Disney hotels are rated as deluxe, Moderate and Value and the prices within the tiers reflect the room sizes, amenities, proximity to the parks and such.
If I have my preference, I would probably always stay in the moderate range and of those, I prefer the Port Orleans, French Quarter. I am way too cheap to pay the big bucks for a deluxe room when you really don't spend all that much time in the room anyway. Yes, the pools are usually awesome but the other pools are OK too.
But, with us going to Disney so often and on such a tight budget, I have become a value resort gal. My favorite value resort is the Pop century resort. It is huge but if you know where you want to stay and make sure toe ask the front desk for your preferred location, the size of the resort isn't all that bad.
This trip we stayed in the All Star Sports resort for the first time. I found it to be very similar to Pop century in room size and amenities. I will point out a few differences in a minute. We checked in late Thursday night and were to exhausted to care much about anything. We were told at check in that the main pool was closed for renovations but shuttle bus service was offered to the All Star Movies and Music resorts so that we could use their pools. Personally, I think we should have been told at the time the reservations were made and if we had been, it may have affected our decision to stay there.
For once, I got a great room location without even asking. it was a very close walk to the dining hall, bus stop and the main pool. Yeah! Oh,. wait a minute... the main pool was closed. It was a very long walk to the second, much smaller pool on property.
I prefer a first floor room because we have the stroller with us and inevitably, if we have a second or third floor room, we will be a mile (in the opposite direction) from the elevator. It took me a couple of years to convince my husband of the importance of this but he has come around. I don't know if he specified first floor at the time of registration but that is where we ended up (and that was a good thing because I was too tired and check in to think to ask).
Being close to dining is important because we use the refillable cups and grab sodas, hot chocolate, tea and coffee at a minimum in the morning and at bedtime - more often if we are hanging out at eh resort in the middle of hte day or come back early in the evening. So, when making your hotel reservation, make sure to check the resort maps to have an idea where you want your room to be. You can fax your request tot eh concierge a couple of days before your trip or make the request when checking in and hope that they have a room available in your preferred building. Be aware that the resorts do have a $10 per night up charge for what they consider premium rooms so decide how important this is to you (or get them to waive it)
The room was spotless and nicely appointed. The value resorts have double beds instead of the queen beds found at most (if not all, now) moderate resorts. The room also had a minifridge.
One super cool feature of the resort was a football field, complete with goalposts, between two of the buildings
Each of the sections had a different theme and the exteriors of the buildings reflected this theme. At the far end of hte resort, nestled between the baseball themed buildings, was the smaller pool, in the shape of a baseball diamond.
Other than the pool being closed, the one thing I didn't particularly care for was the layout of the dining hall. Like all of the value resorts, the food is purchased cafeteria style. Guests can wander amongst several different food stations and then pay for all the food at once upon exiting the are. Then, there is a beverage station out in the common area surrounded b y tables. At the All Star Sports resort, this dining hall is elongated and the TV bearing kids programing is waaay at the end. Of course, this was always where my kids chose to site so I would spend the entire meal running back and forth between the table and the beverage station, silverware, condiments, food purchase... you get the picture.
But, in the end of it all, for the awesome rate of $66 per night (scored with our Annual Passholder discount), I would stay at All Star Sports again. But my heart still lies with the moderate resorts.
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