Disney World Pop Century Resort: My Honest Review

pop century resort

It’s no secret that the Nerds are fans of the Pop Century Resort at Disney World…

In the vast sea of 30,000+ rooms available at Disney World, it’s often difficult to find the right one for your visit. And there are many considerations aside from the typical hotel rooms considerations like quality of room, size of room, bed configuration, etc. When looking at the expansive properties like the Pop Century Resort, you must consider location within the property, access to Disney transportation (including the Nerd favorite Disney Skyliner), proximity to parking, distance to the check-in building and swimming pools, access to laundry and travel time to the four theme parks, two water parks, four miniature golf courses, world-class shopping district…and these are just the things on Disney property!

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It’s possible to explore the entire property without ever actually seeing the entrance!

Disney’s Pop Century Resort is a kitschy throw-back motel-style resort and is part of Disney World’s “Value” collection. Arriving to the hotel – hopefully with MagicBands ready to go – still requires checking in with the guard initially. If you have completed the pre-check-in information online, you can go straight to your room. But it’s worth checking out the layout of the property.

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This picture of the Pop Century Resort’s map will help keep this massive property straight in your head.

The outside facade of the property sets the tone for what is beyond they walls.

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The Pop Century Resort is divided into decades from the 1950s to the 1990s.

The main building – better known as Classic Hall – is massive and is home to the front desk(s), a Disney store and quick service dining venue in addition to being the main hub for pick-up and drop-off for Disney’s Magical Express (Disney World’s free transportation to and from the Orlando International Airport).

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The check-in area is huge. Then again, there are 2,880 rooms at the Pop Century Resort!

In short, it’s a hopping/happening place. It wasn’t easy for the Nerd to camp out to get a “clean” picture. Even in a COVID-reduced capacity, there were people everywhere.

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There are a large selection of Disney World souvenirs and a small selection of sundries at Everything Pop.

Making our way to the room, we passed by the main pool complex where there are laundry facilities, ping pong tables, snack bar, kiddie pool and more.

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The 60s Buildings surround the main pool complex.

Rooms in this area are considered a Preferred Location and, half of them, a Preferred Pool View. You can read all about our take Preferred Location vs. Preferred View rooms.

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And what better way to refer to it than the Hippy Dippy Pool?

The buildings – 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s – each have ample parking and while a map makes it look sensible, it’s easy to get lost in this huge complex. The paths all curve and intertwine. And once you walk through a building’s passageway, forget about it! You might be on Mars. Though, all things being equal, Disney’s Pop Century Resort is a fun place to get lost an explore.

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You never know who you might meet while exploring a large Yo-Yo or Rubik’s Cube around the property.

The Rooms

The rooms were renovated in 2019 and our Nerdy opinion is that Disney did a great job. It’s still a motel-style property, it’s still a Value Resort, but they layout is very functional with some Disney magic sprinkled throoughout.

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Upon entering our room, we found a nice sized dresser, table with two chairs, small refrigerator and ample storage space.
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The bathroom and connecting door were on the far side of the room; a pretty standard layout.
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The table easily “pulls down” into a large bed and this use of space is one of the best hotel innovations in recent years. It allows for significantly more usable space during the day and comfortable bed at night (especially when compared to sofa beds).

There is a sliding door separating the vanity area from the living/sleeping space – a marked improvement over the curtains.

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Disney squeezed in a lot of hanging space including coat hooks.
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The updated rooms include a lot of storage in the room and in the bathroom.
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The commode is still a little tight, but it gets the job done.

Back to Exploring the Pop Century Resort

As we mentioned, it’s easy and (and as long as you are not in a hurry) fun to get lost exploring the Pop Century Resort. You can make up your own walking trails and there are signs posted throughout for the running trail that will take you on a journey around Hourglass Lake and to Disney’s Art of Animation Resort.

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Running Trail Map (we’re assuming you figured this out on your own).

The portion of the running trail that jogs along the Pop Century Resort is called Memory Lane. There are fun facts posted on signs all along Memory Lane.

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One of many “facts” along Memory Lane.

And the buildings just get more interesting, too! They included Pop references to Americana as well as a generous amount of Disney characters sprinkled all around the property. You can find Roger Rabbit, Lady, Tramp, Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head, Mowgli and Baloo among others.

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Bowling anyone?

Is there any chance we mentioned one of the standout features of Disney’s Pop Century Resort? It sure seems like we might have.

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The Skyliner is reason enough to stay at the Pop Century Resort!

All in all, the Pop Century Resort is a great property at a great value. It may not have the larger rooms, nicer amenities or “touches” of moderate and deluxe properties…but it’s still a recommended property and the price point and location are hard to beat!