Pops or ASMU?

[grandmalovesmickey]

Hi! I'm planning a family trip to WDW for Sept 2009 there will be 6 adults and our 2 1/2 year old (at time of trip):mickey: I had been looking at ASMU ( as the 1st we stayed ASMO as was looking at something different) and was set on at until one Daughter saw POPs and said let look at this. So which one would you stay at? Thanks for the help.

[Pop Centurion]

I've stayed at both and prefer Pop for the atmosphere, theming, and better food court/gift shop.
To me Pop just seems to have a better "buzz" about it as far as atmosphere. Everyone just seems like they're the happiest person in the world. ASMU is nice also but it seemed more laid back to me. Which is fine but Pop gets my adrenaline flowing before I even get to the parks and also at the end of the night when you're tired from walking all day. I also think the main pool (Hippie Dippy) is much cooler than ASMU.
I find the food court to have better food and more choices than ASMU. My GF and I share a piece of tie dyed cheese cake and carrot cake everyday we're there.
Also I'm not sure if it's changed since we went but ASMU shared busses with the other AS resorts which made getting to/from the parks slow IMO.

[Iluvpooh]

I have never stayed at ASMu, but I have stayed at ASSp and the other poster is right the bus service from Music and Movies is pretty bad. We were picked up first, but several times we would stop at the other resorts and the bus was already full. I have stayed at Pop and my only complaint is that if you are not in a prefered building the walk is a LONG one the the man building.

Long story short-Pop

[GrmGrninGost]

I've stayed at both and must say I prefer POP over any of the All-Stars. However, I would not hesitate to stay at ASMU again. We had fun there! We just like POP a little more! :mickey:

[KayDee]

When comparing resorts we like ASMu better. Pop felt to us like it had much more people. Being newer resort we were suprised at the quality of the room. We had mold and dirt. The CMs were not as friendly (this however can happen at any resort). We feel that the theming at the All Stars is more Disney then Pop.

Having said that Pop does have the advantage of location for bus service.

Have fun planning your vacation.

[JerseyDad]

....POP will always win out over ASM in my book. We stayed at POP on our first ever trip to WDW...and I guess it got "imprinted" on me as "our place". On our second trip (that same year)...we stayed at ASM and it just didn't seem to me to be as "bright"....if that's the right word. We also like the food court and main hall at POP a lot better than those at ASM. And...of course there is the benefit of not having to share a bus with other resorts.

[ghosst]

With Pop you get direct bus service to all destinations and coming back from any of the parks you rarely ever have to make stops between any other place. if i rememeber from my several times at Pop i always had direct busses back from the parks ... very nice to end the day with direct Bus service to resort.

the only issue you will face is with 6.5 people you will need 2 rooms; not that its an issue but i am not sure if they adjoin or not but getting rooms rightr next to each other shoulnt be too hard... one thing to remember is if you can try to get prefered room. its closer to the food court, the Hippy dippy pool, and most importantly the buses.

another thing to concider for your trip is the Meal Plan... its going to be a bit more up front but in the end its very much worth it.

for example, my family of 5, 2 adults 3 kids; well one eats adult food :( (she is growing up too fast) and for what you get its very much worth it...

we are spending about 700 bucks more for it but in the end you get easily 1000+ worth of food by Menu prices.... Just make sure you book your meals.

[Eeyore's My Favorite]

DH & I have stayed at both & actually won't go back to POP at all. Resort is too huge, too packed, too many rude, unruley, unsupervised kids........food court packed - had to be a table vulture to get a seat & pray that your food was still hot when you found a seat. Many, many, many other issues from our stay there last September.

Stayed at ASMu in January & it was great. Resort has recently been refurbished, much nicer, brighter and more magical than POP (it's time for POP to have their rooms redone). Also they offer the Family Suites that work for 5+ - we looked in on one while we were there. The resort is much smaller and better suited to our needs than POP. Never had any issues with the bus service. Only shared 1x to AK. However, at POP due to the amount of people staying there we had to wait for 2 or 3 buses to come sometimes to get to MK or AK. JMHO...:mickey:

[Belster]

My family and I love the POP! I have been used to staying at delux resorts, and when our budget changed we decided to give Pop a whirl. We have been very pleased. The rooms are very clean, you can actually smell the bleach, I like a crowded resort with a lot of action. As the previous post stated if you do not like this you may not like this resort. When we went we never had a problem finding a seat and our group always consists of 10 poeple. The food is great!

Another great perk, you do not share buses! :yay:

[Tinkerbella16]

I have stayed at all of the value resorts, and prefer Pop Century. We love it there. I like the fact that it is its own resort.... no sharing of busses or bus stops at the parks. It is more spread out, and I like that in a hotel. We love the 50's section...not far at all from anything and its a quiet area for the most part. The foodcourt at Pop is great also!