Staying on Property at Disney World’s Pop Century Resort
Since my most recent visit to Disney World included my first stay at a true on-property Disney resort, I figured I’d give the experience its own post. Above is a map of the resort. Click below for a partial explanation of what you see there. First, let me say that I ended up at Pop Century in a purely impulsive/money-saving move that really doesn’t make a lot of sense if you think about it too much. The super-cheap room off property I’d had reserved for months had disappeared for unavoidable reasons and for once I was in no mood to do a ton of research to fix the situation. Staying on property had always intrigued me, so I just picked up the phone and called Disney to find out what my intended dates would cost at a “value” resort. When I told the cast member who answered the phone that I wanted the cheapest room on property, but, you know, not a dump, he suggested Pop Century. Based on the rate he quoted with my AAA discount, I was satisfied and just glad to have it handled. Then I let him up-sell me on a preferred room (marked above in red).
First off, let me say that the extra $15 a night I spent on that “preferred room” seems to have been worth it. When you drag home after a very full day walking around in a park, the closer your room is, the better. In the days leading up to our stay, I studied the above map obsessively, wondering where we’d end up and what I should request. Cheaper rooms in the 80s building look like they’re just as close to Classic Hall and maybe closer to the bus stops. I didn’t go out there and measure it on my hands and knees, but based on “the eye test” that 80s building is much farther away in reality than it looks on the map. Our rooms in the 50s building (in the section marked with “1101-1472″) were just a stone’s throw from the main building (“Classic Hall”), but I never felt like we were in the middle of loud foot traffic.
Mostly, this is how it looked outside when I encountered the bowling pin staircases.
Another note about the map: The icons on Classic Hall do indeed indicate where in the building those services are located. After searching this information on line quite a bit, I called the resort and asked it straight out. The cast member I spoke to must have been confused, because she told me the icons were just a listing and did not reflect location in Classic Hall. That was incorrect. But it may have been a blessing in disguise, because I probably would’ve demanded a room in the 80s building if I’d known the truth, and that exchange would’ve been a wash at best. One of the biggest benefits of staying on property, though? Buses. 
Disney’s Magical Express, for one. Despite being located on the exact opposite side of MCO airport from where I landed with Delta, I was thoroughly impressed by the whole operation. They had a very big help counter down there, but it must’ve been for outgoing visitors, because when I showed a cast member my pass he asked me which resort I was staying at and waved me straight into a line marked “Pop Century.” This put me in place for what turned out to be no more than a 15 minute wait before boarding my bus to the resort.
The three Magical Express buses you see in this picture were supplemented by at least two others which were not as attractively themed, but I imagine did the job. Pop Century was the third of three resorts served by the bus I was on, but I never became impatient. My plane had landed even earlier than I’d expected, so I was living on gifted time and seemed destined to make it to Hollywood Studios well before my lunch reservation at 50s Prime Time Cafe. The promotional/informational video on board probably helped, too. Since I’d sent my big suitcase ahead by car with my folks, I was traveling light and had no need for the baggage delivery they feature. But that does sound great. I had only what I needed for my day in the park and a small plastic bag with a change of clothes for the next day that I was planning to leave at the front desk if my room wasn’t ready. After all, check-in time was more than four hours away.
That didn’t turn out to be an issue, as my room was available immediately. This allowed me to drop a couple of extra things on the table in my room before heading out for the day. Most significantly…
…my keys.
With no car to drive due to Disney’s transportation options, the only key I’d need would be my card room key. I freaking loved not having to carry my keys around. By the end of my 2 weeks in Florida and Georgia for the holidays, I actually had to go find where I’d put these things. In my backpack. I’d put them in my backpack.
The carpet in my room with not very hidden Mickeys. This game is a sickness. I have no interest in it, but once you know it’s a thing, you can’t help noticing. dammit.
Since I knew I wouldn’t be spending many daytime hours at Pop Century, I took a couple of pictures on the run.
The above is a shot from the front door of my room. Pop Century has big character icons outside most of the buildings. The 50s buildings get Lady and the Tramp. That’s a huge tabletop juke box at the end of that bowling pin-shaped swimming pool. I took this picture and never really gave them a second look, but I’m sure they’re probably invaluable in helping some guests find their rooms.
