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All Star suite vs other resorts

Yvette Q.O.D.

Queen of Disney!
Joined
Aug 29, 1999
Hi, my family and I will be ariving at WDW 12-15-06 for 8 nights at the AS. We booked a suite because there are 5 of us. We've never stayed at the AS before.

My question is for anyone who has stayed in one of their suites. What are they like and how do they compare to some of the other resorts. We've stayed at Poly, BC, WL, BW, DL etc. We would love to get a 1 bedroom villa at BC or SS but with five it's out of the question. Any info on the AS suites will be appreciated. I'm not sure if the room is in the Music or Movie section (don't have resi. in front of me).

Thanks a bunch,
Yvette
45 days to go
:cheer2:
 
Yvette Q.O.D. said:
Hi, my family and I will be ariving at WDW 12-15-06 for 8 nights at the AS. We booked a suite because there are 5 of us. We've never stayed at the AS before.

My question is for anyone who has stayed in one of their suites. What are they like and how do they compare to some of the other resorts. We've stayed at Poly, BC, WL, BW, DL etc. We would love to get a 1 bedroom villa at BC or SS but with five it's out of the question. Any info on the AS suites will be appreciated. I'm not sure if the room is in the Music or Movie section (don't have resi. in front of me).

Thanks a bunch,
Yvette
45 days to go
:cheer2:

We stayed in a suite less than a month ago for our last night. The Suite's weren't bad. Everyone was able to sleep just fine: 2 in the main bedroom, 2 in the pullout couch and 2 in the individual pullout chair/cot thingies. Being there for an extended stay I would feel a smidge cramped (coming from a 1BR/2BR villa) and I thought the price we paid wasn't worth it.
Nice and new though! I can see those who have never stayed in a villa before loving it.
As for the resort, being the first time at a Value I thought it was very well done. Nice pool and the grounds were fine. Bus service was a little cramped. Would I do it again? Probably not. for the money I can almost get 2 rooms at a Moderate (which is what we'll try next time) with the AP discount.
 
Room size Comparison:

Pop Century/All Stars-260 Square Feet
CS, POR/POFQ-314 SF
Caribbean Beach-340 SF
Wilderness Lodge-344 SF
AKL-344 SF
Yacht/Beach-381 SF
Boardwalk-385 SF
Polynesian-409 SF
Contemporary-436 SF
Grand Floridian-about 400-440SF
Ft Wilderness Cabins-504 SF
Family suites at All Star Music -520 SF
__________________



Here is my review about the new Family Suites at All Star Music:

Dh and I stayed at new Family Suites at All Star Music September 21,2006.


We stayed in 0416 which is on the ground floor. Room 0418 which was next door was not a Suites so the Suites are not all grouped together.
The living area was the best. There was a small table with 2 blue modern looking chairs by the window area.

The chairs had a small amount of cushioning and curved backs and seemed more conformable (to me) than the old straight back chairs they had in the old All Star Music rooms. The table top was wood grain and there were silhouettes of Mickey all abound the edge in a darker wood color.

9-26-2006-02.jpg


The living room area is very roomy when the furniture is the closed position.

When you first enter the room you get a feeling that you can take time to relax and spread out in these rooms. The cramped feeling is not there. there is a sofa, chair and ottoman which fold out into beds. There are two small end tables and soft foot stool for the sofa.

06.jpg


The TV was a 27 inch flat screen and the cabinet had three drawers under the TV area. There were two shelves next to the TV and a cabinet door which opened to reveal 2 more shelves.

9-26-2006-36.jpg


I opened up the chair bed and it was very comfortable to lay down on. The back of the chair actually rests on the floor supporting the chair bed when it is folded out into the bed. It was pretty amazing the way they designed the pull out furniture!
The frame of the bed is metal so when I went to get of the chair bed I did feel the metal bars at the edge of the bed.

9-26-2006-12.jpg


9-26-2006-14.jpg


I tried to get the ottoman into the master bedroom area but I am sorry to say the ottoman is just too wide and will not fit through the door jam.

The sink and closet areas in the suites also have privacy curtains.
The sink areas have 2 shelf cubbies under them for storage and a Kleenex tissue area under them. There are wall mounted hair dryers with the built in amber night lights on the walls by the sinks.

9-26-2006-33.jpg


9-26-2006-31.jpg



Each dressing area has a privacy curtain, closet area, iron, ironing board and wall safe. The wall safes are the standard size which will hold a wallet a cell phone a small DVD player, a personal CD player, or a few CDs but it is not large enough for a lap top or anything that is more than a couple of inches wide.

