Disney’s Pop Century Resort: the complete guide

Thinking about staying at Disney’s Pop Century resort? Here’s everything you need to know!

Posts about Pop Century

• Pop Century review
• Disney World trip planning guide

The basics

Pop Century Map

Rooms at Pop Century

There are 4 different room categories available at Pop Century:

• standard view room
• pool view room
• preferred room
• preferred pool view room

Amenities include hairdryer, free wifi, in-room safe, coffee maker, iron/ironing board, mini fridge

Pop Century dining

Everything POP Dining
Breakfast, lunch, dinner
American food court – waffles, breakfast platters, burgers, chicken, pizza, pasta, salad
Fan favorite food items at Pop Century food court: tie-dye cheesecake, seasonal cupcakes, pizza, BBQ burger

Petals Pool Bar
Drinks

In-room pizza delivery

Price of Pop Century

Pricing varies based on the season. Pop Century is considered a value resort, but can range anywhere from $150-$290/night at the rack rate. Lower prices may be found is a discount is available. Here is some sample pricing for 2021:

• Early May 2021: $172/night (with 30% room discount)
• Mid July 2021: $183/night (with 30% room discount)
• Early September 2021: $179/night
• Late December 2021: $297/night
• Early February 2022: $175/night
• Early May 2022: $199/night
• Late July 2022: $209/night

Pools, recreation, and activities

Pools

There are three pools at Pop Century – the Hippy Dippy pool (in the 1960s area of the resort), the Bowling pool (1950s), and the Computer pool (1990s). The Hippy Dippy pool is the main one and the largest pool at Pop Century. It has flower shaped water jets and a smaller kiddie pool in the area.

Recreation

Jogging trail – if you want to go for a walk or a run, Pop Century has access to 2 different running trail loops that go around Pop Century and Art of Animation. You can go around Hourglass Lake for a 1.1 mile or 1.38 mile loop.

Playground – there is a small playground at Pop Century with slides, activities, and things to climb on. It is located in the 1970s section.

Things to do at Pop Century

Movies under the Stars – almost every evening a different Disney movie is shown on a large screen at the Hippy Dippy pool. An activity schedule is provided at the resort to let you know what movies will be playing and what other activities may be happening.

Trivia and pool activities – head poolside for some fun trivia games, scavenger hunts, dance parties, and more!

Groovy campfire – gather over a firepit, roast some marshmallows, and make s’mores! There is an extra fee for s’mores making kits.

Fast Forward Arcade – in the main building, Classic Hall, across from the food court you’ll find an arcade with a variety of video games to play.

Transportation options

There are two main forms of Disney included transportation at Pop Century – the Disney buses or the Skyliner gondolas. Buses go to Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom regularly throughout the day. The Skyliner runs continuously to Hollywood Studios and Epcot. Buses also run to Hollywood Studios and Epcot on a reduced schedule (usually once per hour).

Pros and cons of Pop Century

Benefits to staying at Pop Century

• Extra magic hours
• Magical Express
• included Disney transportation to/from the parks
• Magic bands available at discounted prices
• Disney dining plan can be added (not currently available)
• 60 day Fastpass+ booking (not currently available)
• Fun themeing
• More park pass reservation availability for Disney resort guests
• Compact resort that’s easier to walk around
• Beautiful jogging trail around Hourglass lake

Is Pop Century a good resort?

Everyone’s definition of “good” is different, and I’ll get into who I think Disney’s Pop Century resort is best for in the section below. However, I think Pop Century is a good resort overall for a number of reasons, a major one being that it is an official, on property Disney resort. That means it has extra benefits non-Disney hotels won’t have, like extra hours and the ability to make fastpasses sooner, and transportation constantly running to and from the theme parks. That’s a big one – many off-site resorts advertise free shuttles but they only run once or twice a day. Pop Century has buses to all 4 of the theme parks every 20 minutes and the Skyliner running continuously during open hours.

Who is Pop Century best for?

In general I recommend Disney’s Pop Century resort for people who are on a budget but still want to stay on Disney property. It’s a wonderful resort for families with small children, young couples, or a group of 2-3 friends who plan to spend most of their time in the theme parks. If you’re looking to save money Pop Century is a top choice that still gives you some perks and convenience without breaking the bank. When Disney offers discounts it almost always qualifies, so if you’re hoping for a discount to come along later Pop Century is usually a pretty good bet.

It’s also a good option for people who want to focus on Epcot and Hollywood Studios but don’t want to pay the deluxe prices to stay in the Crescent Lake Area (Boardwalk, Yacht/Beach Club). Since Pop Century has the Skyliner to Epcot and Hollywood Studios it is nice for those parks. It is also near ESPN Wide World of Sports, which is convenient for anyone who is traveling for a competition or event being held there. With a compact size plus the skyliner and bus transportation, it’s also a good option for those who will not have a car while they’re visiting and rely solely on Disney transportation.

