Disney's Pop Century Resort

I wasn't sure about going back to a value hotel, but saw there were recent renovations which seemed promising and ultimately met my expectations. The new layout provides more space and better features, and I had no regrets staying here vs. a moderate or somewhere off property. It's been a bit since I've written a review. I always write from the perspective of "what would I want to know if I've never stayed here?" So, it'll be a little wordy, but if you're reading this, hopefully you'll find it helpful. So, I'll start with my perspective on the Disney value resorts. We've stayed at the All Stars and Pop Century a few times and to me, the rooms always felt like they were a cookie cutter 2 or 3 star motel model with just enough IP and theming rolled in to make it Disney. The kind of place where you write off the room as "we're just using it to sleep anyway." but there's Mickey art on the wall. The resorts themselves have a little more going for them. Colorful buildings, theming on the railings, decent pools (and more than one per resort), and massive decorations at the stairwells and courtyards. Well, there's been some updates to the rooms and it feels like someone actually thought about the whole space and not just paint, artwork, and televisions. If you've stayed here before, I hope you appreciate the changes the way I do. If you've never stayed in a value resort before, search for some old pictures on line to compare. The rooms now have one fixed bed on a raised platform (most luggage can fit underneath), and one Murphy style bed/table that pulls down with ease. There's plenty of shelving and drawers. Outlets throughout the room and all with USB ports, plenty of room lighting, a sliding "pocket door" instead of privacy curtain for the sink area, and (my favorite) a combo rainfall showerhead and handheld showerhead with height adjustment (definitely not something you find in most small motel rooms). There's also a room safe that is big enough for a couple laptops, a one/two cup coffee maker with coffee and tea, and beverage cooler (cools to around 40 degrees F. I've seen others say to talk to front desk if there is a need for a real refrigerator). There's no carpet anymore, and I'm not a big fan of hard floors in hotel rooms, but these are probably far easier to clean, and won't wear as bad when everyone comes back in with wet shoes from late day Florida rains. Expect a lot of walking if you stay here. It's a very spread out campus. Preferred rooms are going to be closest to the Main Hall and bus stops, but can be furthest from the parking lots. We had a standard room and they accommodated our ground floor request (knee injury). We rented a wheel chair at the parks, but in our heads the hotel wasn't as spread out as it actually is and in hindsight, should have considered renting one for the whole trip, rather than the slow walk to bus transportation, Sky Liner, or the cafeteria. We never saw long lines at the Sky Liner, and if you don't need the stationary cabin, most of the time you could be on board within a few seconds of getting to the station. Pop Century shares the station with Art of Animation, and it's the furthest resort from parks, with a transfer at one point. Takes about 20 minutes to get to Epcot's international gateway between England and France. FYI, they only run busses to Pop Century from Hollywood Studios and Epcot when weather closes the Sky Liner, so if you want that iconic Spaceship Earth photo moment right as you enter Epcot, consider driving or taking a rideshare. The food court can be chaotic, and it's all quick service/counter service meals, but never had really long waits for anything and there were always enough registers open to keep the lines short. Disney has stepped up it's quick service meal options beyond burgers, chicken strips, and pizza. There's choices like salmon with sauteed vegetables and they are cooking them as they are being ordered, not showing up in a chaffing dish from who knows where/when. Not everything is available thru mobile ordering on the app, but we did use that a couple times and it was ready promptly. You can hop on the Sky Liner to eat at Caribbean Beach or Riviera Resorts if you want something different too. Our room was ready when we arrived and we used our Magic Bands and Disney App for everything from check-in to check-out so we never really used the Reception or Bell desks for anything. We're comfortable and familiar with the technology, but they did appear to have plenty of staff-on-hand if in-person assistance is needed. I think the only thing left I can cover is the laundry rooms. There were more available machines then being used the couple times we needed it. The machines are all networked, so you have to scan the QR code to pay and get them going. They have an app available, but I just used the web browser. Once started, you can keep track of remaining time from your phone. There is a vending machine with detergent and fabric softener sheets. Be sure to check the lint-traps on the dryers, I found one that had probably 3 or 4 loads of lint on it. If it helps to know, we compared pricing at Caribbean Beach, Port Orleans: Riverside, The Dolphin, and a couple Disney Springs hotels. We compared with different packages offered on the WDW website and Costco's Travel site (which we've used before, and often has deals that eliminate parking and/or resort fees at the non-Disney owned hotels). We settled on the quick service dinning plan/park hopper ticket promotion that can be booked with the Chase Disney card. We spent 6 nights at Disney and a weekend at a friend's house not too far away, so we got 6 day tickets in our package. The dinning plans are more of a pre-pay than a value bundle, and we wouldn't have used it for a shorter stay. There's a lot of convenience with the dining plans, but they are use-them-or-lose-them, and there's several things that could keep you from getting any value out of them. We had a rental car the full time we were there, and (currently) do not have to pay to park at Disney hotels or at the parks if when staying at a Disney Owned Hotel. So that's it, we had a relaxing stay at a hotel that we'd stayed at before, but I was happier to stay in this time. Read less

