Pop Century vs Art of Animation

[sent]

Thoughts? Would be for 5 nights, standard room. Both of the hotels say "skyliner" which I want to easily get to Epcot and Hollywood Studios without having to deal with a stroller and the buses. Is one better than the other one for the skyliner? How about restaurants? Also the standard room is not available for the 6th night at Art of Animation so I'm not sure if I'd pony up for a suite, move to another Disney hotel, or just take everyone to the airport late on the 5th night and book the 6th night at the Hyatt inside MCO.

[penelope81]

I was pleasantly surprised with Pop when we stayed there a few years ago. I haven't stayed at AoA, but those I know that have were not very happy with the conditions of the rooms. I believe both have food courts, not restaurants. All the rooms at Pop have been recently updated and the reviews have been good.

[bdubs419]

We just got back from AOA and stayed in a cars suite. The hotel room was always spotless. My husband even commented how clean it was and how he didn’t catch anything missed from the cleaning people. I personally wasn’t a big fan of the resort food options but I doubt Pop is any different in terms of food quality. Loved taking the skyliner (However, just note that it isn’t always up and running). We had some bad weather (wind) when we were there so it wasn’t always an option.

Overall we were very happy and would stay there again.

[nicolewi]

We loved AoA and would love to stay there again. However, we had a family suite b/c we have four kids, so I don't know about standard rooms. Our room (Nemo) was a little worn out to my adult eyes, but spotless and well-designed, and the kids were thrilled with every Disney theming detail. Having 2 full baths in the suite and a bedroom with a door that closes worked out fantastic for us. My kids were 10, 8 6 and 4 and they loved EVERYTHING. The theming is great, tons of cute photo opps, grounds were clean, everything is very colorful and fun. The pool areas are really cute. The cleaning staff made towel animals and arranged the kids' stuffed animals and dolls in cute ways every day.

The food place is a big food court/cafeteria-type set-up. I didn't personally love it and it was ALWAYS, always crowded, but my kids say that the night we ate there was one of their favorites. My daughter did the "design your own pasta" thing and thought it was super cool. The portions are gigantic so you could very easily split meals. A few days, DH went early to pick up breakfast while I got the kids. He brought it back for us to split up in the room, and that worked out very well.

We were there prior to the opening of the sky glider.

[stephm0188]

Pop if it's a standard room. The rooms are refurbished and pretty nice.

I thought the LM room I stayed in at AOA was a dump* when I was there recently.

They're pretty similar in terms of amenities. Both are equal distance to skyliner and food courts are relatively the same.




*By Disney standards. Super worn and outdated. Definitely not worth the price I paid but Pop was sold out. I'd upgrade to a moderate before staying in a standard room at AOA again.

[egishere]

We stayed at AoA in a Nemo suite. It was fine- I agree well laid out and spacious for our family of five. Loved the pool! The food court is legit the loudest, most chaotic place I've ever been but the food was good we thought. Just try to avoid during peak meal times and it's much better!

Side note: I don't know if it's just me but I don't find any Disney hotels worth the price they charge. I've also stayed at Yacht club for an adults only trip. Next time we do a family trip we will probably stay offsite so we can still have 2-3 bedrooms and a nice place for half the price. We will just deal with driving and parking at the parks. The perks of staying onsite aren't worth it to me.

[nicolewi]

FYI I think they are refurbishing a lot of AoA rooms. Also, just saw that Big Blue Pool will be closed for a few months for a re-fresh in fall 2020.

[Deleted]

Pop is newly updated with queen beds. We found the rooms nice but very small. I’d definitely stay there over the littler mermaid rooms at AoA. The food options is just a food court that was subpar imo but fine for an occasional meal. The pools were nice. They’re both on the skyliner and use the same stop.

[sent]

Feb 13, 2020 11:33:39 GMT -5 egishere said:

Side note: I don't know if it's just me but I don't find any Disney hotels worth the price they charge. I've also stayed at Yacht club for an adults only trip. Next time we do a family trip we will probably stay offsite so we can still have 2-3 bedrooms and a nice place for half the price. We will just deal with driving and parking at the parks. The perks of staying onsite aren't worth it to me.

We've only stayed at the Contemporary for a few nights and it was nice. Pricey, yes. But the family loved the experience of staying there just as much as the parks. Seeing Magic Kingdom & the fireworks from our balcony, watching the monorail go through the hotel, eating at the restaurants, walking to Magic Kingdom, etc. But everyone assigns different values to the perks so I can understand those things may not be worth it for others. 

Otherwise, we've stayed at the Swan twice now. On this last trip I really appreciated the location - being able to walk/boat from the Swan so I didn't have to haul the stroller on and off a bus. Now for this trip I was debating between Pop and AoA for the skyliner perk so thank you everyone for posting. The Swan was showing as sold out but it happened to open up while I was searching last night. I wound up booking it again for 5 nights. Maybe next time!

[pisces]

We stayed at AoA in the LM room this past summer. We wouldn’t stay there again. The room was just ok and we weren’t impressed with the food options at the food court. The only thing better is the themeing.

If Pop has updated rooms I would stay there. The skyliner is right in between both hotels.

[litasail]

We stayed at AoA a couple of years ago in a Cars suite. It was nice, but frankly we're in the room for so little time, I don't think it was worth the money.

This time we're doing POP for that reason and b/c we want to be on the Skyliner.