Which Value resort to choose

[Marcelino Herrera Vegas]

Hi

We are planning to go with friends in October and we are deciding where to stay.
We stayed many years ago at Pop Century, then al ALL Star Movies, All Star Sports, Two years ago we stayed at Port Orleans and now we want to go to a Value resort again.

The thing is that many years ago they had the same price and now AS Music is the most expensive, followed by the AS Movies, then Pop Century and finally the cheapest is AS Sports.

Can anybody tell me the current differences between the four of them and which one will be the best choice?

Thanks to all

 

[Disneyfreak Jen]

From what I understand, the All Star resorts all share a bus. I don't know if that's true all year round or just in the summer, however. I like POP because they have their own bus….it doesn't go to any other resort. However the last few times I've stayed at POP it seemed like the whole park is staying there. Bus lines were crazy. That was last November, early in the month. What about AoA?

 

[Disneydreamer23]

Pop for sure, food court is better and POP has its own bus where the All stars Share busses

 

[Marc Davis Fan]

We're not counting AoA as a value? I know it's mostly suites, but the Mermaid section has standard rooms. It's slightly more expensive, but I think noticeably better grounds/facilities/theming than the others.

If not counting AoA, I'd suggest Pop Century because it has its own bus, making transportation to the parks more convenient (plus you can walk to / eat at AoA if staying at Pop Century).

 

[JasonDeyoung]

As said above, I would go with
1) AoA
2) Pop
3) Any All Star

I've stayed at Pop a few times and it does what I need. Decent food court and a non shared bus. It's not a huge resort so walking from ur room location isn't THAT big a deal to me.

I'm staying at AoA in April for the first time so not sure about rooms, but rest of the resort is awesome. Food court is great, bus is not shared.

Never stayed at an All Star, I do know depending on time of year it can be a crazy house with tour groups. The bus is shared from what I've been told. Stops at Sports first.

 

[Tony the Tigger]

The prices fluctuate often – sometimes movies is more expensive than music or vice versa. Art of animation is almost always most expensive by an amount that matters.

I have stayed at All-Star music and pop century. I walked over to art of animation from pop century and did not think it was worth the price difference.

I would absolutely choose pop century out of all of the values – if it is lower in price, that is a bonus, and it probably won't last once more rooms get booked up.

 

[blreinsel]

I stayed at All Star Music last June and will be staying in All Star Sports this June. The All Stars do all share buses, however we never had much of an issue with wait times for one. The order that the buses stop in is as follows: Sports, Music, Movies. The prices do fluctuate so check back often. Last year, Music was cheapest and this year, Sports was cheapest when we booked.

It really just depends on how much time you spend at the resort and what types of amenities you're looking for. We are huge park people - spend most of every day there and eat most every meal there. So All Star rooms do the job just fine for us considering the price difference to stay at many of the other resorts. That's not to say I don't want to stay at a deluxe. All about personal preference!

 

[SAV]

Before moving up to Moderates, we loved our stays at POP!

 

[belledream]

Something to clarify when you're looking at prices, All-Star Music may be the same price as the other two, but if you're looking at the average rate/night price, it could be inflated due to the Family Suites being included in that average. (Sports and Movies don't have suites).

That being said, I've rarely encountered shared buses in my many stays at all the All Stars, but if you'd like to pay extra and play it safe, you can't go wrong with Pop. Between the three All Stars, I'd go for whichever theme resonates with you the most.

 

[Dad 2 M & M]

Having stayed multiple times at the 3 All-Stars and Pop (also stayed at LM AoA), we would choose Pop. We just like it better.

If you are considering an All-Star, and are looking for quiet, stay FAR away from Sports. That is the resort you are most likely to encounter a domestic tour group (soccer, baseball, football, cheerleading, etc), and said encounter could loud.

The All-Star we choose if Pop is not available is Music. 1st pic below is Music, 2nd is entire All-Star Resort

Stay at the Rock Inn (short walk to Sports), or Broadway (short walk to Movies), and ask for close to parking lot. We choose those two Inns for ease of transportation.
When leaving the Parks in the evening, if our room is in the Rock Inn, we could take the Sports or Music bus; whichever arrived 1st (Broadway room, take the Movies or Music bus).

I must say we have NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER experienced shared busing at an All-Star!!! I know it must not be an Urban Legend, but am miffed to have never experienced shared busing.

 

[Dad 2 M & M]

All who have replied and experienced shared All-Star busing; when was busing shared?

Peak season? And shared every day for the duration of your stay?
Slow Season? And shared every day for the duration of your stay?
1 time time at park closing - Like MK after Wishes? EME Park closing early A.M.?
1 time midday returning to the resort?

We have been during Peak and Slow seasons, multiple times each......

Do not misinterpret this as anything other than true curiosity, as again, we have NEVER had shared busing at All-Stars and wonder if this is Urban Legend.

