Should I switch?? POP vs ASMU

[momtwoboys]

Hello, we are currently booked at POP for May 17-22! We have stayed there the past 3 years May 2005,May 2006, and May 2007. While we love it, I am thinking of trying out ASMU. I love the looks of the renovated rooms! Also like the sounds of the poolside movies nightly. Any thoughts?? This trip is our shortest by far, usually we do 10days, and this is a quick 6 day. So anyone who has been to ASMU recently and can offer suggestions of why its worth the switch?? Please?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Lollipop's Mom]

I would stay with Pop. Its a great place! One bus and one stop - if you stay at All Stars your bus will go to all resorts before leaving/dropping off, and that could be a pain.

 

[Princess_Belle]

I loved ASMu!! The Poolside movies are very cute! If you take breaks during the day the games while you swim are really cute for kids too. Everyone is always complaining about the busses! We never once during our entire trip did our bus go to ASMo after picking us up at the resort. We stopped at ASSp on the way back sometimes. And if we did stop at ASSp it was during the day. Not at park closing time! At closing time we always went straight to ASMu!!

Also the new rooms are great! They are definitely an improvement over the other values rooms. I say switch if you want to try something new. If it turns out not to be your thing go back to Pop on your next trip. At least you will know then and not second guess yourself. Who knows ASMu may become your new favorite!

 

[JennyDrake]

I was there in December for I think the 4th or 5th time. It is my favorite of the value resorts. It ends to be a bit more quiet than the others. I like Pop also and have stayed 2 or 3 times. It has a better food court and also offers an indoor lounge, but as it is larger than Music, the noise and mayhem were a bit much for me.

 

[momtwoboys]

Our last trip to POP was a little less than magical, couldn't put my finger on it?? We have to go with a value either way, so I was leaning towards switching. The busses don't bother me, because we stayed at ASMO for 7 trips in a row before trying POP. I'm wondering about the choices in the food court, and where are the preferred rooms located??? We would spring to be closer to the main pool this time. First trip ever and we won't be going Park commando!! Only visiting MK for 2 full days, and 1 day at AK. We want to relax a bit more at the hotel, and let the kids swim!!! Would like to hear more about the other activities/movies/food court!!! Thanks

 

[momtwoboys]

Anyone else that has stayed at POP, also tried ASMU?? What time do they show the movies? Are the Calypso buildings both preferred? Does the food court have a good variety.I know there will be NO tie-dye Cheesecake! Any pictures of a recent stay would be helpful to try to convince my kids!

 

[maciemouse]

I have stayed at both. I stayed at POP three times in a row. I decided to give AS MUSIC a try this past November. I will tell you that I did not hate it but I like POP better. I did not like the food court. I think the food court area and check in area are so much smaller. The food court was always crowded. Even at 11:00 at night. I felt it wasn't as clean as POP. It could of just been the week I was there, I don't know. It is cute but I just like POP better. I was also there one night they had a movie. It was Peter Pan. They have a big blow up screen that they put by the pool area.
There was not a big area to view the movie. It was freezing cold that night so my kids did not care to watch it. Another note: We walked around and looked at all three ALLSTAR resorts. I thought allstar sports was really cute. The grandslam pool was adorable. Their rooms are also recently refurbished. If you stay at any allstar you can use all that they have to offer. Like I said, I did not hate it, but I like POP better. I hope this helps. If you have any questions let me know. Another note: The movie started at 9:00.

 

[grinningghost]

I just got back from Pop and I liked ASMu better - seemed more Disneyish.

 

[sbray]

I have to say I would stay at POP. I like the one bus thing especially at night with the kids being tired.

 

[Eeyore's My Favorite]

Anyone else that has stayed at POP, also tried ASMU?? What time do they show the movies? Are the Calypso buildings both preferred? Does the food court have a good variety.I know there will be NO tie-dye Cheesecake! Any pictures of a recent stay would be helpful to try to convince my kids!

