I haven't read every reply, so pardon me if someone else has already made the point I am going to make. But from a price standpoint, be careful about the Value Resorts. We tend to stay in the moderates, and every time I look into a Value Resort, I find that the price difference is not nearly as significant as the difference between a moderate and a Deluxe. But then on top of that, you have to consider the discounts that are normally released, whether it be a general public discount, AP discount or Disney Visa Card holder discount.
In general (there are always some exceptions of course), I have noticed that the moderate resorts often give 25% discounts. The discounts for the Values are not uniform for all of the Values. I have seen All Star Movies only offer a 5% discount and Pop Century a 20% discount. Art of Animation is so new that I have never seen a discount on their regular rooms, only the suites. So how does this translate into the bottom line price? I recently called WDW to inquire about prices for next year's trip, in June. I initally priced a 12 night stay, but I have since decided that 11 nights will be sufficient. But the same principle should apply regardless of how many nights. Here are the hotels that I priced, with the non-discounted price:
Port Orleans Riverside: $2,646
Art of Animation standard room: $2,178.04
Pop Century: $2,042.96
All Star Movies: $1,916.48
Here are the new amounts with the discounts that I often see available for each resort on
www.mousesavers.com:
Port Orleans with 25% discount: $1984.50
Art of Animation with no discount: $2,178.04 (so now you're paying MORE for a value than a moderate)
Pop Century with 15% discount: $1,736.52
Pop Century with 20% discount: $1,634.37
All Star Movies with 5% discount: $1,820.66
Now, those prices might not be exact once you factor in the sales tax adjustment, but the point still stands. In my example of the 12 night stay that I priced, Port Orleans Riverside was actually CHEAPER than Art of Animation, and it was only negligeably higher than Pop Century and All Star Movies. When you factor in the discounts, you only save about $160 by staying at ASM and you only save two or three hundred dollars staying at POP. Not that I want to minimize 300 dollars as every bit helps, but when it comes to a 12 night stay, another 300 doesn't seem like that much of a savings. But long story short, it just doesn't seem like the "Value" resorts live up to their name when they aren't really all that much cheaper than a moderate. For the negligeable amount of savings, you may as well just pay slightly more and stay in the moderate...unless you are thinking about Art of Animation (which you are), in which case, you SAVE money staying at a moderate.
So go to mousesavers.com and check your discounts. Could be that you can stay at a moderate for less than a value, or for only slightly more than a value.
