Value vs. Moderate Resorts at Disney World

Many guests planning Walt Disney World trips wonder whether it’s worth saving money by booking Value Resorts or paying extra for better amenities at the mid-tier Moderates. This comparison weighs the pros & cons of each (pools, dining, transportation, etc.) and gives our verdict as to which accommodations are the best picks for different types of travelers.

For starters, this post assumes you’ve already determined that you want to stay on-site at Walt Disney World and have narrowed your search to these specific categories. If not, you might want to start with a different comparison: Off-Site vs. On-Site Walt Disney World Hotels. When it comes to the perks of staying on-site, both Value and Moderate Resorts have precisely the same advantages.

Both are eligible for Early Entry, and neither have access to Extended Evening Hours. Both have the extended booking windows for Lightning Lanes, Advance Dining Reservations, special event tickets, and more. Both offer free overnight parking at the hotels, and include transportation to the parks. Neither charge resort fees; both have access to bundled vacation packages, which includes the Disney Dining Plan. In short, the amenities at each hotel and between the tiers differ, but the on-site perks are identical.

As for this comparison, we break it down to a bunch of different categories (price, theme, rooms, recreation, dining, transportation) because the ultimate answer as to which is better is going to be [spoiler alert] “it depends.” What it depends on is how important each of the considerations below are to you. With that said, let’s try to analyze the five most important features of Walt Disney World hotels to see where each tier has advantages…

Before we get going, we need to offer a caveats about this overarching comparison: it’s really clunky. Arguably, Walt Disney World has outgrown the Value, Moderate, and Deluxe Resort tiers. Nowhere is that more apparent than in these two tiers, which include everything from standard rooms at the All Stars to Family Suites at Art of Animation to Suites at Gran Destino Tower that border on luxury accommodations.

Suffice to say, there’s a massive difference between the guest experience of someone staying in the ~$100 per night regular room at All Star Sports and someone booking the ~$2,5000 per night Club Level Castillo Presidential Suite at Gran Destino Tower (where Lebron stayed during the NBA Bubble). The latter has far more in common with the Grand Floridian than it does the other Value or Moderate Resorts.

To the greatest extent possible, we’re going to “smooth over” this range of room categories by focusing on standard options at each resort. This makes things easier for us, and also more practical for you since the standard accommodations are the most common category. Realistically, you’re probably not debating between a barebones room at All Star Sports and an Executive Suite at Gran Destino Tower. If you are…maybe this isn’t the post for you!

Anyway, let’s turn to the comparison categories of Value Resorts versus Moderate Resorts at Walt Disney World…

Price

Standard rooms at all Value Resorts are cheaper than standard rooms at all Moderate Resorts. Again, the Art of Animation Family Suites, and various room types in Gran Destino Tower are outliers here in that they’re not an apples to apples comparison with the other hotels in the categories, we won’t give them much consideration.

According to our highly unscientific calculations, Moderate Resorts are about $70 more expensive than Value Resorts per night on average (sometimes less, sometimes more). This difference varies widely based upon season, discounts, etc., but expecting to pay about $70 more per night at a Moderate Resort is a good baseline.

One complicating factor with this comparison is the Skyliner Resorts, which are discussed in greater detail in the transportation section. Just as Moderates cost more than Values, there’s a “Skyliner Surcharge” within each category. As a result, the price difference between a standard room at Coronado Springs is typically much cheaper than one at Caribbean Beach, and between the All Stars and Pop Century.

Conversely, the gap between Coronado Springs and Pop Century often is not as significant. Regardless of the actual number, it’s true that, on average, standard rooms at the Moderates cost more than a good chunk of change more than Values on a nightly basis.

Advantage: Values

Theme

Moderate Resorts generally offer more nuance and subtlety in the way of themed environments. You have a lot of ancillary details that come together to form a cohesive backstory and more convincing environment that transports you away from Walt Disney World. This is especially true at the Port Orleans Resorts, where you can spend a lot of time exploring to pick up on morsels of the theme.

By contrast, the Value Resorts convey their style through larger than life icons. At the All Star Resorts, these are primarily oversized Disney characters. If you’re traveling with kids, don’t underestimate how much they might enjoy these icons. Pop Century has some Disney characters, but it’s also a lot of non-Disney pop culture references that’ll appeal to baby boomers and millennials more than children.

Aside from the nostalgia trip of Pop Century, most adults will be less enamored with the design of the Value Resorts. It’s generally more surface-level, attempting to distract from the “boxy” plain, motel buildings that comprise the hotels with the eye-grabbing icons. There is nothing nuanced about the theming at these hotels, and adults will almost always prefer the more engaging, interesting, and oftentimes romantic theming of Moderate Resorts.

