All Star Movies Resort - New Here - Few Questions...

[c2mh]

Hi there,

We are planning a family vacation (2 kiddos) to Disney staying at the All Star Movies Resort. We are debating on the following:

1. Should we rent a car? I have heard bus service can take a long time.
2. Which room (theme area) should we request to stay in? And/or would you suggest a standard (out of the way, possibly more quiet room) or a preferred?

Any other important things we should plan for at this resort?

It is overwhelming as we haven't been to Disney yet.

Thank you
Cris

 

[DVCJEN]

Driving, then parking, then taking a tram to get to the park would be more time consuming than riding the bus.

 

[LegoMom3]

Welcome to the boards!

Re: the room - preferred is going to be close to all the action, of course, and the rest will be further away but quieter. We prefer quiet so we stayed in the back of the property and loved it. I did not mind doing some walking to get to the front!

Transporation - we have never rented a car. I have never found the busses to be all that bad, but you will get very different opinions on this. Basically, if you love to be in control, get a car.

Here is a link to a map of ASMo:

http://www.wdwinfo.com/resortmaps/allstarmovie.htm

That will help determine what buidings are closer to stuff and those that are not.

Have a great trip!

.

 

[c2mh]

Out of curiosity, which 'location' did you stay at? I looked at the map and am somewhat confused by the layout of quiet and convenience. I think my girls (4 and 7 yrs old) would like Dalmatians, but it looks quite centrally located. Maybe Love Bug or Toy Story? I'm curious as to what worked for you. I was also thinking 3rd floor might be a good option as it would probably be quieter than 1st floor. I was told it can take a 10 minute walk to get to the bus service from some distant locations. Do you think it was a 10 min. walk for you?

Thanks for the tips ladies! I have a feeling I have a lot to learn...

Cris

 

[hammie59]

I would choose the area that most interests your kids (for us it's Toy Story). I do believe 3rd floor would be more quiet than 1st since that's probably true just about anywhere. I've read that people who stay in the Mighty Ducks section walk over to All Star Music's bus stop since it's closer to them. Just remember that anything you request is truely only a request. Be prepared for plan B when you get there!

PS- Love Bug and Mighty Ducks are the only sections that are NOT considered preferred.

 

[LegoMom3]

Out of curiosity, which 'location' did you stay at? I looked at the map and am somewhat confused by the layout of quiet and convenience. I think my girls (4 and 7 yrs old) would like Dalmatians, but it looks quite centrally located. Maybe Love Bug or Toy Story? I'm curious as to what worked for you. I was also thinking 3rd floor might be a good option as it would probably be quieter than 1st floor. I was told it can take a 10 minute walk to get to the bus service from some distant locations. Do you think it was a 10 min. walk for you?

Thanks for the tips ladies! I have a feeling I have a lot to learn...

Cris

We stayed in Love Bug. The map (I noticed afterwards....sorry!) is positioned sideways, so as the above poster just noted, Love Bug and Mighty Ducks are the non-preferred and more quiet locations. On the map, the right hand side is more or less the "front" of the property.

We were at the very back (Bldg. 7, I believe) and the walk was just a few minutes, not long at all.

.

 

[tmatthews]

we just returned from Toy Story Section. It was quiet most of the time back there and pretty easy access to pool and food court and bus. From what I saw a lot of groups were staying in nonpreferred rooms like love bug/mighty ducks. Although we did have a group in the woody rooms. The buses were not bad. Last time we used our car and I think it is better to take the bus. The only problem w/ movies is that if the buses are sharing they could be packed by time they pick you up. That happened to us twice and once the second bus was almost right behind. Movies is the last one picked up and last one dropped off. (sports, music, movies) There were times we had our own bus. If I had my choice I think I would stay in Mickey's Sorcerer Hat! It was a cute area. I had requested buzz room on original ressie and called 5 days before to confirm and when we checked in...they tried to give me 101 Dalmations.....I did get woody though. I wasn't real thrilled w/ food court.

 

[rbramblett]

Welcome to the boards!

Re: the room - preferred is going to be close to all the action, of course, and the rest will be further away but quieter. We prefer quiet so we stayed in the back of the property and loved it. I did not mind doing some walking to get to the front!

Transporation - we have never rented a car. I have never found the busses to be all that bad, but you will get very different opinions on this. Basically, if you love to be in control, get a car.

Here is a link to a map of ASMo:

http://www.wdwinfo.com/resortmaps/allstarmovie.htm

That will help determine what buidings are closer to stuff and those that are not.

Have a great trip!

.

My 5 year old LOOOVES your Mater counter!

