Pop Century Resort Review
Disney’s Pop Century Resort is a value hotel in Walt Disney World, and a top pick for money-saving options. In this review, we’ll share newly-refurbished room photos, offer thoughts on amenities, compare Pop Century to other Value Resorts, and more. (Updated February 8, 2022.)
Pop Century has a reputation among frequent Walt Disney World guests as being the favorite ‘value pick’ for a variety of reasons. It’s always been viewed as a cut above the All Star Resorts, but had slipped a bit in recent years. That was due to the debut of Disney’s Art of Animation Resort, which caused Pop Century’s stature among Walt Disney World fans to drop a bit.
In fairness, even after the opening of Art of Animation’s Little Mermaid rooms, Pop Century was a popular choice for frugal travelers. The Little Mermaid rooms are often excluded from promotions, and are generally still slightly more expensive. Additionally, Pop Century is now seeing renewed interest for two other reasons that make the hotel very appealing–arguably worth downgrading to book.
First, a total room redesign was completed at Pop Century a few years ago. While this has been somewhat controversial with nostalgic Walt Disney World fans, the results have been a major crowd-pleaser in terms of both style and substance.
We covered these new rooms extensively in our Photos & Video: Inside Pop Century’s New Rooms post, and recommend taking a look at that if you want a truly comprehensive look at the redesign. We’ve also updated this post with a look at the new rooms in that section of the review.
The second big thing that has further elevated the status of Disney’s Pop Century Resort is the Disney Skyliner gondola station, which the resort shares with Art of Animation Resort. This connects Pop Century to Disney’s Hollywood Studios and Epcot via Caribbean Beach, and means access to two parks and several hotels (including the character dining at Riviera Resort) without getting on a bus, which is huge.
Since going into operation, we have used the Skyliner many, many times, and are huge fans. From our perspective, the added value to Pop Century of this non-bus transportation cannot be overstated, which is good…because Walt Disney World has really increased Pop Century’s nightly rates! Read our Skyliner Gondola Review: Walt Disney World’s Most Magical Flight on Earth for more info and commentary.
As we state in our All Star Movies Review and All Star Sports Review, the Value Resorts are quite divisive. Some love them for their convenience and price-points, others hate their design and feel they’re over the top and tacky. Although they’re far from being our favorite hotels, we don’t mind the Value Resorts for what they are. In fact, we’ve stayed at Pop Century many times over the years, and it’s a sentimental favorite for us.
Whether the Value Resorts are right for you comes down to the nature of your visit. If you’re taking a “the room is only for sleeping” type trip during which you want to be in the parks as much as possible, the Value Resorts are great because they’re ~$100 per night with a good Walt Disney World room-only discount, and allow budget-conscious guests to stay on Walt Disney World property. Pop Century is also our top recommendation for the Free Dining promotion at Walt Disney World, when that’s available.
If you’re looking for the pros & cons of the various Value Resorts as compared to Pop Century, check out our Walt Disney World Value Resort Rankings. (Spoiler: Pop Century is #1, but there are compelling reasons to book the others, so your mileage may vary.)
Here, let’s start with a look at the general amenities at Pop Century. As with all on-site Walt Disney World hotels, Pop Century offers the perks of a Disney hotel, such free transportation around Walt Disney World, Early Entry, priority booking of Individual Lightning Lane selections, and the extended Advance Dining Reservation window. Guests staying at Pop Century are not eligible for Extended Evening Hours, as that’s offered to Value and Moderate Resorts.
After those on-site perks, dining is the next most important aspect of a resort for most guests. We consider Pop Century’s Everything Pop food court to be superior to the food courts at the All Stars, with the Tie-Dyed Cheesecake having a bit of a cult following.
They also serve a variety of fun burgers and more ambitious entrees than you’ll find at many other food courts around Walt Disney World. The quality of offerings has really improved here–and really, across the board at food courts–over the last few years.
For many families, the pools are of paramount concern. The feature pool at Pop Century is the Hippy Dippy Pool, which is located directly behind the Classic Hall lobby and food court.
