Preferred or Standard - POP

[tracylynnhare]

We are arriving in NINE days. Yes, I am excited. LOL
We are currently booked (2 preferred rooms) at POP. I am hearing a lot of negativity about the food court due to the refurbishment. I am wondering:

1) I see alot of people saying go eat at AOA. Is a preferred room going to make that a pretty long walk? Should I ask to switch to a standard room if I want to eat "on the skyline" somewhere?

2) If I change my reservation to a standard room, what building/room would be best for being "near" the pool and the skyline?

 

[Lesverts]

Preferred rooms are in the central buildings. 70's, 60's and 50's. There is a website that will let you do a room search but I am not sure if it is allowed to be mentioned or not. Preferred rooms will keep you closest to the central axis of the resort making any walk to the skyliner/main building/AoA a lot easier and shorter. I recently stayed and last minute switched from standard to preferred and do not regret it at all. Did not want to risk being in the 80s or 90s. I was in 4462 and it was a perfect location. Light noise, close to everything and so much shorter walks to the skyliner.

 

[Finerfam]

I've stayed at Pop twice, booked a preferred room the first time and got the 70s section by the pool the first time and the second time booked a standard room and got the 90s section. This may not be a popular opinion but I preferred the 90s section! I thought it was nicer being away from the hustle and bustle of the main lobby and pool. The resort really isn't that big and it was still easy to walk to the skyliner and over to AOA.

 

[Genie+]

Preferred rooms are in the central buildings. 70's, 60's and 50's. There is a website that will let you do a room search but I am not sure if it is allowed to be mentioned or not. Preferred rooms will keep you closest to the central axis of the resort making any walk to the skyliner/main building/AoA a lot easier and shorter. I recently stayed and last minute switched from standard to preferred and do not regret it at all. Did not want to risk being in the 80s or 90s. I was in 4462 and it was a perfect location. Light noise, close to everything and so much shorter walks to the skyliner.

If you’re talking about Touring Plans it is allowed.

A good way to check if another site is allowed to be discussed here is by typing your post and then hitting the Preview Button (the little icon in upper right corner with page and magnifying glass). That will show how your post will look after posting. If the site is not allowed it’ll show up as asterisks.

Touring Plans is common enough they don’t enforce writing the complete web address. Technically that’s what you’re supposed to do when mentioning info about other sites.

https://touringplans.com/walt-disney-world/room-finder

Now if I write out a site address not allowed it’ll just look like this after I post it: *******.com

 

[Disneylover99]

I’d request the 60’s section. There are preferred and standard rooms available in both 60’s buildings. I personally like the standard rooms better at Pop.

 

[mort1331]

Save the money and get extra snacks that you will walk off with the small extra 3 mins of walking...its not that far compared to what your doing in the parks each day. enjoy

 

[Genie+]

Save the money and get extra snacks that you will walk off with the small extra 3 mins of walking...its not that far compared to what your doing in the parks each day. enjoy

That’s funny. You’re probably right.

But I also think time and stamina have a value at WDW. If preferred helps you bop in and out to the QS, pool, skyliner, etc, that can help get more done during a trip. And by Day 3 or 4 coming back to the room at night? Most people at that point would pay a quarter per foot for a closer room lol.

 

[Naomeri]

I prefer () the preferred rooms at Pop. Last spring, I ended up way way way at the far end of the resort in a standard room, and since I was there for a runDisney weekend, I resented every extra step (it didn’t help that the runDisney bus stop was also the furthest one from my end of the resort) And with the time it took to walk to the skyliner, get on, and ride to CBR to switch to one of the park lines, I think it would’ve been quicker to just walk to CBR (if there were a path)

 

[Lesverts]

I am more ok with not a preferred room in the cooler times. In the hot times. I want to be able to get to my room ASAPy from the bus or skyliner.

That said: Absolutely never again preferred pool view. Those are nope rooms for weird people that can sleep through anything.

 

[AJ1983]

I've stayed at Pop twice, booked a preferred room the first time and got the 70s section by the pool the first time and the second time booked a standard room and got the 90s section. This may not be a popular opinion but I preferred the 90s section! I thought it was nicer being away from the hustle and bustle of the main lobby and pool. The resort really isn't that big and it was still easy to walk to the skyliner and over to AOA.

We LOVE the 90's section and always request it (we book standard pool view). I agree, longest walk anywhere is to the Skyliner which is less than 5 minutes

 

[DizneyFamof4]

We stay POP a lot and do a standard room and just request a room facing Hour Glass lake, usually we are pretty lucky with it. Like others have said the walk difference is not much at all. The one time we did a preferred room, our room was not in the center but off to the side right by the standard rooms. LOL I will just say that I am older and not in great shape and have never felt exhausted to where I wanted a closer room, we actually enjoy walking through the resort after a long day at the parks, it lets us wind down.

 

[hertamaniac]

I've stayed at Pop two separate times this past year (and did reviews on this website). In summary, the standard room in the 70's section was within a 20 second walk to a preferred room. The delta in price had me easily pick a standard room (and got the same 70's section).

As far as food, to me this was an easy decision. We took the Skyliner to Riveria and ate a Primo Piatto 3X in a row for dinner. This is a hybrid quick serve where the wait staff brings you the food on plates with silverware and a cloth napkin. The quality and freshness is superb. The portion size is excellent. The pricing is more than fair. The ambience, albeit small, is far better than the Pop food court. The gondola ride is part of the journey.

 

[Minnesota!]

we had a standard room in building 10 last week. As nice as it would have been to be RIGHT THERE after we got off the skyliner after a long, hot day - the money to upgrade for a 1 minute less walk was not worth it, IMO.