Choice between All-Star Music or Pop Century

[ggauthier82]

Hi,

Just wanted your opinion... if you had the choice between All-Star Music or Pop Century for a 11-night stay in August, which would you choose and why? We have two boys aged 3 and 7.

Thanks!!

 

[Dad 2 M & M]

Thanks that was really helpful! Is the 50's building a standard room I can request or do I have to pay for preferred room or something like that? That would be awesome!

50s would be a preferred room and you would have to pay the upgrade. You might get lucky at check in and be upgraded but it is unlikely.

 

[MissingDisney]

50s would be a preferred room and you would have to pay the upgrade. You might get lucky at check in and be upgraded but it is unlikely.

Poolside and close to L.H. is preferred, the rest is not.
Been upgraded for free everytime myself. Good luck.

 

[mslukie]

All Stars is definatly better, pop century wasn't at all what I expected.

 

[WDW-Crazy]

I've been hearing that the All-Stars now have dedicated buses. Last time we stayed at Movies in 2007, we shared between the three most of the time. We're staying at Music this September (first time since 1995) so hopefully this will still be true.

I have to say that we've stayed at all the values (minus All-Star Sports) and we like the All-Stars better. The atmosphere seems more Disney (especially the Movies). We found Pop to be too large, as well as the layout really confusing. While I didn't have a problem finding the food court and our car from our room, however, my parents did and had to call me on my cell phone several times to get directions as to where I was and where to go. None of us usually get lost at the All-Stars. I also took notice that at closing, how the buses were always mobbed. It seemed like everyone was heading for Pop (even over the All-Stars), I guess this is related to the talk of Pop having its own bus system. I remember after leaving Epcot at closing, we had to wait several times just to get on a bus (until they brought out a second bus to try to kill the line, not to mention the tons of people with double strollers who also took up space). During this time, they had most of the All-Stars cleared out as there weren't as many people waiting for either of those. Pop's bus stop also seems to be the furtherest from the gates as it seemed to have taken forever to get there vs. the All-Stars. The parking lot at Pop (at least the area near where we stayed) was constantly full, we usually don't have this problem at the All-Stars. There have also been instances where we would drive over to Winter Summerland from the All-Stars to play golf and come back to find still find a good parking spot. Should we have done this at Pop, we would've been stuck way far out somewhere else. Maybe we just had bad timing with this or Pop doesn't have as much parking, idk.

However, I did like the music that was played at the bus stops as well as the memorabilia that was set up in the lobby. The food court and gift shop area was okay, definitely different than from the All-Stars.

From our past experience at Pop, I think it's safe to say we'll be doing the All-Stars from now on (unless we try another moderate or something else on property).

To all the Pop fans here, I apologize if I seemed like I was bashing the place, that was definitely not my intentions. Alot of you may like it and that's perfectly fine. I know we all have our favorite places we like to stay and the All-Stars are our favorite. I was just comparing our experience at Pop to the All-Stars. So whatever you choose (wheither it be Pop or the All-Stars), good luck with your choice and have a great trip!

 

[WDW_Emily]

I have to say that we've stayed at all the values (minus All-Star Sports) and we like the All-Stars better. The atmosphere seems more Disney (especially the Movies). We found Pop to be too large, as well as the layout really confusing. While I didn't have a problem finding the food court and our car from our room, however, my parents did and had to call me on my cell phone several times to get directions as to where I was and where to go. None of us usually get lost at the All-Stars. I also took notice that at closing, how the buses were always mobbed. It seemed like everyone was heading for Pop (even over the All-Stars), I guess this is related to the talk of Pop having its own bus system. I remember after leaving Epcot at closing, we had to wait several times just to get on a bus (until they brought out a second bus to try to kill the line, not to mention the tons of people with double strollers who also took up space). During this time, they had most of the All-Stars cleared out as there weren't as many people waiting for either of those. Pop's bus stop also seems to be the furtherest from the gates as it seemed to have taken forever to get there vs. the All-Stars. The parking lot at Pop (at least the area near where we stayed) was constantly full, we usually don't have this problem at the All-Stars. There have also been instances where we would drive over to Winter Summerland from the All-Stars to play golf and come back to find still find a good parking spot. Should we have done this at Pop, we would've been stuck way far out somewhere else. Maybe we just had bad timing with this or Pop doesn't have as much parking, idk.

I agree with this. I would still choose pop over all stars but last time we went to pop about 3 years ago parking was horrible. We never got parking near the section we were staying in the whole week we were there. At all stars we were always parked close to our section

 

[Dad 2 M & M]

Poolside and close to L.H. is preferred, the rest is not.
Been upgraded for free everytime myself. Good luck.

I knew it could be done..good job!

Does the time of day you check in help? Or is it just whether or not the resort is at or approaching full capacity?

