Are Disney World’s Cheapest Hotels Actually Good?
Since as long as I’ve been visiting Walt Disney World, the All Star Resorts have had a bad reputation among some guests. I remember hearing horror stories, some of which strained credulity (one that stands out involves an exploding toilet), even when I was a kid.
When Sarah and I started returning as adults, there were plenty more tales we were told about the overcrowded, dirty, poorly-maintained, low-quality motels. We even had our own unpleasant experiences during youth sporting events back in the day. It’s thus unsurprising that a common question essentially asks whether the All Star Resorts are “good enough” for a family on a tight budget traveling to Walt Disney World?
Yes. That’s the answer to the titular question. Disney’s All Star Resorts are adequate, at bare minimum. I’m not going to bury the lede, make insinuations, or lead you to question whether the All Stars are sufficient, safe, scary, subpar, and so forth. The point of this post is to debunk some of those ‘horror’ stories, and recast Walt Disney World’s “budget motels” in a different light. In other words, we’ll explain why the All Stars aren’t just “good enough,” but rather, are actually good.
We’ve stayed at every single one of the All Stars (Movies, Sports, and Music) multiple times in both the old and new rooms at each of the resorts. This includes multiple stays in the last year, with one reservation on the books for Summer 2026 and probably another this year after that. Bluntly, I would not keep booking a particular hotel if it regularly (or even occasionally) had exploding toilet incidents or other horrors.
With that in mind, let’s take this point by point and discuss the potential problem points that Disney’s All Star Resorts do not actually have, along with the strengths they do possess…
Value for Money
Above is a look at nightly room rates for the All Star Sports in Summer 2026 as part of the Deep Discount on Rooms Starting at $99 Per Night at Walt Disney World. This is an insanely good deal, even if it’s not as deep of a percentage discount as the Cars Family Suites at Art of Animation, which are almost 60% off.
While $99/night rates at the All Stars are not the norm, they’re also not completely unprecedented. This same sale was offered last summer for Disney+ subscribers and again this winter for Disney Visa cardholders. And in both cases, All Star Sports was included in the discount, with $99/night rooms.
All Star Sports is once again $99 per night for many dates this summer, including what’ll likely be the start of the EPCOT Food & Wine Festival and Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party. (I’m already booked!) Here’s a look:
This deal is better than bouncebacks, Annual Passholder discounts, and Florida resident rates. With that said, it’s actually pretty common for All Star Sports to have rates maxing out at 35% off for APs, 30% off for Floridians, and 20-25% off for everyone else. This can put rooms in the $105 to $125 range depending on the date and whether you qualify for an affiliation discount. Still not as good as this deep discount for Summer 2026, though, which makes All Star Sports almost unrivaled.
The comparison where things get trickier for me is the All Star Resorts vs. Pop Century. The price gap between these can vary, but I’ve frequently found it to be about $30 per night after discounts. Other times, such as when Sports has $99/night rooms, the gap is greater.
For a price difference of over $50 per night at a time of year when I wouldn’t book a Skyliner resort, All Star Sports is a no-brainer. Other times, the call is much closer. See the above link for our comprehensive comparison.
All Stars vs. Off-Site Budget Hotels
A scenario we’ve experienced multiple times is finding that comparable off-site hotels cannot compete with the All Stars on all-in cost. In pricing out hotel options, we’ve found the least-expensive hotels in the Flamingo Crossings or Disney Springs areas are $115/night. To be sure, there are cheaper off-site options, but nowhere decent where we’d want to stay.
Even if the average general public promo at the All Stars is closer to $140/night than the deep discounts discussed above, that’s still only a ~$15/night surcharge over the options at Flamingo Crossings or Disney Springs. However, cost is not the same as value for money.
