value resorts????

[Spanish Fly]

what is the differece between the all-star movies and pop century resort? which one of these two would you recommend?

 

[Princess Sara's Mom]

We're in the same boat--never stayed at POP, but have been reading quite a bit that makes me nervous--particularly about the thin walls but most especially the cigarette smoke that travels between rooms! It seems that 16 rooms share the same venting system and if one room has a smoker, the other 15 smell it. But, from what I've read, the All-Stars don't have this problem??? BTW, when I called to make our ressies, I was told the best place to stay for a "quieter" stay was in the 50s building--apparently you can see the fireworks at Epcot from there!

 

[Spanish Fly]

hmmm good info. keep me posted if you find out anymore info on the value resorts

 

[Shir Kahn]

We just stayed in the 50's building at Pop Century and previously we stayed at the 70's building. We absolutely love Pop Century and very much recommend it. We tried getting Pop again for our summer trip but it was booked solid, so we're stuck at All-Star Music, which I'm not nearly as thrilled about, but at least we'll be at WDW! We didn't get to see any fireworks from our room because we were never there at that time, we were in the parks!

 

[MousekaMaddi]

cig smoke is offensive and stays in the rooms (enters thru bathroom vents)

we HATE that POP bus stops are furthest away when u get to a park,,,,,the looooooooooooooongest walk to busses EVER


otherwise, we like POP

 

[GGOOFY1]

We stayed at POP last summer for a couple of nights. We were in the 60's building facing the courtyard and the 50's building. It was pretty quiet, but if there were people outside, we could hear them in the room. I am not a light sleeper, so I had no problems sleeping at night. I would recommend POP, I like it better than the All Star resorts b/c it has it's own bus service. All the AS resorts share the bus.

 

[Hakunaa Matata]

thanks for the heads up

 

[minnie61650]

I have stayed at all levels of Disney Resorts. My favorite Disney owned resort is All Star Music.

Here are a few reasons :



1. I can book a preferred room location..( The Calypso buildings are preferred and they are the closest to the main pool ,food court and bus stop. They cost an $10 extra a night and in my opinion they are well worth it.)
The way All Star Music is laid out it "seems" smaller than most of the other Disney resorts. If I stay in a preferred building I only see the Calypso and Jazz builings on the way to and from the main pool and the bus stop and food court. Since I stay in preferred room I know I am going to be close to the food court, bus stop, & main pool.

2. I enjoy the theming at the All Stars. All Star Music is also is the quietest of the values. Generally less people stay there and there are more seniors and couples and less young children because children enjoy the themes of the other values more.

3. The bus service at the All Star Music is very good. Since I use an ECV good bus transportation is essential.

4. The entry at the values and Mods are much more Handicap friendly.
I am able to get in and out of my All Star room unassisted. This way my husband can go and play a round of golf and know I can leave my room to relax by the pool if I choose.
--------------------------------------------------

All Star Music is my favorite resort. It tends to be the quietest of all the values.


All Star Music just underwent a refurbishment of all of the rooms and was completed in June 2007.


Here is a website with photos of the newly refurbished rooms at All Star Music.

Look at the Jazz Inn section with new posted:

http://allearsnet.com/acc/g_asmu.htm




---------------------------------------------------------


DH and I enjoy the landscaping and peacefulness of All Star Music.
We enjoy relaxing by the pool (there are plenty of chairs and lounges), and the beautiful lighting at the resort by night.

I have never had the unfortunate experience of running into the any of the large
groups of teens who sometimes stay at the values on school trips.
As long as you can avoid those large groups I do not think Noise will be an issue.

*HINT if you close your bathroom door at night you might not even hear the turbo toilets.
I close my bathroom door and I don't hear them.
------------------------------------


I love The All Star Resorts.

I am 56 years old and travel several times a yearfor pleasure. I often stay at 3and 4 star and sometimes a 5 star hotels and motels.
So the deluxe and mod resorts are just another hotel/motel to me.
Staying at an All Star is like being in the heart of the Magic and that is where I want to be.

All Star Music is my favorite. It is quieter because more couples stay there. I love staying at the Calypso building. It is closer to the pool, food court and bus stop.

Here is a site with a map of All Star Sports and All Star Music.
http://www.wdwinfo.com/resortmaps/allstarmap.htm
Scroll down. All Star Music is at the bottom of the page.
The Calypso buildings at All Star Music are #1 and #10 are nearest to the food court and bus stop.

The Calypso pool at ASMu has Donald Duck.

The buses are wonderful.

