Resort Review: Value Resorts

There are six value resorts at Walt Disney World, though one isn’t actually in this category (for simplicity’s sake it is here). They are All Star Sports, All Star Movies, All Star Music, Pop Century, Art of Animation, and Fort Wilderness Campground. Each of the Value Resorts has a quick service restaurant, pools, arcade, and bus service to the parks. The resorts have multiple buildings with the main one housing the restaurant, front desk, arcade, and bus depot. Guest rooms are spread out in buildings and are grouped to share a theme.

Rooms aren't huge, but they have the standard two double beds and a bathroom. There is one sink, which is located outside the bathroom, which makes it possible for someone to get ready at the sink while another takes a shower. The rooms also have the typical dresser, TV, table, and chairs. Art of Animation and All Star Music have larger family suites that can sleep up to six people, though these do cost more than the standard room. Rooms are decorated to match the theming of the area of the resort they are in, which can be cool or in the case of the All Stars it can look a little tacky and dated.

Food options are pretty much limited to the food court style quick service restaurants at each value resort. They have all the standards: sandwiches, pizza, salads, and other stuff, but there is menu variation between the resorts to match the theme of the resorts.

There are multiple pools at each resort, with one larger main pool with “pool parties” for kids and one or two more smaller, slightly quieter pools farther away from the main building. Though the pools match the theme of the area they are in, they don’t have slides or water play areas.

There's not really much else to do at the value resorts other than go in the pool, go to the arcade, or just hang around. The exception to this if Fort Wilderness, but we’ll get to that later. In my opinion, the value resorts are the best option if you're looking to save money since you can get the benefits of staying at a Disney resort without the huge price tag.

All Star Resorts (Music, Movies, Sports)

The All Star Resorts are essentially the same, only with different themes. They sit one right next to the other and may share buses meaning that the bus will stop at each resort as it picks up and drops off guests. During busy times (like when the fireworks end) they will split up the resorts.

The theming and props of the All Star Resorts can be described as kind of tacky and straight from the 90’s. Oversized musical instruments at All Star Music, giant sports equipment at All Star Sports, and larger than life classic Disney characters at All Star Movies.

Within each resort there are different areas within the theme. There are Calypso, Jazz, Rock, Country, and Broadway sections at All Star Music (with a pool in the Calypso section and in between the Rock and Broadway sections). Surfing, basketball, tennis, and baseball at All Star Sports (pools in surfing and baseball sections). And Mighty Ducks, 101 Dalmatians, Fantasia, Herbie the Love Bug, and Toy Story at All Star Movies (Mighty Ducks and Fantasia having the pools here). The decorations are big to say the least and whimsical. For younger kids it’s fun to be able to run around the big props, but it doesn’t have the same magical feel as the other resorts with a definite story to tell. It might not be the most extravagant, but everything is clean and the price is good. You get what you pay for.

I have stayed at All Star Music and though it is loud with screaming kids at the pools, and a little tacky looking, but it gets you the benefits of staying at a Disney resort at a reasonable price. Overall not my favorite, but I would stay again to save a little money and I never spend much time at the resort anyway.

Pop Century

Pop Century is kind of in the same boat as the All Stars, but has recently had a renovation, so the rooms look less tacky and the lobby looks more up to date. The theme of this resort is pop culture from the 1950’s to the 1990’s by decade. There’s giant jukeboxes in the 50’s, a big Play Doh container in the 60’s, a huge foosball set up in the 70’s, Rubik’s Cube covering the stairs in the 80’s, and a big ancient-looking computer in the 90’s.

The main pool here is the Hippy Dippy Pool in the 60’s section, but there’s also the Bowling Pin Pool in the 50’s section, and the Computer Pool in the 80’s / 90’s section. There’s also an arcade in the main building. Other than that, there’s not much to do around the resort, but you can always go to other resorts if you’re looking for stuff to do outside the parks.

I haven't actually stayed here, but I have walked through and had dinner. My overall impression based only what I saw was that it’s not the most beautiful resort on property, but not a terrible place to stay (an update to the exterior of the buildings would be nice). For some reason this resort is a little more expensive than the All Star Resorts, I have yet to figure out why but it’s always been this way.