When you stay off-site, you’re probably paying for transportation to and from the parks. That means renting a car and paying for parking (potentially at both your third-party hotel and the parks) or using rideshare. The latter is usually the cheaper option, and we’d be using Uber or Lyft twice per day at an average cost of at least $15 per trip. That alone makes the All Stars more reasonable, and it’s before even accounting for the value of other perks (see below).
On-Site Perks
There are a lot of on-site perks for guests staying in Walt Disney World resort hotels. Everything from the Disney Dining Plan to on-site booking windows for Advance Dining Reservations to free parking and more. We’re not going to run through all of that, as this is already long and we have a separate guide to Staying Off-site vs. On-site at Walt Disney World.
The benefits that we view as most valuable are Airport Luggage Transfer, Early Entry, the Lightning Lane booking window. Let’s start with Airport Luggage Transfer, which as of Spring 2026, is still only available at the Value Resorts. This can be a huge advantage if you don’t want to hassle with handling your own luggage (and it’s now available from both your home airport and MCO).
Then there’s Early Entry, which is the 30 minute head-start before off-site guests can rope drop each of the parks. This is now valuable in all 4 parks, and it’s a good way to knock out headliners without buying Lightning Lanes. As we’ve said before, we think many fans really underestimate the value of Early Entry. I love it, and usually prefer Early Entry plus savvy standby strategy and staying late to paid FastPass.
If you want to supplement Early Entry with Lightning Lanes, you have an extended booking window by virtue of staying on-site. As discussed in Top 10 Tips & Tricks for Lightning Lanes at Walt Disney World, many of the most popular Lightning Lanes are totally gone by the time off-site guests can book them. The bottom line is that biggest perk of staying on-site, including at the All Stars, is saving time waiting in line…and in general.
Reimagined Rooms
We’ve now stayed in the reimagined rooms many times (they’re pretty much the same at all three All Stars), and have zero hesitations to return. (See our Photos & Video: Newly Reimagined Rooms at the All Star Resorts.)
All of these new rooms at the All Stars are a huge upgrade from the previous design, which was more minor leagues than all-star caliber. The functional improvements are tremendous, with a variety of space-saving upgrades that make the rooms feel larger. They also look bright and airy, which is a sharp contrast to the old style.
We’ve found some diehard fans who have complained about the new rooms, and others who call them sterile and hospital-like. Respectfully, we think that’s mostly the rose-colored glasses of nostalgia. I chatted with a manager at All Star Sports about the resort refurbishment during a recent stay, and she told me that guest feedback on the new rooms at Sports has been universally positive.
Even though we still view these rooms as “new,” the next round of room refurbishments starts with All Star Movies in Summer 2026 (through January 2027) and is likely to be followed by All Star Music in 2027 and All Star Sports in 2028 or 2029. This will be a soft goods update, which should refresh the rooms and add pops of color, similar to the Pop Century refurbishment last year.
Food Quality
The food courts at the All Stars are nothing special. Suggesting otherwise would strain credulity and cast my credibility into doubt. With that said, they’ve all been refreshed in the last 5 years or so, and generally are more pleasant than they once were.
I cannot speak to breakfast, as it’s been years since I’ve wasted my money on powdered eggs and rubber bacon at a Walt Disney World food court. (Aside from ‘special’ breakfasts, we do grocery delivery and focus on fruits, vegetables, and other healthy foods for our morning meal.)
However, I do think dinner has improved. In addition to the stereotypical fare, these food courts also serve up seared salmon, braised beef, pork loin, stir fry, and fried chicken. That’s better than I remember the options being a decade ago, but still hardly the pinnacle of WDW’s dining scene. Failing all of that, there’s the remodeled McDonald’s within walking distance of the All Star Resorts if you need a late night Filet-o-Fish fix.
Transportation
There was a time when we built in the cost of two to three taxi trips with each stay at the All Stars, as bus lines over a certain length meant the waits would be unbearably long. That was about a decade ago–before Uber and Lyft came onto the scene. This was also at a time when shared transportation among all three All Stars was common, even during busier times.
