Pop Versus All-Stars

[lucigo]

We have become Pop fans, stayed there in January and April this year. We will go back November 6-11 and are considering trying an All-Star just for a change. We REALLY like Pop, has anyone else done both and have an opinion about one versus the other? And if so, which All-Star do you like? The other option is to stay in a different building, we have done 50's and 80's.

Also, are there any big conventions or anything going on that weekend that we should avoid?

Now that we are a 2-room family we really need to stick to the values.

Thanks!

 

[Eeyore's My Favorite]

I'm one who will NOT go back to POP. We've had it with the masses and our last trip in September was very unmagical - too many issues to go into once again. That being said, we decided to go back to ASMu which we hadn't been to in years & loved it!!! The rooms have been totally refurbished, our standard room in the Jazz building was closer to everything in ASMu than our preferred room was at POP. Loved the curtain separating the bathroom area and the sleeping area. Beds were fabulous!!! The resort was so much more quiet than POP (it is alot smaller). The food court and shopping were just as good as POP - in fact to us the food was better. We only shared busses one time with the other AllStar resorts, so that wasn't an issue for us either. There were tons of activities every day for kids around the pool. The rooms were so quiet that we never heard the people next to us & no "turbo toilet" sounds or "smoke smell" through the vents either. Both of which were a big plus!! This is just my opinion, but next time we decide to stay at a value we'll be back booking at ASMu. Another plus for families are the Family Suites, too, which looked really nice.

 

[lucigo]

I'm one who will NOT go back to POP. We've had it with the masses and our last trip in September was very unmagical - too many issues to go into once again. That being said, we decided to go back to ASMu which we hadn't been to in years & loved it!!! The rooms have been totally refurbished, our standard room in the Jazz building was closer to everything in ASMu than our preferred room was at POP. Loved the curtain separating the bathroom area and the sleeping area. Beds were fabulous!!! The resort was so much more quiet than POP (it is alot smaller). The food court and shopping were just as good as POP - in fact to us the food was better. We only shared busses one time with the other AllStar resorts, so that wasn't an issue for us either. There were tons of activities every day for kids around the pool. The rooms were so quiet that we never heard the people next to us & no "turbo toilet" sounds or "smoke smell" through the vents either. Both of which were a big plus!! This is just my opinion, but next time we decide to stay at a value we'll be back booking at ASMu. Another plus for families are the Family Suites, too, which looked really nice.

Thanks for the input! I was afraid maybe the all-stars were older than Pop, but refurb sounds great! Is there a thread with pictures like the Pop pictures thread?

Our last trip to Pop we had an adjoining room. The 2nd half of our party arrived 4 days after we did, so for the first 4 days we had noisy neighbors and could hear every word through the connecting doors...so quiet sounds nice I don't think we would fit in a suite, I'm letting my teens bring friends, so we will have 7 or 8...do they have connecting rooms?

 

[tinawv]

They do have connecting rooms, but they are not guaranteed unless you are traveling with small children with only two adults. We are hoping to get two connecting rooms for our trip in August.

 

[WDW Newsletter]

We have stayed at all the AS and Pop. We absolutely love POP. TO us being bigger, more pools, newer, etc...it just seems that the AS are a downgrade. I am not sure that is truly the case we just simply love POP!

 

[tinkerbell3747]

I will be staying at POP for the first time in August 08, normally we stay at ASMo, but have decided on a change this go around. My question is the food....... I have viewed the menus on allearsnet.com and of coarse on the DIS and I was wondering if anyone can offer any thoughts on the two...which food court is better...do the offer pretty much the same things, other than "Mom's night out specials" we are very happy with the food at ASMo perfect for our family lots of choices not much we did not like really..... We will be at POP for 2 weeks so just a bit nervous about this aspect other than that we are totally excited about staying at POP

 

[lucigo]

They do have connecting rooms, but they are not guaranteed unless you are traveling with small children with only two adults. We are hoping to get two connecting rooms for our trip in August.

My kids will be 20, 17, 13 and 5...so if the rooms don't connect its not the end of the world for us, but it does make it more convenient.

 

[lucigo]

I will be staying at POP for the first time in August 08, normally we stay at ASMo, but have decided on a change this go around. My question is the food....... I have viewed the menus on allearsnet.com and of coarse on the DIS and I was wondering if anyone can offer any thoughts on the two...which food court is better...do the offer pretty much the same things, other than "Mom's night out specials" we are very happy with the food at ASMo perfect for our family lots of choices not much we did not like really..... We will be at POP for 2 weeks so just a bit nervous about this aspect other than that we are totally excited about staying at POP

The mom's night out was my favorite meal LOL The rest just seem too much like microwave meals. I might miss the tie-dye cheesecake too. Oh man..and do the all-stars have ice cream sundaes? Its no wonder I gained a few pounds on our last trip LOL

 

[Bobo912]

I will be staying at POP for the first time in August 08, normally we stay at ASMo, but have decided on a change this go around. My question is the food....... I have viewed the menus on allearsnet.com and of coarse on the DIS and I was wondering if anyone can offer any thoughts on the two...which food court is better...do the offer pretty much the same things, other than "Mom's night out specials" we are very happy with the food at ASMo perfect for our family lots of choices not much we did not like really..... We will be at POP for 2 weeks so just a bit nervous about this aspect other than that we are totally excited about staying at POP

At ASMo there is the place that has the fish, london broil, pork loin and lots of vegetables. There is nothing like that at POP. Because of that I like the ASMo foodcourt better.

 

[lucigo]

At ASMo there is the place that has the fish, london broil, pork loin and lots of vegetables. There is nothing like that at POP. Because of that I like the ASMo foodcourt better.

Now that sounds good...I kept getting the Mom's Night Out because I wanted the veggies!

 

[Eeyore's My Favorite]

Thanks for the input! I was afraid maybe the all-stars were older than Pop, but refurb sounds great! Is there a thread with pictures like the Pop pictures thread? QUOTE]

There is a really great thread with tons of pictures and information by Linda who gave us so many facts, etc. that I felt like we knew exactly where we wanted to be, etc, before we even arrived. She has tons pictures in the thread too.

To us POP is beginning to look very worn and dirty. Our biggest problem was the location of our preferred room (far away from everything except noisy, rude neighbors) and so many unruley and unsupervised kids running all over the place after 10pm at night. We had so many issues at POP that I wrote WDW and got emails and a phone call with nice restitution for the unmagical vacation. We're AP holders so we tend to take mini-trips quite frequently and ASMu was so nice and relaxing after the bad trip to POP.

Hopefully you'll enjoy your stay, too!!

 

[lucigo]

Thanks everyone for your replies and links! After researching it I booked ASMo. It seemed to have several things my DS with autism is going to love, and hopefully November won't be TOO crowded.

Thanks again