Disney's pop century resort, fun facts and travel tips

I love Disney world. There I said it! So I am going to share some fun facts and some great tips about my favorite Disney resort (they have over twenty) Disney's pop century resort.

If your a kid or even an adult there is nowhere better to enjoy some family fun in the sun than Disney world in Orlando Florida, but with so many Disney resorts to choose from and slow economic times where do you stay on a budget and still get all Disney World has to offer?

Today we are going to talk about the Walt Disney's pop century resort. whether you are planning a trip right away or not for a while this is a cool affordable fun place for the whole family. So put on your flip flops and hop on your big wheel were going for a ride down memory lane. (that sounded like it came from an infomercial on the travel channel or something but I just made it up.)

The Disney's pop century resort is 1 of 4 Disney value resorts, now just because they say value don't think they are some cheap run down hotel, Disney prides itself in high quality everything.

Disney's all star sports

Disney's all star music

Disney's all star movies

The pop century resort is Disney's newest of the 4 value resorts scheduled to open in early 2002 after some delays it made it's debut on December 14, 2003 to the Disney WORLD Located just outside Orlando at 1050 Century drive Lake Buena Vista, Fl 32830 in the Animal kingdom resort area

Disney's pop century resort features 2880 rooms, a playground, jogging trail, on-site shopping, the fast forward arcade, 3 crazy pools, a pool bar, lots of dining options and Fun! all for about $10,000 dollars a night. No I'm just kidding this is a value resort rooms start at just $82 U.S. dollars a night + tax for a standard room. depending on the season.

OK, lets talk about fun in the water, the pop century resort has 3 crazy pools

1. In the 90's section you will find a cool monitor shaped computer pool.
2. In the 60's section you will find the huge main flower shaped pool called the hippy dippy.
3. In the the 50's section you will find my favorite the smaller bowling pin shaped pool.

There's also a flower shower in one kids area, you can pull the chain and get a cold shower, so as you can see there is a pool nearby for all to enjoy.

Disney ranks it's resorts as follows

Value resorts, Moderate resorts, Deluxe resorts, Disney deluxe villa resorts, and campgrounds.

The value resorts like the pop century Resort have a value priced menu verses say a deluxe resort like the Disney's contemporary.

"Everything Pop" is the entrance to the food court, the gift shop and the grab-and-go market The food court serves everything from pizza to mickey shaped pancakes for breakfast. Burgers, fries, chicken strips, salads, yogurt, fruit, cereal and even cold beer in the can or plastic bottle. It is set up like a giant mall food court would be, with the exception of a four sided hot and cold beverage center in the middle. I recommend for a family of 4 to at least buy 2 of the hot/cold souvenir cups, they will cost you anywhere from $12 to $15 a piece but you receive unlimited refills during your stay at the resort. Every time we would go for a pop or coffee run we would walk around (wait a minute I guess it wouldn't be a pop or coffee run if we were walking, would it? oh well you know what I mean, we would walk around a different part of the resort to see all there is to see. Whether it was the biggest big wheel you have ever seen or a 2-3 story can of play doh the kids and adults both love the view. The gift shop sells anything you can think of Disney, along with a few travel and first aid items for emergency. they even sell a select variety of hard liquor. But remember this is Disney world so your costs will be escalated, on my last trip my brand new digital camera was dropped by accident (not by me) and I went to the gift store to buy a $6 Kodak disposable camera and it cost me about $20 u.s. dollars. (not happy)

There is a McDonald's very close to the value resorts but that's about it, It's pretty neat, shaped like a "Happy Meal" and it has automatic lids on the trash cans (in case your like Howie Mandel and don't like germs) so that's always a little cheaper alternative for a meal. 

The value resorts are quite a bit away from the Magic Kingdom being in the animal kingdom resort area you can expect about a 15-20 minute or so bus ride, and they will fit as many people as they can on the bus you could be sitting or standing holding on to a strap or pole, that being said they are convenient and air conditioned. Each Morning the Disney buses show up in front of the resort in a designated spot depending on where you are going Magic kingdom, Epcot, Mgm, Animal kingdom, water parks and downtown disney/pleasure island.The buses run about every 20 minutes, beware everybody wants to get to the park early so the morning buses can be busy. At the end of the night when every one is leaving the line back to the resort can be a pain in the mouse ears (that's so funny, mouse ears) It wouldn't be bad if you were not already tired but everyone is usually exhausted so plan accordingly.

PARK TIP Go to a dollar tree or dollar store and buy a poncho for you and your family to bring in case of rain, you can buy them at the park for about $8 times a family of 4 verses 2 for a dollar in advance. Save your money for the gift shops located at the end of each major ride!

HUGE TIPIf you stay at a Disney world resort during your stay and plan on going to the parks here is a great tip, each day 1 park is usually open an hour to an hour and a half early and closes late for Disney resort guests only. This is a huge benefit, these hours are called extra magic hours and are available to resort guests only, not the general public, each guest will have to have a resort pass and their park ticket. It is best to have the park hopper option, visit www.disneyworld.com click parks then park hours for more information and specific days for which park remains open late. We rode more rides in 3 hours than we did the entire day during the extra magic hours. (I also became a fan of giant smoked turkey legs)

If your flying in to Orlando Disney does offer a complimentary shuttle to and from the airport to the pop century resort. Disney's magical express transportation allows you to hop off the plane, skip the baggage claim and head straight to your resort. visit http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/resorts/benefits/airport-service/ for more information. If you want to ride the monorail which I recommend, you can get on at Epcot, the magic kingdom and the contemporary resort. The monorail is a fun ride in itself especially when you go through the contemporary resort. Just take your pop century bus to Magic kingdom or Epcot and ride from there.

Family Tip For our 3rd trip back we let the kids earn their own spending money and also gave them a set amount prior to going to the parks, they knew exactly how much they had to spend so at the end of each ride when they went through the cleverly located gift shop and wanted to buy everything, we reminded them that they would only have so much left and it was only the first hour.

If you would like a nice florida beach vacation check out my hub on

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Whether you are driving to Disney or flying in on Dumbo the pop century resort will offer you and your family an awesome look back at American pop culture from the Rubik's cube to the yo yo and a life size Foosball area you will not be disappointed in the pop century resort. at least I hope not, I wasn't

Now we can't talk about Disney without getting this song in your head. your welcome! and sing with me...

It's a small world after all... It's a small world after all... It's a small world after all... It's a small small world!