Family Suites at All Star Music or 2 connecting rooms at POP?

vanreg

Mouseketeer
Joined
Jan 7, 2006
Messages
411
We have a family of five. We stayed at ASMu in a family suite last January and loved it. We are debating about trying POP with connecting rooms just to experience a different hotel. We would like to hear from someone who has stayed at both. Thanks.
 
We've done both and we enjoyed both. My vote is to try 2 connecting or non-connecting (if your kids are old enough) rooms at Pop and decide for yourself which you like best. We'll be at Pop this Sept. in 2 non-connecting rooms. My DD's DF is going with us this trip, so he'll share one room with my DS-23 and I'll be next door in the other room with DH and 2 DD's-20 and 13. If you've never stayed at Pop, I think you should at least once if only to experience the atmosphere. It's completely and I think, uniquely Disney.
 
2 rooms at POP are a LOT cheaper in my opinnion.:thumbsup2
 
depends upon you.

I like Pop. It has a lake, nice food court and some of the best CM at any resort. Doesn't share a bus with anyone.

Music has been rehab and I love the new interior. Sometimes during the day this resort might share a bus with the rest of All stars.
 

I don't think two single rooms at a Value is a lot cheaper than a Family Suite.
The biggest rate difference (in Peak and Holiday seasons) is $27 a night. Yes, I realize that's the difference between eleven nights and ten nights, BUT - with the Family Suites, you are absolutely, positively, 100% guaranteed to have the equivalent of connecting rooms (and the kitchenette, including fridge (which would cost $10 a night in an individual rooms), microwave, coffeemaker, and two bathrooms.
 
You also get real beds with 2 connecting rooms. Only one real bed and the rest pull outs at the suites. No thanks on that one for me. We have 2 connecting rooms booked at POP for our Jan. trip.
 
2 rooms at POP are a LOT cheaper in my opinnion.:thumbsup2

Just an FYI


For comparison, the price of a Family Suite is $9-11 more then 2 Standard Rooms, or $13-15 less the 2 Preferred Rooms, depending on season.

Also a fridge is included in AS Suite.

Fridges cost $10 a night to rent when staying at a value . Don't forget the Queen size bed,a coffee pot and microwave are also in Family Suites.

DH and I stayed in a Family Suite at All Star Music ( a value resort) last Sept. (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 meatle 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:

ASMusic_FamSuite_layout.jpg



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!:wizard:
 
How comfortable is the queen size bed in the suites? Also do they have enough room for a crib?

Last question - how noisy are these hotels? We stopped staying onsite because dh and I can't sleep with a lot of noise. We found offsite hotels to have better beds and be less noisy. I'm just curious :).

Kim
 
You also get real beds with 2 connecting rooms. Only one real bed and the rest pull outs at the suites. No thanks on that one for me. We have 2 connecting rooms booked at POP for our Jan. trip.

But if there are no connecting rooms available when you check in i.e. they're all already taken, you can't get connecting rooms. With the Family Suites, you absolutely have connecting rooms. Period.
 
But if there are no connecting rooms available when you check in i.e. they're all already taken, you can't get connecting rooms. With the Family Suites, you absolutely have connecting rooms. Period.

kaytieeldr is correct. CRO does not block off connecting rooms ahead of time so even if your ressies say " guaranteed connecting rooms"you cannot be sure you will have connecting rooms when you check in.

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As a mother of 4 (All grown now. My oldest is in her 30's and my youngest is 22) I often wished Disney had more options for larger families.
When the children were younger and we would go to Disney they did not have DVC or the family suites. In fact Disney did not have a Moderate until CBR opened in the late 1980's so if we wanted to stay onsite we either rented 2 rooms at a deluxe or stayed in the cabins.

I wrote to Disney many times over the years asking for more options for families so when I heard they were building the New Family Suites at All Star Music it just made me so happy!

In the late 80's I booked 2 connecting rooms at CBR for my family.
When we checked in there were no connecting rooms left but we were able to get rooms next to each other on the second floor.
Our two oldest were teens so I put them in one room and the 2 little ones who were 5 and 7 stayed with us. It worked for us because our older children were able to stay in a room without us but if they were younger DH and I would have had to split up.

Disney may say they guarantee connecting rooms but in reality Disney does not guarantee connecting rooms.

If there are 2 adults Disney can split the adults and children into two rooms that are not connecting. They try hard not to do this but it can and does happen sometimes. If however it is one adult with 5 children Disney should try harder to find connecting rooms since some of the children cannot be left in a room without an adult. But if you look at the threads posted below you will see that sometimes even Disney mixes up.


It does happen. Far too often IMHO.

From this thread;

http://disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1145289

mydogisbo said:
Just wanted to re-iterate what others have said:

We requesting connecting rooms at CBR in January--not really a busy time & we were early for check-in. They did not have us in connecting rooms. They said they could accommodate us, but it would be smoking rooms--which was our #1 request non-smoking.

