All Star Movies, or upgrade to moderate?

[LillyZackMom]

Hi! This is my first visit here....in preparation for our first family trip to Disney World in November!! We're currently trying to decide between All Star Movies or upgrading to a moderate hotel for the first week of November. The upgrade would be about $300....and to be honest, I'd rather have that money to play with in the park. We have a 4 and 6 year old and I think they'd love the Disney-ness of Movies. I'm just concerned about noise and the bus service. Any advice would be MUCH appreciated!

PS - I LOVED reading about everyone else's experiences! This is such a neat place!

Janice

 

[gigi1313]

for my children's first trip, we stayed at the all stars... they *loved* it... the theming is really kid-oriented... we have since stayed at caribbean beach and they did not "get" the theming at all... pop century they liked, but again, alot of it was not of their era so they did not "get" it (although they loved the huge mickey phone and lady and tramp! LOL)... ergo, i think for overall kid-friendly theming, all star movies is the place to be... it's the icons your children will recognize!

my best advice to avoid "noise" is to ask for a top floor... they are quieter by virtue of there is no one above you! there are elevators, so not to worry about having to carry a sleeping dead-weight 4yo up three flights of stairs (can you tell i've btdt?! LOL!)... otherwise, except for the one night that we had an inconsolable crying infant in the room next to ours w/their porta crib parked in front of the connecting door, we've never encountered a noise problem... plus, there's no guarantee that the mods would be quieter!

as far as buses go... we have found wdw transportation to be outstanding! although, my fave little-known tip is that if you want efficient transport w/out waiting (again, picturing that snoozing 4yo!), call a taxi! they are very very reasonable (we paid $7 to get 8 of us from the boardwalk to cbr in the pouring rain) and a Godsend/luxury once or twice a trip!

again, in my opinion, you will not regret your decision to stay at the all-stars... the kids are sure to love the theming and the overall disney feel and you're sure to enjoy the price tag! LOL!

enjoy

 

[DiszyGram]

Hi Janice, my family and I are staying at the All Star Movies in November. It's only for two nights and comes at the end of a 4 night Disney Wonder cruise. I've never stayed there before but didn't want to spend a lot for just two nights after paying for the cruise.

Everything I've read on here about ASMo has been very good, especially if you have small children, grandchildren in my case. There's a link on here somewhere all about it and with pictures.

 

[GoofyGirlnPrincessV]

Unfortunately for us it was raining all the time so we didn't get to see much of the outside and it was kind of noisy. I would stay there again and would ask for a room on the top level. I also have stayed at a moderate and I love that too.

We are going again in October and chose to stay at the POFQ again. I just like the quietness of the resort and it is much smaller and easier to get around when my 3.5 yo zonks out and I have to carry her..LOL

 

[minnie61650]

I love the All Star Resorts --they can't be beat. I have visited WDW more than a dozen times with the 1st time in Oct. 1971. I've stayed at FW, Disney Inn, a few the of Hotels on hotel Blvd., CBR and the towers at the Contemporary. I got to see the MK from my balcony at the Contemporary and I'm happy I got to experience it once. I just prefer the All Star Resorts.
The theaming is pure Disney.
My last 4 visits have been at The All Stars and this fall when we take dd,dsil, and our grandson age 3 we are staying at the All Stars Music. I thought about AKL and even though we can well afford AKL I just wanted Alex to experience the Disney Magic at the All Stars on his first visit. I can hardly wait.
Linda
Only 67 more days

 

[Sheaboys]

We have stayed at the Movies 2x, once the week of Thanksgiving and once in September. Both times, never any issues with bussing. Noise level, no issues there either. At that time the boys were 2.5 yrs and 5 months, and again at 3 yrs and 15 months. I would love to go back there this year, however, we are now a family of 5! So, POR is where we will be.

 

[wendypooh]

We've stayed at ASmov. twice, our ds was 3 and 4, he LOVED it!!! On our trip last year he was 5 and we stayed at POFQ, and while it was nice, he hated it!!! There were very few kids that we saw, and the theming was like home,"mardi gras", we live in Louisiana!!! LOL so he was not impressed!!-- I"d say the ONLY thing he liked was the slide at the pool. I'd say go for ASmov. the little one's will love it. My ds loved the mickey at the fantasia pool, the playground, the movies in the lobby, the food court seemed to have a lot of variety, and my personal favorite - they have the BEST chocolate cake anywhere!!!! We don't spend a lot of time in the room anyway, so we just pretty much slept there, and there was not a noise issue, but we did assume that was due to the time of year we went. ( The last time we stayed at ASmov. we checked out one day after the cheerleaders arrived......... that morning, we were awoke very early to a huge group of girls cheering outside, and while you've got to love the enthusiasm, and we do....... it was loud and unexpected, so we didn't love it so much right then)

I also wanted to say, we've never had a problem with the buses, I'd say the longest we ever waited was maybe 20 min. one night after leaving the park, but we easily got seats.


Have FUN!!!!

 

[Tamie]

Our first trip to Disney we stayed at the ASMo. We had a ground floor room in the Dalmation building and we never had a problem with noise. I cant even remember hearing people above us and I am one that hears everything at hotel/motel (doors opening and shutting, kids running up and down the hall, tv's blaring). My kids loved it.

The bus service for us was never an issue either. Always there on time, although at night at Down Town Disney, there was a little wait the later it got. But otherwise I thought that our service was excellent.

We are staying at a moderate this time even though ASMo was our first choice again, because at the time we made the ressie we thought a 5th person might be coming so we wanted the trundle bed for them. They were not able to make it and we already received all of our bag tags etc. so we are not going to change but if we didnt receive all of that stuff, we would be at ASmo in a heartbeat.

So stay at the ASMo enjoy it and keep the extra money for spending at the parks.

 

[minnie61650]

Here is something I posted on another resort thread. Hope it helps.
CSR has 4 bus stops which it shares with resort guests-- Just like All Stars share with All Stars (3 bus stops--5760 guest rooms) and Pop shares with Pop(2 bus stops--5760 guest rooms).
All Stars Buses -------- CSR buses-------Pop buses
20 min MK ----------- 15 min MK -------25 min MK
10 min Epcot ---------15 min Epcot-----20 min Epcot
10 min MGM -------- 15 min MGM------15 min MGM
10 min AK ----------- 10 Min AK--------15 min AK
15 min DTD ---------- 25 min DTD ------ 20 min DTD

All Stars has a pool bar food court,and gift shop.
ALl Stars have 3 themed pools and 3 quite pools and 3 kiddie pools.
and 3 arcades.
NO HOT TUB
iron and ironing boards are in some rooms
and if not are always availible upon request
I love the landscaping and theming of the All Stars.It's the only place on property that has Mickey in the middle of the pool
Linda
Just 67 more days
__________________

 

[gigi1313]

pop only has one bus stop and half that number of rooms ('til the second half, the legednary years, is completed)...

 

[spectromagicmom]

We stayed at the Movies last year in October my son and daughter LOVED IT! WE requested a toy story room in the center of ANDY's room and we got it .It was a wonderful vacation. Our children want to see and do it all and we did not spend a great deal of time in the room. It fit our family and budget just fine. I know there is only a food court and no sit down restaurants,but that was no problem we did a character dinner or a nice table service lunch. I'm sure for the money you kids will more than love it. We have talked about going to a different resort on our next trip to the world,but my children want to see HERBIE,Woody and Buzz.I know you will love it!