visit.
Where else can one find Donald Duck or Mickey Mouse at the pool?
I can hardly wait.
Linda

 

[DizGeek]

Pop is just south of Epcot and All Stars if SE of Animal Kingdom. I have a great satellite picture of WDW and it cleary shows the resorts....I just wish I knew how to post it.

Both are very similar....we stay at Pop basically because its newer. You'll enjoy either one....or maybe hate either one!

 

[edk35]

Thanks for all the great info. I guess it comes down to just picking one and stopping the back and forth. LOL I think no matter where you stay...be it value or Deluxe....there will always be some positive and negative to all of the resorts. I think Movies looks soooo cute and it does seem closer. Thanks again.

 

[2x_dis_dad]

We have stayed at both. We liked ASmo much better. We just didn't care for POP. ASmo doesn't share buses like the other 2 all stars. We always had a separate bus with ASmo. We really like the theme at ASmo.

 

[edk35]

Oh is that new....seems everything I have read says ASM shares with Music and Sports.......I see you have been to Movies a lot too.

 

[addicted2disney]

2x_dis_dad..
Movies has its own bus now? We stayed at Movies for a weekend in January before we moved to a different resort, and I dont remember having our own bus at all. I know way back in 99, the all stars all had their own bus. We havent stayed at movies (besides the 2 days in Jan) for a few years.. I was just wondering if they have changed that back? I really think we are going to stay there at Thanksgiving ( weve been staying at sports because the bus always stopped there first) and Im really interested in hearing more about the buses.

 

[lovethattink]

I like Movies the best out of the 2.

The reason I say Movies is that I've stayed there twice and Pop once. My room was at a great location in Pop, but it was very noisy. Check in was shear toture for me at Pop. Took over an hour to get to the check in desk the line was that long. Never had trouble at Movies with check in. Although, if you arrive at the resort after a Magic Express bus pulls in, I guess that you can plan on a wait anyway. Twice when we stayed at Movies, once at Mighty Ducks and the other time at Dalmations, our rooms were quiet. I like being located near the Mighty Duck pool since it is the least busy of the 2 pools.

This is what I did like about Pop. The Goofy fountain was great for little ones. The twister game was fun.

 

[icebaby]

Been to both. Movies has more of a 8 years and younger Disney feel. Pop I feel is good for tweens. Both have advantages with being a value resort. Pop depending on your room location you can view Illuminations over Epcot, newer rooms. Movies have better pools. No matter what your choice it's a good one because you are on Disney property and get all the perks that go with it - like early/late extra hours, transpotation, etc.