Bus rides are quite short from the ALL Stars according to PassPorter.com

All Star Buses-CBR buses---POPbuses--PO buses--- Contemporary
MK 20 min---- 20 min-----25 min------10 min---20 min(mono)
Epcot 10 min-- 15 min-----20 min------10 min---15 min
MGM 10 min----12 min-----15 min------15 min---20min
AK 10 min------20min-------15 min----15 min---20 min
DTD 15 min----20 min------20 min-----15 min---35 min

It only takes 10 minutes to get to Epcot, MGM and AK from All Stars.
MK is 20 min away. That's the same amount of time it takes on the monorail from the Contemporary.

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 Movies share and Music 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!)

The pools at The All Stars are very kid friendly.

When staying at the All Stars you can use any of the All Star pools.That means 3 main pools ,3 quiet pools and 3 kiddie pools to chose from.

The All Star Movie Fantasia pool has Mickey.

The Calypso pool at ASMU has Donald Duck.

And the Surfs up pool at All Star Sports has giant surf boards.

Here are a few pool photos.

All Star Sports pool.

All Star Music Donald pool.

All Star Movies Mickey Pool.

I have visited WDW more than a dozen times with the 1st time in Oct. 1971. It was brand new. I've stayed at FW, Disney Inn, a few the of Hotels on hotel Blvd., CBR and the towers at the Contemporary. I got to see the MK from my balcony at the Contemporary and I'm happy I got to experience it once. I just prefer the All Star Resorts.
The theming is pure Disney.

My last 6 visits have been at The All Stars and during the fall of 2005 when we took dd,dsil, and our grandson age 3(at the time) for 8 nights we stayed at the All Stars Music. I thought about AKL and even though we can well afford AKL I just wanted Alex to experience the Disney Magic at the All Stars on his first visit.
Where else can one find Donald Duck or Mickey Mouse at the pool?

Have fun at Disney!

 

[disney1990]

We're in the same boat--never stayed at POP, but have been reading quite a bit that makes me nervous--particularly about the thin walls but most especially the cigarette smoke that travels between rooms! It seems that 16 rooms share the same venting system and if one room has a smoker, the other 15 smell it. But, from what I've read, the All-Stars don't have this problem??? BTW, when I called to make our ressies, I was told the best place to stay for a "quieter" stay was in the 50s building--apparently you can see the fireworks at Epcot from there!

If you've got cigarette smoke coming through your walls you need to contact guest relations. All Disney resorts are now SMOKE FREE.

 

[JerseyMamaBear]

We have never done POP or Music, altough we will try it one day. We do enjoy sports a lot and will continue to book there.

 

[minnie61650]

If you've got cigarette smoke coming through your walls you need to contact guest relations. All Disney resorts are now SMOKE FREE.

The problem at Pop is that 16 bathrooms share the ventilation system so if a smoker is smoking in a bathroom at Pop with the vent on the smoke ends up in 15 other bathrooms.

from this thread:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1779863

Greetings
My family and I recently returned from our 3rd trip to DW. Each time we have stayed at a different resort. This time we stayed at the Pop Culture Resort. On our next to last night, the problem of cigarette smoke began. We can tolerate the occasional puff of smoke, but at times we either left the room or had to open the door to allow fresh air in. Housekeeping brought in an air cleaner but it did not always work. The bathroom smelled like a bar the morning we left. Our clothes and belongings also smelled of smoke when we arrived home. The manager was unavailable when we checked out at 3:30am, but the front desk was notified of the problem on 4 separate occasions. That said, I emailed Guest Communications, but I have not heard anything back. It's been over 3 weeks. I don't expect Disney to refund any of my money, nor do I except them to beg for my repeat business, but no communication back to me after we spent a few thousand dollars is a little hard to swallow. After all these are supposed to be “smoke-free” Does anyone have any suggestions?

http://disboards.com/showthread.php?p=21999445&posted=1#post21999445

We recently were on vacation at the World a couple of weeks ago and I'm just now getting the chance to post about our experience at the Pop. We absolutely love this resort and this was our 5th stay there. It is cheap, new, has a great food court, and you can see the fireworks from the 50's, which is where we always stay.

