Pop VS. AS Movies

[iheartmickey1111]

Which do you favor, and why? Besides the small difference in price, is there really a difference between the two?

I've stayed at Pop and loved it (loved it more than Coronado Springs actually), but trying to keep our next trip as cheap as possible, so the price difference adds up- just wondering if there is really that big of difference in the two?

 

[firstwdw]

It seems that movies was just renovated. Interested to hear what others say- I am wondering the same.

 

[shburks]

We've stayed at both and love them both! We're going again in a few weeks and asked our TA to book either AS Movies or POP (whichever had military discount available)...I was secretly hoping for AS Movies but Pop had availability. I personally like the theming better at AS Movies!

 

[sbell111]

Same thing, different theming.

 

[mickeypedia]

I think basically it is the same thing but I like POP better because of Disney Transportation...with the AS resorts you have 3 bus stops (one for each resort) and even though the wait can be sometimes long for POP, once you are on the bus, you know you are going straight to your destination not another resort.

 

[JennyDrake]

Having stayed at both multiple times:

IMHO Pop has the better food court--I really like the grilled flat breads
Pop has 1,000 more rooms so that means upwards of 2,000 more guests and all the noise, etc involved.
I despise the layout of Pop's food court, guiding you through the gift shop to get into the food court (yes, I know you can go around--and I do)
Movies has fabulous theming
The sharing the bus issue to me is WAY over rated and over stated. At busy times each resort has its own bus. If you do pick up from other reorts, to me it is no different than a moderate resort with several internal stops. WHile you may be the last two board, two other stops have unboarded before you as well.

 

[*Fantasia*]

I think with POP, there's more activities going. CMs doesn't dance to the "Hustle" at 6pm at the food court at ASMovies, but they do at POP. Honestly, my favorite is ASMovies because of the theme. It shouts out "Disney" to me. At POP it shouts out.. "Nostalgic"... "Do you remember when?" I love both resorts for different reason. But as far as the layout and the rooms and the food court and the bus... they are pretty much the same.

 

[firstwdw]

How long are bus rides to the parks from the two resorts? Am guessing pop is closer? When do tour groups take over all stars? Any way find out? That is my one hesitation with all stars although movies is very appealing theme wise.

 

[raven69david]

We've done both and DD prefers Movies over POP simply because of the characters at ASMo. The icons at Pop Century she cannot really relate too as that's more for us that remember Big Wheels, rubik's cubes and such. The cool thing about Pop is that you get more resort exploring time by walking over to AoA and checking out the new resort. It's something to do after you return to the hotel or super early in the morning if you like to take a stroll around the resort like I do.

The All Stars do not regularly share buses with the other 3 resorts - each has its own buses. Each of the parks has it's own designated bus stops that take you directly to your specific hotel. They mostly share at night after park closing and they will be labeled as All Stars without mentioning the specific hotel they are going to. However during really slow times they will share buses. In countless trips to the All Star resort, we've only shared buses once, however I must state that we've used a rental car 95% of the time. The other 5% we learned the hard way that Disney transportation is not the fastest/easiest way to any of the parks. Within using the bus for a week, it seems like we lost nearly one entire day of park time and getting a bus at park closing was awful; this was all during Value season.

 

[Minnie-Mickey]

We have stayed at all the all stars and pop. I know this will not go over well but ...we do not like pop. Not even a little. We did stay in July but only because planned 4 days before leaving. It was a 4 day trip and we knew we would not use room much. Also, all stars showed no avail. once we put in CC number so to pop we went. Things I like about pop: own transportation, used to have frozen coke but no longer, new. Things I dislike: food court and store all one very loud, limited large trees like music. Did I say louder? Seems to be alot more people moving around .
Movies and music: Kids love the theming, food court and store separate, older so more mature trees in fact I love the landscape and trees at music very tropical. Bad can share busses at times, older so showing more wear
Both have tons of kids under 10.

 

[iheartmickey1111]

Thank you everyone for the input! After checking out the photos forum for Movies on here, I got SO pumped that I actually called to change my Sept res from Pop to Movies, but there was no availability I was SUPER excited about it!

BUT, the whole reason for the inquiry is for me and my mom's trip in April- her first visit, so I want to make sure to get a great resort for her so she has a great first impression. Really excited for Movies now! JUST booked it about 5 min ago actually!

thanks everyone!

 

[JennyDrake]

Things I dislike: food court and store all one very loud, limited large trees like music. Did I say louder? Seems to be alot more people moving around .

I was glad to hear someone else say this! I am probably over sensitive to noise as I live very, very rural, but I thought the noise levels in the food court at Pop were just horrific.

 

[Minnie-Mickey]

The level of the noise at pop vs music or movies is why DH refuses to go back to pop. I know people like it and it does have its perks but for us just too loud.

 

[lampshadehead]

As far as theming, Movies definately is more disney-like. The rooms were nicely refurbished, but POP may have been refurb by now as well since my stay in 2009.
The food court, honestly I think the noise levels are comparable (loud lol), and yes there are more people staying at POP, but the Food Court never seemed as crowded as it did at Movies. Matter of fact, my one and only gripe with Movies was the food court.
The buses are comparable, sometimes the the All Stars share and sometimes they don't. But it really didn't matter, EXCEPT the ME back to the airport. We had to pick up at the other AS resorts, I do remember that there was a truck blocking the entance to Sports for what seemed like forever, and then between stopping and loading all the people on at two different resorts and the traffic, the ME back to the airport was not as quick and easy as the Pop ME.
One more thing, I felt that the preffered room at ASMO was the same walking distance from the main hall and pool as the standard room we had at POP.