Pop Century Remodeled Rooms – A Nerds Review

Disney Nerds Guest Blogger, Morgan Widmaier, recently experienced the newly renovated Pop Century rooms and we are excited to share her review with you. After reading it, you’ll be ready to book a room at Pop right away, I know I am!

King-sized love for Pop!

Greeting Fellow Disney Nerds!

I had a chance to stay at Pop Century recently and I wanted to tell you all about it!

If you’ve seen the photos and read the online posts, I’m sure you know that Pop Century is going through room renovations. So I’m sure now you’re wondering, did I get a renovated room? Well………. YES I DID!!

I have to start by saying that I’ve never been a big fan of value resorts.

Now, don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with a value resort  – I’ve stayed in most of them, but I usually look at value resorts as exactly what they’re called, a value. You get what you paid for, if I’m trying to save money or I’m going to spend a good portion of my time in the parks then I’ll go with a value resort because I’m not going to spend a lot of time in my room or at the resort.

For this trip it was doing to be quick (only 2 nights) and I needed to save money, so I went with the value resort. Pop Century was the cheapest option but I wasn’t looking forward to it. In my opinion, the beds are not comfortable at value resorts, they are further away from the parks, and I liked having more than a food court as dining options. But then I heard they were renovating Pop and I got excited! Could it be that I might get a comfortable bed?!?

King-sized love! A Pop Century remodeled room review. - The Disney Nerds Podcast www.thedisneynerds.com

Don’t forget packing cubes!

I did some research on Pop Century. What exactly did they renovate? How far were the renovations? What were my chances in even getting a renovated room? And so on. The rooms looked nice to me so I decided to contact Disney reservations and put in a request for a renovated room. If you didn’t know, not only can you do an online check in and request things like a higher floor or away from the elevator, you can also contact Disney reservations (or your personal authorized Disney vacation planner) and make a little more specific request. I requested a renovated room or a king bed room as a second choice (I also mentioned I would be celebrating my birthday while I was there which can sometimes help, but that’s another story). After my call was made and the notes were in, I kept my fingers crossed and waited for my trip.

I arrived at Pop Century early in the morning and of course my room was not ready yet so I hit the parks. Walt Disney World resorts are great at alerting you when your room is ready via text and/or email and my room was ready before check in time which was great but I was already in the parks so I was staying put. I left when the parks were closing; I was tired, I was hot and I just wanted to get some rest. I headed back to Pop Century and I pulled up to the 90s building where my room was, went up the stairs (luckily, I left my luggage with bell services earlier in the day), found my room and opened it to find not only did I get a renovated room, I got a KING bed renovated room!! I didn’t even think about the possibility of Pop Century keeping some king rooms in their inventory but there it was and it was all mine!

Just as I read online, the carpet was gone and beautiful wood laminate left in its place. The walls were a nice clean white with vibrant orange and white curtains to bring in some color. There’s a wood table off to the side with two chairs but rectangle instead of round so it was flush against the wall. I think the rectangle table is a better use of space and also a bigger table too. Also, a big flat screen mounted to the wall with a wood and white dresser below. The dresser has 3 drawers and a cabinet which now housed the in room safe instead of it being in the bathroom.

King-Sized love! A Pop Century remodeled room review. - The Disney Nerds Podcast www.thedisneynerds.com
New flooring and new beds! Now your luggage can slide under the bed to save valuable room space.

Across from the dresser, the king bed with crisp white sheets and a million pillows (ok it was really 8 but that’s still a lot) which I was really looking forward to collapsing into getting some sleep. Speaking of sleep, I’m happy to report the mattress was a lot more comfortable than it’s predecessors and I slept very well which was a concern of mine with value resorts before. The bed frame has been raised to accommodate storing luggage which I thought was another great way to utilize space.

Above the bed is main light fixture which features 3 Mickeys over the bed in what I would describe as a Andy Warhol type style and two sets of light over either side of the Mickeys.

There is now a refreshment station in your room. With a coffee maker!
King-Sized love! A Pop Century remodeled room review. – The Disney Nerds Podcast www.thedisneynerds.com

By the door there’s what I will call the refreshment hub because it seemed like the perfect area for your in room drinks and snacks. It’s a long wooden cabinet with a mini fridge with see-through door on the bottom, counter space for the coffee maker to sit on and enough room to make your morning coffee, a drawer under the counter with supplies for your coffee (coffee, sugar packets, etc), and then shelving above the coffee maker which had the ice bucket and cups already there and waiting. I loved this little area because I usually travel with snacks and some drinks so I utilized the refreshment hub and stored everything I brought with me. Also, the see through door on the mini fridge was great! I’ve left so many drinks behind on previous hotel stays because I forgot to check the fridge. I didn’t have to worry about that anymore!

