Want to know what is the Best Walt Disney World Value Resort? Keep reading!
The fact that you are reading this probably means you are thinking about staying at a Walt Disney World Value resort and can’t decide on which one. Our expert opinion is that the top value resort is Pop Century Resort.
We want to caution you however, it might benefit you greatly to hear why we think it is the top value resort. If you are interested in why, please read on.
We have a confession to make. In all our visits to Walt Disney World, we have never stayed in a value resort. Never….until now. On our last trip we decided to experience first hand what a value resort was like in comparison to moderate resorts and deluxe resorts.
We have years and years of experience with staying at the higher level resorts and feel we can confidently speak with some degree of authority on them so we wanted to do a deep dive on the value resorts so we could bring you an honest evaluation.
Though we didn’t stay in every value resort at Disney World, we have visited every single one and we feel confident in our research along with people we spoke with and finally our general knowledge of the Disney Value Resorts to bring to you, what we feel is the best Disney value resort.
In doing so, we will back up our findings about the resorts with facts and reasons so you, the reader, fully understands why we are making our claims the way we are.
5 Disney World Value Resorts
There are five resorts at Walt Disney World that qualify as value resorts. They are:
- Disney’s All-Star Movies Resort
- Disney’s All-Star Music Resort
- Disney’s All-Star Sports Resort
- Disney’s Art of Animation Resort
- Disney’s Pop Century Resort
Some General Observations Regarding Value Resorts
When selecting a value resort, most people are doing so with money in mind. And why not, the value resorts are quite a bit cheaper than deluxe and even moderate resorts and who couldn’t use the savings somewhere else on your trip? One of the best rationales for staying at a value resort is most guests visiting Walt Disney World don’t spend a lot of time in the hotel room.
For most people, most days, time is spent at the parks and when you are not at the parks, you are in a Disney restaurant, or pool, or visiting some other Disney activity. The point is, actual room time is mostly limited to sleep so why pay more? We tend to agree with this line of thought for the most part.
Difference Between Value Resort vs Moderate Resort
So what are the differences between a value resort and a moderate resort? What are you paying quite a bit more money for?
In our opinion it only comes down to a couple of things.
1. Room Size
The typical room size of a value resort is approximately 260 square feet where one of the standard rooms at a moderate resort is approximately 314 square feet and a Deluxe resort weighs in at approximately 344 square feet. Notice we are saying approximately. There are considerations to think about.
If you are looking at one of the family suites, you almost double your square footage and not every room in every value hotel is the same, but overall you are not getting the same size room in a value hotel over a moderate.
2. Bed Situation
Going hand in hand with the room size is the bed situation. Value rooms have the same amount of beds as moderate rooms with the same room style, however because the rooms are smaller, they get more creative in where the beds are located.
For example, rooms with two queen size beds in a value resort will have one of the beds being a pull-down table (Murphy style) bed or something similar. Disney simply has to get more creative with the space issue so it gets a bit more clunky with the value resort. One positive improvement that Disney has done is transitioning full size beds to actual queen size beds.
3. Full Service Meals
Finally, you will not find any full-service meal options at any of the value resorts. Quick service options are at every value resort but if you are looking for a nice sit down meal option, you will need to go to another resort.
Ranking of Each Value Resort
Ok, so without further ado, here are the Disney World value resorts ranked in order from what we feel is best to least.
1. Pop Century Resort
Info at a Glance
- Price: $180 – $390
- Food: Everything Pop, Quick service restaurant, food court. Petals Pool Bar, sandwiches, snacks and drinks.
- Transportation: Own bus service. Shared Skyliner (with Art of Animation) that gives guests access to Hollywood Studios and Epcot.
- Rooms: 260 square feet. Newest renovations of all five value resorts.
- Decor: Cultural icons from the 20th century which can cater to the 35 and up adults but children find it fun as well.
Coming in first is the Pop Century Resort. This resort has the most recently renovated rooms of the five value resorts which is a Big Deal to us! The rooms go way beyond just a fresh coat of paint. There are upgrades on the beds and furniture and less exciting things like carpet, curtains and flooring that is made of a higher grade material which takes Pop Century almost out of the value area.
Next, it has it’s own bus transportation and Disney Skyliner service so this gives this resort a huge boost on the transportation end.
For food, the Everything Pop quick service is on the property as well as one of the best pool bars with Petals Pool Bar. Not to mention, the Art of Animation Resort is right next door and you can always walk over and try out their quick service restaurant, Landscape of Flavors.
Speaking of pools, there are three pools at the Pop Century: The Hippy Dippy Pool, the Computer Pool and the Bowling Pool.
Finally, the decor is cute, bright and iconic. Boomers will especially like the huge Yo-Yo’s, Play-Doh’s and there are Rollerblades and Rubik’s cubes for the “younger” ones.
Weaknesses:
Even though the decor is bright and fun, the younger ones won’t get their Disney Character fix staying here. There is no oversized Mater, Marvel Super Hero, Mickey or other Disney Characters, other than the replica of the old Mickey Mouse phone.
Guests have complained that even though the rooms have been renovated, they are not very quiet.
2. Art of Animation
Info at a Glance
- Price: $210 – $420
- Food: Landscape of Flavors quick service restaurant as well as The Drop Off poolside bar which has in addition to drinks, cold sandwiches and snacks.
- Transportation: Own bus service. Shared Skyliner (with Art of Animation) that gives guests access to Hollywood Studios and Epcot.
- Rooms: 270 square feet
- Decor: Animation and more animation. Both Disney and Pixar are going to surround you when staying here. The Lion King and Cars theming is really good in our opinion!
The Art of Animation Resort is very close to Pop Century Resort in many respects. In fact, one of the biggest reasons we have it at number 2 instead of number 1 is simply because it is more expensive.