Well, this was our first stay since they enforced the no smoking in all rooms and balconies. Here is what happened to us.....DH-32, Me-28

We check in on Sun. Nov. 11th around 1PM and take our things to our room. I can't remember our exact room number, but it was 31 something. It was in an interior corner the side closest to the parking lot if that helps. Well, the first night everything was fine. The second night we arrived back from a day at Epcot, ate some dinner, go to bed and at around 12AM we both wake up to the smell of smoke in our room. Neither of us smoke and I guess you could say we are sensitive to it but we don't have asthma and aren't allergic to it. At first we couldn't tell if it truly was cigarette smoke or some other smoke. It just kept getting stronger and stronger. And for it to wake us both up it had to have been pretty strong. DH goes outside to look around and see if he sees anyone smoking. Nothing. Even if someone had been smoking out there it couldn't have been that strong in our room unless they had been laying down blowing it under our door. It was stronger than alot of bars I've been to. We finally realize it is strongest in the bathroom and figure it must be coming from the vent. So DH calls the front desk and tells them how we were both asleep and were awaken by the smell of smoke. She asks if we looked around outside and he said yes and didn't see anyone. I ask to make sure there isn't a fire nearby and we aren't smelling that because it was just soooo strong I wanted to be sure. She assures us there is no fire. Then she jokes with him and says, "Are you sure your wife isn't smoking in the bathroom and hiding it from you?" He told her no, that neither of us smoke, but it was very strong. She says that they could bring an air purifier to the room for us. He asks me if that's what I want and I was just so tired that I said not tonight and maybe tomorrow if we still smell it. She said okay and they hang up. Well, we close the bathroom door and finally get back to sleep.

The next morning we wake up and it doesn't smell as bad. Until DH opens the bathroom door and the smell pours out of their. It was worse than the night before. He hurries up and shuts the door back. It was so bad it was like someone was standing right in front of you blowing it straight in your face. DH really has to go to the bathroom so he goes to the ones by the bowling pool to use that. He's also pretty upset about the girl at the desk the night before joking about it being me smoking in the bathroom. While he is gone I call the front desk and explain how we had called last night and wake up this morning, had the bathroom door closed last night and when we open it it's worse. I told her it's so bad we can't even use our bathroom. She apologizes and tells me that 16 rooms are connected through the same bathroom vents. 4 over and all 4 floors. So, if anyone in any of those rooms was smoking in their bathroom they probably had their vent on blowing it into it but all it does is send it throughout the other rooms. She says she can move us to another room not connected to these and also will give us 25% off the last nights stay. She says to have our bags packed under the window and they will move them for us while we are away today. I also got to pick which area I wanted to move to and could have even chose preferred but because we like it more quiet we stayed in the 50's section. DH comes back and I tell him about everything but he is still upset about the other womans comments and that we have to pack up everything and move because of someone else thinking they can get away with smoking in their room.

I also was reading throught the papers they give you when you check in and it says if they find out you have smoked in your room or balcony it is a minimum $200 fine. I would think that would just cover them having to give the other 15 rooms a percentage off if they complain of the smell. BTW, we didn't have any problems in the room they moved us to for the remainder of our stay, which was 5 more days.

Closing thoughts--
- We still love the Pop for all the reasons mentioned in the 1st paragraph.
- I do not approve of the new no-smoking in the rooms policy even though we are non-smokers.
- I do not agree with the smoking areas. I understand that they are made centrally located for all, but that also means that every non-smoker must walk through a cloud of smoke to get to where they need to. ie:Right by the doors to enter the main building, and on the main paths to the main building.
- There will always be people who think they can get away with something, thus ruining things for others, and causing headaches both for the cast members and guests.
- I think they should make one building or half a building just for smokers and furthest from the main guest areas(pool, main building) or else have one of those 16 block of rooms in each building for smokers.

I'm also thinking of sending these thoughts to Disney. Does anyone know the best place to send this and get a response?

Thank you and I hope this helps someone else, April

From page 6 of this thread:


http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=20316221

We stayed at the POP in 2005 because it was the newest of the Values and supposedly quite clean, looked like my something DD would enjoy, and had the lowest percentage of smoking rooms. But the biggest reason we chose POP was because we only see our hotel room when (1) we're sleeping and (2) getting ready in the morning. We don't hang around in the room or even at the pool and rarely even eat at the food court. We're going all the time. It makes no sense for us to spend a few to several hundred dollars a night for a hotel room that we will barely see.

MIL and DD were in a connecting room and they were quiet. Next door neighbors were quiet, so we lucked out on the noise issue. I do remember the toilets were a bit loud, but we always close hotel bathroom doors, so it never woke us up. Plus, I grew up with oil wells pumping in my back yard, so what wakes me will not wake others and vice versa.

