POP Question

[mitchk]

I was considering staying at POP Century for my trip in September, but I have a question. I know POP is big, but how big is it? Is it like all 3 All Star Resorts put together? I've never stayed there before so I was curious. Also, what about the food court? Is there just one main building that the whole resort uses? If so, doesn't that get crowed in there around lunch/dinner time? Anyone :veryconfu

 

[hls1023]

I'm not sure how big it is in comparison to the other value resorts but it's pretty big! My husband and I stay there every time we visit WDW. We have stayed there at least 5 times and it's great everytime. Yes, they only have one area to eat but they have a HUGE variety of things and we have never had to wait in line for very long and there seems to always be tables available. Even in the mornings when everyone is in a mad rush to get to the parks early.
The dining area is also open till midnight in case you get the munchies late in the evening.
For the price, I highly recommend this resort.

 

[PigletIsMyCat]

Pop Century has 2880 rooms. The All Star resorts have 5544 rooms (give or take a couple).

All Stars is divided into three sections: Music, Movies, and Sports. Each section has it's own main building with it's own food court and seperate pools. Statistically speaking, in one of the All Star resorts, you'd be lumped in with fewer people, but you'd be sharing a bus with all three resorts.

Pop is very busy. The food court was well maintained and well run.

 

[tiggerzgirl83]

:slurp:

I was considering staying at POP Century for my trip in September, but I have a question. I know POP is big, but how big is it? Is it like all 3 All Star Resorts put together? I've never stayed there before so I was curious. Also, what about the food court? Is there just one main building that the whole resort uses? If so, doesn't that get crowed in there around lunch/dinner time? Anyone :veryconfu

Hey neighbor, u actually live 5 minutes from me, im in Washington Twp.:wave: Anyway, I dont think POP is 3 All Stars together, but it is a decent size. Someone posted a map of POP on an old thread and I dont know how to post one, but that map might answer your question. I stayed there twice and let me just tell you it beats an All Star anyday, not that I dont like the All Stars because I do. POP is just more vibrant, they have 3 large pools, a nice bridge that you can walk across but it stops where they were goin to build the rest of POP classic area. The food court seems slightly bigger than the All Stars, they have a desert/ icecream section too:slurp: ! Its just a lot nicer and better themed. I love it. Oh yea, it is really clean too. The last 2 times I went, every morning there were pressure washing the ground all over the resort, it can get a little noisy but who cares, they are keepin the place clean...GO 4 IT!!!:wave:

 

[mitchk]

Thanks :wave:

 

[ThinkTink721]

I was considering staying at POP Century for my trip in September, but I have a question. I know POP is big, but how big is it? Is it like all 3 All Star Resorts put together? I've never stayed there before so I was curious. Also, what about the food court? Is there just one main building that the whole resort uses? If so, doesn't that get crowed in there around lunch/dinner time? Anyone :veryconfu

Total Number of rooms: 2880

I have heard that the food court can get pretty busy during meal time hours.

 

[PigletIsMyCat]

:slurp:


Hey neighbor, u actually live 5 minutes from me, im in Washington Twp.:wave: Anyway, I dont think POP is 3 All Stars together, but it is a decent size. Someone posted a map of POP on an old thread and I dont know how to post one, but that map might answer your question. I stayed there twice and let me just tell you it beats an All Star anyday, not that I dont like the All Stars because I do. POP is just more vibrant, they have 3 large pools, a nice bridge that you can walk across but it stops where they were goin to build the rest of POP classic area. The food court seems slightly bigger than the All Stars, they have a desert/ icecream section too:slurp: ! Its just a lot nicer and better themed. I love it. Oh yea, it is really clean too. The last 2 times I went, every morning there were pressure washing the ground all over the resort, it can get a little noisy but who cares, they are keepin the place clean...GO 4 IT!!!:wave:

Don't forget, though, that Pop's 2880 rooms should not be compared to All Star's 5444 rooms, because the 5444 rooms are spread out among three resorts. That's about 1800 rooms per resort, give or take because Music has suites in addition to regular rooms, so they probably have less than 1800 and the other two have more. That's still about a thousand - 1000 - room difference between Sports/Music/Movies and Pop. Also, each All Star resort has two of it's own themed pools and each has it's own food court that is open until midnight.

