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’m not sure the price difference is still $10 between All-Stars and Pop. Back in January, I booked a trip for October. At that time, the difference between All-Stars and Pop was about $170/night (All-Stars) and $240/night (Pop). I assume the price difference is because Pop has the Skyliner.
Thanks for updating your review! Because the All-Stars aren’t scheduled to open in October, we have been moved to Pop. I’m excited for the Skyliner but think the theme or decor of Pop is less exciting for my kiddo (we’re moving from Toy Story characters to hippies).
We have confirmed reservations at Disney’s All-Star Music Resort from September 4-18. Do we need to initiate contact with WDW Reservations to transfer our stay to Pop Century, or will Disney do that themselves and notify us? We have 10 day Park Hopper Plus tickets and have already made our Park Pass Reservations for the length of our stay.
From what I’ve heard if you initiate the resort move Disney will charge you any difference in cost. I would wait and let them do it for you; they will relocate you to an open resort closer to your trip date free of charge. 🙂
I don’t think you’ll get charged the difference if you call. My TA called for me, and we were switched to Pop for our October trip. We didn’t have to pay the price difference.
what building is the best to stay in when @ POP?
It depends on your preferences. We prefer the outer buildings as they are nice and quiet. Whereas, people with mobility issues to consider may wish to stay closer to the buses or the food hall. Before we went to Pop, I read so many people complaining about how far it was to walk from the outer buildings to the bus but when we got there we didn’t think it was all that far at all. So basically, it depends on your own preferences and perceptions of distance.
We stayed at Caribbean in March in a preferred room and loved it — the food court was nice, everything was updated, we were the first bus stop, and the pool was awesome. We are going back in March 2020 and will be staying at Caribbean again for all those reasons plus the new skyliner. However, we were considering POP as it would be about $1,000 less. I would welcome thoughts and opinions from those who have stayed at both and could compare the pros and cons of Caribbean and Pop. Thanks!
The rooms at POP have been more recently updated whereas the rooms at CBR have not been. Rooms at CBR are bigger and can fit four adults and one child whereas POP can only fit four people. Atmosphere at CBR is more tranquil. Beach area at CBR is nice and relaxing. Pool at CBR has hot tub and slide. Bus system has several stops at CBR whereas POP only has one bus stop. CBR has table service restaurant and POP does not. It just depends what you are looking for in a vacation. If you spend more time at the resort, CBR offers more.
Sorry, but as a 70 year old, I had to face-palm on reading your summary comment: “Weaknesses are that it’s basically a Disneyfied motel”. Do you mean that you missed that Pop Century (1950s-1990s) reference/icon? Before Holiday Inn debuted their multi story “hotel court” in 1952, travelers could expect to find only one-room cabins or Bates Motel-style single-story overnight lodging on the road between major cities.
Based on photos of the renovated rooms, I think that the new style dresser evokes the streamlined furniture of the 1960s-1970s–I’ll laugh if I find during our planned 2019 Halloween/Wine & Dine stay at Pop Century that the dresser includes tapered legs ending in metal disks to protect the floor. I’m glad that Disney replaced the carpet with wood (probably laminate) flooring. Home wall-to-wall carpeting did not become popular until the latter half of the 20th century, beginning with the notorious “shag” carpeting.
Pop Century is great for RunDisney participants–just be sure to register for a “Preferred” room (normally $12 more per night), which gets you close to the Classic Hall Lobby and Everything Pop Food Court, as well as to the ultra important dedicated bus stop (you don’t want to worry about full race buses passing you by in frigid pre-dawn January WDW Marathon temperatures, like we found at Port Orleans/Riverside in January 2017, & it’s nice to know that nourishment & hot coffee are within hailing distance when you return from your race).
We will be staying at this resort for a week next week. I was wondering if they have hair dryers and irons. Should I bring my own? do all rooms have coffee makers? since their coffee is so bad according to the article, I might just bring mine to make it in the room.
We stayed there last Summer and the room had all 3. We didn’t make coffee in the room. We enjoyed the walk to use our refillable mugs for drinks and coffee at the food court.
The rooms have coffee makers, but the use single serve pods, not K-pods.
I believe the coffee makers were removed from all rooms due to covid.
So this review is confusing to me when paired with your little mermaid room review. In your little mermaid room review for art of animation you literally tell people not to stay in these rooms, and to stay in a moderate or at pop instead..and then in this review you tell people they are better off spending the extra $10 a night to stay in little mermaid rooms…so which is it lol?!
I should say I love your blog and floowo you religiously but had to give you a hard time on this one!
