Save a Bundle Bunking With Mickey

For many years, a family wishing to stay on the grounds of Walt Disney World in Orlando, Fla., paid a minimum of $125 to $150 a night per room--the lowest price for hotels operated by Disney. If you couldn’t afford that, your low-cost alternatives were motels in neighboring Kissimmee or those on or near International Drive in Orlando, some distance away.

In 1994, Disney broke into the low-end market with its first giant (1,920-room) All-Star Resort, charging as little as $77 a night for standard-level accommodations practically in the shadow of Cinderella’s castle. Disney’s experiment with budget pricing was an enormous success, and by 1998 another All-Star Resort had joined the ranks.

Now there are three huge All-Star resorts (All-Star Sports Resort, All-Star Music Resort and All-Star Movies Resort) on 246 acres of Disney World, for a total of 5,760 budget-priced rooms. The rooms are nothing exceptional, but to give the sensation of that much-promoted Disney “magic,” the exterior of each resort is adorned with kid-pleasing icons, including 50-foot-high football helmets, size-270 cowboy boots and a four-story-tall statue of Buzz Lightyear, the animated astronaut in “Toy Story.”

For such outrageous set dressing--and for proximity to the theme parks--penny-pinching families are still paying more than the lowest prices outside the Disney grounds, which are between $35 and $60 a night per room. Nonetheless, families of modest means are flocking to stay in the All-Stars--so much so that Disney is now slapping bright paint on a new project that will double its budget-bedroom inventory. The first 10 buildings of the new budget-priced Disney’s Pop Century are scheduled to open in March southeast of Disney-MGM Studios.

The Pop Century, decorated to be a decade-by-decade compendium of 20th century popular culture, features gargantuan corporate-sponsored icons such as Brunswick bowling pins (for the ‘50s) and Rubik’s Cubes (for the ‘80s). Its guest rooms--288 per building--and its pricing will be the same as at the other All-Stars, which is to say they will suit the cost-conscious American family on vacation.

As of winter 2002, “value resort” will be the biggest category in Disney lodgings, with a nightly inventory of 11,520 rooms--more than some entire cities have--for $77 to $109 at all times other than Christmas and mid-February through April.

The lowest prices ($77) are available from January to mid-February, during most of September and from November to just before Christmas; otherwise, rates are usually near $109.

Each All-Star Resort includes two big, busy pools and a colorful motel-style room with two queen beds (some have a king bed), suitable for families of four. There’s a do-it-yourself laundry ($2 per machine), a poolside bar ($3.25 beer, $2 soda), plus an arcade and the ever-present Disneyana shop (of course).

The resorts’ quality, obviously, is not as high as in other Disney-run hotels. Shampoo comes not from bottles but out of industrial-feeling wall-mounted dispensers, and room service will bring only pizza. There’s a bustling, mall-type food court for about every 2,000 rooms, serving typical theme-park fare (pizza, sandwiches and burgers) for $5.75 to $8 a plate, about what you pay inside the Magic Kingdom.

But if you have a car, you can escape the All-Star’s meager provisions by beating a 10-minute path to U.S. 192, where bargain eateries crowd the highway. If you stay at a Disney resort, parking is free in the World, saving about $6 each time you go to a theme park.

The All-Star resorts are also handy for people without cars, since stays include free use of the Disney World bus system. About every 20 minutes--far more frequently than most off-site shuttles--air-conditioned coaches go from the All-Star hotels to most attractions, from early morning to late night. Reservations at the All-Star resorts or at Disney’s Pop Century can be made at (407) 934-7639 or https://www.disneyworld.com.