Disney's Pop Century Resort

This is the value resort experienced visitors book when the price is right, and you can see why on the walk to breakfast. Five decades get a section each, running from the 1950s at the Classic Hall end down to the 1990s at the far edge, with giant jukeboxes, Rubik's Cubes, bowling pins, a laptop and a mobile phone the size of a car standing between the blocks. Pop Century sits on Hourglass Lake beside Art of Animation.

Theming is played for laughs rather than for awe. Catchphrases from each decade run along the walkways in enormous letters, the stairwells are numbered like a jukebox, and half the fun for British visitors is spotting which fads never crossed the Atlantic. Children love it. Parents who grew up in the eighties find themselves reading the walls more carefully than they expected to.

Classic Hall is the main building, holding reception, the Everything Pop food court and shop, the arcade and the bus stop. Behind it sits the Skyliner station, which is the reason Pop Century sits above the All-Stars on most people's lists despite being the same tier of hotel and much the same room.

Early Theme Park Entry applies in full, giving every guest 30 minutes inside a park before it opens to day visitors, every morning of the stay. Extended Evening Hours are a separate benefit reserved for Deluxe and Deluxe Villa guests, so they do not apply here. Rooms sleep four, there are no family suites, and a party of five is looking at two rooms or a move to Art of Animation across the lake.

Get the room category right and you never think about it again; get it wrong and you walk it four times a day. Standard rooms are the base booking and the cheapest way onto Disney property with a Skyliner station attached, but Disney assigns them across the site, and the ones that land in the 1980s and 1990s buildings sit a long way from Classic Hall. That walk is the single biggest complaint anyone makes about Pop Century, and it is entirely avoidable if you understand the categories before you book.

Preferred rooms cost more because of where they sit. Disney places them in the buildings closest to Classic Hall, the food court, the shop, the buses and the Skyliner, and for most families the reduced walking is worth more than any view. Anyone pushing a buggy, travelling with a grandparent or planning to come back for a midday nap should treat it as close to essential rather than optional.

One step up again sits the Preferred Pool View category, looking out over the Hippy Dippy Pool while keeping the short walk to everything. Parents of confident older children like being able to see the pool from the balcony walkway. Light sleepers should think twice, because a pool view also means pool noise until closing time.

Bed layouts vary by category and by date, and Disney publishes the exact configuration on the booking page for the nights you are pricing. Check it there rather than assuming, particularly if you have teenagers who will not share a bed. Accessible rooms are sold across the categories, and connecting rooms can be requested at the point of booking without any guarantee that you get them.

Rooms themselves were refurbished in recent years and feel newer than the price suggests, with a hard floor rather than carpet, a small fridge, a coffee maker, a safe and a hairdryer. Housekeeping runs daily. Storage is tight for a fortnight's packing, so expect empty suitcases to live under the bed, and use the laundry rooms twice rather than paying for extra hold luggage.

Two in the afternoon, everyone flagging, and the Hippy Dippy Pool is what rescues the day. The main pool sits in the 1960s section with flower-shaped water jets around the edge and a general commitment to the decade that children find funny and adults find slightly alarming. Disney runs family activities here through the day, including themed pool parties, relay games and trivia, and screens films poolside on selected nights. A kiddie pool and a splash area sit alongside for toddlers.

Bowling Pin Pool serves the 1950s section and is shaped exactly as the name suggests, holding a little over 144,000 gallons. Fewer people find it, which is the point when Hippy Dippy is shoulder to shoulder at half four. Computer Pool over in the 1990s section is the third, shaped like a computer with a giant floppy disc and keypad, and it is usually the quietest of the three.

None of the three has a water slide, which is the standard value resort limitation across the board. Towels are provided, lifeguards are on duty during posted hours, and guests can use whichever pool they like regardless of which building they sleep in. Walking two minutes further for a free lounger is almost always worth it.

Beyond swimming, the arcade sits inside Classic Hall next to the food court and absorbs the hour before dinner. Disney posts campfire style activities and outdoor film screenings on the daily schedule in the My Disney Experience app, and both change through the week, so check on arrival rather than relying on what a forum said last year.

Walking is a genuine option here. A path runs around Hourglass Lake and across the bridge to Art of Animation, giving a flat loop of roughly a mile that runners use early and families use in the evening. Playgrounds sit in a couple of the courtyards, and the giant props make the walk back from the Skyliner more entertaining than it has any right to be.

Art of Animation is the immediate neighbour, joined by a bridge across Hourglass Lake and no more than a ten minute walk. Its Landscape of Flavors food court is open to anyone who walks over and is the better of the two for variety, so a family staying at Pop Century effectively has two food courts rather than one.

Caribbean Beach is one Skyliner stop away, with Sebastian's Bistro for a proper sit-down dinner and the Centertown Market food hall for something quicker. Riviera, the next station along, has Primo Piatto downstairs and Topolino's Terrace above it, where the character breakfast is one of the better ones on property and considerably easier to book than the Magic Kingdom equivalents.

Disney's Hollywood Studios and EPCOT are both reachable by gondola, and the EPCOT International Gateway also opens onto the BoardWalk, so dinner at Yacht Club, Beach Club or the Swan and Dolphin becomes a walk rather than an expedition. Disney Springs is around 15 minutes by bus, needs no ticket, and holds dozens of restaurants along with a two-storey World of Disney store.

Off property, Highway 192 in Kissimmee runs about 6 miles south east and holds the supermarkets, pharmacies and cheaper chain restaurants that keep a fortnight affordable. Publix is the usual stop for milk, breakfast supplies and sun cream. Universal Orlando sits roughly 11 miles north east up Interstate 4, a 25 minute drive outside rush hour, while Clearwater Beach on the Gulf coast is around 90 miles west for anyone with a hire car and a free day.

Families of four spending most of their time at EPCOT and Hollywood Studios get more from Pop Century than from any other value resort. Skyliner access removes the worst part of a Disney day, which is standing at a bus stop at half ten at night with children who have run out of patience. That single benefit is why the resort holds its price against the All-Stars.

Couples and adult groups on a budget do reasonably well here too, better than at the All-Stars. Rooms feel newer, Petals Pool Bar has some atmosphere, and the walk across the bridge to Art of Animation or a hop to Riviera for dinner gives an evening some shape. Nobody should expect quiet, because the pools stay busy and the walkways are open.

Larger parties need a different resort. Rooms sleep four and there are no family suites, so a family of five is booking two rooms or crossing the lake to Art of Animation, where the suites hold six with two bathrooms. Price both before you decide, since two connecting rooms here sometimes work out close to one suite there.

Anyone with mobility limits should book preferred and say so at check-in. Site distances are real, and the difference between a 1950s building and a 1990s building is several minutes each way, several times a day, in Florida heat. Get that right and Pop Century is one of the best value bookings on Disney property. Get it wrong and it becomes the thing you remember about the holiday.