All Star vs. Pop

[tinan]

Ok ok, I have seen a ton of threads like these, but I am always on the other side of the coin. We have stayed at Pop Century and we absolutely love it, love the layout, usually try to stay in 50s section, etc etc. Well my dd is going to be one of the dreaded cheerleaders there in March for the Americheer International Competitions. I went on Americheer's site and we have been given the choice of All Star or Carribean Beach resort. We have a parent meeting to discuss all of this on Thurs. and I am afraid that the other parents are going to choose All Stars. I personally have never wanted to stay at the All Stars and was going to try to talk them into going to CB even though it is a large complex. It just appeals to me more, but if I am not able to choose that please help me with some of the positives about All Stars.

 

[princessarielle]

I've stayed at All Star Movies. It wasn't bad. I just stayed at Pop about 2 weeks ago and honestly they are pretty much the same. Same layout, same size rooms....

Do you and your DD HAVE to stay at the same place as the others or can you stay where you want since you'll be joining them?

Lori

 

[DisneyWisher]

Just a tip about ASMo. 6 of the 10 buildings are considerd preferred(big rip-off in my opinion). It was surprise to me and I asked to be downgraded to Mighty Ducks buildings. I had express checkout but they never credited me the difference, so I had to go to the front desk to get it straighten out.

 

[jcriket]

If you liked Pop, then you will like the All Stars. There's not too much of a difference. Just the themeing, AS's is either music, movies, or sports, instead of decades. Even though CBR is a step up the disney theme is not as noticable.

 

[tinan]

princessarielle.........I wish we could schedule it somewhere else.....but unfortunately the package includes some extra fees associated with the competition. Hopefully, I will know more later this week.

 

[minnie61650]

I love The All Star Resorts.

I am 56 years old and travel several times a year. I often stay at 4 star hotels.
So the deluxe and mod resorts are just another hotel/motel to me.
All Star is like being in the heart of the Magic and that is where I want to be.

All Star Music is my favorite. It is quieter because more couples stay there. I love staying at the Calypso building. It is closer to the pool, food court and bus stop.

Here is a site with a map of All Star Sports and All Star Music.
http://www.wdwinfo.com/resortmaps/allstarmap.htm
Scroll down. All Star Music is at the bottom of the page.
The Calypso buildings at All Star Music are #1 and #10 are nearest to the food court and bus stop.

Here is the map of All Movies.
http://www.wdwinfo.com/resortmaps/allstarmovie.JPG
The Fantasia Buildings ,toy story buildings ,and 101 Dalmatians buildings are the preferred buildings.
The All Star Movie Fantasia pool has Mickey.
It is a great place to stay.
Preschoolers love it.
It is like being in the middle of a Disney Movie Fantasyland.
All Star Movies has a Fantasia themed children's pool area.



The buses are wonderful.

Bus rides are quite short from the ALL Stars according to PassPorter.com

All Star Buses-CBR buses---POPbuses--PO buses--- Contemporary
MK 20 min---- 20 min-----25 min------10 min---20 min(mono)
Epcot 10 min-- 15 min-----20 min------10 min---15 min
MGM 10 min----12 min-----15 min------15 min---20min
AK 10 min------20min-------15 min----15 min---20 min
DTD 15 min----20 min------20 min-----15 min---35 min

It only takes 10 minutes to get to Epcot, MGM and AK from All Stars.
MK is 20 min away. That's the same amount of time it takes on the monorail from the Contemporary.

A WORD ABOUT BUS SHARING

To me Bus Sharing at the All Stars is really a non issue.

In the mornings during Park opening hours each All Star usually has a dedicated bus.
During mid day it is usually just our stop and maybe one more on the way to the parks. On the way back sometimes it is all 3 but often Sports and Music share and Movies has it's own bus back. Each of the All Stars usually has it's own dedicated bus back from the MK.
That is a big plus. It seems like the Music bus stop usually has the shortest of the three All Star bus lines.

I guess some people who stay at POP see all 3 All Star names on the return sign of our bus stop when they head to the POP bus stop and think All Stars also has 3 stops on the way to the park.
(Even when we stop at another AS resort to load up it has not taken more than 5 minutes and we are on our way!)

The pools at The All Stars are very kid friendly.

When staying at the All Stars you can use any of the All Star pools.That means 3 main pools ,3 quiet pools and 3 kiddie pools to chose from.

The All Star Movie Fantasia pool has Mickey.

The Calypso pool at ASMU has Donald Duck.

And the Surfs up pool at All Star Sports has giant surf boards.

Here are a few pool photos.

All Star Sports pool.

All Star Music Donald pool.

All Star Movies Mickey Pool.

I have visited WDW more than a dozen times with the 1st time in Oct. 1971. It was brand new. 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 theming is pure Disney.
My last 5 visits have been at The All Stars and last fall when we took dd,dsil, and our grandson age 3 for 8 nights we stayed 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.
Where else can one find Donald Duck or Mickey Mouse at the pool?
\
Have a great time at Disney wherever you choose to stay!

 

[eeyoreiscool]

We have stayed in all the All Stars I think and we wouldn't have any problem doing it again. We thought the room sizes were about the same and the only difference we found was the TV was smaller.

 

[addicted2disney]

If one bus is picking up at all three All Star Resorts, like the do in January and again while we were there in September, then pick All Star Sports. You are the first resort to get picked up out of the 3 heading to the park, and the first one dropped off coming back! If its crowded that week , you will want to get on that bus first!! The Football buildings are near the food court and are still standard rooms!!