ASMu Family Suite or Caribbean Beach Preferred Room?

[Fies4]

I have a reservation on hold for an ASMu Family Suite for Jan 27th - Feb 2nd, '08 w/ DDP. The quote they gave us was $2,992. and some change. Out of curiousity I got on the Disney site this morning and checked out a preferred room at a moderate and the price for Caribbean Beach w/ DDP (same dates) is 2725.00.
Can anyone tell me how the rooms compare - space wise - in the family suites at ASMu and the Caribbean Beach preferred, we've never stayed at a moderate before. I'll be traveling with DH and my two children (4 and 7). The children and I could care less really about how big the room is, we wouldn't have minded having a preferred room at ASMu - but DH is 6'2" and 250 lbs. So he likes to have room to stretch out - plus I'm sure the room looks much smaller to him than it does to us.

 

[disneymoss]

First of all the Preferred is just a location of the room. If you absolutely need the room stay at ASMu. The Carribbean Beach has regular rooms, no suites. I would rather stay at Carribbean Beach Resort, because at ASMu you aren't the first pick up on the bus route ASSports is and sometimes you have to wait longer for a bus to come and pick you up. Hope this helps!

 

[Fies4]

Hi. I understand that preferred is just the location (we stayed in a preferred room at Pop Century last year), I guess I just threw that in there so everyone knew what the price was based on.
We've just never stayed at a moderate resort before so I don't know how the room size compares. Just wondering if they are any bigger than the regular sized rooms at the value resorts. I mean - are you paying more at a moderate for better service and to be picked up first on the buses or for a bigger room?
Decisions, decisions

 

[disneymoss]

Check out Allears.net! I know the moderates are a little bigger not by much. The pools are supposed to be a little better also. I think the Moderates may have their own busses.

 

[minnie61650]

Room size Comparison:

Pop Century/All Stars-260 Square Feet
CS, POR/POFQ-314 SF
Caribbean Beach-340 SF
Wilderness Lodge-344 SF
AKL-344 SF
Yacht/Beach-381 SF
Boardwalk-385 SF
Polynesian-409 SF-470 SF
Contemporary-436 SF
Grand Floridian-about 400-440SF
Ft Wilderness Cabins-504 SF
Family suites at All Star Music -520 SF
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The Family Suites have been included in recent discounts so keep your eyes open for a good discount.

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DH and I stayed in a Family Suite at All Star Music ( a value resort) in Sept. of 2006.

We really enjoyed the Queen size bed, the kitchenette with the microwave, having a sofa and cushioned chair to sit on and relax after a day at the parks before retiring for the evening.

I thought the pullouts very comfortable.

They are designed so the back cushion and seat cushion of the pullout support the pullout. There is no metal bar to hurt the sleepers back.

Info thread--Pullouts in Family Suites at ASMU with photos of how the pullout is supported.

http://disboards.com/showthread.php?p=18100990#post18100990

Here is the layout of the Family Suites:

Here is my review of the Suites:

www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=17640774&postcount=7

For more photos and info please see this info thread:

http://disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1392879

Have fun at Disney wherever you choose to stay!

 

[minnie61650]

Here is the layout of CBR:

Have fun at Disney whever you choose to stay!

 

[minnie61650]

First of all the Preferred is just a location of the room. If you absolutely need the room stay at ASMu. The Carribbean Beach has regular rooms, no suites. I would rather stay at Carribbean Beach Resort, because at ASMu you aren't the first pick up on the bus route ASSports is and sometimes you have to wait longer for a bus to come and pick you up. Hope this helps!

A word (or two)about BUSES :


During our stay a couple of weeks ago (September 12-19) All Star Music only shared a bus when returning from AK and DTD.
All of the buses going to the parks went directly to parks after pick up even when the bus was less than half full.
My friend and I decided in the early afternoon of one of our Disney MGM Studio days to head back to ASMu for a dip in the pool. We were the only ones on the bus that trip!

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 Movies share and Music 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!)

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Just an FYI

CBR has 7 bus stops in the resort.

 

[carol-lamb]

If it were me, I would pick CBR. I have stayed at All Star Movies twice and have stayed at CBR more than ten times. I have never seen the family suites though. The rooms at CBR are a little bigger than the other moderate resorts. We usually have 4 people in our room (all adults - well my daughter is actually 15, but very tall so for size comparison I will say she is adult size) and we have plenty of room. The grounds at CBR are just so beautiful and really don't compare with the All Star resorts. If you feel you don't need the extras that the family suites offer (sofa, microwave, etc.) then I would stay at the CBR and use the $200 you would be saving for souvineers.

One thing that I just noticed though that might affect your decision is the dates of your vacation. FYI, the main pool at CBR will be closed from 1-8-08 to 9-15-08 for renovations. There are quiet pools in each village, but they will obviously be much more crowded because of the closure of the main pool. They are installing slides in 2 of the quiet pools for the kids to enjoy, but the pools are not themed so you might like the pools at the All Stars better if your family swims a lot.

 

[Fies4]

Well .... now I'm really unsure of what to do . I thank you all for your help and advice (and welcome anyone else's opinion, btw). I was reading down through everything and had my mind made up to switch to CBR, until I read about the pool. Although I don't know how much swimming we will be able to do in January/early Feb. - it still would be nice to have that option. I'll have to discuss it this evening with DH and see what he thinks, after all he is the one who thinks we need more space.
Again, if anyone else has more to add to this, I'd love to hear it!!

 

[stauncie]

The deal breaker for us was the bed size. The family suites has a queen size bed, but CSR only has full size.

Once DH heard that, it was no contest (DH is 6'5" and 300 lbs)

 

[Fies4]

The deal breaker for us was the bed size. The family suites has a queen size bed, but CSR only has full size.

Once DH heard that, it was no contest (DH is 6'5" and 300 lbs)

I was just sitting here thinking about that and I have to say that it's probably a no-brainer and there's most likely no reason to even ask DH this evening because that's probably what he's going to look at as well is the bed. I'm still going to ask - just so he's aware that we have the option to move to a moderate and save a couple hundred but, again - he'll most likely say "spend the money so I can sleep at night and not feel like I'm staying in the dwarfs' house".