13 Reasons Why you Should Stay at a Disney’s All-Star Resort
We stayed at
the Disney’s All-Star Music Resort on our recent trip to Walt Disney World.
People often ask what the Disney All-Star Resorts are like and this post hopes
to address these questions. There are three Resorts – All Stars Music, Movies
and Sports. They are a budget (also known as ‘Value’) hotels. However they were
perfectly acceptable hotels – the service was impeccable and they were clean. Below
are 13 reasons why I think you should consider staying at the Disney’s All-Star
Music Resort.
1. Its
relatively cheap. For us, it averaged $120-130 USD per night (April, post
Spring break). It was clean, the service from all the staff was
exceptional from checking in, to the cleaners. All-Star Movies tends to cost
more for accommodation then Music. Sports seems to be the cheapest out of the
All Stars Hotels to stay at. Yes, you could get cheaper at a Non-Disney hotel –
but you don’t get all the Disney perks that are free when you stay at a Disney
resort. The perks are listed throughout this post.
2. Everyone
is so friendly. The other guests at the
All Stars resort were all super friendly - all were Disney fans - so it was a
lot of fun swapping stories of rides, Disney tips and more whilst in line or in
the pool. I felt like the whole Disney Resort was a bit like a village with
lots of families. It was quiet too. We went after Spring break which is
traditionally when all the school competitions start. There was also a Star
Wars marathon on too. We were never bothered by any of these extra-curricular
group activities – although it’s entirely possible they were housed in a
completely different building from us.
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| We stayed on the 2nd floor on the right hand side. |
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| Disney's All-Star Music Resort - was actually very quiet. This shot was taken about 9am |
3. All Stars
Music has the best pools! Even the resort pools were heated so there wasn’t
even that ‘argh its cold’ feeling hopping in the pool! Disney thought of
everything! The best pool was the smaller ‘Piano pool’. With the Palm trees as
a backdrop it felt like it was a 5 star
hotel.
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| The Pools were wonderful. I preferred the Piano Pool (this one) |
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| This was the main pool. They had kid activities here everyday too as it was bigger. |
4. As it’s a
Disney hotel, transport to and from the Airport is free at WDW resort hotels
via the ‘Magical Express’ bus. This saves you approximately $70 USD each way in
a taxi. It was very convenient and the service was faultless – it really ran
like clockwork. I think we waited around for about 20 minutes!
5. You get a
free magic band when you check into your hotel which is linked to your theme
park tickets and Fastpasses. The Magic bands have multiple uses like opening
your hotel room door, buying food and souvenirs with. The Magic bands are also
connected to PhotoPass and automatically take video of you on rides in the
parks and photos from cast members. They are also engraved on the back with
your name which is a really nice touch.
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| Our free Magic Bands |
6. You can
use the free Disney buses that took us to and from all the theme parks. They
were extremely regular – every 20 minutes with organised rope lines and
signage- including real-times. The buses were clean and if you had a disability
there were access ramps on all the buses and helpful staff. Some bus drivers
provided commentary which was quite funny -which added to the trip.
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| The Free Disney Shuttle Buses - ran all the time and were really good |
A trip to
the parks would take less than half an hour and often was much shorter. Animal
Kingdom took about 10 minutes to get to. Magic Kingdom was the furthest away.
Some people
asked whether buses were shared with the other All Star Resorts. In April 2018,
after Spring break (some would say a quieter time), I can report that All Stars
had their own bus. As an aside – the All Stars Sports hotel was so close we
often just caught that bus back to our hotel and walked to Music. It wasn’t
really that far to walk from Sports to Music. Free, regular transport to the
Parks made our lives very easy travelling to the parks. The bus would stop a
short distance from the entrance. I did notice that people who drove cars and
parked at the Parks– sometimes had to catch a trolley-tram to take them from
one end of the carpark to the Park entrance. In contrast, the Disney busses
were way more convenient and drop you practically at the door of the Parks!
Off-site
hotels generally have 2 transfers to the park in the morning, and 1 transfer
back – and are not always at good times - like a 6pm return time (only) back to
your hotel! It was important for us to have bus transfer flexibility with
times, so we highly recommend staying on site at a Disney Resort because of
this. Some people staying off- site would just use UBER - but this would also
add to your daily cost of visiting the parks.
