Walt Disney World's Pop Century Hotel: A Review

For the first two nights of our Sisters' Trip, we stayed at Pop Century. Besides being one of our favorite hotels, staying there granted us access to Disney's Extra Magic Hours for our 4 Parks/ 1 Day Challenge.

Theme

Pop Century is themed around the movies, television shows, games, and events that defined each generation from the 1950s to the 1990s.

 

Each of the guest buildings is themed inside and out with phrases and icons from that building's decade. We stayed in the 1990s (building 8), so our room had poster with The Lion King, Beauty and the Beast, and 101 Dalmations (the live action version).

The decorations on the exterior of the buildings are massive: we had an old school laptop that was three stories high just outside of our room. 

The main building, Century Hall, has check-in and check-out services, a concierge desk, a gift shop, and a food court.

Fun Fact: Pop Century is Disney's largest resort and has over 2800 guest rooms!

Service

I didn't really deal with the cast members at Pop Century too much this visit since we were barely at the resort due to the 4 Parks/ 1 Day Challenge. 

We did encounter some issues at check-in: I'd done online check-in, so I thought the actual check-in process would go quicker than it did. 

However, it was 11 p.m. when I checked in, and the cast member who helped me didn't speak English as her first language. Not only was I exhausted at that point, the cast member kept telling me that my reservations weren't there. I have a hyphenated last name, like Smith-Jones (which really, really confuses people for some reason). She kept looking under Jones, and I kept telling her that my entire last name was Smith-Jones. Not Smith. Not Jones. Smith-Jones.

Because it was late and she had a language barrier, I can understand why check-in might not have been perfect with those factors. 

I did have one other not-so-great encounter with the Pop staff: when I went to the concierge desk to ask if I needed to get my media badges there or at the parks, the guy that helped me talked super fast and acted as if he didn't know what a media badge was. I know that I'm not the only person to have ever stayed at Pop Century to ask about a media badge--they aren't that rare!

Every other time we've stayed here--or at Port Orleans, the All-Star Resorts, or Fort Wilderness--the cast members have bent over backwards to help us. Perhaps they were upset that they couldn't go on the 4 Parks/ 1 Day Challenge with us?

Rooms

Pop Century has your basic two double bed and a bathroom set-up. It's clean, comfortable, and it comes with Mickey soap and shampoo in the bathroom. What more could I want?!

Each room also has a mini-fridge, flat screen TV, and breakfast table with two seats.

Amenities

Pop Century has three pools: the main Hippy Dippy pool and two other smaller ones. During the summer, the pools are open late (until around 10 or 11 p.m.); during the winter, the hours are reduced. The pools are heated, so anyone willing to brave the cooler winter weather can enjoy a dip year-round! If I hadn't been so exhausted at the end of our day o' four parks, I totally would have gotten in for a quick swim.

There's a food court in the main building (Century Hall) that serves waffles, pastries, omelettes, and other freshly made breakfast items. You can also grab juice, pre-cut fruit, yogurt, cereal and milk from the coolers. We got breakfast there on the day that we checked out: I highly, highly recommend the cherry turnover and chocolate croissant. Sugar overload for breakfast? Yes, please!

Century Hall also has its own gift shop, Everything Pop, so you can pick up a shirt, baseball hat, candy, or toys as a souvenir without having to go to the parks or Downtown Disney.

Pop Century Resort has its own bus. I love this feature; the All-Star resorts all share a bus, which means you can wait a very long time at peak times at the bus stop. I won't lie: the bus is a huge reason why I love staying here and not at the All-Star resorts. 

Overall, it's a great place to stay on Disney property if you're looking for something reasonably priced and close to all of the Disney fun. We'll most likely be staying here again in December when our entire family shows Britton Disney World for the first time!

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