We have not had this issue of late with bus transportation anywhere at Walt Disney World. During our most recent stays at the All Stars, buses were frequent and efficient, and the only reason pickup times were ever inaccurate was when third-party Academy buses were dispatched (those aren’t connected to the wait times system), which was more like a “bonus bus” as opposed to an actual issue.
We’ve had zero problems making Early Entry or waiting in long lines when leaving the parks. Likewise, midday waits have been bearable, with no lengthy gaps or inconsistencies. The only caveat I’d offer here is that we’ve never left during the morning rope drop rush–our trips are always to arrive for Early Entry or later in the morning. Likewise, we never leave during the post-fireworks mass exodus. I’d imagine buses are still packed during those peak times, just like always.
Maintenance & Upkeep
There was a time from the aughts right up until the room overhaul began that the All Stars were in rough shape. Faded decor all around, woefully outdated posters, and details that had not aged well and were in need of outright replacement.
As someone who has actually stayed in shady motels around Orlando and Anaheim, I would stop well short of calling the All Stars that, even at their lowest point. Truly sketchy motels have an unsafe and unsettling quality to them; the All Stars never had that. They just were not up to Disney’s standards.
That has changed in the last 5 or so years. Along with the room overhaul, common areas were refreshed, oversized icons were thoroughly cleaned and given a fresh coat of paint, and everything looks crisper and nicer as a result. There are still elements of the hotels that are dated, but they’re little things–small cues that the hotels were built in a different era, and not major components of the properties.
Maintenance and upkeep are now every bit as good at the All Star Resorts as other hotels at Walt Disney World. There are no noteworthy cleanliness issue, and to the extent that anything is dated, the same type of thing exists pretty much every at Walt Disney World. One person’s dated detail is another’s nostalgia.
The oversized icons, exterior hallways, and general thematic style of the All Stars are certainly not for everyone, but “not to my tastes” is certainly not the same as “poorly maintained.” Upkeep is no better or worse at the All Stars on average than other hotels at Walt Disney World.
Guest “Quality” and Crowds
Few things drive me crazier than guests passing judgment or casting aspersions on their fellow guests at Walt Disney World. There’s a belief among certain people that they are “too good” for a Value Resort or want to stay at a more expensive hotel not for any substantive reasons, but so they aren’t around “lower class” guests.
This type of sentiment or the idea that Walt Disney World should be even more expensive to price out “undesirable” guests (these are all air quotes, by the way) is absolute nonsense at best, and downright offensive at worst. Money does not buy class. Bad behavior transcends income levels, and if anything, there’s a straight line between higher prices and more entitled guests.
Beyond that, whose place is it to pass judgment on the working class family that skimped and saved to afford a rite of passage trip for their kids to Walt Disney World, but could only afford the All Stars? Are they any more or less ‘worthy’ than the middle class parents who maxed out their credit cards to stay at the Grand Floridian?
This whole conversation makes me uncomfortable, but it’s nevertheless worth addressing because I’ve heard plenty of derogatory terms to describe the All Stars and their supposed clientele. It’s all BS. There is no material difference in the nature of guests at any of the resorts. I’ve witnessed obnoxious and drunken behavior out of business people at the Yacht Club and Gran Destino Tower, and have enjoyed perfectly peaceful stays at the All Stars.
There is one wrinkle to this that had a bit of validity in the past, which was/is crowds. It used to be the case that the All Stars had packed pools, overstuffed food courts during peak hours, tons of people loitering around the common areas, chaotic lobbies, and huge lines for the buses were problems. We’ve experienced all of these things ourselves, so I know they actually happened and weren’t exaggerated.
We’ve encountered this problem less at the All Stars in recent years. It’s still likely a problem when the ESPN Wide World of Sports is hosting a major cheer or dance event, so we recommend consulting the ESPN WWoS calendar before booking if this is a concern.
