One more reason to stay onsite!

Another amazing perk for guests who stay at a Disney World resort: EXTRA MAGIC HOURS!

Disney will open the parks either one hour early or stay open 2-3 hours late ONLY for resort guests! That means short lines and way less people in the parks!

Top 5 reasons to stay at the Value Resorts!

Our most recent stay was at Allstar Music!

I'm a HUGE fan of the Disney value resorts! Here's why:

1- THEMING! All Disney resorts have impeccable theming, but the Value resorts are pretty special. If you want to be completely immersed in Disney-ness, the Values are where it's at. Larger than life icons, bright colors, characters galore! Everywhere you turn there is some kind of cool Disney thing that appeals to adults as well as kids. The Allstars have classic Disney characters as well as newer ones, that tie into Sports, Music, or Movies. Pop Century has all the fun things adults loved as kids, that the newer generation is just being introduced to. Where else is there a life-sized fooseball table? And the newest, Art of Animation, celebrates the amazing artists who create our favorite Disney characters.

2- PRICE! We adore Disney World, and go as often as we can, but we aren't as rich as we wished we were! LOL! Sometimes, we have to keep our vacation budget as trim as possible. And that means cutting corners where we can. The best place to cut corners is by staying at a Value Resort. Pricing per night ranges from $85 to $189, depending on which Value you choose, what season you're visiting Disney World, and if you'd like a preferred room location or not. That's a great price, in my opinion! And they still include all the perks of being a Disney World resort guest, like free transportation, extra magic hours, package delivery, and the ability to book the Disney Dining Plan. And let's not forget all the fabulous promotions Disney offers every season! So those prices are often even cheaper!

3- FOOD! We are huge fans of food at Disney World, and it's no secret that the best counter service meals of all the resorts are served at the Values. Each has a huge cafeteria-style food court with all sorts of offerings, from early morning til late at night. Art of Animation's Landscape of Flavors has some really unique offerings, while the Allstars and Pop Century stick to American fare. The Pop Century food court is the only place to get tie-dyed cheese cake!!

4- NO FRILLS! I'm not sure how many people will agree this is a perk, but I think it is. We are park people. Even when we've planned extended trips and swore we were going to have more down time, we just didn't. We like being in the parks. Yes, we like to swim and take advantage of the pool area fun, but usually only on arrival day, or in the evening. So for us, the Values are perfect. We don't care about a water slide or hot tub. We spend very little time in our room, so we don't care if it's smaller than the rooms at the Moderate and Deluxe resorts. We couldn't care less that there isn't a table service restaurant to dine at.

5- CUSTOMER SERVICE! Regardless of where you stay on Disney property, you still receive the same level of customer service. Which is pretty darn high, if you ask me! Every Cast Member I have encountered at my many Value resort stays has always gone above and beyond to make us feel special and accommodate us as best they can.

So what do you think of the Value resorts? Have I missed a reason? Share your fabulous experiences!!

Art of Animation was A. MAZE. ING!

Be prepared for a TON of photos!

When we originally booked this trip, way back when, we were booked for Pop Century. But then my parents needed to postpone. I was really bummed...but then I realized something awesome. Art of Animation would be open for the new date! SWEETNESS! So we rebooked for a Cars suite. And then my parents needed to back out completely. Bummed again. We couldn't afford the suite on our own....well...we probably could have, but it cut $1200 off our package to switch to a standard value resort room. And that's just too much of a savings not to. I was bummed to not be able to stay at the new resort. But then, they changed the projected opening date for the standard section at Art of Animation! The Little Mermaid rooms were supposed to open mid December 2012, but then it changed to mid September! Woo Hoo!!! I made the switch and I was so so excited!!

We arrived and were simply blown away. Even the lobby is breathtaking with all the drawings on the wall and the way the front desk area is lit up.

Our room was ready, so we headed over. The walk wasn't exactly short, but we didn't care. Room was so fun!

The resort is breathtaking. SOOOO much attention to detail. Every morning and evening, we had to walk through The Lion King section. Very very cool with the character statues, elephant graveyard, and foliage. Really felt like we were somewhere else.

The Little Mermaid section was so bright and colorful. We loved posing with Ariel's treasures and of course, the statue of Prince Eric!

The Cars section was amazing...like walking into the movie. We were instantly transported to Route 66 and Radiator Springs. Cars is one of our family's favorite movies, and we were in heaven!

And lastly, Finding Nemo. Very colorful and fun. The pool was awesome. Loved the giant scuba mask!

We had lunch at Landscape of Flavors and it was so so good. The variety of meals was wonderful. I had the portuguese sausage and it was really good. The decor in the food court was really pretty. A really great place to eat!

I think the only downside to staying there was the buses. Maybe it's because the resort is new and filled to capacity when we were there, but the buses were crazy packed. Our first night at Magic Kingdom, we took one look at the never ending bus line and hopped in line for Pop Century. We had a bit of a walk, but it wasn't bad. If you walk through Pop and take the Generation Gap bridge over (if that's even what they're still calling it.....), it's pretty convenient. In our opinion, far better than standing in line for an hour waiting for a bus. We did this several nights. It was just easier. And the views from the bridge were so so pretty :)