This past May my husband and I decided to take a much needed vacation by ourselves. We really wanted to stay on a budget and thought staying at a Value resort would be just fine. But we were more than surprised when we spent more time at Pop Century than any other resort that we have ever stayed at in Disney! We thought that the themeing was so amazing! Huge statues stand all around the grounds, near pools, and are parts of the actual buildings. The food was really good and fast. We also really enjoyed the closeness in proximity from our building to the Classic hall as well as the bus stop. We couldn't ask for more from a Value Resort and we can not wait to stay there again!
Here is the large transportation/bus stop outside of Classic Hall.
Here is the Lobby in Classic Hall with all of the Memory Boxes
Everything Pop Shopping and Dining
Here is the Pop Century Map
Here is the preferred building map of Pop Century
Here is the Hippy Dippy Pool which is the main pool right outside Classic Hall and the 60's Building
60's Section
This section is almost all preferred and is located right behind Classic Hall. There are two views from these rooms Pool view or Lake View. This section consists of 2 buildings. They are themed with 60's motives from Jungle Book to Duncan Yo-Yo's to Hippy Dippy Pool. This section is the closest to the Main building, Classic Hall but not as close to transportation or Parking. In fact the 60's Parking lot is actually right next to the 50's building. This is a great area for people who like to be at the pool but the music might be to loud for others looking for a quiet escape from the parks.
Here are some more pictures of
the Hippy Dippy Pool in the 60's section.
Here are the pictures of the Classic Hall Entrance from the 60's section as well as the Duncan Yo-Yo's that sit on each side of the buildings.
50's Section
This section is non-preferred and preferred. There are a few options for this section; preferred, pool view, lake view, and standard. We stayed in the 50's building near the 60's parking lot and had a room on the 3rd floor. There are elevators at each building and we rarely waited for an elevator on our stay in May. We were near the Bowling Pin pool and really enjoyed the pool and how close it was to our room. The Lady and the tramp themeing was really sweet with a huge statue of Lady and Tramp as well as a 50's record and bowling theme. The building that houses the bathroom, changing area, and laundry area are themed as a shelf for bowling shoes.
Here are some pictures of the theming around the 50's buildings.
The Lady Statute was my all time favorite as that was one of my favorite movies as a child.
The areas near the walk walks were very well maintained and completely covered with bushes and trees. Disney really showed great detail at keeping each area sectioned off and private.
70's Section
This section is made up of 3 buildings with mostly standard rooms. There is a few preferred rooms near Classic Hall and with a Lake view. This area does not have a pool but is near Goofy's Playground area, which is great for small kids. This themeing is great with a 70's feel, who doesn't love a larger than life Big Wheel!
80's and 90's Section
This section is the furthest away from the Classic Building and combines two great era's, the 80's and 90's. This area is a center point for the large Cell Phone Statue and awesome and well designed computer pool. This area is a great getaway from the main part of the resort and offers a great location for parking. If you will have a car at Disney and will use that as your main source of transportation, I would recommend the 80's, 90's or 50's as your best bet sections.
Pop Century Resort is located near Epcot and Hollywood Studios. I chose this hotel because it was the closest to Hollywood Studios in the Value range and we knew we would be spending most of our time at Hollywood Studios for Star Wars Weekend. This resort currently does not share a bus with any of the other value resorts so it makes traveling to each theme park a breeze. Please note that due to the location of this resort you will stop at Blizzard Beach before you go to Animal Kingdom and it might take up to 15 minutes on the bus to Magic Kingdom.
We found at night if we were leaving a park close to or at closing that it was better to hang out in the park for awhile shopping or taking pictures because the wait at the Pop Century bus stop can be extremely long. This is mostly a problem during busier times. During our trip in May we only saw 2 touring groups of teenagers from a school band. At Value resorts it is always fearful that you will be crowded in with a bunch teenage bands, choirs, or more likely sports teams because of the Value Resorts close proximity to ESPN Wide World of Sports. And most of the time you can hop a bus to ESPN Wide World of Sports from Pop Century or any of the All-Star resorts. This bus stop is normally the first one and has a make shift sign near it with ESPN Wide World of Sports written on it.
Everything POP Food and Shopping
The Food at Pop Century was very good in comparison with the counter service restaurants at the Moderate resorts. Pop has a great selection of foods for Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, and snacks. I loved the self service dessert area. The brownies, cookies, fruit, cereals, and drinks are all self service and easy to get and buy on the go. We used this in the morning on our way to the parks and on our way back to the room at night.
Here is a look at some of the grab-n-go items at Pop Century. It makes it really easy to get your items and go to the parks or back to your room. At most other resorts this grab-n-go area is located in the gift shop and has way fewer options as well as it gets very crazy in there in the mornings at at night. These locations inside the gift shops are smaller with less room to walk and harder to get out of without buying a ton of souvenirs for you kids or yourself!
They have a really good selection of beer, wine, non-alcoholic beverages, snacks, desserts, and breakfast items.
My favorite was the monster brownie, strawberries with chocolate and whip cream, and grapes.
Thank you to
www.buildabettermousetrip.com for their pictures. I never thought to take pictures of this area because I was always on the go.
This section allows you to get the same items at the dessert station but not have to wait in line. Cookies, brownies, and pastries.
The Beverage station was a huge area right after the cash registers and offered a ton of options. I would definitely suggest buying the refillable mug during your visit if you are not on the dining plan. We used our mugs so much we rarely bought anything to drink our entire trip. It was awesome sitting by the pool and running to get a refill before we headed up to our room.
Some of my favorite Pop Century Foods
I have a ton of favorites from Pop Century but here are a few that are can't miss. We did however miss the nightly TV dinners by mom, served in a foil container straight from the oven. We really wanted to try these but never had a chance, they change nightly so ask a Cast Member for more details. We also heard about an awesome Elvis Presley Cupcake that recently made its addition to Pop Century Menus. This Chocolate and peanut butter cupcake topped with bacon is a must on my next visit!
Here is a the Breakfast Bounty Platter on the left and the Made fresh POP waffle with meat on the right. The waffles are amazing and made to order at the waffle station. Each waffle is made in a one of a kind POP waffle maker with its own logo! How cool!
The Monster Brownie pictured on top was an awesome and inexpensive treat, you can also go to the dessert counter and get it with ice cream. The Angus BBQ Burger pictured on the bottom was a huge Burger topped with cheese, BBQ sauce, Bacon, and onion strings. My husband had this burger and it comes with fries.
Check out my other food blogs to see some other great pictures of awesome food at Disney, complete with locations, pictures, and prices.
Thank you for reading and as always please follow my blog for regular updates. I try to blog about something different each week. I will be doing a series of blogs on resorts in the coming weeks complete with pictures, maps, and food.
Please share my blog and most of the pictures are mine so please give credit where credit is do with a link back to my blog if you would like to use any of my pictures.
Thank you to Disboards, Mousesavers, Disney resort blog, DisneyWorld.com, and Build a Better Mouse Vacation for some of your awesome pictures!
If you would like to book a vacation please contact me today for a Free Quote today!
Chelsea May
Disney Travel Specialist with Mickey's Dream Vacations
(773)954-0567
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