Dedicated to the ‘Flower Children’ from the Summer of Love, the Hippy Dippy Pool is flower-shaped and vibrantly colored. There’s also a water play area for small children with bubbling fountains.
While the Hippy Dippy Pool is larger than Pop Century’s other two pools, it’s also significantly busier. For this reason, we prefer the other two pools at Pop Century: the Bowling Pool and the Computer Pool. The former is designed to look like a bowling alley, featuring bowling ball racks and other fun details. The Computer Pool is shaped like a gigantic laptop PC from the heyday of 1990s AOL dial-up. (You can almost hear the ‘You’ve got mail’ and AIM sounds as you lounge there.)
None of these pools have hot tubs or jacuzzis, which are only found at Moderate Resorts and above. You can find a pool bar, called Petals Pool Bar at the Hippy Dippy Pool. At these pools, you’ll also find self-service laundry facilities.
In terms of other amenities, there are a couple of small playgrounds, none of which are particularly noteworthy. One that is somewhat neat is the Goofy Pop Jet Playground. Realistically, your kids will probably end up playing around the various lawn areas of the resort. There’s also Fast Forward Arcade and a jogging trail that connects to Art of Animation.
Finally, Pop Century offers Walt Disney World’s free Movies Under the Stars program. This is a pretty neat offering for families who don’t stay late in the parks; the resort plays a different (family-friendly) Disney film every night of the week on an outdoor screen. You can find the movie schedule in the hotel’s lobby–it’s usually animated films.
Beyond those amenities, families with kids might find the Value Resorts to be a good option because the themes and larger than life icons of the Value Resorts appeal to kids.
By contrast, if you are on an adults-only trip (such as a honeymoon) and plan on spending a lot of time at your resort, and would like to be able to use a nice pool, eat at nicer restaurants, and enjoy other nice amenities, Pop Century (or any of the Value Resorts) is definitely not a good fit for you.
Up until Art of Animation opened, Pop Century was the popular pick among the Values because it was the newest, nicest, and only Value Resort with a full-time dedicated bus service.
Pop Century does charge a slight (~$10/night) premium over the All Star Resorts, but I think most regulars of Pop Century would agree that this premium is well worth it for dedicated bus service and a nicer resort.
Pop Century is still nicer than the All Star Resorts, but it’s best recommended to people who don’t want to pay the slight premium to stay at the Art of Animation Little Mermaid rooms. If you don’t mind paying the ~$10/night extra to stay at Art of Animation, that should be your pick.
This is especially true if you’re staying at a Value Resort for the sake of your kids, as the Disney animation icons will resonate with kids much more than random pop icons that they probably will not recognize (there are some Disney icons scattered about the grounds of Pop Century, but Art of Animation is ALL Disney icons).
The food court and overall “newness” of Pop Century as compared to the All Star Resorts, plus the dedicated bus, is where the advantage lies. Plus, Art of Animation is only a short walk away, meaning that you have the Landscape of Flavors food court and its bus system at your disposal, too.
On a recent stay at Pop Century, when we were at the park waiting for a bus, Art of Animation showed up before Pop Century, so we just took that and walked across the Generation Gap Bridge; the two resorts are so close together that walking didn’t take any extra time.
Now let’s take a look inside the guest rooms, starting with the redesigned ones…
The biggest change you can expect to see is a new configuration with a regular bed flanked by nightstands, and Murphy bed that doubles as a table. Both of these beds are queen-sized, versus the double beds previously in these rooms.
There’s a lighter color scheme, dominated by white with hints of orange and lime, Mickey Mouse pop art above the queen bed, and Pluto pop art above the Murphy bed.
There’s also more storage space, including a dresser under the television, room for luggage under the bed, and a variety of random cubbies around the room.
You’ll also find tons of USB-charging ports and outlets around the room. If you’re in one of these rooms, there’s no need to bring those USB-charging strips that we recommend in our Packing List for Walt Disney World.
In the corner, there’s a kiosk with drawers, mini-fridge, and a coffee maker! This is somehow a Walt Disney World Value Resort first.
In the bathroom, you have a vessel sink, illuminated bathroom mirror, and make-up mirror. There’s also an actual sliding door separating the bathroom area from the main room (instead of a thin curtain), glass door in the shower, and rainfall shower fixture in addition to the standard one.
