If you have been trying to decide between all the wonderful world of resort options at Walt Disney World, let me give you my advice on the Disney’s Pop Century Resort. Not only is it economical, but it’s clean, comfortable and fun for all ages and types of families. The campus is decorated with decades of American pop culture that will have you fondly reminiscing.
Hubba and I stayed at Disney’s Pop Century Resort for 2 nights, Thursday and Friday, leading into the President’s day holiday weekend. We booked our vacation to coincide with our 5th wedding anniversary trip to Siesta Key, without realizing that President’s Day is a notoriously busy time at Walt Disney World.
I have stayed at many Disney resorts, including the Polynesian, Contemporary, Grand Floridian and Dixie Landings (now just called Port Orleans) and I was worried that I would be disappointed staying at a ‘value resort’. I’m glad we decided upon the Pop Century, and in this article, I’ll discuss some specific observations from our visit, and, also, the overall charm of this value resort.
Disney’s Pop Century Resort is a totally awesome place to stay! With bright décor that depicts icons from the second half of the 20th Century, the campus is a time-capsule of fads, phrases, and Disney memorabilia, such as a massive Mickey phone, larger-than-life bowling pins and yo-yos, a giant a yellow Walkman and Rubik’s cube. Each section of buildings is dedicated to decades ranging from the 50’s to the 90’s. The decades from the first half of the 20th Century have never been completed; some of those buildings are now part of the Art of Animation resort.
Pop is a huge hotel, with 2,880 rooms; there are only 10 buildings on the campus, which means there are almost 300 rooms in each building. The resort’s Classic Hall, brightly decorated with kitschy patterns and framed ephemera from the decades, houses registration, concierge, Everything Pop shopping and dining, and Fast Forward Arcade.
The resort has 3 themed pools, the 60’s themed Hippy Dippy Pool with Petals pool bar, which is closest to Classic Hall, the 50’s themed, 144,352-gallon Bowling Pool, shaped like a bowling pin and the 90’s themed, computer-shaped Computer Pool. All intertwining walkways are well-lit and lead to another entertaining discovery of pop-culture past.
Even before knowing about the holiday, I was worried the hotel would be loaded with families, full of children, obnoxiously over-crowded and loud. There will be children – it’s Disney, after all, and families are trying to save money wherever possible. Not only are there children with families, but there are also scarcely supervised groups of tweens and teens, many from foreign countries; cheerleading teams, sports teams, dance teams, etc. Packs of pubescents, ambling down walkways and hallways, some boisterous and brash, in the Classic Hall areas, transfixed on their phones and not paying a bit of attention to their surroundings. During our stay, the groups were exasperating, however, I have seen reviews of these groups taking over entire pool areas, chanting and singing so loudly it can be heard throughout the resort campus at all hours, or rough-housing in cafeteria lines, upsetting customer’s full trays of food and beverage.
Noise is to be expected with families, children and groups. Some reviews have stated noise can be heard from all surrounding rooms, next-door, above and below. The most noise we heard, when inside our room, was the thudding of feet, running up and down the exterior access walks that pass in front of the room doors, in the morning and at night (but never past midnight). The loudest areas of the resort are, obviously, any common areas, such as Classic Hall, any of the pool and recreations areas, and the bus stops.
The rooms are neither luxurious nor spacious, but they are comfortable and clean. The rooms were undergoing refurbishment while we were there, and we were still in the ‘old style’. A guestroom is approximately 260 square feet and contains 2 double beds, 1 king bed, or 1 Queen bed with a pull-down bed, a bathroom with shower/bath and toilet, a separate vanity area with sink, hanging clothes bar, small dresser, small table with 2 chairs, fridge, TV and free WiFi. I don’t know about anyone else, but I spend very little time in my room while at Walt Disney World. The majority of the time I do spend in the room, I am asleep, and the beds were perfectly adequate to crash in after a long day of travel or an exciting day of park activities.
I recommend requesting a Preferred Room upon booking. Preferred Rooms are located closest to the Classic Hall and bus stop. The major benefits being that in, the morning you won’t have as far to go for energizing coffee, juice and breakfast and after a long day at the parks, when you just want to kick off your shoes, wash your face, brush your teeth and fall into bed, you won’t have much more walking to do to get to room. We were in the 60’s building nearest the Hippy Dippy Pool, and closest to the Classic Hall. You can request this, specifically, when you book, but are requests cannot be guaranteed.
One of the huge positives of staying in a Disney resort is their internal transportation. Pop Century has its own bus service, which will take you to any of the parks, or Disney Springs. The bus stops are at the front exterior of Classic Hall. The distances from Pop Century to each park are as follows – Magic Kingdom: 7 miles, Epcot: 3 miles, Hollywood Studios: 3 miles, and Animal Kingdom: 5 miles.
Disney knows it’s stuff and the Pop Century value resort is no exception. They have combined low cost with signature close attention to detail, cleanliness and comfort, and over-all ‘vibe’ to make this a hotel worth checking out in person. I hope you’ll love it as much as we did!
