Which value resort do you recommend??

[Halloween Baby]

We are going to DW in the middle of August - my husband, my 9 year old and my almost 2 year old at trip time. I am interested in knowing peoples thought for convenience to and from the park on Disney transportation and on pools/playgrounds at the resorts. We have stayed at POP the past 2 times and the big boys would like to try something new, but I am worried that the buses will take longer since they are not a separate stop like at POP (or that's what I've heard)?? Also, I'm wondering about the food at the resorts. We loved the variety that POP has. Are the others like that too??

Thanks for the help!!

 

[GatorMommy2007]

The only Values I've stayed at were POP and All-Stars Music. POP is SO much better, IMO. Music had a smaller, more limited food court, and just didn't have the appeal that POP had.

 

[Mousemommy1]

POP is the value I've stayed at most recently and we thought it was great! Great food court, great transportation,etc... However, when we stayed at All Star Movies we thought it was adorable, and now it has just finished being refurbished, so if we were choosing a value, I would probably try All Star Movies again.

 

[Brit_Jude]

Not very helpful but we only like Pop....though have you thought about trying the new Art of Animation resort. If you could manage a moderate we like Port Orleans Riverside.

 

[disneynut11]

I think ALL Stars is fine! I have stayed at both All Stars and POP and find them similar.
There were no big memorable differences between the food courts, and we really like the pool/activities at Music a lot!
The bus stop for All Stars varies. Sometimes they are separate for sports, music and movies but rarely and usually on the way to the parks. Even if they share a bus, the stops are yards away from each other and no big deal at all. When we go back, we are thinking of Movies, since they were just recently refurbished.
All Stars is the farthest from Magic Kingdom, but reasonable to Epcot and Studios. It is minutes from Animal Kingdom, Blizzard Beach.

 

[twinboysmom]

I answered some of this in a reply to you on the family board. Here are my thoughts. Our favorite of the 4 is movies. It just completed the most recent renovation in November. It screams Disney to me. It is small and well layed out. All of the rooms are easy to get to the food court and bus station. There is no reason to pay for a preferred room. As for bus service, when we have been at the all stars the only time we had shared bus service was during non peak times (such as 11am -3pm) and the buses weren't busy. Pop does always have it's own bus but they can be very busy at peak times as well.

I really like all the values just fine. They are all about the same to me and I think any of the 4 will be fine. Just pick a theme you like. The only thing I don't like aout pop is it just seems so big to me and we always have a super long walk without a preferred room.

I would agree with checking on the new art of animation resort. Not sure if it's cost is any different.

 

[disneynut11]

I think ALL Stars is fine! I have stayed at both All Stars and POP and find them similar.
There were no big memorable differences between the food courts, and we really like the pool/activities at Music a lot!
The bus stop for All Stars varies. Sometimes they are separate for sports, music and movies but rarely and usually on the way to the parks. Even if they share a bus, the stops are yards away from each other and no big deal at all. When we go back, we are thinking of Movies, since they were just recently refurbished.
All Stars is the farthest from Magic Kingdom, but reasonable to Epcot and Studios. It is minutes from Animal Kingdom, Blizzard Beach.

 

[Halloween Baby]

So is Art of Animation the other half of POP that they never finished or is it a completely different resort?

Also, are there different food courts for each of the All Star areas or do they share one?

 

[mickeypedia]

I've stayed at all of the Value Resorts....Pop is my favorite....with the bus situation, if you want to stay at the all-stars I would pick Sports...because the first bus stop is Sports....It is a little harder to catch a bus (longer waits) at the other resorts but you are going in August which isn't as busy as June or July....All the values are basically the same, the only thing is if you stay at Movies, it is alot harder to get a bus sometimes going to the parks. If you stay at POP, and want a change of menu, Art of Animation Resort will have their food court open and its just a short walk across Hour Glass Lake, they are supposed to be offering different types of cuisine not just the norm or stay at the Art of Animation which is new but right now they only have family rooms open (I'm going at the same time so I checked on this) because I wanted to try it out so we are saving that for a family trip.