All of these things, to us, are upgrades to the Pop Century guest rooms with zero downside. Each individually might be a minor thing, but collectively, they make for a room that is significantly “plussed” over the Value Resort defaults.
Now, let’s take a look at the old guest rooms. All renovations are now finished and these rooms are complete gone–we’re simply sharing for the sake of comparison:
Note that this was shortly before the removal of the comforter, which was replaced by a similar runner at the bottom of the bed. Aside from that, the only thematic touch is the painting on the far wall.
The old rooms at Pop Century aren’t really anything special. They’re your basic cheap hotel/motel rooms that would fetch significantly less in the “real” world. It should also be noted that these rooms are quite small (having the option to fold-up the bed makes a world of difference).
For long weekend, park-centric trips, we love Pop Century. Its price plus the convenience of the Skyliner to access Epcot and Disney’s Hollywood Studios is huge. This means you only have to rely on the bus transportation for getting to Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom.
One thing we should note is that a lot has changed at Walt Disney World since reopening. Gone are Extra Magic Hours, free FastPass+, and the Disney Dining Plan. As such, you might want to give serious thought to staying off-site and renting a car. Read about this in Is Walt Disney World’s On-Site Advantage Disappearing?
At any of the Walt Disney World on-site hotels, you pay a premium for the location and Disney name. For the same amount off-site, you could get a better room.
Whether a Value Resort or off-site is right for you all depends upon your needs and preferences. We strongly prefer staying on-site, but obviously, not everyone is the same way.
Overall, Pop Century is a great option for guests who MUST stay on-site and want something nicer than the All Star Resorts, but still consider where they’re staying “just a room.” It’s one of the resorts where we’ve stayed the most, and we really like it. For quick, weekend trips when we won’t be in our rooms much, Value Resorts are great. For longer or more relaxed trips, we prefer the ambiance and quality of a Moderate or Deluxe Resort.
With that said, it’s tough to argue with the re-imagined guest rooms and Skyliner gondola access offered by Disney’s Pop Century. From a practicality and bang-for-buck perspective, it should be easy to see why Pop Century is once again our #1 Value Resort. Those rooms are incredibly spacious, and Pop Century is perfect for our travel style. While we still prefer the atmosphere of Art of Animation, the overall package and value for money offered by Disney’s Pop Century Resort pushes it over the top.
Planning a Walt Disney World trip? If you’re interested in learning more about hotels, our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page is a good place to start. For where to eat, try out our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews page. If you want to save money on tickets or determine which type you should get, read our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips post takes a unique look at unconventional things you should take on your trip. Once you arrive at the parks, our Walt Disney World “Ride Guides” are great for determining what to do and when to do it. For overviews of all of these topics and so much more, the best place to start is our comprehensive Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide to make the most of your experience!
Your Thoughts…
Are you a fan of Pop Century? Do you prefer it or the Art of Animation Little Mermaid rooms? Do you not care for the Value Resorts at all? Thoughts on the theme here, or the best section in Pop Century to choose? Do you agree or disagree with our advice? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
I have stayed at the Pop Century for 2 week long trips with my son and my sister. The place is great! The concierge was excellent, even the food at the hotel was fine for the times we were not in the park. Many pools to chose from, a poolside bar, and it is not noisy at night like you might expect. There is an excellent walk around the resort with signs commerating different events that happened each year. The decor is AMAZING, and I spent a long time in the lobby looking at all the things from the past. Pin trading opportunities were good as well. The rooms are small, but we only sleep in them. Highly recommended!
If you’re only using the room to sleep, Pop Century is great!
We have stayed at Pop Century before and it was just what we needed. We are heading down in September to take advantage of the free dining and hose pop century again. We are saving quite a bit of money by doing this and I’m sure we will spend that money somewhere while we are visiting Disney. We travel with our young kids and they love the Pop Century Resort. Very family friendly!!!!
