How is All Star Movies Resort ?

[maulvader72]

I would like to know how the all star movies resort is because me and my family are going to wdw in may.

 

[minnie61650]

I would like to know how the all star movies resort is because me and my family are going to wdw in may.

I love The All Star Resorts.

I am 55 years old and travel several times a year. I often stay at 4 star hotels.
So the deluxe resorts do not have anything special for me.
All Star is like being in the heart of the Magic and that is where I want to be.


Here is the map of All Movies.
http://www.wdwinfo.com/resortmaps/allstarmovie.JPG
The Fantasia 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.

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 gift shops are separate from the food court at the All Stars.
The gift shop and food court are combined at Pop.

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.

Pop has 2,880 guest rooms. 4 floors in each building.
Each of the All Stars has 1,960 rooms. 3 floors in each building. That means more people in the food courts, in the pools and waiting at the bus stop at POP than at the All Stars.

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 this 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!

 

[tophee99]

We stayed at ASM 3 years ago and loved it. We were in the dalmations building. The walk wasn't too far, we were close to laundry and the pools were wonderful.

Tophee

 

[Johnnyfairplay]

You say you and your family are going. How big is your family? Rooms at the value resorts are postage stamp sized. I can't imagine putting more than a couple in those rooms and have it be an enjoyable stay. If you have one child then it is doable but with 2 or more kids look elsehwere. Go up at least a category to the mods. Also look at the vacation club properties as well. Part of the reason I became a DVC member is for the bigger rooms. You can't put a price tag on comfort. Kids in there own seperate bedroom while mom and dad get some alone time in the master bedroom in the jacuzzi with a glass of wine. Or relaxing in the living room watching a DVD, whatever you choose. How about a blacony? You won't get those with the value or the mods. Good luck with this but the values are a little to basic and crowded for this family.


johnny

 

[shelleybell]

We loved Movies! IMHO, the food court there was better than the one at POR. We stayed in Mighty Ducks and enjoyed the pool and laundry right outside. The bus system worked fine. We are trying Music this time, just to finish up on all of the values. Have a great trip!

shelleybell

 

[dsmom]

The Movies is my favorite value!! We have stayed in every resort
on Disney property and the Movies is one of our favorites-Period!
We have stayed in every building and our favorite was the Toy Story
Building. We were there on the ground floor last time and our door
opened right out to Andy's room where the checkers are. It was great!
I love the food court and when the weather was good we would eat
outside the foodcourt on the covered tables.
The buses were great and we loved the pools. Hope you have a great
time!!

 

[formernyer]

I need to disagree with Johnnyfairplay. In fact, I feel exactly the opposite. In my opinion, the price tag is a huge concern. Comfort is all relative, since you won't be in the room very much at all.

The All-Star rooms are perfectly adequate for a family of 4 (and even for 5 with somebody on the floor if the hotel would allow it). The rooms are the same size you'd get if you went to a Comfort Inn, Days Inn, etc. They are slightly smaller (but not by much at all) then the rooms you would get in a Hampton Inn. When I looked at the photos of the All-Star rooms I was expecting them to be smaller than they are. I booked anyway because (1) they are the most affordable rooms, (2) we'd almost never be in the rooms, and (3) THEY ARE THE BEST HOTELS IN ALL OF DISNEY (ALONG WITH POP) FOR SMALL CHILDREN!. When we arrived at the room, I was very pleasantly surprised with the size of the room. I really expected it to be smaller. From what I understand, POP rooms look smaller than All-Stars because they put the beds in the middle of the room. All of the Value rooms are the same size though.

Why do I feel that the Value hotels aer the best in all of Disney for kids? Just take a look at the photos!!! What child would ever prefer to stay in a fancy, exclusive resort than one with huge, colorful, fun sculptures all over the place and reminders of being in Disney all over the place? Everything at the Value resorts looks FUN!

I think the only advantage in a child's eyes to the mods/deluxes over the Values would be the pools, but if they never saw the mod/deluxe pools they'd be just as excited about the pools at the Value resorts.

For me, there's no choice other than Value. I loved the ASSp when we stayed there (my son chose it). We checked out the other Value hotels and I liked the ASMo second-best. Our October trip was my daughter's choice of hotels and she selected POP, so we'll be there. I like the All-Stars a little better, but POP has a better food court, so I'm not complaining.

