Wannabe Walt said:
My cousin and I are planning a trip to WDW for Nov 30-Dec 3. We will most likely (98% chance) be staying at a Value Resort
(I've always stayed at Moderates and the values look SO cheap and crappy compared to them).
Walt, my wife and I had the exact same opinion of the value resorts after having stayed at several moderate and deluxe resorts over the past few years. But once Pop Century openned, we couldn't resist the new resort smell, and the concept of decade specific theming. Overall we were very impressed with the level of service still found at Value Resort. Make no mistake, you are staying in a somewhat cartoony themed motel, and not a resort that transports you mentally to another part of the country or the world, but the theming is very fun and lively. The resort seemed to attract a lot of families with smaller childern, obviously do to the price, so you'll see lots of kids running around with their parents and younger adult couples. The place was very clean, the staff was very friendly and magically helpful. The food court wasn't all that special, the pools were pretty basic, and there is no sit down restaurant but you still do have access to all the greatness that is Disneyworld. The rooms are smaller than the moderates. All of them only have one sink. But the theming matches the area around it. It's a great size for two adults.
Then this past weekend, I took a solo trip to WDW for the Soarin' preview. Since it was just me I decided to give the All Stars a shot (ok Pop was all booked for friday night). I stayed in All Star Sports. When I arrived I was struck with how small the All Stars seem compaired to Pop Century. Each All Star resort is probably half the size of Pop. Pop's buildings are 4 stories, and 12 rooms long on each wing. All Stars are 3 story, 10 rooms long... at least Sports was. But the theming is just as good. Part of Sports is themed like a baseball park, complete with scoreboards and bleacher seats on top of the laundry rooms. The area I stayed in was tennis themed so it had 3 story tall Ref chairs across a giant tennis court complete with statues of Donald and his nephews... Donald quite irate that his nephews have taken up a baseball game while he's trying to play tennis. At night, everything is trimmed in color changing light piping which gives the place a very alive feel even at nite. And, as people have already said, there were a TON of high school aged kids running around AS-Sports. However I was put in a room in an area with only families. I don't know if this was on purpose or not but it looks like Disney does try to seperate vacationing famlies from the high school groups so at least you night will be quiet.
The only other difference I noticed was how the bus serice works. There is one bus for pop. There is one bus for each all stars in the mornings and evening at park open and close. Mid day though they will share buses. So, for example, the bus from Epcot makes a stop at all three all starts, sports, music, movies... in that order. It seems like the opening and closing buses are a little less crowded at the All-Stars since individual resort is smaller but the mid day shared buses can end up quite crowded going back to all three all stars. Neither trip is long. It took me 12 minutes from the time the bus pulled up to AS-Sports to the time I stepped off the bus at MK in the mornng before the park openning.
All of them have EMH, as do every other disney Resorts. I haven't seen any pictures of holiday decorations at any of the value resorts. And as someone else had posted, All-stars are in a county with a higher hotel tax rate, so an all-star room will cost a little more than a pop room... but their base rates are the same.
So the choice can come down to theming. You'll see more disney character statues and stuff at the All-Starts than you will at Pop. Both are fun and energetic. It doesn't compare with strolling through a lazy bayou like Riverside or the forests for the Pacific Northwest like Wilderness Lodge, but it's a unique experience that is by no means bad.