Advantage: Moderates

Guest Rooms

On average, standard guest rooms at Moderate Resorts are bigger by about 60 square feet. (Caribbean Beach is even larger.) We have a post that offers a break-down of the size difference of all Walt Disney World hotels.

It used to be the case that the Moderate Resorts had nicer rooms with better bedding and superior themed design. It was also the case that the All Star Resorts were looking tired, with faded and dated decor. That has changed with the most recent room designs, which are relatively consistent at Pop Century and all of the All Stars.

There have been some complaints among Walt Disney World diehards that these rooms are light on theme and feel sterile and cold as a result. While it’s true that they favor function over form, the consensus among regular guests (read: non-fans) has been resoundingly positive.

We love the newer rooms at the Value Resorts. They use space exceptionally well and have thoughtful features. We’re also big fans of being able to fold up the second bed, freeing up floor space and turning that into a proper table. Even the king rooms at the Moderate Resorts don’t offer this much dynamic space.

Moderates still have a better sense of themed design and feel more upscale and less utilitarian as a result. However, some of these are now feeling tired and overdue for updates. They also lack the same space-saving features found in the new rooms at the Value Resorts, which do help bridge the gap in terms of size.

Really, this comes down to your priorities. Our personal favorite rooms are at Coronado Springs Resort, which offer the best of both worlds. However, we also are big fans of the functionality of the new rooms at the Value Resorts. They don’t have the most elaborate designs, but they really get the job done and serve their purpose well!

Advantage: It Depends

Dining

Each Moderate Resort has at least one table service restaurant, some of which are pretty good. For the most part, they’re not Deluxe-caliber restaurants–the kind of restaurants that draw non-resort guests to them–but they’re not bad. Coronado Springs has many table service restaurants, a few of which are fantastic.

All Moderate and Value Resorts have counter service restaurants (more accurately, food courts). The advantage here usually goes to Moderate Resorts, as they offer more varied and interesting menus. By contrast, the food courts at the Value Resorts are more utilitarian and have less interesting options.

This only really matters if you’re going to be at your hotel to eat these meals. We usually eat every meal in the parks or at hotels near the parks, so dining at Moderates and Values is always a non-factor for us. The biggest exception to this, again, is Coronado Springs specifically, which is the only resort of the bunch to offer late night dining. As a result, we will frequently have dinner at Coronado after returning from the parks.

Advantage: Moderates

Recreation

All Moderates have themed pools with water slides, and each of these pools is pretty cool. Value Resorts also have lightly themed pools, sans slides. Aside from Art of Animation’s Big Blue Pool, no Value Resort Pool made our list of the Top 10 Pools at Walt Disney World, whereas several Moderate pools made the list.

Moderate Resorts also offer bars/lounges and various other forms of activities, like boat rentals, that aren’t available at the Value Resorts. The advantages here universally belong to the Moderate Resorts, which unquestionably have better amenities than the Values.

Without question, the most/best amenities are found at Coronado Springs. This is Walt Disney World’s primary convention hotel, and it shows. That’s why Gran Destino Tower was added, and it has a ton of amenities for adults. Multiple restaurants, bars & lounges, fitness centers, hot tubs, and more. If these things matter most to you, Coronado Springs blows away the competition–it’s more like a Deluxe Resort than a Moderate in this regard.

As with dining, it’s mostly a question of whether you’ll use use these amenities. If your party will spend a significant amount of time at your hotel each day, these recreation options could be pretty important.

It’s also worth noting that Moderate Resorts are typically more spread out (French Quarter excepted), so if you are firmly opposed to walking, the Value Resorts might be slightly more appealing.

Conversely, this added space offers more areas to explore, and the Moderate Resorts are great for a leisurely stroll in the evening or morning, giving them a true resort (rather than hotel) vibe. For a ‘best of both worlds’ approach, make a room request at the Moderate Resorts that’s convenient to the main amenities, giving you the option to be close to the action while also exploring at your leisure.

Advantage: Moderates

Transportation

This is where things get complicated, and the distinction between the Value and Moderate Resorts really breaks down. You might think that transportation is an important amenity, and those paying extra for higher-tier resorts would be rewarded with more efficient transportation. You would be wrong. Transportation is not consistently better at more expensive hotels, especially when it comes to bus transportation.

In reality, this category is all over the place. The worst transportation at any of these resorts is at Coronado Springs, followed closely by Port Orleans Riverside. That’s because both of these larger resorts have internal bus loops, which is tedious and time-consuming. Coronado Springs the worst due to the addition of Gran Destino Tower, which means more people and strain on the buses.

