Considering Values: Which one?

[bookgirl2632]

I know this is a loaded question and that I will get many different answers, but I'm going to ask anyway. We are planning a trip to Disney for September 2014. Hopefully, Free Dining will be going on, as that is always the best value for us.

Anyway, we are a party of four adult women, ranging in age from 30s to 60s. We have always stayed at Moderates, but are looking to save some money by doing a Value on our next trip. We will want to use the pool throughout the week as a midday break. And we want the extra room, so we'll be getting two rooms or a suite. AoA looks great, but it is pricier than the other Values. What are your suggestions as far as Pop and the All Stars? Is one better than the other as far as the rooms, the pool, the grounds? As far as the ASMu suites, are the pull out beds comfortable? I'm just trying to get an idea of which would be the best option for us.

Thanks for helping this Moderate girl get an idea for the Values!

 

[Willows909]

I love POP and I like the preferred rooms. They are close to the food court and the pool. Some people think that it's a little noisy, but I haven't been bothered by it. (Of course I have gone in September, not a huge crowd time of year) And one of the value resorts is undergoing a food court redo...so look into that as well.... can't offhand remember which one...sure someone will fill you in on that.

 

[networktek]

for us when we want to stay at a value we always go for either All Star Movies or All Star Music with a preferred room but the non preferred rooms are not that far of a walk

 

[justjoannj]

Love POP!

 

[MKFan-PR]

I also had previously stayed at Moderates, but on our last trip we stayed at AS-Movies and loved it. We'll be staying next January at Pop. For us, AS-Movies has the most charm of the All-Stars. We stayed in Toy Story, one of the preferred locations, but the others weren't that far away. It's been recently refurbished, too.

We're looking forward to Pop, which has Hourglass Lake on one side (and looks great), plus you can walk to AoA and check that one out.

The Food Court renovation at AS-Sports is supposed to be completed by this December, so you should be ok if you stay there.

One more thing: usually in lower attendance periods (like Sept), the All-Stars may share buses, while Pop / AoA don't, so you might want to take that into consideration.

 

[Babsy]

All Star Music, jazz Inn buildings are very nice for adults. I find the theming/atmosphere at ASMu or perhaps POP to be a little more adult oriented and a bit less geared to small children. The lack of a sit down restaurant and the smaller rooms/beds are the biggest differences between the value and mods, I think. WE often stay at value when budget is a priority. There are four of you, so I would suggest 2 rooms if you want 4 beds. The suites have a differnet arrangement using at least one pull out sofa which may not be too comfortable for an adult - at least that would be my concern.

 

[flamark]

I would think that for 4 adult women, the most comfortable arrangement would be 2 rooms at POP. Ditto what the others have said about the theming and the noise level. Another thing to consider is that at times AS resorts share buses and unless I'm wrong POP does not. I don't think that you ladies would enjoy the AOA suite unless being all in the same room is a priority. In that configuration 2 of you would have to share and the pull out/fold down beds are not the most comfortable beds for adults. HTH

 

[mirage0306]

We are trying a value for the first time later this month, and decided on Pop. While we obviously have not stayed there yet, we picked it mostly because of the theme and the dedicated bus service. We also like that it is a compact resort--even so, we went with a preferred room.

Have fun choosing!

 

[dpswift]

The values are all about the same. POP and AoA are both bigger than the All Stars. I found the AS to feel friendlier than POP. However since my kids love POP we have stayed there more, so more room for problems.

If you enjoy walking there is a nice lake that you can walk around at POP.

As much as it is more unlikely for POP to share buses, people have posted that it does happen occasionally. There are always lines for the buses at POP because there are so many staying there. Getting back after park closing is a nightmare, but I believe it is that way for all of the resorts.

 

[DisneyRunner2009]

Last September, I was one of three adult women in a standard room at ASMu. We had no problems at all with the room size. We had a lot of fun. We would eat breakfast by the pool. Getting ready in the morning was like college, everybody worked out a bathroom schedule. Two rooms at a value may be less expensive, than a family suite at the same resort. There is something about POP that my family doesn't care for. We just can't put our finger on it. Maybe as a PP said, it's the size of POP, making All Stars seem more intimate. Sharing buses, at All Stars, is not that big of a deal. It's like the multiple stops at the moderate and deluxe resorts. Finally, ASSp is undergoing a total refurbishment. Redone rooms and food court.

 

[mom2AidanAndEli]

Just as a side, if you're thinking of the Free Dining, remember you only get the QSDP when you stay at a value. If that's what you're interested in, great! But if you're looking for TS meals, you'll need to pay to upgrade and right now that's about $18 per person per day. You might want to run some numbers and see how that compares to a moderate where you get the regular DP instead of the QSDP.

 

[bookgirl2632]

Just as a side, if you're thinking of the Free Dining, remember you only get the QSDP when you stay at a value. If that's what you're interested in, great! But if you're looking for TS meals, you'll need to pay to upgrade and right now that's about $18 per person per day. You might want to run some numbers and see how that compares to a moderate where you get the regular DP instead of the QSDP.

I have thought of that. I ran the numbers and, with the upgrade, two rooms at a Value would be more than 1 room at a Mod. However, the trade off of having more room would be worth it. But we aren't sure whether we'd just do Quick Service or not. That would just save us even more, especially since we wouldn't have to worry about tips.