We talk about resorts a lot but there’s more to a resort than just the rooms. We’re talking about our favorite Disney resort pools! We tell you which ones we love and where you can find them!
Happy listening!
We continue our in depth resort series with Dole Whipped favorite, Pop Century! We discuss all the amenities, conveniences, and excellent themeing this resort has to offer. We think you’ll like it as much as we do!
Happy listening
I really enjoyed this exercise on the podcast so if you missed it you can check it out here: https://dolewhipped.com/2015/03/16/podcast-episode-43-how-far-does-your-money-go-at-disney/
My budget was pretty great, you can take a fantastic vacation for this price. I have four options that all come in under budget. All are for a family of 2 adults, 2 children under 9. One other thing to note is that these prices are rack rate, so there is no promotion or discounts applied.
In the Deluxe category we have two choices!
6 night stay at Wilderness Lodge (standard view) with 7 day Park Hopper tickets for $3,984.76.
Photo via Disney.com
4 night stay at Beach Club Villas in a Deluxe Studio 5 day base park tickets, Disney Dining Plan and Memory Maker for $3,980.40.
Photo via Disney.com
For Moderates you have what is a pretty typical Disney vacation for many families. This is the kind of trip you might take every 3-4 years and really go all out.
6 nights at Port Orleans Riverside with 7 day Park Hopper and Disney Dining Plan at $3,944.20.
I wanted to get a bit silly with the Value Resort and see how far I could take the extras while still getting a full week at the resort. I went with Pop Century as it is the most popular of the Values.
5 nights at Pop Century, Pool View, 6 day Park Hopper with Water Parks Fun and More, Deluxe Dining Plan for $3,985.44.
Of all these trips the one I would be most likely to take would be the Port Orleans Riverside stay, mostly because it is the longest but still has a great dining plan and park hoppers. The thing I learned most from this was that there really is something at Disney for every budget level and yes you can even go for a couple days and stay under $1,500.
Which of these options is most appealing to you?
This is the second installment in our series of what your options are with different budget amounts at Disney. As in the first post, this is a hypothetical family of 4: 2 adults, 2 children between the ages of 3 and 9. These are rack prices, with no discounts, so you can see the top number for each category. As always, if a discount is available, it’s a perfect opportunity to consider your upgrade options. One of the Dole Whipped crew can help you decide what that is so feel free to fill out our Free Vacation Planning form and we’ll get back to you quickly!
Option 1:
4 nights, 5 days at Disney’s Pop Century Resort in a preferred room (Value level)
5 day base tickets
Quick Service dining plan
Memory Maker photo package
$2491.60
Option 2:
4 nights, 5 days at Disney’s Port Orleans Riverside in a Royal Guest Room (Moderate level)
5 day base tickets
Memory Maker photo package
$2490.88
Option 3:
3 nights, 4 days at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge in a standard view room (Deluxe level)
4 day base tickets
Memory Maker photo package
$2389.82
Which option would you choose? What other budgets would you like to see us explore (and yes, there will be a “fantasy” budget to conclude this series, for fun!)?
I recently had the opportunity to stay at Disney’s Pop Century resort for a solo long weekend vacation. I’ve never stayed at a Value resort besides Art of Animation (which I adore) but I have to say I was most pleasantly surprised by how much I liked Pop Century.
My room was 4138, a standard view room in the backside of the 60’s building. I thought this was a fantastic location because I was close to the pool and the main building, but being on the backside I didn’t have the level of noise you get when you’re right next to the pool. My view was actually very nice. There was a nice landscaped area just outside my door with a lovely view of Hourglass Lake.
I was probably a 3 minute walk from the main building so that was very convenient for transportation and dining. Since I was only there for a long weekend, I only had one meal from the food court, Everything Pop. I had an Angus burger with fries. It was fine. Pretty much the standard burger you find anywhere on Disney property. Nothing to write home about but good enough.
While I didn’t make use of the pool, it did look very nice and well-maintained. They had lots of activities out there for the kids.
I found the staff at this hotel very helpful and personable and Mousekeeping did a lovely job with my room for the two nights I was there. I had plenty of towels and washcloths and everything seemed spic and span when I checked in.
It was relatively crowded during my stay but I didn’t find the hotel very noisy. I was on the bottom floor and I did hear some of the walking around that my upstairs neighbors did, but it didn’t bother me. I pretty much expect that when I stay in hotels so it wasn’t something I would complain about.
Again, because it was a crowded weekend, I did have an issue with one full Magic Kingdom bus, but it wasn’t a huge problem. Another bus did come by within 15 minutes and I was able to board that one. This was pretty much the only time I had to deal with a full bus the entire weekend. I find that pretty great for a Value resort on a high crowd weekend. I suspect I wouldn’t have had better luck had I been at an All Star resort where they share buses.
Overall, I was very well pleased with Pop Century and I would not hesitate to recommend it to friends and clients. I would most definitely stay there again.
Please enjoy this completely amateur video I took of the room.
Dole Whipped 