Art of Animation has the bus stop as well as Skyliner access similar to the Pop Century Resort which is very handy.
Also, because these two resorts are in close proximity to each other, you are able to eat at the Pop Century for something different, however, remember that it is only quick service.
Amenities are nice including the largest Resort pool in all of the Walt Disney World Resorts! This feature pool is called the Big Blue which is inspired by Finding Nemo. There are two other pools that are a bit quieter, Cozy Cone Pool, inspired by Cars and Flippin’ Fins Pool inspired by The Little Mermaid.
The best part about Art of Animation is all of the Disney characters and lands throughout the resort! There’s the Cars land, Little Mermaid area, a Finding Nemo area and a Lion King land. These areas are FULL of quality Disney decor. Feel like you’re walking down the street in the Cars area, walking through the ocean in the Little Nemo area and encountering a giant Ursula…quickly followed by Ariel in the Little Mermaid spot. Kids LOVE this!
Since we stayed at Pop Century we did a quick walk over to Art of Animation to experience it all. Since we recommend Pop as our number 1 value resort, keep in mind that it is so easy to walk over to see all of the lands!
Finally, we feel the Landscape of Flavors food service is one of the best dining options of all the value resorts. Keep in mind this can be subjective.
One final thought concerning Art of Animation we would like to share with you. If you are looking for a family suite because you have a larger family, you will want to check out either this one, Art of Animation or All-Star Music resort because they are the only two resorts that have suites. Be aware, however, that he price tag goes up quite a bit, so much so, we feel it completely takes it out of the value hotels category.
Weaknesses:
As we talked about earlier, about the only difference between Art of Animation and Pop Century is the price is higher. For some with small children, it may be worth it for the great kid friendly theming.
3. All-Star Movies
Info at a Glance
- Price: $140 – $310
- Food: World Premier Food Court
- Transportation: Shared bus stops making them more crowded
- Rooms: 260 square feet
- Decor: Disney movies take center stage at All-Star Movies. Cute and kids love it.
We have found that all the All-Star Resorts line up pretty close with each other when deciding which is the best option. Price, room size and other things associated with the properties are very similar and it can come down to theming as to which of the Disney hotels your family will lean toward.
That being said, our next favorite of the Walt Disney World Resort Hotel in the value selection is the All-Star Movies Resort. Disney is known for its great movies and to have an entire resort focused on those iconic, wonderful movies, makes this a really fun option!
It is decorated very nicely and the rooms have been renovated fairly recently which gives them a fresh look and feel. Very similar to Pop Century without the higher price tag. Speaking of price tag, you can often find All-Star Movies discounted pretty low and when it does, it put it in the “best value” category in a big way.
All-Star Movies has 2 pools, the Fantasia Pool and the Duck Pond Pool which of course is less than Pop Century and Art of Animation.
World Premier Food Court is the oldest food court of the 5 but the quick service meals are similar to the other resorts.
Weaknesses:
A couple of things you should consider is all of the All-Star resorts will have big groups from time to time which you will need to deal with. When the Cheerleading competitions and similar events take place, the All-Star resorts are the first to fill up and be overtaken with high energy teens and college age young people. Please check our crowd calendar for exact timing of these events in case you are concerned.
The bus stops can get very crowded and has been a source of frustration for guests over the years so keep that in mind as well.
4. All-Star Music
Info at a Glance
- Price: $140 – $310
- Food: Intermission Food Court
- Transportation: Shared bus stops making them more crowded
- Rooms: 260 square feet
- Decor: Cute theme of everything music. From Rock to jazz and everything in between.
All-Star Music comes in 4th with some wonderful music theming. Giant guitars and jukeboxes and the like make this a great option if there is a music lover in your crew.
For larger families, All-Star Music, similar to Art of Animation has family suites. Though they are not as expensive as Art of Animation, they can still command some serious money which we feel takes them out of the “value” range.
The food court at All-Star Music called Intermission Food Court is one of the newest refurbishment of all the eateries and does a good job when there are lots of people trying to eat and get going.
Weaknesses:
Similar to the other All-Star resorts, the bus stops can get crowded often and this resort is susceptible to getting large groups of guests coming to Disney World for competitions and events, so please check our crowd calendar to know what’s coming in each week. We do a great job of keeping track of events and putting them in our crowd calendar.
5. All-Star Sports
Info at a Glance
- Price: $140 – $310
- Food: End Zone Food Court
- Transportation: Shared bus stops making them more crowded
- Rooms: 260 square feet
- Decor: If there is a sports nut in the family, this is a place to check out. Baseball, Football and other sports are everywhere.
Finally, bringing up the rear is All-Star Sports. Even though we are making this the bottom of the value resorts, if you have a sports enthusiast in your family and he/she would find the wonderful theming exciting, then please don’t be afraid to book this resort.
The main pool is shaped like a giant-sized surfboard and another called, Grand Slam Pool is shaped like a baseball diamond.
End Zone Food Court is your typical quick service food court but does a good job of getting guest through efficiently.
Finally, like all the All-Star resorts, there are some fun things to do other than the parks, such as Movies Under the Stars which are great Disney movies outside by the pools. There are jogging trails for a one mile run or walk. Playgrounds and arcades are also a part of each of the All-Star resorts.
Weaknesses:
We feel this hotel is primarily the weakest because of theming. In addition to the crowded bus stop and competitions that sometimes overload this resort, from time to time ESPN Wide World of Sports events can fill this resort.
So there you have it! We hope this helped take out any guesswork when it comes to picking a value resort.
If you’ve stayed at one of these, we’d love to hear about your stay! Leave a comment and let us know what you liked and didn’t liek!
If you’re most concerned with what pool is best at Disney resorts, we have those details too!
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