Price tends to be the main factor. I’ve stayed at POP before and will be at All-Star Music in a few weeks. I’d like to try AoA, but I haven’t been able to justify the extra cost in my mind.
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We love AoA for lots of reasons, but the theming is by far and away the best in our view. We stay in the Nemo section, and it actually feels like we become part of the movie when we’re following the path from Animation Hall to our room. The details create a truly immersive experience. This is Disney in the eyes of my kids.
The amazing Big Blue Pool, the ease of bus transportation, and the suites with 2 bathrooms and a kitchenette are other important factors for our party of five. Yes, the suites cost more than the other values, but I think they are worth every penny.
AoA was the right choice for my upcoming trip with my daughter. The biggest consideration is price. My daughter’s favorite princess is Ariel, so while I debated between AoA or Pop, I wanted to spend a bit more to give her the experience of staying in an Ariel room.
After reading many reviews, I would try Pop for a future trip if I was going to go with a Value. The reviews of the dedicated buses, food courts, themes and lack of large school groups have confirmed I would only stay at Pop or AoA.
Because I’m a relative local I make last minute plans all the time. I also don’t use buses.
I decide on price, first. Then We base our decisions on the arcade which brings us to POP most of the time. (Gotta play the Dizzy Chicken). But if we are doing the All Stars, Music is where I have stayed 4 times in the past 6 months because it is always available. we were in Andy’s room area at Movies in January and I realized how much I liked the theming there and would actually consider paying for it. Then we think about where haven’t we stayed in a while. But I also am aware of when the large groups are staying in the All Stars so I avoid them if possible, based on the price I’m willing to pay.
So, My local viewpoint consideration is price. Then Arcade. Then wanting something different to photograph.
I advise people to stick with POP for busing convenience, or at AS Sports to get on the bus first. But tio watch out for cheerleaders, tour groups, and other large groups.
Stayed value for the first time for my solo trip for marathon weekend. Chose POP because of the food court and walking distance AoA food court.
Hmmm…maybe 
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We are staying at All-Star Movies in September. The main factor was price all three of the all-stars were the cheapest price other then the campground. I chose movies over the other two because I looked at pictures and I am more interested in the themes at movies then the other two. It is about $100 a night for six nights which we could easily afford. We only plan on being at the resort after the parks close and the first day we get there so the size of the room doesn’t matter to us and it is only the two of us.
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We like (and usually need) extra space, so could choose a family suite or 2 connecting rooms. We need good bus service (direct bus, no sharing) as our #1 priority, so that limits us to Pop or AoA.
Next the question is theming and food court. AoA wins on both counts, but theming weights a little more highly as our #2 factor.
The only value we stayed in was Pop. We chose it because we liked the theming and the price was right 
Next on our list is either AS Movies or Music, again because of the theming.
Transportation is #1 ( we love pop and AoA for this). And party size and cost usually determine which one. will 2 rooms at pop be cheaper than aoa?
Picked PoP for Liner love, price, dedicated buses and LM rooms at AoA seemed so far from everything
A big reason I’ve never stayed in AoA is because the non-suites are never included in discounts/free dining. I like the layout/theming/pools of POP over the All Stars and find it to be worth the couple of extra bucks. I’ve stayed at ASS and ASMovies before and wouldn’t stay at any All Star other than Sports again simply because of the way the bus routes work when they use one bus for all of the All Stars. ASS is the first-in, last-out which means less riding around when you just want to get to the park or back to the resort. The theming of ASS doesn’t do anything for me, but we’re park commandos, so we only spend about an hour and a half of awake time there a day and don’t feel the need to spend big on a place to crash.
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Each trip has different parameters (cost, whether we’re renting a car, how many in our party, whether we’re park commandos or using the resort more), so each trip could have different reasons for which resort is picked.
Having said that… what @sethist said.
Just booked our first WDW trip for October. I really wanted to say at AoA LM room for DD6, but on the day I called to book (over 200 days out) they were all booked. I picked POP over AS because of transportation- happy they have their own buses, rather than share with 3 resorts. Also, I think it was a good choice since LM rooms don’t get discounts and POP does. If I could budget a little more for the trip, I’d upgrade to the Royal Rooms at POR in a heartbeat.
We just booked our first value resort. Our decision was easy, we wanted to use our military discount and AoA does NOT offer that on the Little Mermaid rooms. We then went to POP because it has it’s own bus service.
Please Don’t mind me butting in… You could always check back with reservations and see if a LM room opens up! We have had great sucess doing that and Love LM rooms and AoA!
I first go by transportation. The dedicated bus service at AOA and POP can’t compare with the All Stars sharing them.
The price at POP is better than AOA but it is close enough that I can still walk over and enjoy the theming. That is why I chose to go with POP. It also helped that many Liners recommended it. 
I’ve been checking to see if any open up! The only bad thing I can see about these rooms is that they are usually not included in discounts, and pop is!
Very true about the discount but… The theme of the whole resort is worth the little extra imo it’s pretty amazing especially for the little ones!!! Good luck
Not to start an argument but there isn’t that much difference between the bus service at the values. I know people slam the All Stars all the time but, in reality they don’t always share buses, much like POR and POFQ. And, as Len’s post below shows, we are taking very very similar times for all the buses.