All Star Music vs. Pop Century

[WEDWDW]

I did not realize it opened at 6:30 which is good, our grandson wakes up early and is a hungry boy when his eyes open... which for me is great, food for him, coffee for me... then we can go back to the room to chill, get ready and hit the parks because he will be hungry again by the time we start for the parks... who knew a 9 year old could eat so much... lol

And sometimes they will even open up one register for Grab n Go purchases around 6:15 AM.

And the Beverage Islands in the All-Star Resorts' Food Courts are available 24/7 for Mug refills as well as the Microwaves and Toasters.

 

[EACarlson]

One thing to think about is how far the non-preferred rooms can be from everything at Pop. It's the largest of all the WDW resorts. I enjoyed it when I was there but if mobility is an issue at all, I would be concerned about the distances.

 

[DizneyFamof4]

I know the OP decided to stay at ASMU and I hope you have a magical time But for our family it's not even close, it's always POP over the AS's.
Where do people get that the skyliner is down often. I can only give you our results. We have stayed at POP 5 times since the Skyliner opened and we usually visit EPCOT and HS twicw each per trip, which is about 40 total times using the skyliner and only twice did it close for weather, both in the evening. Once at EPCOT, it was raining pretty good at the end of the day and since we have common sense we did not walk to the skyliner but instead went straight to the bus depot at the front and took the bus back. The 2nd time was HS, and that is not an issue because the skyliner is at the front where all the other transportation is. This is not counting the times we used it to go to CBR and to RR to visit and eat. So that comes out to be 5% of the time it was down for our 5 trips.
I also find it funny that when people recommend staying at the EPCOT resorts it's because "It's a short walk to EPCOT" but if the skyliner is down it becomes a long walk.
I will say that it's pathetic that WDW cannot just add the skyliner and boats operation to the App.

 

[WEDWDW]

I know the OP decided to stay at ASMU and I hope you have a magical time But for our family it's not even close, it's always POP over the AS's.
Where do people get that the skyliner is down often. I can only give you our results. We have stayed at POP 5 times since the Skyliner opened and we usually visit EPCOT and HS twicw each per trip, which is about 40 total times using the skyliner and only twice did it close for weather, both in the evening. Once at EPCOT, it was raining pretty good at the end of the day and since we have common sense we did not walk to the skyliner but instead went straight to the bus depot at the front and took the bus back. The 2nd time was HS, and that is not an issue because the skyliner is at the front where all the other transportation is. This is not counting the times we used it to go to CBR and to RR to visit and eat. So that comes out to be 5% of the time it was down for our 5 trips.
I also find it funny that when people recommend staying at the EPCOT resorts it's because "It's a short walk to EPCOT" but if the skyliner is down it becomes a long walk.
I will say that it's pathetic that WDW cannot just add the skyliner and boats operation to the App.

It depends on the time of year.

I am the biggest Skyliner fan around,but during the Summer it does close for a few hours quite a bit due to afternoon/evening lightning storms.

You are spot on that info should be on MDE.

 

[tguz]

And sometimes they will even open up one register for Grab n Go purchases around 6:15 AM.

And the Beverage Islands in the All-Star Resorts' Food Courts are available 24/7 for Mug refills as well as the Microwaves and Toasters.

I wish Pop opened at 630. I didn't realize the All Stars did, it has been a while since I stayed at Movies.

 

[leebee]

We have stayed at both POP and ASMu several times and find we prefer ASMu. It's a smaller, more intimate resort, which we like. POP is big- very big- and getting back to our room in the evening is often a drag... literally. We almost always rent a car when we are at Disney, and I see you will also have a vehicle. Parking lots at ASMu are closer to the rooms than the parking at POP, usually (unless you end up in an '80s building). If you have a car, that negates the benefit of having the skyliner at POP, although my husband, who has height issues, isn't a fan of the skyliner at all. I tend to get motion sick, so really have issues with the skyliner. These issues, as well as the skyliner's random shut-downs, depending on the weather (and local weather... even if it's not raining at Disney, if there is lightning within a certain radius, the skyliner shuts down), mean we don't like to rely on this for transportation. Once again, a moot point if you'll have a car.
Also... regarding fireworks view at POP. Once in 7 requests did we get one of the very few rooms with very limited views of the fireworks. We found we were usually in the theme parks at the time of any fireworks show, so by the time we got back to our room, the fireworks were over.
Anyhow... JMO, but we'd pick ASMusic over POP.

 

[tguz]

I don't think having a car at DW negates the Skyliner at all. I 100% disagree. Now if you have "other" issues with the Skyliner, then probably. Especially if you plan on leaving the park after the EPCOT fireworks, the Skyliner would get you back to Pop quicker. If driving and leaving after fireworks, most people advise to wait 25-30 minutes before heading to your vehicle to avoid the crowds and traffic.

