What is the Pop Century Resort?
Announced in December 1999, the Pop Century Resort is Disney's newest value accommodation resort. It is located near the Disney MGM-Studios at Osceola Parkway and Century Way and encompasses 177 acres. Originally the resort was to have 2 completely different areas, the Classic Years (fully open) and the Legendary Years (never completed, never opened).
What is the Theming?
The Pop Century Resort spans 20th Century Pop cultures, the way people lived, played and communicated. It is similar to the All Star Resorts with large oversized icons. Silhouettes illustrating dances of the decade will adorn the front of each building and the roofs will be lined with catch-phrases of the time.
Disney Imagineers worked with some of the original manufacturers to recreate the icons. Original toys and objects were obtained and then digitized. A machine then created a full size foam replica based on the exact measurements of the icon. Fiberglass covers the foam, which is then replaced with a steel armature. The final covering completes the creation of the icon.
When did the hotel open?
Phase I, the Classic Years, opened on December 14, 2003. Reservations were accepted beginning April 22, 2003.
Phase II was to be the Legendary Years 1900s-40s and also have 2,880 rooms. You can see a few of the Legendary buildings across the lake. Much speculation continues about the future of this area. At this point, nothing has been officially announced.
What are the room prices?
Like the All-Star resorts, Pop Century is considered a "Value" resort, and prices are among the least expensive offered at Disney resorts. There are Value Season, Regular Season, Summer Season, Peak Season and Holiday Season rates. These are regular rate prices and do not include the Florida Sales Tax nor the county resort tax for Osceola County. Rates are based on double occupancy. No charge for children under 17 years old when in the same room as the adults. For each adult over 2 there is a $10 per night charge per person.Sometimes there are special rates for Annual Passport Holders, Florida residents or AAA members. Be sure to inquire when you call for reservations!
2008
RATES
(Resort Tax Not Included)
| Room Type |
|
Value
|
|
Regular 3/30-5/21 10/2-11/29 |
|
Summer 5/22-8/2 |
|
Peak 2/14-3/29 |
|
Holiday 12/19 - 12/31 |
| Standard 1K or 2 Dbl. Beds |
$ 82/wkday | $ 99/wkday | $109/wkday | $119/wkday | $129/wkday | |||||
| $ 82/wkend | $109/wkend | $119/wkend | $129/wkend | $139/wkend | ||||||
| $134/PresDay | ||||||||||
| $ 92/holiday | $109/holiday | $124/holiday | $129/Easter | |||||||
| Preferred 1K or 2 Dbl. Beds |
$
94/wkday |
$111/wkday | $121/wkday | $131/wkday | $141/wkday | |||||
| $ 94/wkend | $121/wkend | $131/wkend | $141/wkend | $151/wkend | ||||||
| $146/PresDay* | ||||||||||
| $104/holiday* | $121/holiday* | $136/holiday* | $141/Easter* | |||||||
*Holidays
in 2008 are:
-- Martin Luther King Weekend January 18-20 (MLK)
-- Presidents Day Weekend February 15-17
-- Easter Week March 16-27
-- Independence Day Weekend July 4-5
-- Thanksgiving November 26-29
Rooms have a
maximum four-person occupancy per room (plus one child under 3 in
a crib).
For each adult over 2 there is a $10 per night charge per person.
What are the themes?
The 1950s area features giant sock-hoppers dancing on the sides of the lodge buildings, possibly be-bopping to rock-and-roll tunes from the 40-foot-tall tabletop jukebox that anchors the courtyard. A bowling pin-shaped pool provides a cool dip. he canine character stars from Disney's "Lady and the Tramp" animated feature film (released to theater audiences in 1955) gaze at each other across the courtyard.
The 1960s -- Amidst tie-dyed hues and psychedelic colors are the focus of the 1960s buildings. Play-Doh Pete, the artful child that adorned Play-Doh labels in the 1960s, is featured on a giant can of the popular modeling compound. Peeking out the top of the can are several Play-Doh animal creations, including a blue elephant and a yellow giraffe. See if you can spot the "thumbprints" on the elephant's ears, seemingly created by the child who modeled the Play-Doh pachyderm. Baloo and Mowgli from Disney's "The Jungle Book" (released in 1967) are hand-in-hand across the courtyard. Giant Duncan Imperial-model yo-yos, with "strings" that measure more than one-foot in diameter, bookend each 1960s building. The centerpiece of the area is the Hippy Dippy Pool, a flower-shaped pool complete with squirting petals on the periphery.
In the 1970s courtyard, the colorful Big Wheel riding toy gets ready to roll, while a classic Mickey Mouse rotary-dial telephone calls from across the courtyard. Between the two towering icons, table soccer players stand at the ready for guests to wander amidst their imaginary game. Eight-track tapes, the popular musical medium of the decade, corner each building.
In the 1980s area of Disney's Pop Century Resort, the most "puzzling" toy of the decade, the Rubik's Cube, towers more than 40 feet tall on each building. (Walt Disney Imagineers designed the different cubes to represent different stages of the solution process.) Across the courtyard, one of the original Sony Walkman models, and accompanying headphone set, anchors the building. In the middle of the courtyard is a computer-shaped pool, complete with a spongy keyboard that offers guests an alphabet-filled pool deck area. Closing out the century, the 1990s area pays tribute to two personal technology marvels -- the cellular telephone and the computer. A giant laptop computer is the centerpiece, while early-model cellular telephones stand at each corner.