We were side-by-side, so we just went outside to go next door, so it wasn't a huge deal for us. But if you definitely want to be together--I would go with a suite. You could also look into renting DVC points for a villa.



Here are a couple more threads about guests not getting connecting rooms:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1095679

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=785797&page=1&pp=15

From this thread:

http://disboards.com/newreply.php?do=newreply&p=13528958

taximomfor4 said:
One of the threads that Linda posted a link to was my experience last March. I had many conversations with the higher-ups at Guest Services and was told that even if it says "guaranteed" it is not truly "guaranteed." It just has higher priority over the "requests." Because on a given day, there might only be 25 connecting room sets opening up, but 27 "guaranteed connecting rooms for families" ressies checking in. 2 of those families are not going to get their "guarantee."

I know, I was shocked that we had to fight so hard to get put in rooms that had just been fumigated for lice (they were taken out of the inventory, but re-opened because we insisted we needed rooms.) I sort of assumed that if they didn't have the rooms for us, they'd find rooms elsewhere on Disney property. For that stay, we were sometimes 2 adults and sometimes only 1. Now we will book offsite if we need to do that again. If there are 2 of us adults, we book connecting and hope for the best. Otherwise, we'll split the kids.

My point is to make backup plans if you are depending on connecting rooms.

That is one of the main reasons if my family were young I would choose a Suite over 2 connecting rooms or I would be prepared that I may need to split the family up and sleep in a different room than DH.
 
How comfortable is the queen size bed in the suites? Also do they have enough room for a crib?

Last question - how noisy are these hotels? We stopped staying onsite because dh and I can't sleep with a lot of noise. We found offsite hotels to have better beds and be less noisy. I'm just curious :).

Kim

The Queen size bed was very confortable. They are the same pillowtop beds that the CR and the Poly got when Disney refubished those (CR and Poly) resorts.

I have found the Family Suites to be very quiet. For one thing the Suites do not have connecting doors tto other rooms.

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I stay at the values quite often and have never had an issue with noise.

The noise issues come with :

1. The main pool is located very close to some of the value rooms.

The themed pools at the mods and deluxes are set away from the rooms.

Tip: Ask for a room facing away or located a ways from the main pool.

2. Turbo toilets

The Values are newer and have the turbo toilets.

Tip: Close your bathroom door at night because noise travels through the plumbing.

3. Connecting rooms

About 50% of the value rooms have connecting doors.

Noise will travel under the connecting doors in a room.

Tip: If you have noisy neighbors open your connecting door and place a rolled up bath towel on the floor between then close and lock your connecting door.

Some guests have said that using a fan or a white noise machine helps them to sleep better.

These tips should help you get a restful sleep wherever you choose to stay.

Have fun at Disney!:wizard:
 
I have stayed at Pop w/ connecting rooms twice. (3 times come the end of the month:woohoo: )

Once with 4 adults, 1 child in connecting rooms with one room being a king size, handicap accessable.
Once with 5 adults, 1 child in connecting rooms with 2 double beds in each.
We've never had an issue getting a connecting room there, or any other resort for that matter. We've been told they weren't any, told them we'd requested it and really would like one, had them check again and they were always able to accomodate.

I can tell you this about both experiences: the rooms didn't really feel cramped. It seemed like we had more 'stuff' in the way because there really wasn't much room to store it, but it was comfortable for the most part.

As for noise level, once we were there in the 70's building, away from any pools and I think the only ones on our floor and it was very quiet.
The other time we were in the 80's building, facing the pool, with the loudest neighbor's in the world and it was not so nice.
 
But if there are no connecting rooms available when you check in i.e. they're all already taken, you can't get connecting rooms. With the Family Suites, you absolutely have connecting rooms. Period.

Thats a chance I would take. If we had to take 2 rooms not connecting I would do it to forgo sleeping on a pull out. I have requested connecting rooms almost every trip we have taken and at different resorts and have never had a problem getting them. We also travel in the off season so maybe that helps. We are going for 10 nights in Jan. and if they said they had none to connect I would move mid stay if some came available. I really dont think we will have a problem.
 
Thats a chance I would take. If we had to take 2 rooms not connecting I would do it to forgo sleeping on a pull out. I have requested connecting rooms almost every trip we have taken and at different resorts and have never had a problem getting them. We also travel in the off season so maybe that helps. We are going for 10 nights in Jan. and if they said they had none to connect I would move mid stay if some came available. I really dont think we will have a problem.

I agree...one time we were told that there were NO connecting rooms--we asked to be moved to another resort where there were some available. That request resulted in a "Hang on and let me go check with our supervisor" followed by a "OK, we pulled a few strings and moved some things around and were able to get them..." :thumbsup2 I doubt you'll have an issue with it. In anycase, no sense worrying about it, that won't do anything for you but give you gray hair and wrinkles.;)
 
I agree, we stayed at the suites, and really enjoyed the 2 connecting at Pop better. We have stayed at Pop, and CS both over Easter Break (yikes) and had no problem getting connecting rooms.
 





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