Disney’s Pop Century Resort is one of the most popular value resorts at Walt Disney World. This pop culture themed hotel is often considered as a slight upgrade from the All-Star Resorts, and it’s a cult favorite for some people (it’s us, hi). Here’s everything you need to know when considering a stay at Pop Century!
Pop Century Resort Basics
Disney’s Pop Century Resort is a value resort located near EPCOT and Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Rack rates for standard rooms at Pop Century in 2026 start at $213 per night. If you can snag a lower hotel rate, or a discount, Pop Century’s slight premium over off-property resorts will be more than made up for by the Disney spirit and convenience, in our opinion.
Staying at Pop Century, you get the perks of any Disney stay:
You’ll have access to Early Theme Park Entry;
You’ll be able to purchase and book Lightning Lanes 7 days in advance of your trip, rather than 3 days in advance of your park visit date;
You’ll have access to free transportation (by bus and Skyliner, as discussed below) to and from the parks and Disney Springs.
We’ll talk more about transportation below, but the Skyliner does make this hotel a good option if your trip will be heavily focused on EPCOT and Hollywood Studios.
If you’re considering Pop Century, you may want to read some of our other posts, including reviews of the other value resorts. We have a ranking of the Disney World value resorts. We also have a guide to all the hotels of Walt Disney World. Here are our reviews of all the value resorts (links open in new tabs):
Review of Disney’s Pop Century Resort (you are here)
And if you’d like to see where this resort falls overall, check out our complete Disney World hotel rankings.
If you’re considering booking, be sure to check for active and upcoming construction or refurbishment projects at the hotel.
Booking Pop Century
Our most recent stay at Pop Century was booked as part of a 25% annual passholder discount offer. We paid $236 per night for two nights.
If you’re interested in booking Pop Century, we suggest contacting our go-to travel agent, Lauren Quirk of Travel With Character LLC, who also booked this trip for us, about the nights you’re interested in.
Most of the time these days we use Disney’s online check-in service. We used it this time, but still wound up going to the front desk to request a room when one wasn’t ready by about 1:15PM. Check-in is technically 3PM, but a lot of times you’ll be able to get a room earlier by visiting the front desk.
Pop Century vs. Art of Animation
Disney’s Pop Century Resort is across Hourglass Lake from Art of Animation, a similar resort at a similar price point. The biggest differences between these resorts are:
Theming: Art of Animation celebrates Disney Animation, Pop Century celebrates pop culture in the 1950s through 1990s
Rooms: Pop Century has four room categories (standard/preferred and pool view/regular view); Art of Animation has one category of standard rooms (Little Mermaid Rooms) and three categories of suites (Lion King, Cars, Finding Nemo)
Food Court: Art of Animation has the better food court
We have a review of Art of Animation. We also have a full post comparing Pop Century and Art of Animation.
Pop Century Grounds & Theming
The theme of Pop Century is pop culture from the 1950s through 1990s. Each section of buildings is themed (on the exterior only) to a decade.
Pop Century comprises 11 buildings and three pools. The main building is Classic Hall. That’s where you’ll find the Everything Pop! store and food court, lobby, concierge, bus stops, and arcade.
Directly behind (west) Classic Hall is the main pool—the Hippy Dippy Pool—in between the two ‘60s-themed buildings (buildings 4 and 5).
North of the ‘60s buildings are buildings 1, 2, and 3, themed to the ‘50s and with the Bowling Pool between them. South of the ‘60s are buildings 6 and 10 themed to the ‘70s.
And south of those buildings are 7 and 9—’80s themed—and 8—90’s themed. Those three sit around the Computer Pool. All three pools have laundry rooms near them.
West of the entire resort—so straight out back and past the ‘60s buildings—is Hourglass Lake, which you can cross to get to Art of Animation.
Pop Century Lobby
The lobby was substantially renovated in 2025. Colorful theming was added, and seating areas were expanded.
Pop Century Pools and Activities
Here are some pictures of the pools. First, the Hippy Dippy Pool, and its splash pad, between the ‘60s buildings.
And the Bowling Pool by the ‘50s buildings.
And finally the Computer Pool in the ‘80s and ‘90s area.
Pop has a standard value resort lineup of activities, including movie nights, poolside activities, campfires, and arts & crafts. Here’s a look at a schedule from November 2025. These can change weekly, but you’ll get the general idea:
Pop Century doesn’t have a fitness center, but the nice thing about being a runner is that I can make do with a nice pedestrian path, tool.
Hourglass Lake sits between Pop Century and Art of Animation and has a walking/running loop around it. This is one of my favorite routes at Walt Disney World. It’s a 1.2 mile loop with some great views. Along the way, you’ll see signs with fun facts about the different decades.
Shopping at Pop Century
Pop Century’s gift shop is “Everything Pop”, situated at the entrance to the cafeteria of the same name. After years of my complaints, Disney relented and the value resorts generally have pretty decent resort-branded merchandise lineups these days.
