Need opinions about All Stars Sports..

[Tinkerbells2000]

Well, I just got off the phone with CRO, this is the 5th time in the last month we have changed our ressies. But, this time, it was not the dates, it was the hotel. We were going to take our camper originally next week, but do to some testing that my 3rd grader has, it was not going to work out. Now we are going the 8-14th of Dec. We found a $65 a night rate at AS for a preferred view, not sure what that means there, but we will see, and are getting 2 rooms at that rate since we have 4 kids. My question is this. We have mainly stayed at the CR Tower, but have now outgrown that. My kids are all a little older now, and can all walk, and for the 1st time in almost 9 years, we will not be packing diapers. Anyway... Are we going to be dissapointed. We are not hard to please people, and we were going to be in our camper, so this is a step up. We will have 2 bathrooms, which is a plus, and will have a lot more room than in our pop-up... But, overall, do you still feel like you are at Disney when you are here. How long does to take to get to places like the MK, and what is the transportation like?? Any info would be great on this. We opted for the Sports, since the girls get a princess breakfast, the boy will get a "boy" hotel, although my 8 year old girl will love this also... Anyway.. Please send any info my way.. Thanks.

 

[Disneycrazymom]

I think you will enjoy the Sports. We have stayed there twice and had fun. Your kids will love it I'm sure. Preferred view will get you in the building closest to the food court and the busses. I personally don't think I would pay the extra a night, but we do not mind walking a bit further. The busses actually are pretty good and the Sports is the first picked up so that is nice. It could take about 20 - 30 minutes to MK depending on if they stop at Music and Movies and how long you have to wait for the bus. You will enjoy the food court. Lots of "kid" food at pretty good prices and if you buy the mug you can get your own soda as you come and go. Enjoy!

 

[bobcat]

My kids love the All Stars and we have now stayed at all three. I like the fun atmosphere and every trip I am enchanted all over again. I have never had a problem with the buses.

 

[Tinkerbells2000]

Thanks. The only option for us for that week was a preferred view, and at only $65 a night, we went for it. Also, the shorter walk will be better since we have 4 kids 8 and under. Thanks for the replies.

 

[luvindisneyworld]

hi, i think you will love the all stars, i think you will feel more at disney at the all stars ,myself. we were there in april (4 ADULTS)
and we really enjoyed the resort, we felt like kids again, LOL, the kids will love it there.
have a magical trip,
misty

 

[Poohbear123]

And the price is right, thats for sure!

 

[gibbys1]

We stayed there over this past Easter and really enjoyed the hotel. You will definately feel you are at Disney because everything there is bigger than life!

 

[Chip 'n Dale Express]

It always seems as if the All-Stars gets such a bad rap... but in reality, I think they're great.

The buildings are larger than life... Kids love it! (And so do kids-at-heart) They're basic resorts, nothing super fancy. But I never found any problems with the rooms, the size was fine for me. The pools are way better than the basic rectangle pool. And the food court had good food at decent prices.

And as for Transportation... the All-Stars receive the best transportation of all. They get more busses, more frequently than any other resort. In the mornings, the busses are staged right in the All-Stars, and dispatched fairly quickly to meet the demands. During the day, the busses typically run at 7-10 minute intervals. And at night, they come one right after another, sometimes 2 at a time.

As for Order... in the morning, it's based on demand. Usually one bus will be dispatched to each resort for each park, but that can vary with demand. During the day, most busses travel Sports, Music, Movies, however, there are some busses that go in reverse.

A few sidenotes... typically, the MK will split the busses, and have dedicated busses. Epcot sometimes does this at night as well. Downtown Disney will service all three, but splits up starting points. One bus will start at Sports, the next will start at Music, and the third will start at Movies.

At night, during the park exit, the order is up to the driver. Usually, I'll see if there's any birthday people on board, and start with thier resort. Otherwise, I'll start with Movies or Music.

 

[disneyjunkie]

You made a good choice.

My son loves All Star Sports. When we stayed there in 2001, the bus service was great! During that trip, whenever the 3 resorts shared a bus Sports was the first to get picked up so we never had to worry about getting a seat.

The foodcourt and arcade are great.

I'm sure your kids will have a blast there. Enjoy!

 

[tjkatie]

We will be staying at All Star Sports for our first trip to Disney in just 15 days!!! I have read lots of good things and we are really looking forward to it.

Just wondering if anyone has any suggestions on buildings, floors, etc. We have two children 4 and 7. We requested Touchdown since it seemed close without the extra charge. We were just trying to figure out what floor would be best. (just to make a request....no guarantee....we realize this) At night, after the kids fall asleep (if we don't first from exhaustion) we were thinking of pulling the chairs outside the door for some couple time to have a drink and talk.....any suggestion on what floor would be best for this. Also, if we do go floor 2 or 3 are there elevators throughout the building??

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[Disneydenise]

The AS 's aren't that spread out and I think with little kids it is a great choice. I hope you have a wonderful trip. My DD was there this past April for her senior class trip and they had a ball. She has been to DW 14 times so she has stayed at most of the deluxe hotels. She thought the housekeeping was better than at the Poly and the themeing was fun. She raved about the food court and she liked the game room and the lobby. The kids would meet there with the friends to get to the parks they were heading to. They all had a great time in the pool and the staff treated them very well.