My first bus ride to a park was probably the most crowded. Of course, that’s because I was boarding not long after 11AM. I sincerely hope every last person in this line was, like me, just arriving in Orlando. Otherwise, what the heck were they doing only now getting on a bus? Why weren’t they at a park at rope drop? Don’t they read online tips? Don’t they listen to podcasts hosted by Disney experts? Don’t they read le Blog?
No. No they don’t.
The queue for the bus was so crowded at 11:15AM, in fact, that not all of us were going to get on the bus that showed up next. I fretted as I watched the line flowing into the bus slow to an ebb. The two ladies in front of me were stopped short of the bus door. Since I was on my own and I’m not exactly rotund, I locked eyes with the bus driver and held up a single finger. At Disney World, this is the international sign for “I’m by myself. You can seat me.” The driver understood and said, “okay, come on in.” Unfortunately, the two ummm…. “curvy” ladies in front of me misunderstood the driver and got on the bus first. Having been the one summoned, I didn’t let this stop me and I walked on right after them. The driver looked confused now. “Well, are you one or three?!” I smiled and said “I’m one. They’re two.” Telling those two ladies to get off the bus was not my job and the driver decided it was not hers either. Cramped as we were, everyone who had gotten on that bus was happy. Why mess with happy?
When I got up early the next morning to make an 8AM rope drop at the Magic Kingdom, Classic Hall looked like this. With practically no one else there, the walk of its length became easy and leisurely. So much so, that I stopped to take some pictures of the pop culture boxed assemblages hanging on the wall there. Google “Joseph Cornell” if you want to see more artistic versions of these things. These boxes were plenty fun to look at, though. Here are a few of my favorites:
A Disneyland Monorail board game. My uncles actually owned this. Not sure what happened to it.
A super groovy movie-themed 70s box featuring the quartet of awesomeness Star Wars, James Bond, Rocky Horror Picture Show, and…Shaft!!
An 80s toy box featuring “Simon,” Trivial Pursuit, Matell’s Electronic Baseball, Masters of the Universe, and a Cabbage Patch Doll
and this box which stars an original Atari 2600 and my favorite Atari game of all time, “Yar’s Revenge!”
Pop Century’s food court and “Everything Pop” retail shop are enclosed together and only separated by a short wall. You wanna eat? You gotta go in the gift shop! Good luck, Mom and Dad! Mwah Ha Ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!!!!!!
As you can tell from the above photo, the advantage of being up so early is that there’s no crowd to fight. I had my pick of tables and nobody to bump into.
The down side was that at 6:15AM there were only two choices for a hot breakfast. Both involved waffles. Waffles with fruit or waffles with meat. I chose waffles with meat. I like waffles and meat, but these are pretty average, and I’d been hoping for an omelette. When we got up just a little later on our last park day the choices had expanded dramatically, but the crowd was daunting.
Here’s a shot of the bus stops outside the resort at just a little before 7AM. The picture turned out pretty well, but I promise you it wasn’t nearly as sunny that morning as this makes it look. There was no doubt I was getting on this bus. Four hours makes a big difference.
I had stayed at one of those Downtown Disney hotels once, but the bus rides were longer because they were shared with other hotels at the time (Pop Century does not share its buses), and well…it was just a nice hotel. There was really no feeling that you were still at Disney World. It might have been a slightly better hotel (I honestly can’t remember exactly which one it was), but Pop Century is no slouch. It had been open exactly nine years the day before I got there, so everything is still bright and shiny. The staff was efficient and accommodating and my room was more than enough, considering how little time I was going to spend there. It was cleaner and bigger than many at perfectly good hotels I’ve stayed at. For a very detailed fan site of the resort, go to http://www.popcenturysite.com/
I have to admit that it may be difficult for me to consider any future Disney World trip of any length without staying on property. I’ve got a taste of not having to drive on vacation and I like it. The resort buses were not nearly as crowded the night of the Christmas party this year as the ferry to the parking lot had been last year after the Halloween party. Now that was a mass of humanity. At the same time, the prices attached to any of the moderate or deluxe resorts just don’t make sense to me when I’m really there to go to the parks. A slightly better breakfast and more beautiful surroundings would be nice, but they are hardly worth the difference in cost.
