Which Walt Disney World Value Resorts are best & worst? This list ranks Art of Animation and Pop Century, plus All Star Movies, Music & Sports. Our #1 hotel might surprise you, but we’ll cover why it’s our top pick–plus pros & cons, photos, transportation, and other info. (Updated August 9, 2025.)
At the risk of stating the obvious, Walt Disney World is not cheap. Hotels are the single biggest pricing variable, which is to say that you can do inexpensive accommodations or lavish ones that are the single-biggest line-item in your vacation budget. If you’re trying to do Walt Disney World as cheaply as possible, the Value Resorts can be a great option.
For those who have a bigger budget or want to splurge (as always, we’re big fans of split stays!), you might also consult our Moderate Resort Rankings and Deluxe Resort Rankings. If you really want to be inundated with info, check out our Rankings of ALL Walt Disney World Hotels from Worst to Best. (Spoiler: #1 is a Value Resort!)
As for the Value Resorts, they’re excellent for people who won’t be in their rooms much, families with small children who enjoy animated characters, guests doing Disney on a dime, or even those who are frugal and don’t think the higher-tier hotels offer sufficient bang for buck. As much as we enjoy the Deluxes, they’re tough to justify without great discounts!
Value Resorts are more expensive than off-site accommodations, but the added perks like park transportation and Early Theme Park Entry can tip the scale in their favor from a money-saving perspective. In Are Walt Disney World’s Cheapest Hotels Actually Good? (second spoiler: yes, they are!), we make the case for choosing Value Resorts over off-site accommodations or more expensive on-site ones.
Frankly, we love the Value Resorts and think they’re tough to beat from a cost-benefit perspective. If money is no issue or you’re able to splurge, looking at more luxurious accommodations is a good idea. But if you’re saving for months just to make the trip happen and you’ll need to make difficult budgetary choices, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with the Value Resorts.
We’ve stayed at every single Walt Disney World hotel numerous times, and like them all for different reasons. A lot of diehard fans are passionate about their favorite resorts and turn their noses up at the Values. Sometimes there’s good justification for this, but there’s also a lot of snobbishness (weirdly so, given that it’s coming from people who love Disney). Point being, don’t blindly buy into the hype and splurge on an expensive hotel solely because of FOMO or to keep up with the Joneses, so to speak.
Let’s begin the breakdown of Value Resorts by discussing the single biggest differentiator among them, which is transportation. Bus transportation tends to be better at Pop Century and Art of Animation, because the three All Star Resorts sometimes (but seldom) share buses.
The bigger distinction is the Disney Skyliner gondolas. This offers aerial transportation from a shared station between Pop Century and Art of Animation to Caribbean Beach, where guests transfer for either EPCOT or Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Total Skyliner transit time from Art of Animation or Pop Century is under 10 minutes to DHS or under 15 minutes to Epcot. This is a considerable improvement over buses.
In our view, the Skyliner is an absolute game-changer. Instead of relying on inconsistent and unpredictable buses–which can be frustrating if you’re in a hurry–you can take the smooth Skyliner for efficient transportation to two of Walt Disney World’s most popular parks, plus a whole bunch of hotels.
The Skyliner isn’t perfect. The waits can be long first thing in the morning for Early Entry, and returning at the end of the evening. Guests with fears of heights or other concerns may not wish to use it.
For those guests, it’s less of a perk and more of a drawback for both Pop Century and Art of Animation. The Skyliner is built into the cost of both hotels, and is a huge advantage that justifies the premium pricing…but only for those who will use it. If you will not use it, you’re paying extra for no reason.
It’s also fair to point out that the Skyliner can be a liability instead of an asset sometimes during storm season. We typically do not book Skyliner resorts in August or September due to the heightened possibility of the gondolas going down due to thunderstorms and lightning. If you do book then, be very mindful of the weather forecast. When the Skyliner goes down, “backup” bus transportation often isn’t as efficient or well-communicated to guests.
Now, let’s cover some commonalities of the Value Resorts. All of Walt Disney World’s Value Resorts are large and spread out, and don’t have internal transportation. We don’t consider it that long of a walk, but if you are trying to herd a slew of kids, you might disagree. At every Value Resort except Art of Animation, preferred rooms are available that are located closer to the lobby, but they have an additional cost.
With the exception of Art of Animation, standard rooms are all fairly similar across the Value Resorts. The rooms are all small, but have been modernized in the last several years with a variety of space-saving design features that make them feel bigger and nicer. We used to compare the Value Resort rooms to Motel 6 or other budget chains, but that’s not longer entirely apt.
The biggest way Disney’s Value Resorts deviate from other budget accommodations is that they include Disney decor, which alone is probably enough for the average Disney fan or guest to consider them a great deal superior to those other brands of hotels. The point is, at their core, these are not high-end hotel rooms.
