Review of Disney’s Pop Century Resort

Review of Disney’s Pop Century Resort

What do you do when your meticulously prepared vacation plans go awry? This was our experience during our family’s fall break vacation. We cruised through Hurricane Michael and lost a port day when the tender boats were unable to meet our ship at Grand Cayman. We looked forward to our trip to Disney World. Following our cruise, we drove to Orlando, anticipating our stay at Disney’s All Star Movie Resort. Unfortunately, at check in, we were told there was no room for us, but we were being upgraded to a poolside room at Disney’s Pop Century Resort.

We were bummed. We planned on staying at the All-Star Movie resort for months. Disappointment set in when we received this news. We tried, however, to make the best of it.

Disney's Pop Century Resort Marquee
The entrance to Disney’s Pop Century Resort.

Fortunately, the staff at Disney’s Pop Century Resort turned our disappointment around. Understanding our frustration, the Pop Century Cast Members immediately gave us additional Fast Passes to the Magic Kingdom. That was very kind. Additionally, the next day upon learning of a cancelled flight to return home, the staff again aided us finding an additional room at the resort for our unexpected extra day’s stay.

The accommodations and ambiance at the Pop Century Resort also exceeded our expectations. So without further adieu, here is our review of Disney’s Pop Century Resort at Disney World.

Check-in at Disney’s Pop Century Resort

I’m sure we overwhelmed the Cast Member checking us in to our room. We were miffed since we lost out on a stay at the All-Star Movie Resort. Although we got an upgraded room with a poolside view at no additional cost, it was not what we anticipated. We were grumpy and very vocally expressed our disappointment.

Our Cast Member really took the time to listen to us. She understood our frustrations, trying to reassure us that the Pop Century Resort would exceed our expectations.

After checking us in, she took time to make sure our Magic Bands had all of our room keys, Magic Kingdom tickets, and Fast Passes properly attached. She then did something special. She spoke with her manager about our change of plans and worked to get three additional Fast Passes linked to each of our Magic Bands. These Fast Passes could be used on any ride at any time in the amusement park.

The resort lobby is spacious with ample Cast Members serving to check guests in and out of the resort. The lobby also has a concierge desk, which we found helpful. We realized we needed a couple of safety pins for our daughter’s outfit at the Magic Kingdom. We asked for safety pins at the concierge desk. They had plenty of safety pins for us.

The lobby has Pop memorabilia from the 1950s to the 1990s. As an added bonus, during the noon hour, Cast Members found space on the lobby floor to dance to “The Hustle.”

The Classic Hall

The check-in desk, lobby and concierge desk are in the Classic Hall. The Classic Hall also houses an arcade, which we looked at, but did not have time to play in.

The Classic Hall includes a Gift Shop filled with Disney fare and a dining hall. During our two-day stay at the resort, we ate one breakfast, one lunch, and one dinner in the dining hall. For breakfast, we purchased donuts and muffins. For lunch, we had meatball sub sandwiches, pizza, and salad. Our dinners included spaghetti with meatballs and hot pastrami sandwich. The serving sizes for lunch and dinners were huge, and seemed a good deal for the price (meals range from $10-$15 and come with sides). The dining hall also has a kids menu which saved us some money.

Disney's Pop Century Resort Classic Hall
The Classic Hall is the hub of the resort with shopping, dining, and an arcade.

The Rooms

We stayed in a room in the 50s hall and one in the 60s hall. The resort divides buildings by decades, having a building for each decade from the 1950s through the 1990s. While each building is decorated specifically for the represented decade, the two rooms we stayed in were identical. I assume that all the rooms in the recently redesigned resort are identical.

Each family member accessed the room with our Magic Bands, which linked to the door lock. This was convenient, because all four of us could get in and out of our room at will.

Disney's Pop Century Resort room
Our bedroom at the resort.

The room includes a queen-size bed and a queen-size Murphy bed which can be pulled down in the evenings. Since the rooms were renovated in the past couple of months, we had new, extremely comfortable mattresses. We enjoyed the Mickey Mouse headboard above the queen bed and the Pluto headboard above the Murphy bed.

