What is the best value resort

[jfili]

Our first of many trips to Disney, but this will be first on site. We are planning to stay at a value resort. We are thinking All Star Movies. I hear the Toy Story building is the best location. Any other suggestions from others who have stayed at all or a any of the value resorts? I would love your insights.

 

[ktink]

We stayed at Pop Century last September and we absolutely LOVED it!! The decor, food court, transportation, the grounds, all of it was great. My kids were so mad at first when we decided to try a new hotel, but hopefully we'll be adding a new favorite to our list. Good Luck.

 

[tink_n_pooh]

We just came back from a split stay at Pop and BCV and Pop again. Pop check in was ok the first time, no real problems but it did seem as though the CM that checked us in was just not very magical (not what we are used to at WDW at all!) We got our rooms in the 80's building #9 2nd floor, rooms were ok and the location was great. The computer pool is the biggest and least crowded and it was right downstairs. The transportation was good. Check out was ok, they left a bill on our door which they had charged to the credit card which was left for room charging priviledges. Now I'm not sure if it was our un-magical CM at check in or my mistake but I am pretty sure she told us that the creidt card would only be charged for items charged with the key, not the room total bill, it wasn't a big deal but just seemed odd that they charged the credit card without us actually asking them to.

On our last night at Pop for the end of our trip were were in rooms 1345 & 1345. Check in this time was not good, our keys only worked on one room. After about 15 minutes on the phone with the front desk they told us that new keys for that part of our party would be available at the front desk. So we walk down to the front desk, wait in line, and there are no keys waiting like they said so we waited for them to make new keys. Finally they make new keys which work. Check in was not smooth but the room location was good, not a far walk from the bus stops and food court and the very crowded bowling pin pool. Our room had a cob web in the corner but was clean otherwise. Check out was not as smooth this time either. We requested a late check out, I was told we could stay until 12pm in one room, that only one room in each area was available for late check out. Well, the people in our other room (next door) also called for a late check out at approx the same time and they were told they could stay until 1pm and the same story about only one room in each section. What a story! I think the front desk at Pop just makes these things up as they go along. Having our baggage held while we waited for ME was a challenge as well. It seems as though they only send people out to pick up bags once an hour? We were told just to leave the bags by the window and they would pick them all up at once. We finally got our bags back before ME arrived, I guess it just took longer than I wanted.

Overall, Pop is ok, the price is right. If I had my choice and didn't have to worry about $ or high weekend point rates with DVC I wouldn't stay at Pop again but it wasn't terrible. A little too crowded and loud - paper thin walls and loud pool areas and food court - for my personal liking, just my opinion

 

[tiggersmom2]

I have stayed at ALL of the All Stars.....they are superior to the Pop IMO. The Pop has tiny rooms and it is always crowded. This is just my observation....take with a grain of salt.

 

[minnie61650]

I have stayed at ALL of the All Stars.....they are superior to the Pop IMO. The Pop has tiny rooms and it is always crowded. This is just my observation....take with a grain of salt.

The rooms at POP and at the ALL Stars are both 260 square feet. They are basicaly laid out the same.

The PC rooms seem smaller because the bed is closer to the door with a bigger gap being between the bathroom wall and the far bed. At All-Stars this gap is wider.

http://allearsnet.com/acc/asmv59.jpg
http://allearsnet.com/acc/popcent56.jpg

You will notice in PC pic the bed is closer to the door by looking at how close the headboard is while at Movies you have a little more room.
The beds at POP are Bolted to the floor so you can't move them.
You can move the beds at All Stars so if you want to push one the beds against the wall you can have more usuable floor space.

All Stars is my favorite resort.

I am 55 years old and travel several times a year. I often stay at 4 star hotels.
So the deluxe resorts do not have anything special for me.
All Star is like being in the heart of the Magic and that is where I want to be.

All Star Music is my favorite.It is quieter because more couples stay there. I love staying at the Clypso building. It is closer to the pool,food court and bus stop.

Here is a site with a map of All Star Sports and All Star Music.
http://www.wdwinfo.com/resortmaps/allstarmap.htm
Scroll down.All Star Music is at the bottom of the page.
The Calypso buildings at All Star Music are #1 and #10 are nearest to the food court and bus stop.
They are the preferred buildings and cost about $12 extra per night.
The Calypso pool at ASMU has Donald Duck.

Here is the map of All Movies.
http://www.wdwinfo.com/resortmaps/allstarmovie.JPG
The Fantasia Buildings are the preferred buildings.
The All Star Movie Fantasia pool has Mickey.
It is a great place to stay .
Preschoolers love it.
It is like being in the middle of a Disney Movie Fantasyland.

The buses are wonderful.

Bus rides are quite short from the ALL Stars according to PassPorter.com

All Star Buses-CBR buses---POPbuses--PO buses--- Contemporary
MK 20 min---- 20 min-----25 min------10 min---20 min(mono)
Epcot 10 min-- 15 min-----20 min------10 min---15 min
MGM 10 min----12 min-----15 min------15 min---20min
AK 10 min------20min-------15 min----15 min---20 min
DTD 15 min----20 min------20 min-----15 min---35 min

It only takes 10 minutes to get to Epcot,MGM and AK from All Stars.
MK is 20 min away. That's the same amount of time it takes on the monorail from the Contemporary.

The All Star resorts have 1960 rooms each.
Pop has 2,880rooms.
That means more people in the pools,food court and in line waiting for the bus at POP.
When phase 2 of POP is built it will be 2 bus stops at POP and the 2 POPs will have the same # of rooms as the 3 All Stars.

Also All Star is closer to the main road to get to parks and thats why bus rides are shorter from there than from POP.

A WORD ABOUT BUS SHARING:

It is usually just our stop and maybe one more on the way to the parks. On the way back sometimes its all 3 but often Sports and Music share and Movies has it's own bus back.

I guess some people who stay at POP see all 3 All Star names on the return sign of our bus stop when they head to the POP bus stop and think All Stars also has 3 stops on the way to the park.
(Even when we stop at another AS resort to load up it has not taken more than 5 minutes and we are on our way!)

I love the All Star Resorts --they can't be beat. I have visited WDW more than a dozen times with the 1st time in Oct. 1971. It was brand new. I've stayed at FW, Disney Inn, a few the of Hotels on hotel Blvd., CBR and the towers at the Contemporary. I got to see the MK from my balcony at the Contemporary and I'm happy I got to experience it once. I just prefer the All Star Resorts.
The theaming is pure Disney.
My last 4 visits have been at The All Stars and this fall when we take dd,dsil, and our grandson age 3 we are staying at the All Stars Music. I thought about AKL and even though we can well afford AKL I just wanted Alex to experience the Disney Magic at the All Stars on his first visit.
Where else can one find Donald Duck or Mickey Mouse at the pool?
Have a great time at Disney!
Linda