 

[durangojim]

50s would be a preferred room and you would have to pay the upgrade. You might get lucky at check in and be upgraded but it is unlikely.

We've stayed in the 50s twice and have always had a standard not preferred room.

 

[fosse76]

Another positive about staying at the ALL Stars (particularly Music) is bus service. If you are at a park waiting to go back to the resort, you can pretty much hop on any of the All Star buses and simply walk to your resort. More quickly than sticking around waiting for your bus. I was heading back to the resort from Epcot one night, and All Stars Music had its entire queue filled. There was no one in line for Sports so I just hopped on that bus instead. So there can be tactical advantages as well!

 

[NewfieFan]

All Star Music! As previously posted, let go of the bus thing as the AS resorts each have their own dedicated buses except on the rare occasion during the middle of the day. ASMu has nightly Disney films on a large blow-up screen by the main pool, games by the pool every day. It is smaller than Pop and therefore less congested at the food court. It may appear that the food court doesn't have all the selections for snacks and such to take to your room, they are located in the store in the back; along with a nice selection of cereals and sandwich stuff. I would advise considering the family suites for size, kitchenette, and two bathrooms. Now, with small children the kitchenette is wonderful - fridge, microwave, coffeemaker, shelving for food items, plasti-ware. Imagine being able to have your children have a peaceful morning breakfast of their regular favorites before heading out the door for the parks, or a cup of brewed coffee before being in the public eye -- priceless. The family suites are all fairly new renovations, as new as the decor at Pop is.
If we were to take another trip without our RV(it would only be due to snow drifts around the travel trailer) then we would be back at ASMu. Oh the memories, we were there at this time last year, just DH and I for our anniversary -- sorry side thought -- I had the chance for a quick trip this past June and chose ASMu over Pop because it is a smaller resort and has a more intimate feeling IMO.
It's all personal preference, just don't decide on the "whole bus thing"

This! ^

The "bus thing" is old! I've stayed at ASMu 4 times now and I can tell you the number times on one hand that I've had to share a bus with the other resorts! The argument is not really an accurate one anyway as Pop is a larger resort and has to bus more people. So, even if you are sharing a bus with another AS resort it's probably still transporting the same number of people!
The rooms at ASMu were also redone (in '07 I think?) so technically those rooms are newer that Pop (although I think some of Pop rooms now are starting to get a make-over).

The activities during the middle of the day are really fun and cute. And during the evening they will sometimes have a Wii set up and then a Disney movie later on. I love the feel at ASMu... can't explain it... I just do.

I've never stayed at Pop so I can't really compare! But don't let people turn you off of ASMu based on bussing. It's a nice value resort!

 

[NewfieFan]

Another positive about staying at the ALL Stars (particularly Music) is bus service. If you are at a park waiting to go back to the resort, you can pretty much hop on any of the All Star buses and simply walk to your resort. More quickly than sticking around waiting for your bus. I was heading back to the resort from Epcot one night, and All Stars Music had its entire queue filled. There was no one in line for Sports so I just hopped on that bus instead. So there can be tactical advantages as well!

Good point as well! We've done that a few times ourselves.

Another point I forgot to mention is even if you're in a standard room you're still not that far from the pool, lobby, bus stop, etc. b/c the AS resorts are smaller!

 

[WDW-Crazy]

Another positive about staying at the ALL Stars (particularly Music) is bus service. If you are at a park waiting to go back to the resort, you can pretty much hop on any of the All Star buses and simply walk to your resort. More quickly than sticking around waiting for your bus. I was heading back to the resort from Epcot one night, and All Stars Music had its entire queue filled. There was no one in line for Sports so I just hopped on that bus instead. So there can be tactical advantages as well!

How recent was this? During our 2007 trip, my friend and I rode to the Sports because we wanted to walk through all three sections in the evening (we were staying at Movies). It can save time unless you ride on the Sports bus when you're staying at Movies and you don't feel like checking out the place (unlike what my friend and I did). Can be a saver when you need it.

 

[WVParkfan]

Stayed at all 4, and Music is hands-down the best Value. And as a previous poster said, the bus service at the All -Stars was superior to the service at Pop... contrary to what others have said. Having three busses to choose from is great, and it has been the "usual" when we've been there. Whenever we've had to share a bus, it was because there simply were not a lot of people, so it was no different than any other resort.

 

[smk]

We took a Music bus last September, even tho we were staying at Sports (waited for one for awhile and one never came so we jumped on the Music bus) and then we simply walked across a parking lot to Sports. It is literally a 5 minute walk or less, much like walking from a room at POP to the food court. The bus thing is really old, and a lame reason to pick POP over any other value resort.

 

[baswan]

I would stay at POP. all the rooms have just been renovated. The Mainpool is being refurbished in feb -mar and will be done by the time you go. I have stayed at both sports and movies but tnink I like POP more.