What's The Difference?

[Eyorestail]

You can tell that I'm a first timer, and never really went to Disney World... my DD wants to stay at the Contemparary but I say it's too expensive, me and DH want to stay at POP or at ASMu or ASMo. What is the difference besides prices. As in witch would be better, ASMu( or Movies) or the Contemparary?

 

[maxiesmom]

Location, location, location! You can walk to the Magic Kingdom from the Contemporary resort, which is a wonderful thing! Plus you are on the monorail line, which means you are a very short monorail ride away from Epcot.

Other differences--The pool at the Contemorary has a slide. None of the value resort pools do. You have a few different table service restaurants right at the Contemorary. None of the value resorts have a single table service restaurant. At the Contemporary you will have shaded benches to sit on at the bus stop. No shade and no benches at the value resorts, which my sister hates! Why stand in the hot sun more than you have to?

The rooms at the Contemporary are among the largest on property. You also get a bathroom with 2 sinks, plus the toilet is in its own little room. Which is handy for getting ready in the mornings. You only get 1 sink at the value resorts, and the toilet is in with the tub. The beds in the Contemporary are queen size, and you get a day bed. The beds in the value resorts are doubles.

How old is your daughter? If she is fairly young, I would definately go with the Contemporary. It is great to be that close to MK with a little one. It makes going back to the resort for breaks very easy.

 

[AppleSister1]

BIG differences....

The biggest being that it is on the monorail. From the Contemporary, you either take the monorail or even walk to the Magic Kingdom. You can take the monorail to the TTC and switch to the Epcot monorail. For AK or DHS you take a bus.

Additionally, The Contemporary offers larger rooms, table service restaurants, room service.

Pop and ASMu are value resorts. The rooms are smaller, and rather than table service restaurants, there is one food court. Not sure if they do Pizza Delivery to the rooms at the Values.....All transportation to the parks is via Disney Bus.

Really, it depends on what's most important to you. Do you plan to spend a lot of time at the hotel? Will you have a car or will you depend on Disney transportation?

Others will hopefully chime in since I've never actually stayed at any of these resorts.

Once again, welcome!

 

[LilGMom]

Lots of differences. Go to http://www.wdwinfo.com/wdwinfo/Resorts/resortmain1.htm and check out the resorts. All boils down to what you want out of a resort. To some it is just a place to sleep at night. To others, myself included, the resort is part of the Disney 'experience'.

 

[monetnj]

In addition to what others have stated here, the deluxe resorts tend to have interior hallways, like a hotel (although, in some cases you do have to walk outdoors from one complex of rooms to the other). The moderates and values tend to have exterior hallways, more like a motel.

 

[minnie61650]

Another DIS member posted her pors and cons of the different levels of Disney resorts:

FWIW, Here are my opinions on the advantages/disadvantages of each level:

Advantage of Value over Moderates and Deluxes
* Price.
* Food Courts for quick meals.
* Pop Century has its own bus.
* All Stars resorts share busses, but there is usually very little wait on either end.

Disadvantage of Values
* Small rooms.
* Double or King sized beds only.
* Large groups can sometimes be rowdy.
* No pool slide or hot tub.
* external corridors.
* Pizza delivery only.

Advantage of Moderate over Values
* Nicer feature pools with slides and hot tubs.
* Bigger rooms.
* Sit-down restaurants (all but POFQ).
* Real bars in main area plus pool bar, not just pool bar (except POP).
* Nicer food court, it's not just one big room.
* No giant icons.

Disadvantages of Moderates
* Double or King sized beds only.
* Can be spread out and most need an internal bus system.
* External corridors.
* Pizza delivery only.

Advantage of Deluxe over Moderates and Values
* Bigger rooms yet. Many can sleep 5 people.
* Queen or King sized beds.
* Large variety of sit-down restaurants.
* Nicer feature pools, many with zero entry.
* Internal corridors.
* All have sliding glass doors and most have balconies or patios.
* Most have special proximity to parks: monorail/boat to MK, walk/boat to
Epcot/MGM.
* Room service.
* Valet parking.

Disadvantage of Deluxes
* Epcot deluxes do not have snack shops for a quick meal, except the Beach Club Marketplace.
* Price.
* Busses are often shared, especially the Epcot resorts. The ride can take a long time.
* Self parking can be difficult, especially at the monorail hotels.

 

[minnie61650]

I have stayed at all levels of Disney Resorts. My favorite Disney owned resort is All Star Music.

Here are a few reasons :



1. I can book a preferred room location.
The way All Star Music is laid out it "seems" smaller than most of the other Disney resorts. If I stay in a preferred building i only see the Calypso and Jazz builings on the way to to and from the main pool and the bus stop and food court. Since I stay in preferred room I know I am going to be close to the food court, bus stop, & main pool.

2. I enjoy the theming at the All Stars. All Star Music is also is the quietest of the values. Generally less people stay there and there are more seniors and couples and less young children because children enjoy the themes of the other values more.