 

[Chip 'n Dale Express]

Originally posted by tjkatie
Also, if we do go floor 2 or 3 are there elevators throughout the building??

I believe they have elevators located in the center of the building. I've never used them, though. I always had fun with the themed stairwells.

 

[donac]

I have stayed at AS sports and movies. My kids loved the sports. The food court is great. Lots of selection and plenty of room. I love movies more because it is about the disney moveies but you can't go wrong with any of the AS hotels.



Aug 2002 POFQ, FW, AS Sports

 

[fantasymagic]

I agree with everything the other posters said. Also, the ASSports have recently been refurbished. One other thing, we love the gift store. Always able to find things there. The kids love the arcade.

We have actually changed our reservations back to All Star Sports from moderates on two occasions.

We also get two connecting rooms and it works out well. The two teenage DSs get their own room, while DD, DH and I have the other room.

Hey, check out my signature line!

 

[milmore104]

We stayed at ASSPorts in Dec 01'. We did love it and thought it was great. The best part is that all the All Stars are close together they are only seperated by parking lots. We took a day and went and explored the other 2 resorts and even had lunch at the movies and used their kiddie pool (themed better than sports).


To TJKATIE,
there is one elevator per building. Touchdown is were we stayed. I can't remember the actual room number but it was facing the football field. It was nice but it was very noisy. Even though they close the field down at 10pm there are still people playing football and basketball. We found it to be quite disturbing at nighttime. I have posted before about a problem we had w/ some kids throwing footballs at our window. Along w/ one that hit my 14month old daughter in the head. All in all it was a great hotel fun and great for kids! I think we would probalbly go back if we didn't stay were we did. If we had stayed in baseball I think my DH would have gone back to Sports but because of the noise and the "flying ball: we will never go back to the Sports

 

[Tinkerbells2000]

Thanks so much for all the wonderful info. My kids, especially my boy, are getting so excited. Heck, DH, and I are getting very excited as well. One more thing. We will be getting to the hotel around noon, but check in is not until 4, and we are not planning on going into the parks that day.. What is there to do around the hotel?? We are thinking about going to see the different hotels, since we have never been there during Chistmas time, I would love to see how they are decorated. And, for those that have been there during Christmas time, and since one room will be considered the "kids Room", is it okay to kind of decorate the room with Christmas decorations???

 

[Chip 'n Dale Express]

Originally posted by Tinkerbells2000
Thanks so much for all the wonderful info. My kids, especially my boy, are getting so excited. Heck, DH, and I are getting very excited as well. One more thing. We will be getting to the hotel around noon, but check in is not until 4, and we are not planning on going into the parks that day.. What is there to do around the hotel?? We are thinking about going to see the different hotels, since we have never been there during Chistmas time, I would love to see how they are decorated. And, for those that have been there during Christmas time, and since one room will be considered the "kids Room", is it okay to kind of decorate the room with Christmas decorations???

Feel free to decorate your room... I know a lot of people who do this. I remember last year, some folks at the Contemporary hung out christmas lights from thier tower balcony. One thing to please keep in mind though, is that Disney probably has stricter fire safety codes than you might be used to... so just keep that in mind. (ie: lights off when out of room, nothing hanging from sprinkler, etc)

As for check-in... depending on if they have your room ready, they may or may not be able to let you into your room early. But in case it's not available until 4, they will hold your stuff while you go check out the resorts. My advice would be to take the bus to the MK, and then hop on the Resort Monorail to check out the Contemporary, Polynesian, and ESPECIALLY the Grand Floridian. You can also connect to the WL from the TTC or MK.

 

[disneyjunkie]

How about taking a ride over to Downtown Disney? The Lego store and the new toy store will be a hit.

 

[milmore104]

Tinkerbells2000,

there actually wasn't much for decorations at any of the AS resorts. They all had trees in the lobbies and food courts acourding to the themes of the hotels as well as a couple of big wreaths but that was about it. There were actually a lot of people who had there rooms decorated. You can actually ask for a mini tree to be delivered to your room and have it in your window. And at the end of your trip you can buy it if you'd like or not!

We have always been lucky enough to arrive at the hotel around noon and they have our room ready. I would call ahead of time or fax them when you think you will be arriving. I always tell them that.

There is a lot too do around the hotel. You can walk around and see the other AS's or walk around your resort and check it all out. You can swim in the pol or playin the play ground check out the arcade or sit in the food court for a soda and a deep breathe and take it all in and just relax and feel the "magic" of it all!And before you know it 4hrs has gone by.

have a great time!

 

[Tinkerbells2000]

These are all great ideas. Thanks. I can not wait. I have never been to Disney during Christmas time. I think that we will let the kids decorate their room, probably not with lights, but other things. It will also be one of my DD B-days, so we will be celebrating that as well. I am really hoping that we like the AS, because if this works out, we will NEVER have to take the camper... Not that we don't love our camper, we do, but we also love hotels...