Never stayed at a Value. Need help!

[MrsDopey]

I am sure everyone will have differing opinions but we have stayed at
POFQ (x3), POR, CBR, FW, and THV.

We are traveling in Novemeber ( MIL lives in FL and we will do WDW and then her house for Thanksgiving)

We want to keep the price down and will have a 3 yr old and a 3 month old.

Looking at 5 days with dining.

Anyone have any GREAT convincing Value Resort stories?
Up until now I have been terrified to attempt one!
On the other hand, I have a goal to try each resort just once- can't knock it unless you've tried it?!?!

TIA!

 

[JennyDrake]

I have stayed at each value more than once (3-4x each), each moderate more than once and three deluxes (once each). My money is on the value resorts! With an AP discount I can sometimes stay for as little as $59/night! They are clean, safe and have fun theming. I don't spend a lot of time in the room. The "quiet" pools are more my speed, although I do wish they had a deep end. I ahve nothing but happy experiences with the values and I would rather spend my money on signature dining. Just MHO.

 

[lsenquiz]

My only issue with the value(i have only ever stayed at ASMo) is the transportation. I will do just about anything to avoid the bus so we usually stay in an Epcot resort. However, if I was going to stay at a resort where buses were the only option anyway I would definately go value.

 

[WicketsMom]

We have stayed at POP and one night at All-Star Sports. My only negative is the lack of a coffee maker in the room. I want my coffee first thing in the morning and it is a very long walk (for my husband!) to the food court.

 

[GenevieveRaqs]

DH and I stayed at All-Star Music in early February, and we had a great experience. In fact, we're planning to stay there again, in one of the family suites, when we take our DS3 on his first trip this fall.

The theming wasn't exactly to my taste--not that there was anything *wrong* with it, just not my style. But since we don't spend a lot of time at the hotel, value was our biggest concern. The rooms were clean and nice, although they were small. For the two of us, they were just the right size, but we will definitely want more room with DS (hence the family suite). Transportation was great. We never waited for a bus--there was always one waiting on us or pulling up right as we arrived!

We didn't eat at the food court because we prefer some of the more unique options elsewhere on property, but it looked like they had a lot of options and the food always smelled good when we went to refill our mugs.

The one thing we didn't care for was the double bed instead of the queen. DH is 6'4", so he takes up a lot of room. A double bed is really a tight fit for us! But overall we would do it again.

 

[RobinHoodGirl]

All but one of my trips to WDW I have stayed at Deluxe Resorts...

My November 2010 trip I went with my two roommates and we stayed at POP Century and for what we needed it to be it was PERFECT. This was a big worry since my trip 9 months before was at BWV, but we had a room close to the stairs, never had to wait too long for a bus (either going to or coming from a park), the room size was good for 3 adults to get ready in the morning/going to bed without too much wait time.

Now I've never been to WDW with a kid so I can't really comment on how the values are for a family with little ones

 

[Momto2PrncChrmgs]

We are huge Pop fans. Our kids love the Pool, the larger than life icons, the Goofy jets...we do pay extra for preferred, to be closer to the food court and buses. We've tried CBR and didn't like how spread out it was, so went back to Pop. We are rarely in the room, so I can't justify paying more when we're not there for the resort itself. I will however, one day stay at the Poly.

 

[adi1138]

I haven't tried the All-Stars, but I just got back from a stay at Pop and I loved it! I was really pleasantly surprised. The resort is really fun and colorful, and has a great layout. Everything was really close together and there was only one bus stop (which had great service!) I went with a 3 year-old and 1 year-old, and Pop was perfect for them in terms of the theme and the compact layout made it easy to get them around/no long walks. The food court was yummy and the pool was a lot of fun. I would definitely recommend it, especially to families with young kids.

 

[wolf29]

We are also the type of guests that don't spend very much time at the resort. It's a place to sleep, cool off in the afternoon and swim. We always stay at POP, 10 days every Aug. Just can't justify spending more on a room. We'd rather spend our money on fun things.

 

[KELLY]

We are huge Pop fans. Our kids love the Pool, the larger than life icons, the Goofy jets...we do pay extra for preferred, to be closer to the food court and buses. We've tried CBR and didn't like how spread out it was, so went back to Pop. We are rarely in the room, so I can't justify paying more when we're not there for the resort itself. I will however, one day stay at the Poly.

We are also the type of guests that don't spend very much time at the resort. It's a place to sleep, cool off in the afternoon and swim. We always stay at POP, 10 days every Aug. Just can't justify spending more on a room. We'd rather spend our money on fun things.

We go for 11 days and have 2 younger girls. I will say we love pop. But we need to go back to a moderate. But we spend a couple of days at the resort and this isn't the issue with pop we really like it there. For us it is the little bit of extra storage space the moderate provides all and all the little extras we have been missing. The girls are both not into a kiddie pool anymore and prefer a slide.