9-26-2006-32.jpg


Remember the Suites have 2 bathrooms, 2 dressing areas with privacy curtains, 2 safes, 2 hairdryers, 2 closets, 2 TVs, 2 separate sleeping, areas and 2 TVs.

Here is the layout of the Suite:

ASMusic_FamSuite_layout.jpg


The kitchenette has a lot storage area also.
There was an ice bucket with 6 plastic cups on the countor and a coffeepot with 6 of the throw away foam hot cups.
There were 6 paper plates, 6 paper bowls, Paper towels and a silverware tray on an upper shelf.
The silverware container had 6 sets of plastic ware and a can opener in it.

13.jpg



The kitchenette has a nice size microwave, and the fridge is the larger under the counter dorm fridge. The fridge has small freezer on the top which was big enough to freeze my 3 small ice pacs for my meds. The area for the freezer is not very high. You might be able to put a couple of small water bottles in it to freeze them but a larger water bottle would not be able to fit in the freezer area.

9-24-2006-03.jpg


The Master room was nice size and it was nice to have a desk area with a mirror over it so it also sure as a make up area if one chose to it as such.
The TV cabinet had 3 nice size storage drawers. The easy chair next to the bed was nice addition. I enjoyed being able to sit there instead of using a table chair or bed to sit.

The queen size bed was conformable. The AC at newly refurbished has been updated to Cental air style instead of the old under the window style. It worked fine while we were there. Our room was very quiet.

18.jpg


15.jpg


The Master area had enough room for a twin size aero bed if you placed the bed with one end by the window and had it running between the desk and the foot of bed. (You would need to move the desk chair out of the way. )The aero bed would block the access of the Queen size bed from the far side, however. The bed was a Queen.

16.jpg


There were only a few things in our Suite that were different from those pictured on the DIS resorts homepage.

1) The headboard was smaller than the one pictured here taken from the DIS resorts homepage.

2) The tile on the kitchen floor and bathroom floor was tan and navy blue instead of the tan and white in the pictured room.

3) Ironing boards and iron were in each closet area.

Mousekeeping was great.

Mousekeeping left plenty of towels and we were pleasantly surprised by a pair of love bird towel animals when we returned to our room on evening midway through our stay!

The Calypso pool was never crowded even though the Fantasia pool at Movies was closed during the time we stayed Music.

We never waited more than 5-10 minutes for bus and only shared buses on the way back from some of the parks. Music always had its own bus back from MK.

Any questions? Just ask and I will try to answer them.
 
:artist:
Thanks for the replys. Minnie61650 great photos of the room they really help.

Thanks again.
Yvette
:cheer2:
 


Yvette Q.O.D. said:
:artist:
Thanks for the replys. Minnie61650 great photos of the room they really help.

Thanks again.
Yvette
:cheer2:

It was my pleasure. :)
Here are some other reviews that were posted.

abie said:
I thought I would add my list of questions in case someone stays before I do (July 22)

Is the bed in the master comfy?
Can you move around the racks in the fridge to hold a gallon or half gallon of milk?
Is there a freezer portion to the fridge? (Doesnt look like it from the pics)
Does the coffee pot take standard filters or the mini filters?
Jazz looks like it has 6 sections. Is the block of suites in a specific section, which one?

whetstone said:
master bed comfy = decent - not great/not terrible . . .
move racks in frig = yes
freezer portion = yes - very small
coffee pot = mini we think - Sunbeam 4-cup
block of suites = they seem to be all over and on all three floors

HTH . . .


Goofy22 said:
There is a post on the resorts board that says they haven't stayed at a value since I believe apprx 95-96 they said now they would have to stay there more often they also said it was very nice and spacious and they said that they requested a room on the 1st floor because of their baby going up and down would be ruff so the only problem being when they recieved their room number it was on the 3rd floor and they could not change it do to the fact that they were booked solid! and all the staff did for them was apologize for the inconvience!So basically the only complaint was the request not being honored!


Guess I should of just posted it in this thread, since its the FAQ thread So I'll just quote them here.
Originally Posted by whetstone
I'm posting this from the AS Music Family Suite. It's a nice layout. It's been quite a while since I stayed at the value resorts (like ~1995-96) but I might have to stay here more now. Nice space for the money. The only downside to our stay, is we requested a first floor room and got stuck up on the 3rd. The CM that checked us in said it would be 1st floor (have a 3 month old baby, first floor would of be nice). But since the room wasn't ready she couldn't give us the room #. When it was ready at ~3:30pm and I found out it was on the 3rd the other rooms were full. The CM I talked to claims the CM that checked me in noted it in the computer but forgot to actually switch us. Or something like that. All they did was say "sorry".