For whatever it’s worth, I stayed at Sports during one of those events last year and had no issues. Crowds weren’t bad, and the kids (and their parents) were better behaved than in the past. Anecdotally, I’ve heard that Disney has made it clear to chaperones that their groups need to behave, and be better supervised.
Ultimately, the answer to the titular question is an emphatic yes. If it’s been a while since you stayed at the All Star Resorts or you’ve never stayed after hearing horror stories, consider giving them a (second) chance. Bus transportation, rooms, maintenance, and more have all improved by leaps and bounds in the last several years at the All Stars.
Given quality of the reimagined rooms, efficiency of buses, on-site guest perks, and overall experience at the All Stars, a compelling case can be made for many parties on tight budgets to choose the All Stars over off-site accommodations. That’s without even addressing the emotional and subjective side of things–that emotional pull to be inside the Disney Bubble.
If you’re a frugal traveler wanting to get the “full” Walt Disney World experience but unable to splurge or spend extra on Pop Century or another higher-tier resort, the cheapest hotels on-site are actually good.
They’re not my first or even fifteenth choice among on-site accommodations I’d choose at Walt Disney World if money were no issue, but I don’t find myself regularly winning the lottery, so value does matter to me. I also don’t feel like I’m compromising on the quality of my overall experience when staying at the All Stars. If I did, I wouldn’t keep booking them!
Planning a Walt Disney World trip? Learn about hotels on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page. For where to eat, read our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. To save money on tickets or determine which type to buy, read our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips post takes a unique look at clever items to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will help. For comprehensive advice, the best place to start is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for everything you need to know!
YOUR THOUGHTS
Have you stayed at any of the All Star Resorts in the last few years? What did you think of the quality? What about the hotel(s) as a whole? How do you think these options compare to third party or off-site accommodations? What about relative to Pop Century or higher-tier hotels at Walt Disney World? Do you agree or disagree with our assessment that the All Stars are actually good hotel options for those wanting to be in the Disney bubble? Hearing your feedback about your experiences is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts or questions below in the comments!
Drunk man makes fun of person with Down Syndrome at Belle Vue Lounge at Boardwalk. Enough said. Classless people are everywhere. Money does not buy class.
We have stayed at All Star Movies and Music since the renovation . Both are very nice. Out of those two, we prefer movies. I have stayed at Art of Animation in the Little Mermaid room but it has been quite a few years ago. Our favorite is Pop Century because of is the sky liner. The other teason is the food court. The food is really good. I don’t think you could go wrong with any of them.
We stayed at the Art of Animation. It was FAR from regular motel decor that had been disney-fied. In fact it was SO DISNEY that it was overwhelming. The entire room was themed and colorful. There was not even respite in the bathroom. It was a sensory onslaught of Disney.
We did ‘work our way’ up the resort luxury scale as we grew older and made more money – but the All Stars will always have a happy place in my heart as it was where we could afford to stay when we first started to go. They had prime rib at the buffet – we’ll always remember that! As I’ve gotten older and much more achy, a really comfy bed and convenience access now tops my hotel wish list. Generally I like to book split stays between Epcot and MK resorts just for that. The noise levels at the All Stars are also higher imo – the walls are thinner, which I don’t think they fixed with the revamp – though the beds are probably great now. The Boardwalk sound proofing is amazing – as a balcony over the boardwalk during a marathon will prove! But we also now have a HS Senior who really likes a separate room and privacy sometimes. So those family suites are very tempting to try out as an affordable alternative to 1-2 bedroom DVC rentals.
I’ve always preferred All Star Music because I think it is the prettiest of the All Stars. I also think the layout is simple and easy to navigate. They actually have a fountain in the courtyard which I think is unusual for a value. One thing I noticed, you did not bring up Art of Animation but only Pop. Is there a reason or do you not consider AoA a value too, like Pop?