 

[twinboysmom]

So is Art of Animation the other half of POP that they never finished or is it a completely different resort?

Also, are there different food courts for each of the All Star areas or do they share one?

Each all star has their own amenities. So yes, different food courts for each, and each has their own main themed pools and own quiet pools. They also have their own playgrounds. They are close together and you may legally pool hop between all 3. Just a very short walk.

Art of animation is the area across the lake of POP that sat vacant for quite some time. It is a different resort and will have it's own pool and food areas.

 

[Karabee]

Is value your only option? Sometimes the rates for the moderates are only a tad bit more, and when there are discounts you can stay at a moderate for the price of a value. When are you going?

 

[Halloween Baby]

No, we'd stay at a moderate if it was close to the same price! Or a family suite would be nice so the little guy can sleep while we're still awake! We're going 8/15/12 - 8/24/12.

 

[Karabee]

Now I know this isn't always exactly what will happen - but you can see that in 2010 they offered free dining during your dates, and in 2011 there was a room discount!
http://www.mousesavers.com/historicalwdwdiscounts.html#rack
I would keep holding on hope that something comes up. I always find the moderates transportation to be a bit better (although I have no complaints about POP!). Plus what I love about POR and POFQ is the boat to DTD. It's so nice to leave dinner from downtown and just hop on the boat. POR has fishing and boat rentals also, which Im sure your little ones would love. Last year we were able to stay at a Deluxe for the price of a moderate which was wonderful! Hope this might help

 

[Keegansmommy]

We love Pop. I didn't care for the All Star resorts because of the bus situation especially at night when the parks were closing. We witnessed many almost fights about people getting on the return bus.

We tried POFQ last time and loved this moderate resort. I think we have a new favorite now!

I must say we are excited to try the new AoA resort.

 

[Halloween Baby]

Now I know this isn't always exactly what will happen - but you can see that in 2010 they offered free dining during your dates, and in 2011 there was a room discount!
http://www.mousesavers.com/historicalwdwdiscounts.html#rack
I would keep holding on hope that something comes up. I always find the moderates transportation to be a bit better (although I have no complaints about POP!). Plus what I love about POR and POFQ is the boat to DTD. It's so nice to leave dinner from downtown and just hop on the boat. POR has fishing and boat rentals also, which Im sure your little ones would love. Last year we were able to stay at a Deluxe for the price of a moderate which was wonderful! Hope this might help

I'd love to stay at POFQ if we got a discount! I just can't justify spending so much more just for a room we're barely in. I think I would trade off a good discount for free dining though!!

We love Pop. I didn't care for the All Star resorts because of the bus situation especially at night when the parks were closing. We witnessed many almost fights about people getting on the return bus.

We tried POFQ last time and loved this moderate resort. I think we have a new favorite now!

I must say we are excited to try the new AoA resort.

So are you saying that at the end of the night the people from all 3 areas for All Star all share the same buses??

 

[tinan]

We have stayed at both All Star Sports and All Star Music and we definitely love Pop the best out of them. I know it's Disney and the customer service is supposed to be excellent, but we just did not get the same warm fuzzy feeling from the All Stars as we do at Pop. We had some situations while staying at the All Star Resorts and I must say that the manager did not handle this as best as we thought he could. Long story short, we were with a group yet not placed with the group we were with. Then come to find out some of the children in our group were biten by something. They checked for bed bugs and we were told there weren't any, but the one child that had the most bites also had a hole in her mattress about the size of a dime. The manager did deny there were any bugs, did switch rooms for us (which actually put us even further away from our group) and said that they would handle moving all of our luggage and managed to lose some of our luggage. We will always stay at Pop when staying in a value, but we much prefer the campground, WL and BC when we can afford them.

 

[GAGirlInVA]

We did not enjoy the POP.

We slightly preferred Music to Movies.

 

[carolinagirl268]

We've stayed at ASM and ASMu three separate times. 2 times in January and once in June. I've never had an issue with the buses. The two longest bus waits I've ever had we're at the GF and AKL. Sometimes I think it's just luck.