But I haven’t even gotten to the bathroom yet! The bathroom now has a barn style door with an orange stripe on the edge to close off the bathroom from the bedroom for another pop of color. There’s still a door that separates the sink area from the toilet and shower but it’s now a pocket door which saves a lot of space. The mirror is the same size as before I think but with much better lighting which was wonderful when getting ready in the morning.

King-Sized love! A Pop Century remodeled room review. - The Disney Nerds Podcast www.thedisneynerds.com
The new sink area has so much more storage space and is so modern!

The sink area did have a narrower counter but it completely made up for it in the incredible amount of shelving. The entire wall was maximized with cubbies and open shelving except for the one small cabinet on beside the mirror that housed the iron and hairdryer.

King-Sized love! A Pop Century remodeled room review. - The Disney Nerds Podcast www.thedisneynerds.com
Closet storage now has more shelves and cubbies.

All the storage was another one of my favorite new features. I could store my bathroom supplies out of the way when I wasn’t using them so the bathroom didn’t look cluttered and leave out what I needed to use and not have them fall in the sink which has happened in the older version of the bathroom. There was also a cubby area to hang clothes and store more stuff!

But my favorite thing was the shower. First off, the tub is gone which if you have a little ones might be a big deal so I’m not sure if this is in all the rooms or just the king bed rooms. I love that the shower is gone and there are now sliding shower doors but my favorite thing was the rain shower showerhead with detachable spray arm that can actually be used while the main showerhead is still running. To me, having a good quality shower is a must when you’re at Disney. I know that one thing I look forward to when I get back to my room after a full day in the parks is taking a nice refreshing shower especially when the heat and humidity of Florida is at its peak. The redesign of the bathroom with the new shower and the additional storage was a great idea and will be helpful to future guests.

King-Sized love! A Pop Century remodeled room review. - The Disney Nerds Podcast www.thedisneynerds.com
A sliding door now separates the bathroom area from the rest of the room, giving more privacy than the old curtain did.

So in my opinion, the Disney imagineers in charge of redesigning Pop Century did a great job! The bed was comfortable, the amount of storage was amazing, the refreshment hub was great, and the shower was perfect. As I mentioned before, I wasn’t a fan of value resorts but after staying in the renovated room at Pop Century I am now a fan of Pop and will look forward to my next value resort stay there!

Thanks for reading and don’t forget to join us in the group for more discussion on this and all the remodel and construction going on in Walt Disney World Parks and Resorts.

King-Sized love! A Pop Century remodeled room review. - The Disney Nerds Podcast www.thedisneynerds.com
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Morgan Widmaier

Hi y’all! My name is Morgan. I'm from Charlotte, NC and I love theme parks! I am proud to be a part of the Disney Nerds Podcast and Dreamfinding Thru The Parks! Both sites explore a lot of what I do in my spare time, Disney & Theme Parks! I also love photography, reading, and road trips in addition to being a big fan of music and movies.

9 thoughts on “Pop Century Remodeled Rooms – A Nerds Review

  • August 8, 2017 at 2:55 pm
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    I’m planning my next solo trip in April 2018. I will staying at Pop Century. This will be a return visit to this value resort; my last stay was in June of 2015. I am looking forward to experiencing the renovations at this uniquely themed value resort. Considering I will turn 60 before my trip, staying at this tesort is a like a walk down memory lane.

    • August 15, 2017 at 11:48 am
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      I agree, that’s why Pop remains my family’s favorite value. We all have memories of things seen around there and love the nostalgia. Have a great trip and happy 60th!

    • October 6, 2017 at 11:41 pm
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      Hello! I am the official travel agent and co host of The Disney Nerds Podcast and I would love to help you plan your next trip. We are fee free so it doesn’t cost anything extra to book with us vs directly with Disney.

    • October 13, 2017 at 10:28 am
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      I completely agree! Pop is now my value resort of choice after my stay in this room!

  • October 10, 2017 at 4:30 pm
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    Wondering if there are any of these king refurbished rooms on the top floor to cut down on noise? Were you by any chance on 4th floor? Thanks!

    • October 13, 2017 at 10:27 am
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      Hi Amanda! I was on the 2nd floor during my stay and didn’t experience any noise issues. Pop does have 4 floors so you will have less chance of noise in a top floor room. I would recommend making a room request for a high floor room if that is what you prefer. I hope you enjoy your stay as much as I did!

  • April 30, 2018 at 2:59 pm
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    So the king sized rooms still have a table and chairs? I know the queen rooms have them connected to the murphy bed but was unsure from the pictures if the king room still had them too.

    • May 10, 2018 at 10:50 pm
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      Hi Eden! Yes, the King room still has a table and chairs. It’s not attached to the wall but it’s a rectangular table instead of round one that used to be in the rooms. There’s more room in the rectangular table then the old round ones!

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