One of these days I may find myself on the other side of that lagoon, but I can’t foresee what set of circumstances would lead me there.
Posted on January 4, 2013, in Hollywood Studios, Magic Kingdom, Movies, Star Wars, theme parks, Trip Report, TV, Walt Disney World and tagged Disney World transportation, Joseph Cornell, Pop Century resort, pop century resort map, Staying on property. Bookmark the permalink. 5 Comments.
I have been not-so-patiently waiting for this post. I have to admit, I had almost given up hope. But it was worth the wait. You delivered the goods!
I’m glad you enjoyed your first stay on property. I have been having an internal debate over the merits of staying on property vs. the costs.
I can already tell this comment is going to be post-length. So be warned. Here we go!
Disney has been jacking up room rates in excess of inflation for years now. The room rates even at the Value resorts have reached insane levels. That’s why Disney almost always offers huge discounts. Their model seems to be to raise prices to make the discounts seem more attractive. It’s a shell game I don’t appreciate.
I would never stay on property at an undiscounted “rack” rate. If that was my only option, I would postpone my trip to dates when a discount was offered. Fortunately, Disney has painted themselves into a corner where they practically have to offer steep discounts year round to fill their rooms. I have never stayed on site with anything less than free dining or a 20% discount.
I have also never shelled out for a preferred room. Although I seriously considered it this year. Our last two trips, we stayed in Mod resorts which are sprawling complexes. We were never very far from the buses or a pool at the moderate resorts. But we were a good 15-20 minutes away from the main building and food court. If I stay at a Mod again, I’ll have to consider the preferred room to be closer to the main building.
As you know, we stared at Art of Animation this year which was our first time in the Values. AoA was originally planned as the second phase of Pop Century, so the layout is identical. And I have to say, I loved it. It was so compact compared to the Mods. I could walk anywhere in 5 minutes. Running to and from the food court for drink refills or a snack was no effort whatsoever.
For this reason, I don’t think I’d pay for a preferred room at the Value resorts. As it turns out, the room we stayed in was located in the red area on the map you posted. So even though we didn’t shell out for the location, we got what would be considered a preferred room anyway.
However, I might feel differently if I was staying at Pop Century and got stuck in the 80s/90s building. That would be a bit of a hike to and from the buses every day. Fortunately, at AoA if you are staying in a suite, you can’t possibly get stuck in the far building. All the suites are centrally located. And should be for the price you pay for them!
If I were staying in a Little Mermaid room ay AoA, I would know in advance that we would be stuck in the far building. Not a big deal if you have your own car. If I were staying at Pop, I don’t think I’d pay for the room upgrade in advance. But if I got there and they stuck me in 80s/90s, I’d consider upgrading at check-in.
I liked the Value resort much more than I expected to. But it was a bit of a cheat since we were staying in a suite which cost more than a deluxe room (undiscounted). Heck, it cost more than two Value rooms (but not much). So, I’m not sure we got the true Value experience. God knows we paid for more than the Value experience.
The ONLY reason we stayed in a suite, is that we were able to split the cost with my mom. That brought the expense down to slightly more than two Value rooms. And was much more convenient. It was a very comfortable arrangement we would happily repeat if Mom decides to travel with us again (and Disney offers discounts like free dining).
I’m not sure our family of four could manage a stay in a single Value room. Mindy gets cramped very easily. And we spend a lot more time in the room than a park commando would. With young kids, we return to the room for several hours in the middle of the day every day. Frankly, we were cramped during our last stay at Port Orleans where the rooms are bigger.
For a lone traveller, that’s not much of a concern. The Value room is plenty big enough for one or two people. And the accomodations are sufficient if you are spending most of your time in the parks anyway. For a typical family of four, those rooms are mighty small!
