MEK
DIS Legend
- Joined
- May 8, 2005
- Messages
- 20,088
I just returned from 8 nights at ASMu. I really enjoyed this resort. Sorry POP heads, but I liked it better. In general, the reasons I preferred ASMu over POP were: less crowded buses, less crowded pools, smaller & easy to negotiate layout, cute,yet subtle themeing, and more mature landscaping.
Here are the details:
ME I know this is not part of the resort, but a bad ME experience can color people's perceptions. I arrived at MCO and got in the ME line at 8:45pm. I was at check-in by 9:45 and I had my luggage by 11:45pm. The bus was 3/4 full and made stops at POP, Sports, Music, and Movies in that order. Stops were quick and efficient.
Check-In I literally walked right up and checked in. It was a Friday night and the resort seemed very quiet. Brenda was my CM and she was very helpful. I stayed for 2 nights on room only and that 6 nights on the dining plan pckg. She arranged for me to have the same room for both stays. She also preassigned my traveling companion (who was arriving for a check-in 2 days later) to be in the same general area as me. We were not in adjoining rooms. We were about 6 rooms apart. Perfectly acceptable to me.
The Room The room was clean, new, and had plenty of space for my son and I. I never felt cramped. I was assigned the Broadway area, which I thought was the cutest area of the resort. I was close to the ice machine and the piano pool. I loved the themeing, especially at night. I was on the first floor and at the front of the building. I was worried about noise, but it was quiet. There was only one morning where someone rolled a suitcase by at about 5:15am and talked in their "stage voice" which woke me up. Housekeeping was satifactory. I got 2 towel animals, tons of soap and shampoo, and many, many towels.
I did hear the turbo toilets. They were audible even with the bathroom door closed, but not that annoying. What was annoying was the upstairs neighbor I had who ran the water (I don't think it was the shower, but who knows) several mornings at 2am. This was loud and fully woke me up on 2 occasions. My traveling companion said she heard no water/shower noise to speak of. Next time - ear plugs.
Resort As I said, this resort was smartly designed so that every location would be easy to find. I'm glad I was not in Country Fair. Not so much because it was farther, but because it was my least favorite section to look at. I thought everything was a close, fun walk. I walked (easily) to Sports and Movies to take pictures and nothing seemed terribly far. The trees, roses, and landscaping were all very attractive.
PoolsWow - I liked the pools soooooo much better than at POP. At POP I didn't even want to swim because of all the people. Here we actually spent a day at the pool instead of a water park. It was very relaxing, uncrowded, and there was plenty of seating. I liked the piano pool the best because it was close to my room and less crowded. At the main pool there was always something going on - games, music, movies, a giant beach ball. They really tried to keep people entertained.
BusesAgain -SOOOOOOOOOO much better than POP. Last year (same week) the buses at POP were a nightmare. I stood a lot. At Music I rarely stood. Music had its own bus back from every park. Sports and movies shared coming back from Epcot and MGM. I'm not sure why, but they did. I can't remember whether they shared at AK. All the resorts shared some buses to DTD and TL. That was not a problem. Wait times were minimal. The bus drivers were friendly. One night we were coming home from one of the parks and we were standing near the front of the bus. The driver told us they had dispatched 8 buses to POP. OMG!
Park CrowdsAgain - nothing to do with the resort, but it is influential. This year the last week of August was very crowded. I would guess the parks were at least twice as crowded as last year. Interestingly, as the number of guest grew at ASMu, the common areas never felt as crowded as POP did last year.
Food CourtFine - no issues, no problems. It was never super crowded and I could always find a seat. The food was fine. I ate there several times and tried the chicken with penne pasta, chicken enchiladas, and taco salad. All entrees were fine. Breakfast items were also tasty.
Well, that is my slant on things.
I will definately stay there again in the future, but now that the secret is out about late August, I will return when the temperature and the crowds are lower. For all of you that have future trips planned - ENJOY!
Here are the details:
ME I know this is not part of the resort, but a bad ME experience can color people's perceptions. I arrived at MCO and got in the ME line at 8:45pm. I was at check-in by 9:45 and I had my luggage by 11:45pm. The bus was 3/4 full and made stops at POP, Sports, Music, and Movies in that order. Stops were quick and efficient. Check-In I literally walked right up and checked in. It was a Friday night and the resort seemed very quiet. Brenda was my CM and she was very helpful. I stayed for 2 nights on room only and that 6 nights on the dining plan pckg. She arranged for me to have the same room for both stays. She also preassigned my traveling companion (who was arriving for a check-in 2 days later) to be in the same general area as me. We were not in adjoining rooms. We were about 6 rooms apart. Perfectly acceptable to me. The Room The room was clean, new, and had plenty of space for my son and I. I never felt cramped. I was assigned the Broadway area, which I thought was the cutest area of the resort. I was close to the ice machine and the piano pool. I loved the themeing, especially at night. I was on the first floor and at the front of the building. I was worried about noise, but it was quiet. There was only one morning where someone rolled a suitcase by at about 5:15am and talked in their "stage voice" which woke me up. Housekeeping was satifactory. I got 2 towel animals, tons of soap and shampoo, and many, many towels. I did hear the turbo toilets. They were audible even with the bathroom door closed, but not that annoying. What was annoying was the upstairs neighbor I had who ran the water (I don't think it was the shower, but who knows) several mornings at 2am. This was loud and fully woke me up on 2 occasions. My traveling companion said she heard no water/shower noise to speak of. Next time - ear plugs.
Resort As I said, this resort was smartly designed so that every location would be easy to find. I'm glad I was not in Country Fair. Not so much because it was farther, but because it was my least favorite section to look at. I thought everything was a close, fun walk. I walked (easily) to Sports and Movies to take pictures and nothing seemed terribly far. The trees, roses, and landscaping were all very attractive. PoolsWow - I liked the pools soooooo much better than at POP. At POP I didn't even want to swim because of all the people. Here we actually spent a day at the pool instead of a water park. It was very relaxing, uncrowded, and there was plenty of seating. I liked the piano pool the best because it was close to my room and less crowded. At the main pool there was always something going on - games, music, movies, a giant beach ball. They really tried to keep people entertained. BusesAgain -SOOOOOOOOOO much better than POP. Last year (same week) the buses at POP were a nightmare. I stood a lot. At Music I rarely stood. Music had its own bus back from every park. Sports and movies shared coming back from Epcot and MGM. I'm not sure why, but they did. I can't remember whether they shared at AK. All the resorts shared some buses to DTD and TL. That was not a problem. Wait times were minimal. The bus drivers were friendly. One night we were coming home from one of the parks and we were standing near the front of the bus. The driver told us they had dispatched 8 buses to POP. OMG! Park CrowdsAgain - nothing to do with the resort, but it is influential. This year the last week of August was very crowded. I would guess the parks were at least twice as crowded as last year. Interestingly, as the number of guest grew at ASMu, the common areas never felt as crowded as POP did last year. Food CourtFine - no issues, no problems. It was never super crowded and I could always find a seat. The food was fine. I ate there several times and tried the chicken with penne pasta, chicken enchiladas, and taco salad. All entrees were fine. Breakfast items were also tasty.Well, that is my slant on things.
I will definately stay there again in the future, but now that the secret is out about late August, I will return when the temperature and the crowds are lower. For all of you that have future trips planned - ENJOY!
Also happy to note that the other All-Stars are within walking distance as I wanted to take some pics. I'm glad you had a great time! Just hearing that others enjoyed their trips somehow reinforces the whole "pixie dust and magic" thing for me and makes me look forward to my own trip even more.
Everytime I read a positive post about ASmu I get more excited.
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