 

[kylenne]

I know the OP decided to stay at ASMU and I hope you have a magical time But for our family it's not even close, it's always POP over the AS's.
Where do people get that the skyliner is down often. I can only give you our results. We have stayed at POP 5 times since the Skyliner opened and we usually visit EPCOT and HS twicw each per trip, which is about 40 total times using the skyliner and only twice did it close for weather, both in the evening. Once at EPCOT, it was raining pretty good at the end of the day and since we have common sense we did not walk to the skyliner but instead went straight to the bus depot at the front and took the bus back. The 2nd time was HS, and that is not an issue because the skyliner is at the front where all the other transportation is. This is not counting the times we used it to go to CBR and to RR to visit and eat. So that comes out to be 5% of the time it was down for our 5 trips.
I also find it funny that when people recommend staying at the EPCOT resorts it's because "It's a short walk to EPCOT" but if the skyliner is down it becomes a long walk.
I will say that it's pathetic that WDW cannot just add the skyliner and boats operation to the App.

Literally every time I've been to Epcot since the Skyliner has launched--considerably more than 5 trips--it has had down time due to weather or other issues. It happens daily in the summer because of the storms. And every single time there's been a different procedure for Skyliner guests. You frankly lucked out that day you ran into problems, because on another day that "common sense" you mention would have had you trekking all the way back across to the IG had Disney's magic 8 ball decided to send Skyliner guests to BWI or BC for buses, which I have seen happen numerous times. The first time I saw a Skyliner outage, on an insanely busy Saturday night Veterans Day weekend during Food & Wine in 2019, I ended up walking a family over to BWI because the overwhelmed CMs couldn't deal with the throngs of angry and confused guests. I was staying at BC that weekend and was probably back in my room in my PJs before those poor folks got back to AoA. Another time when I was staying at YC, I had been hanging out in the Solarium at BC for a bit before going back to MK for the evening, and saw a small horde of Skyliner guests at the bus stop. Some had been waiting ages for buses back, and I felt really bad for them.

Disney just does not have it together at Epcot with the Skyliner, which is why Skyliner resorts are a nonstarter for me and many other people. If there's issues with any other modes of transportation at the parks, there's set contingency procedures in place. For whatever reason, they just kind of randomly do whatever at Epcot with the Skyliner, and you never know until it happens what they're going to do. It's always poorly communicated too.

 

[DizneyFamof4]

It depends on the time of year.

I am the biggest Skyliner fan around,but during the Summer it does close for a few hours quite a bit due to afternoon/evening lightning storms.

You are spot on that info should be on MDE.

I definitely agree about the afternoons, but we rarely ever leave the park for a break, we much rather just take a break inside the park, shopping, snacking or just finding a cool place to sit and relax (Columbia Harbor house is a great place for that) LOL.

 

[MimitoAlex]

And sometimes they will even open up one register for Grab n Go purchases around 6:15 AM.

And the Beverage Islands in the All-Star Resorts' Food Courts are available 24/7 for Mug refills as well as the Microwaves and Toasters.

Thanks for the tip..

I really had not thought about purchasing the mug and with refills... It might be a good thing for us, anyone know what a Mug cost these days? I know this is going to be quite a strange question... What is the time frame for the mugs... So if we are there 3 nights, is the mug refill good on the day of check out? for how long?

 

[Dug720]

And the Beverage Islands in the All-Star Resorts' Food Courts are available 24/7 for Mug refills as well as the Microwaves and Toasters.

So there is nowhere at Pop with a 24/7 beverage station? I thought I had read there was one at Petals. I don't care about a microwave or toaster, but a soda after a long night or before an early morning would be nice. I'm currently booked at Pop for Feb 2025 and am generally neutral on the Skyliner (though as someone for whom it is tradition to do Spaceship Earth first it's adding a lot of steps to get there - I'd figured I'd negate that by doing a breakfast on the monorail loop so I can enter Epcot at the (IMHO correct) main entrance) - so that may be justification to change to Music preferred...

 

[WEDWDW]

So there is nowhere at Pop with a 24/7 beverage station? I thought I had read there was one at Petals. I don't care about a microwave or toaster, but a soda after a long night or before an early morning would be nice. I'm currently booked at Pop for Feb 2025 and am generally neutral on the Skyliner (though as someone for whom it is tradition to do Spaceship Earth first it's adding a lot of steps to get there - I'd figured I'd negate that by doing a breakfast on the monorail loop so I can enter Epcot at the (IMHO correct) main entrance) - so that may be justification to change to Music preferred...

Yes,there is one at Petals and also at The Drop Off over at AoA.

No Coffee/Tea/Hot Chocolate.

And we have found it to be out of ice at times-YMMV.

 

[Dug720]

Yes,there is one at Petals and also at The Drop Off over at AoA.

No Coffee/Tea/Hot Chocolate.

And we have found it to be out of ice at times-YMMV.

Thanks. Yeah, I'd imagine that unless there is a CM whose job it is to replenish it overnight, it could run out of ice and perhaps even some of the soda and/or flavorings.

Coffee I could do in the room. Not really into tea or hot chocolate.