What Value Resort is the Best and Why?

[heartsy77]

We have done Asmu and POP for values. Pop wins hands down!

The buses are so much better at Pop, never the waits we had at Asmu. Also the pool is better at Pop. And we love to stay facing the lake, something other values dont have. It makes it quiet and feel less cheap if that makes sense. Everyone at Pop is so friendly, we just love it!

Exactly!

 

[DisneyMomma81]

We stayed at Pop last year and loved it ~ we had a lake view room in the light purple buildings ~ it was lovely and quiet, we saw rabbits. My mom was with us and we each had our own bed. I brought this bed for DD ~*~*~ *it fit between the 2 dbls in the room and this bed for DS *~*~* *we moved the table/chairs a bit and set it up against the wall. During the day we set DD's bed on one of the doubles and DS's bed was "standing" up, leaning against the tv entertainment ctr/dresser.

 

[palavra]

I agree with those who posted about the buses. Bus service at POP seems far superior--we didn't have to wait for buses more than 5 minutes at POP. At Movies, I cannot tell you how many times we waited 45+ minutes for a bus. I will never do All Stars again. We are staying at POP this fall.

I have not stayed at Pop Century, but we did not have to wait long for a bus at All Star Music during the 8 days we stayed there.

 

[Grumpy's Gal]

We have stayed at POP in the past and are looking to stay at another value resort for our up coming trip. POP seems to be the biggest of value resorts and seemed to have the longest bus lines compared to the other value resorts. Why is the POP the most popular, or so it seems? Are the other value resorts nice? I was wondering if we stayed at a different value resort maybe we wouldn't have to wait in the long, long bus lines.

you may get shorter lines at the other values but they share buses with others so it will take longer. Pop shares buses with no one else.

 

[Grumpy's Gal]

(or maybe it is the layout I don't know but my luggage fit in between the bed and wall at pop and not at sports).

no matter where you stay, you can ask luggage services to keep your empty suitcases until you need them back. That will give you more room.

 

[MomToOne]

We've stayed at POP, ASMusic and ASMovies.

I don't like POP at all - I hate the theming, and the place is just too dang big and there are too many people. Too much hustle and bustle for me.

I like ASMovies the best, mostly because of the theming and it just felt smaller and less "busy" to me because of (relatively) fewer people.

ASMusic comes in a close second for me. My daughter actually likes it the best of the three. We REALLY like the movies by the pool at night - we like to get ice cream, swim a bit and then just kick back watching the movie. The theming is OK, better than POP but not as nice as ASMovies.

But of course, being at any of them is WAAAAAAYYYY better than being at work!

ETA: Despite all the discussion of dedicated buses at POP vs. not at the All Stars, I haven't noticed any huge differences in how long I had to wait for a bus/how often I had to stand between them all. (We usually go the end of August.)

 

[My2BabiesLexis&Dill]

I've seen a few posters say that they do movies by the pool at night. Is this only at certain resorts? For the life of me, I don't remember seeing them at ASMo before.

If anyone has any info for that, please let me know.

 

[tinkabella627]

We have stayed at POP and ASMo and found both to be spacious enough for our family (2A, 2C ages 6 & 4 and an infant in a playpen) given how much time we spent in the room.

Regarding where to put your luggage so it is out of the way. We have always put our empty luggage up on the shelf in the closet. We put 5 suitcases up there and it doesn't seem to be too heavy for the shelf.

no matter where you stay, you can ask luggage services to keep your empty suitcases until you need them back. That will give you more room.

I just want to clarify, I never was complaining of having somewhere to put my luggage. I was saying that the space that I had put it in was how I felt the room size was different. And we don't unpack all of our things out of our suitcase. I never have in a hotel and I probably never will because I am too worried I will be frantic and forget something.

 

[MomToOne]

I've seen a few posters say that they do movies by the pool at night. Is this only at certain resorts? For the life of me, I don't remember seeing them at ASMo before.

If anyone has any info for that, please let me know.

I only know of them being at ASMusic. I never understood why the other values didn't do them since they are so popular and a lot of fun!

 

[Friendly Frog]

I love Pop but Music feels more relaxed. The customer service there was great and we loved the movie by the pool. I was told (at the time) that music was the only value hotel that offered movies by the pool.