They brought my suitcase in the late afternoon and it was all soaked!! Rooms were not clean. I stayed there 10 nights and the bedsheets were never changed. Not once! Lipstick marks that were not even mine were on the bedsheet of one of the beds.
I wake up super early to go to the parks, and i come back at 2pm for a nap. Rooms were not done yet. Seriously?! I have to put the do not disturb sign so that i can nap before going to the parks again. Then i call to make a request to clean my room at around 3.30 or 4pm..just when i leave,,when im back to the hotel room,the room is not done! This happened 2 times. What bugs me is that the person says that it is doable to get the room cleaned at a requested time. Now i do not have fresh towels, the trash is still there, beds not done, floors not swept and we’re out of paper towel !! I have stayed at movies and music before and it was wayyyyy better that pop century!
I went for a swim and while in the pool itself,,my ears become itchy and throat feels weird. The next day, i can’t swallow because my throat is so sore. Now i’m sick! Great! What could happen now??oh yes..fire alarm went off for 45 minutes! They whole building! At 11pm, if not later! Sprinkler was broken..duh.
Guests were really loud around my room. All night long and you hear them!
Pop century bus stands are last or next to last at every park. And it is always so packed! Im able to get on only the third bus..drivers were abrupt and you will fall if you don’t focus on how you are standing.
not gonna go back. Will probably go to music or movies again..never pop century again..
It’s kind of funny to me that people are concerned about the length of the walk from their room to the busses. Last year we walked an average of 12 miles per day at Disney. I don’t really see the difference between 12 miles and 12.2 miles when it’s all said and done.
I’m staying at the Pop Century in September and we are very excited about our trip! I know they have a dedicated bus service but I was curious if anyone knew about how long it takes to get to each park from the resort? Trying to plan our days to arrive for rope drop and wanted to know if that was possible to do with the bus system or if we would be better off taking a Lyft or Uber.
We’ve stayed at POR once and Pop 3 times and doing our 4th Pop stay in Sep. We have not timed the trips from Pop to the parks. DHS is closest and feel like 5 minutes or so. Next longest is EP, then MK, both less than 10 minutes. I think the trip to DAK is on the order of 15 minutes. We spend more time in the bus queues than actually riding between parks and Pop.
We’ve used Uber to go from Pop to EP. Walking distance from the Uber drop off ot the security checkpoint is about the same distance as from bus drop off. Uber picks you up at Pop at the same place the DME drops you off. There’s a bench nearby to sit on while waiting. We called for one when we left our room and it was there in about a minute and that was during the morning surge time. This was during the first week of December 2017.
MY GRANDDAUGHTER[ AGE 13 ] AND MYSELF STAYED THERE AT THE END OF JULY THIS YEAR BUS TAKES ABOUT 10/12 MINS NEVER HAD A PROBLEM LITTLE CROWDED NOT AN ISSUE IF ANY ONE WAS TO COMPLAIN MY 13 YEAR OLD GRAND DAUGHTER WILL HAD NO ISSUE WITH ROOMS OURS WAS VERY CLEAN STAFF WAS VERY POLITE ALWAYS SAID GOOD MORNING AND YES IT WAS CROWDED AND YES I WOULD STAY THERE AGAIN AND I WOULD RECOMMEND IT
We’re headed to disney and Universal at the end of August. Although I’m not looking forward to the heat, I am very excited. Last time we stayed at all star sports. And 5 years before that we stayed in a villa at Animal Kingdom but that was a once in a lifetime trip lol. I don’t mind where I sleep at Disney. I’d sleep outside if I had to anyways we’re staying at Pop this year and I’ve never stayed here. I’m happy all the rooms will be updated before we go. I’m praying they have the chocolate PB cupcake they had at All Star or I may have to stop over there to grab a few. They are insanely good. Yes over a cupcake lol. Everyone have fun on their trips this year!!!!
Just booked our December trip with my Disney travel agent and requested one of the newly re-vised preferred rooms. Hope we get one, they look great !!!!!
Love Pop Century !!!
You should be fine. The article says all the rooms will be updated by May 2018 so December should be all set. We’re going at the end of August but we went last year. Most of us stayed in All star sports which I’m totally fine with but one couple stayed at Pop and said almost the entire place had been renovated. I loved the new rooms. My mom didn’t but she’s ridiculously picky about where she stays. Our entire group is staying at Pop this trip. I’m dreading the Florida heat though. We usually go the week after Thanksgiving and it’s perfect weather. I don’t care where I sleep. I’d sleep outside at Disney lol enjoy your trip!
The renovations are not complete yet but only buildings 1 and 2 are still under renovation. Those 2 buildings are closed or partially open with renovated rooms. From this point on, everyone checking in will have a renovated room.
