All Star Sports vs. Pop?

[CiaoBella312]

For people who have stayed at both places....how big a difference did you find from one of these from the other, and is it big enough that if you have reservations in one place you would switch it to the other if you could?

[DisneyFr33k]

If I had ressies at All Star Sports, then I'd switch to POP in a heartbeat! POP is better IMOHO because:

Cleaner, newer - AS resorts have space under the beds that we found precious guests "stuff" (cans, bottles etc). POP boarded under their beds so items cannot roll underneath.
Dedicated bus service - AStars share busses and especially ASSports.

We found POP's shopping and dining much better as well.

But, everyone has their own likes and dislikes.

[CiaoBella312]

If I had ressies at All Star Sports, then I'd switch to POP in a heartbeat! POP is better IMOHO because:

Cleaner, newer - AS resorts have space under the beds that we found precious guests "stuff" (cans, bottles etc). POP boarded under their beds so items cannot roll underneath.
Dedicated bus service - AStars share busses and especially All Star Sports.

We found POP's shopping and dining much better as well.

But, everyone has their own likes and dislikes.

We have stayed at Pop and love it there; I am hesitating on switching the reservation because I have a Preferred room at All Star Sports and would only be getting a Standard room at Pop. I don't think I would enjoy being in the 80s or 90s building, it's very far from everything. Would that make a difference for you?

[Jeri]

At Pop the 80's buildings are not that far from things. We were in the 80's rght by the big walkman on the 4th floor and we just went down, and around the building and walked along the parking lot to the front where the bus stops were. It was only like 3 minutes to the bus stops.
We are actually going to ask for 80's or 90's again.

[cajundisneyfreak]

I stayed at AS Sports once.Really didn't care for it.Stayed at Pop 3 times and loved it.To each his own I guess.

[Red Randal]

Unless you're going with kids who are huge sports fans and are going to mark out big time for the All Star Sports' theme, then switch to Pop.

I've been to Pop a number of times and love it. It's got better bus service, a better main building, a lake with a walking path, and is newer and in a more convenient location on property.

Also, might want to reconsider that abbreviation for "All Star Sports" you've got up there, hehehe.

[BayouTink]

I have stayed a both and think they are very comparable. Yes, the POP is newer, but I the Sport has undergone some updating in the past few years and is very well maintained. I didn't find any difference to speak of in regard to the food offerings or the shopping available. What I did note is that the POP is larger, offers frozen coke at their drink station and does have a dedicated bus service. Of the bus service at the other value hotels, the Sport is the first pick up and drop off along the bus route, which means you are more likely to get a seat going and if you don't get a seat on the way back your standing time on the bus will be shorter because you will be in the first group dropped off. But, I have to admit I am happy at any hotel in DISNEY!

[BMan62]

I have stayed a both and think they are very comparable. Yes, the POP is newer, but I the Sport has undergone some updating in the past few years and is very well maintained. I didn't find any difference to speak of in regard to the food offerings or the shopping available. What I did note is that the POP is larger, offers frozen coke at their drink station and does have a dedicated bus service. Of the bus service at the other value hotels, the Sport is the first pick up and drop off along the bus route, which means you are more likely to get a seat going and if you don't get a seat on the way back your standing time on the bus will be shorter because you will be in the first group dropped off. But, I have to admit I am happy at any hotel in DISNEY!

No more Frozen Cokes at Pop!!!

[CiaoBella312]

I switched the reservation to Pop Century. You know how I know I made a good decision? I am really excited about being there. I was happy with the trip and glad to be going to All Star Sports, but we LOVE Pop and this is adding something great to our upcoming trip.

I will say this....the guy on the dining thread who said "persistence pays off" was NOT kidding. I have gotten the resort I wanted and dinner reservations at hard "gets" by repeatedly checking online to see availability. Don't take "nothing available" as an answer - people change their minds and if you keep looking you can find what you want.

[wdwnomad]

All Star Sports is my favorite value resort. Pop might have been built later but it isn't newer. Sports and Music were renvoated last year and it shows. The bus sharing is overblown in my opinion. In fact, I think Sports had the best bus service out of all of the value resorts. The All Stars do share buses but only during non-peak times. When they did share Sports was the first pick-up and drop-off. During park openings and closings each All Star had its own bus. So while everyone at Pop Century was trying to squeeze into their buses each All Star resort had their lines split up.

[CosmicRay]

The last time we went, we stayed at Sports, but requested to move to Pop because at Sports, you had to travel to the other All Star resorts to pick up guests where as at Pop they had one stop and you are off. Other than that, they were both great.

[Hull-onian]

We like Sports. Although, we didn't use the bus system too much (we took taxi's everywhere) it worked for us. I love the pool and the CM's in the food court were terrific. Would stay again.

[WVParkfan]

We've stayed at all four values, and would rate them as such:

#1 All Star Music
#2 All Star Movies
#3 All Star Sports
#4 Pop Century

Pop was OK, but was our least-favorite experience at Disney. Simply too loud. I've never stayed anywhere else in the world where I could literally hear everything through the walls. Since we have many other options to stay on-site, we have decided that we will never stay at Pop again.

Sports is our least-favorite of the All Stars, but we would take it any day over Pop.

Have you considered Music of Movies? Music is fantastic, and has a great pool scene (including drive-in movies, games, etc. that none of the other values have). Music and Movies are much quieter, and frankly better hotels than Pop or Sports.

[CiaoBella312]

We've stayed at all four values, and would rate them as such:

#1 All Star Music
#2 All Star Movies
#3 All Star Sports
#4 Pop Century

Pop was OK, but was our least-favorite experience at Disney. Simply too loud. I've never stayed anywhere else in the world where I could literally hear everything through the walls. Since we have many other options to stay on-site, we have decided that we will never stay at Pop again.

Sports is our least-favorite of the All Stars, but we would take it any day over Pop.

Have you considered Music of Movies? Music is fantastic, and has a great pool scene (including drive-in movies, games, etc. that none of the other values have). Music and Movies are much quieter, and frankly better hotels than Pop or Sports.

We have stayed at Music before, and frankly, if that had been where we had the preferred room I probably would have kept it. Pop is our favorite (different strokes), but we liked Music just fine. I think the Sports theme was putting us off, we enjoy the noise and the color and the theming of Pop. We are going right after Christmas until right after New Year's, and because we didn't decide to go months ago, we were faced with sold-out values. It is only through constant monitoring of the online availability that I was able to get first the Sports room and now the Pop room.

I appreciate everyone's input!

[shellyc]

We like Sports. The Pop foodcourt is too loud, and I don't like that the gift shop is adjacent to the food court, and you can smell the food while you are shopping. We will be at Sports in a few weeks.

[mdricks]

Of all the values (never stayed at movies) i prefered music-family suite. We had three grownups on a long weekend and the room was clean, spacious, two bathrooms and a bed for each of us. If you have more than 2 travellers, i would consider music in a family suite.

I am rethinking my undying loyalty to POFQ as a result of my recent stay. Naaaaaa.