Design, in general terms, is pretty consistent among the Value Resorts. All are very plain buildings that are dressed up with oversized icons that relate to the hotel name. They’re decorated, not themed. While the Moderate and Deluxe Resorts attempt to transport you to another time and place, the Value Resorts look more cartoonish.
Their style is very divisive, with some Disney fans finding them garish clutter tacked onto low-rate motel buildings and other fans finding them to be fun and whimsical ways to experience a Disney hotel on the cheap. If you are in the former camp, you probably already know Value Resorts are not for you, and there’s little point to this list of rankings for you.
Regardless of how you feel about the Value Resorts, the fact is that they have plenty of fans. Many people, especially small children, prefer this larger-than-life style to the more elaborate and nuanced design of the higher-tier hotels.
The All Star Resorts have more in common, too. They also use shared buses to get to the parks during slower seasons (or times of day), which can be a big issue and time drain.
The All Stars also all have very similar food courts, pools, gift shops, and other amenities. In terms of their foundational design, these are basically three identical hotels (or close to it) that were cloned and given different thematic window-dressing. But the “bones” of the hotels are more or less identical.
While kids who are fans of sports, movies, or music may disagree, we feel that the decor is pretty similar across the three resorts. Movies and Music are almost indistinguishable from one another (most Disney movies are musicals, so this makes sense), with Sports differing more. The All Star Resorts are also older than Pop Century or Art of Animation, and in many places, the age difference shows.
With that said, let’s take a look at the rankings!
5. All Star Movies
All of the Value Resorts have received very similar reimagined rooms, with the All Stars getting completely identical designs. Above is a photo of the new room from the opposite perspective as the new room (below that) at All Star Music. We’ve stayed in these new rooms several times, and find them to be huge upgrades. They’re not perfect–you can read about the pros & cons in our Photos & Video: Newly Reimagined Rooms at the All Star Resorts post.
These new rooms are definitely a step in the right direction, but All Star Movies could still use some more help. The Mighty Ducks are still heavily showcased, despite no longer being relevant. Photos in the lobby are faded, as is hotel signage. It also doesn’t help that All Star Movies was the first to receive the new rooms over 5 years ago, whereas Sports and Music have received their updates mostly in the last few years. That means the same style is fresher at Sports and Movies.
4. All Star Music
All Star Music has now been totally updated with the new rooms, pictured above. Again, these are a significant upgrade from the old rooms, as they have numerous functional and space-saving improvements. All of that is incredibly useful given the small size of Value Resort rooms.
Other upsides to All Star Music are that it’s less expensive than Pop Century and Art of Animation, it has a refurbished food court, it’s rarely (if ever) overrun with pre-teen athletic groups, the decor is good and not too dated (by All Star standards), and it’s the middle bus stop.
Another point in the favor of All Star Music is that it’s the only one of the trio to offer family suites, which are far cheaper than their counterparts at Art of Animation (but not as good as those Lion King, Cars, or Finding Nemo family suites).
3. All Star Sports
All Star Sports was the last of the trio to receive the room reimagining, which is a huge improvement in terms of utility and aesthetics. We stay at the All Stars a lot because they usually have last-minute availability, and the rooms at Sports have had noticeably less wear and tear than their counterparts at All Star Movies or Music. That makes a big difference, and is pretty much the reason why Sports ranks as the top All Star Resort.
It’s not just the rooms. As a whole, Sports looks like it has received more TLC than the other All Stars, with freshly-repainted icons and well-maintained grounds. In years past, it was common to see faded and dirty details; that’s not the case now. We’ve found that the food court is seldom overly-crowded and the recreation options are surprisingly good.
And although this is something we don’t normally mention since it can be so hit or miss, we’ve had very good experiences with Cast Members and management at All Star Sports. There have been enough noteworthy interactions that it feels worth mentioning, to the point that I’d go as far as to say we’ve experienced superior service at All Star Sports than many Deluxe Resorts. This is obviously highly-variable, but that’s been our anecdotal experience.
The other big upside to Sports is that when the All Star Resorts are sharing buses, it’s the first stop the buses make. During busy hours, the bus will often fill up completely at All Star Sports, skipping All Star Music and Movies completely. For this reason, the bus service at All Star Sports is the best of the three. (During our recent stays, we’ve found this is most commonly an issue at the end of the night when the parks are busiest; transportation ops will pack everyone heading to the All Stars on the same bus, and have another ready to go when one is full.)
The one big caveat is that All Star Sports is the home base for youth groups attending ESPN Wide World of Sports events. These are largely cheer, dance, volleyball and softball events that occur in the late winter and spring; consult the ESPN Wide World of Sports Calendar before booking.
