All Star Music FAQ thread and tips

[disneydreamin247]

Really?!? Now I'm a little scared! We love Pop, but we were thinking about doing something different & even considered spending the extra to upgrade to CBR, but I'd rather spend that money on other things like the MNSSHP. I wasn't thrilled at what I was hearing from ASMo, but ASMu seemed better since the rooms have been remodeled. Now, I really need some feedback from people that have stayed at Pop & ASMu. Please help!!!

I was thinking of switching to ASMu from Pop and my TA advised me against it. We upgraded to CBR instead. It's not that she said there's anything wrong with ASMu, just that she thought Pop was the best of all the values. Pop also has the advantage of not sharing buses. I know that the All Stars don't always share, but it still happens.

 

[Tigger2252]

We just returned from 6 nights at ASMu and thought it was a very nice resort. We generally always stay at a moderate, but it was just my youngest daughter and I this trip so we stayed at a value. The room was very nice. Seemed very recently refurbished, but since it did not have the privacy curtain, perhaps not. At any rate, the room was very clean and the beds and pillows were extremely comfortable. I have to say that I believe they were more comfortable than the beds at POFQ where we normally stay. My daughter was so pleased with the pillows that she joked that she wanted to pack one to bring home. We stayed in the the Rock section, which was a further distance from the food court and large pool, but very close to the piano pool. I found this to be beneficial as far as guest traffic and "pool noise". Noise was never an issue for us which was great because we are very early risers and tend to turn in fairly early. The food court was crowded but the food was good and the staff was very friendly. They showed a movie every night at the pool, and always had something going on during the day. I would say this is a very kid friendly resort.

 

[SandraC]

We are considering ASMu next stay. Are the family suites worth the cost? Thanks, Sandra

 

[lnh'smom]

Think twice about switching to ASMU from Pop. We have stayed in both. In March we stayed in the family suite at ASMU and last year we had two rooms at POP. We all liked POP much better. The food court was our main reason. Plus the busses. It made my husband nuts when we had to wait for buses and then go to the other AS resorts.

Do they have a set route that they follow? Like, do they go to ASMU, then sports, then movies or how does that work? TIA

 

[bookgirl]

Do they have a set route that they follow? Like, do they go to ASMU, then sports, then movies or how does that work? TIA

If they share then they go right down the line, Sports, Music, Movies. They usually only share in the middle of the day. I did have to share to DTD at night when I went in January but that was the only time. The main buildings are about 2 minutes apart (drive time) so it's not like it adds much time when they do share. If you are worried about seats depending on where you stay in the complex you can walk to a main building in just a couple of minutes (maybe 8-10 if you are a slow walker or in the very back) so you can always go to Sports and join their lines and make sure you hit on the first stop. The individual all stars are smaller than pop so you actually have less people vying for seats so that may or may not be a problem.

 

[sharadoc]

We are considering ASMu next stay. Are the family suites worth the cost? Thanks, Sandra

Absolutely. There's only 4 of us, but we go for 9 or 10 days, so we LOVE having a living room rather than a couple of beds. In January, we had breakfast in the room almost every morning, and even had some mac & cheese, soup, tuna or cheese sandwiches in the evening. Saved us a bunch of money and/or boredom eating in the food court.

Having 2 bathrooms and 2 TVs was great too. No "discussion" over what to watch - DD was in the bedroom watching her Hannah Montana, Zach & Cody, etc. etc. while DS, DH and I watched the Disney resort channels, Stacey and the news! No knocking and dancing for the bathroom either. 2 closets, 2 safes, plenty of room for everything.

I would absolutely recommend them as a great value, compared to any other suite type setup. I think they are much better than a DVC studio. Comparable to a DVC 1BR, other than the kitchenette vs. full kitchen.

There are folks who say 2 rooms is better, but it all depends on what you want or need. My own coffee in the morning, a fridge for drinks and snacks, a sofa an ottoman vs. 4 beds seals the deal for us!

 

[MinnieMommy07]

Really?!? Now I'm a little scared! We love Pop, but we were thinking about doing something different & even considered spending the extra to upgrade to CBR, but I'd rather spend that money on other things like the MNSSHP. I wasn't thrilled at what I was hearing from ASMo, but ASMu seemed better since the rooms have been remodeled. Now, I really need some feedback from people that have stayed at Pop & ASMu. Please help!!!

What is MNSSHP?

 

[ave&audsmom]

What is MNSSHP?

Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party, which takes place in the MK on select dates in Sept & Oct (for an extra fee, of course).

 

[absolut_mandy]

Hi all you ASMusic pros!
We are heading down in a couple of weeks and staying at ASMu. I was wondering is anyone knows if the any ground floor rooms, have their doors facing the pool. (sort of like a motel, not a hotel with inside corridors).
The reason for asking is we would like to be able to chill outside with a beverage , after the kiddo goes to bed and would love to be able to relax facing something other than the parking lot!
Thanks!

