Our family recently returned from our first stay at an All-Star Resort. We stayed six nights at Disney’s All-Star Sports. This is one of three hotels that comprise the All-Star complex, with the other two being Movies and Music. We wondered whether the All-Star Resorts were worth the money before we went on our trip. Now, we feel more than equipped to answer that question!
Walt Disney World Resort Categories – Value, Moderate, and Deluxe
Disney categorizes their resorts at Disney World into the three categories of Value, Moderate, and Deluxe. The categories mean pretty much what you might expect. Value is the cheapest, and the goal is providing a great value for the money. Deluxe is the opposite, where top of the line amenities is the priority. Moderates fall somewhere in between – more expensive than value but less luxurious than Deluxe.
Disney’s All-Star Resorts are the cheapest of the Value resorts. This means that they are the very entry-level option to stay “on property” at Walt Disney World. We paid an average of around $180 per night to stay in a preferred location room in early March. You can expect to pay more around peak travel seasons or less depending on available discounts. But from our experience, ~$180 is a pretty typical cost for a room at an All-Star Resort.
What Are the Alternatives to Staying at the All-Star Resorts?
In order to judge whether these hotels are worth the price, we have to consider what alternative options are available. These fall into two broad categories: On property (Disney Owned hotels) and off property (hotels owned by others).
Staying on Property
One of the main reasons that people choose to not to stay on Disney property is to save money. Disney hotels tend to be very expensive. However, we feel that it is worth the premium to stay All-Star rather than staying at a cheaper option off-property. The three main reasons for this are Disney transportation, early theme park entry, and the so-called “Disney difference”.
Having access to Disney World’s transportation services, in this case their buses, makes a huge difference when taking a trip to Disney. The buses are very reliable and efficient. They take your right to the front of the parks. And the best part is that they are free! We love the feeling of never worrying about how we will get to and from our hotel. We simply get on a bus in the morning, have fun in the parks, and head back to the bus stop when we’re ready to go.
Early theme park entry is another great perk of staying on property. The early morning hours are when you will have the shortest wait times for the most popular rides and attractions. Those staying in a Disney hotel get the privilege of 30 extra minutes in the morning. It may not sound like much, but it is a huge benefit! We are able to avoid paying for genie+ by taking advantage of this time to ride our favorites. This can save our family up to $90/day, making the price of All-Star really worth it.
What is The Disney Difference?
The final difference between staying in a Disney hotel and staying elsewhere is the Disney Difference. This term encompasses a wide variety of aspects including theming, customer service, cleanliness, and more.
If you are taking the time to visit Walt Disney World, chances are that you or others in your party love Disney. This is a great reason want to choose All-Star Resorts over the competition for your stay. Our daughters loved seeing oversized Donald Duck playing tennis against his nephews on a larger than life tennis court. Additionally, the food court is full of classic Disney characters being depicted in posters and pictures on the walls.
The Disney difference also means a level of customer service and cleanliness that is hard to find elsewhere, especially for the Value price point. Disney Cast Members at All-Star Resorts are incredibly friendly, knowledgeable, and helpful. Further, the housekeeping is excellent, and we found our room to be incredibly clean and comfortable.
To us the answer is clear: staying at Disney’s All-Star Resorts is absolutely worth it when compared to staying off property. But what about compared to other Disney resorts on property?
All-Star Sports vs Other Disney World Hotels
As we’ve stated, the All-Star Resorts are the very cheapest Disney hotels at Walt Disney World. The other Value category resorts are typically priced $50-150 more than All-Star. For the extra money, you are mainly getting one big benefit: access to the Skyliner.
Disney World’s Skyliner system provides quick and convenient access for guests at Pop Century and Art of Animation to EPCOT and Hollywood Studios. Additionally, these guests can enjoy access to Disney’s Riviera Resort, Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort, and Crescent Lake Disney Resorts. This is a huge benefit, allowing value hotel guests to easily hop on a Gondola and dine at a Moderate or Deluxe resort restaurant without paying to stay at one of these resorts.
For this reason, we recommend choosing Pop Century or Art of Animation over All-Star Resorts if your budget allows. With that being said, these resorts are quite a bit more expensive. If the extra cost isn’t in your budget, All-Star will still provide you with a great value for the money.
All-Star vs Moderate/Deluxe Disney World Resorts
In our opinion, the All-Star Resorts hold up very well against moderate and deluxe options at Walt Disney World. The reason for this is that it is SO much cheaper than the alternatives. Moderate Resorts routinely sell for double the cost of All-Star Resorts ($150 range vs $300 range). Deluxe Resorts start around $400/night and can go well into the $1,000s! Our favorite is Animal Kingdom Lodge, which tends to be on the cheap end for deluxe.
For a small fraction of the cost, All-Star has so much to offer. We found the pools at All-Star to be a very similar experience to those at a Moderate Resort. We found the cast members to be every bit as friendly and helpful at All-Star as they would be at any other resort on property. And perhaps most importantly, we felt that the resort was as clean, safe, and comfortable as any other Walt Disney World Hotel.
In Conclusion
So, are the Walt Disney World All-Star Resorts Worth the Money? I would answer with a resounding “YES!”. They provide an entry-level alternative to off property hotels at a competitive price, while never sacrificing on what makes Disney special. If you have extra cash, there are certainly better places to stay at Walt Disney World. But for the price, these Resorts are impossible to beat.
