I'm Trying to Decide on a Value Resort

[EJS-Houston]

My brother and I (both adults) are planning to be at DisneyWorld in early November, and we want to stay in a Value Resort. I've stayed at All-Star Sports many times and liked it, but would kind'a like to try something new this time. I hear a lot of positive talk hereabouts about Pop Century...and I'd like to try the new Art of Animation Resort, but if I understand correctly, the only non-family-suite building is "The Little Mermaid." I think y'all can understand that we might not be too keen to jump on the Disney Princess bandwagon. So, I welcome your thoughts/suggestions/anecdotal experiences. Many Thanks in Advance!

[faline]

We've only stayed a night or two at Pop but did enjoy it.

[Ms. Mode]

We love POP, and if you stay there you can walk across the bridge to AoA to look around without staying in the "princess" room.

[disneymom15]

Prior to buying into DVC, Pop was our resort of choice. We've stayed at all of the All Stars several times, and Pop many, many times. I would pick Pop and as "Ms Mode" said, you can easily walk over to AoA to look around and possibly catch a meal at the food court.

[Itchy]

Well as you will see from my signature I have stayed at POP quite a few times.

The pluses I see.

1. There own buses
2. Theming
3. Food court


My next favorite is All Star Movies

1. Theming
2. Food court
3. Smaller size resort

Hope this helps

[joonyer]

If you were happy at All-Stars, you won't regret staying at Pop Century. We've really enjoyed our stays there, and will be back again next spring.

[KAT1811]

For some reason I wasn't a big fan of Pop but I only stayed there one night before resort hopping. I would give it another try.

Our favorite value is All Star Movies. I like the food court and theming the best. I never found the shared busses to be that much of an issue.

As long as I am in Disney I'm happy.

Good luck!!!

[Crow]

POP...try it. no shared buses. more centrally located. and you can walk across the bridge to AOA and eat at that food court

[AllDisney]

We love all the values. There is no particular order but all of them are wonderful

[Kairi_7378]

I'd go for Pop. I like the idea of going to visit AoA to visit the Nemo/Lion King/ Cars lands without having to stay in the princess areas

[JerseyDad]

....another nod in the direction of POP. We've been there 8 of our 9 times to WDW...and will be there again in 18 days. I can't say enough good things about it. From the theming ...to the perks of dedicated buses ....to the really great food court, we've always had a fabulous time.

[Tink#64]

Pop is our WDW home! We really enjoy the resort, it's bright & colorful & lots of neat things to see representing the decades of the 50's thru the 90's! We stayed at ASMo's our first trip & we really liked it, but Pop had just openend a few months before our next visit so we wanted to try out the new resort & it just suits us. We really appreciate the dedicated bus service there compared to the shared AS's busses that we had experienced during our stay at Movies. I've read alot of negative experiences of loud noises at Pop, but this has NEVER been our experience in the room or touring around the property. Quite the opposite! The grounds are nicely landscaped with lots of benches around property for a quite break and walking or sitting & relaxing around the lake is a super nice feature that Pop has over the AS's! And now with AoA open, we can finally walk across the bridge & check it out! IMHO, I can't wait to check out AoA, but now that my DS's are teens, I don't see us staying there as my thoughts are that it will be primarily families with young kids. Please don't take offense, my DS's were those little ones! I'm just saying I don't think that AoA would appeal as much to mine now as it would have when they were younger.

We have stayed in bldg 4 of the 60's section with views of the Hippy Dippy Pool (pool view rooms are the noisiest in our experience) and we've had lake views, quiet & a nice view when you walk out of your room! But we also really like building 10 of the 70's section or bldg 9 of the 90's section, the closest to the bus stops & maybe only a few more steps to the main pool, but the added advantage of closer to the quiet computer pool!

All of our family & friends that have stayed at Pop truly enjoy it, from the very young to my 70 year DM! It's a neat resort, not all the plusses of the mod's & deluxe, but if you're looking to stay Value, IMHO, Pop is appealing to all age groups!

Sending you some for a wonderful trip where ever you choose to lay your head at night!

[brownie]

I've stayed at Pop Century, All-Star Movies, and All-Star Music (just this past weekend.) I've liked them all. I think Pop Century is my favorite. Our room at All-Star Music was nice and it was quiet around our building. The food court was smaller at All-Star Music.

[#1donaldfan]

POP is very nice. We typically only have stayed at Riverside, and now AKL has spoiled me BAD, but POP would be my choice of a value !!!

[johnO]

We've stayed at all of the values. We enjoyed all of then however, the food court at Pop can be out of control busy. Absolute bedlam. I'm a fan of trying new resorts, so give pop or AoA a chance.

[mdricks]

I go to Disney once a year on a "boys only" trip with three friends. We are all 40 somethings so I can relate to your situation.

After having stayed at Music in suites, corando, sports and pop we have settled on pop as our home base and will be returning there for the third time this year.

We let the front desk know we are there to let our hair down and they have always been happy to accommodate. We typically ask for an out-of-the way top floor room (sleep late/party late) and have never had a noise or neighbor problem. (never had anybody complain about us either!!)

Petals bar is adequate even if it closes too early. The buses are good and the drive time to Epcot is nice and short. Food court is as good as any although we rarely get anything there with the exception of the little pre mixed cuerveo margs. We do eat mostly signature meals and the concierge has always been very helpful when we have the expected ADR snafu.

In short it is less an issue of having great amenities and more and issue of not having any problems. You would think 4 guys on a party weekend would stick out like sore thumbs at WDW. POP has always been comfortable, friendly and very tolerant.

[KAT1811]

I go to Disney once a year on a "boys only" trip with three friends. We are all 40 somethings so I can relate to your situation.

After having stayed at Music in suites, corando, sports and pop we have settled on pop as our home base and will be returning there for the third time this year.

Love it!!!

Have you been to Coronado since the refurb and the addition to the lounge? We were there for 18 days last year and LOVED it! It is by far our favorite of all the resorts, even the Poly. We had various family members in and out during our stay. One night we had my cousins in their mid 20s with us and we all met at the bar/club in the resort (thanks to mom and dad for babysitting). There were 10 of us and we had a blast and danced all night. The bars and lounge are open later and the resort is super quiet (what we like most).

[Christine]

We love POP, and if you stay there you can walk across the bridge to AoA to look around without staying in the "princess" room.

This is my thought too!

[Crow]

yes im not too happy w the mermaid theme in t single rms at AOA..and that they were already built yrs ago..but ..
POP arriving on the 20th. im glad im not the only non family person that stays at POP. this time w a friend, unless my gf can get all the time off work, but its not looking good.
looks like they changed the menu a little in the food court, but i dont eat there much since i eat in Epcot or places more. and will have AOA to eat at..

[mdricks]

Have you been to Coronado since the refurb and the addition to the lounge?

We have not, although perhaps we should give it another try. When we were there the conventioneers took the lounge over. They all knew each other well and were not stranger friendly. (Or perhaps we had too much time a cave del tequila and we were not friendly?)

I loved the resort and it will be the next place i stay with the wife and kids.