 

[mplsmom1]

Love AsMo - we're going back for our 3rd visit. Boys want Toy Story - I thought that would not be preferred room (I think the standard/preferred thingie is new since my last time or I just forgot all about it). I booked Standard to save some $$. Is all of Toy Story preferred??

 

[3mickeys&me]

Welcome to the board We stayed at All Star Movies this past Nov and loved it. We did not request a preferred room but received on upon check in and we stayed in The Woody section. We loved it. My boys and my niece (age 3) loved the theme of this resort. They loved the pool as well. We never had any issues with the bus at all. We never rent a car when we go to Disney for us its a waste of money.
Have a great time

 

[Charleyann]

I was disappointed we got in Mighty Ducks for Christmas. That changed! We were overlooking the quiet pool and it was nice and quiet. We were very close to the Music and often caught the bus there. It was closer and loaded first! The food court and bus stops are just across the street.

The Music resort also had nightly activites. There were poolside movies playing on a large screen and they had karoke too...They had games in the afternoon. I relly likeed having the best of Both world!

Charleyann

 

[The Brain]

Here's the thing... a preferred room is easier to get to buses, but a standard (quieter room) is easier to get to rental car. So some of your decision may be based on how the rental car idea works out.

As far as renting a car goes, it really depends on you. My wife and I liked the ability to jump in a car and go when and where we wanted to. However the buses were a good cost saving measure. If we go down this year, we'll probably rent a car again, but if we needed to save a few dollars I wouldn't be against skipping it. Basically its a luxury that you'll have to decide if you want.

If it helps go to http://www.rentalcarmomma.com to save some money on a rental. Its got agreements with most major rental car agencies. I hope that's an address that's okay to post. If it gets blocked out, private message me and I will send it to you.

 

[stavidt]

Hi...

We stayed at All Stars this past fall and loved it. We requested a preferred room in Toy Story...we never had much noise other than my 2 yr. old crying all night (big adjustment for her).

We were close to the pool but far enough away from nightly swimmers. We loved it and would definately recommend it to anyone. One suggestion the rooms are on the smaller side in terms of counter space (toothpaste, sunscreen, water bottles, makeup, sippy cups, etc...) bring an over the door shoe hanger (cheap kind) to store stuff and make some organization of everything b/c it can kinda get to you after a while.

Buses were not a problem....no car necessary.

 

[Shmily1]

I would not rent a car. We drive down every time and always park our car when we arrive and don't move it again until time to go home. We stayed at Music in December and loved it and will be at Movies in 4 days!! I usually don't request a room or section since I will be happy no matter where I am as long as it is at WDW!!!

 

[MegsMommy]

Hi
we stayed in the Dalmation section this past October and it wasn't a far walk at all to the main building. We were on the third floor and it was very quiet there. I have to say the whole hotel is so neat. It really gets you into the whole Disney spirit. We are talking about going back and my DD wants to stay there again. For small kids it is perfect.
The buses were OK. If you stay at the parks until closing the wait was usually a long line. But most of the time the buses came pretty quick one after another. And you are the last drop off but they drop off so quick at the other hotels that it's not a big deal.
But definitely make a request if you want a certain building. I called about 5 days before to make sure we got the dalmations and when we checked in they said they had nothing in their system for the request. But they were fantastic and fixed everything. Their service was really great at the front desk and even at the food court. We stayed at POFQ in 2006 and I have to say that I was more impressed with ASMo.
So good luck on your planning. And have fun!!!

 

[kids1617]

We're staying at all star movies this august, it's great to hear all the positve feedback. Can't wait to stay there!

 

[hammie59]

Love AsMo - we're going back for our 3rd visit. Boys want Toy Story - I thought that would not be preferred room (I think the standard/preferred thingie is new since my last time or I just forgot all about it). I booked Standard to save some $$. Is all of Toy Story preferred??

Yes, all of toy story is considered preferred.

 

[Magalex]

Great info thread about ASMO! I had noticed on tripadvisor that ASMO was getting some poor reviews which in the past it was a favorite. Our next trip won't be until June 2009. But I love to hear good things about ASMO. My DS is requesting this resort and we are interested in trying it at least once. How has housekeeping been lately? The food court seems larger then ASMU or Sports.

 

[mplsmom1]

Thanks for the clarification hammie! We'll have to decide how much it's worth to us

 

[ROMNEY]

We will be back at ASMO on Monday 7thApril all the way from the little
island of Guernsey CI U.K, We were last at Disney in 2006 staying at
Port Orleans Riverside. we stayed at movies in 2004 and are looking forward
to going back, the themes are brilliant for our 2 children. in fact i am sitting
next to 3 kids, DS9 DD 6 AND the most excited kid DW38.
Last time we stayed in the Dalmation section.
We won`t have a car, does anybody know of any Grocery stories within
walking distance of ASMO or DTD.