Pop might seem cleaner becaue it is newer, but the All Stars are well maintained. You would have less people to deal with in each food court at All Stars than you would at Pop. It depends on what you are looking for. If having less people to contend with at a value resort is your issue, I'd go for All Stars.

 

[Yellow Shoes]

Someone (sorry I can't remember who in order to give credit) posted this waaaaay cool link to gmaps pedometer.

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=995425

You can find out how far it is from point A to point B on Disney property.

So...play with it a little and compare distances.

What you don't want to know is that it is over mile from the entrance of Epcot to the America pavillion!

 

[shoppingnut]

I've stayed at Pop a few times and never found the foodcourt to be so crowded you couldn't find a seat. Remember, people just want to eat and get out of there to a park, they aren't hanging around. The folks who are at the pools are just coming in to fill their mugs, not sitting there in wet bathing suits so they freeze in the a/c. Also, figure that there are many folks doing character and non-character breakfasts or dinners elsewhere, so it's not as crowded as you would think.

 

[PBarton]

Total Number of rooms: 2880

I have heard that the food court can get pretty busy during meal time hours.

So how long does it take to get from the rooms furthest from the Classic Hall to the resort bus queue? Looks a bit of a walk, although it took us ages to get to the busses from our room at the AKL (awesome hotel though!)

 

[ThinkTink721]

So how long does it take to get from the rooms furthest from the Classic Hall to the resort bus queue? Looks a bit of a walk, although it took us ages to get to the busses from our room at the AKL (awesome hotel though!)

I think it is a bit of a walk if you are staying in the 80's or 90's sections.
I think the 60's & 70's are the closest.
But, I have heard that the 50's, 60's & 70's sections are not too far.
I don't think the resort is as big as the AKL, but I could be wrong.
:wave:

 

[shoppingnut]

So how long does it take to get from the rooms furthest from the Classic Hall to the resort bus queue? Looks a bit of a walk, although it took us ages to get to the busses from our room at the AKL (awesome hotel though!)

The 90's is the furthest out from Classic hall, even the 80's isn't too far since you can cut through the 70's parking lot to get to the bus lines. The walk would be a few minutes, but that also depends on how tired you are when you get back to the resort. :snore:

 

[bayoutinkbelle]

I've only stayed in the 50s buildings, but the walk from that block isn't bad at all.

I've seen the food court get pretty crowded, but I've always been able to find a seat somewhere.

 

[Raven66]

We have stayed at POP the last 3 times we have gone. We love it. I always request a room as close to the main building as possible without it being a preferred room. So far they have honored that request. So our walk hasn't been to bad. On the few times we have eaten in the food court we've never had to wait in line for very long. And sometimes instead of eating inside there we take our food back to the room.

We have stayed at ASMo and we really liked that one as well, but I just didn't care for sharing a bus. It never failed that coming or going we would be standing up. In the morning I didn't really care but at night I didn't like it so much. Sometimes I will stand with the POP busses too, but that is usually by choice. If I see a woman (or man) with a small child or a pregnant woman I will stand and give them my seat. As have my DD and DH. (Sorry way off topic) Anyway, POP is a great resort.:wave:

 

[mitchk]

We have stayed at POP the last 3 times we have gone. We love it. I always request a room as close to the main building as possible without it being a preferred room. So far they have honored that request. So our walk hasn't been to bad. On the few times we have eaten in the food court we've never had to wait in line for very long. And sometimes instead of eating inside there we take our food back to the room.

We have stayed at ASMo and we really liked that one as well, but I just didn't care for sharing a bus. It never failed that coming or going we would be standing up. In the morning I didn't really care but at night I didn't like it so much. Sometimes I will stand with the POP busses too, but that is usually by choice. If I see a woman (or man) with a small child or a pregnant woman I will stand and give them my seat. As have my DD and DH. (Sorry way off topic) Anyway, POP is a great resort.:wave:

