Disney World Value Resorts (The Best and Worst)

All-Star Sports is last on our list of best value resorts at Disney World. That said, we still enjoy staying here, especially when the price is right. Each section of the resort is themed to a sport. For example, the baseball area of the resort is called the Homerun Hotel. Other sports in their respective areas include football (Touchdown), basketball (Hoops Hotel), surfing (Surf’s Up), and tennis (Center Court).

Most of these areas feature favorite Disney characters throughout. For instance, you’ll find Donald in a tennis match against his nephews in Center Court. Goofy sits on a pitching mound in the middle of the quiet pool at the Homerun Hotel, and Mickey sits in the winner’s circle toward the center of the resort.

We ranked All-Star Sports last because it’s not uncommon for the resort to host large school groups traveling to Disney for various competitions. Of course, that can happen at any of the All-Star Resorts. But it is more common during the weeks leading up to Christmas and around Spring Break through the end of the school year. These times of the year will be busy, regardless of where you stay.

Rooms at Disney’s All-Star Sports have one queen-size bed and one queen-size pull-down bed. Each room can sleep up to four guests. All rooms at the All-Star Resorts have the same layout and furnishings. As mentioned above, you won’t find any major difference between these three resorts. If you would like to learn more about this resort, our Disney’s All-Star Sports Review provides an overview of our last stay.

All-Star Movies is next on our list of best value resorts. This resort’s footprint is a little different from Sports and Music. But other than that, everything else is the same. If you’re a movie fan, this is probably the All-Star Resort for you. Each section is based on a movie. Preferred rooms are in the Toy Story and Fantasia sections of the resorts. You might also end up in Love Bug, 101 Dalmatians, or Mighty Ducks.

Preferred rooms are available at each All-Star Resort. This room category is an upgrade because it’s closer to the lobby, dining, and transportation. However, you won’t find any upgrades inside the room. We stayed in a preferred location on our last stay and felt it was convenient. For more details, see our Disney’s All-Star Movies Review.

All-Star Music is our top choice of best value resorts among the All-Star Resorts. However, two other value resorts rank higher because they have one big perk that the All-Stars don’t. We’ll get to that next. We love the theming of All-Star Music. Resort sections include Calypso, Jazz Inn, Broadway Hotel, Country Fair, and Rock Inn. Each section is themed to a particular style of music.

Overall, All-Star Music is probably the least Disney-themed of the three. But you’ll find fun references to unique characters like The Three Caballeros at the resort’s feature pool, which is shaped like a guitar. All-Star Music also tends to have the best buses. Since it’s a music-themed resort, they play way better music than all the other resort buses! We love this endearing resort that sits in the center of the three All-Stars. We share more details in our Disney’s All-Star Music Review.

As mentioned above, we consider Disney’s Art of Animation and Pop Century to be a step above the All-Star Resorts because of their location on the Skyliner. Deciding which of these value resorts ranks the best is difficult. While we love the theming of Art of Animation. The rooms at Pop Century, however, are better. So, ultimately, we rank Art of Animation in second place.

Art of Animation is a unique resort because it has four themed sections: The Lion King, Cars, Finding Nemo, and The Little Mermaid. However, The Little Mermaid is the only resort section with value accommodations. The three other sections are comprised of family suites that cost significantly more. The Little Mermaid rooms are okay. But they are still in the old-fashioned style of a regular hotel room. Thankfully, the two full beds have been changed to queen-size beds in recent years, and solid surface flooring has been added.

Art of Animation and Pop Century have three pool areas, while the All-Stars only have two per resort. Additionally, these two resorts are located on the Skyliner, which is a huge perk to most guests. However, you’ll want to know that guests must take the Skyliner to Epcot and Hollywood Studios. Bus transportation is not provided to these two parks unless the Skyliner is down. Buses are provided to the other theme parks and Disney Springs.

We love to visit Art of Animation to explore the grounds. If you’re a fan of any of the animated films featured at the resort, you’ll likely fall in love with its charm. See our Disney’s Art of Animation Review for more details.

Disney’s Pop Century is our top choice for the best value resort at Walt Disney World. This resort also ranks high on our overall hotel rankings, because it is such a great value. We enjoy staying here and think the rooms are stylish and functional. Of course, since the All-Stars have been refurbished to the same design, you’ll see some similarities.

Pop Century has sections influenced by “pop” references throughout the decades of the 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s. Staying here is like going way back in a time machine. The resort has loads of nostalgia.

Since Pop Century sits across the lake from Art of Animation, you get the best of both worlds. You can walk to Art of Animation, explore the grounds, shop, or have a meal there anytime. You can also hop on the Skyliner and explore nearby resorts like Caribbean Beach, the Riviera Resort, and the Epcot Resorts area. To learn more, see our Disney’s Pop Century Resort Review.

We hope you enjoyed our rankings of the best value resorts at Disney World. In addition to what we’ve discussed, here are a few other things you’ll want to know about this category of resorts. We’ll start with the benefit of early theme park entry.

Guests of Disney’s Value Resorts can participate in early theme park entry, a perk extended to all Walt Disney World Resort guests. Here are a few details and tips about this benefit.

