If staying at the All-Stars, I'd choose:
I'll give you a run down based on All-Star best All-Star buildings, followed by resort transportation, then Pop Century overview
All-Star Buildings to Choose:
- Music - Rock Inn Bldg 3, which would get you equa-distant to Melody Hall (Music Lobby Area) and Stadium Hall (Sports Lobby Area)
- Movies - Mighty Ducks Bldg 3 - equa-distant Cinema Hall (Movies Lobby Area) and Melody Hall (Music Lobby Area)
Sports - In your case it seems to be the obvious choice as your cousin might like the best. Be warned when the domestic sports type tour groups arrive, it can be a REAL challenge.....the domestic tour groups are the loudest and most privileged of them all
Transportation
All-Star
Don't be concerned with comments on "shared busing". This doesn't happen very often, if it happens at all. We have stayed at every All-Star, multiple times, and
NEVER, again
NEVER had shared busing....not one time. My guess is this happened occasionally years ago (again, we've stayed at every All-Star, and did so through the 90s) when there were actually times of the year when the resorts were actually slow. If it still happens in this day and age, it must be during the day, when peeps return to the resort for a breather.
There is another Disney "blog" that states the All-Star shared busing, and includes the "Sports is the first stop,Movies is the last stop" comment....this is the origin of most of the "shared busing" comments. This dude's blog is very informative, but some of the content has not been updated for years. He doesn't have plans of updating his Value Resort section until the refurbs at the All-Stars are complete and the Gondola transportation is open. I'll send you a link to his blog if you wish, just send me a PM. He is fairly quick to respond to any email questions.
Additionally, I'd point out, if shared busing was something that happened with any regularity, you would see multiple HORROR STORY Posts on just how bad it is/was.
Last note on shared busing - All-Star Sports is by far and away the easiest value resort to get a reservation. If it was the first stop on the busing circle, and the shared busing was something that happened regularly, Sports would be the first All-Star to sell out, NOT be the last one available. Either the shared busing is rare, or it must not be that big of a deal.
I added the others who commented on shared busing, and asked then for details of when busing was shared...hopefully they'll chime in with their experiences
Pop Century
Currently the hands down best Value resort
If you have the opportunity to stay here
BEFORE the end of July, jump on it. After mid-July, it might be a challenge for quite time time.
As
@Wngo905 states, the 60s bldgs 4 and 5 can get you a Standard room, close to the Gondolas, and I'll add a short walk over to AoA when the Generation Gap bridge is open/re-opens
Here is a link to a room finder - here you can filter to your exact room type based on proximity to pool, transportation, food, etc...it will take you directly to pop Century, but you can find any Disney Resort, including the All-Stars:
https://touringplans.com/hotel_maps/disneys-pop-century-resort?commit=Show+Matching+Rooms+»&filters[accessibility]=any&filters[balcony]=&filters[floors]=any&filters[lobby_distance]=any&filters[rack_rate]=any&filters[rate_date]=04/14/2019&filters[sound]=any&filters[transportation_distance]=any&filters[ug]=&filters[view]=172
One thing you'd be surprised to hear is Pop Century has, albeit only ever now and again, SHARED BUSING. On one of our stays last Fall we had shared busing twice! Once was leaving Epcot late at night after an EME. The 2nd time we had shared busing at Pop was just before dinner when heading from Pop to AK. It was surprising to have shared busing twice in the same trip, as we've ahd shared a few times over the years while staying at Pop. You are most likely to have this experience when traveling to Disney Springs as the bus area is small compared to those wanting to use it.
Details on shared busing? We've never had shared at an All-Star and are genuinely curious as to what time of day it would occur, the time of year, or if was back in the day when the Parks were actually slower/no crowds? Disney Springs only? Don't misinterpret this as anything other than my curiosity as to when it happens....
Details on shared busing? We've never had shared at an All-Star and are genuinely curious as to what time of day it would occur, the time of year, or if was back in the day when the Parks were actually slower/no crowds? Disney Springs only? Don't misinterpret this as anything other than my curiosity as to when it happens....
The busing hasn't been an issue on our end either
Great tip - the back side of the 60s bldg is a great locale! For some reason/quirk of the system, it appears only the 2nd of bldg 5 is the only Standard room area? Of course this doesn't mean one couldn't get any room in the bldg 4 or 5 as anything is possible with Pixie Dust.
They're still saying this Fall, but the rumors are pointing to the end of July and reasoning is TDO wants to have any bugs worked out well in advance o SW:GE opening....by the way, the same rumor has it for the soft opening SW:GE is the end of July/1st week of August. They have been test running for weeks now, and last week they ran uncovered during the day! We were entering Epcot through the International Gateway mid-week last week and stopped to watch. The first time we saw them in operation, we were surprised in how close it felt they were overhead! While they are well above your head, they are so big they feel to be much closer!!
When the Gondola do open:
- Pop/AoA are in line to have an elevated Status and TDO is trying to figure out details. The two possibilities are moving Pop/AoA to Moderate status, or leaving them as a Value, and re-branding/renaming the All-Stars to a delicate new term for most affordable.
- Pop/AoA will have shared transportation. This will not only be the Gondolas, but there is talk of busing to MK and AK being shared. Gis may sound far fetched, but I'll point out the Epcot Resort BLVD Deluxes have shared Busing all the time, with no deviation in 1st stop/last stop on the bus loop. It is one of, if not the worst busing on property. They do make up for this with the water taxi service to DHS/Epcot and the International Pathway linking all the resorts as well as Epcot and DHS...it is a nice walk from Epcot, through the resorts over to DHS!