Pop Century Resort Review - Food and Drink
Pop Century’s restaurant is the Everything Pop! cafeteria. If you’ve ever stayed at a value resort or read any of our reviews, you know the food courts offer a standard lineup—pizzas, burgers, salads, pastas, sandwiches (and of course standard breakfast options of eggs, bacon, sausage, pancakes, waffles).
You can also Mobile Order from the food court, though my experience at the value resorts during peak hours—usually breakfast—is that it can be faster to just go to the counter (if your mobile order time is, say, 15 minutes out, you can always place the order, go to the cafeteria, and then cancel the order if lines are short).
The cafeteria and seating got a major upgrade in 2025, and a new counter dedicated to coffee etc. was added.
We love the food court, and getting a full pizza can be a particularly great bargain. If you’re not feeling the Everything Pop! cafeteria, consider making the 10 minute walk to Art of Animation’s Landscape of Flavors. We’ve done this, and generally find the different options to be a good way to mix things up. (You can check the menus on the app in advance to see what options there are.)
As we’ve written nonstop, we love that the value resorts have reasonably-priced food courts that are open late. The deluxe resorts often have only minimal, way overpriced quick service options.
Pop Century has a pool bar—Petals. It’s not unlike the other pool bars, with an okay selection of beer and liquor, along with some mixed frozen drinks, like the Pina Colava. Like all the value hotel bars, you’ll mostly see a small cross section of your own guests passing through, with the occasional guest on the Skyliner bar crawl popping in.
Transportation at Pop Century Resort
Since Disney has ended their Magical Express shuttle service from Orlando International Airport you’ll have to find your own way from the airport if you’re flying in. I usually go with Uber or Mears Connect these days.
To get to any of the four theme parks, Disney Springs, Typhoon Lagoon, or Blizzard Beach, you’ll rely on a combination of Disney bus transportation and the Disney Skyliner (to EPCOT and Hollywood Studios, more below).
To Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, and the two water parks, you’ll be relying strictly on buses. You can check approximate bus wait times for your hotel in the My Disney Experience app (“Resort Hotel” menu item) and they are also posted at all the resort bus stops in Disney World.
Travel times to the parks are, approximately:
Pop Century to/from Magic Kingdom — 15-20 minutes
Pop Century to/from Animal Kingdom — 10 minutes
EPCOT (10-15 minutes) and Hollywood Studios (under 10 minutes) aren’t too far, but when the Skyliner is running, bus frequency to those parks is reduced to once per hour or eliminated entirely.
While relying on bus transportation isn’t ideal, it’s always going to be a part of a Walt Disney World Resort vacation, no matter where you stay. Truth be told, we’ve been most impressed with the bus service at the value resorts recently. At least for rope drop, it’s been common to see frequent buses—even multiple buses lined up for Magic Kingdom at peak times.
We generally recommend using Uber to get around Disney World for things like dinner reservations at other resorts or early rope drops. Alternatively, you can spring for a Minnie Van.
If you have a car at Walt Disney World, your travel times will usually be similar to the bus times, plus a few minutes from the parking spot to the front gate. Going to Magic Kingdom you’ll almost always prefer bus to driving, as you need to account for 20 minutes from parking space to the Magic Kingdom gate if you drive.
Skyliner
The Disney World Skyliner gondola system connects Hollywood Studios, EPCOT, Pop Century Resort, Art of Animation Resort, Caribbean Beach Resort, and Riviera Resort. The Skyliner station for Pop / Art of Animation sits between the two resorts on Hourglass Lake.
Approximate travel time to EPCOT is 20 minutes, and to Hollywood Studios is 12 minutes (I’ve made these trips in 17 and 9 minutes, respectively). Both require transfers at Caribbean Beach.
We’re fans of the Skyliner generally, but it can make sense to take the bus (if available) or Uber/drive in a few situations.
First, if you’re heading to rope drop at Hollywood Studios, the Skyliner isn’t the best option. If you can drive and be at the front gate 62-ish minutes before the start of Early Entry, you’ll be in the best position.
If you’re heading to Test Track or Cosmic Rewind for rope drop at EPCOT, you might consider driving/Ubering to the main entrance (confirm to see if buses are running before paying for anything, though). If you’re heading to Frozen Ever After or Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure, you’ll prefer to take the Skyliner.
Reading that, you’re maybe thinking “wait—I might need to pay for an Uber just for rope drop?!” So let’s step back. In general, especially with Lightning Lanes, we don’t really mind rope drop procedures using the Skyliner. We’re unlikely to have a perfect morning, but we can make it work.
But if you’ve done your research and decided perfect rope drop is going to be essential, it probably won’t come via the Skyliner to EPCOT and Hollywood Studios. Disney Tourist Blog discusses this in a bit more detail in a post, Avoid Staying at Skyliner Resorts During Disney World’s Worst Weeks of 2026 & 2027.
Pop Century Resort Rooms
The Pop Century rooms received a slight upgrade in 2025-2026. The color scheme was altered a bit, taking these a step removed from what some people called the “hospital room” interior.