We’ve always been fond of Port Orleans/Riverside and Key West!!! Now that we are local and have annual passes it isn’t the same. Disney World is best experienced staying on property and completely immersing you and your family in everything Disney has to offer. Yes the bus rides back to the hotel can be tedious and tiring, but paying for parking and maneuvering though the streets of Kissimmee/Orlando is equally frustrating. And don’t fall for any off-property hotels that offer buses/shuttles to the Disney Parks, they often work on a very set schedule and if you miss the final run of the evening, you will be taking a cab back to your off-site hotel.
I totally agree, and this is one of the big reasons why I am not interested in being a WDW local.
Our trips usually consist of at least 12 people with different budgets, so we stay in the economy resorts! Pop was my favorite. We have also stayed in All-Star Music and it wasn’t as nice. I have also stayed in the Dolphin and loved how close it was to the Boardwalk. We are planning another family trip in October of 2014 and plan on doing MNSSHP for the first time, and I love the Food and Wine festival! We are wanting to do an ADULTS ONLY trip around Christmas time and are planning on a deluxe resort for that trip.
We are staying in AoA for our 2014 trip 🙂
We visted AOA while staying at POP back in january. while the resort was perfectly nice we felt that POP was still better. The food court at AOA was much overrated and we felt that the atmosphere of the food court lacked the fun of value resorts. While the resort itself was nice we didn’t really think it was worth the extra price of staying there unless we were in a large group staying in the suites.
Really? We LOVED Art of Animation. By far our favorite of the Value Resorts. Everything about it seemed superior (bus lines did seem a little longer than Pop, but that’s anecdotal).
My family loves Pop, and we’ll be back in Nov for our first holiday visit. Having the smaller rooms is good because then each group has to get their own room ( me and my husband, my sister and my niece, and my mom by herself) which gives us all down time from each other to avoid going crazy and arguing. We love each other but we need a break, bigger rooms or suites may be a recipie for disaster. My husband and I spent the first week of our honeymoon at French Quarter and met up with my family for the second week at Pop last year. While we loved French Quarter, it was beautiful, small and quiet, but the food court was terrible. I’d take the Pop food court any day. Plus it’s just a fun resort and the staff is great. Someday when we have a bit more $ we’d love to try a deluxe, but for now we love Pop and are proud of it!
We stayed at one of these resorts years ago & there is one warning you might want to mention. As one submitter stated, there are huge numbers of tour groups of young people who stay at these sites.
When we went with our 2 teenaged daughters one summer, we encountered hundreds & hundreds (& hundreds) of Brazilian students there. While the youth were pleasant & well-mannered, there sheer numbers overwhelmed all bus routes, walking areas, eating areas, etc. (They went en masse everywhere…) We had lots of hot summer bus waiting, with no shade at this hotel area in general.
For those with toddlers, this could spell a very frustrating Disney experience. It was negative enough for my teen-aged daughters to say, “Never again in summer, and never again at these Value Resorts.” We didn’t return to Disney for many years after that. Not a good value or experience for us, & we are true Disney lovers.
We just got back from Disney this week and we stayed at Pop Century. It’s nice and clean and the bonus with staying there is they have their own bus. Whenever we missed the first bus we didn’t have to wait very long for the next one to show up. And the trip to any of the parks doesn’t take long from the resort. If we ever get to go back to Disney World I’d definitely stay at Pop Century again.
Tom-Have you stayed in the Little Mermaid rooms at AOA yet? If so, what did you think? My husband and I are bringing our 5 year old daughter and 1 year old son this November and are staying at AOA because of the LM rooms (for my daughter). I couldn’t find an AOA review if you have done one. Thanks! LOVE your blog for planning our first Disney trip! Thanks!
I adore POP! I think I have stayed at it more than any other resort on all of my 17 trips to WDW. However, I do have one complaint and that is the size of the beds. When my husband and I first got married we had a full size bed at home, but have since moved up in size. When we stayed at POP for our anniversary in September, we had forgotten what it was like to not have any choice but to cuddle up. :o)
I don’t know why- but in touring the moderate resorts (coronado springs, caribbean beach, and port orleans riverside and french quarter) we really prefer the experience of being at the values. The moderates seem overly huge and disconnected from the disney experience, while the values seem to offer more “cool” factor and convenience. Of course, this is all just “academic” observation, because we have never stayed at a moderate and my only experience with staying at a value was 15 years ago when I was twelve years old at all star music (which, at 12 years old and knowing nothing about WDW, I thought was the most phenomenal place on planet earth).
