POP vs. ASM during free dining???

[txmomto1]

We have reservations at Pop in September (9/12-17). We went in January of this year, and stayed at All Star Movies. We liked Movies fine, the rooms where OK, we spent most of our time at the parks. We've decided to try pop this time. Is it a tremendous amount busier? I've read about long lines for buses, and CRAZY lines in the buffet. We only fill up on drinks, except for breakfast the last day.
I loved our trip in January, and hope to like Pop as much. What do you think?

Amber

Disneyland.... too many times to count
WDW off property 1982
WDW off property 1999
WDW All Star Movies January 2007
WDW POP September 2007

 

[fAnnF]

having stayed all the Value resorts. Pop is by far my favorite. I spend so little time in the room. The longest wait I've had for a bus leaving a park in the evening is maybe 10-15min. They great with the busses. One morning there were enough people waiting to go to MK that they sent 4 buses at once, and sadly there were people waiting to get on a bus. I'm staying at Pop again in September.

 

[DisneyGal358]

We LOVE Pop! It is a wonderful resort. Even during busy times of the year it is always very relaxing. It has never over-run. The resort is well spaced out (without feeling huge, or creating long walks).
The bus system is awesome! I say go for Pop all the way!
We'll be there for free dining too Sept 7th to 16th!

 

[WVParkfan]

All Disney resorts are great.

That said, we much preferred POP to the All-Stars. It is bigger, but that means that it is "roomier." I didn't feel as cramped and crowded at POP as I did at All Star Sports & Movies.

If you liked Movies, you'll love POP.

 

[calypso*a*go-go]

I've never stayed @ Allstars but one of the reasons why is because I read so many complaints about all of them sharing the same buses. We've been @ POP three times now and have never had a problem with transportation.

As far as the food court goes...yes, there are times where it is extremely busy but they get people through pretty fast and if you were to leave and go back 20 mins. or so later you'd never have guessed how busy it was.

 

[Kaler131]

We have stayedat Pop three times and it never felt too crowded to us. We LOVE Pop!

 

[minnie61650]

Here is a list of differences between the two resorts.

Pop is newer.
Pop was built in 2003.
All Star Movies was built in 1999.
All Star Sports and Music were built in 1994.

All Star Musicjust finished undergoing a refurbishment of all of the rooms June 2007.


All Star Sports is slated to be refurbished between June and November of 2007.

Pop has a lake. The All Stars do not have a lake.

When staying at the All Stars you use any of the All Stars pools.
The 3 All Stars are within easy walking distance of each other.

The gift shops are separate from the food court at the All Stars.
The gift shop and food court are combined at Pop.

Pop has 2,880 guest rooms. 4 floors in each building.
Each of the All Stars has 1,960 rooms. 3 floors in each building.

(Since POP has almost a thousand more room capitacity than each of the All Stars the bus lines at Pop are most likely going to be quite a bit longer than each All Star Line.)

Both Pop and the All Star rooms are 260 square feet.

The beds at the All Stars are movable.

the beds at Pop at bolted to the floor.

The far bed at an All Star is closer to wall. And the near bed is not as close to the doorway as it is at Pop

The far bed at Pop is pulled away from the wall more. The near bed is closer to door.
http://allearsnet.com/acc/asmv59.jpg
http://allearsnet.com/acc/popcent56.jpg

For most people that would not make a difference but since I need an ECV
the bed being so near the door at Pop makes it more difficult for me to back my EVC in.

 

[DisneyWisher]

Pop will be fine. Everything Linda stated is true. When Pop first opened that was the only place we stayed unless we were going Deluxe. That was until a check in took over 90 mins. After that we went back to AllStars. Buses can have long lines but thats usually in the morning when parks are opening or when they are closing. I love the music that they play at Pop. Usually depending on what bldg you are in is the decade the music will be from. The time that we were in 50's it was a lot of Elivs and oldies. Its nice to sit by the main pool sipping on a Boggie Down Margarita and enjoying the music. The one thing I don't like about Pop is parking. There just never seemed to be enough except for 50's. There is a lot by 80's and 90's but they are such a walk from the lobby area we never wanted to stay there. It was always park the car and leave it til we left.
One of the great things is the water area between 60's and 70's that has the sponge like floor. We saw so many kids enjoying that especially little ones where they can get wet and you don't have to worry so much about them being in a pool.
I think you will enjoy it. Check out allearsnet's website for more info and pics. Also check out the menus either there or here on Dis.

 

[DisneyWisher]

I've never stayed @ Allstars but one of the reasons why is because I read so many complaints about all of them sharing the same buses. We've been @ POP three times now and have never had a problem with transportation.

As far as the food court goes...yes, there are times where it is extremely busy but they get people through pretty fast and if you were to leave and go back 20 mins. or so later you'd never have guessed how busy it was.

I don't think of All-Stars as sharing. Even so there are alot of other resorts that share. CR, Poly, and GF all share buses. At least with All-Stars they are right next to each other. The Mods have several bus stops, basically the same as when you are staying at AllStars. Great thing about All-Stars is that there are constantly buses coming and going. I think the longest we've ever waited was 10 mins. A lot less than at AKL, WL and Poly. Shouldn't let the bus situation scare you away.

 

[minnie61650]

I don't think of All-Stars as sharing. Even so there are alot of other resorts that share. CR, Poly, and GF all share buses. At least with All-Stars they are right next to each other. The Mods have several bus stops, basically the same as when you are staying at AllStars. Great thing about All-Stars is that there are constantly buses coming and going. I think the longest we've ever waited was 10 mins. A lot less than at AKL, WL and Poly. Shouldn't let the bus situation scare you away.

I agree.

The Buses at the All Stars do sometimes share with the other All Star resorts.

The last few times I stayed at All Star Music our bus did not share with the other resorts on the way to the MK or from the MK.

Last year our Music bus which was on the to Epcot was only half full (a full bus had just pulled away) and we continued to pick up guests from All Star Movies. That was the only we shared on the way to the parks during my stay. The year before we shared about 3 times. (We stayed for 9 nights.)

At the MK each All Star had its own bus stop.

Sometimes at the other parks (last year at MGM and AK )All 3 Allstars were at one bus stop. The buses came more often so the lines were not too bad. The thing was on the way back the bus would stop at Sports first then Music and then continue on to let off the ASMo guests.

At Epcot All Star Music and All Sports shared the return bus stop. All Star Movies hadits own return stop.
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Here is my post about Bus Sharing at the All Stars:

A 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 Music share and Movies 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!)