Disney's Pop Century Resort Murphy Bed
The Murphy bed with Pluto headboard

Across from the beds was a large dresser and big-screen television. The television included a station dedicated to the Disney World Resort and, of course, the Disney Channel.

The bathroom consists of two areas. First is the sink and vanity which included shelves and storage space, iron and ironing board, and hair dryer. You can close the sliding barn door in this area, separating the room from the bedroom/living area. The second area,, which also has it’s own slider door, includes the toilet (which had frighteningly good water pressure) and bathtub/shower. Disney stocks the shower with quality natural body wash, shampoo, and conditioner.

Disney's Pop Century Resort Room Collage
Some of the room features.

Each room had a connecting room, but during each night we did not hear noise coming from either connecting room. In fact, we heard very little resort noise from our rooms.

The Pools

Here is where the Pop Century Resort begins to show its hand. The resort has four pools — a bowling pin shaped pool at the 1950s building, a daisy-shaped “Hippy Dippy” pool at the 1960s building, a kiddie pool also at the 1960s buildings, and a monitor-shaped “Computer” pool at the 1980s-1990s buildings.

Disney's Pop Century Resort Hippy Dippy Pool
The Hippy Dippy Pool is the main pool at the resort with daily pool party activities.

The Hippy Dippy pool is the central pool at the resort. Here, staff provide pool party activities including poolside movies and games. Music plays around the pool. Nearby, you find Petals, a cabana-style bar, a kiosk where you can get a henna tattoo, and a ping pong table. Our kids enjoyed a game of ping pong during the evening when temperatures cooled down.

We played in the 1950s pool. I enjoyed the towel station, which included shelves with bowling balls. This pool also had a volleyball net for those wanting to play a game of water volleyball.

Disney's Pop Century Resort Pools
Some of the pool action at the Resort

Pool depths are about 3 1/2 feet, and lifeguards are on duty at each pool. We comfortably relaxed on lounge chairs while our kids played endlessly in the pool.

Laundry Room

Since our trip was extended by a cancelled air flight, we needed to do laundry during our stay. Fortunately, Disney’s Pop Century Resort has laundry rooms on site. We purchased laundry soap in the room, and charged both the soap and the washer and dryer run cycles with a credit card.

Disney's Pop Century Resort Laundry Room
Who thinks of clever design of a laundry facility? Disney does. How cute is this?

Walking Around the Decades Buildings

We loved walking around the resort and seeing all the special decorating touches Disney added to each Decades Building. We appreciated that there were Disney Character sculptures in each decade, too, since we were looking forward to Disney character themes at the All-Star Movie Resort.

Disney's Pop Century Resort Night View
Night view of the yo-yo and bowling pin stairwells of the 50s and 60s buildings.

Here is a look at some things you’ll see walking around the resort.

The 1950s

It really was hip to be square at the 1950s buildings. In addition to the bowling pin-shaped pool, you find a giant Juke Box near the pool. It was fun reading the clever song titles on the playlist.

Disney's Pop Century Resort Tramp
Tramp stands watch over the 50s rooms

One of the iconic Disney movies from this decade was “Lady and the Tramp.” We enjoyed the sculptures of the dogs on either side of the bowling pool.

Giant bowling pins encase each building’s stairwell for a fun touch.

Disney's Pop Century Resort 50s Scenes
Scenes from the 50s at Pop Century

The 1960s

While the Hippy Dippy pool is the central feature of the 1960s buildings, we also loved seeing the giant size Play-Doh.

We couldn’t get enough of the Bear Necessities of a larger than life Baloo and Mowgli from “The Jungle Book.”

Disney's Pop Century Resort 60s Collage
Larger than life features of the 60s area include Play-Doh, The Jungle Book, and a Duncan Yo-Yo.

And giant Duncan YoYo’s surround the stairwells of the 1960s buildings.

The 1970s

An enormous Mickey Mouse telephone adorns the 1970s buildings.

I think these buildings had my favorite sculptures with a gigantic Hot Wheel and a Foosball game. I felt like I was the ball in the middle of the large Foosball players.

Disney's Pop Century Resort Foosball
Foosball players in the 70s section

Also, you can play Twister with a permanent Twister board painted on the cement.

