If you’re looking to book a Disney World vacation while trying to save a little cash, you might be considering Disney’s Pop Century Resort. Though the resort does fall into the Value Resort category, it is one of the most popular hotels at Disney. We recently spent a weekend at this groovy hotel. But was it worth the hype? Follow along for my full Disney’s Pop Century resort review to find it. 

Disney’s Pop Century Resort Overview

Our Verdict

Atmosphere & Theming

If nostalgia is your thing, Pop Century is your place to blast into the past at Disney World. Disney’s Pop Century Resort transports guests back through the decades in a vibrant way. Walking through the resort, you’ll find “motel-style” buildings sandwiched between giant Rubik’s Cubes, computers, bowling pins, Pac-Man, hippy flowers, and more.

Pop Century is situated on Hourglass Lake, offering guests the best of both worlds in terms of views. Fancy a slow morning coffee with water views? Or maybe a faster stroll viewing resort grounds? Pop Century has got you covered.

Dining & Transportation Options

As a value resort, Pop Century doesn’t offer table service restaurants, character dining, or lounges. Guest dining options include:

• Everything Pop! Shopping and Dining
• Petals Pool Bar

Everything Pop! is home to quick-service breakfast, lunch, dinner, and late-night snacks, while Petals Pool Bar offers specialty cocktails, beers, wines, and limited grab-and-go food.

Transportation options may be the biggest draw of this resort, as not all value resorts offer two modes of transportation. Options include: 

• Disney Skyliner to EPCOT and Hollywood Studios
• Disney Buses to Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, and Disney Springs

Amenities & Recreation

There may not be as many recreational options at Pop Century as there are at moderate or deluxe resorts, but there is still plenty to keep guests entertained. Entertainment options include: 

• Hippy Dippy Pool
• Computer Pool
• Poolside games
• Fast Forward Arcade ($)
• Poolside crafts and activities ($)
• Shopping ($)
• Movies Under the Stars
• Playground
• Jogging trail
• Nightly campfire
• Daily scavenger hunts
• Glow dance parties

Our Disney’s Pop Century Resort Review

We booked a room at Pop Century for our son’s 5th birthday weekend, splitting our time between the resort and the parks. As we’re now adjusting to traveling as a family of four, is Pop Century still a good fit? Let’s find out! 

The Room

We booked a standard room and were assigned room 6171, located on the 1st floor of the 70’s section. Since all room set-ups at Pop Century are the same, the only difference between standard and preferred rooms is the location. 

The room was clean, and I thought the location was perfect, as it was an equal distance from both Classic Hall and the Disney Skyliner. There isn’t much theming inside any value resort standard rooms; however, the Mickey and friends portraits are a nice touch. One sink in the bathroom area could pose a challenge for four adults, but we managed fine.

Rooms include a stationary queen bed and an additional queen-sized Murphy bed. While value resort rooms are the smallest rooms at Disney World by square footage, we aren’t really people who tend to spend a lot of time in the room, so that wasn’t a huge concern for us. Although now that we are traveling with a portable crib again, there isn’t much room to walk around when it’s in place. We ended up breaking it down during the day and putting it up each night to give us a bit more space.

Overall, the rooms at Pop Century are small, but serve their purpose to a high standard. With our annual passholder discount, we paid $155 per night for a weekend in April. And personally, I don’t think you could ask for more than a clean, comfortable room at a value resort for that price – which is exactly what we got! 

Food and Drinks

I’ll be honest, my least favorite thing about value resorts is the dining options, or lack thereof. There are plenty of yummy options on the quick-service menu, but as a self-appointed “foodie”, I usually seek food elsewhere. What I do love about Everything Pop! Dining is the extra station that it offers, featuring specialty coffees, milkshakes, and desserts. 

While we were enjoying our pool day, I mobile-ordered two kids’ meals for them to enjoy. Of course, my son picked mac and cheese, which comes with two sides and a drink. Additionally, we did enjoy breakfast at Everything Pop!, sharing a Loaded Totcho Bowl for $11.49 and a Pancake Bounty Platter for $13.29. These are standard offerings you’ll find at all quick-service breakfast locations throughout Walt Disney World, and while they won’t blow your socks off, the dishes offer a filling, tasty way to start the morning. 

Since we are locals, we packed a poolside cooler with water, juices, and beers from home to save money, so we never ventured to Petals Pool Bar.

Amenities & Recreation

Upon our arrival around 12 PM, our room unfortunately wasn’t ready. If this happens to you, don’t fret. All Disney resorts have poolside restrooms and changing rooms with showers for guests to use on arrival or departure day. So, we headed to the changing rooms to put on our bathing suits, then to the Hippy Dippy Pool. 

To my surprise, at 12:30 PM on a very hot Saturday, we still found a set of lounge chairs with an umbrella. We spent hours at the pool swimming and participating in poolside activities. Activities included water relays, trivia, musical stars, and dance parties. 

We didn’t partake in any campfire or movie activities this trip, but we did enjoy the 70’s Playground multiple times. As a mom of two young, wild, and very active boys, I can’t think of anything better than a completely fenced-in playground, so we were thrilled to see the gated area. Additionally, the grounds are soft rubber, perfect for the littles. 

Transportation

On this trip, we split our time between Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, and EPCOT. 

We actually walked out to the bus transportation area just in time for a Magic Kingdom bus to arrive. But we realized we had left some baby items in the room and needed to go back to get them. Admittedly, I was nervous about how long it would take for a second bus to arrive, knowing that buses can sometimes be slow. To our surprise, a second bus arrived within about 10 minutes.

My son picked building a lightsaber at Tatooine Traders for his birthday, so knowing we were spending time at Hollywood Studios made Pop Century the perfect choice because of its easy access to the Skyliner.

While we didn’t rush out the door for rope drop (although if this is your first trip, then you should), we still headed over to the Skyliner pretty early, around 9 AM. We walked right on and were heading through security within 15 minutes. We ended the day at EPCOT, and taking the Skyliner back to the resort is the easiest way to end a park day.

I will always recommend using the Skyliner whenever possible if you’re traveling with strollers, since you don’t have to fold them. We all know I love Disney World, but having to take out two kids, fold up the stroller, hold all our stuff, and keep it together on the bus rides to and from the resorts is one of my worst nightmares. 

Overall Disney’s Pop Century Resort Review

For $150 per night, Disney’s Pop Century Resort absolutely gave us the best bang for our buck during the trip. Even when rooms aren’t heavily discounted, Pop Century offers a value-resort price with a few moderate-resort perks, which is what makes it so popular! Plus, the theming is fun.

You’ve got some variety when it comes to food, clean and comfortable rooms, transportation options, and a great pool. What’s not to love? Pop Century remains a go-to resort for us and should be considered by anyone traveling on a budget. If I were planning a trip with multiple resort days focused on dining and entertainment, I would probably look elsewhere, but for a balance of parks and resort fun, I’m choosing Pop every time! 

Stay at Disney’s Pop Century Resort if…

• You are spending the majority of your time at Hollywood Studios or EPCOT
• You are traveling on a budget
• You want access to the Skyliner

Skip Disney’s Pop Century Resort if…

• Themed or multi-bedroom rooms are important to you 
• Table service restaurants are a priority
• You plan to enjoy many non-park days

Comments

Have you stayed at Disney’s Pop Century Resort? Let us know in the comments which resort is your favorite!