Theme park vacations are expensive, full stop. But the hotel portion of a trip doesn’t have to be pricey.
There are accommodations for every budget in the Orlando area, including at Walt Disney World and Universal Orlando Resort.
I recently stayed at one of Disney World’s cheapest hotels, Disney’s All-Star Music Resort. It cost less than my local Hampton Inn back home in the Atlanta area, but came with a lot more perks.
Here’s what it was like and what prospective guests should know about the Value resort.
What Are the All-Star Hotels at Disney?
There are three neighboring All-Star properties in Disney’s Animal Kingdom area: All-Star Sports, Music and Movies.
They’re the least-expensive Value hotels at Disney World, though not the cheapest places to stay on property. That would be the campsites at Disney’s Fort Wilderness.
Of the three All-Star properties, Sports tends to be the least expensive, but it was fully booked when I planned my trip. All-Star Music’s pricing tends to fall in the middle, with All-Star Movies often costing a little more because its Disney and Pixar animation-inspired theming makes it particularly popular.
All three resort properties feature colorful, oversized decorations tied to their respective themes. However, their rooms are mostly the same. An exception is All-Star Music’s Family Suites, which span two rooms, sleep up to six people, and include a kitchenette.
Are the Disney All-Star Resorts Nice?
Yes. Of course, nice is relative. I would call any Disney World resort hotel nice. However, just like there’s a difference between a Four Points by Sheraton and the Ritz-Carlton, even though they’re part of the same Marriott Bonvoy hotel family, there is a significant difference between an All-Star and, say, the Island Tower at Disney’s Polynesian Villas and Bungalows, where rates are much higher.
I’ve stayed at all three All-Stars, and Music has been my favorite. The theming is fun, the grounds are well-groomed, and the cast members I encountered were terrific.
I got a kick out of the three-story-tall cowboy boots, banjos, and fiddles along my building in the country-themed section, as well as the giant juke boxes and guitars in the rock section. Broadway buildings are adorned with Times Square-style marquees, massive drum kits anchor the jazz section, and huge xylophones and maracas add color to the calypso buildings. The pools are also themed. The main pool is shaped like a guitar with a Three Caballeros fountain, and the secondary pool is shaped like a piano.
Standard rooms are comfortable and have all the essentials I need. There’s a conventional queen bed and a Murphy-style queen bed that converts into a table. There’s also plenty of storage, including a dresser with a tucked-away safe, a doorless closet, lots of bathroom shelving, coat hooks and towel hooks. Bathrooms offer bathtubs, which are great for young children. Rooms also include an Alexa-like Hey Disney assistant, a flat-screen TV, a coffee maker, a beverage cooler and other basics.
What Are the Benefits of Staying in a Disney Hotel?
To me, the biggest pros are the cast members, who make the magic across every Disney resort hotel. From the front desk to the food court, I encountered so many kind cast members. I submitted multiple compliments through Disney World’s mobile app during my two-night stay.
More measurable perks include:
Extra park time: Disney resort hotel guests get 30 minutes of early theme park entry at all four theme parks. On top of that, guests staying at Deluxe and Deluxe Villa resorts and a few others get extended evening hours on select dates, in select parks.
Free summer water park entry: Through Sept. 8, all guests staying at Disney Resorts Collection hotels get free entry to a Disney water park on their check-in date as part of Cool Kids Summer. One-day tickets for Disney’s Typhoon Lagoon or Blizzard Beach typically cost $74 for adults and $68 for kids during the summer.
Free parking: Disney World resort hotel guests get free standard self-parking at their hotel and the theme parks. Standard theme park parking typically costs $35 per day for cars or motorcycles.
Free Disney transportation: Depending on the hotel, guests have a variety of free transportation options to the parks and Disney Springs shopping, dining and entertainment complex. Buses are the only options to the All-Star resorts, but they drop guests off closer to park entrances than they could park their cars, particularly at Magic Kingdom.
Resort recreation: All the resorts have themed pools and free activities like movies under the stars. Through Sept. 8, Disney’s Art of Animation, Caribbean Beach, Pop Century, or Port Orleans-Riverside are offering extra activities as part of Cool Kids Summer.
Disney dining deals: This year, kids ages 3 to 9 can get free Disney Dining Plans when adults in their party purchase plans for themselves. Disney Dining Plans are only available to Disney resort hotel guests, including Disney Vacation Club members.
Early booking windows: Resort hotel guests can start booking Lightning Lane attractions seven days ahead of their first park date, while the general public has to wait until the three-day mark. They can also book dining reservations for the length of their stay, starting 60 days before check-in.
Cons of Staying at All-Star Music
One con of staying at an All-Star is that all the guest rooms are outdoor-facing, and the buildings aren’t connected to each other, so if it rains and you forgot a poncho or umbrella, you’ll get wet traversing the property. Depending on where your room is, you can also get pretty sweaty walking around during warmer months.
Another con for some guests is that the only free transportation available is bus service. I never waited more than 10 minutes for a bus to show up, but if you want to be able to walk to a park or ride a Skyliner, Monorail or watercraft to your hotel, this resort isn’t for you. Guests should note the buses are wheelchair- and scooter-accessible.
There is slightly less recreation available at the All-Stars than at some other properties, but there are free movies under the stars and two pools with poolside activities, though no waterslides. There’s no gym either, though there is a track. There’s also a free campfire with s’mores kits available to purchase, paid craft activities and a pay-to-play arcade.
Lastly, there is no table-service dining, if that’s your thing. However, the food at the Intermission food court is pretty good, generously portioned, reasonably priced, and there’s a wide variety. Picky eaters will find classics like chicken tenders and pizza, but there are also more adventurous options like mojo chicken and tuna poke bowls. All-Star Music also has an outdoor bar, Singalong Spirits, and there are plenty of table-service restaurants in the parks and Disney Springs.
How Much Does It Cost to Stay at an All-Star Resort?
Pricing varies by date, room type and resort.
I paid $135 per night before tax for a standard All-Star Music room with a summer promo offering up to 30% off. The non-discounted rate would have been $164 during my particular dates.
For perspective, a room at the hotel closest to my Atlanta-area home, a Hampton Inn, costs $152 a night, though that includes free breakfast.
From June 21 through Aug. 15, Disney+ subscribers can get rates starting at $99 a night with a minimum two-night stay at All-Star Sports. Several other Disney World hotels are also offering deals as part of that promo.
Promotions aside, travelers looking to save on lodging may want to consider Hotels.com’s newly released 2026 Hotel Price Index, which finds that stays starting on Sundays cost 15% less than stays starting on Fridays.
The report also notes that travelers who book hotels 8 to 14 days before their trip find the best deals, with last-minute bookings saving 23% on average compared to bookings made four months out. The findings are industrywide, based on internal booking data and a survey of 11,000 global travelers.
Between the pricing and the perks, staying at an All-Star can certainly be worth it, but whether it’s right for you is subjective. For instance, I personally wouldn’t choose All-Star Sports because I don’t care about athletics in general, but I would definitely stay at All-Star Music or Movies again.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY.