We're staying there again next month and it was my automatic choice, based on how pleased I was with the last stay. Our friends are staying there too, based on my recommendation. I have recommended it to many people since 2005. But I must say I am beginning to get nervous, because of the many reports I keep reading regarding how poorly POP is handling the "all rooms are now nonsmoking" issue. There will always be considerate smokers and there will always be inconsiderate smokers. The considerate ones may not be happy about this change, but they slog down to the DSAs and follow the rules. It's the ones that keep smoking outside their rooms (on the walkways) and in their bathrooms that concern me. The POP CM I spoke to today (some level of manager) explained that 16 bathrooms share a ventilation system, so if a person smokes in one, it goes to all 16. Oh goody. I keep reading reports that POP CMs are being lax in enforcing the new rules.....Then a smoker will say they were never told about DSAs, so they had no idea there was anyplace to smoke. It's on the map, but they weren't told.....and lots of people don't study the resort maps.

Sooooo.....I hope POP gets a handle on this problem. Too many people have medical issues that mean they absolutely cannot breathe in smoke-filled air. Yet people who are addicted to smoking must find a way to smoke, and if it's made too difficult for them, a certain percentage will break the rules and smoke wherever they want. In the past, as long as some rooms were allotted for "smoking," the die-hards who would not walk down to a DSA would have likely requested a smoking room. But that option is gone, and I fear management has failed to look ahead to the logical consequences. Ironically, it may be harder to stay away from smoke now that the resort is "smoke-free" than it was in the past.

Please know that I am NOT trying to start a smoking/nonsmoking debate. I am sincerely puzzled as to how this issue is going to be dealt with. At first glance, to a nonsmoking asthmatic like me, going totally nonsmoking seemed like something that would be very positive. Then reality set in and I realized most smokers can't take "take a vacation" from smoking while at WDW, and if the DSAs weren't heavily advertised/extremely convenient, then some percentage of smokers would simply smoke at will. That's real life. I don't know if anyone ....smokers OR nonsmokers....is coming out a winner here.

So we'll stay at the POP and pray for the best. If the smoking situation is under control, then I'll continue to recommend it and even stay there again. But if it's as bad as some of the posters are indicating, then it will be my last time there. Which would be a shame, because it's got a lot going for it.

 

[disney-super-mom]

Ummmm, correct me if I'm wrong, but if 16 rooms/bathrooms share the same ventilation system, won't you also be able to smell other things too.........like someone else's big business?!?!

 

[GGOOFY1]

Ummmm, correct me if I'm wrong, but if 16 rooms/bathrooms share the same ventilation system, won't you also be able to smell other things too.........like someone else's big business?!?!

I would have to agree with this post

 

[Sobes]

I would have to say the Allstars. I have not stayed at Pop, but loved the Allstars. Never had a problem with buses or noise.

As PP said, if you smell smoke, contact guest relations...Resorts and Balaconies are SMOKE FREE....up to a 500 charge if you are smoking in your room or balcony.

 

[M 'n C]

We stayed at POP in 2006. Didn't have any issues at all with smoking or other ventilation smells. It is my favorite resort but this time around we wanted something different so we are trying out ASMovies. Hope you have a good trip no matter where you stay

 

[cheerforchelsea]

I have stayed at POP several times and at Movies in the past....Hopefully I have stayed my last time at POP.....the smoking in the bathrooms is so irritating!!!!

 

[marypoppinswannabe]

I have stayed at Pop and loved it because it was the first time I had stayed on-site. I do agree that the hike to the bus stops when leaving the parks is a bit much, but the atmosphere at the actual resort is alot of fun. We did notice the walls seemed very thin, but thankfully, we were in a room where we only shared a wall with one neighbor.

I will be going in February of 09 and will be staying at the Pop again.

However, this September, I will be staying at All Star Music and am actually looking forward to it. Part of the fun of Disney is that every time I go, I get to experience something new.

 

[Shmily1]

We've stayed at almost all of the WDW resorts from all levels and at POP 9 times and never had a problem with smoking guests or any of the other problems other than the long walk to the last bus stop. I love the decor of the values and choose to stay there quite a bit because they are fun to me.

Also, All Stars don't always share buses. We were there last week, at ASMo, and only shared buses twice when the buses never did get full. When we stayed in December at ASMu, we never shared a bus. Once, while loading last week (4/9) for MK, we got on a bus and another bus to MK pulled right up beside the one we were on, loaded, and got to the park before we did.

POP is the newest of the value resorts but AS Sports and ASMu are the two most recently renovated. It has no other resort to share buses with because it is so big and approximately the size of the three AS put together. The food court , lobby, and pool areas are larger to accommodate the number of guests that a large resort can hold. POP is a great place to stay, or we wouldn't have stayed there 9 times