7. The All-Stars
Music hotel was also a pickup hotel base for ‘Take Tours/Grayline’ all day bus
trips to Miami and Kennedy Space Centre (both trips I
highly recommend). This was an added plus in staying at this hotel over the
other two All Star Hotels. Also, there weren’t many other Disney hotels that the
Take Tours company picked up from – but you could pay extra to divert the bus
to pick you up at another hotel. As our pick up time for Miami was 6:45am, we
were happy to be picked up at our hotel (and dropped off later that night). All
very convenient for us staying at the All-Stars Music.
8. It was
very easy to get to the Outlets and Universal Studios. For transport to The
Vineland Premium Outlet shopping mall and Universal Studios we used Lyft
to get there and back. The cost to Universal Studios one way from the resort
was $17 USD– which I thought was a bargain as we were driven straight to the
entrance and didn’t have any costs like car hire, parking fees, petrol etc.
With Lyft and Uber,
you do need Wi-Fi. I set up both apps on my phone in Australia before we left.
At the shopping Outlets, we used the Starbucks Wi-Fi to book a lift back
to our hotel. Lyft and Uber
quote the price when you book so you know how much you are paying. The app also
lets you know whom your driver is, car model and driver rating. We waited no
more than 10 minutes for all Lyft transport.
9. The food
was great – well priced and had a variety of food options. Although you do pay
more for healthy fruit options such as a fruit cup costing $6 USD. All Stars
Movies tends to have greater food choice (including a make your own salad bar),
but really there was enough choice at All Stars Music for us to eat there. We
only ventured to All Stars Movies for food once. The All-resorts also have
bottomless refills of drinks for around $20 USD. Some people thought that this
was a bargain as they were very popular. The menu’s are all on the
MyDisneyExperience App so you can compare food choices and prices before you go.
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| The bottomless drink refills |
10. There is
very specific Disney themed merchandise for each All Stars Resort. Movies had
Disney movie memorabilia. Music had Music collectables such as records and LP’s.
Sports had Sports themed memorabilia
like Pins with Mickey playing different sports/soccer teams. I did not find the
same gear in the Disney Parks or Disney Springs. The merchandise wasn’t shared
between the All-Star shops either!
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| "Its a Small World" LP record |
11. FastPass
bookings can be made 60 days in advance of your Hotel check in date (another
perk staying at a Disney resort). We managed to get the coveted Fastpasses
really easy – including Flight of Passage and 7 Dwarfs Mine train. The
MyDisneyExperience App automatically counts down the days for you – at Day 60
you go in and book your FastPasses. All in one go for your holiday. So if you
are staying 10 days at Walt Disney World – you can really get FastPasses for
rides 70 days before you go! For those staying at Off Site Hotels you can only
book FastPasses 30 days in advance, day by day. You will want this FastPass
perk. Flight of Passage standby queues can be 2-3 hours long. The 7 Dwarfs Mine
train Standby line is anywhere from 60-90 minutes and Peter Pan seemed to
always have a 60 minute wait.
12 Also,
another perk of staying on site - if you buy something at WDW, it can be
delivered directly to your WDW Resort hotel at no extra charge to you. You
don’t need to carry around the park your new Disney handbag. It is best to not do the automatic delivery
however though if this is your last day of your vacation as it may take a while
to get to your room.
13. If you
stay on site at a Disney Resort - you are also entitled to get early entry into
one of the parks with ‘Extra Magic Hours’. The parks and the hours vary so
please check your Disney Resort which park offers early entry and on which day.
Disadvantages?
We did find it a bit weird not having a kettle in our resort room. But we did
have a 24 hour fridge (not all U.S hotels have one! In fact our Las Vegas hotel
‘The Luxor’ had only an ice bucket – in 2015!). Anyways, I do recommend you
bring a ‘coffee keep cup’ from home and fill up with hot water at the café. Hot
water (as is cold water) is free. Bring your own coffee and teabags from home
and your set. The Maestro Mickey's Gift shop at the Disney All Stars Music
hotel had 2 Litre Milk that was very cheap for sale there (don’t buy your milk
at the Intermission Food court/café as the milk is smaller and costs a lot more
to purchase).
Overall, we
found the Disney All-Stars Music Resort to be great value. If money is tight –
stay here and save your money for more souvenirs from the Parks!
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| Disney's All Stars Movies Resort - all themed around Disney Movies |
I hope you
enjoyed reading about why you should consider staying at the Disney All Star
Music Resorts. Florida was also nice and warm which is also a winner for a
family holiday - especially as we all enjoy ‘pool time’. If you would like to
comment please do so in Comments as I would love to hear about your
experiences.
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Until next
week,
KJ
KJ
I am also on
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