My thanks to all the staff at pop century. Found this hotel truly a great place to be the food court was very good with good choices The room was excellent loads of storage and good size room very clean had everything we needed fridge tea coffee maker iron. The staff seemed to go the extra mile to make everything perfect. Have stayed at Polynesian, and Art of Animation But pop century will be the one we return to. Thanks for a great stay Read less

June 2024 I would like to respectfully express my complain about the attention at the reception. I was at the Hotel from June 19th to 29th. We left the hotel and forgot some belongings, we called on the phone and were referred to a hotel App where we had to fill out a form but did not open the website. We called again and they told us to go back to the hotel We went on July 4th at 10 am which was the day of our return and we was worried about ti lost de fly return , The employee at the reception asked us to make the line to attendand after making the line for 15 minutes he attended us and told us that the lost and found was closed because it was a holiday 4th of July that we had to fill out a Qr or return another day, when we left the hotel we found the person who had done the cleaning the days we were there and who told us that office was open and they had indeed forgotten many belongings and they going to send it immediately to the Fron Desk, where I had to do the line again and waiting .After making the line for 20 minutes we recovering probably everithing. Our over 500 US shopping Really my complain and upset is about lies. Is not fear this behavoir with faithfull guests because you can verify in your files we have been there several times. I will be very thanskfull if you consider my complain futures guests for. thanks Read less

Great simple stay. Pools were decent, activities for the kids were great, and easy to navigate on how to get to the parks. Rooms are very small. The food was okay, nothing spectacular. The only issue was when we purchased a Sunday, it was completely melted on the plate before we even got it in our hands. Another “issue” was how you could hear every neighbor come in and out of their room because the doors slam. So at midnight with kids, and someone roaming in and out of their room for a good half hour was hard to handle. Read less

I planned a trip with my mom and decided on POP for the price and skyliner access to Epcot and Hollywood Studios. I chose March so we could attend the Flower and Garden festival. This was during spring break, but it didn't feel that the resort was overly crowded until our last couple of days. We were greeted as we exited the Mears connect bus and were directed to a cast member that checked us in. I did not utilize pre-arrival checkin because I had noted on the app that we preferred a first floor room and I wanted to talk with someone directly. The CM was very accomodating and changed the room originally assigned to us on the 3rd floor. We were pleasantly surprised when we entered our room. I asked for a first floor room to avoid stairs/elevators after a long day in the parks. We were assigned room 1126 and the location was very close to the main dining hall and main pool area. There was tons of storage space and we were able to completely unpack our suitcases and store them underneath the beds. The pull down bed was a queen and very comfortable. To add extra 'counter' space, we used the ironing board in front of the connecting door to the next room. The beverage cooler was nice and kepts our drinks cold. The room was very clean and whenever we needed extra towels or anything, we used the 'Hey Mickey' feature on the alexa device. We did not utilize mousekeeping services, so I cannot comment on that. Sometimes you would hear the upstairs neighbors walking around, but other than that we didn't have much room noise. The food in the dining hall was pretty good considering it was prepared for cafeteria style dining. The cast members were very nice and we got to know the CM's at the ice cream station pretty well. We purchased the drink cups and had no issues coming in for refills. We also utilized the drink station at Petals bar since it was so close to our room. The cast members at the resort were all so kind and friendly. From the groundskeepers to the greeters out front, they would greet us will hello, good morning, good evening, etc. The skyliner line can get long in the morning, but it moves quickly and we didn't have any issues connecting to the resorts. On our first day we rode to the Epcot station and walked around the hotels in the area. I love the fact that they are all so close and have different themes. We enjoyed finding snacks while walking around. This resort is quite large and there are many buildings with pathways to walk around. We enjoyed walking around in the evenings and people watching. There are lots of families and it was nice to see all of the kids having fun running around. If you want a quiet resort, this is not the place for you. Although this is a value resort, having the skyliner access makes it an excellent option for staying on property. I have stayed at Deluxe resorts and would book another stay at POP without hesitation. Read less