Best value resort

[sydzach]

Hey folks, will be booking my Disney vacation soon and have a read a lot of stuff about Pop being the best of the value resorts-just wondering what your opinions are and if you say Pop, why would you say that-what makes it better? I have stayed at a value before, Movies I think it was and that was just fine for us. Obviously one day I would love to move up to a moderate or above but for now we have a tight budget and thus value is what we must do.

[crltkcagle]

I have never stayed at POP but I know most people prefer it because it has its own bus where as the all star resorts all share. We stayed at ASM and we loved it! Wish we could stay there again but as a family of 5 we can't.

[disneymom15]

Pop is always our first choice in a value resort. We've stayed countless times and have never had a bad experience. Love the food court and busses. I will admit that sometimes the busses can be few and far between. Our second choice (when POP is not available)is Movies.

[JPL]

I have stayed at Pop multiple and never had a problem there. I am a DVC Member so when I am staying off my points or just for a short trip Pop is always my first choice. I feel it's a good value for the money.

[WVParkfan]

All Star Music, for sure. They are the only value with nightly "drive-in" movies at the pool. Plenty of pool games, and just a lot of fun. Bus service at the All Stars is superior to Pop, and don't believe everything you hear about sharing busses.

#1 AS Music
#2 AS Movies

We've stayed at sports twice, and would only stay there again if we had to. We've also stayed at Pop, and would rank it #4 of the 4 values. It is the loudest hotel we've ever stayed at, with the absolute thinnest walls. Pop is better than staying off-site, but since we have so many more options at Disney, we've chosen to never stay there again.

Good luck.

[DDuck66]

It really depends on how much time you plan on spending at the resort. We have always had great luck with the POP and usually go there. I had my only bad experience so at ASM so we never go back there. If you plan on using the pool and the resort I would go with Pop first and one of the Allstars Second. Love the food court at the Pop and the busing situation can be hard at the Allstars.

[jax86]

came back from pop a few weeks ago. we thought it was clean and nice. plenty of bus service, never waited more than 10 min. for a bus.
the only think we did not like (which I guess is the same at all the values/moderates) is the food court. the food was the worst we ever had. It wasn't especially clean, lots of little bugs flying around the food. For what they charge for food they could make it a little better. Mcdonalds or dominos quality would have been a step up. other than that it wasnt bad.

[Tinker Fan]

We loved All Star Music the best, had movies at the pool nightly and pool games going on, food court was good as any, If we go back to a value next time it will be ASMusic for sure for us.

[MississippiDisneyFreak]

We liked them all fine (Pop, ASMo, and ASSpor)...they are efficient but nothing fancy. They are Disney resorts so you get all the extras, transportation etc...The only thing we didn't like about Pop is that their a/c's are set where you cannot adjust them because it is one of the newer green hotels....we got hot a couple of times and wished we could have turned it down

[disneydad153]

Prior to joining DVC last year, we were big fans of All Star Movies. The kids liked the Toy story buildings and the food court was nice. I would caution though that we stayed there 1 night last year in the Buzz building and found the room to be looking worn. Probably due for a refurb soon. I heard sports was undergoing one but havent confirmed that. Second choice is music. I would never stay at sports again-too many young kids/teenagers running around with what appeared to be little supervision. We havent stayed at Pop yet but have heard good things from friends who have.

[Tink#64]

We love Pop, it's our WDW home! ASMo's was our 1st stay and we loved it! The Toy Story icons were a huge hit with our DS's then 4 & 6, but our next trip we chose Pop becuz it had only been open for 6 months & we are really comfortable there!

We DO think the bus situation is better at Pop, but I realize that every one has an opinion & I'm sure that the service does vary at times.

We have always found the food court at Pop to be decent, lots of choices & we've never had a bad meal, but yes, it's still just a food court. But I personally really like the veggie lasagna & the chicken ceasar salad. We enjoy getting our food & eating poolside!