In the middle are the All Star Resorts (all of them). On occasion, these can share bus service to the parks, but we have not experienced that recently–it seems pretty rare now. More importantly, they each have single stops at each resort. The All Star buses can be a wildcard. Sometimes, buses will be dispatched for each resort and will be running quite often, making them incredibly efficient. Other times, there will be huge lines in the morning or otherwise long waits. Our recent experiences with bus service at the All Stars has been generally positive–a big improvement as compared to a few years ago.

It’s a similar story with Port Orleans French Quarter. This resort has a more compact footprint than its sister property, and bus service is generally efficient.

The best transportation is at any of the Skyliner resorts, which include Art of Animation and Pop Century, plus Caribbean Beach. These offer aerial gondola service to Disney’s Hollywood Studios and EPCOT, which is an absolute gamechanger.

The Skyliner is efficient and predictable, so long as you aren’t visiting during storm season. (Even then, we’ll take the Skyliner resorts.) These are not all equal–Caribbean Beach gets the slight edge since this is the Skyliner hub resort, with two stations that are convenient–meaning direct access to both parks.

We place the Skyliner advantage on par with or perhaps slightly above that of the monorail. That’s really saying something, as the monorail resorts are all Deluxes and charge a significant price premium. The advantage of being able to hop aboard a continuously-loading aerial gondola cannot be overstated, making it exceedingly easy to get to EPCOT and DHS for Early Entry, or taking a midday break.

For us, this is the ultimate trump card–and why we’ll usually opt for the Skyliner Resorts over anything else in both of the Value and Moderate Resort categories, unless there’s a significant price difference, unavailability, or discount exclusions. All of those things do happen often, unfortunately.

There are two times of year when the Skyliner is worth less or nothing at all–during the heart of storm season when it can go down for several hours per day and its annual refurbishment, which is typically in late January.

Advantage: Skyliner Resorts, spanning both Value and Moderate Resorts

Verdict

As is probably clear by now, Value versus Moderate Resorts is not a clean comparison. So it thus should not come as a surprise that this is not a neat verdict, with one category being the obvious winner. To the contrary, the outcome is very circumstantial, and often comes down to specific hotels being better options rather than broad categories.

Whether it’s worth it for you to pay more for a Moderate Resort depends upon your preferences, budget, and how much time you’ll be spending at your hotel. If you like a richly themed environment, the Moderate Resorts score points. If you’re primarily interested in how much your kids will enjoy a resort, give the Value Resorts a second look. To the bewilderment of some adults, kids absolutely love those large icons.

If money is an issue, the premium pricing you’ll pay at a Moderate may not make a whole lot of sense. Even then, the surcharge is not equal across the board. Skyliner Resorts are typically more expensive within their respective categories, and there’s also a surcharge for Gran Destino Tower, which is really more like a Deluxe Resort, albeit an isolated not. We warned you at the outset that this is very much an “it depends” topic, and now you should see why that’s totally true.

Ultimately, what we can offer is our personal perspective as we regularly stay at both Value and Moderate Resorts. When I’m doing quick solo research trips and trying to visit as efficiently and inexpensively as possible, the All Stars are my go-to pick. In fact, I’ve stayed at All Star Sports more than almost any hotel in the last 3-4 years.

Assuming we’re doing it for enjoyment and not a resort update, we usually choose Skyliner Resorts for a quick weekend trip or when the parks are our primary focus. Pop Century is my preferred resort for this type of trip, especially when I’m looking for the best value for money.

If our budget is a bit healthier, we choose Caribbean Beach Resort. Its added amenities are nice, as is the convenience of being the Skyliner hub. We also like having access to better dining, even though we (admittedly) often don’t take full advantage of it. Then there’s the pool. Even when we don’t use these things, having access to them is nice.

Then there’s Coronado Springs Resort. This hotel has really grown on us over the years. Its rooms are better, base rates are lower, discounts are better, and sometimes we luck into an upgrade to Gran Destino Tower. We also prefer the fitness center, pools, and restaurants. We find ourselves doing late night meals at Three Bridges after the parks close quite often, and also love Toledo Steakhouse and the lounges in Gran Destino. This is another hotel I stay at often, but we don’t do it as much together anymore due to the all-bus transportation with a stroller.

Finally, there are the Port Orleans Resorts. These were once our favorites, and still are exemplars of themed design, with beautiful grounds that make for romantic evening walks. We still very much love the idea of the Port Orleans Resorts, and with each visit, we fall in love with them all over again. But if I’m being honest, we don’t have the same pull to return to any of these as the above options. Each of those have functional advantages, whereas it’s all about the form of Port Orleans. To each their own, though. I certainly wouldn’t discourage anyone from booking the Port Orleans Resorts!

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

Is it worth it to you to stay at a Moderate Resort, or if you’re paying more, do you just splurge all-out by staying at a Deluxe Resort? Or, do you just save as much money as possible by staying at a Value Resort? Share where you normally choose to stay (and why!) in the comments!