Insofar as the rooms used to have “hospital room” feel, I now think they just have “hospital room designed in partnership with Disney” feel. But I’ve never minded the rooms, and I’ve long felt like the functionality of this design outweighed any thematic shortcomings.
The room is highly functional, with plenty of surface space and storage space, including under-the-bed space for luggage. I’d prefer all Disney hotel rooms use Keurigs, but the Cuisinart gets the job done for us, too.
The rooms use Murphy beds for the second queen bed (rooms with only a King bed are also available). Generally I really like this. I’ve worried in the past about how these would age. So far everything seems to work well, though the Murphy bed at our recent stay was very squeaky when Zoe moved.
The room gets noticeably smaller with the Murphy bed out, and you have to find space for the chairs. The recent upgrades—adding the coloring to the floor, changing the curtains, and repatterining the chairs, added some zip to the room. But the best themed element is probably still Pluto, who hides in the Murphy bed.
The bathrooms use sliding doors both at the entrance and on the shower.
Preferred rooms are close to the pool and to the front of the resort, which means they’ll get a lot of foot traffic which can be loud if the people are loud. At any rooms you might hear doors near you slamming shut once the sun rises.
We haven’t found noise to be a specific issue in recent stays. The real point here—noise can be a problem at any Disney World resort. This is just universal across all properties and room categories, and it isn’t just about other guests. I’ve had delivery trucks beeping at 4AM outside of an All-Star preferred room and laundry facilities vibrating my Club Level Yacht Club room all night (we live in a Queens apartment building surrounded by construction, we’re not exactly sensitive to noise). I recommend bringing a white noise machine.
Are there suites at Pop Century?
There are no suites at Pop Century. Pop Century’s sister resort across the lake, Art of Animation, has suites, as does All-Star Music. We compared the various Art of Animation suites here and review the All-Star Music family suite here.
Pop Century Resort Review - Conclusions
Pop Century continues to be one of our favorite resorts on property. While we’re constantly visiting different resorts for review purposes, Pop Century is something of a personal “go-to” for us. We are at least conscious of our budget, putting moderate and value resorts always under consideration. We plan on being at the parks most of the day, which means we don’t need the best rooms or pools.
In the past, we typically visited Disney World as adults without kids, so the space didn’t bother us (especially with the Murphy bed never down). Indeed, Pop Century is our value recommendation for adults at Disney World.
When we visited with a baby things were a little different. We didn’t mind the limited space, but once the room had a Pack ‘n’ Play, it was tight. Notably, we felt like Zoe had a lot more room to crawl around when we were at Grand Floridian. But with limited time in the room each day, this wasn’t a big deal. (The Pop Century theming—big and colorful—is as good as any other for a baby.)
Now we have a “big kid.” Theme plays a little more into our decision-making, and Zoe would probably find Art of Animation and the All-Stars more well-rounded in this regard. Pop has its thematic highlights, but a giant Rubik’s cube is not the same as a giant Buzz Lightyear statue.
Guardians of the Galaxy Cosmic Rewind at EPCOT
But the Skyliner also becomes a key asset for a big kid who can ride the great thrill rides at EPCOT and Hollywood Studios. Even if the All-Star Movies and Sports theming wins out (sorry, All-Star Music), we’re park people.
If your group is larger or more heavily tilted toward kids, then Art of Animation might be more appealing, despite its functionally slightly worse standard rooms. Kids love the theming, and the pool at Art of Animation is better. But you’d pay more for a Little Mermaid room at Art of Animation than a room at Pop Century, and you’ll have to decide if theyre worth it.
The suites at Art of Animation and All-Star Music can’t be matched at Pop Century. Though if your party is large enough to be looking at those, you might be better served by an Airbnb near Disney World.
There’s always a few things that draw us in at Pop Century. The energy, the Skyliner, the price, and the great rooms make up for the shortcomings of the resort in our opinion.
The value resorts aren’t perfect. And maybe they aren’t even perfectly priced. But they’re reasonably priced, and they offer an unmistakable Disney energy. With its recently refurbished rooms and common areas, Pop is our go-to value resort.
All Your Other Disney World Planning Questions Answered
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Be sure to master your Disney World Lightning Lane Guide and Strategy a few weeks in advance. Good strategy will keep you out of long lines so you can maximize the magical time in the parks! We've got park-specific guides as well: Magic Kingdom Lightning Lane Strategy, EPCOT Lightning Lane Strategy, Animal Kingdom Lightning Lane Strategy, and Hollywood Studios Lightning Lane Strategy.
Know what to ride with our guides: Magic Kingdom rides, Hollywood Studios rides, EPCOT rides, and Animal Kingdom rides! Plus learn about the water parks with our Guide to Blizzard Beach and our Guide to Typhoon Lagoon! And for some fun prep, check out our Ranking of Every Ride at Walt Disney World.
Finally, before you head out, be sure to check out our to-the-point packing list, 10 essentials you forget to pack for every Disney trip.