We also really like the theming at Pop, but we loved it at ASMO's when DS's were younger! I'm sure our tastes will change & we'll prob try a mod when DS's get older (we think they look kinda boring to us right now! We enjoy the FUN whimsical theming of the values!)

We all have our personal fav's for various reasons! If it was me trying to decide, I think I'd look at pics of all & check with the family to get everyone's opinion since they are all in the same price category & they all have pretty much the same amenities. ASMu has the nightly movies, which sounds great , but I know we'd never be back for, and Pop has the seperate water feature - the water jets! It's all good, you're in WDW!

[GenieOfPA]

i like POP the best cause when it comes to waiting for the buses to the parks, POP gets picked up first so there is an almost guaranteed seat on the bus and when the buses take people back to the resorts, POP is also the first stop along the route, so less time waiting on the bus. I also like POP cause it seems more diverse in that everywhere you look is different depending on what "decade" you're in at the resort. All Star is just either movies, music or sports

[eeyorepoohfan]

I have only stayed at POP of the values. We stayed in the 50s section, behind the jukebox, 2nd floor with a partial view of the lake. It was super quiet and we loved it. I loved the themeing of the property. We enjoyed walking around to all of the different decades the see the large icons, very cool! We made sure to find our birth year and take our picture by it. It was nice having 3 pools, even though we didn't really use them in December. For our needs, the food court was very efficient. We just bought a bagel and pastry for breakfast and used our refillable mug for our drink. Less than $6 for breakfast each day! We found the buses to be efficient. We never waited for more than 10 minutes for a bus to arrive. Yes, the buses were full, but we still got to our destinations quickly. When returning to POP and the end of the night, there would be times when a second bus would pull up before the first one was full. We found of the the cast members to be very helpful and nice. We would not hesitate to stay here again! I'm already checking prices for December to see if we can swing it this year! I can't wait to see the referbished rooms!

[cetacean01]

on what floats your boat. I prefer POP because I really enjoy the gawdiness of it. Seriously.....the bright colors and icons make the whole place unique and festive. The food court is very nice. I thought bus service was lacking, and the que to get on the bus at the end of the night is always the last one......making for a long walk at the end of a busy day.
My kids LOVE All Star Sports because they are lil jocks. It is great as well......honestly....it's Disney World.....it is all pretty spectacular.

[DisneyFr33k]

We've stayed at ASMu, ASMo twice and POP twice. Our preference is POP because of the dedicated bus service (AS shares buses) and the themes there. However, we don't have little kids anymore, so POP fit well. When they were little, they were all about the Toy Story theme at ASMo.

[LandFan]

on what floats your boat. I prefer POP because I really enjoy the gawdiness of it. Seriously.....the bright colors and icons make the whole place unique and festive.

I agree! The bright colors and icons just make me happy and smile The food court is also very good and we've really never had any trouble with the busses.

Yes, it is the last bus stop walking out of all of the parks so it is a bit of a longer walk and it does have more people in the queue when the parks empty but they tend to compensate by sending more busses faster to get the lines down fairly quickly.

I mean, hey, I am getting the room for $66 a night the week after Thanksgiving! (with my AAA discount) For that, I can afford to wait for an extra bus or two!

I'll be honest - the worst bus service I have ever observed was at the Poly - twice! Both times we were leaving lunch or dinner at Kona to either go to DTD or back to a park and both times we had to wait for like 45 minutes! It was ridiculous. So, really, all resorts tend to have problems here and there with busses. Just chalk it up to a story for down the road... "remember the time we sat for an hour waiting for that darn bus...?"

[cajunmickey]

We love Music! I never had a problem with the buses like some people say. We only shared buses during the afternoon when it was not crowded.

[LudwigVonDrake]

All-Star Movies is the best themed of the values

[dream6]

Another fan of Pop! I can't compare them against the other value resorts since this is the only one that I have stayed at, but I love the theming and the atmosphere here. Even the cafeteria is fun! And the gift shop is great too

[i'm grumpy]

POP!

We tried to get a bus to DTD from the Contemp
once and the CM didn't care there wasn't one after a long wait.