I am NOT staying at a value resort

[Disneylover99]

I have a genuine fear that after the refurb, Pop will become like Animation and be a value priced higher than some moderates.

I doubt that will happen. It's not like they're knocking down walls to make suites. It will be the same small room with one double bed replacing one queen bed.

 

[Dug720]

Ok, I have to admit, this thread has made me look NOT at POP (where I've stayed before and it was fine, but I am NOT impressed with the pics of the refurb rooms and with my luck would get stuck in that glorified hospital room look thing) but at Sports as a possible change (which of course would require me calling because my reservation has decided to be a pain).

I'm currently booked in a LM room at AoA but could save about $165 (over 8 nights) if I changed to Sports Preferred (I would only want Surfs Up, thus preferred). And that is before and potential discounts - which we all know wouldn't be valid at AoA anyway...

Thoughts from those who have stayed at both?

 

[goofy4tink]

I used to be a die hard All Star Music fan. It was my home away from home. My last stay there June 2015 changed that. The room was in really sorry shape. That and combined with the time it took to get to/from the food court/busses I felt a need to change.
A friend of mine is die hard for Sports and tells me that it is laid out better than Music so that none of the buildings have the long commute. I may end up trying it out in the near future

I have a genuine fear that after the refurb, Pop will become like Animation and be a value priced higher than some moderates.

Won't happen. The only reason the rooms at AoA are higher priced is because they are all Little Mermaid rooms, and there are only three buildings! The rest are suites. Disney never has to discount the LM rooms, and they can charge more for them simply because they are always close to full. Pop is a whole different thing! They are seldom even close to full!

 

[DisBuckMan]

Don't care. Do whatever makes you happy. It really serves no purpose at all to advertise that you won't stay in values.

 

[ThistleMae]

The values are smaller and that's it. They are just as clean and in my opinion have a much better food court than Deluxes.
I agree with some of the other folks. I don't think there is any convincing you.

 

[hsmamato2]

IDK...... I've stayed at all levels at WDW over the years...and my favorite places are usually wherever I happen to be staying.... and frankly, I like to save money while enjoying life, so the cheapest cost always feels 'best' to me! I've gotten various deals over the years for different levels.... I like the mod level (POFQ) a lot, but anywhere else on property always has it's good points too...IMHO. I like pretty landscaping,and quiet spots to enjoy things,and I've found them from the All Stars to the DVC deluxes. So personally OP, I stay where I get the best 'bang for my buck'..... if you feel differently, stay elsewhere, you should enjoy your vacation.

 

[siestakeys04]

After I re-read your post did your brother invite you or were you guys planning a trip together anyway? Was he just telling you that he wanted to take your mother with them and you decided to go along? The point is if you invited yourself then I would chose to stay at the resort you like. If you invited yourself and if its just you and mom in the value room I think you would have plenty of space. Hope you have a great trip whatever you decide.

 

[lucas]

Ok, I have to admit, this thread has made me look NOT at POP (where I've stayed before and it was fine, but I am NOT impressed with the pics of the refurb rooms and with my luck would get stuck in that glorified hospital room look thing) but at Sports as a possible change (which of course would require me calling because my reservation has decided to be a pain).

I'm currently booked in a LM room at AoA but could save about $165 (over 8 nights) if I changed to Sports Preferred (I would only want Surfs Up, thus preferred). And that is before and potential discounts - which we all know wouldn't be valid at AoA anyway...

Thoughts from those who have stayed at both?

Where are the pics of the refurb rooms?

 

[Dug720]

Where are the pics of the refurb rooms?

On the POP thread. I forget the pages - maybe 200?

 

[ChloeChipper]

I never thought I would stay at a value resort, but we are going to be trying AS Movies in April. This is a 'budget' trip and I wanted to try to do it as inexpensively as possible. We have stayed at Deluxe's mostly and 1 time at a mod (BC, YC, BCV, GF, CR & POR). Going in I just realized that we spend very little awake time in the room/resort. We get up, get ready and head to the parks. Come back late at night and go to bed! I tried to stick to a budget for the whole trip, and the cost of the AS Movies resort was several hundred dollars cheaper than the mods. Any extra money in the budget will go to food or fun things - not on the room. I do think they are Motel 6ish, but its Disney, so I am hoping the resort and rooms are clean, safe and that the cast members are as awesome as they are at all the other resorts. I realize we will have a longer wait for the buses, longer drive on the buses, food court will be crowded, pools will be crowded, there will potentially be large groups of unsupervised kids running around (Cheerleading competition going on, and I bet they'll all be staying at the All Stars).. You know what - I will be on vacation, I will be at Disney, I will be having a wonderful time at my favorite place! Pack a little extra patience, and just going to enjoy it for what it is.