You're going to LOVE All-Star Movies!!!

 

[minnie61650]

You say you and your family are going. How big is your family? Rooms at the value resorts are postage stamp sized. I can't imagine putting more than a couple in those rooms and have it be an enjoyable stay. If you have one child then it is doable but with 2 or more kids look elsehwere. Go up at least a category to the mods. Also look at the vacation club properties as well. Part of the reason I became a DVC member is for the bigger rooms. You can't put a price tag on comfort. Kids in there own seperate bedroom while mom and dad get some alone time in the master bedroom in the jacuzzi with a glass of wine. Or relaxing in the living room watching a DVD, whatever you choose. How about a blacony? You won't get those with the value or the mods. Good luck with this but the values are a little to basic and crowded for this family.johnny

The value rooms are just a little smaller then the rooms at a mod but they are not postage stamp sized. They are 260 suqare feet. they have a closet with hanging space and a shelf by the sink area.

Here is the layout:

Disney has just built New Family suites at All Star Music.
the suites are going for:

Value season $169
Regular season $209
Peak season $239
Holiday season $259

A little info:

New Family Suites at All Star Music Resort offers:

-Studio amenities and separate sleeping areas giving more privacy than a standard room.
-Queen bed, full-size pullout sofa, convertible ottoman & chair sleepers (4 separate sleepers)
-Private master bedroom and family room have 27” flat CRT TV and high speed internet access.
-Kitchenette with microwave, small refrigerator (4.3 cu. ft) and coffee pot
-Two-full bathrooms

Here is the layout:

Here are some photos from the DIS resort website:

For more info click on my FAQ thread :
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1072409

Thanks!

Have fun at Disney!

 

[pumba]

we took the whole family one year.......hubby and I in one room with our son and his wife.......FOUR ADULTS.......and then our daughter her husband and two pre teens in the other room....I do not think that the size was an issue.....we did fine and were only in the rooms to sleep and change for pool time......Go for it and dont worry about things.....we loved it there.....we have stayed in the moderates and we have stayed at the deluxe hotels......we like the movies and love the food court......

 

[gypsydoodlebug]

We're staying there this Sept. and stayed there last Sept. I really like it best of all the values. I'm hoping for the Toy Story bldg. this time, as DD doesn't really relate to the other bldgs. (She's only two, so our Disney movie collection isn't that big). We stayed in 101 Dalmations last year and it was great. A bit cramped for my mom, my brother and my dad who had the room next door, but DH, DD and I were fine. I really think the bathrooms are cute, too!!

Don't forget to rent a refrigerator if you need one. They delivered it to our door and it was already cold, so our milk stayed cool, too.

 

[carolfoy]

... you guys have unknowingly helped me make up my mind, We stayed at ASMo last November for 2 weeks and totally loved it, We're going back again in september and I had the mad idea I'd upgrade to POFQ, just because the rooms were bigger, we'd get to really see another resort etc etc, you know how people on this board can make you change your mind? but reading this thread made me realise my 10 year old DS LOVED asmo and so did we, heck, we don't stay on Disney 'cos we want a 'grown up' resort - we want to stay right in the heart of the fun, I don't think theres another resort that gives so much magic as the ASMo. I've just saved around £450!!!
thanks!

 

[Anna and Trino]

I would like to know if anyone takes thier coolers in the rooms with them and also are the fridges small? what can you fit in them?

 

[cornflkgrl]

We stayed at POFQ for a week and then tacked on a day at All-Star Movies when I got sick and didn't want to drive home that day (we were broke and needed a value! lol)
Anyway, we thought it was great. I was really suprised. I just thought the values would be yucky but it was clean, big enough for the two of us comfortably (although, no king bed), nice resort grounds, neat theme and they have this great tv channel that shows all the technicolor classic cartoons 24/7 which was nice since I was in bed the whole time.
We do reccomend this hotel more for families as opposed to a romantic vacation spot. We would go there again if we took our son.
The pool looked very nice too, though we did not go in it.
We stayed in Love Bug, by the way.
The only downside was the 45 minute wait to checkin but if that really bothers you, you should reconsider going to Disney because 45 minutes is not a bad wait at all compared to the countless other lines you may be standing in at the parks!

