All Star Suites vs. All Stars adjoining rooms

[mickeymom629]

Sorry this is a little long, and maybe I'm answering my own question, but if you have any thoughts, please share.

We used to stay at All Stars, two adjoining rooms, but we are now "spoiled" by DVC villas. I am trying to plan a December trip with my family of 6 (4 teens), not using our points and trying to conserve money. I have considered offsite, but we will all have AP's and I would like us to stay on Disney property. We have stayed in the FW cabins, but they only have one bathroom. My kids don't like sharing beds anymore, either. So today I booked us into a suite at ASMu (two will still have to share or we could put a camp cot in the room with the bed. But the more I think about it, staying in two adjoining rooms might be more comfortable. We would still have two bathrooms and my two college boys could have a "decent" bed, rather than having a pullout (sofa, chair, ottoman), on their break. Again, two would have to share, or we can bring the cot. I like the "large" kitchen and table/chairs that the cabins offer. The kitchen in the suites is really not anything to speak of, from what I can see. We usually keep a cooler filled with the resort ice to keep milk, beer, wine. I usually bring my single cup coffee maker. The only thing I can think that we would use the microwave for would be popcorn. Since there's not place to sit around a table, or a stove/oven, I don't think I would consider cooking a meal. We will have the DDE, so the food court is appealing.

So, anyone think the suite is better than 2 adjoining rooms for us?

 

[disneyfan2]

i think the suites are great, but like you said, the bed won't be comfortable for teens besides the sofa, the 2 pull out ottomans, seem more suitable to younger kids, not teens? Plus the suites are not discounted, so you could probably get a better rate on 2 separate rooms!!

 

[crzyred]

the ottoman, sofa, chairs. aren't bad. i slept on the chair bed and it's comfortable. at the end of the day, i was just happy to have someplace to fall asleep. i'm 22 and have some back issues, but sleeping on it didn't bother me at all. my sister slept on the sofa bed and she said it was more comfortable than the one we have at home.

 

[minnie61650]

the ottoman, sofa, chairs. aren't bad. i slept on the chair bed and it's comfortable. at the end of the day, i was just happy to have someplace to fall asleep. i'm 22 and have some back issues, but sleeping on it didn't bother me at all. my sister slept on the sofa bed and she said it was more comfortable than the one we have at home.

I agree the pull outs were the most confortable I have ever tried.

The pull out beds in the living area were very confortable.

This is a paragraph taken from the All Star Music Family Suites review this of the DIS resorts page:

http://www.wdwinfo.com/wdwinfo/resorts/asm.htm

All Star Music Resort Family Suites

Review
by Kevin Klose
DIS Content Editor


........

Both the chair and the ottoman open into beds. The chair opens to a twin size bed and the ottoman opens to a “junior” sized bed….about the size of a cot. The bed and the chair are amazing designs. The kids will think they are cool and Disney’s competitors are going to steal this idea. Watch for different versions of this to spring up everywhere.

----------------------

The sofa opens into a double bed.

Here is a photo I took of the pullout chair when we stayed at All Star Music September 21.

Notice the seat and back of chair support the foldout bed.
There are no metal bars running under your back area.


I laid down on it and it was very comfortable.

In fact I was so happy with the fold outs that Iwanted to buy a pull out sofa and chair for my spare room but they are made exculsively for Disney.

Here is a link to a thread about my quest for the pull outs.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1236271&referrerid=&highlight=


Have fun at Disney wherver you choose to stay!

 

[minnie61650]

Here are a few reviews of the Family Suites:

Just returned Friday from a week long stay in the family suites and they were great. My family and I (DH, DB, DSIL and DNep) stayed in them. We were in room 2650 which was on the 3rd floor of Jazz building #2. I would ditto many of the comments that whetstone had previously posted, especially the air conditioning. My DH likes the room on the cold side and I don't think the temperature ever got down to the temp we had it set at. The resort was pretty crowded during the time we were there (lots of tour groups), but our room was in a good location where we didn't have a lot of noise (DNep took naps each day). The pull out sofa and chair were pretty comfortable to sleep on, but the ottoman was not as comfortable. Mousekeeping was great and we even got some towel animals (little dogs). I didn't really take any pictures of the room because it looked exactly like the pictures posted on this thread. If anyone has any questions, please feel free to post.

I made a seperate post but I'll copy it here. I'll have pics in a couple of days after we sort through them all....



Me, DH, and DS11 just got back from 5 nights in the All Star Music Suites.

We were in 2436 in the Jazz building. The room was on one of the rows that shoot straight back toward the parking lot about 3/4 of the way down on the first floor. Basically you make a right at the drum set and head straight back.

The location was very quiet. I don't think we heard a single person the whole week. It was not far away from the pool or main area.
The room was perfect for us. DS slept in the living room area and DH and I slept in the bedroom.

DS had a lot of fun trying all the different beds in the living area. He proclaimed that the couch bed was great for at night but the chair bed was best for naps. He didn't like the footstool bed but said it would be good for a smaller kid.

The only complaint I have about the room is that the bathroom for the master bedroom area is on the other side of the kitchen. It would have been nicer for me if it was within the master bedroom area, or if there was a door to the kitchen area that could be closed. I had to be careful not to wake DS going to the bathroom at night, and no walking around nekkid between the bedroom and bathroom.