DH & I just got back from ASMu on Wednesday & we absolutely loved it!! Before we've always stayed at POP, but our last visit in September to POP was anything but magical, so we decided to try out ASMu again & boy are we glad we did.

We had a standard room in Building 9 of Jazz, near the parking lot, but still a perfect distance to the food court, pool & busses. It was actually a better location than the preferred room we paid extra for at POP. Ground floor, near some of the family suites.

There were tons of activities going on around the pool. Movies @ 7pm, they had dance contests, BINGO and other games for the kids all starting mid afternoon. Even though the weather was cool, there were quite a few families enjoying the pools.

We had no issues with the food court - to me it was much better than POP - at least what we ate. No issues with the busses either. We only shared one morning going to AK and all the rest of the time we had our own bus to the different parks. Mid afternoon coming back from some of the parks we did drop off at AS Sports but that wasn't a big issue either.

I'd say definitely switch to ASMu if you're looking for a quieter, less crowded resort. POP was packed to the max when we were there, there were too many unsupervised & unruley kids running up & down the halls after 10pm and quite a few rude adults. At ASMu we didn't experience any of these problems. JMHO

 

[Megan07]

While I've only been to WDW once, I did stay at ASMu. It was a nice sized resort. I didn't use the bus system but once and that was coming back from MK. We had our own bus. I liked how even the farthest sections of the resort wern't a long walk, maybe 5 minutes to the food court. I thought the selection was nice. I was in the Rock Section, surrounded by cheerleaders in March. And it wasn't bad. I hope this helps you.

 

[Princess_Belle]

At ASMU the Calypso buildings are the preferred rooms. These are very close to the pool and the food court!!!

 

[momtwoboys]

Thanks for the opinions! My internet has been down, so I've just read the replies. I would book preferred Calypso bld #10 if we switch. Do the movies start at 7pm or 9pm?? Anyone have recent pics??? My boys are so used to POP that they are freaking out at the thought of me switching! Right now we are booked at a standard room, requested bld #3 not poolside. Oh decisions!

Definitely NOT interested in ASSports, or ASMovies

 

[Eeyore's My Favorite]

This week when we were there the movies started at 7pm. They may change the time depending on the season, I'm not sure. I was just amazed at the activities that they had planned. Never saw that at POP. Enjoy your trip!

 

[maggs]

I have stayed in all the values except Sports. Last time we stayed in Pop and we absolutely hated it. We found it far too brash, noisy and busy. I suppose its just not what we were expecting. Our favorite is Music.

Maggs

 

[bigbabyblues]

We've stayed at ASMo once, Pop twice, and leaning towards ASMusic this time around. I much preferred the food court at ASMo to Pop, and Music's menu on allears looks similar to ASMo.

 

[momtwoboys]

Hello all, I've just showed my kids the pics of the renovated rooms, and we've decided to SWITCH! I think I just wanted to try something different in our price range! I'm going to call tonight, and switch. I'm going to pay for the preferred and request bld 10 Calypso. Wish me Luck. SO any good food at the food court??? Still hoping for a May code to come out soon. Thanks!

Like I said last trip in May 2007 seemed very stressful, and I can't figure out why????

 

[Eeyore's My Favorite]

The food court at ASMu isn't as huge as POP, but the food that we had was good. One thing I wish I'd tried was the pizza - quite a few families were picking up entire pizza's and going to the far end of the food court to eat them & watch tv.

Hopefully you're May '08 trip will be alot more relaxing and fun that '07 was!

 

[Princess_Belle]

ASMu's pizza was the best we've had at WDW!!

 

[momtwoboys]

Last year was a fun trip, but we just didn't feel comfortable at POP. So after 3 trips there I'm glad to try ASMU! Does anyone know if the food court has that "create your own pasta" dinner? I remember having that at ASMO way back. Thanks for all the "help", and I was glad that they had availability...the switch was very easy.