We stayed at All Star Sports during a recent youth event and had a room in the “Touchdown” section right above the football field where kids often play, but had zero issues with excessive or late night noise. That has not been our experience in the past, so we generally recommend avoiding All Star Sports during these ESPN events.
One final note about the All Star Resorts is that none of them is better than the others by a wide margin. If your kids are most interested in sports, movies, or music…stay in the “topic” that appeals to them, especially if decor is a big deal.
2. Art of Animation
For the sake of this comparison, we’re only looking at the common areas and standard rooms in Art of Animation, all of which are in the Little Mermaid section of the hotel.
The family suites are incredibly nice and worthy of consideration for families who want more space, but they arguably don’t even belong in the Value Resort category. Their nightly rate is considerably higher, making them more comparable to the Fort Wilderness Cabins and other unique room categories.
When it comes to rooms, the Little Mermaid rooms fall short of the newly-redesigned rooms at Pop Century and All Star Movies. The Little Mermaid rooms have received a light refresh recently, but nothing on par with Pop Century. With that said, we finally revisited these rooms in 2025 and were pleasantly surprised, as you can read in the aptly-titled “We Were Too Harsh on Disney World’s Little Mermaid Rooms. They’ve Gotten A Lot Better.”
The common areas also make Art of Animation winners among families and elevate it further. This is especially true of the Cars wing, which is the best area at any of the Value Resorts. The Nemo, Lion King, and Little Mermaid grounds have fun decor and some interesting design touches, but they don’t have the depth of the Cars wing, which feels like a low-budget Radiator Springs.
Art of Animation also scores points for the Finding Nemo pool, which is the best pool at any Value Resort, and one of the better pools at Walt Disney World (if you don’t mind the noise). For a quieter option, the Cars pool is also exceptional, and has a Cozy Cone Motel vibe to it.
That’s ultimately what weighs Art of Animation down to the #2 spot for us. You’re paying a significant premium for inferior rooms (unless your kids are diehard Little Mermaid fans), but there’s still a lot to love about staying in the Little Mermaid section and more for Art of Animation as a whole. Just not as much as there is for #1, which is why you might want to stay there and walk over to Art of Animation to enjoy the atmosphere.
1. Pop Century
In the course of discussing the other Value Resorts, we’ve more or less touched upon the biggest upsides of Disney’s Pop Century Resort, which has been the long-time top pick for Value Resorts among Walt Disney World fans. To reiterate: new rooms, Skyliner transportation, lower price points, and convenience to Art of Animation via Generation Gap Bridge. All of this makes Pop Century a winner and our #1 pick.
What we haven’t mentioned is the little plussings Pop Century continues to receive to propel it above the competition. Earlier this year, the Everything Pop Coffee Shop opened, offering a lovely little lounge with unique drinks and cozy seating. The rooms are currently being refreshed yet again, as part of a project that’ll last until February 2026. The lobby is being modernized, too.
Pop Century’s biggest downside is that the cartoony, oversized icon style simply works better in the context of Disney animation. This style appeals primarily to kids, and Disney characters will resonate with them more than pop culture references.
In terms of overall ‘value’ (not simply what’s cheapest), Pop Century excels. It is worth the slight premium for superior dedicated bus service, better dining options, and far superior rooms. If you’re a couple without kids simply looking for the cheapest way to stay on-property at Walt Disney World, Pop Century should be your top pick.
So there’s our take. Whether a Value Resort is right for you in the first place is something you should also consider. If money is no object and you don’t have kids, you’re likely better off in a Moderate or Deluxe Resort. If money is an issue or you think your kids will prefer the Values, give them serious thought.
If you’re still undecided after reading this or overwhelmed by the complexity of planning a Walt Disney World vacation, you might want to consult an Authorized Disney Vacation Planner (Disney’s term for a travel agent). They receive commission from Disney, so most authorized planners will not charge you for booking the vacation package and planning services. The fee-free Authorized Disney Vacation Planner that we recommend is Be Our Guest Vacations. Their services don’t cost extra, they’ll help choose the right resort for you, book your vacation, help you with dining reservations and itineraries, and apply the best discounts to your reservation.
Planning a Walt Disney World trip? Learn about hotels on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page. For where to eat, read our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. To save money on tickets or determine which type to buy, read our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips post takes a unique look at clever items to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will help. For comprehensive advice, the best place to start is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for everything you need to know!
Your Thoughts
Is it worth it to you to stay at a Value Resort, or would you rather just splurge and stay at a Moderate or Deluxe Resort? Which Value Resort is your favorite? Do you agree or disagree with our WDW Value Resort rankings? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
