regretting booking ASMu...help!

[Kapp]

2 years ago and really liked it. Our room was as far from the Food Court as possbile but even with that, it was not that bad. Lots of fun. Enjoy!

Kapp

 

[caitycaity]

hi!

dh and i are in our twenties and we have no kids. we have stayed at asmu twice as well as moderates and deluxes.

first let me say that i *always* have "buyers remorse" when we decide to stay at a new wdw hotel. i have yet to be disappointed. sure there are some that we liked better than others, but we have never been *upset* with any of the hotels we have stayed at yet.

if you are on a limited budget and would rather spend the money on food, then i'd say asmu will be great for you! we stay at moderate, value or deluxe depending on our budget. some trips we know we can't afford the extras, and we are happy at the all star's. i think you'll be fine.

we've stayed off-site and the as's are better than the budget motels off-site by a long shot! also, as mat noted, the food courts here are the best i've seen at a disney resort so far.

 

[bali]

THANKS! You guys have been very reassuring with your opinions and experiences. I guess I did have "buyer's remorse!" I didn't know there was a name for it!!

 

[bali]

Originally posted by mat2672
But, if you like the boating, biking, and all that stuff you might be better off at a moderate or perhaps renting vacation club points from a DVC member and staying at a deluxe for little more than a moderate.

Although I'm going to stick with the all-stars this time, how is it possible to rent VC points? From whom can I rent them, and what do they offer?

 

[johnnyr]

We stayed at ASMu between Christmas and New Years week last year. We usually stay at a moderate resort, but took two trips to WDW last year. Stayed at POFQ in June. We didn't have the money to do two moderates in one year. ASMu was a good fit for the price. The price was right at the time. Although it is not our style, we were just happy to make it a second tme. I would stay again only if money was an issue.

 

[Dogslider]

We had reservations at the AS Sports in March a couple of years ago. We were going for the Cleveland Indians spring training and squeezing in a little Disney time, we had just been there a few months earlier. So decided to go with a cheaper stay this time.

Well we could have hit at a really off time, but it was chaos from the time that we arrived to check in. Asked for Baseball building, it wasn't available, they were redoing air conditiong units the next day. Was given a room in another building, (surf, maybe) hauled our luggage up to the top floor to see that it was non-smoking. I called down and asked if there was a smoking room available ( I had requestd one) was told yes in the baseball building. I told them that we had been told this building would be closed starting the next day. Was told that they had made a mistake at check-in that it was in fact available. I walked back while my dh loaded up the car again and drove over to the baseball building. I get to the front desk and of course I am told that the baseball building will be closed starting tomorrow! I walk over to get my DH (hoping the whole time that he hasn't unpacked yet) of course he is all unpacked and sitting with the luggage! He is probably the calmest easy going person, but boy was he hopping mad
To get to the point some 2 hours later we we checking in to a studio at the Institute. The hours spent at the All Stars was enough to totally turn my family off the resort. Crowded, noisey, lack of customer service.
We decided to add 2 days on to our Nov/Dec trip when I mentioned that I could get the All Stars for 172.00 for the 2 nights, I was told that they would rather sleep in the car than go back there.
If I had the 300.00 to splurge I would move to a moderate. This is just my families expeerience/opinion which is what was asked for.
Obviously some just love it there, it is just not for us.

Pam

 

[bali]

Wow, Pam, that sounds like a horrible experience! It just goes to show what first impressions can say about a place. But, regardless, I think I have to stick with the AS. It's the second trip this year, and is already mostly on credit...(I'm a full-time grad student who's only weakness is travel) So I need to just be glad that I'm going at all. But I will count it as a blessing that we only bring two duffel bags as luggage...

 

[caitycaity]

bali -- i'm starting a grad progarm in the fall and travel is also my weakness.

as far as renting dvc points, a good place to start would be here:

http://disboards.com/forumdisplay.php?forumid=7

 

[mat2672]

Hey Bali, you can go to the DVC board right here on this website. To make a long story short, alot of the DVC members will not be able to use their points and they arent able to save all of them for the next year, so they will rent them out to non-dvc members. Its very economical for most parts of the year. You can put in the dates you want in the points calculator and it will tell you how many points it will take to reserve the room for that time frame. You would then check out the renting/trading points discussion board on this website and you can post the dates you want along with the number of points you will need and any interested dvc owners will respond. Or, you may respond to one of their posts in which they are offering points to rent. If a dvc owner does respond to you, they will tell you the price per point(usually $10/point) and they will check to see of your dates are available at that hotel. If it all works out, you and the dvc owner will work out the payment details, etc. As an example of how economical it can be, My family will be renting points to stay at Boardwalk Villas for 6 nights in October. That came to 83 points needed for my dates. I rented from a DVC owner for $9/point which came to $747 for the trip. So Im paying $124.50/night to stay at the Boardwalk Villas this October. The DVC owner made the ressies for me, I have the confirmation from disney and its all set. I know Im probably missing some details, but check out the DVC section on this website as well as Mousesavers.com. They give a good overview of how the system works. Even if your not interested right now, it will at least show you a possible option for the future.

 

[normmo]

Hi - we stayed at ASmovies in May of 2001 and we'll never stay at an AS again. The pool was crowded, no sit down restaurant, rooms were noisy and the atmosphere was not relaxing. If you don't plan on being at the resort alot you'll probably be fine but it just wasn't the resort for us. The next year we stayed at AKL and absolutely loved it and I found it made a big difference in how much we enjoyed our trip. However, given a choice of AS or not going, I would go back but only if there was no alternative.