Disney Day: Tips for your stay at Disney’s Pop Century Resort

Before going back to more diversified blog posts (just because I LOVE Disney, doesn’t mean I don’t have other things to share), I wanted to talk a little bit about where we stayed this past trip.

Usually we rent Disney Vacation Club points from an individual or a broker and stay at a deluxe villa resort. That means we either pay top dollar for the DVC points we rent 10 months in advance and stay exactly what we want or book a few months out with cheap points and stay at Saratoga Springs for the price of a value. If you want to know more about renting points, check out this post.

For this last trip, we decided to try something different and stay at what Disney classifies as a value resort. It’s basic and heavily themed. Perfect for children. Not so perfect for three adults sharing a room but here are five tips to make sure your stay at Pop Century is the best.

ONE:: Spring for the preferred room. 

There are four room options at Pop Century. Standard, Standard Pool View, Preferred, and Preferred Pool view. With Pop Century being one of the bigger resorts on property and biggest in terms of amount of rooms, there’s a chance you may be quite a walk from the main building where the food court is and the bus stop. A preferred room puts you close to that main building and it’s worth it! Depending on the time of year and time of week, it could be anywhere from $10 a night to $15 a night to upgrade. At the end of the day, though the view from the 70s rooms is pretty of Hourglass Lake, it’s a 10 minute walk from the bus stop or more. That’s something you’re not going to want to do at 11:30 PM carrying a child, stroller, and a backpack after having walked all day at the Magic Kingdom.

TWO:: Request to stay in the 60s buildings. 

Though there are no guarantees, it’s worth a shot making a room request. A preferred room in the 1960s buildings will be the closest rooms to the main building, aside from perhaps preferred pool view in the 1960s buildings. Room requests are never promised, but it never hurts to try. Being close in a resort with so many rooms is important.

THREE:: Decorate your window.

I’ve heard of things like this on the message boards, but was never sure what people were talking about, mostly because we’d never stayed at a resort with an external facing window. I saw lights, banners, window clings, all kinds of decorations! It was so cute. Get into the spirit of a Disney vacation! Even if it’s just a Mickey plush, it’s one of the neatest traditions I’ve ever seen.

FOUR:: Bring non-perishable snacks from home.

The fridge is unusually tiny in the value rooms. Much tinier than fridges in the studio villas. There’s enough room for tiny cans of soda and maybe a bit of sandwich meat and cheese (definitely not a jar of mayo), so bring fruit, trail mix and other healthy (or non-healthy) non-perishable foods so that you don’t always have to rush to the main building for a snack. It will also save money. Getting the dining plan is probably a wise choice (especially when it’s free) while staying at a value resort because there isn’t much room to prepare meals in the room.

FIVE:: Plan for resort time.

Honestly, this resort is so cute! The deluxe resorts are very expertly themed, but the values are so visually appealing. Tons of oversized and adorable decorations. Pop century is also a short walk across the generation gap bridge from the Art of Animation resort, which is also fun to walk around and tour. Try out other pools besides the main pool in the 60s. There’s also a bowling pin pool in the 50s and a square computer pool in the 80s/90s rooms area.

hippy dippy pool in the 1960s buildings

Lady and Tramp as courtyard decorations in the 1950s

Though Pop Century was not for us, it’s definitely for families with small children and those that won’t be spending much time in the room. If you have any questions about Pop Century leave them for me in the comments or contact me via the about me page. Pretty much any Disney questions, I’d love to help answer. 😀