 

[bookgirl]

Hi all you ASMusic pros!
We are heading down in a couple of weeks and staying at ASMu. I was wondering is anyone knows if the any ground floor rooms, have their doors facing the pool. (sort of like a motel, not a hotel with inside corridors).
The reason for asking is we would like to be able to chill outside with a beverage , after the kiddo goes to bed and would love to be able to relax facing something other than the parking lot!
Thanks!

Yes they do. I can't tell you the numbers but Calypso 1 and 10 both have rooms facing the pool. Although there is a path and bushes in between you and the pool on the Calypso 10 side and I belive the laundry was inbetween part of Calypso 1 and the pool. We were on the backside of Calypso 10 and we faced a courtyard with paths and palmtrees, though there was a parking lot to our left. But it was nice to look at anyway. I don't know if the rooms face the quiet (piano shapped) pool in the back of the property, I never made it all the way back to there.

 

[ksmommyof4]

We are staying at the ASMu family suites in 20 days.This is our first time in a value.Its also my 4 yr old ds first time ever we are getting super excited.Thank you for answering alot of my questions.There will be 6 of us total me,dh,ds11,ds9,ds7,and ds4.Is it true there is only 1 bus stop for the whole resort?????

 

[mhmcduff]

We just returned yesterday and we loved All Star Suites. I was nervous about going there as we have only stayed in condos off-site, Poly, CBR and SSR where we are DVC members but had used all our points for the year. We LOVED ASMu!!! In fact I booked a bounceback for first week in December and am thinking about just banking my points this year as it was such a good deal. We loved the pool, kids activities, food in the food court is great- little expensive if not on the DDP but highly reccommend the design your own salad made fresh with salmon- my husband loved the mexican food and burgers and my two boys were happy as clams with the games, activities and arcade. The room was great having the boys in the bedroom and us on the pullout that was very comfortable and so easy to use. Staff all great. I am now a converted All Star Fan!!!

 

[cglaura]

Hi all you ASMusic pros!
We are heading down in a couple of weeks and staying at ASMu. I was wondering is anyone knows if the any ground floor rooms, have their doors facing the pool. (sort of like a motel, not a hotel with inside corridors).
The reason for asking is we would like to be able to chill outside with a beverage , after the kiddo goes to bed and would love to be able to relax facing something other than the parking lot!
Thanks!

Here is a map so you can see the rooms:
http://www.wdwinfo.com/resortmaps/allstarmusicmap.htm

It looks like Calypso would be your best bet, but they are preferred rooms, so I guess would depend on availability when you check in.

The back corners of Jazz and front corners of Country seem to face the piano pool, but I'm not sure how far they really are.

 

[ave&audsmom]

We just returned from 6 nights at ASMu and thought it was a very nice resort. We generally always stay at a moderate, but it was just my youngest daughter and I this trip so we stayed at a value. The room was very nice. Seemed very recently refurbished, but since it did not have the privacy curtain, perhaps not.

Does anyone know why only Jazz & Calypso have the privacy curtain?

 

[mel2brad]

We'll be in a family suite in a couple weeks; this is our first stay at ASM. Angela, thanks for your post about the Calypso location -- helpful to know about the noise.

Can anyone tell me what building to request if I want a family suite with as little noise as possible? Our youngest just turned 2 so we will need her to be able to get to bed early. Obviously, facing away from the pool, but is there a specific building that is more removed from the action?

Thanks so much!

Melissa

 

[NC State]

I just canceled my Pop reservation and booked ASMu. We wanted to try one that we haven't stayed at yet and I think we will be very happy. Thanks for all the good information.

 

[SandraC]

Please tell me about the kids pool activities and movie nights at ASMu. Thanks, Sandra

 

[SandraC]

I'm hoping for a code discount for July. Do you think that will happen? Blessings, Sandra

 

[EpcotBill]

Does anyone know why only Jazz & Calypso have the privacy curtain?

I can only guess and my guess would be that when they decided to create the preferred category they were thinking of making Calypso and Jazz preferred. As an added incentive to get an extra $10 per night back then, they added the curtain. After that they decided to have Calypso as the only preferred buildings. Either that or they ran out of curtains.

 

[bookgirl]

We are staying at the ASMu family suites in 20 days.This is our first time in a value.Its also my 4 yr old ds first time ever we are getting super excited.Thank you for answering alot of my questions.There will be 6 of us total me,dh,ds11,ds9,ds7,and ds4.Is it true there is only 1 bus stop for the whole resort?????

1 stop for each of the all stars. So Music has one stop (the family suites are up in the front four buildings so you're not far), but each all star is not that huge. They are the smallest of the resorts occupancy wise.