The one great thing about planning a trip to Disney World is that you have a lot of options for where to stay on property, including hotels for lower budgets.
All-Star Resorts
We’ve all saved some $$$ by staying at the value resorts, Disney World’s cheapest category of hotels. After all, staying there frees up money to spend on more important things…like FOOD. Whether it’s the All-Star Resorts, or the Pop Century or Art of Animation Resorts, if you just need a hotel room good for resting at night between park visits, Disney’s got you covered. But we’re worried about these hotels, and we’ll tell you why.
No new value resort since 2012
Disney has not built a new value resort in over a decade. The last was Art of Animation, which opened in 2012. The most RECENT hotel built in Disney World would be a deluxe resort, the Riviera, which was opened in 2019. Here’s the thing: A LOT of families depend on the value resorts because they’re trying to save money, but are there enough budget rooms to accommodate everyone?
Crush at Disney’s Art of Animation
We think not. We also think Disney would get MORE people to Disney World if it had more value resort options. Considering Disney’s current focus seems to be on creating more Disney Vacation Club properties (which are pricey), it seems the company has forgotten the value hotel guests. We think Disney needs more value hotels!
My UNPOPULAR OPINION On The BEST Disney World Hotel Value of Them All. Don’t Knock It Til You Try It.
Rooms are all the same
One thing that Disney World has done in recent years is give the value resort rooms a refresh. Now, those rooms used to have themes that were in line with that hotel’s theme, but now, many of the standard rooms at the value resorts look EXACTLY the same. It’s like Disney completely gave up on theming those rooms to give them more personality.
Value resort room
Were the room upgrades needed, yes? But did Disney have to decide to be so uncreative with the result? No. So now, you only get great theming at the value resorts OUTSIDE your room. We’re guessing those room updates could eventually spoil the fun themed rooms at Art of Animation, too (but we hope not!).
PHOTOS: Disney’s Pop Century Resort Standard Room Tour
Food courts are all the same
One thing that has irked us the most about the value resorts is that ALL the food courts pretty much have the same menus now. We remember when Landscapes of Flavor at Art of Animation was different and offered options not found anywhere else. Even Pop Century had a menu that wasn’t the same as the All-Star Resorts.
Landscapes of Flavor doesn’t have a lot of…well…flavor anymore
Now, those menus are identical, showing how Disney has decided to pull even MORE character personality away from those hotels. We get it — it’s easier this way, but it shows that Disney doesn’t want to focus a lot of time and attention on value resorts, even with the food.
The Deterioration of Landscape of Flavors Food Court From Awesome To Awful
As we mentioned, Disney’s deluxe hotels have been getting room upgrades, refreshed lobbies, and even new restaurants. In the meantime, we’re wondering if we’ll ever see a new value resort being built again, and we hope the existing value resorts aren’t neglected!
Stay tuned to DFB for more.
The PROS And CONS Of Staying At Disney World’s Value Resorts
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What do you think? Do you think Disney should put more focus on value resorts in Disney World? Let us know in the comments!
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The parks are crowded, even in January, and you want more value hotels to draw even more people? Disney needs another park. Not just new lands in existing parks but an entirely new park.
I think you’re absolutely right! Disney is completely focused on the deluxe resort and DVC segments. And, sure, I get it, but I do wonder with the economy going the way it’s going, if focusing so exclusively on the higher end experiences will hurt them. Somehow, someone at Disney is getting away with making decisions that make the moderate and value resort guests feel so unappreciated as to almost make us feel unwelcome. Whether it’s a deliberate move to almost turn away that segment of their customers, or just a careless side effect, I’ll be surprised if it’s actually good for their bottom line.
Consider this- if you spend all your $$$ on a hotel room where all you do is sleep, you have to cut something out- souvenirs, better restaurants, after hours events…..
Disney gets xxx amount of your money, but what do you have to show for it.
I have no problem with the nice room refreshes that aren’t unique, although I kind of miss the musical wallpaper borders at Music where we usually stay. I do wish for more variety in the food courts though, with at least one dish at dinner time unique to that resort, including each All Star. A distinctive sandwich or dessert would be nice too. Sad that they no longer seem to freshly cook the burgers as they used to. Could we use more value resorts? Yes, as many people would love to stay on site but pick a Good Neighbor hotel instead due to cost. I don’t think it would majorly add to the crowds in the parks to have another 1,000 well-priced rooms available. Assuming four in a room, that would only be 4,000 more people spread over the whole resort.
I think Disney has become very classist and focuses more on big spenders and DVC members. It’s kind of like Vegas catering to high rollers. I don’t see this changing and it started with only deluxe guests getting after hours privileges. We can afford it but most average families can’t. Pretty sad.
DVC member here. I think this short term issue is that the “resort guest only times” are getting uncomfortably crowded. This won’t get fixed until there’s a significant park expansion.
Completely agree about Landscapes of Flavor. We stayed 5 years ago and the food was amazing. We stayed last year and it was like cafeteria food at its worst.
Disney manipulates the lightening lanes to make the queues longer and keep the parks crowded. Plus there are no new rides to get people of the streets this keeps people shopping and eating. The value resorts used to be fun. We would stay there a day or 2 prior to going to DVC because we could get a pool room with a table right outside. But they have let them run down. Even the Poly is showing its age. Disney is putting no money in the resorts because they need the resort money to prop up their failing movie and streaming by
Uk visitor view here. Having been to disney over 25 times in the last 26 years sometimes more than once a year.. it now feels as though disney is more interested in making as much money as possible from their guest.. & less about value for money.. I sometimes think walt would be turning in his grave now at how things are.. it’s seems that they are pricing out the average working family. That was not walts dream..