We are strongly considering a little mermaid room at art of animation for trip in early december. My only concern is art of animation won’t have much in the way of christmas added to their theme, and that I’d be kicking myself for not booking the animal kingdom lodge.
If you have the means and you’re used to Deluxe Resorts, I think you’d be crazy to book Art of Animation over Animal Kingdom Lodge at Christmas.
Unless I’m going to splurge and stay at a Deluxe Resort, this is where I stay. It’s nice “enough” of a place to sleep and shower, and most importantly, I can get to and from the parks quickly and easily. Sometimes I think about staying at one of the Port Orleans Resorts, (I like FQ) but then I think of all the extra time I spend waiting for and sitting on buses when they are stopping at all of the Riverside stops, and I get frustrated and book Pop Century instead. This summer I’m traveling with a big group that includes kids, and the bus transportation was definitely a big factor in our party choosing Pop over Riverside or French Quarter.
How much of a shock to the system is it going from the size of a deluxe room to the size of a value?
Room size doesn’t bother me much at all, because when I’m at Disney, if I’m in the room I’m sleeping or showering – neither of which requires that much space. I have three sisters and the four of us have stayed in one room at Pop together twice – we just have to be organized so everyone has her own suitcase and “getting ready” space. When I travel with my husband, it’s just the two of us, so we have no problem with the room size issue. If we stay deluxe as a couple, it’s because we want the convenience of walking to the parks and the ambiance of the Epcot resort area. The rooms at Beach Club could be the same size as Pop and I’d still stay there because of location.
I’ve always had a good experience at Pop Century. I’m a fan, too. In fact, we’ll be staying there for a third time in May. Our trips are just me and my adult daughter, so the small rooms are enough for the two of us. The rooms have always been clean and comfortable, too. We do pay the extra $10 for a preferred room to save a little bit of walking after an already long day in the parks. The only slight complaint I have about Pop is that the rooms are slightly noisy sometimes. You can hear toilets flushing and if you happen to get rambunctious neighbors, you will hear them through the walls.
I agree with the conclusions in this review. I stayed at the Pop in October, 2011. This was my first non-moderate WDW resort stay. I was very pleasantly surprised by how much I liked the Pop. My first impressions, based on photos, was “tacky.” And those corny expressions they put on the buildings are quite tacky. But most of the other decorative elements are rather interesting in person (I was partial to the giant Imperial Yo-yo).
The front desk service was speedy, my room location was very convenient, the room was in good condition, and all staff I encountered were very friendly. Bus lines were not absurd, but my visit was during a non-peak time of year. The food court is a real gem. There were several interesting and delicious options – and the food staff was super friendly about making things the way I requested.
So if you’ve considered all the disclaimers in the review and you still think the Pop might be a good choice for you, I’d say give it a try. I felt almost as immersed in the Disney experience as I did at any of the moderates – at least more immersed than I expected.
Our experience with the staff has also almost always been positive at Pop Century. Other guests are a different story. However, I keep anecdotal things like this out of reviews as I think service/interactions differ so much from day to day and guest to guest.
I totally agree! My boyfriend and I went to Pop century for two weeks (we are from Italy so we decided for a long stay! we also visited the dark side shhhhh) and we loved it! We are 90’s kids as we were born in the late 80’s so we recognized lots of the icons (we were on the ’80’s rooms!). The food court was amazing, lots of variety, the LUNCH BURRITOS were just delicious and mom’n night out also. We did visited Art of Animation and it’s a plus, I think for either Pop’s or Art of Animation’s guest having a resort that near it’s amazing. We do hope to do an upgrade next time we visit (Polynesian!!) but I must say that Pop Century is a great bargain! If you are a young couple without kids, Pop may be better than Art of animation as there are more family suites than normal rooms.