I do think to some extent you are selling the Mods short. They have more to offer than “slightly better breakfast and more beautiful surroundings”. For a family, there is more room to run around and let your kids blow off steam. There are outdoor activities and things to occupy your time when you are not at the parks. Basically, you’re not stuck in your room during your park down time.
For a shorter stay when you are planning to spend all your time at the parks, that’s not a priority. But when you are staying for a week or so with little kids, that becomes more valuable.
But even if you don’t have little kids, the Mods have something to offer which may or may not be worth the price of the upgrade. Generally, they are more centrally located. Which means slightly shorter bus rides (in theory). They offer additional ammenities like bars for those who would like to have a social drink or two. And usually some kind of entertainment options.
More importantly, they offer a level of immersion that is on par with the parks. At Pop Century and AoA (or the All-Stars), you get crazy, eye-catching icons. It’s fun, but you don’t necessarily feel like you have been transported to another place. There are areas of AoA where you feel immersed in a cartoon, but once you see the buildings you are obviously in a hotel.
At the Mods and Deluxes, you can take a long walk and completely forget that you are in FL. You can immerse yourself in the fantasy that you are in the old south, New Orleans, Mexico or the Caribbean. The illusion is pretty complete and spills over into your room.
That in my opinion is the primary advantage of the Mods over the Values. It’s like the difference between staying at the generic hotel at Downtown Disney vs. Pop Century. The extra money buys you yet another level of immersion in the Disney experience.
Having said that, it’s hard for me to justify the extra cost for a solo traveller. The Values offer everything you need and you’re unlikely to spend much time enjoying the ammenities the Mods offer. And frankly, the smaller size of the Values is a huge advantage over the sprawling Mods.
For the Deluxes, I think you have to be crazy to pay for those upgrades under current circumstances. Rumor has it that FastPass+ is going to make the Deluxes much more attractive. But time will tell.
When I was a WDW novice, I did pay for a week at AKL. (I got a great price post 9/11 and during the off season.) It was an absolutely beautiful resort. And although it is bigger than the Values, everything is much more centrally located than the Moderates.
I have considered another stay at the Deluxes, Especially Wilderness Lodge which is convenient to the Magic Kingdom without paying quite as much to be on the monorail. I have also thought about breaking the bank for one night on the monorail line with the rest of our stay at a Value or Moderate.
I don’t know if I will ever actually do it. Whenever push comes to shove, I would usually rather spend that money on something else. More time in the parks, more sit-down meals, more souveniers or experiences for the girls like Bippity Boppity Boutique, Photopass pictures, etc.
The thing that has been setting me off about on property stays lately is the bus service. We have just had too many long waits for buses. I can handle a 15-20 minute wait a couple times a trip. But these have become the rule rather than the exception.
When you are taking an afternoon break, that means you will get on a minimum of 4 buses a day. At 15 minutes each, that’s an hour of your day spent waiting for buses and probably another hour spent riding them. Plus travel to and from your room.
Then you have the waits while they load up the scooters. These things have gotten out of control. It was rare for us to board a bus without having to wait 5-10 minutes for the bus driver to load up guests in electric scooters.
And they take up so much room on the bus! It was galling to wait 15 minutes for a bus to arrive and then have these guests pull up and be and board the bus ahead of us. Worse still if this caused us to have to wait for a second bus which happened more than once.
Disney’s in a bit of a no win situation where these vehicles are concerned. More and more people are using them (whether they are needed or not). I wonder if they will eventually reach a breaking point where buses are no longer the most efficient means of travel.
Once again, for a lone traveler in decent health, the bus situation is a mild inconvenience. But for a family of four with small kids, it’s a royal pain. You find yourself at the mercy of other guests who boarded before you. Hopefully someone will be kind enough to give up their seat for an elderly woman or a three-year old.
The majority of the time, this was the case. On one long bus ride late at night, no one offered. I had to hold Kara the entire ride home in the dark and nearly fell over more than once. I actually landed on a guest who had refused to give up his seat, so maybe he learned a lesson. I did not feel safe. It was not a magical experience.
This has had me seriously contemplating renting a car next trip. But once you rent a car, you have to consider staying off site where room rates (and especially food) are cheaper. The buses have a domino effect that are leading me to reconsider the value of staying on property in the future.
