Opinions - Pop vs. All Stars?

Just wondering which one you all would choose for an October stay. Limited budget but we want to stay on property so we’re debating between Pop and All Stars. Last time I stayed at Pop was 5 years ago; last time at All-Star Sports was 25 years ago!! Crazy! It will be me, a friend, and friend’s daughter (they will share a bed).

Looking for thoughts on atmosphere, food court, pools, etc. They grew up on Disneyland but have never been to WDW so have nothing to compare. We will probably spend very limited time in the hotel and use Disney transportation. Which would you pick? Thanks!

We did POP in '16 and are doing ASMo this June. We liked POP because they never shared a bus the whole week we were there. I’m sure someone else will chime in with more All Star knowledge but we really liked POP. We would be returning there but there was no availability for the week we wanted this summer.

I just stayed at All Star Sports and had a great time. But never stayed at POP and I’ve heard a lot of good things about it. We only had to share a bus once out of 16 rides. Food court is below average but didn’t eat there that much. If you choose Sports, pick the back side of Surf or Football - cuts down on noise and close to main building and transportation.

We love POP and it is our usual go to resort. We had a reservation this past November at AS Sports. They ended up messing up our reservation and we got moved to a much nicer resort. So, from what we saw POP is much more spread out, talking about lobby and Food Court here. AS Sports seemed to be really compacted and not much space for moving around when crowded. The room they sent us to (which was very dirty, like not cleaned dirty, seemed to be the same size as POP. So, all that to say I would recommend POP.

We’ve stayed at both and thought both were fine, but we preferred Pop. Just seemed a bit newer and up to date than All Star Sports and I thought the food court was a bit better. Those stays were 2014 (Pop) and 2016 (All Star), so I am not sure if the food has changed any since.

With either, if you are looking for a budget friendly place that is mainly used for sleeping, I think you will be satisfied. There is nothing luxury about it and the rooms are small, but they both still feel “Disney” and we found them fun.

No feedback comparing the two, but Pop will be totally refurbished by then. Also MVT has Pop for $101 per night for some October stays!

I have stayed at all stars music for my last 4 trips and set to go there for my next trip.

Its cheap. Small rooms but still Disney. I lime it there. You will here both good and bad.

I never shared a bus with the other all stars except for the following. Very early like those who get out 2 hours or so before rope drop. very late like after the goodnight kiss. Or disney springs. Maybe the water parks and espn as well but I did not take those busses

2 double beds. Food court is ok. Poo!s are alright.

I have stayed and All-Star Sports before Pop Century was built and I really liked the resort.
After Pop Century was built, I seem to prefer it more.
I just made reservations for the end of June and beginning of July 2018 and I chose Pop Century Resort.
After months of checking MyDisneyExperience website. I noticed that over that time the All-Star Music seemed to charge less and All-Star Movies charging a little bit more
I was checking for Disney discounts and the prices were all over the place. I finally chose the Annual Pass discount at the Pop Century when the dates and the prices seemed the lowest.
I got to tell you, even with the rack rate versus the other discounts the room prices always seem to change for the higher. I don’t know why. Maybe an error in whoever was putting in the information.
Finally today, I all the number lined up correctly for all of the nights and I changed my reservation for the last time.
I don’t know why sometimes the different views were not available and then changing the next day.
I was wanting standard view to save some money.
Pop Century has been refurbishing their rooms so that they have one queen bed and one murphy bed which folds up into a table with chairs. Pretty neat.
Good luck in choosing your resort.

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Pop. Just left there today. All of the rooms should be fully renovated by October. Nicer resort and more central to parks.

We have stayed at both but decided on Pop for our upcoming June trip. If Sports is an option, check the schedule for any upcoming sports/group activities scheduled at the parks or Wide World of Sports as it seems they will send groups of teens to stay at All Star Sports for their lodging. That would be something I would caution against as it can get loud or overwhelming with large groups of kids there at one time. I have two teenagers so I am not against having kids around, but it may be something to think about. Also, Pop is close to the Art of Animation resort via bridge so we are hoping to have a room close to the bridge and check out the food court over there too. Have a great trip!!

Pop always gets my vote because it doesn’t share bus service with any other hotel. The food court is… adequate. Wasn’t terrible but didn’t knock my socks off either.

And since POP’s just a 5 min walk to Art of Animation, you can use their food court and buses as well. You just can’t use the AOA pool.

By staying at all stars music you can take the sports or movies bus too. Just a parking lot between resorts.

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Been to most of the value resorts (pretty much exclusively too! :slight_smile: ) The reason I prefer the Pop is bus logistics. On low crowd days all three AS resorts share the same park buses. Generally not an issue, but if you are going at a peak time, buses get very crowded especially if you are trying to get on from AS Movies. Seems slower too, but that may just be my impatience. Pop (from my experience anyway) has always had dedicated buses even at low times. For busy days, this isn’t an issue as each AS resort has dedicated buses, but I always try to visit during off season!

Never thought about hoofing it over the bridge to get buses at AoA, food for thought on my upcoming trip!

Finally, for reasons unknown, PoP food court always seems to get on lists of WEIRD FOOD ITEMS. Not always good food, just weird. I find that kind of fun. Makes the DW grimace.

will

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Just checked into the POP last night (too late to post last night)

WINNER! Refurb from my standpoint is great. Old rooms were “tolerable”, new rooms are great. I count 14 outlets and 12 USB charging stations! Bigger beds do make things feel a bit more cramped when both are down. Only major casualty I see with the murphy bed is that you have to choose between second bed and a desk. I like to get up and do some work on my laptop while others are still sleeping. Can’t do that. Minor quibble compared to all the upsides though. NIce to have a place to make morning tea too. Coffee maker for those that like coffee.

Bathroom is bright and very functional. They do a good job of making what is clearly limited space more useful. The weird double sliding door to the bathroom is pretty cool.

will

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Yay! Thanks! We were able to reserve a room there for October so we’ll see what we think! Glad you enjoyed your stay :slight_smile:

All Star seems to attract larger groups and therefore has more hustle and bustle … I prefer Pop.

One follow-up: I suspect someone from the EU became our neighbor about half way through the trip and they got up really early (3am-ish) for a couple mornings and were not exactly quiet (TMI for details! :slight_smile: ). The new hard flooring leaves a gap under the door between the rooms, so we put the bath mat on the floor up against the door and that helped some.

Overall, very impressed. I used to defend the Pop as a good place for lots of reasons despite the rooms (the old ones certainly were dark, getting getting dingy and worn, but the new rooms are great and I’m totally sold. Highly recommended for the budget conscious. Now no question on preferring the Pop over the All-Stars–at least until the All Star rooms get refurbished.

will

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