We stayed in a family suite at Music before the reno. It was fine. Quiet at night. We were on 2nd floor at end near parking lot, so that likely helped. Plus, this was when on site guests had more perks. We stayed at Pop post reno, pre skyliner. Our kids loved the theming. Unfortunately, we had plumbing problems with brown water bubbling up from the sink drain and then subsequently no water for a day while issues were fixed. Also, we were on the bottom floor, and when the landscapers came by with leaf blowers, our room filled up with gasoline fumes. Now we typically stay at AoA for the 2 bathrooms you get in a suite plus skyliner.
Outside of a trip in 1993, we stayed at AoA right after the skyliner opened, and it has likely spoiled us. I think the skyliner added so much value to the resorts on its line. We’re upgrading slightly on our next trip to check out CBR, to see if the extra jump to a moderate is worth it.
that is, the only place on site we ever stayed at…
This is a great article, I last stayed at the All Stars 3.5 years ago as a group of 3 ladies, we don’t rent a car, so having transportation included is important. We would rather save on accomodation to spend money on nice meals/nights out. This trip we also had negativity from a waiter in California Grill when we said we were staying at the All Stars, which really ruined the experience.
I think you are spot on with your assessment here. When we first traveled to Disneyworld when our kids were young we stayed at All Stars on a few occasions. This was ranging in dates over 15 years ago. We always thought the All Stars resorts were a great option for our family. We did it because of the budget aspect. Then we later upgraded to moderate resorts for a couple visits which were also nice. Then we were absent from Disneyworld for quite some time based on the age of our family. I hear that All Stars may have gotten a bit tired and need of renovation. We may have missed out on those years.
Last year in early 2022 my wife and I made our return to Disneyworld and stayed at All Star Musics. Now my wife and I stayed at All Stars for different reasons that I thought I would add to the Value Resorts – Pro column. Even as more mature Disneyworld visitors we fall into the category of “Disney Park Warriors”. We are there for rope drops and we are there until the fireworks go off to close the day (with plenty of moments of sitting in the shade enjoying a snack in between). Which means for us our Resort is just a place to sleep, so we need it to be safe and clean with acceptable transportation. All Stars checks those items on the list for us. And the second reason for us, is that even though we could do a moderate or better resort when we look at the bottom line price difference we make a decision by staying at All Stars we can easily justify a lot of other goodies on our trip as a substitute for a different resort. We choose to stay at All Stars which we thought was great on our visit last year, and we also enjoyed things like Genie +, and Individual Lightning Lanes, and plenty of Mickey Ice Cream Bar, etc..
Just my two cents on the subject, but in summary I just was at All Stars last year and I whole-heartedly agree with your assessment.
This is great! We typically visit with a group of 6 and usually end up staying in AoA family suites. Recently we stayed in a family suite at All Star Music and we were surprised about how enjoyable that stay was. We also LOVE the Skyliner, but the price gap in the All Star Music to AoA suites seems to growing, so I’ve been debating if the upgrade to AoA is truly worth it at this point… Any thoughts?
Not really. You’ve identified the issue and are asking the right question…but it’s really one that depends on the party and budget.
The Skyliner premium is worth about $40/day to us–but that number could be different for you! How often do you visit EPCOT or DHS and take midday breaks; how much is the non-bus transportation worth? Do you prefer the AoA suites or exterior themed design? It’s a really close call, IMO!
The “guests” section was eloquently put. Thank you for addressing that the way you did.
I have stayed at many Disney resorts with my family over the last ten years or so. We stayed at an All Star resort the first vacation. We enjoyed our stay but had no experience with other resorts to compare. We returned the next year (around 2010??), had a few minor Disney issues and were asked if we would like to be upgraded for free to the Polynesian, a delux resort. We moved to the Polynesian, wonderful and beautiful resort. Smart tactic by Disney because once you stay at a nicer resort, you don’t want to go back to an All Star resort. That being said, even the All Stars resorts are nice at Disney. Disney just does everything well. We have stayed at the Animal Kingdom resort, excellent. Also, at the Caribbean Resort which was nice. Also, Conronado springs, which I didn’t like the layout at all. We also have stayed at the Art of Animation resort, super cute. Young children would love this resort. It a sprawling complex but it does have Skyliner access.