The frustrating part is that Disney used to run more buses and these situations were very infrequent. They could easily fix this frustrating and sometimes dangerous situation with a few more buses. It would mean slightly less profit, but it might mean keeping more guests on property in the future.
Some costs aren’t reflected on a spreadsheet. The loss of loyal customers would be one example. This is a lesson the accountants currently running the resort have yet to learn.
Rant over.
Thanks for your information-filled rant!:-)
I probably would’ve posted this sooner, but I absolutely insisted on including the map at the top, which would’ve been more difficult while I was in Florida.
I also delayed a little because I was wrestling with the fact that I simply could not pretend to offer the kind of info you just shared and that all I could really do is recount my own experience and reaction to it.
The rooms were a little more expensive than a comparable hotel off property, but for me not having to drive (which includes not having to deal with parking lots) made up the difference this time around. After living in Chicago for more than 2 years, I was fully bought in to public transportation and I’ll always choose a quality train or bus over driving if I have the choice.
I totally sympathize with the demands of parenthood and while I absolutely rubber stamp those midday breaks as 100% necessary, I also watched those people come and go with a little selfish streak. (“yes yes…get your strollers out of the way. Your kid is starting to whine and he needs a nap…get out get out!”) But the middle of the day gets nuts in the parks anyway and I wouldn’t subject an already tired and overstimulated kid to the worst hours in the parks.
I have a little more sympathy for the scooter crowd now that my Dad was among them for a day. Those things are apparently really hard to control with any finesse at all. My Dad was a pilot in the Navy for awhile and had difficulty. Also, I found that the scooter meant a small extra wait for our group about as often as it meant a leg up. Of course my Dad waited til we were at the park to rent his (which I’m guessing is really expensive), so we didn’t take up all that bus space with the thing, either.
I gotta say, rolling solo at Disney World kinda rocks!
I was much more patient with the scooter crowd than Mindy was. I assume that the majority of these people need them. I know I can’t tell by looking who needs them and who doesn’t. And just because I see someone get up out of them and walk a short distance, that doesn’t mean they don’t need them over the course of the day. My frustration was never centered on the people using the scooters. I reserved that frustration for Disney who should be running more buses to lessen the impact.
Disney’s cost cutting is getting ridiculous. They very noticably turned down the air conditioning to the point where it was uncomfortable to be in rooms with crowds. I remember waiting in a crowded hallway to see the Monsters Inc Laugh Floor and everyone was visibly perspiring. Why? All the body heat raised the temperature in the room into the high 80s or low 90s. But Disney saved a few bucks making all of their guests visibly uncomforatble.
Who the hell has the bright idea to skimp on air conditioning in FL?!? At what is supposed to be (and is priced as) a premimum tourist attraction known the world over for superior customer service. This decision boggles the mind. I can’t even imagine what the resort will be like this summer if this decision is not reversed.
We had a lot of fun on our trip. But I am in no hurry to return. I want to wait till the kids are older so we no longer need a stroller. Ideally, we would no longer require afternoon breaks, but that seems unlikely. At least the buses will be less of an inconvenience assuming the service hasn’t continued to deteriorate.
I also have to say, I am not optimistic about the impact of Next Gen and FastPass+ when they roll out over the course of the next year. I am told to expect record high price hikes, longer-than-ever standby lines and a level of pre-planning that makes even me shudder. I am glad we got our trip in before any of this took effect. My desire to visit Disney has been sated and will likely carry me over for at least a couple of years if not several.
By then, I think the math for staying on property will have changed for us. I think it will have changed for everyone with the way FP+ will be used to lure guests on site. So I will have to re-evaluate that decision in the future.
I do know that Mom has expressed a willingness to go with us again. So everything else being equal, we would stay at the AoA suites again. I know I’ve been very negative in my comments, but our stay at AoA was overall a very pleasant experience.
Lebeau, have you seen this?
http://blogs.suntimes.com/sundance/2013/01/walts_vault_an_indie_pick_tackles_disney_magic.html
I have heard about it. I need to see this movie!