Yep, the proximity of the resorts to one another is GREAT. I’m a little surprised the two resorts don’t share buses. Here’s hoping that doesn’t start, because that would kill a big advantage.
Have fun at the Polynesian. It’s a beautiful hotel!
YEs I agree with that, hope they don’t share buses. Also because Art of animation is aimed for bigger families can’t think of a bus with Pop and Art of Animation families!
Thank you for the good wishes, we’ll still have to wait until Sept 2014 but it’s worth the wait!
We will be staying at Pop Century this October. We are the type of people that will only be sleeping and showering at the hotel and will be spending all our time at the parks. With this being our first trip, we didn’t want to spend a ton of money on a fancier resort (but they all look so amazing!). For the price point, Pop really works for us. And AoA LM rooms were booked up. 😉 Thanks for the review!
In that case, Pop Century is a great pick. Enjoy your trip!
For as long as Little Mermaid rooms are excluded from discounts, that will be a nice plus for Pop. You don’t get the room or the pools, but staying at Pop on a discount you can still get some of the atmosphere and easy access to Landscape of Flavors.
You are also the same distance from Landscape of Flavors from some of the Pop buildings as you are from the Little Mermaid rooms. LM rooms are way out there!
Good point on the discounts as well. We wanted to stay at AoA on our January trip, but with the discounts on POP (Stay/Play Dine) the little mermaid rooms would have cost us significantly more for the trip.
Boy, you’re not kidding about the LM rooms being way out there. It’s literally a 5-10 minute walk from Landscapes of Flavor (depending on your walking speed and energy level). At the end of a long day at the parks, it might as well be miles away. The accommodations & grounds are excellent, but not worth the looooong walk in my opinion. I think we’ll be staying at Pop on our next visit.
We will be staying there on our next trip and have read great things about it but if you are only planning on being in your room to shower and sleep, values are a great way to keep your costs down. I am looking forward to the non shared buses. How did you know that the AOA bus was arriving in time to get over to the bus stop? Is there a schedule somewhere?
I think Tom was talking about on the way back to the resort from the parks. At least that’s how I read it.
Ok, thanks I missed that the first time through. I saw a picture of TV monitors with bus times on them somewhere (on the vast www, I think it was at the Grand Floridian) and wondered if that was something working its way through the resorts.
No schedule, we saw the Art of Animation bus as we waited at the Pop Century bus stop (this was at the park, not at the hotel), so we walked over. You couldn’t do that at the hotel, although I suppose if there was a huge backup at the hotel bus stop line, you could walk to the other and try your luck there, but I doubt that would be efficient.
Love the pics! My first on property resort was CBR and then we stayed at pop for the next trip and I hated it. So crowded, such long bus lines, and no themeing compared to the pirate room at cbr. I went back this last weekend after staying at some cheapo off property places and I loved it! Part of it was knowing what to expect. I ate breakfast super early to avoid those crowds and had an Illuminations escape plan that got me on the first bus back to pop after epcot closed. The king cupcake is not to be missed (I’m not even a big bacon fan!) My room was spotless, bus service was great, CM’s were fantastic, and I really enjoyed all the music from the different decades 🙂
Expectations are key. We’re always in the park after closing, so we never have any issues with return bus service.
I looked for that King Cupcake two weeks ago, but I didn’t see it. Either I missed it, or it wasn’t out when I checked.
Great news. I just had one today! They are off to the side with the ice cream station. Hope this helps. Love the blog
There were just so many details about the place, from the zoolike breakfast service (complete with sticky floors), to the hotel safe that holds a dozen sheets of legal paper, totally bracketed by interminable check-in/out that just totally put me off staying onsite in general.
With you on the first two things (eating quick service breakfast pretty much anywhere at Walt Disney World is a mistake), but I’ve never had an issue with check-in at any of the hotels on property.
The problem stemmed from the general eagerness of cast members to please. We arrived quite early due to the vagaries of interstate highway travel and so no preferred room was available. Rather than give the disappointing news and send us on our way, they kind woman working the front desk was INSISTING they could find us a room. This also happened to the people in front of us and the result was, getting through a four person line took slightly in excess of an hour.
…and then it got worse.