Your best value resort secret?

[BethR9]

I might be the minority, but we loved the preferred pool view at Pop Century. This is still something like a hidden gem for me because I found a lot of negative comments regarding this category but for us it was just perfect.

Not because of the "view" but because of the proximity to the pool, the bus stop, the check-in and the food court.

These rooms are considered as noisy to very noisy.
In the afternoon you could hear the pool music and activities, not a big deal and not too noisy. At night it was surprisingly quiet.

A very convenient location, I would book this category again when maybe getting back to Pop someday.

Any chance you remember what room you were in? We're thinking the same thing with the proximity to the pool, bus stop, and food court!

 

[Liberator]

Any chance you remember what room you were in? We're thinking the same thing with the proximity to the pool, bus stop, and food court!

I do not remember the room number, but when you come from the bus stop and walk towards the pool it was the building on the left. Our room was on the third floor, I think it was the 6th or 7th door.
We requested 4th floor to have no noise from above, but we checked in at 9 am and they only had a room on the 3rd floor ready. We were lucky because there was no noise neither from above nor from our direct neighbours.

It is literally just steps away from everything and when you open your door to get out you have this awesome and colourful pool directly in front of you. Walking on the outside corridors next to the fun-filled pool area felt a little like being in one of the resort-image-videos on the WDW planing DVDs where everyone is having fun, even on the corridors

 

[ml sumner]

I might be the minority, but we loved the preferred pool view at Pop Century. This is still something like a hidden gem for me because I found a lot of negative comments regarding this category but for us it was just perfect.

Not because of the "view" but because of the proximity to the pool, the bus stop, the check-in and the food court.

These rooms are considered as noisy to very noisy.
In the afternoon you could hear the pool music and activities, not a big deal and not too noisy. At night it was surprisingly quiet.

A very convenient location, I would book this category again when maybe getting back to Pop someday.

We are wanting this room category for all the reasons you just listed. Last year we were at CBR in a standard and we felt soooo far away from the pool and food court. I said never again.

 

[samsteele]

I love the POP but am taking a hard look at AS Sports for a future trip. I've heard good things about the Football Bldgs at As Sports. I've stayed at AS Music and while I loved the theming, didn't care for the busing (many buses were shared & very slow to arrive) and the footprint of the resort. Crunching the numbers, I can save approx $160 plus Cdn exchange with AS Sports. If I go this year, it will be in October. The room is the same so no issue there. My concern is really the busing (spoiled at the POP with incredible transpo) and the possibility of more teenage sports teams at AS Sports. If you have stayed at both of these Values, what was your experience/opinion & what choice would you make? Thanks in advance.

 

[maxiesmom]

I love the POP but am taking a hard look at AS Sports for a future trip. I've heard good things about the Football Bldgs at As Sports. I've stayed at AS Music and while I loved the theming, didn't care for the busing (many buses were shared & very slow to arrive) and the footprint of the resort. Crunching the numbers, I can save approx $160 plus Cdn exchange with AS Sports. If I go this year, it will be in October. The room is the same so no issue there. My concern is really the busing (spoiled at the POP with incredible transpo) and the possibility of more teenage sports teams at AS Sports. If you have stayed at both of these Values, what was your experience/opinion & what choice would you make? Thanks in advance.

I've stayed at both, and love them both. At both resorts my room was on the back side, away from the pool and the noise. And both rooms were very quiet. I do pay for preferred rooms, so at both resorts I have been very close to the bus stop and food court.

My last stay at the sports there was a female basketball team also staying there, and they were very well behaved. And the Sports also had its own bus the vast majority of the time. So if saving the money is important to you, definitely go with the Sports. I think it is a very nice resort.

 

[mickeymom22]

Our first stay at a value resort was at AS Movies. We got a room on the end of the Building 2 Mighty Ducks section. It was actually really close to the bus stop for AS Music. We would just walk across Melody Lane and we were there. We used their buses to go to the parks, and on the return we would use whichever one came first. We also used their food court since it was closer.

We loved the animation classes when we stayed in a Little Mermaid room at AoA. We didn't have to meet the DME until later in the afternoon so we stayed in the room and had a late breakfast/early lunch and enjoyed participating in the class.

 

[loves to dive]

I've stayed at Pop and ASSp, I'm not a fan of the value resorts but here are my thoughts.

I would not pay for a preferred view in any of them, or the moderates either for that part. If you are worried about walking distances there are rooms that are fairly close to the bus stops/pools/food that are standard. They have outside corridors so chances are a view isn't going to matter, I know I don't open the shades so people can see in my windows when they walk by and chances are your view is gong to include at least part of the railing of the walkway. Most, if not all, of them have nice secluded spots you can go to to sit and just get some peace and quiet and have a good view.

At Pop I stayed in the building that is just the parking lot away from the bus stop/food court and the pool was right there as well. Not preferred and you literally just walked across the parking lot to get to everything. I was on the side away from the pool, faced the parking lot. Since view didn't matter to me this was good since I didn't hear the pool noise but had I wanted to go to it (which I didn't) it was right there. I was on the third floor about 1/4 way down the hall from the stairs so easy to get to and while there was traffic it didn't seem like a lot.

At ASSp, I stayed in the football section, about a 1 min. walk from the food court/bus stop. I was on the side with the field, which I wouldn't recommend because that is where they show the movies at night and I did hear it and no matter how much I tried to close my curtains the light did come in the room. It was a standard room.

I had no problem with the bus service at either resort, although I'm not a huge fan of the uncovered bus stops because if you are waiting for a while it does get hot or wet with no cover.

I would go with whatever one is less, while the theming is different at all of them, the All Stars are all pretty much connected to walking from one to the other to see it is no big deal. Pop is across the lake from AoA, I would not pay deluxe rates to stay at AoA, I'd just walk over from Pop.

I liked Sports more than Pop, it seemed a little less noisy and busy and my room was in better condition. I had no problems with CMs in either resort.

 

[BrittyRo]

LOVE AS Movies. We are huge Toy Story nerds so we ALWAYS request those buildings (always seem to get the request!)!! The annoying thing is that most building are preferred at ASMo. We always like a "higher floor" "near transportation"
We Hate Pop (Fiancé's first trip and we had an awful checkin experience that didn't set the mood for a "magical" trip. Fiancé refuses to stay at Pop EVER again I don't blame him) I think Pop is too spread out and you can be VERY far from the lobby, plus our stay the bus situation was HORRENDOUS (always terrible long lines September 2014 that required 3-4 buses before you were loaded). I think the resort is overrated as the best value.
Always have wonderful CM's and Bus service at ASMo. Love that resort, really feels like you're at Disney (especially with those large DisMovie Icons everywhere Call me a kid at heart ) It just feels like Disney to us
We are staying at AS Sports for the first time this May and I'm excited to see how it is compared to ASMo! We are in a preferred (all that was left with Discount) so that is the Surf's Up Buidling (closest to transport) and requested a "Higher Floor" with "landscape view"

My vote is Preferred ASMovies!

 

[canyoncam]

I have stayed at POP, ASMusic and ASMovies. Prefer Pop for the buses and Lake. I had stayed twice there before three stays at the other two and didn't realize how much I missed it until I got back. Don't think I can go back to the AS now. My last stay was in a standard room but I got bumped up to preferred location (60's section) which I was not happy about to begin with since I love being in the 70's section. I got my room number before even flying out and was then more upset when I looked on a website that shows views from each room location. I had a big flower blocking my view. But it really did not matter that much in the room. The best thing was it was super close to the bridge from AOA so I could take either bus back and not have a hugely increased walk!