Did you know that Disney's Pop Century Resort was the first phase of a 2 part resort. Pop Century originally opened in December of 2003 under the name 'Pop Century - The Classic Years'. (shown in the picture above to the right) However, if you look to the left of the picture you will notice 3 buildings. These 3 buildings were the foundation for what was to become 'Pop Century - The Legendary Years'. What happened? Read More to find out:
The bridge you see pictured above is named the Generation Gap Bridge. When you think about it... It makes a lot more sense if you know the history of the property. It literally 'bridged the gap' over Hourglass Lake to connect the generations of The Legendary Years of 1900, 10, 20, 30, 40's and The Classic years of 1950, 60, 70, 80, 90's of the planned Pop Century properties.
Legendary Hall was the main building and it was constructed right along side the construction of Phase 1. This could easily be seen by guests staying at Pop Century - The Classic Years. Phase 2, "The Legendary Years" was set to open in 2003. Construction on this property continued until something happened that devastated the United States. 9/11. Due to lower consumer confidence tourism saw a dramatic decline. Phase 1 was put on hold, and phase 2 was basically scrapped. However, phase 1 (or what is now Pop Century) was too far along in the construction phase to scrap completely. After a delay Disney finally completed and opened Pop Century - The Classic Years Resort in December of 2003, 2 years after its original goal of 2001.
Meanwhile, phase 2 remained completely abandoned. Since guests staying at "Pop Century - The Classic Years" could easily see the abandoned construction project guests started referring to the project as the "Ghost Hotel".
At the far end of the property The 1940's section was already built before construction stopped. These buildings followed the original building designs found at all of the existing value resorts (doors to the rooms on the outside). The original plans for the phase 2 resort was to build all of the buildings with the same layout as the previous value resorts. However, when construction was halted Disney was open to new ideas when the time was right. Fast forward 3 years to 2006. Disney remodeled a handful of rooms at the All-Star Music Resort into family suites to test the waters. Would families be willing to pay a little more at a value resort for a larger space? After a couple years of success booking these family suites the answer was a resounding YES! Disney knew they had a winning idea and the property was already started to make it happen.
In 2010 (yes, that is 10 years after the original buildings were built and then abandoned) Disney announced that the Art of Animation Resort would be built on the site originally meant for the phase 2 expansion of Pop Century. What about the buildings that were already built? Did you ever wonder why there is only ONE section at the Art of Animation resort that is different than all of the other family suites found on the property? When you are staying in the Little Mermaid section you are actually staying in the 1940's section of Pop Century - The Legacy Years. The remaining buildings were redesigned and built to accommodate family suites with the doors inside the buildings. In May of 2012 the Art of Animation finally opened... after 10+ years of abandonment.