Good luck to you on your choice!

 

[elizabethswan]

i didn't read all of the pages but skipped ahead so if i am too late or being redundant i apologize in advance. soooo, we have stayed at all 3 levels at wdw. i certainly appreciate the amenities of the deluxe and also thoroughly enjoyed the mods where we have stayed ( pofq, csr) BUT, having said that, we stay at pop all the time now. a while back we decided we liked spending more time at wdw. we go for about 10 or 11 days at a time. we enjoy not feeling stressed or rushed, and we also enjoy the extra time to explore more of wdw. one year we went 4 times! ( we have ap's). one thing i like at pop over pofq or csr is the food choices, especially with AOA. there really are some decent choices (make your own pasta) whereas pofq was so limited. csr has changed over the years on their food as well. we still eat some meals at other resorts, like CR, but we are not spending a fortune on a room we use only to sleep. we have swimming at home so really don't use the pools at pop either. i will say that if you are looking to spend a lot of time at the resort or resort pool, the upgrade to mod or deluxe would be more worth it. we have also found the buses to be very good at pop, but this can certainly vary. so, to summarize, pop is a pretty basic place of lodging, with fun theming. you get all the perks of staying on site ( buses, magical express, being inside the disney bubble, good gift shops and food courts) without dropping a fortune as many visitors do. if this were a once in a while visit we might feel differently, but it is a lot of fun to have more days at wdw and not break the bank : )

 

[maxiesmom]

I realize we will have a longer wait for the buses, longer drive on the buses, food court will be crowded, pools will be crowded, there will potentially be large groups of unsupervised kids running around (Cheerleading competition going on, and I bet they'll all be staying at the All Stars).. You know what - I will be on vacation, I will be at Disney, I will be having a wonderful time at my favorite place! Pack a little extra patience, and just going to enjoy it for what it is.

Good luck to you on your choice!

The bus service is no different from the values to the deluxe resorts. The bus service isn't worse and the buses don't come less often at the values than they do at the deluxe resorts. Bus service is bus service is bus service.

 

[regul8ter18]

my last trip I stayed at POP and hated it. I figured it was a solo trip so I would save by staying at a value. Never again!!! My flight was canceled my last day there and Switched hotel to POFQ and instantly remembered why we choose moderates over values.

 

[jo_de_vil]

Do you just want positives? If so I am no help. I stayed at POP once as we were paying for 4 rooms for family for a week, and it was all DH and I could afford, and all I can say is never again! I really disliked the chaotic food court and lines for park buses. The rooms were, at least to me, noticeably smaller, and felt cramped with just DH and I, when compared to what we are used to. I also really missed being able to sit in a lounge or restaurant bar and have a nice glass of wine or appetizer. We have split a 1bedroom at Kidani with my family, and that was much better, and we have also stayed deluxe while our friends staying at a value and just meeting at the parks, and that was, for me, significantly better than staying at POP. There was nothing horrible at POP it just is not how I prefer to vacation and I did not enjoy it.

I have to totally agree, we are DVC members (BWV) and on average we come every 2 years and stay for at least 14 nights, and we have stayed at mods before. We had a the chance for a cheap trip but we had no points and read so much about how great POP was and how it wasn't anything like the other values, we hated it for all the above reasons plus, we felt like we were constantly travelling to everything, the decor of the rooms made them feel dirty, even thought they were clean! To make things worse our DS 12 has ASD and this resort is not ASD friendly, the food court was a no go area for him with the noise and chaos. We even tried to change resorts but it was convention week and Hurricane Matthew had changed a lot of peoples plans, so nothing was available. We were stuck for 14 Nights, I know 14 nights at Disney is nothing to be sad about but, as a family we chatted and have decided that never again will we cut costs on our resort again it just isn't worth it.

 

[JennaDeeDooDah]

I have a genuine fear that after the refurb, Pop will become like Animation and be a value priced higher than some moderates.

I have found myself wondering if the changes coming to CSR and CBR are going to lead to them being moved to different categories. CBR might get moved into a category similar to OKW and SSR where it has DVC but isn't as swanky and convenient as many other DVC properties. More than just a mod, though. I can see CSR getting it's own category with all the build up they are doing to make it even more of a convention hotel. If both of those leave the mod category, I can see them bumping AOA up to moderate. Possibly the same with Pop, especially if the new skyway does end up going in there.