3. The bus service at the All Star Music is very good. Since I use an ECV good bus transportation is essential.

4. The entry at the values and Mods are much more Handicap friendly.
I am able to get in and out of my All Star room unassisted. This way my husband can go and play a round of golf and know I can leave my room to relax by the pool if I choose.
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All Star Music is my favorite resort. It tends to be the quietest of all the values.


All Star Music just underwent a refurbishment of all of the rooms and was completed in June 2007.


Here is a website with photos of the newly refurbished rooms at All Star Music.

Look at the Jazz Inn section with new posted:

http://allearsnet.com/acc/g_asmu.htm




---------------------------------------------------------


DH and I enjoy the landscaping and peacefulness of All Star Music.
We enjoy relaxing by the pool (there are plenty of chairs and lounges), and the beautiful lighting at the resort by night.

I have never had the unfortunate experience of running into the any of the large
groups of teens who sometimes stay at the values on school trips.
As long as you can avoid those large groups I do not think Noise will be an issue.

*HINT if you close your bathroom door at night you might not even hear the turbo toilets.
I close my bathroom door and I don't hear them.
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I love The All Star Resorts.

I am 56 years old and travel several times a yearfor pleasure. I often stay at 3and 4 star and sometimes a 5 star hotels and motels.
So the deluxe and mod resorts are just another hotel/motel to me.
Staying at an 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 Calypso 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.

The Calypso pool at ASMu has Donald Duck.

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.

A WORD ABOUT BUS SHARING

To me Bus Sharing at the All Stars is really a non issue.

In the mornings during Park opening hours each All Star usually has a dedicated bus.
During mid day it is usually just our stop and maybe one more on the way to the parks. On the way back sometimes it is all 3 but often Sports and Movies share and Music has it's own bus back. Each of the All Stars usually has it's own dedicated bus back from the MK.
That is a big plus. It seems like the Music bus stop usually has the shortest of the three All Star bus lines.

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!)

The pools at The All Stars are very kid friendly.

When staying at the All Stars you can use any of the All Star pools.That means 3 main pools ,3 quiet pools and 3 kiddie pools to chose from.

The All Star Movie Fantasia pool has Mickey.

The Calypso pool at ASMU has Donald Duck.

And the Surfs up pool at All Star Sports has giant surf boards.

Here are a few pool photos.

All Star Sports pool.

All Star Music Donald pool.

All Star Movies Mickey Pool.

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 theming is pure Disney.

My last 6 visits have been at The All Stars and during the fall of 2005 when we took dd,dsil, and our grandson age 3(at the time) for 8 nights we stayed 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 fun at Disney!

 

[MScott1851]

We've not stayed at a value resort yet, but have stayed at Coronado Springs, AKL, Contemporary, and WL.

I like the "all-in-one-building" design of the AKL, Contemporary, and WL. You walk in the front door, and you don't have to go outside again until you leave. Your room, the restaurants, shops, and front desk are all under one roof. I also like interior corridors. It's nice when it's raining or really hot outside.

Also, the value resorts are going to be farther away from the parks, and the transportation options are bus only. I like the Contemporary because you can walk to the MK, ride the monorail to the MK, take a boat, ride the monorail to the TTC and switch to ride the monorail to Epcot, or take buses to the other parks. It's really convenient. But you're right, it is ridiculously expensive. Why not try Wilderness Lodge? It's a deluxe that is near Magic Kindgom but is cheaper than the Contemporary by far.

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

If you want the best soruce of information for the Contemporary here is a link to the official Contemporary FAQ thread. http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1710920

 

[huge mickey fan]

Though all the differences are stated in the above posts, here is the major deciding factors. 1. Price- if you feel the Contemporary is out of your budget don't try to make it work. 2. Since this is your first visit think about how much time you are really going to spend at your resort. If the resort is a big part of your experience then use that as the major factor of resort choice. If you are planning on spending all of your time at the parks and just want a place to sleep then maybe go cheaper.

 

[Atchley]

We have stayed at a value, a mod, and this year we are staying at a deluxe. I really prefer the mod over the value because the moderate just has a more relaxing atmosphere. It just seemed more tranquil. Not to say that I would never stay in a value again. It is just what we prefer. If this is your first visit, I say go with the value. I don't believe that it will lessen your experience anymore to stay there. The huge figures are great for kids. We liked ASMo. Save money where you can because everything will cost you more than what you would expect it to cost. If saving money staying at a value, why not splurge on your DD and make her an appt at BBB? Maybe it will compensate a little for not staying at the CR. Something just for her.

 

[Eyorestail]

The BBB woudnlt really work because my DD is 12, I don't think she would like to be a princess... but I would love to see it happen

 

[Reginak]

You could also consider splitting the stay: we once stayed three nights at ASMo and then moved over to the Contemporary for our last two nights - it was great. By the way if you do there are tips if you want to include the dining plan for your trip.
Have fun!
Regina

 

[loonytoony]

Price is the biggest difference.

 

[buzznina]

Have you thought of splitting the difference and checking out the Mod resorts? The price difference is not as bad as it is between a Value and Deluxe.