Welcome BACK, Stacey!
Thank you so much for being a long-time friend of ours, and thank you so much for always bringing such great Walt Disney World Resort vacation planning questions to us hEAR at the Disney Parks Moms Panel!
This is quite the decision, isn't it. As I'm sure you know,
Disney's Resort Hotels are all wonderful escapes where guests can live in the middle of the magic. Personally, if your choices were all in the same price range, I would either keep your initial selection of Disney's Pop Century Resort, or I'd choose one of three specific Disney Moderate Resort Hotels. Here's my reasoning:
I actually like Disney's All-Star Resort Hotels; all of my needs covered, my son loves the larger-than-life statues of Disney characters and movie references, and I like having the option to walk to the dining locations of the other All-Star resorts nearby. However, two of these three resorts are in the middle of top-to-bottom refurbishments, so if you did choose one, go with
Disney's All-Star Movies Resort as they've already completed their refresh to all rooms, and actually they now look almost identical to the rooms at Pop.
Disney's Pop Century Resort is still my favorite Disney Value Resort, thanks to the addition of the brand new
Disney Skyliner. This not only cuts your travel time to Disney's Hollywood Studios and EPCOT in half, you can easily get to dining and entertainment options at
Disney's BoardWalk and the brand new Disney's Riviera Resort. I also like that Pop Century is connected to
Disney's Art of Animation Resort where you can find more great food as well as photo opportunities. However, Disney's Pop Century Resort is performing maintenance on the main 'Hippy Dippy Pool' this year that may continue during your trip. There are two other pools at this resort, but if that's a deal breaker I'm not out of ideas yet.
As far as moderates go, my favorite is
Disney's Port Orleans Resort - French Quarter because of it's super cute 'Big Easy' New Orleans theming, but also because guests of this hotel have pool privileges at
Disney's Port Orleans Resort - Riverside. (And vis versa.) There's a beautiful, 10-minute river-adjacent walking path to get between the two resorts, and whether you stay there or just visit, French Quarter has Mickey shaped beignets that you definitely need to add to your snack list. I also like that there's a complimentary Water Taxi between these two resort hotels and
Disney Springs. But, my new favorite Disney Moderate Resort is
Disney's Caribbean Beach Resort because it is centrally located on the Disney Skyliner. And don't forget that the pools at Moderates all have waterslides vs. the pools at values do not.
I hope this helped to plan your upcoming Disney Days, Stacey, and We'll See You Real Soon!
~Kristen