Disney's Pop Century Resort 70s scenes
Twister, Mickey Phones and Big Wheels in the 70s

The 1980s

Roger Rabbit is the featured Disney Character in this decade.

The stairwells are covered by gigantic Rubik’s Cubes. ‘The buildings also have a Walkman Player and Pac-Man Ghosts running in between the floors of the buildings.

Disney's Pop Century Resort 80s theme
Scenes from the 80s

Disney Buses

The Pop Century Resort provides bus service to all of the Disney parks and Disney Springs on a regular schedule. Outside of the Classic Hall, you’ll find a number of bus stops for all of the theme parks and the shopping area. Simply get in the proper line and wait for your bus to arrive. The resort has a television terminal with approximate arrival times. The buses deliver you back to the resort.

We used the bus for the Magic Kingdom. The bus picked up guests 90 minutes after the park closed, so we had plenty of time to catch a bus back to our room.

Disney also provides bus service to the airport and the cruise terminal if you booked a Disney Cruise.

Our Take:

While initially disappointed with our change of plans, we thoroughly enjoyed our stay at Disney’s Pop Century Resort. The rooms, though not fancy, were practical and amazingly quiet. The staff was beyond helpful when we were very needy. The kids enjoyed the pool, and the parents enjoyed relaxing by the pool. The dining room met our expectations, and the ample food portions exceeded our expectations.

The fun design features throughout the resort made our stay magical and memorable. We’re ready for a return stay at Disney’s Pop Century Resort.


You Might Also Enjoy:

Our take on Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party at the Magic Kingdom

Everything you need to know before You Board Your First Disney Cruise

Cruising with Disney? Find out What to Expect on a Disney Cruise


Disney's Pop Century Resort, Orlando Florida

Disney Pop Century Resort Orlando FL

All photos and content are by Family Well Traveled and use of photos or content without permission will result in legal action.



15 thoughts on “Review of Disney’s Pop Century Resort”

  • I love the look of the hotel room with its decor. I am not a huge Disney fan but my daughter who loves Disney, when she’s a bit older, probably wants to jet off to Orlando and I can see us staying here. It does look so funky 🙂

  • Disney has grown so much since my first (and only) trip there – the year Epcot opened! Disney has always known how to go all-out, and I can see it here in your photos.

    Great service by the staff, really taking care of you and your family.

  • They certainly looked after you and this makes all the difference. So pleased your initial disappointment was turned around. The resort looks really fun and characterful. When we visited Disney a number of years ago we rented a villa and travelled in, but reading this I can see that there are advantages to staying in one of the actual resorts.

  • Sounds like an eventually trip with it being overbooked and then a flight cancellation! The staff seemed to really help you though and sounds like you did have a great time after all! Disney seems to be magic enough to make you forget everything!

  • It’s definitely a good thing that you got additional Fast Passes to the Magic Kingdom! We must admit that we are not Disney worlds fans at all. But it’s interesting that they have rooms decorated in different styles according to the decades. And they look comfy too! Have you also visited Disneyland in Paris and the one in Anaheim? Those are the only ones we went to when we were kids.

  • This sounds like such a fun place! You sure had a string of rotten luck though – canceled flights, booked out hotel, a hurricane – but it sounds like you made lemonade out of lemons. Those sculptures of the playdoh and foosball players are super cool!

  • You were actually lucky that you couldn’t get the All Star Movies resort! We just stayed there two months ago, and I can honestly say that it was the WORST resort we’ve stayed at – on Disney property or anywhere. It shares a bus with All Star Sports and All Star Music, so getting a seat on the bus can be difficult. We often had to wait for the 3rd bus to show before we could get on one.

    And the connecting door to the neighboring room makes you be able to hear EVERYTHING said in the other room – word for word. The couple got into a big fight. The woman was throwing out the F word every other word. After 30 minutes of listening to it nonstop, I called the front desk. Even though the phone was on the other side of the room from theirs, the woman at the front desk could even hear it over the phone. She sent security up. I wanted another room. This was totally unacceptable for the two children I had with me who were then scared to go outside. But there weren’t any rooms available. Luckily, two days later we left and went over to Saratoga Springs.

    I’ll never stay in an All Star anything again!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.