Looks like the calypso wing is currently being redone right now, one of the buildings are completely shut down and being worked on. Converting some of the rooms to Suites.



Originally Posted by whetstone
The pull out beds seem nice, our 11 year old son is sleeping on one right now. I looked around a bit today, the FS rooms seem to be all over the building. I've seen them on the 1st and 3rd floor (haven't looked at the 2nd floor). They put in quite a few of them it looks like.
whetstone said:
Guess I should of just posted it in this thread, since its the FAQ thread :) So I'll just quote them here.







This is our 1st and only night in the suite. We stayed 3 nights over at the Dolphin and thought we would check out the FS's. Didn't realize they were this new, till my wife just sat here and read the whole thread.

One thing I forgot to post in the other thread was about the A/C, not sure they got all the bugs worked out of it yet. Looks like they kept the 2 A/c units from the original 2 rooms. The master bedroom is a "smaller area" than the rest of the suite so you would think the a/c would overpower the smaller area. It isn't. I like it cold in a room when I sleep. We have both a/c's set at 65 and the Master Bedroom is reading 73.9 and the other room says 68. Tho I don't really feel a difference between the two. shrug.

The space, the setup etc is great overall tho.
minnie61650 said:
Thanks so much for the update.
We have been anxiously awaiting a review and yours is the first. :banana:
Thanks for taking time to give us your thoughts and to answer a few questions.

I have a question myself.
You said your son was sleeping on one of the pull outs.

When Mousekeeping makes up his "bed" do they leave it in the fold down position or do they fold it up again?
Just curious.
Also.......How easy is it to fold down and to fold up?
Thanks so much and have a wonderful time at Disney and at All Star Music! :wizard:
whetstone said:
The pull out bed was made up when I opened it. The pillows for it are in the closet. It was very easy to open and close. Unlike the normal pull out sofa's, you just pull the strap and it kinda just rolls out. When putting it back in, it takes a little force to start it but rolls right back into its self.

I just laid down on the pull out and it feels like a normal bed. No bar in the back feeling like a normal pull out. I'm 5' 11" 290# and it felt comfortable to me
.

Packclogger said:
Just returned Friday from a week long stay in the family suites and they were great. My family and I (DH, DB, DSIL and DNep) stayed in them. We were in room 2650 which was on the 3rd floor of Jazz building #2. I would ditto many of the comments that whetstone had previously posted, especially the air conditioning. My DH likes the room on the cold side and I don't think the temperature ever got down to the temp we had it set at. The resort was pretty crowded during the time we were there (lots of tour groups), but our room was in a good location where we didn't have a lot of noise (DNep took naps each day). The pull out sofa and chair were pretty comfortable to sleep on, but the ottoman was not as comfortable. Mousekeeping was great and we even got some towel animals (little dogs). I didn't really take any pictures of the room because it looked exactly like the pictures posted on this thread. If anyone has any questions, please feel free to post.

minnie61650 said:
I am happy you enjoyed the suites.
It is good to hear a review from another DIS member!
If the fold outs were down and mousekeeping came in and made up the beds did mousekeeping leave the foldouts in the down position or did they fold them up ?

When you opened the sofa foldout did you leave the soft coffeetable under the foldout or did you move it?
If you moved it where did you put it?

Do you think the AC is now on a motion sensor?
The All Stars did not have have motion sensors in the past so they stayed on even when guests were out of the room.

If they are on motion sensors then the bedroom would get hotter since there would be more movement in the other rooms. Just a thought.

Thanks for your answers and thoughts you have to add.

Packclogger said:
Minnie61650 - we always folded up the couch everyday as soon as we got up, because my DNep wanted to watch ToonDisney while everyone else was getting ready, so I am not sure whether or not Mousekeeping would fold them back up.

I don't think the soft coffee table would fit under the sofa bed, we just slid it over in front of the window, there was still plenty of room.

Not sure about the motion sensor with the A/C, have not actually heard of that before. After a while, it actually did seem like it cooled okay, but that was probably due to the fact when we returned, it was so hot and humid outside that it seemed really cool inside. :sunny:

minnie61650 said:
whetstone reported that he thought the bed was the same size as their bed at the Dolphin. The beds at the Dolphin are extra long doubles.

However,Disney has confirmed it is a Queen size bed in the suites. :thumbsup2

More websites describing the family suites and confirming the QUEEN size bed in the master area. :thumbsup2


http://www.wdwinfo.com/wdwinfo/resorts/asm-suite-review.html


www.mousesavers.com/allstarmusicsuites.html


http://www.wdwplanner.com/All Star Music.htm

http://www.intercot.com/resorts/disney/allstarmusic/default.asp

abie said:
I made a seperate post but I'll copy it here. I'll have pics in a couple of days after we sort through them all....



