Differences in AKL and ASMO

[Taurus]

Hello all! My family is planning our second trip to WDW. We stayed a week at the AKL in January and just loved it! Hadn't planned a second trip this year but ended up taking advantage of the FTP and booked a trip to the ASMO. I know there is a huge difference in value and deluxe. We are fine with that. Just wondering if someone who had been to both can let us know what to expect. thanks in advance!

 

[ADisneygirl]

We just got home from AKL. We have not personally been to ASM, but my neighbor went this summer. She has stayed at moderates before, and she said the biggest differences she encountered were the room size, and the check in. She said check in took long with all the lines. The rooms are the smallest on site at 260 sqft.

We don't stay at mod. or value resorts because we like interior corridors to access our room. Value resorts do not have room service either.

One other note: my neighbor loved the pools at the All Stars. She said they were very big and she loved the shapes they were in!

All Star Movies Fact Sheet

 

[Tiffany]

Originally posted by Taurus
Hello all! My family is planning our second trip to WDW. We stayed a week at the AKL in January and just loved it! Hadn't planned a second trip this year but ended up taking advantage of the FTP and booked a trip to the ASMO. I know there is a huge difference in value and deluxe. We are fine with that. Just wondering if someone who had been to both can let us know what to expect. thanks in advance!

The difference to us is night and day. We stayed at the ASSports twice back in the mid 90's and have stayed at the AKL now three times since it has opened in April of 2001. You cannot compare the two. But if you are just looking for a clean motel room with some Disney magic and good transportatin to the parks then the All Star Resorts are fine for that. If you are looking for relaxation and a feeling of not wanting to leave your resort then the AKL is the place to be. As long as you go the ASMovies with the right expections you will be fine.

 

[Taurus]

Thanks for the info. It sounds like the ASMO will work out fine. If we can survive in a cruise ship cabin (even the upper category ones can be pretty small) than we should be ok at the ASMO. Definately WILL return to the AKL some day though!

 

[ducklite]

Originally posted by Taurus
Thanks for the info. It sounds like the ASMO will work out fine. If we can survive in a cruise ship cabin (even the upper category ones can be pretty small) than we should be ok at the ASMO. Definately WILL return to the AKL some day though!

Just an FYI--there is no comparision between DCL and the All Stars. Basic amenities at DCL (room service, toiletries) are much higher than those at the All Stars. Additionally the toilet and shower are in one room, not two like on DCL. The interior design on DCL is luxurious, at the All Stars it's Motel 6'ish--cheap laminate and garish. IMHO

If you are only looking to sleep and shower you should be fine. But those rooms are not made for relaxing and spending any amount of time in. I also found them to be outrageously noisy.

They are NOTHING like the tranquility you find at AKL.

And BTW--the upper catagory rooms on DCL are far larger than an AS room. Anything from cat 7 up is larger. And Cat 3-2-1 offers more than double to over quadruple the amount of space.

Anne

 

[Alice in Cleveland]

Originally posted by ducklite
Just an FYI--there is no comparision between DCL and the All Stars. Basic amenities at DCL (room service, toiletries) are much higher than those at the All Stars. Additionally the toilet and shower are in one room, not two like on DCL. The interior design on DCL is luxurious, at the All Stars it's Motel 6'ish--cheap laminate and garish. IMHO

I don't recall the OP ever saying she was on the DCL. She was just comparing the sizes of the roooms. My cousin takes non Disney cruises frequently and she also feels the cabins are on the small side.

 

[Tinkbell]

Sounds like you expect smaller rooms and less amenities . As long as you realize this, you should be fine. I haven't stayed at the All Stars yet but my friend, who has only stayed at deluxes, did last winter. She thought they were cute and just fine for sleeping and swimming. They were louder than a deluxe, but she expected that due to the outdoor entrances to the rooms.

Have fun!

 

[ducklite]

Originally posted by Alice in Cleveland
I don't recall the OP ever saying she was on the DCL. She was just comparing the sizes of the roooms. My cousin takes non Disney cruises frequently and she also feels the cabins are on the small side.

Oops--sorry, you're right. Somehow I thought I read DCL. In that case then the AS rooms are probably a little larger than many cruise line rooms.

Anne

 

[susy]

I have stayed at both and would return to both. You do have to have different expectations for each.

At ASMo- bring all your toiletries with you. Bring a travel size hairdryer, travel steamer or iron, and 4 cup coffemaker and "coffee fixins" if you want coffee in your room. Otherwise, buy the mug and go on with life. The rooms are on the small side and the decor is very tacky (to me), but I found the drawers to be nice and deep-that I like. Someone had a great idea of bringing one of those plastic see-through shoe holders to hang up with all of your makeup, etc, so it won't be all over the counter. There really isn't any space. The food court is great, as is the pool bar. The pools are cute. You will have to bring a towel from the room, but housekeeping is so good about bringing you more so don't worry. I bring my humidifier and it blocks out the noise wonderfully! Good bus service. This resort has a lot of energy. I think you should try it at least once.

 

[Pumbaa_]

The allstars are perfectly adequate. The room is an average motel size/style. You can get a blowdryer from mousekeeping. They will bring it to you when you call.

Pay the extra $10 for a preferred room closer to the food court and buses. If are in the back, it can be quite a hike up front.

The food court is pretty good and the refillable mugs are a good deal. And convenient to use.

The bus service is also excellant. I found it much better than the bus service for the BW hotels.