Mouskeeping did a great job all week. The resort was clean, everyone was very friendly.

We only used the food court for snacks but I did see people eating burgers and pizzas. They seemed to be enjoying them.

The bus service was excellent! I could not believe how easy it was. I was very concerned about this when I went but the longest wait we had for an all stars bus was 10 minutes. One night we left MK after wishes. There were a ton of people and I was worried we would have a long wait. Within 10 minutes 3 busses stopped. We were on the third bus and the line was empty after that.

Sharing with Sports was soooo not a big deal. It's right next door and added about 2 minutes to our trips on the way back. On the way to the parks we never had to get into a crowded bus, even though they had stopped at sports first.

We took a cab to Boma and hopped on the AK bus to Magic Kingdom. We did wait about 15-20 minutes there.

Having the extra space, a fridge, microwave, coffee maker, 2 tvs, these things made the trip so much nicer than being crammed in one room with 2 double beds. I would choose this over a moderate or delux if it's the 3 of us going again.

Couple of other tidbits.

The Bed - i think it is a queen. It seemed bigger than the sofa bed in the living room that was a double. I didn't measure it but both me and DHs assessment was it was bigger.

Coffee Maker - The coffee Maker takes 4 inch basket filters. We took the cones instead and they worked fine. We didn't take enough, but we reused them (for 2 pots in the same morning) We checked the gift shop and they do not sell filters, so don't forget to take them.

The room was wonderful. We were on the 3rd floor of Jazz 2. Not too terribly far from the food court or bus stops, in my opinion, and smack dab between both pools. We had plenty of room, and the beds were all comfortable. Believe me, I slept in them all, with all the bed changing and sleepwalking my DS and DD were doing. We had great mousekeeping, with towel animals or a window display every single day but one! Everyone was helpful and nice. The pool was never terribly crowded. The food court was crowded if we were there at 9:00 a.m. which we only did once. Bus service was great - we never waited very long and the buses were never too crowded except on the EMH morning at MK that we braved. We never heard noises from other guests. All in all it was a wonderful stay. I will be posting restaurant and dining plan info and reviews, too, in a few days, after I do laundry!

You can find this info on the Family suites FAQ thread:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1072409&page=1&pp=15

 

[tnmomof4]

Thanks so much for all the good info on All Star Music Suites. We are staying in one starting June 22. I am really excited now about having two rooms and the fridge and microwave. I showed my boys the pull out beds in the living room and they were really excited and thought they were cool. I can't wait!!

 

[Amy&Dan]

I think the mini suites are nice because mom and dad get a queen sized bed! I also like the free frig, even though you say you bring a cooler a frig is more convenient for your drinks. But given the age of your kids, two rooms is nice as well and not concern if they don't have a connecting door. I think you cannot go wrong with either. But I would lean away from those cabins since you only get one bathroom! With six people , four of them teens, that just sounds like a total nightmare to me. Heck even two bathrooms is probably pushing it! Good luck with your decison!

 

[mickeymom629]

Thanks for all the thoughts! I'm sure if my kids were younger, the suites would be perfect, but I probably will be changing my reservations to two adjoining rooms.

And, like DisneyFan2 commented, I didn't get the AAA rate that I could have. (I doubt that we would get an AP rate since it will be the holiday season).

 

[Tink415]

We stayed in the Family suites w/ 2 big teens 16(girl) & 17(boy) and a 7 year old. No problem sleeping on the pull-outs. We liked it better than 2 rooms for a few reasons: privacy for parents, couch and chairs to hang out on or watch tv, kitchen area. The kitchen was very nice for leftovers, snacks and drinks. We pulled the coffee table over to the table and had seating for 4 to eat. Walking to the food court for breakfast and bringing it back was our version of room service! Between the bedroom, kitchen and living room there is a lot of space to put 'stuff'. I would really prefer a family suite over 2 rooms for a longer stay.

 

[clkelley]

We are the exact opposite, we much prefer having the two connecting rooms.

With the connecting rooms, most of the time we request (and get) a King connecting to two doubles, that way hubby and I get a King bed, my boys (19 [6'4"] & 20 [6'5"]) each get their own double, and we each have our own entrance.

Having to go through their space entering and leaving the room would not be good at all. Hubby and I are early risers and the boys are night owls.

We also usually get the AAA or Passholder discount on the room.

So for us, the suites are just not a great deal.

 

[mickeymom629]

I just changed my reservations to 2 adjoining rooms. I couldn't get the AAA discount, anyway, because it's holiday season. But I'm saving a couple hundred dollars already (it's still a lot of money, though).

Tink and ClKelly, both of you have good points, but neither of you have 4 children. If I could get all four in one room, we would definitely get the king bed in one room because DH is 6'9"! Either way, we will have a kid in our room because they don't want to share a bed- I only have one girl.

I also like the point about the kitchen in the suite and putting the tables together. That's the one thing I really love about the FW cabins.

There is a possibiltiy that my oldest son (20) will stay home to earn money instead of going with us. In that case, we could get them all in one room! But, because my family has more Disney "adults" than children, they will not guarantee me connecting/adjoining rooms. If they aren't near each other, hubby and I won't even be in the same room, probably!