POP vs. All Stars?

[cwf1028]

OK, we stayed at ASMo this past spring and I am booking POP for 2009. I wanted to make this trip different, but now I am getting worried about changing to POP. We loved ASMo. My concern is that from what I can tell there are 600 or 800 (can remember right now) more rooms at POP than the All Stars. Does this mean more crowding at the bus stops (coming and going) and the food court? Do they account for higher number there than at the All Stars? Does anyone have any experiences they can share with me. I am thinking about moving back to ASMo, but I wanted to make this trip a little different.

 

[SqueakyMouse]

I love all the Disney resorts, from the values to the deluxes...for different reasons, obviously. We just returned from a stay at Music. Our room was in like-new condition and service was fantastic (not sure if this was due to the extended Pilot program). The grounds were in pristine condition (the complete oppositive of what we experienced at POR in July!!!) The kids enjoyed the "idea" of being able to participate in the pool-side afternoon activities and watching the movies in the evenings more than they actually did them. Still, it was nice to know they were on offer if we needed some resort entertainment for the kids.

This past July, we spent one night at Sports before heading over to POR. Our Sports room was so newly refurbbed that it still smelled faintly of fresh paint. The grounds here also seemed quite clean and well-kept.

While I loved Pop the last time we stayed there (over a year ago), I don't think I want to return until the rooms are refurbished. During our last visit, we noticed that things were becoming a bit worn and threadbare already. After more than 12 months and lots of visitors, I can only imagine how much worse it has become. Also during our last visit, all areas of Pop appeared to be understaffed. We waited in lines to check-in and purchase food in the food court and waited for luggage and towels to be delivered to our room.

As far as transportation goes, it's hard to tell. We've stayed at Pop when there have been huge lines both going and returning from the parks and when things were not so crazy. However, we never experienced a bus that was not completely full. At the All Stars, we've sometimes had to share buses with all 3 resorts. Thus, the buses could be quite full. However, we've never had to wait for the next bus (as we had to do many times for both POFQ and POR which share buses). When the resort is busy, the 3 All Stars do not share buses. Thus, there were times last week when my family was the only one on a Sports bus. There were also plenty of times when we had to stand.

My advice: choose the resort that appeals to you most (or offers the best rate ).

 

[Eeyore's My Favorite]

We're choosing to go back to ASMu after stays @ POP due to many things. Alot of it having to do with the fact that POP is a much larger resort, houses alot more people and in September with free dining it was packed. Also, this time around it seemed like there were alot more kids roaming free all hours of the night, more rude hotel guests and overall it just wasn't the fun feeling we'd had in the past. Also, as another poster has mentioned, POP is beginning to look run down and a bit understaffed at times. However, the food court & shopping is great & so were the busses. Never had to wait long at all to catch a bus to the parks or actually returning from them either. We just didn't enjoy POP overall and want to try somewhere that's been refurbished and possibly a bit quieter than POP. But if you're up for noisy, unruley kids and guests on a much larger scale than the AllStar resorts - then POP's your place.................