Because the rooms only sleep up to 4 I would not recommend it for families of 5+. Even if you have a child who is under the age of 3 and sleeps in a crib, the rooms are not particularly large here and I think families of 4 with a baby will find the room quite packed. Groups of 4 adults or families with older children may encounter the same issues. The rooms have recently been refurbished and one of the additions is that one of the two beds is now a murphy bed. This can fold up during the day so you have a little more space, just keep in mind that when you get back to your room tired each night you’ll have to pull down and set up the bed. The rooms have your basics but lack any extra amenities.

The themeing is over the top so if you have kids or you’re a kid at heart who might love to see gigantic statues of Lady and the Tramp it’s a lot of fun. If you prefer something more understated you probably want to look elsewhere. In addition, if you are looking for a lot of options at your resort for downtime Pop Century has less to offer than a moderate or deluxe resort. While it does have a pool and poolside activities, the other resorts have more going on and pools with more features like water slides and hot tubs.

If you’re a foodie you won’t find a table service restaurant here, just your typical food court. However, it’s a decent quick service location with a number of options. Pop Century is also walking distance to Art of Animation (just head over the bridge and across the lake). While Art of Animation doesn’t have a table service restaurant, its food court is excellent and offers more unique items than the one at Pop Century.

Can a family of 5 or more stay at Pop Century?

The rooms at Disney’s Pop Century resort are standard size rooms with a queen bed and a pull down murphy queen size bed. They sleep up to 4 people and can also accommodate a crib for a child under 3. However, if you have 5 or more people without a baby you will either need to get two rooms at Pop Century (you can request connecting or nearby rooms) or look at other resort options.

Compared to other Disney resorts

In terms of the other value resorts, Pop Century is a solid choice. It edges out the All-Star resorts of a number of reasons – the rooms are newly refurbished, it has the skyliner access, and it doesn’t share its bus transportation with any other resorts. Since its walkable to Art of Animation and has access to those perks as well, like the food court, that also provides more value. It just feels a little nice and newer. The price is slightly higher but we feel Pop Century is worth it for these reasons. Compared to a standard room at Art of Animation, Pop Century costs less. The main reasons why someone might want to stay in a standard room at Art of Animation is if they are really big Little Mermaid fans, or they don’t like the set-up with the murphy bed (Art of Animation still has the standard 2 bed setup to sleep up to 4).

Compared to the moderate and deluxe resorts, Disney’s Pop Century resort doesn’t have near the amount of amenities those other resorts have. Just a few of the differences include bigger rooms, access to pools with hot tubs, slides, and more activities, more restaurants and bars on location, (sometimes) better transportation options, and more nuanced themeing. However, the prices are also higher compared to Pop Century.

If you’re looking at a time period where Pop Century costs around $200/night, expect the All Star resorts to be around $170/night and the standard rooms at Art of Animation near $230/night. To compare, a moderate like Caribbean Beach may sit around $300/night, while deluxe resorts from $420-700/night (for more affordable deluxe resorts like Old Key West up to the super popular ones such as the Contemporary).

Best room numbers to request

Keep in mind that if you want a room near the main Classic Hall and the bus area, you’ll need to pay for their preferred room category. When you book your room you can make all sorts of requests, including which floor you’d prefer to be on, what sort of view you might like, if you want to be near the elevators, etc. These requests are not guaranteed but Disney will do their best to honor them if possible. We recommend requesting a higher floor to potentially be away from some of the noise and to have better views.

If you like a particular themed area of Disney’s Pop Century resort, you can request that (like if you’d prefer to be in the 1950s section with the big bowling pins, or if you like the 1980s area with the Rubix cubes). All preferred pool view rooms at Pop Century are in the 1960s area. Preferred rooms with a standard view might be in the 1960s, 50s, or 70s.

Which Pop Century rooms are preferred rooms?

Preferred rooms are located in the 1950s, 60s, and 70s closest to Classic Hall. Preferred pool view rooms are all in the 1960s section. This includes buildings 0, 1, 4, and 5.

Which Pop Century rooms are closest to the Skyliner?

If you look at the map above you can see that the Skyliner is towards the back of the resort. That means buildings 3, 4, and 5 are the closest to it.

Which rooms at Pop Century are recently refurbished?

All of the rooms at Pop Century have now been refurbished and updated as of 2019.

A few suggestions:

• If you’d like some quiet and to be a bit away from things, request a room in the 1950s section on the 4th floor with a lake view.
• If you have several preferences, note which one is most important: a ground floor lake view room in the 1960s may not have many options and may not be accommodated, but if you note that being on the ground floor is more important than the view or the building then that request will be more likely to be met.
• If you are traveling in a group and want connecting rooms, make that your #1 priority.
• Keep in mind that all requests are just that – requests. Nothing is guaranteed (unless it’s something like a preferred room that you paid more for).

Free price quote

Want to know how much it might cost to stay at Pop Century for your family during certain dates? Wish you had an easy way to compare prices for different dates or at different resorts? Request a free price quote from me! As a travel agent specializing in Disney I can help you get prices and plan the Disney vacation that’s right for you. The best part? It will cost you the same as booking through Disney and you’ll receive specialized help and recommendations. Contact me today to get started.

Have you stayed at Disney’s Pop Century? What do you think of this resort?