I’m glad I read this, and will probably book All Stars next time. Although I spend freely on hotels when I travel, the value of this level of Disney hotels is the only way I can really enjoy a stay at WDW. With the deluxe’s nightly rates, I’d be at the parks with a nagging feeling that I’d left the bathwater running but instead of water – money!
I make no comments in terms of income, I don’t necessarily see it as a working class/middle class/upper class issue. But I don’t know that it can be denied the All Stars are just louder, even when there isn’t a sporting event going on.
I’ve stayed there for a night 3 times in the last few years, usually because of an earlier arrival than initially planned. Every single time I’ve been woken up in the middle of the night by rowdy guests yell-talking to each other outside and continually going in and out of their rooms slamming the doors. Maybe it’s the nature of motel style accommodations in general, but I don’t seem to experience it at POP! for whatever reason. It just seems to me that the All-Stars carry a partier atmosphere that doesn’t lend itself well to people who don’t wish to be awake at 1am.
We’ve had experiences like that just about everywhere. Stay at Yacht Club or Coronado while there’s a convention going on and it’s drunken business people instead of youth sporting groups. A lot of that happening or not is simply good or bad luck–people ‘party’ on vacation.
What I will concede is that it can be worse or at least more audible at all of the motel-style accommodations with exterior hallways. Soundproofing isn’t as good and you’re more likely to hear whatever’s happening outside your room. Similarly, noise is now worse from above with the removal of carpeting. Even if the people above you are not partying, it can sound like a herd of buffalo overhead if they are loud steppers.
Stayed at All Star Movies for the first night of a nine night stay recently, followed up by four nights at Boardwalk DVC studio and then Beach Club Resort studio. Bus service for early entry was great and everything was clean. For the price, these rooms are a great value. I do think the rooms are a bit small for a family of four. The smell in the lobby was way too strong. It was loud at night. Teenagers were doing some stupid cheer at around 11 pm and then slamming doors. Ridiculous, but we also had an issue with an outside reception/event that took place at the Beach Club so the noise problem can happen anywhere (and these were bigger issues for my wife really as I sleep like the dead). One thing I couldn’t help notice was the location of the bus pick-up. We only went to Disney Springs that first night, but the All Star bus pick-up location was much further away than the deluxe resort bus pick-up locations. I mean, I get it–the deluxe resort bus pick-up locations should probably be closer for the premium paid, I just wish the contrast wasn’t so obvious.
“I do think the rooms are a bit small for a family of four.”
It’s been a while, but I thought the Value rooms were okay for four back when they used two double beds instead of two queen beds; and celebrated the use of good modern beds that come out from the wall because it’s a bit tight with two queen beds. Do people take advantage of this and leave the bed up until it’s bedtime, or do people leave it down when they’re in the room due for seating or other reasons?
It’s hard for me to judge by pictures, but even going non-Disney to get more space for a week you’ll need to pay more or stay farther away, even if you count Disney Springs hotels as about the same distance.
We were only there for the night, but compared to the Boardwalk DVC studio and the Beach Club Resort studio, the All Start Movie studio just seemed too small. We’re talking about 260 square feet versus 359 feet versus 381 feet. That additional 100 or 120 square feet is huge. If you fold the murphy bed back up during the day, that does create additional space, but that would require I fold my kid up with it as he is going to be lying in that bed while we’re in the room and my wife will be on the other bed (unlike fold-out or murphy beds in DVC villas which turn into couches–although, on the other hand, the murphy beds at the All Stars are much, much more comfortable than the fold-outs–but then again, all DVC rooms will eventually have murphy beds as I understand it so the All Stars will lose that advantage). Getting back to my point, as incredibly comprehensive (and awesome) Tom’s insights are on this blog, he doesn’t have kids so he may be less focused on the size issue when he is analyzing the pros and cons.
