Which All Star resort

[Britt7]

We are planning our second trip to WDW for late Jan. early Feb. We went last Jan and stayed at Pop. While we loved Pop - we would like to try out other resorts. Still want to stay at a Value since they appear to be more kid oriented. More Disney-ish. Our DD3 really loves the decor. Any thoughts on which All star to try first. I was thinking Movies, but heard it is the oldest - has not been refurbished like other too. Does this really make a difference, Which would our DD3 get a kick out of more, Which is less crowded, etc

 

[MickeyNicki]

We stayed at the Music and had a great time..it was the week before Thanksgiving so the resort was very quiet. Awesome food court and very clean rooms. The buses are the only PITA....they take forever and they are always full because they stopped at the Movies and Sports.

 

[minnie61650]

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.

I have never had the unfortunate experience of running into the any of the large
groups of teens who sometimes stay at the values on school trips.
As long as you can avoid those large groups I do not think Noise will be an issue.

*HINT if you close your bathroom door at night you might not even hear the turbo toilets.
I close my bathroom door and I don't hear them.
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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!

 

[milw217]

Music is the only on-site resort I've stayed at and that was about 5 years ago. I thought the resort was great, like the last post said, very clean rooms and they're a pretty decent size for the price. I didn't find the buses to be too much of a problem if you get on them early in the morning and spend most of the day at the park. However, it does take quite awhile to get off of it at night because of the stops at the other two resorts. Hope that helps a little, have fun!

 

[veraletta]

All Star Music, it’s the one we mostly stay at. I just like the resort, plus where it's location is at seems to be easy in and easy out. I get lost trying to find my way out of Pop.

 

[Amy&Dan]

We just had six fabulous nights at All Star Music. The afternnon pool games, nighttime poolside movies, refurbished rooms and the beautiful landscaping all make it my favorite value. I can't say enough good things about it! I have stayed at all the values and really enjoy all of them, but Music is by far my favorite. Good luck and have fun with your planning!

 

[Alicnwondrln]

If I wasnt staying at Pop I would try all star movies

 

[Tink888]

We are planning our second trip to WDW for late Jan. early Feb. We went last Jan and stayed at Pop. While we loved Pop - we would like to try out other resorts. Still want to stay at a Value since they appear to be more kid oriented. More Disney-ish. Our DD3 really loves the decor. Any thoughts on which All star to try first. I was thinking Movies, but heard it is the oldest - has not been refurbished like other too. Does this really make a difference, Which would our DD3 get a kick out of more, Which is less crowded, etc

We've been to ASMovies and AS-Sports and liked them both. Most recent was Movies in Aug. 06. Even though it's the oldest, everything was still very nice. I would probably pick Movies, your daughter will like the icons from all of the Disney movies. I also liked the Fantasia pool. Have a great trip.

 

[esdras]

We were also at Movies in '06 (Sept.) and didn't really see signs of age. Even without full refurbs of the rooms - Disney generally does a pretty good job of keeping things clean and in good repair. Also, since you'll be there in EARLY December, which is a little slower before the Christmas rush, I don't think that any of the All-Stars would be filled to capacity - if your room is not up to standard - you could probably get another without a problem.

Unless you want to try the Family Suites (probably not the case with a family of 3 - but you never know), I would suggest going online to get as many pics of all 3 of the All-Stars - including the big stairway icons, and the theme of each section. Show them to your daughter and ask which area she likes best. Also get pics of the pools and the statues near them - for example, there is an Ariel statue near the Piano Pool at ASMu. If the grownups don't have a major preference, think of how special it will be if your daughter gets to think that she chose which resort the family stayed at for the Disney trip.

Good luck!

 

[Eeyore's My Favorite]

ASMu gets a big thumbs up from us. DH & I stayed there in January for 3 days and absolutely loved it. The rooms have been refurbished and were so nice and updated it was great. The curtain between the sinks & the sleeping area were also a big plus. Our standard room was much nicer and much closer to everything (it was in the Jazz building) than the preferred room we stayed at in September @ POP. The food court and shopping were also alot nicer and better than POP. The bus transportation was fantastic - we only shared 1x with the other allstar resorts & that was to AK. The other times we had our own bus. I liked the fact that the size of ASMu was much smaller than POP and therefore alot quieter. The activities around the pool were also a big plus. Can't wait to go back........................