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For the first page of this review of Disney’s Pop Century Resort, click here.

Disney’s Pop Century Resort completed a room refurb project in the summer of 2018.

The key positive features of the refurb are the first queen beds in value resort standard rooms, and the first coffee makers in value resort standard rooms. Less universally praised is the bright white color scheme–exacerbated by the loss of the colorful bed stripes, which is happening generally across Disney World resorts–and the fact that one of the queens is a fold down bed that disappears the table and chairs while it is down.

I had the chance to stay in one of these newly-refurbed Pop Century rooms in late July, so here’s a photo tour and my observations.

One side of the room has a thingy with the coffee maker above and the mini-fridge below, the dresser and TV, and a connecting door, if present.

This side of the room from the back.

The coffee thingy has multiple crannies and cubbies, a general feature of this room. Note the folded luggage rack tucked in at the side.

A closer look at the coffee maker.

The drawer in the thingy contains the coffee supplies and is also nicely sized to shove all of your power cords, tablets and such into.

The mini-fridge, as is common in new Disney World rooms, has a glass front so you can see what’s inside without opening it. I’ve propped the door open in this shot.

The dresser has drawers on one side and shelving and a safe on the other, is flanked with two sets of power points each of which can charge four devices, and is topped with a 54-inch TV.

The three drawers are 31 inches by 13 inches but only 4.5 inches tall.

This is still much more storage in these new rooms than in the un-refurbed rooms–their dresser/ mini-fridge and dresser drawers are shown above.

Back to the refurbed room, next to the drawers are shelves and a safe.

I measured the safe as 19 inches by 15 inches by 6.5 inches tall. If your electronics won’t fit in here, you are on the wrong vacation.

By the connecting door you’ll find this coat rack.

In the back of the room are the sinks, closet, and, in a separate space, the toilet and shower.

In a first for value resort standard rooms, the overall bath and dressing area is closed off from the rest of the room with a sliding solid door, rather than the fabric curtain you’ll find in other such rooms.

Here’s the sliding door almost closed.

Note all the crannies and cubbies around the sink.

The small cabinet to the left of the sink…

…has this hair dryer.

On the right side of the sink you’ll find this make-up mirror.

On the side of this space is a solid hanging closet–another first in a standard value resort room. There’s 19 inches of hanging space inside, and another 9 inches on the rod extension to the right.

The toilet and tub are enclosed by this two-part sliding door.

The tub is enclosed with sliding doors–a more straightforward arrangement for most than a billowing shower curtain, but an awkwardness for bathing children.

The shower has both rain fall and hand-held heads.

The toiletries.

Some of these rooms only have showers, no tubs. The photo above came to me from alert reader Ann.

Back into the main area, the other side of the room has a table and chairs and a fixed queen bed.

The bed side from the back.

A closer view of the fixed queen…

…and of the art above it.  Just with this, these refurbed Pop Century rooms have more Disney theming than any other value resort rooms except the Little Mermaid rooms in Art of Animation and refurbed rooms at All-Star Music…and there’s more to come.

Another new feature of this refurbed Pop Century room is space under the bed for storing your suitcases.  There’s 14.5 inches of clearance, which will fit most rolly bags.

There’s a cubbie with power points between the bed and bath wall…

…and another between the bed and table.

The distinctive feature of this room is the fold down bed, found behind this table and chairs.

Stack the chairs in the corner…

…pull the two handles, and the table disappears and this bed replaces it.

Pluto also appears.

I measured the fold-down bed as 59 inches by 79 inches–just an inch short on both dimensions of being a queen, but it’s so much larger than a full (which would be 54″ by 74″) that none can quibble at calling it a queen.

The mattress is a full 12 inches deep–as deep as that of the fixed queen. This bed is entirely appropriate for adults, and in fact adults might prefer it, as they can put the kids in the fixed queen and use the table until they themselves are ready for sleep.

There is yet another cubbie and power point between the fold-down bed and outer wall.

Some shots of the room with both beds down:

And for comparison, a shot of an un-refurbed Pop room with two full beds:

Some have wondered if an air mattress would fit between the table and the door.

I measured the clear space between the full opening of the door and the edge of the table as just about 34 inches. With the bed down, this space will shrink by about a foot, to ~22 inches.

The addition of the queen-sized beds and coffeemaker is a clear win, as is the safe,  the shower heads, the sliding solid door to the bath area, and the make-up mirror. The loss of the table when both beds are down is a bit of a pain, but as noted there are a couple of work-arounds–e.g. putting the table users in that bed. While bright white, these rooms have more Disney theming than almost any other value resort rooms, and as most resorts have now lost their bed stripes, white bedding is now the thing at Disney World, not a Pop Century specialty.

And I know I repeat myself, but queen beds and a coffee maker wildly improve the livability of these rooms.

AMENITIES AND DINING AT DISNEY’S POP CENTURY RESORT

This review continues here.

MATERIALS IN THIS REVIEW OF DISNEY’S POP CENTURY RESORT

• Disney’s Pop Century Resort–overview and summary
• Theming and accommodations at Disney’s Pop Century Resort
• A photo tour of a refurbed room at Disney’s Pop Century Resort
• Amenities and dining at Disney’s Pop Century Resort
• The pools at Disney’s Pop Century Resort

OTHER KEY PAGES FOR WHERE TO STAY AT DISNEY WORLD

• Where to stay–the Basics
• Where first-timers should stay
• Reviews of all the Disney World resorts, based on my 150+ stays in them

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