All Star resorts

[Hockeychic]

We would like to spend our 5 disney days staying on site but can only afford the All Star resorts...hopefully the sports one. Is it worth the extra money staying on site as opposed to staying in Kissimmii.

If we stay off site does anyone know how much parking is?

I more question please.... is the food very expensive if you stay onsite....

Thanks everyone

 

[jamsmom]

I have stayed at All STars Movies twice and love it. I think if you can afford it, staying at ALMu will just make your stay more magical.

 

[FrizDiz]

The answer to your question is yes, it is worth it to stay on site. Once you are there you park your car and take Disney transportation everywhere. Off site you sit in a traffic jam in the morning and you sit in a traffic jam in the evening. On site you are better situated to go back to your resort in the afternoon for a nap or a swim when it is really hot. That would be advisable if you are there 4 or five days. Food is cheaper off site without a doubt and that might be a consideration, however, are you going to be in the park and go back to your car and go off site for lunch and dinner every day. Most likely you won't. perhaps you could bring some groceries with you to the room to help offset the cost. Anyway, for what it's worth my vote is for on site.

 

[FrizDiz]

I think parking is up to seven dollars a day now if you are off site. i know it is at least five.

 

[palmtreegirl]

I think it's definitely worth it to stay on site or on the Downtown Disney area. If you don't want to stay at the All-Stars have you considered maybe going through Priceline for a Downtown disney hotel? We've gotten the Hilton for 60 a night, 3 times now, for the day before we check into our WDW resort. The Hilton is right across the street from DTD(5 min walk) and very nice, the rooms are large and they have 2 big pools and 2 hot tubs. There's also a lot of off-site restaurants near by that offer very reasonable food options like Steak-n-Shake, Olive Garden and many others. They offer a shuttle service to the parks and I believe the Hilton also participates in EE.

We've stayed at the All-Stars 3 times now and enjoyed ourselves. They're not resorts we spend the day at, like we do at the moderates and deluxes but they're convient and cute for a place to sleep. They also have a great food court and take out pizza there which are both fairly reasonable.

Here are some boards to check out for special rates and info on Priceline bidding.

http://www.mousesavers.com

http://www.biddingfortravel.com

Also check out this board at Dis for off-site hotels-
http://disboards.com/forumdisplay.php?forumid=15

 

[ZeoliFamily]

staying on property is magical and my kids love the All Stars (we have stayed at all 3). Great pools, nice food court, and both have late hours (midnight). Rooms are simple, clean, and the themes are fun.

If you can swing it I would recommend it.

-Jim

 

[Cindy B]

We've stayed at the Sports hotel three separate times for our Disney trips.

It was fine! My kids thought it was great as well.

Food court, well, if you are at Sports there is a McDonalds across the street... for a very quick drive or a semi healthy walk. It looks llike the Employee lot for sports is behind some shrubs near the McD's, I see uniformed employees walking from there all the time.

 

[dclwdwlover]

We absolutely prefer to stay on-site for the convenience - most of which was listed above, but I'd like to add:
1) Early entry - I hear they're either back to it or going back
2) Sending your purchases back to your hotel/room is a BIG plus to me
(3) We don't have to carry extra shorts/shirts/coats around w/us because the hotel is so close if someone gets wet, dirty, cold, etc. we're not that far away & just rejust our schedule slightly.
(4) Also, I love to take pictures with the still & video camera - but not ALL day & night - so I plan our sched. around this, too & then take the cameras back so we're not lugging them & don't have to fear losing or breaking them

First & foremost it's the 'magical' experience & the ease of transportation, but you would like the overall convenience of staying on-site. Nothing ruins a fun (& tiring) day more, to me, than fighting the crowds & traffic out of the park & taking 10x as long to get back to the hotel & then start it all over again the next day.

We've stayed at just about all of the on-site hotels before (& are doing All Stars & Beach Club this Oct/Nov) & we've stayed in Downtown Disney 2x and off-off site & we would much rather stay at a cheaper Disney on-site hotel than the others.
We really liked the BW Suites (Orlando), but again, traveling time & inconvenience, cost to park, etc. is a hassle.
The DD hotels were very nice & easier transp., but we still feel that being right there in the park is so much better.
As was said, the All Stars are not plush hotels, but they are very, very nice & kids just love them.

As far as food - we drive down, as opposed to flying - not walking, specifically to have the room to bring food with us such as juice cartons, snack packs, cracker packs, fruit, cereal boxes, etc., etc. to use in place of buying the VERY expensive park food.
Here's how we've done it (whenever we drive):
Cereal & fruit before we leave hotel in a.m.
Put juice, water & snacks in backpack for throughout the day & just buy a small food item & ice cream
Dinner we go big - but we all LOVE to eat out so I know this before we go. A 'hamburger joint' would save on $.
Staying at the All Stars makes it easy to just bring our cooler into the room & change the ice once a day.
Have fun!!

 

[Daxx]

We have stayed at ASSp. for our last vacation ... and will be returning there in 5 days for our next vacation. I love on-site, am always pleased w/ ASSp and prefer istaying on-site for all the reasons everyone has stated!

The Mickey Wake Up Calls. These are the best!!! I love, love, love getting a call from Mickey in the morning. it really puts me in the festive mood! That, alone, is worth the price of staying on-site!!!

Waking up in WDW and walking out your door to catch WDW transport is just so exciting! Knowing I am staying where the magic is makes it an extra special trip!

I esp. love the convenience of bopping back to our hotel for a mid-afternoon swim, to relax and regroup or to drop off/pick up items. Sometimes we just need to reconnect and being able to hop on WDW Transport to get us to our on-site room is so worth it. We're also travelling w/my 83 yo grandmother ... and if she wants/needs to go back to the room, she can do so w/ease! DH can also leave if he's tired or whatever. I don't have to worry about how I'm going to get back to the hotel!

