I have stayed at all levels of Disney Resorts. My favorite Disney owned resort is All Star Music.
Here are a few reasons :
1. I can book a preferred room location..( The Calypso buildings are preferred and they are the closest to the main pool ,food court and bus stop. They cost an $10 extra a night and in my opinion they are well worth it.)
The way All Star Music is laid out it "seems" smaller than most of the other Disney resorts. If I stay in a preferred building I only see the Calypso and Jazz builings on the way to and from the main pool and the bus stop and food court. Since I stay in preferred room I know I am going to be close to the food court, bus stop, & main pool.
2. I enjoy the theming at the All Stars. All Star Music is also is the quietest of the values. Generally less people stay there and there are more seniors and couples and less young children because children enjoy the themes of the other values more.
3. The bus service at the All Star Music is very good. Since I use an
ECV good bus transportation is essential.
4. The entry at the values and Mods are much more Handicap friendly.
I am able to get in and out of my All Star room unassisted. This way my husband can go and play a round of golf and know I can leave my room to relax by the pool if I choose.
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All Star Music is my favorite resort. It tends to be the quietest of all the values.
All Star Music just underwent a refurbishment of all of the rooms and was completed in June 2007.
Here is a website with photos of the newly refurbished rooms at All Star Music.
Look at the Jazz Inn section with new posted:
http://allearsnet.com/acc/g_asmu.htm
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DH and I enjoy the landscaping and peacefulness of All Star Music.
We enjoy relaxing by the pool (there are plenty of chairs and lounges), and the beautiful lighting at the resort by night.
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I love The All Star Resorts.
I am 56 years old and travel several times a yearfor pleasure. I often stay at 3and 4 star and sometimes a 5 star hotels and motels.
So the deluxe and mod resorts are just another hotel/motel to me.
Staying at an All Star is like being in the heart of the Magic and that is where I want to be.
All Star Music is my favorite. It is quieter because more couples stay there. I love staying at the Calypso building. It is closer to the pool, food court and bus stop.
Here is a site with a map of All Star Sports and All Star Music.
http://www.wdwinfo.com/resortmaps/allstarmap.htm
Scroll down. All Star Music is at the bottom of the page.
The Calypso buildings at All Star Music are #1 and #10 are nearest to the food court and bus stop.
The Calypso pool at ASMu has Donald Duck.
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 listed as 20 min away. That's the same amount of time it takes on the monorail from the Contemporary.
*Please Note:
In my experience the bus rides are usually 3-6 minutes shorter than the listed times. Perhaps the authors posted the ride times during heavy traffic so the actual times would be less in most cases.
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 Movies share and
Music has it's own bus back. Each of the All Stars usually has it's own dedicated bus back from the MK.
That is a big plus.
It seems like the Music bus stop usually has the shortest of the three All Star bus lines.
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 pools at The All Stars are very kid friendly.
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.
The All Star Movie Fantasia pool has Mickey.
The Calypso pool at ASMU has Donald Duck.
And the Surfs up pool at All Star Sports has giant surf boards.
Here are a few pool photos.
All Star Sports pool.
All Star Music Donald pool.
All Star Movies Mickey Pool.
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 6 visits have been at The All Stars and during the fall of 2005 when we took dd,dsil, and our grandson age 3(at the time) 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 fun at Disney!
There's also lots of Disney icons there...huge statues of Baloo, Lady and the Tramp....their pools are not shady though...I sat in the shade of a lone palm tree when I laid by the pool. Their bus service is great, however the lines can get very crowded...by the time we get on, it's standing room only (which doesn't bother us...we just want to get to the parks 
