Pop or All Stars?

[Wazowskiscar]

Happy Christmas everybody! I wish I was doing Disney Christmas 😢

So I almost almost booked a trip a couple of months ago but wimped out last minute... and a large bill appeared so I needed the deposit money.

Now I’ve got my hopes up for October again next year. And All Star Movies is now open in October (hopefully anyway)

I asked previously about the difference between Pop and AoA - now I need ASM views too. I was meant to be in All Star Music this year.

The prices for when I’m looking:
Movies comes up cheapest (unsurprisingly)
Pop about £200-£300 more (variable on days)
AoA about £50-100 more than Pop - to be honest I’ve knocked AoA out as the most expensive.

Movies will save me money. But the only transport is the buses.

Pop and Movies rooms seem identical. Theming I realise is similar style. I’m generally a rope drop till closure park visitor so not much time at hotel really, minus a pool visit or two just to relax and recharge.

So I’m really just asking for views on Pop and Movies, and if the extra money for Pop is worth it.

Does the sky liner help transportation wise? Does it make it speedier and much easier to get to Epcot and HS or is it just as slow as the buses?

Is bus transportation easier from one or the other? Are the crowds at the bus stops worse at one or just the same? I’m an early bird at Disney which helps

Which has the best food court? 😜

I know they’re both quite noisy - but values all I can do 🙂 I’m just trying to decide if Pop is worth the extra.

Opinions and experiences of both hotels very appreciated and welcome 🙂 Fingers crossed for 2021!

[Guest]

we have stayed in ASmovies and POP, both much the same

POP you can walk over the bridge and go to AoA it wasnt actually AoA back then, it was going to be the early years of POP, but they were just empty shells

we loved both ( havent stayed in either since ) but would be happy to stay in both, both are " full on disney and in your face" but thats a good thing imho

[shelle]

I've stayed at both and prefer POP. It's nice to be able to walk to AoA and they have better food courts IMO than All Stars. I think I also read that the rooms have been refurbished not too long ago?

Now there's the Skyliner I'd definitely choose AoA or Pop as the bus queues at the values can get really long.

[sky13]

I stayed at Pop last year (pre COVID) and it was fantastic with the Skyliner. I requested and got a room fairly close to the Skyliner station, and loved how I knew I could get from my room to DHS in maybe 15 minutes and Epcot in maybe 25 minutes door to door. This is because the Skyliner runs continuously with either no or minimal wait so I would just walk to the station, walk onto the next gondola, get to CBR, walk onto the connecting gondola, and get to DHS/Epcot. Plus the stations at DHS/Epcot are extremely close to the park entrances!

That being said, the downsides to the Skyliner were that its operating hours were shorter than the buses, so it wasn't really an option for really early park openings or really late park closings. And the Skyliner would occasionally go down and be replaced by bus services. And in bad weather (thunder/lightning) the Skyliner service would also be suspended.

Plus, with COVID I believe how the Skyliner operates has changed and the queues may be a lot longer if they are only loading one party per gondola. I don't know when this might return to normal.

I'd be happy at either ASMovies (though the last I stayed there was before the refurb) or Pop with the refurbished rooms though! But I'd give the edge to Pop for the Skyliner. Also I generally found Pop a lot more organised at the front desk and left luggage - but I might just have been really unlucky with my check-in/out experience at ASMovies that time (masses of people in the lobby, a ridiculously long queue to check in, another ridiculously long queue to leave luggage, another ridiculously long queue to get my left luggage - never experienced that at Pop!).

Another thing I liked about Pop over ASMovies is that Pop very rarely shares buses with other resorts (only encountered this occasionally at very odd times, like a while after park closing, where it sometimes shares with AoA). Whereas ASMovies seems to share buses more often with the other All Stars at off peak times. Also, from a park/DS I would sometimes just take the AoA bus, get off at AoA, and then walk across the bridge back to Pop.

[margyloveswdw]

We’ve stayed in multiple All-Stars and Pop and prefer Pop very slightly but for a saving of £300 I’d probably go All-Star.

Buses etc. don’t factor in for me though as we always have a car and we generally don’t use the pool or purchase anything other than a drink or snack on resort.

[Merryweather17]

Another vote for Pop, the skyliner (yes I know some people hate it) saves you so much time and is a much quicker and nicer form of transport that you aren't tempted to uber sometimes. You see wdw in another way and it drops you at the International gateway entrance to Epcot so you can easily explore the Boardwalk area or go there for dinner. The easy access to another food court with very different offerings really helps, there is a third pool at the resort and it feels a lot more spaced out and open than ASM. Also in our experience cast members at Pop are amazing, while the ones I talked to at ASM varied from indifferent to outright rude.

[Wazowskiscar]

Thanks everyone, this info is all really helpful, I think I’m starting to lean towards Pop...

[NewtoOrlando]

We stayed at All Star Sports in Oct 19, we loved it, and the buses being the only transport option was no problem whatsoever, never waited longer than 5 mins to get a bus. Our friends stayed at Pop at the same time, again, nice resort, and the addition of the Skyliner is perfect. I would be happy with either but would go with the cheapest, more money to spend on schnacks lol

[Lola]

Have stayed at both and would agree with the option for Pop

[Belongindisney]

Having stayed at both multiple times in the past,personally I would go with pop and of course you have the Skyliner at Pop and AOA.