Choosing a Value Resort

[DisneyPiPhi]

Hmmm. I probably should mention that bus transportation is not important to us; we are driving to Florida and generally use our car to get around because we find it easier than the Disney buses. We also rarely eat at the food court: we generally buy groceries and do breakfast in the room and lunch and dinner out at the parks or resorts near parks. (Because we buy groceries, fridge size is a concern for us, but I think they are all the same!)

I also called today and found out that standard rooms at All-Star Movies are available, so now that's thrown into the mix, too! I hadn't considered that AoA is so close to POP. I'll have to do a little research to see if we'd want to spend time there.

 

[PSUGuy]

Stayed at POP, Music and Sports, I'd choose PoP because it doesn't share buses with any other resort.

Bill From PA

 

[Xennia]

Hi Everyone! I am so excited to be planning an April 2016 Disney trip! We just went this past May and weren't planning to go again soon, but after thinking about other possible travel destinations, going back to Disney just made the most sense.

We stayed at and enjoyed POR last year, but this year we'd like to stay in a value resort to save a little cash. I'm trying to decide between POP and ASMu. Which do you think a three-year-old girl and her parents would enjoy the most?

Thanks!

Pop.

Hands down. It brings it out of all the value. Except animation but I don't think they are value resort??

 

[Pmlocke]

I have been at both POP and Music and here are my reasons to select Music.
1. POP has 2,880 rooms and Music has 1,604 rooms. Figuring a room only having 2 guests assigned to it, that is an additional 2,552 people in the restaurant in the morning, lazing around the pool and sitting at night to watch the pool side movie. That's a lot of people.
2. The All Stars only share busses in the afternoon when the demand is low. Getting back to guest numbers, that's an additional 2,552 guests lining up for busses at POP in the morning.
3. Like I said, I have stayed at both resorts and both my wife and I did not enjoy POP. It seemed too large and the staff were no where as friendly as we have found them to be in Music. Take a look at my picture. That's me with some of the staff at the gift shop at AS Music. We email each other regularly. When we arrive they are usually lined up waiting for us. We have now stayed at Music for our last 5 trips and we will return in 79 days. We love AS Music.
4. My brother just got back from POP from a trip in October and he wound up taking the bus to and from AOA as the POP busses were always so full. He just walked across the bridge to utilize this service.
5. I would agree that the preferred rooms are a good choice especially if you are older like me (62) and don't like the hike to the rooms at night. That goes for any of the resorts.
6. Many have stated they like the option of walking across to AOA from POP to utilize their dining facility. Music has the option of walking to either Sports or Movies for those who want to resort hop.
What ever you choose, enjoy yourself.

 

[emhaile42]

I've stayed at POP and ASMu recently, and I'm honestly not sure if I prefer one over the other! I actually had similar bus experiences both times. One night after leaving MK about half an hour after closing, the POP bus line was so long we couldn't all fit in the barriers and had to loop around. No one was left at the AoA stop, so they had to turn that one into a second POP line. The bus I ended up on was being shared with another resort because there were just so many of us. Every other line was completely empty by the time I left, and there were still a few busloads of people behind me for POP. Just because of that, I wouldn't use a dedicated bus as the deciding factor.

 

[rhiansmom]

All values have very similar layouts of the rooms along with double beds vs. queens. I have always been a huge fan of POP however on our last trip in November the rooms at Music was the only value we could book. I feel in love with resort. It had that classic Disney feel I get at POP however it was much less crowded (and it was at full capacity). The theming was spot on.

You also just mentioned AoA. The non-suite rooms are all in the LM section which seems like a long walk from the main building and from the parking lot. It may not have been but it sure felt like they were. Theming here is beyond what you will get at any of the other resorts.

So after my rambling here is how I would rate the values on the basis of theming:

1. AOA
2. POP
3. Movies
4. Sports
5. Music

On the basis of bus transportation:

1. Movies
2. Sports
3. Music
4. AOA
5. PIP

On the basis of the pools:

1. AOA
2. POP
3. any of the all stars


Our next trip we just moved from POP to Movies. It is about $15 a night cheaper and we rely 100% on the bus so that is a huge factor in our move.