I will say for us to stay in a moderate we did give up our WP&M option on our tickets. Which I'm sure we will miss. But I'm also looking forward to just sitting and relaxing at the pool a couple of day with the girls.

 

[hedge333]

We loved Pop when we went in June 2010. We had no problems with the buses. The food court was great. Our room was really clean and nice. My girls loved the pools and I thought the theme was darling. I have recommended it to several people since then. I know some people complain that the rooms are small but we had 3 adults, a 4 y.o. and a pack n play in the room for a week and really didn't have any trouble at all. We came back to the room to rest everyday and spent a lot of time at the resort. In fact we took a day off from the parks and enjoyed POP all day. We loved it.

 

[Disfan20]

Our last trip we stayed deluxe for the first time at WL. Prior to that was stayed at POP and ASMo and although I really want to try AKL, I would not hesitate to go back to the values. My only drawback is the bed size, I really liked the Queen at the WL as opposed to the doubles at the values. The positives are the huge food courts with lots of variety and value for your dollar. My kids actually preferred the pool at POP to WL. Finally I had no issues with transportation at POP or ASMo. 10-15 min waits and we never shared with another resort either of the times we stayed. I would say go for it.

 

[LeeLee'sMom]

We have tried all the values and now doing our last moderate this year..then next year..DELUXE but getting back to your question..our favorite value is POP my DD was 2 1/2 and loved it...the larger than life theming, pools, etc. Food was pretty descent also. Buses were never really a problem..although we were there in the slower season of September.

 

[poppypetal]

We stayed at AOMo last Sept. And did not have a single issue. The buses ran smoothly - only shared if it was a really quiet day, and only on returns.
We are thinking of going back again this year, but trying another Value, like PoP or stepping it up. I would like bigger beds, but not sure its justified in the price for us.
BTW the pizza at AOMo was delicious

 

[DixieBelle]

The only value we have ever stayed in was ASMo. The kids had a blast! My big downside was the outside walkway prevents leaving the curtains open. otherwise, it was a decent hotel. Until you try, you will never really know if the value resorts could be acceptable. A shorter stay like 5 days would be a good trial.

 

[HANDYMOM]

We've stayed at POR, CBR and the Poly along with a stay at All Star Sports and one at Pop. We really enjoyed both a lot!

Are the rooms really small - yes
Are there turbo toilets - yes

But you're not in the room that much and when you are you are so tired, you'll sleep through anything.

Pop's pools are a lot of fun and the resort itself is so DISNEY! The icons, twister, and of course...tie-dye cheescake. A great time for sure.

Sports is a favorite of mine though. I have sports nut sons for one reason, but I liked the layout and overall size of the resort. We were in the football area, literally around the corner from the food court, which was super convenient! The food court is really good too. I had the best chicken ceasar salad there once. It was so good I still remember it. I ate my wonderful salad at night by the main pool. It was very relaxing.

You won't be disappointed, especially since you'll be able to stay there and stay on budget!

 

[MotherTink]

We are huge Pop fans. Our kids love the Pool, the larger than life icons, the Goofy jets...we do pay extra for preferred, to be closer to the food court and buses. We've tried CBR and didn't like how spread out it was, so went back to Pop. We are rarely in the room, so I can't justify paying more when we're not there for the resort itself. I will however, one day stay at the Poly.

We have done the POPs and the ASMus and loved both experiences. The only one my husband will NOT do in summer is ASSport and that is because there aer so many visiting soccer teams there and the noise level gets a bit much. My sons are in their twenties and thought everything at POPs was really nice.

 

[drp4video]

We now stay at POFQ, but in the past have stayed at ASmu and POP. Pop wins hands down. It is newer, the pool is fun, food court is great for breakfast. No coffee pot, but you could always get a one cup pot and bring it with you if that is an issue. Obviously the moderates have more amenities, but if I had to pick a value, it would be Pop. If i recall, the Allstars are in another county and that room tax was a little higher, they are also farther away from all parks except the AK. If you take the buses, allstars also share buses, Pop does not.

 

[drp4video]

We now stay at POFQ, but in the past have stayed at ASmu and POP. Pop wins hands down. It is newer, the pool is fun, food court is great for breakfast. No coffee pot, but you could always get a one cup pot and bring it with you if that is an issue. Obviously the moderates have more amenities, but if I had to pick a value, it would be Pop.

 

[cart-mom]

I have stayed at all levels, even when the CB was a value resort. Our last two trips we stayed Pop Century to save money and our first stay I was regretting it because we got one of the farthest rooms from the food court. I opted for the preferred room last time and we were much closer. We were right by the pool but on the opposite side of the building - ok with us because it was quieter except for the renovations. That being said, I would stay there again. As for the transportation - yes it is more crowded. Just take that into consideration as you are planning your trips to the parks and you will be just fine. Go for it.