Not to stray off topic, but I hate when I see young men sitting, and a woman or child gets on the bus and has to stand. I think that is so ignorant, that a man won't give up his seat. I'm always the first to jump out of my seat for a woman/child or an elderly person. I almost said something to this little punk (was probably about 20 years old) last week going back to OKW, when a pregnant women got onto the bus with 2 children. I jumped out of my seat (all that was left was standing room), and she let her 2 kids share my old seat, while 3 seats away this little punk didn't even look her way to offer his seat. I looked at my wife, and remarked (a little loudly) how some people are so damn ignorant. My wife of course stood up so the pregnant woman could sit, but it ed me off so much, I just wanted to strangle him. Sorry for the rant :wave:

 

[ThinkTink721]

We have stayed at POP the last 3 times we have gone. We love it. I always request a room as close to the main building as possible without it being a preferred room. So far they have honored that request. So our walk hasn't been to bad. On the few times we have eaten in the food court we've never had to wait in line for very long. And sometimes instead of eating inside there we take our food back to the room.

We have stayed at ASMo and we really liked that one as well, but I just didn't care for sharing a bus. It never failed that coming or going we would be standing up. In the morning I didn't really care but at night I didn't like it so much. Sometimes I will stand with the POP busses too, but that is usually by choice. If I see a woman (or man) with a small child or a pregnant woman I will stand and give them my seat. As have my DD and DH. (Sorry way off topic) Anyway, POP is a great resort.:wave:

Thanks for the info.!
We are staying at Pop for the 1st time in Sept.
As for standing & letting other people have your seat on the bus, I think that is great!
Last summer there were so many times that I saw a woman or a small child standing & men who were sitting & they never once offered them a seat.
I think you deserve a big "thank you."
:wave:

 

[ThinkTink721]

Not to stray off topic, but I hate when I see young men sitting, and a woman or child gets on the bus and has to stand. I think that is so ignorant, that a man won't give up his seat. I'm always the first to jump out of my seat for a woman/child or an elderly person. I almost said something to this little punk (was probably about 20 years old) last week going back to OKW, when a pregnant women got onto the bus with 2 children. I jumped out of my seat (all that was left was standing room), and she let her 2 kids share my old seat, while 3 seats away this little punk didn't even look her way to offer his seat. I looked at my wife, and remarked (a little loudly) how some people are so damn ignorant. My wife of course stood up so the pregnant woman could sit, but it ed me off so much, I just wanted to strangle him. Sorry for the rant :wave:

You're a good guy too (just like Raven66)...
I'm glad someone feels the same way I do about this subject!
Chivalry is not dead!
:wave:

 

[disneydudette]

Believe it or not the 90s section isn't that far away if you cut across the food court...

Distances through GoogleEarth:
Juke box buiding 50s section - .18miles
90s building - .18miles cutting through parking lot
Roger Rabbit 80s section - .19 miles on path

We were in 50s section, juke box building, and the walk to the main building and bus stop was just around 3 - 5 minutes depending on walking speed. It really wasn't that bad! The food court was "busy" but we never found it to be out of control and was always able to find a seat.

I always do a comparison resort distance when I try to figure out the best locations. For instance, I measured our usual walk at CBR across the bridge and then compared it to Pop locations. It gave us the best idea (since we were familiar with the walk at CBR) on what to expect walking wise at our resort.

 

[Yellow Shoes]

According to the pedometer site I referenced above:

At Pop Century:
from the farthest 50's OR 90's building to the bus stop is .22 miles

At Polynesian:
from Tahiti to the monorail stop is .24 miles

At Animal Kingdom Lodge:
from the farthest out rooms (ending in xx71 through xx96) to the bus stop is .23 miles


The maps are sometimes a little deceptive


^^^^looks like great minds think alike. I think our differences in distances may be that I did not do "as the crow flies" because you can't always travel that way. I tried to follow sidewalks and pathways, making right angle turns as you often must.

However--our results are the same.

 

[MaxsDad]

I've stayed at AS Mu and Pop. Yes Pop has more rooms than the individual All Stars, but they aren't more "spread out" than the All Stars because they get their higher capacity by having a fourth floor (All stars only have three). Our walk from the Broadway section at ASMu seemed farther than anything at Pop. I had no complaints about seating or wait times in the food court at either resort.

Pop may have 50% more people than an All-star, but its buses only carry about half as many people as the Allstars and makes a third fewer stops. If you will be going to the parks by Disney Transportation (bus), and eating meals away from the resort (Parks, etc.) often, then Pop would seem to be the better choice, to me anyway. Just my opinion.