I agree~ the room can be small for a family of four, especially when your kids are older and the size of an adult rather than a toddler. My family of four stayed at a deluxe this past summer and my husband and daughter left after a week. My adult son and I are teachers and had more time off so we decided to stay a few more days. We went from a deluxe to POP and I enjoyed the vibe at the pool more at POP than the deluxe resort we stayed at. The only thing I disliked was what you commented on and that was the walk to the bus while at Disney Springs. It is quite a hike!
we started staying at DW in the all star hotels…….We have stayed about 8 times at all star music in the suites, ( loved them) at AOA suites one time, (ok but like music ones better) and we have stayed at POP many times and loved it…….This was before the pandemic. Since then we stayed at Coranado springs. one time…………absolutely hated it. Definately was because of the lack of a cleaning staff at the time ( at least that is what I believe) so havent stayed at any disney hotels since then . If we ever stay again I will make sure there is a cleaning staff to clean, change towels, TP , and make sure the bedding is fresh , otherwise nope. All I can say is make sure things are back to the way they were b4 the pandemic before you book.
My favorite 2/3-star off-property motels from when I was a kid and when I first went as an adult no longer exist! I remember beating $60 a night with $40 a night, which was a nice 33% off.
Even if you are willing to put a price on staying on site, it’s a lot harder to beat the All-Stars in price for a weeklong vacation (Sun-Fri especially) without staying more than five miles away or staying in an Alamo Inn-level shack (Tom’s horror story/review from DL-area hotel is must reading). It’s easier on the weekends, but there’s definitely trade-offs paying less, just as there’s trade-offs paying more at Pop Century.
Writing this from my comfortable queen-size bed at All Star Movies. I completely concur with your review. My first All Star stay was in 2017, and since then I have been renting DVC and staying in deluxe resorts. I have stayed in nearly all of them. Booked the AP here for Tron previews and am super impressed with the renovation. The rooms are clean, modern, well designed, and really leave nothing lacking. We had a rental car, but our friend took the bus back and forth to Magic Kingdom twice today and said it was easy and had little wait. I called Mousekeeping to request more pillows and coffee, and they brought them very promptly. The two differences I noted between this and the deluxe resorts are they didn’t provide the H2O lotion here, and the walls here are definitely thinner. I brought earplugs and it’s definitely not a dealbreaker for me at all. I too enjoy the theming, better than a bland mid-tier chain for me for sure. Like you said, it’s not my first choice when money is no object, but I would not hesitate to stay here again, on my own or with my family.
As much as we would love to stay at Poly, or one of the Lodges, or on the Boardwalk, we genuinely love the value resorts. We stayed recently at All Star Music and thoroughly enjoyed our stay. We spend most of our time in the parks, but did have some time to enjoy the pools and grounds and both were great. I loved coming back to our resort in the evening after our park days. The grounds were well kept and with the ambient lighting in the Broadway section, it felt like a less jarring transition away from the parks than driving to a nearby Marriott would. For anyone on the fence and concerned if the horror stories you hear are true, the Values are clean and pleasant and sprinkled with pixie dust 🙂
Our first Disney hotel that we experienced was the Art of Animation years ago. We then started staying at the moderate and higher end hotels, and yes, they are obviously nicer with much better amenities. But the value hotels are still excellent.
During the holidays we stayed at the Pop Century for the first time. It was the only reasonably priced hotel available when i booked. It was great. My kids loved the decor around the property and the skyliner was a game changer. Easy access to Epcot and to our character breakfast at Cape May (plus the skyliner is just fun on its own). plus it made it easy to visit some of the other hotels to see their decorations. If someone wants to complain about the “class” of people,.etc. please do us a favor and stay home. I don’t want your negativity and bad vibes ruining everyone else’s trip.