Early Theme Park Entry: This perk allows resort guests to enter any Walt Disney World theme park 30 minutes before officially opening to the general public. This early entry provides several advantages:

1. Lower Crowds: Being among the first to enter the park allows you to experience popular attractions with shorter wait times. This will help you to check off must-see rides and experiences ahead of the crowd.
2. Photography Opportunities: If you love capturing the magic of Disney, the early hours provide a fantastic opportunity for photos in front of iconic landmarks with fewer people in the background.
3. Cooler Temperatures: Morning hours are often cooler, making outdoor activities more comfortable. But if you visit during cooler weather, don’t forget a jacket!

If you decide to take advantage of this benefit, you’ll want to get to the park at least 30-45 minutes before the early opening time. If you arrive “on time,” you’ll likely be too late to take advantage of the benefit. You’ll also have to make your way through the crowds waiting for the regular park opening.

Value Resort Pools

The pools at the value resorts are different from those at the deluxe and moderate resorts. Each value resort has a feature pool toward the front center of the resort, close to the lobby. However, the All-Star Resorts only have one additional leisure pool, while Pop Century and Art of Animation have two additional leisure pools.

None of the value resort pools have a water slide or a hot tub. We have a list of Disney Resorts with water slides. However, value resorts have the same poolside activities and Movies Under the Stars program as the rest of the resorts.

All of the pools at the value resorts have the same operating hours and usually have lifeguard attendants. (At the moderate and deluxe resorts, you’ll find quiet pools with longer hours that are not attended by a lifeguard.)Each pool at the value resorts has a nearby laundry room. If you want to learn more, we have an article dedicated to each value resort’s pool.

• Disney’s All-Star Music Pools
• Disney’s All-Star Movies Pools
• Disney’s All-Star Sports Pools
• Disney’s Pop Century Pools
• Disney’s Art of Animation Pools

Here are a few photos of the value resort pools. You can select them to make them larger.

Value Resort Dining

Unfortunately, dining options are somewhat limited at the value resorts. Each value resort has a food court that serves as the resort’s counter-service dining location and a poolside bar at the resort’s feature pool. Value resorts do not have lounges, table service dining, signature dining, or character dining. The food courts offer multiple stations with unique cuisines, so there’s a decent variety of options. Each one accepts mobile orders.

Pop Century and Art of Animation have access to the Skyliner. Guests can quickly travel to the surrounding resorts for a meal. You might preview our list of the best quick services at the Disney Resort Hotels to get a few ideas of our favorite options.

Value Resort Rooms

Value resorts offer basic room accommodations. This category will provide the smallest rooms, square footage-wise, at Disney World. Value rooms average 260 square feet. Each room has a guest bath with a vanity and one sink. Most rooms have a tub with a shower combination. A few rooms have a king bed option, but most will have two queen-size beds.

Preferred rooms are an upgrade we mentioned earlier. You might consider this option if you would like to be within close walking distance of transportation and the resort’s major amenities. Value resorts are similar to motels, where you enter the room from the outside. None of these resorts have interior hallways, except for the family suites at Art of Animation. So if it’s raining when you return to the resort, you could have a long walk in the rain to return to your room.

Thankfully, all the value resorts have elevators. The center of each building has an elevator. Stairwells are available on the outer edges of each building.

As we’ve already touched on, Disney’s All-Star Resorts only have one form of transportation. Buses travel from the All-Star Resorts to the following:

• Magic Kindom
• Epcot
• Hollywood Studios
• Animal Kingdom
• Disney Springs
• Blizzard Beach
• Typhoon Lagoon

Pop Century and Art of Animation Resorts have buses and access to the Skyliner. If you stay at either of these resorts, you’ll have the advantage of traveling via the Skyliner to Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort. From there, you’ll board another Skyliner to either Epcot or Disney’s Hollywood Studios.

We have transportation guides for each of the value resorts that offer specific details on how to get to and from popular destinations:

• Disney’s All-Star Movies Transportation Options
• Disney’s All-Star Music Transportation Options
• Disney’s All-Star Sports Transportation Options
• Disney’s Pop Century Transportation Options
• Disney’s Art of Animation Transportation Options

Hopefully, this article helped you decide which Disney Value Resort is best for your next vacation. While they don’t have all of the upgrades you’ll get at a deluxe or moderate, you’ll still have a great time. We believe that all of the Disney World Resorts offer the opportunity to have an incredible vacation.

If you’re sold on a value resort and still having a hard time choosing which one, we have a few other comparisons. Our most popular is our comparison of Disney’s Pop Century vs. Disney’s Art of Animation. The other is our comparison of Pop Century vs. All-Star Movies.

To learn more about the resorts, see our guide to the Disney World Hotels. You might also like our overview of dining at Disney World. Need to know how to get around? Our beginner’s guide to transportation options at Disney World is one of our top resources.

For touring the parks, see our Disney World Rides and Attractions guide. It links to attraction guides for all four theme parks. If you’re just getting started, you might like our Disney World Vacation Planning Guide. It brings together the resources you need to plan your visit. Check back with ResortsGal.com for more updates.