The renovated rooms are terrific but prepare yourself for poor if any Disney wifi reception. Verizon phone signals were also extremely poor inside the rooms.
The televisions are phenomenal but seem to be set to darken when room lights are off. Just turn on one room light and the tv screen will automatically brighten again.
Other than that I give the renovated rooms at POP Century a thumbs up.
We’ve stayed at Pop 3 times in different buildings each time (2014, 2016, 2017). WIFI has never been an issue for us. We’ve not stayed in an renovated room as yet.
My family just stayed at PoP Century last wk and had a great time. On Thursday I became ill and was forced to call for help . The manager was very caring and very helpful in this situation. I was treated very well by all the Ems and the staff at the hospital. Pop Century went on and beyond to accommodate my needs . Thanks for the wonderful stay at Pop Century! Until next time WDW ! â¤ï¸
Be coming to Disney for the last 10 years every year….POP CENTURY GETS MY VOTE 100%…this time we are in the new to and i must say….GREAT JOB..⛤⛤⛤⛤⛤⛤⛤⛤⛤⛤
We just returned from a week at Pop Century where we were in the older rooms section of the 60’s. When we walked into our room it smelled musty and moldy so we had to keep the air running cool to help, despite weather in the 40’s and 50’s last week. The door didn’t seem to seal as there was a draft coming through at night. My husband put a pillow at the seal to keep the draft from being too bad as his side of the bed was right as the door opened. By morning, the pillow was soaking wet. By day 4, my four year old would lay down to go to sleep and had a violent cough to the point where she vomited…I swear this is because of mold issues. The carpet and bathroom tile appeared dirty and old. By the last day, I had ringworm on my arm and my husband has a bacterial rash on his chest from sleeping without a shirt on. The doctor prescribed him an antibiotic and topical cream. We wanted to have the whole Disney experience for our first family trip including the transportation and meal plan however, I wouldn’t ever want to stay at a value resort again. We also had groceries delivered and the bell service didn’t offer to bring it to our room and when my husband asked for a cart, they told him to bring it back to them when he was done. We didn’t feel like this was as hospitable and accommodating as Disney expectations usually go.
You really should voice your concerns when you have them. Disney is more than accommodating when it comes to changing rooms, in my experience. I once had a moldy shower curtain and the supervisor and her staff were at my door within 10 minutes and replaced EVERYTHING in the bathroom. I didn’t even think it was a big deal because, hey, it’s a bathroom and they get moldy. Don’t ever stay quiet if something is wrong. Obviously, hindsight is 20/20, but I do encourage you to try again and request one of their newly-updated rooms. Disney is removing carpeting in most of their hotels, slowly but surely, and you can request a “new” room for your stay.
What awesome photos!! This looks like a Blast! The more I read articles like this the more I want to stay in Every resort!
We’ve stayed at the All Stars and stayed at Pop this summer, in a non refurbished room near the bridge. It was great, the grounds are nicer, the food court is better with more choices. The proximity to Art of Animation is a huge bonus, two resorts for the price of one. Having just “discovered” Pop, I’m going to get back there as many times as I can before the prices go up!
We are 70 years old and have come to WDW at least 2 times a year for many years. When Pop Century was built we started staying here and LOVE it. We love the people, the food court, the bus service and will enjoy the new rooms. Taking pics around the resort is always fun. We have stayed at other resorts but love the cast members and pin trading at Pop. It is our home away from home.
I have stayed at Pop twice. The first time was in the 80s building in December 2015 and the second time (Sept 2017) in the 50s building in just about the furthest room you can get on property lol. As an able bodied person, I didn’t find the distance from my room to the buses as bad as people originally led me to believe before I stayed at Pop. It took me no longer than 4 minutes to walk to the bus. The room on my most recent visit was only ok. It was one of the older ones and the carpet was horrible to walk on so I never took my shoes off. However, the menu on offer at the food hall was such a big improvement from 2015. Thank you Disney because back then it was horrible. Would I stay there again? Well that depends if it retains it’s “value resort” price once the gondola transport system arrives. There’s been a bit of talk that the prices will go up to the moderate value resort equivalent and that then prices Pop out of my budget unfortunately.
This was our exact experience with Pop in September 2017. I’m so glad they’re doing the refurb, as the rooms in the 50s at that time were not anything I would pay for again. My husband (our fiscally responsible one) actually said to go ahead and spend the money on a deluxe for the next trip, due to unmet expectations (even with cleanliness!).
However, Pop’s food court and bus system were pretty great. Our kids enjoyed the theming and the pools, husband enjoyed the price for that trip.