What other buildings and services are there?
The Classic Years area has the Classic Hall which features a check-in lobby, food court with different venues offering dine-in and take-out, merchandise location, Game arcade (Fast Forward), and an exterior waiting area for bus service to and from the attractions.
The Classic Years has 3 pools and one playground. The Classic Years has a Bowling Pin Pool near the 1950's buildings, the Hippy Dippy Pool near the 1960's buildings and a Computer pool near the 1980's buildings.
What else can you tell us about the Pop Century Resort?
The resort is built around Hourglass Lake and features a bridge called Generation Gap Bridge that joins the Classic Years and the unbuilt Legendary Years together.
What is check-in and check-out time?
Check-in is at 3:00pm and check-out is 11:00am.
Describe the accomodations.
Rooms are 260 square feet, with two double beds or one king bed, a table and two chairs, vanity area and sink with separate bathroom, 27-inch color television, in-room wall safe, iron/ironing board, telephones with voice mail and data port. Available on request:rooms accessible to guests with disabilities, hearing-impaired TDD telephones, visual smoke alarms, bed boards and bed rails, refrigerators (extra charge) and cribs. Room furnishings include custom-designed and themed bed coverings, wall art and wallpaper borders.
Are there smoking and nonsmoking rooms?
As of June 1, 2007, all Disney resorts and guest rooms are smoke free. There are designated outdoor smoking areas. Check the resort map or with a Cast Member for locations.
What are my food and beverage options?
Offerings include Everything Pop, a 640-seat food court area; pizza delivery to guestrooms; and Petals Pool Bar (located adjacent to Hippy Dippy Pool).
Everything Pop, the Food Court, has five stations: Bakery & Café, Market, Grill, East meets West, and Pizza and Pasta plus a self-serve quick food area.
Can I shop here?
A 5,000-square-foot retail center in Classic Hall offers resort-specific merchandise and Walt Disney World souvenirs.
How about recreation?
Three feature pools -- the Bowling Pin Pool, the Hippy Dippy Pool and the Computer Pool; a kiddie pool; playground; and the Fast Forward arcade. Goofy stands watch over Pop Jet Playground, a playland of popping water located near the 1970s lodge buildings.
Tell me about the special displays in the lobby.
From mood rings to 8-track tapes, surfboards to pet rocks, Superman to saddle shoes, so much nostalgia pours from Disney's Pop Century Resort that a lobby hobby for guests could be "Walkin' the Wall."
The Wall, in this case, is a memory lane of wall-mounted "shadow boxes" brimming with the fads, fashions, music, toys and trinkets from the 1950s, '60s, '70s, '80s and '90s. It's across from the check-in desk.
For more details on the lobby display, Read Here!
Where is the Pop Century Resort?
Pop Century is located adjacent to the Wide World of Sports Complex. It is also close to the Caribbean Beach Resort.
1050 Century Drive
Lake Buena Vista, FL 32830
Phone: 407-938-4000
Fax: 407-938-4040For directions on getting to Pop Century from the Orlando airports, visit our Driving Directions page HERE.
Fun Facts
The bowling pin icons tower more than 65 feet high. A regulation bowling pin is 15 inches tall.
If you count the giant bowling pin icons, there are nine standing around the resort. Where's the tenth? It's actually the bowling pin pool in the courtyard!
Take a closer look at the pool deck around the bowling pin pool and you'll spot the triangular lane markings that are seen on bowling alleys everywhere.
The Rubik's Cube icons reach a peak of 41 feet off the ground. By comparison, a Rubik's Cube puzzle toy stands nearly four inches at its tallest point.
The resort's 8-track tapes are more than 35 feet tall, with "tape" that is more than one-foot in width. A real 8-track tape is a mere five-and-one-quarter inches tall, with a tape that is only one-quarter inch wide.
The table soccer players are more than 12 feet tall, and the "toy" ball is more than two-and-one-half feet in diameter.
Nearly 125,000 gallons of paint were used to create the bright colors and tie-dyed hues on the buildings' interior and exterior walls.
In the 1960s area, giant "thumbprints" can be spotted on the ears of the elephant peeking out of the giant Play-Doh canister. And can you name the child depicted on the Play-Doh can? That's Play-Doh Pete!
The giant Big Wheel icon can "accommodate" a child rider that weighs up to 877 pounds (or so says the sticker on the towering riding toy). That matches the stickers that were affixed to the original Big Wheel toys of the 1970s that designated a "recommended child weight."
Service and equipment buildings are cleverly disguised all over the resort. At the 1950s bowling pin pool, the laundry looks like a bowling shoe storage bin. In the 1990s, an equipment building appears to be a larger-than-life stack of computer floppy disks.
The 1970s courtyard pays tribute to the age of disco, with a motion-based disco light mounted in the middle of the courtyard. This color-changing light sends streams of light across the '70s-inspired outdoor "dance floor."
"Peace of Pizza" delivery trucks resemble old Volkswagen vans complete with roof-mounted surfboards.
Other Information
The original projected opening dates (as of August 2001) were:
1950s - March 8, 2002
1960s - March 8, 2002
1970s - May 5, 2002
1980s - August 18, 2002
1990s - August 18, 2002
1940s - November 29, 2002
1930s - February 14, 2003
1920s - April 21, 2003
1910s - August 2, 2003
1900s - August 2, 2003
