Sports/Music VS. Pop!

[EaglesfanNJ]

Hi Everyone! First let me start by saying I'm typing this with the excitement level at a 10. We just booked a week in September w/ Free Dining, upgraded to Regular Dining Plan (Small shout out to Tammy at Kingdom Konsultantas once again, thanks Tammy)!! It was out of nowhere really... Southwest had dropped some vouchers on us from last year's trip, and we put them to good use. Between the cheap flight, cheap rooms, and free dining, we could not pass it up.

My challenge now?? We're booked at Pop for right now. However, as you can see from my sig, we're typically ok with All Star. Now I'm reading mixed reviews on Pop. Some swear by it, some say it's too big/crowded. What are your thoughts?? We considered a preferred room at Pop, is it worth it??

As a backdrop, it's Sept. 1st - 7th, which includes being there on Labor Day. I have a 4 year old and a 1.5 year old, me, and DW.

So, stay with Pop and try it once, or go back too Sports/Music and play it safe?

 

[DisneyJoe]

Stay with Pop.

 

[jvenegas]

I would stay with POP. I usually stayed at All Stars until I tried POP for the first time and got hooked. If you have a preffered room, it's totally worth it. Short walk to front desk, concierge, food court and main pool. Also, if you know your shortcuts, very short walk to buses.

Bus service is great!!

Try it, I know you will love it.

Have fun!!:wave:

 

[Poofiesdream]

Stay with Pop you will love it!:sohappy:

 

[Bocko57]

You will be good with POP. DW and I are staying there at the end of September.

 

[EaglesfanNJ]

Interesting responses thus far.. Pop running away with it.

I'm inclined to try something new for sure. From what I understand the local kids are back to school, and after Monday (Labor Day) I would expect crowds to think out big time.

Preferred room is something we've never done though. Sounds like it would be worth it, especially with 2 young ones and a double stroller.

Anyone else who has stayed at both and can lend an opinion it's greatly appreciated!

 

[Todd H]

Pop hands down.

 

[Crush Dude!]

Pop all the way!!!!

Stayed at Music once and Movies once and Pop blew them away!!

The food court is brilliant!
The snacks available are delicious!
The Pools are Great!
And (although it is argued about a lot) the transport is miles better than the All Stars!!

Stick to Pop and you will have a great vacation:wave:

Enjoy :wave:

 

[EaglesfanNJ]

Pop all the way!!!!

Stayed at Music once and Movies once and Pop blew them away!!

The food court is brilliant!
The snacks available are delicious!
The Pools are Great!
And (although it is argued about a lot) the transport is miles better than the All Stars!!

Stick to Pop and you will have a great vacation:wave:

Enjoy :wave:

Nice review, thanks for taking the time out to respond. You guys all have me leaning Pop's way now.

To your point above about the food courts. Has anyone ever found them so crowded to the point where you'd not want to stay there?

Reason I ask... One of the more common themes I see on the review section over at AllEars, is complaints about the crowded food court, and the noise. Comments?

 

[SMS55]

I've done all four value resorts and for me I don't see any major differences or issues with any of them. My wife lives POP. We usually stay there because it's her favortite, but I am ok with any of them. The rooms at POP seem just a little smaller, but nothing glaring. It's fine. The benefit of POP is you will not have to share a bus. Sometimes the All Stars share a bus, depending on the time of day.

 

[Crush Dude!]

Nice review, thanks for taking the time out to respond. You guys all have me leaning Pop's way now.

To your point above about the food courts. Has anyone ever found them so crowded to the point where you'd not want to stay there?

Reason I ask... One of the more common themes I see on the review section over at AllEars, is complaints about the crowded food court, and the noise. Comments?

Over a 3 week stay in 2009 I never once saw a line more than 4 people deep, it was brilliant with a great variety as far as value resorts go!

Get the turkey ciabatta it's :slurp::slurp::slurp:

Noise? At peak lunch and dinner times yes kids around can be loud but it's just a matter of avoiding the peak hours :wave:

Any other help you need just ask or pm :wave:

 

[Philhar-Fanatic]

Haven't stayed at any of the All Stars but we LOVE the POP!!

 

[Mikester71]

Have only stayed at Pop (4 times) and recommend it highly! We stayed during our Spring Break all 4 times (starts today incidentally) and it has always been really crowded down there each time, but never found the cafeteria in Pop, or just Pop in general, to be TOO crowded. Usually ate breakfast in the room, but when we would head over to the cafeteria for dinner each night, we were always able to snag "our" table each time. :lol:

 

[redsfan4life]

POP all the way been to all Values and just prefer POP but if I was or am going with someone who prefered All Stars am fine with it .

 

[eroyee]

Stay with POP. You definitely won't be sorry. Also, stay with the preferred room because of your children's ages. As someone else said, avoid the regular lunch and dinner hrs. if you dont like noise, but we never thought it was too crowded. There's a lot of seating in the POP food court. Your children will love the icons all around and the splash pool...Have a magical trip...

 

[case88]

I'm jumping on the POP bandwagon. Have stayed at Sports, Movies, and POP. DW won't even consider going back to the AS resorts. I agree with the above poster...avoid peak lunch/dinner and you'll be fine with the food court.

Edit: Preffered rooms are a must!

 

[liloohana]

I don't know if you have thought about ASMovies, but for younger children, the Andy's Room Courtyard area is amazing-my children loved the enormous Buzz, Woody, RC, Rex, and Bo Peep!! They loved Sorcerer Mickey at the pool, as well.

The food court is a zoo-we actually drove over to POR and FQ for their foodcourt, because there was no wait!! But it wasn't awful, and we did find a table everytime!!

Also, we just arrived home, and ASMovies was putting refrigerators in EVERY room-NO CHARGE!! Ours went in the room on Tuesday!!
And, we also had free wifi-the front desk said that we weren't supposed to have it, but when you looked for a connection, it took you directly to free disney internet-you accepted their terms, and it dropped you on the All Star Movie homepage-so I'm assuming it will be there to stay!!

We also have stayed at POP and loved it!! The rooms are all kinda small, but we are never in our room much!!

Have a magical vacation!!

 

[liloohana]

Me again....have you thought about the new All Star Animation? I don't know if the single rooms will be ready yet (the family suites open in May), but that would be awesome...brand new rooms, brand new food court, brand new pools!!!

I would definitely look into that!!!

 

[SHORTY]

We go to Pop every year during the same time you're going (this year as well) & love it there. IMO the atmosphere there is so much better. I don't think it's overly crowded there at all that time of year with the exception of breakfast time in the food court & also it get's a little crazy in there after parks close & guests return for a late night bite to eat.
We did stay at ASMus one year & wasn't crazy about it. Pop definitely has better pools & food court. They also have various fun activities at certain times of the day which is cool.

Me again....have you thought about the new All Star Animation? I don't know if the single rooms will be ready yet (the family suites open in May), but that would be awesome...brand new rooms, brand new food court, brand new pools!!!

I would definitely look into that!!!

The Art Of Animation resort will only have family suites available in Sept. Even then, availability will probably be limited since only a couple buildings will be opened. Plus I heard they are not included in the free DDP promo.

 

[Tomi-Rocket]

Pop!

Try the Pop Century. We stayed there when my boys were 8 and 4 and they LOVED it! I did, too. My DH also enjoyed the atmosphere, it's not something we had ever seen before. So my vote is to try it, I really believe you'll have a blast. :wave: