All Star Music

[zinniadaisy]

I have been debating between ASMu and POP. We want to do a tour to KSC, which only picks up at ASMu, so that makes that far less complicated than renting a car or getting a taxi from POP to ASMu at 7am.

So, would there be any reason to not like ASMu? I like the looks of the Country Fair buildings and seems like they have a lot of trees and shade...more resort like, as opposed to the gaudiness of POP. It also appears to be more compact. I've also seen pictures of the new food court and that looks really nice at ASMu, although I am not sure how much we would use it.

We are going Aug 16-22. Are there any big groups known to descend upon the ASMu around that time? It seems like this would be the quieter place to stay if there are no groups that happen to be there at the same time.

So...is there anything bad I should know about? Besides the bus thing...we stayed at ASMo 12 yrs ago so I know all about how that goes...and I figure if we could do it with 2 littles and 2 strollers, I should be able to handle it this time around no problem. lol

From those who love it, can you recommend any good rooms that are quiet? Preferably ones in Country Fair?

Thanks so much in advance!

 

[Disneylover99]

I find the walk to the Foodcourt/buses long at Music if you are not in a preferred room. Rooms in the Country Fair area, will be some of the furthest rooms out. As long as you're okay with that, enjoy Music.

 

[JennyDrake]

I LOVE Music. Nice layout, friendly CMs, a little less chaotic than the other values.

I would not get a preferred room and ask for TOP floor, landscape view.

 

[dansdad]

We really enjoyed our stays at Music. We feel it is the quietest of the All Stars. If there are any large groups during your stay, they most likely would be at Sports or Movies. The family suites take a bunch of rooms out of inventory, so they keep the large groups at the other 2.

We don't feel the extra $$ for a preferred room is worth it. We have stayed in the back side of buildings 6 and 7 and loved those location. Very quiet and a short stroll to the food court and buses. The resort is fairly compact that way.

The great thing about Music is that it's in the middle of the All Stars. So if you're waiting for a bus to go back to Music, you can jump on the first All Star bus that comes. We've done this many times and it's such a time saver. And don't worry about bus sharing. It happens far less than people would lead you to believe. We have had multiple stays across all 3 All Stars and only shared a bus a total of 4 times. And those 4 were in the middle of the afternoon and there were like 6 other people on the entire bus.

 

[Pmlocke]

I'm back, by that I mean, the guys who constantly writes how much he and his wife love the All Star Music in on-line. We have stayed at several of the resorts, including Pop and I can tell you that we have decided to make the AS Music our home every time we visit, which is at least every year if not more often than that. We have been there for the dance groups, the cheerleaders, the bands and I can tell you that I have never been put out by excessive noise, large group on kids, late night antics, etc. We love AS Music because of the facility itself, the staff, the service. Don't listen to those complaining about sharing buses, that only occurs when the need for buses are low such as the middle of the afternoon. I can honestly tell you that for the first time in years, we shared a bus this past February. Big deal, added an extra three minutes. I also had to wait seven minutes once this past time for a bus to the Magic Kingdom. That was the longest we had to wait for a bus for the entire trip-seven minutes. The staff, again, was wonderful. We have become friends with the girls in the gift shop and we email each other now. They knew about what time we were arriving and there they were, with arms open wide as we walked through the doors on the first day to welcome us. We always have breakfast at the resort and sometimes lunch and the food is always good and hot. We take time to talk to the staff when we meet them and they seem to remember us. Is that the reason we get such good service? Not sure. You get more kindness with sugar than vinegar so we always wear a smile and are always greeted with the same. If you have any problems, go directly to the front desk. They have always been there to handle any problem we have ever had. If you wish to arrange dining reservations, or other types of entertainment issues, go to the concierge. Again, they have always been wonderful to us. Yes, the rooms are small, there is no spa to get a back rub or a hot tub to calm the aching muscles. If you want that, for an extra 200 to 400 per night you can have it. My wife and I are in our 60's and we go to Disney every year because we love it, we love re-capturing our youth and most of all, we really do look forward to All Star Music. By the way, say hi to Nila and the girls in the gift shop for us.

 

[zinniadaisy]

Sounds wonderful! I'm sold!

Not terribly concerned about the walk from the back to the busses, as long as it puts me in a quiet room to sleep! I probably walk that distance to my mailbox every day.

I'm glad to hear the busses are not as bad as they were before. We stayed at Movies 12 yrs ago and the bus was always half full when it got there...plus we had the nightmare that was 2 full sized strollers! We hated bus rides! Ha!

My kids are 12 & 15 now so all aspects of transportation will be FAR easier. I am really looking forward to seeing their reaction to the whole thing this time around.

 

[zinniadaisy]

I should also say thank you for all the replies! I've never been on a board before where a newbie gets so many helpful replies!

 

[Hi Pluto]

We stayed in the Country fair, and the room and area were really nice. You walk through some pretty courtyard areas. It's basically one long, straight line. We did NOT like the long walk. Mostly because it was my job to run in the morning to get breakfast and bring it back, or late night snacks, and it was very long for that. Plus, we had a 4 year old who was too tired to walk by the time we got back from the parks and carrying a 40+ pound kid that far was miserable! Otherwise, we liked ASmu.

~Cari~

 

[branfam]

We stayed at ASMu for a week in March. It was our first stay at a value resort in 13 years and we had stayed at multiple deluxe and moderates in the time between. We loved it! Truly loved it. It is a fun resort with many peaceful areas. We stayed in Broadway. I was worried about large groups and took the advice found on this forum. We asked for an upper floor landscape view. Our room number was 7532. We were an end room. It was very quiet and very convenient to parking. There were several large groups there at the time. We never heard them from where we were but did see them in common areas. I would be happy to stay at ASMu again! We are staying at Carribean Beach in June to try something new.

 

[zinniadaisy]

I remember those kid lugging days!

My plan is to bring along breakfast cookies, granola, grapes, cheese, and meat sticks for breakfast so we don't have to mess with the food court for breakfast. We'll eat them on the bus ride and as a snack later in the morning too. We camp and hike so those usually work great for on the go. Then probably a mid-afternoon cold treat and a counter service supper at the park...then probably a bedtime snack when we get back.

I'm starting to get excited! The quiet shady courtyard areas were what drew me to Music over POP. Plus the back of those country ones are all trees & I have no trees where I'm from...and we all like country music. I can't wait!

 

[zinniadaisy]

Branfam, I'd love to do Caribbean Beach, but I can have twice as many days at ASMu so I elected to do it that way. We won't spend time at the resort anyway. We might do some resort hopping though if AK doesn't take the whole day.

 

[JennyDrake]

I remember those kid lugging days!

We'll eat them on the bus ride and as a snack later in the morning too.

Just a friendly reminder that there is no eating on the bus. I was at WDW last week and several bus drivers were reminding guests not to eat or drink on the buses.

 

[zinniadaisy]

Ok thanks! Can we still bring small snacks in the parks?

 

[dansdad]

Ok thanks! Can we still bring small snacks in the parks?

Definitely!

 

[zinniadaisy]

Awesome! Thanks!

So since you're all so helpful...I have dream reward dollars and a pile of gift cards I have been buying as the rewards expire. I don't have enough for the whole trip, but I would have enough for room & tickets & part of the cost of the flight. Would there be any advantage of buying either the flight or the tickets with the rewards & the other on my Disney Visa & then save the rest of the rewards for food & fun stuff? Or just pay cash for the food and book all reservations through Disney?

I couldn't find airfare cheaper than Disney quoted and tickets didn't save much to buy separate...but would there be some other advantage I don't know about?

 

[wishicouldgomoreofte]

Awesome! Thanks!

So since you're all so helpful...I have dream reward dollars and a pile of gift cards I have been buying as the rewards expire. I don't have enough for the whole trip, but I would have enough for room & tickets & part of the cost of the flight. Would there be any advantage of buying either the flight or the tickets with the rewards & the other on my Disney Visa & then save the rest of the rewards for food & fun stuff? Or just pay cash for the food and book all reservations through Disney?

I couldn't find airfare cheaper than Disney quoted and tickets didn't save much to buy separate...but would there be some other advantage I don't know about?

Where do you live that there are no trees?
Hard to imagine Disney has the best airfare?!?
A lot of people have been talking about the Disney Vacation Account on the boards. I don't have one, and don't have details, but someone else may chime in on that. If you have enough Dream Reward dollars and gift cards to pay for room & tickets, good for you. Sounds like you have been saving/working for this vacation for awhile. I like ASMu a lot, too. I stay in Jazz or Broadway. Jazz has the very lovely rose garden between the buildings, and is near the quiet pool, which I prefer, and the laundry is there at the quiet pool. Broadway has a quiet little garden area at the end of the street towards the parking lot. It is nice and peaceful and pretty too. Broadway is also near the quiet pool and laundry.
Regarding your question about advantage to paying with gift cards and reward dollars, yes, I would use those all up before I would put new charges on the Disney Visa.
Have a wonderful trip.

 

[joannamet]

So nice to see positive remarks about ASMu. We'll be there in Nov for our first stay in a Value resort. We love POR but the price difference has gotten to be a bit much. I don't know how people justify paying Deluxe prices. We're very excited about ASMu and expect it to be perfect for our little family of 3.

 

[zinniadaisy]

Wishicouldgomore, I live in eastern SD. There are random trees, and ones planted in shelter belt rows, but for the most part, we have farm ground and pasture land....and a lot of wide open space.

On the airfare, I thought the same, but if I leave off the flight, then add what I found on kayaak.com, the price comes out the same or within a couple dollars. I was surprised, but then there are no cheap airfares from SD to anywhere. I could fly Allegiant, but they have no return flights listed from end of Aug to Oct, plus, even they aren't all that cheap when you have to add a shuttle for 3.

Yes, I worked hard for those reward dollars...took me 10 years to collect enough! They are the only way I'll get to go to Disney. That's why I was looking for strategy advice on what to pay for with them, as I will use them all up and have to pay for some of the trip on my own, with cash or the Disney Visa. I'm not sure if there would be advantages to simply using the card for more points or buying gift cards on sale somewhere. How would I get the most bang for my buck?

 

[Katmat75]

We love ASMu. Disney is offering free dining at the time we are going, late September into October. When free dining first came out at the end of April the only thing available at ASMu was a preferred room and I did not want to pay for preferred so we booked POP. I was a little leery since we never stayed at POP and I was not crazy over the decor or the layout but hey it was free dining! WELL...I happened to check on line at Disney and ASMu standard room is now available for free dining!!!! I changed resorts from POP to ASMu as soon as I seen this! AHHH! Now I am thrilled to be where we like the best! I have stayed at CBR and I do really like that resort, but can't see paying that much more for a place to sleep. My husband and I have been coming to ASMu for the past 2 years and love it! We like the Jazz building and never had any noise. We are in our 60's and never had any problems with noise or bus issues!

 

[HopperFan]

I find the walk to the Foodcourt/buses long at Music if you are not in a preferred room. Rooms in the Country Fair area, will be some of the furthest rooms out. As long as you're okay with that, enjoy Music.

Agree. ASMU has a layout like no other value resort. It is oblong with the hub at one end and the farthest rooms, Country Fair, Broadway ... the other end. Much longer than POP or the other AllStars.