 

[Nancyg56]

I never thought I would stay at a value resort, but we are going to be trying AS Movies in April. This is a 'budget' trip and I wanted to try to do it as inexpensively as possible. We have stayed at Deluxe's mostly and 1 time at a mod (BC, YC, BCV, GF, CR & POR). Going in I just realized that we spend very little awake time in the room/resort. We get up, get ready and head to the parks. Come back late at night and go to bed! I tried to stick to a budget for the whole trip, and the cost of the AS Movies resort was several hundred dollars cheaper than the mods. Any extra money in the budget will go to food or fun things - not on the room. I do think they are Motel 6ish, but its Disney, so I am hoping the resort and rooms are clean, safe and that the cast members are as awesome as they are at all the other resorts. I realize we will have a longer wait for the buses, longer drive on the buses, food court will be crowded, pools will be crowded, there will potentially be large groups of unsupervised kids running around (Cheerleading competition going on, and I bet they'll all be staying at the All Stars).. You know what - I will be on vacation, I will be at Disney, I will be having a wonderful time at my favorite place! Pack a little extra patience, and just going to enjoy it for what it is.

Good luck to you on your choice!

Honestly, if you do not use the amenities at the Deluxe resorts, you wont miss them. I don't use the value resorts because we spend a lot of time at the resort and use the amenities at the mods or deluxe, but I would never spend the extra money is all we did was use the room to sleep and to shower. Have fun at Disney and know that not only are you on vacation, you are saving a bundle too!

 

[Nancyg56]

I have found myself wondering if the changes coming to CSR and CBR are going to lead to them being moved to different categories. CBR might get moved into a category similar to OKW and SSR where it has DVC but isn't as swanky and convenient as many other DVC properties. More than just a mod, though. I can see CSR getting it's own category with all the build up they are doing to make it even more of a convention hotel. If both of those leave the mod category, I can see them bumping AOA up to moderate. Possibly the same with Pop, especially if the new skyway does end up going in there.

I think that the categories will change, and I bet they will not even be "Moderate", or "Deluxe". Someplace in between. I be the cost will rise, but not reach the levels of the monorail or EPcot resorts, but will be considerable more than POR or POFQ. The Cabins are pricier than the other Mods, and i think the price will be in that area.

 

[sunsetbeachgal]

The costs have been rising so much for the resorts and tickets that Values are our best option. On our last stay we also treated three family members to a vacation so it was our only option to make the trip do-able. Our last two stays have been at Pop and we have had excellent stays both times. The Pop food court is great and we love the theming, the lake and being able to walk over the bridge to AoA if we want a little variety.

To each their own, as long as people don't put down others choices!

 

[edk35]

Here are my two cents. We are dvc members so we like staying at the deluxe resorts HOWEVER we did stay three nights at POP this past Oct as to extend our Disney trip. I booked 3 nights at POP before our 6 nights at SSR. It was NOT that bad. LOL The room was very clean, resort was cute...nothing crazy happened. I didn't really like the bus situation or the food court that much, but if I was going to Disney and that was what I could afford ...if it meant being at Disney..then I would stay there again. I think the time of year you go makes a difference. We didn't care about the pool and just needed a place to sleep and shower basically. In the summer it might be a completely different story.

 

[melana]

Okay, I condiser myself somwhat of a picky person when it comes to hotels. There are some I just will not stay at. But I have stayed at budget, mid-level, and luxury hotels and I have had just as good of service at a 69 buck a night mom and pop budget place as I have had at a 400 buck a night place.
I stayed at a value once, POP. I have stayed at moderates twice. My next trip is in a studio at BLT.
Although I did not like POP, it did not turn me away from values. The food court was always so crowded no matter when we went. We were in a building far away from pretty much everything. But it was our first trip to see if Disney was our thing. Plus we did not want to break the bank on our first trip.
There are pros and cons to each level. But if it meant I got to go to Disney and I could only get a value, then I would book it. By the time I get back from the parks, all I usually want to do is nap and maybe hit the pool.
My favorite resort so far has been POFQ. I like how cozy it is. But I did not like CBR.
Who knows I may not like BLT either, but that is the great thing about Disney. You can always stay at a different place on the next trip.
But if where you are staying is something that would make you so miserable that you cannot enjoy your trip, then stay wherever you want.