Package delivery to your room is the ultimate convenience! We bought a mug in EPCOT Germany and had it engraved. It would have been ready for pick up after a few hours ... but we were on our way out and didn't want to return. So, we had them deliver to the room. Sure, it gets there the next day ... but we weren't in any hurry!!! And, it was a heavy mug ... something we didn't want to lug around for the rest of the day! And, when the pkgs. arrive it's like Christmas!! You sometimes forget what you purchased, so it's fun to open the pkgs. up!

The rooms are nice, well kept and we've never been disappointed. Well worth the extra $$ to stay on-site!

 

[ceecee]

We love on site.....the Mickey wake up calls are the best! No Parking and walking! No driving! Early Entry! All Stars are great especially if you have kids. As for spending the day there, that's okay too. The rooms have always been clean and the food court is okay too. Nice gift shop too. I still can't justify the extra $ per nite at a moderate, it wasn't worth it to us, maybe if we didn't go to the parks the whole time.

 

[admiral nelson]

Stay onsite, the benefits far out weigh a bigger room for the same price. Unless you plan to sit in the room all day. I'm not gonna re-list everything everyone else has listed already, but those are all GREAT reasons. Are you getting the FTP? Maybe that could help you stay a few days extra, or get a moderate room.

 

[susy]

When are you going? How many?What tickets will you buy? Have you considered the FT package?? Have you checked mousesavers.com for discounts??? I have stayed at ASSp twice and would do it again if I had to choose between that or offsite!


At ASSp you are first on the bus and first off! I would pack or bring (make a stop) water, sodas, juice, milk, breakfast items, snacks. Bring a cooler and just fill it up with ice. It's sooo nice to ride the buses and not have to get into a hot car after a day at the parks! You get EE priveleges!!! It's also nice to take a mid-day break, swim, nap, shower and go back to the parks at night, refreshed!!!

 

[Maridw]

We love staying on-site and have stayed at AS Sports if we don't stay at SoG. The transportation is great, park your car in the resort lot and go everywhere by bus. AS Sports is the first for pickup and drop off when they have one bus for all three resorts.

The parking for each park is $7 per day, that's what it was in May when we went.

We have stayed in the following buildings at AS Sports:
Hoops 2; Surf's Up 6; Center Court 4; & Home Run 9. Surf's Up 9 was right near the main pool and it was still quiet (we were on the back side). But the walk to Stadium Hall is quick from where ever you are. Home Run has an additional pool right outside it.

We are going in Nov and originally booked AS Sports again, but decided to try a moderate for a change.

You will enjoy the All Stars. The food court is fairly reasonable. I agree with everything everyone else said. The convenience is worth it more than anything else. It is nice to be able to catch a bus back to the room and take a break, let the kids go swimming, or what ever. Sometimes it is nice to break up the day a bit.

 

[disney2003]

Hockeychic, I just noticed you are from Canada. Not sure if you are aware or not but there is a Canadian at par deal being offered now for room only reservations. Staying on site is totally worth it. We stayed at All Star Music the last week of April, 1st week of May. Except for the exchange rate, I didn't find the food court expensive. We only rented a car for one day to go to Daytona Beach, the rest of the time we used Disney transportation. Which I have to say is fantastic! Stay on site and enjoy yourself!!

 

[Hockeychic]

Thank you all so much for your imput. These boards are invaluable. We have decided to take the FTP and are staying 7 nights at all star sports....can't wait.

 

[susy]

Yeah! so glad you decided on ASSp! If you get a "grocery stop" from the airport or if you rent a car, I highly suggest getting water, sodas, juice boxes, milk boxes, cereal, granola, snacks, fruit, and even junk stuff, like candy and twinkies or potatochips. All the snacks and late night "chocolate cravings" can really add up over 7 days!!! Other ways to save on food: you can order off the kids' menu at any counter service rest. in WDW and you can split meals, too (even at sit-down restaurants)! My mom always packs her 4 cup coffeemaker, with coffee etc. Don't forget paper bowls, spoons, cups, etc.

 

[disneyqt]

My family and I will be there July 17-24. Staying at the All-star sports. This will be our first visit also. I had the same delemia. But I made the decision to stay on site because I hate to drive and really didn't want to be bothered with renting a car. I believe it will be more magical to have someone to wait on me and chauffer me around for a change. The disney transportation is all a vacationer could hope for. You're spending money for traveling,accommodations,food and souviners. Why not save some money on parking and leave the driving to disney. We're using Tiffany's Towncar Service for round trip transfers to and from the airport ($77). It's regular $80's but I bought a passported and it had an $8 off coupon. Just keep reading the the threads and it wont take you long before you're able to make a quick decision. There's alot of good stories and advice here. I wish I would've found it alot sooner

 

[cathie]

We've been staying @ All Star Sports since they opened in 1994. We love it there & so do the kids! We have stayed @ some of the moderate & deluxe resorts, but still like All Star Sports the best. We drive down from NH & like the convenience of being able to bring things into our rooms without using valet service. You can request rooms that are close to the parking areas, pools, food court, etc. The bus service is the best we've seen, like others have said ,Sports is the 1st bus stop of the 3 All Star Resorts. Looks like we'll be going back in August...can't wait! Cathie

 

[mathgeek]

I'll add another vote for the All-Stars. I've stayed at Sports and loved it. I would do it again this next trip, but I got the AP rate for Movies and am going to give that a try. The convenience of the food court is great rather than trying to find a more expensive restaurant to eat at, and the refillable mug is a must if you drink a lot of soda or coffee.

Enjoy your trip!