And hey, ANY trip to wdw is a good trip! Have fun!

 

[Madi100]

We've only stayed in the All Stars. We are too cheap to stay elsewhere We love the All-Stars. I'm sure that if we had more money and an endless budget, we'd upgrade. Not the case in our family. It somewhat bothers me that people can put them down so much. It is a very basic hotel room. Not a lot of extra space. Not a lot of amentities. My kids love the huge icons, though. We've always had super fast check in. We've never had any problems with anything there. Bus service is great, and we are staying at Disney. If you are high class, you might not like the All Stars. If you can be happy with a nice, clean, hotel that is on Disney property, than you'll like them.

And, if you are staying at the movies, don't pay for the preferred, it's a waste of money. None of the rooms are too far from the front area.

 

[michygoomy]

Madi100--regarding not getting the upgrade for ASMo--would you same the same is true for ASMu (I see you're stayed in both)? Or, really, my question is--are they all about the same distance? I'm going to fax a room request, and was wondering if there is a specific building I should request.

And having stayed off-site for the past two trips, I absolutely thrilled to be staying at an All-Stars resort!

 

[Carrieberry]

We actually loved ASMo. We have stayed at (from worst to best):
Poly (conceierge level)
Animal Kingdom Lodge
All Star Movies
Dixie Landings
Port Orleans French Quarter
Beach Club


We actually liked them in that order with the Poly being the worst and the BC being the best. We thought the rooms at ASMo were small, but perfectly adequate for the 4 of us since we don't spend time in the room. The pools there are great and so is the bus service. The food court was also wonderful, especially since we tend to eat a lot more counter service when we go with the kids. The best thing about the AS resorts is of course the price. It is 100% worth it to us to be able to stay longer, or go more frequently with the kids and have more money to spend on fun stuff (character dinners, souviners, pirate cruises) while we are there. We don't care about "tacky decorating" or that stuff (I personally think the ASMo decorating is fun and whimsical and my kids love it), we just like to be able to stay on site and have a nice clean room to come back and sleep in. The noise is worse than the deluxes, but then again, the moderates aren't much better in that respect. We try to get a code rate at a moderate, just to get a bigger room, but sometimes it works out, and sometimes it doesn't and that's ok. I try not to make myself crazy with planning, sice we have never had a bad time at any of the Disney resorts. We splurge every now and then and stay in a nice resort, or maybe every other year we spend half of our trip at ASMo and half at a deluxe, but for the most part, we love everything about ASMo (except the room size) and it works out just fine for our family.

 

[kiddoc]

We have stayed at both AKL and ASMo. However, in ASMo, it was just DH and I--no children. We enjoyed ASMo, but I do think it would be a little small with our two small children (1&4). With the 1 year old, we end up spending more time in the room than when it is just DH and I with naps, etc. I think rooms at the All-Stars would get REALLY SMALL, REALLY QUICK if we spent much time there during the day.

Our favorite place to stay with the children is CBR. We have stayed at CR where there is more room, but CBR gives us both room and atmosphere--with a compromise on the price.

All that said--I agree that any place on Disney property is great! It really comes down to how much are you going to actually be in the room. As far as atmosphere/surroundings, I think the All-Stars would be any child's favorite!

 

[polkadotminnie]

We have stayed at both Akl & Asmo. We liked them both for different reasons. The Asmo icons really appeal to kids so I don't consider them tacky. The room was a basic, clean room. We had a quick check-in at about 7pm with minimal wait. We were in Woody building on the back (faced parking lot-3rd floor) , and it was quiet. I wouldn't pay for an upgrade because all buildings I saw were pretty close. My kids loved the pool! We will stay there again sometime.

 

[Taurus]

I appreciate the information. Sounds like ASMO will be fine. Thanks, Suzy, for letting me know what to bring - I never thought about needing to bring toiletries that were provided at the AKL. We are actually just excited to even be returning to WDW so soon after our last trip so as long as the room is clean and there is a pool for dd we'll be fine. We haven't cruised on DCL as one poster thought but am glad to have that info also as dd wants to take a DCL trip at some point. We have been cruising for about 15 years and some of the older ships we were on several years ago were quite small so I'm sure we can handle the 260 sq. feet for our family of three. Actually, the only thing I regret about our trip to AKL is that we really only got to hang around the hotel and enjoy it on our arrival date. I told dh that I'd like to spend a weekend at AKL some time without even going to the parks!

 

[Madi100]

As far as paying the extra for the preferred: I would pay it at All Star Music, but not at Movies. At ASMu, the different buildings are in a straight row. You walk out of the main building with the check-in, gift shop, arcade, and food court area and the pool is right in front of you. The first building is Calypso, and it is the closest. It is $10 extra. Then you keep walking in a straight line and you get to the next building. It's just one straight line of buildings.

At ASMo, you walk out of the main building and once again is the pool and Fantasia is directly in front of you. However, the buildings at Movies aren't in a straight line. When you walk out the door of the main building, you can also go left and right. Toy Story is to the left, Dalmatians is to the right. Past Dalmatians on the right is Mighty Ducks. On past Fantasia is Love Bug. As I understand it, Mighty Ducks is quite close to the bus stop for ASMu, so the only buildings that would make it so you have much walking is Love Bug. Even then, it's not much.

We stayed in Calypso the first time. This was before they considered it preferred. I believe I would do it again. We stayed in Dalmatians at Movies, and that is the plan for this trip.

Hope this helps!!