There is one benefit coming to this resort and a couple of others that I think is going to be really cool. At the 2017 D23 Expo, Disney announced that it is creating a gondola system that will connect Pop Century, Art of Animation, and Caribbean Beach to Disney's Hollywood Studios and Epcot’s International Gateway entrance. The opening date hasn’t been announced yet, but construction has begun.

Art of Animation

This is my favorite of the value resorts because the theming is amazing compared to the others. You are transported in the worlds of Finding Nemo, Cars, the Lion King, and the Little Mermaid. The Finding Nemo, Cars, and Lion King sections are family suites that sleep up to 6 and are more expensive than traditional rooms, but still less expensive than suites at the deluxe resorts that sleep the same number of people. The Little Mermaid section has standard rooms that sleep up to four with two queen beds and are less expensive than the family suites, but a bit more pricey than the other value resorts.

In the value resort fashion, each section has larger than life characters and props scattered on and around the buildings. So you can take a picture with the Lightening McQueen or play in a cave under Timon and Pumbaa or walk under Crush to get to the door into the building. But these are much more well done than the other value resorts. The only section I thought wasn't as good was the Little Mermaid area, which had statues of Ursula, King Triton, and Ariel as tall as the buildings.

The resort has three pools, one in the Little Mermaid section, one in the Cars section and the main pool in the Finding Nemo section. The Little Mermaid and Cars pools are just regular ones, but the Finding Nemo pool is special. It has underwater speakers with the voices of characters from Finding Nemo piped in so it sounds like you're swimming with Nemo and friends.

One fun fact about Art of Animation is that it was originally planned as an expansion of Pop Century which is why the two resorts are connected by a bridge. I'm glad they went with animation rather than more pop century because it came out really well. Since the two resorts are connected it makes it easy to walk over to the other resort and eat there if nothing strikes your fancy.

Main building at Art of Animation

Fort Wilderness

Fort Wilderness isn’t actually in this category, but I wanted to make things easy for myself. It's a campground for those who want to bring their own bed on vacation, and it also has cabins for those looking to stay in the wilderness, but not be too close to it. So the campsites are in the campground category on the Walt Disney World website and the cabins are actually in the moderate resort category. The cabins sleep up to six and have a kitchenette. All the sites come with water, electricity, cable, a picnic table, and a charcoal grill. Covering 750 acres, the campground is so big that there are three bus loops within it and golf carts can be rented to get around. In order to get to the bus to head to the parks for the day, you need to take one of the campground buses to the main bus stop and do the whole thing in reverse when you get back. Along with the buses, there is water transportation to Magic Kingdom, though it does stop at Wilderness Lodge and the Contemporary on the way.

Fort Wilderness has a lot more to do on site than other resorts. There's a lake to rent boats on or fish in, a beach to hang out at and play volleyball, two pools to swim in, one with a water slide, bike rentals, and archery. There's also the Tri-Circle-D Ranch, which houses the horses from around Walt Disney World. Here you can take a horse-drawn carriage ride, or you can take horses on the trails around the campground and younger kids can go on pony rides around the ranch.

               And for dining there is the popular Hoop-Dee-Doo Musical Revue dinner show, which features a buffet and wild west show. There's also Mickey's Backyard Barbeque which is a buffet with live music, line-dancing, and character greeting. And there's Trail’s End Restaurant, which features a buffet for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. P & J’s Southern Takeout and Meadow Snack Bar are two quick service options. There’s also Crockett’s Tavern, which is a lounge that only has drinks.

Just walking around, it is really nice as far as campgrounds go. It's more of an RV friendly place than a tenting place, but there were quite a few people tenting there when I walked through.

Value resorts are what you pay for, but they are not dirty or scary looking and the staff is just as polite and friendly as at the more expensive resorts. They do tend to be a bit louder with screaming kids than the other resorts, but if you spend most of your time at the parks like me, it doesn't matter because you're only in the room to sleep. But if you're looking for more to do around the resort and more interesting themes, I would recommend moderate or deluxe resorts if you're also willing to spend more.