Okay, so we know a LOT of you love Disney’s Pop Century Resort.
Disney’s Pop Century Resort
Not only is it one of Disney World’s value resorts (making it more affordable than many of Disney’s other hotels), but it also has access to a Skyliner station, Disney’s newest mode of transportation. There’s also the fun theming with the decades represented in each hotel section. However, we’ve come across some things that almost ALWAYS seem to happen when we stay there that we need to warn you about.
Long Line for the Skyliner
Okay, so we love staying at a Skyliner hotel because it’s such a convenient form of transportation. Not only will it take us to EPCOT and Hollywood Studios, but we can also hop on the Skyliner to easily visit other Disney World hotels. However, if you’re taking the Skyliner first thing in the morning, you’re going to probably deal with a very long line.
Skyliner Station at Disney Pop Century Resort and Disney’s Art of Animation Resort
The good news is that the line is usually continuously moving, but it moves pretty slowly when that many people are traveling to the parks.
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The Skyliner is closed
Sometimes the Skyliner is closed. Usually, it’s due to bad weather, but the Skyliner also occasionally goes down due to technical difficulties or for a scheduled refurbishment. When the Skyliner is closed, it means you’ll need to take Disney buses to get to EPCOT and Hollywood Studios.
Closed Skyliner sign
However, if you wish to travel to other Skyliner resorts, you can’t really take a Disney bus directly to them. You can either take a bus to a park or Disney Springs and switch to that resort bus or grab a rideshare like Uber or Lyft — however, note that many Disney World hotels will often not let you visit without a dining reservation first. So things get tricky.
Wait. Is It OK That We’re Doing This On The Skyliner in Disney World?
The Skyliner is closed, but then it isn’t
Okay, so this might seem confusing, but you don’t know when the Skyliner is closed until you physically walk from your hotel room to the station and see a sign stating it’s closed. So then you’ll have to walk back to the hotel and to the bus stop, which is on the OTHER side of the hotel.
You can take a bus…
But wait — it gets worse. We’ve come across a situation where we’ve walked to the bus stop and then learned there that the Skyliner had reopened while we were walking, which means bus transportation is NOT an option. So then we had to hoof it BACK to the Skyliner station, and by that time, YES, we were tired.
Here’s the Bad News About The Disney World Skyliner
Nowhere to eat late at night or early in the morning
If you find yourself craving a midnight snack at Disney’s Pop Century Resort, you’re out of luck because Everything Pop, the shopping and dining area, closes promptly at 11PM each night. Our best suggestion is to grab something before it closes just in case you get hungry later.
Pop Century at night
Also, let’s say you have an early flight and you’re leaving the resort super early. If you want breakfast, you’re not going to find it there — Everything Pop doesn’t open until 7AM. Again, we recommend grabbing something the day before (don’t worry — there are mini fridges in the rooms).
The Complete Guide to Eating at Disney’s Pop Century Resort
You could have a long walk to and from the Skyliner
Depending on where your room is located, you could have a very long walk from your room to the Skyliner. This might not feel so bad in the mornings when you’re energized and ready to go, but at the end of a long park day, that walk is going to feel like it’s taking forever.
The 60s section is closest to the Skyliner
Ideally, you’ll want to either pay for a preferred room, which will be closer to transportation, or make a room request for the 60s, 50s, or 70s part of the resort. The 80s and 90s are farther from the Skyliner.
PHOTOS: Room Tour at Disney World’s Pop Century Resort!
So if you’re booking a stay at Disney’s Pop Century, keep these issues in mind. Hopefully, we’ve prepared you for anything that might come up so you’re ready to tackle any problems.
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Hi – we stayed at Art of Animation on our last visit and we loved it. Previously we had almost always stayed at DVC resorts that were nice but more expensive. We think the skyliner is a game-changer and wish Disney would build it out to more locations. During our stay we did not encounter any closures of the skyliner, but the line was long in the morning. We still much prefer it over bus travel, however. We greatly appreciated that the Skyliner cast members seem very good at filling the cars in a way that makes the line move reasonably quickly. And yes, our room was a long way from the skyliner station which was an added burden on our already tired feet in the evening, but we still think its great and would definitely stay at Pop or Animation again!
Honestly, the Skyliner sounds like more of a problem an a solution at Pop. Long lines in the morning, the Skyliner being the only option unless it’s down, and potential ping ponging between the Skyliner and bus stop when it is down is less than ideal, to put it mildly. I have always loved Pop, but we are rope drop people and this transportation solution sounds very unreliable and unpredictable.
This sounds more like a complaint about the sky liner than anything. I just stayed there last month and it was great.
The line for the skyliner in the morning was long but it went quickly. It was only if I wanted the early park hours.
As for food, that wasn’t really an issue. I eat at the park or Disney springs. By the time I got back to the hotel food was not on my mind.
Every hotel has a walk to the transportation, it’s a big hotel somebody gets rooms that are closer then others. You can request a closer room before check in.
We love Pop! Mostly for the Skyliner access, but also the rooms are great, theming is fun & CMs are fabulous. Yes, there can be super long Skyliner lines in the morning, but we’re not rope droppers, so that doesn’t really effect us. We also don’t eat a lot at the resort, so only having quick service doesn’t bother us. We always grab a few groceries/snacks to keep in the room if we get hungry. Arrival day we usually hit up DS and stock on up Gideons cookies for those late night snack cravings 😁 It’s a great resort with reasonable (for Disney!) prices with more than 1 mode of transportation. It checks all the boxes for us
Seems like the poor skyliner goes down if there’s a light breeze… gotta say, though, it’s probably my new favorite Disney transportation option.
My husband and I stayed at Coronado for our first night during our trip last month and then at Pop Century for the week with our daughter and her family. I can honestly say that if we had to choose, we would stay at Pop Century over any moderate resort (we’ve stayed at 3 of them). Pop Cenury rooms and bathrooms have so much storage space it’s great! We loved being able to hop on the Skyliner! Yes the lines in the mornings were long, but it moved quickly. The lines to the Skyline are so much more tollerable than the standing and waiting for the buses. The rides on the Skyliner were relaxing and enjoyable…that can’t be said for the buses usually. The boarding on the Skyliner is quick and simple, and unlike the buses you don’t have to wait for all the commotion of loading wheelchairs and/or scooters and their entire party before anyonelse can board. I don’t mean to sound hateful, but after a long day at the parks, waiting in line for what seems like forever for the bus to get there, then loading several wheelchairs and scooters and their parties, there’s a good chance only a fraction of the line will get on the bus. This has always been aggrevating, but this past visit it seemed like there were so many more of these, it almost seems like Disney should consider specific buses for those that are using the wheelchairs and scooters so that other buses can load and get on their way quicker?
And there is no microwave to heat up any food you save in ref or bring with you. Was told you could heat in food section but wouldn’t let you briit in. in.
I just stayed there this past November. The room didn’t have a microwave in it but the food court did. We used it no problem.. they sell microwave popcorn in the food court and anyone can use the microwaves.
The last time we were at Disney World was 10-2020 and we stayed at Pop Century. We had our granddaughters with us and it was the first time any of us had ridden the Skyliner. We loved it. We really loved the way the girls reacted to it. Since it was in 2020 they were only putting people that were together in the cars. We got to Pop in the late morning so got right on the Skyliner but it was a bit of a wait when we left EPCOT. When we got back to Pop we asked how it is in the morning to go to Hollywood Studios and were told there is a long line so we decided to drive. We really enjoyed our stay there but we gave up on eating there because they wanted you to place a mobile order and they wouldn’t let you in until your order was ready. The pool was great too.