Disney World currently has five Value Resort hotels: Pop Century, Art of Animation, All-Star Movies, All-Star Music and All-Star Sports. If you asked me for the best Disney World Value Resort without giving me any other information, I would choose Pop Century. The Disney Skyliner gives it an advantage I can actually use every day of the trip.
But I wouldn’t recommend Pop Century automatically. Art of Animation makes much more sense for certain families, All-Star Music has an unusual advantage for groups of up to six, and the three All-Star Resorts can make a lot of sense when I’m trying to keep the hotel portion of a Disney trip under control.
So I don’t think the useful question is simply which Value Resort is number one. I look at what I’m trying to get from the room, how I’m getting to the parks and how much time I’ll actually spend at the hotel.
If you specifically want my strict one-through-five order, I keep that separate in my Disney World Value Resorts ranked guide.
The 5 Disney World Value Resorts
These are the five hotels Disney currently places in its Value Resort category:
- Disney’s Pop Century Resort
- Disney’s Art of Animation Resort
- Disney’s All-Star Movies Resort
- Disney’s All-Star Music Resort
- Disney’s All-Star Sports Resort
Pop Century and Art of Animation are the two that stand apart immediately because they have access to the Disney Skyliner. All-Star Movies, Music and Sports rely on Disney bus transportation.
You can confirm the current hotel categories and transportation options in Disney’s official Resort hotel directory.
Pop Century Is the Value Resort I’d Recommend Most Often
Pop Century solves the biggest problem I have with inexpensive Disney hotels: transportation.
The Disney Skyliner connects Pop Century with the larger gondola network serving EPCOT and Disney’s Hollywood Studios. You still use buses for places such as Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom, but having another transportation option for two parks makes a noticeable difference to me.
That’s especially useful when I’m taking a midday break. Riding the Skyliner back to the resort for a couple of hours feels much easier to me than building every park departure around another bus.
The standard Pop Century room currently sleeps up to four, generally with one queen bed and one queen-size pull-down bed, or a king-bed configuration.
I actually like the pull-down setup in a small hotel room. When the second bed isn’t being used, having it folded away gives the room more usable space.
If I’m traveling as a couple, solo, or as a family of three or four and expect to spend most of the day in the parks, Pop Century is usually my first Value Resort choice.
The one thing I would compare carefully is price. Once Pop Century starts getting close to a Moderate Resort rate for my particular dates, I don’t automatically assume it’s still the better value.
Art of Animation Is Better When the Room Itself Matters
Art of Animation is much harder for me to judge purely as a budget hotel because there are really two different ways to stay here.
The Little Mermaid rooms are traditional hotel rooms that currently sleep up to four with either a king bed or two queen beds.
The Finding Nemo, Cars and Lion King areas are dominated by family suites. Those sleep up to six and include a separate queen bedroom, a double-size pull-down bed, double-size sleeper sofa, two bathrooms and a kitchenette.
That changes the comparison completely.
If I’m a family of six trying to decide between one suite and multiple standard hotel rooms, Art of Animation suddenly becomes much more interesting than simply asking whether it’s cheaper than Pop Century.
The resort also has Disney Skyliner access and some of the strongest character theming of any Walt Disney World hotel. Finding Nemo, Cars, The Lion King and The Little Mermaid don’t feel like small decorative references here. The oversized environments are a major part of the resort.
That’s why I would pick Art of Animation for families that actually want the hotel to feel intensely Disney, particularly if the suite layout solves a sleeping-space problem.
I go into the room differences in my Art of Animation family suite floor plan, and my Art of Animation Resort review looks at whether I think the higher Value Resort price is worthwhile.
All-Star Music Has a Room Type People Often Overlook
If I’m traveling with more than four people, I wouldn’t jump straight from Art of Animation to two separate hotel rooms.
All-Star Music also has Family Suites that sleep up to six. Disney currently configures them with one queen bed and two queen-size pull-down beds.
That’s quite different from Art of Animation’s family suite layout, and I would price the two against each other for my actual travel dates rather than assuming Art of Animation is automatically the better family option.
All-Star Music doesn’t have the Skyliner. Transportation is by Disney bus, and the resort atmosphere isn’t as visually elaborate as Art of Animation.