 

[cornflkgrl]

You say you and your family are going. How big is your family? Rooms at the value resorts are postage stamp sized. I can't imagine putting more than a couple in those rooms and have it be an enjoyable stay. If you have one child then it is doable but with 2 or more kids look elsehwere. Go up at least a category to the mods. Also look at the vacation club properties as well. Part of the reason I became a DVC member is for the bigger rooms. You can't put a price tag on comfort. Kids in there own seperate bedroom while mom and dad get some alone time in the master bedroom in the jacuzzi with a glass of wine. Or relaxing in the living room watching a DVD, whatever you choose. How about a blacony? You won't get those with the value or the mods. Good luck with this but the values are a little to basic and crowded for this family.


johnny

I can personally put a pricetag on comfort lol. I flat out could NEVER afford a DVC membership and if you are only going to disney for a few days a year, values are the way to go in my opinion.

 

[Dana&KyleS]

Hi

Can't help you out as this will be our first trip this comming May, but we are also staying at the All Star Movies Resort... We are a family of 4.. I need to put a fridge and a crib in the room, I'm now nervous we won't be able to fit... Will the room fit us... Please Help!!

I was really looking forward to the All Star Movies I think my son will love the themes as he is 2.5...

 

[minnie61650]

Hi

Can't help you out as this will be our first trip this comming May, but we are also staying at the All Star Movies Resort... We are a family of 4.. I need to put a fridge and a crib in the room, I'm now nervous we won't be able to fit... Will the room fit us... Please Help!!

I was really looking forward to the All Star Movies I think my son will love the themes as he is 2.5...

You will be able to fit a frige and the crib in the room. In fact we just put our fridge on top of one the night stands. It worked really well because it was at a good height then,

If you are considering a value resort All Stars will give you MORE floor space than Pop. Although both resorts are 260 square feet

The Pop rooms seem smaller because the bed is closer to the door with a bigger gap being between the bathroom wall and the far bed. At the All Stars this gap is about one foot wide. Giving you more floor space.

http://allearsnet.com/acc/asmv59.jpg
http://allearsnet.com/acc/popcent56.jpg

Also you cannot move the beds at Pop because they are bolted to the floor.
You can move the beds at the All Stars giving you even more usable floor space or you can move a bed against the wall so you can keep a little one safe.

Have fun at Disney!

 

[DisneyGirl928]

Hi..we stayed at All Star Movies Last May and we are staying there again in August!....We looooove this resort...We stayed in the LoveBug section and it was nice a peaceful!....the theming is great!

 

[Danaans]

Hi

Can't help you out as this will be our first trip this comming May, but we are also staying at the All Star Movies Resort... We are a family of 4.. I need to put a fridge and a crib in the room, I'm now nervous we won't be able to fit... Will the room fit us... Please Help!!

I was really looking forward to the All Star Movies I think my son will love the themes as he is 2.5...

No worries. We stayed there had three room connected and had 9 people. they were broken up as follows Mom & Dad (room by themself) Grown DD, Grown DD, and one granddaughter, another room. DS his wife and two children, another room. We fit fine. My son had a pack and play in his room, and we also had refrigerator. We - dont usually spend alot of time in the rooms....usually who does? so room size wasn't that important. We were in the Dalmation rooms. They were cute. My granddaughters, 8, 3 and Grandson 13 months loved it.....

 

[ratherbeinwdw]

The Movies is my favorite value!! We have stayed in every resort
on Disney property and the Movies is one of our favorites-Period!
We have stayed in every building and our favorite was the Toy Story
Building. We were there on the ground floor last time and our door
opened right out to Andy's room where the checkers are. It was great!
I love the food court and when the weather was good we would eat
outside the foodcourt on the covered tables.
The buses were great and we loved the pools. Hope you have a great
time!!

Is this a room view you can request. staying there in july and DS would FREAK out

 

[eeyore29]

Is this a room view you can request. staying there in july and DS would FREAK out

You can tell them when you make your ressie that you'd like a certain building but there's no guarantee they can fulfill that. If you'd pay extra for a preferred room then I think you're guaranteed to be in the preferred buildings (which I think are the Fantasia buildings). We've been to WDW twice with special room/building requests and we got what we wanted one time, so you have a 50-50 shot at the building you want. Whether you get it or not, nothing's too far of a walk to see those other buildings. Have a great trip!