One reason we are so perplexed is we did, finally have shared busing last year.....at a Deluxe!! Beach Club, last bus stop, every day, duration of our trip!!!

 

[HauntedMansionFLA]

All who have replied and experienced shared All-Star busing; when was busing shared?

Peak season? And shared every day for the duration of your stay?
Slow Season? And shared every day for the duration of your stay?
1 time time at park closing - Like MK after Wishes? EME Park closing early A.M.?
1 time midday returning to the resort?

We have been during Peak and Slow seasons, multiple times each......

Do not misinterpret this as anything other than true curiosity, as again, we have NEVER had shared busing at All-Stars and wonder if this is Urban Legend.

One reason we are so perplexed is we did, finally have shared busing last year.....at a Deluxe!! Beach Club, last bus stop, every day, duration of our trip!!!

How was the transportation at BC? Nice resort? My brother and family stay at AS Sports a nod said it was good.

 

[Dad 2 M & M]

How was the transportation at BC? Nice resort? My brother and family stay at AS Sports a nod said it was good.

BC was really nice! The shared busing was only MK, and AK, and neither was an issue; a large amount of guests did not use the service. Epcot and HS were both served by water taxi. Epcot was a short walk, HS a little further, and we walked rather than use water taxi. As nice as it was, with way better dining, we STILL prefer POP!!

 

[dodgr98]

FWIW, My family stayed at All Star Sports last October. We had no horror stories, no out of control kids/sports teams and we had our own bus. No shared buses with the other two resorts. Service was good. No complaints.

 

[Andy_0410]

Having stayed multiple times at the 3 All-Stars and Pop (also stayed at LM AoA), we would choose Pop. We just like it better.

If you are considering an All-Star, and are looking for quiet, stay FAR away from Sports. That is the resort you are most likely to encounter a domestic tour group (soccer, baseball, football, cheerleading, etc), and said encounter could loud.

The All-Star we choose if Pop is not available is Music. 1st pic below is Music, 2nd is entire All-Star Resort
View attachment 131508 View attachment 131509

Stay at the Rock Inn (short walk to Sports), or Broadway (short walk to Movies), and ask for close to parking lot. We choose those two Inns for ease of transportation.
When leaving the Parks in the evening, if our room is in the Rock Inn, we could take the Sports or Music bus; whichever arrived 1st (Broadway room, take the Movies or Music bus).

I must say we have NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER experienced shared busing at an All-Star!!! I know it must not be an Urban Legend, but am miffed to have never experienced shared busing.

Stayed at all stars music a couple of years ago at the start of October and we never shared a bus with the other resorts

 

[Dad 2 M & M]

FWIW, My family stayed at All Star Sports last October. We had no horror stories, no out of control kids/sports teams and we had our own bus. No shared buses with the other two resorts. Service was good. No complaints.

I wouldn't hesitate to stay here again if Pop was not available, or Pop was much higher in price. One of the quirks of WDW Go is the Value Resorts pricing sometimes fluctuates wildly from login to login. We book well in advance, and many times book All-Star Sports only to change our reservation later to Pop. For some reason, Pop rooms can drop in price by as much as $20-$25. To be clear here, it was an apples to apples room at Pop, not a case of Preferred was the only thing available, and a Standard opened up later. Also, it was not a standard price initially and a discounted one later. Our trip in February started at a $79 All-Star Sports reservation, only to be changed to Pop when the price went from $104 or a night, to $84. Pop is worth $5 more than Sports (not worth $25 more).

Stayed at all stars music a couple of years ago at the start of October and we never shared a bus with the other resorts

Wonder when there are shared? I am beginning to believe the shared busing is something that might have happened in the past (like pre-Pop Century days) and was in one of those unauthorized Disney advice books. Maybe this is something people have read? I can't believe we never experienced it (if it still happens today).

 

[blreinsel]

I stayed at Music in June 2015 and we shared buses everyday, morning, afternoon, and evening. It was never really an issue time wise but we did share.

 

[Lsumatt72]

Hi

We are planning to go with friends in October and we are deciding where to stay.
We stayed many years ago at Pop Century, then al ALL Star Movies, All Star Sports, Two years ago we stayed at Port Orleans and now we want to go to a Value resort again.

The thing is that many years ago they had the same price and now AS Music is the most expensive, followed by the AS Movies, then Pop Century and finally the cheapest is AS Sports.

Can anybody tell me the current differences between the four of them and which one will be the best choice?

Thanks to all

For your sake, don't do an All-Star. Go with POP or AoA. All reasons stated in above replies are correct.

 

[TBrooker11]

I have stayed in the All-Star resorts and have shared buses on 4 out of 5 stays there so far. It all depends on the crowds, which park you are going to etc. I don't think Disney has a set schedule of when they use one bus for three resort in bring in more buses. They do it as needed.

 

[EvilQueen-T]

We've stayed at all the value resorts and for us we like staying at different places so the theme doesn't matter letting us pick whichever has the best discount.