 

[3boymthr]

I've seen a few posters say that they do movies by the pool at night. Is this only at certain resorts? For the life of me, I don't remember seeing them at ASMo before.

If anyone has any info for that, please let me know.

They do the movies at ASMo, BC and FW. At the BC & FW they are part of the campfire & smores. At the BC they are on the beach at the edge of the lake and depending upon what time the epcot closes relative to the start of the move, you can, if you turn around, also watch the fireworks at Epcot. At FW Chip & Dale show up. The fun thing is that the movies are open to anyone so even if you aren't staying there you can go. So if you go to dinner at the BC/YC/BW or Epcot or DHS you can go to the movie after.

 

[opteeka]

Thank you...Didn't realize a value resort had the movies. That is awesome.

 

[MsStinkerBelle]

I absolutely love Pop! The food court is large with lots of variety and quality eats, multiple pools, great layout and the CMs are very friendly. The arcade is actually better than the one at the Contemporary and that one is' pretty nice. And at Christmas it is amazing!

ASMu is nice as well but we prefer Pop.

 

[SOnotLayuh]

I've stayed at Movies, but much prefer Pop. I can't see us ever staying in an AS again... it's the buses.I can't stand shared buses! Maybe we're spoiled

 

[Hunclemarco]

They do the movies at ASMo, BC and FW. At the BC & FW they are part of the campfire & smores. At the BC they are on the beach at the edge of the lake and depending upon what time the epcot closes relative to the start of the move, you can, if you turn around, also watch the fireworks at Epcot. At FW Chip & Dale show up. The fun thing is that the movies are open to anyone so even if you aren't staying there you can go. So if you go to dinner at the BC/YC/BW or Epcot or DHS you can go to the movie after.

Here is a site that will give you the movies played on a month by month basis at each resort that sponsor movies.

http://www.buildabettermousetrip.com/activity-outdoormovie.php

 

[cseca]

I like Pop mostly b/c of the transportation as everyone has said AND the layout.
Even the non preferred room locations are decently spaced. We stayed at ASMu several years back and arrived really late at night (actually more like really early in the morning 2am). They put us in the furthest building which I swore is about a good 10min walk from the lobby... (or maybe we just felt that way because we're tired).

At the Pop, the worst location we've had (again, the furthest out the 90s) for us was still about 5min. Which doesn't sound much different considering how much we walk during the day. But when you're exhausted any time saved by walking is appreciated.

Next to Pop I would pick ASMo. I think their layout is the most similar to Pop but still the bus stops at all 3 All Stars (you know, I tried to abbreviate All Stars and it bleeped me out... ).

 

[Shmily1]

We've stayed at POP 9 times but we really love AS Music the best. Movies is our second favorite value. We love the bus transportation to and from the All Stars and the food courts are great.

About the buses.... if you look at the area of the AS resorts and the area of POP, they would be comparable-not exactly the same, but somewhat comparable. At POP, you always have everybody that wants to ride the bus waiting at the same stop and looking to get on the same buses you are. At AS resorts, you have the people spread out at three stops(resorts) and, from our experience, more likely that not, you will have separate buses for each of the stops. It has been very few times that we've had to share a bus and even when we did, it wasn't nearly as crowded as when we've been to POP. I've stayed at POP when the buses were so full they could't get everyone on there and they say there were more buses coming. It's never been that way for us at the AS resorts.

We also like the theming of the AS resorts better than POP and usually go to each section to take pictures of everybody doing funny stuff! Even though we've stayed at most of the resorts at WDW, we still pick AS Music and AS Movies a lot just because they are fun for me and that's what I care about most!

Maybe that makes sense.

 

[SandrA9810]

Thanks everyone. This will help us decide which value to stay in if we don't camp.

I'd choose camping ANY DAY over staying at a value. The transportation to the Fort is a million times better, even factoring in waiting for the internal buses. More inclusive, more things to do, better pool area. You can wake up to the sun shining, and friendly neighbors to say hi to. Plus you can't beat the rates, you can stay twice as long for what it cost at the values.

If you do want a roof over your head, like if you came during the torrential downpour of May 2009. Then I'd go with POP, but I do love the Movies for theming.