But if I need space for six and my priority is keeping the room cost reasonable, All-Star Music is the Value Resort I would make sure not to overlook.
If you’ve narrowed the decision down to the neighboring All-Stars, I also have a separate comparison of All-Star Movies vs All-Star Music.
All-Star Movies Is the All-Star I Like for Classic Disney Theming
All-Star Movies makes more sense to me when someone wants to pay All-Star prices but still wants the resort grounds to feel unmistakably connected to Disney movies.
The larger-than-life Toy Story, 101 Dalmatians, Fantasia and other movie areas give it more obvious Disney character presence than I get at All-Star Sports or Music.
The rooms currently sleep up to four, with a king-bed option or a queen bed paired with a queen-size table bed depending on room type.
I would still choose Pop Century over Movies if their prices were close because I value the Skyliner more than the difference in resort theming.
But if All-Star Movies were meaningfully cheaper for my dates and I expected to use buses anyway, I’d have no problem taking the savings.
All-Star Sports Is the One I’d Choose Based on Price, Not Transportation
All-Star Sports is the easiest one for me to describe: I would book it when the price works.
It has the same basic Value Resort philosophy as its All-Star neighbors: large outdoor icons, a food court, pools, standard rooms and Disney bus transportation.
The sports theme includes football, baseball, basketball, tennis and surfing areas, so it can obviously be fun if someone in the family is really into sports.
But I wouldn’t choose Sports because I think its transportation is dramatically better or because I’m getting a completely different hotel category.
When I’m comparing the three All-Stars, I check the actual rates for my dates and then decide how much I care about Movies, Music or Sports theming.
The Skyliner Is the Biggest Divide in the Value Category
If all five Value Resorts had identical transportation, my choices would be much closer.
They don’t.
Disney currently lists both Pop Century and Art of Animation with bus and Skyliner transportation. All-Star Movies, Music and Sports are listed with bus transportation.
For my trips, that’s the biggest reason Pop Century usually comes out ahead. Transportation is something I use multiple times every day. I care about that more than whether my building has my favorite giant Disney character outside.
My guide to Disney World resorts with Skyliner access explains how the gondola routes and transfers work.
All 5 Still Come With Disney Resort Benefits
One reason I still consider the Value Resorts even when an off-property hotel looks nicer for the same money is that these are actual Disney Resort hotels.
Eligible Disney Resort hotel guests currently receive benefits such as 30-minute Early Theme Park Entry, complimentary Disney transportation around Walt Disney World and complimentary overnight self-parking at the resort.
I wouldn’t pay any price just to get those benefits, but they belong in the comparison. A cheaper room outside Walt Disney World isn’t automatically a better deal if I then spend more time or money solving transportation.
When I Would Skip the Value Resorts Entirely
The category stops making sense to me when the nightly rate creeps too close to a Moderate Resort that gives me something I actually value.
Caribbean Beach is the obvious example because it also has Skyliner transportation but gives me a more relaxed resort atmosphere and a different set of amenities.
If the price difference were small for my dates, I would compare Pop Century directly with Caribbean Beach rather than automatically booking the cheaper hotel category.
You can compare those options in my guide to the best Disney World Moderate Resorts.
I would also look off-property if I needed substantially more space, a full kitchen or amenities that Disney’s Value Resorts don’t provide at a competitive rate.
Which Disney Value Resort Would I Actually Book?
For a typical Disney World trip: Pop Century. The Skyliner is the advantage I’m most likely to use repeatedly.
For a family that wants maximum Disney theming: Art of Animation.
For a party of up to six comparing Value Resort suites: I would price Art of Animation against All-Star Music before deciding.
For an inexpensive standard room: I would compare all three All-Star Resorts for my dates and take the combination of price and theme I preferred.
That’s why I don’t think there is one best Disney World Value Resort for every traveler. Pop Century is my default winner, but the best value comes from choosing the hotel feature you’re actually going to use rather than simply choosing whichever resort sits at the top of somebody else’s ranking.
If you’re still deciding whether Value is the right Disney hotel category at all, my Disney World hotels guide gives you the larger comparison across Value, Moderate and Deluxe accommodations.