Me, DH, and DS11 just got back from 5 nights in the All Star Music Suites.

We were in 2436 in the Jazz building. The room was on one of the rows that shoot straight back toward the parking lot about 3/4 of the way down on the first floor. Basically you make a right at the drum set and head straight back.

The location was very quiet. I don't think we heard a single person the whole week. It was not far away from the pool or main area.

The room was perfect for us. DS slept in the living room area and DH and I slept in the bedroom.

DS had a lot of fun trying all the different beds in the living area. He proclaimed that the couch bed was great for at night but the chair bed was best for naps. He didn't like the footstool bed but said it would be good for a smaller kid.
The only complaint I have about the room is that the bathroom for the master bedroom area is on the other side of the kitchen. It would have been nicer for me if it was within the master bedroom area, or if there was a door to the kitchen area that could be closed. I had to be careful not to wake DS going to the bathroom at night, and no walking around nekkid between the bedroom and bathroom.

Mouskeeping did a great job all week. The resort was clean, everyone was very friendly.

We only used the food court for snacks but I did see people eating burgers and pizzas. They seemed to be enjoying them.

The bus service was excellent! I could not believe how easy it was. I was very concerned about this when I went but the longest wait we had for an all stars bus was 10 minutes. One night we left MK after wishes. There were a ton of people and I was worried we would have a long wait. Within 10 minutes 3 busses stopped. We were on the third bus and the line was empty after that.

Sharing with Sports was soooo not a big deal. It's right next door and added about 2 minutes to our trips on the way back. On the way to the parks we never had to get into a crowded bus, even though they had stopped at sports first.

We took a cab to Boma and hopped on the AK bus to Magic Kingdom. We did wait about 15-20 minutes there.

Having the extra space, a fridge, microwave, coffee maker, 2 tvs, these things made the trip so much nicer than being crammed in one room with 2 double beds. I would choose this over a moderate or delux if it's the 3 of us going again.[/QUOTE]

abie said:
Couple of other tidbits.

The Bed - i think it is a queen. It seemed bigger than the sofa bed in the living room that was a double. I didn't measure it but both me and DHs assessment was it was bigger.

Coffee Maker - The coffee Maker takes 4 inch basket filters. We took the cones instead and they worked fine. We didn't take enough, but we reused them (for 2 pots in the same morning) We checked the gift shop and they do not sell filters, so don't forget to take them.

maybees02 said:
The room was wonderful. We were on the 3rd floor of Jazz 2. Not too terribly far from the food court or bus stops, in my opinion, and smack dab between both pools. We had plenty of room, and the beds were all comfortable. Believe me, I slept in them all, with all the bed changing and sleepwalking my DS and DD were doing. We had great mousekeeping, with towel animals or a window display every single day but one! Everyone was helpful and nice. The pool was never terribly crowded. The food court was crowded if we were there at 9:00 a.m. which we only did once. Bus service was great - we never waited very long and the buses were never too crowded except on the EMH morning at MK that we braved. We never heard noises from other guests. All in all it was a wonderful stay. I will be posting restaurant and dining plan info and reviews, too, in a few days, after I do laundry!

You can find this info on the Family suites FAQ thread:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1072409&page=1&pp=15
 
We stayed 3 nights 10/26-10/29 in the new Family Suites. 2nd floor Bld 10 facing the pool. It was quiet! While the Family Suite wasn't as roomy as a 1 bedroom Old Key West Villa, it was a great option for the 5 of us, 2 adults, 2 older teens and a 6 year old. The kitchen area was very well planned, with room for lots of 'stuff'. The living room area was nice. We put the ottoman bed next to the wall between the 2 bathrooms and there was plenty of room for everyone to get around at night. The pullout couch was bowed where you would expect bars across your back (there were no bars), but it was comfortable enough for my teen daughter sleeping with her head at the end of the bed, feet toward the back of the couch. Her boyfriend slept in the pullout chair and my husband could see it from our bed so that worked out fine! We stayed at the resort during the day, sleeping late and/or going to the pool and went to the parks late in the afternoon. The food court in the morning was ok if 2 people went to different stations, or everyone got the same breakfast. We brought it back to the room each day, so some of us got 'room service'! Lunch around 2pm at the food court was not that great. There wasn't much cold food selection and hot food took a long time... 50 minutes 1 day for burgers and chicken fingers..the kids called to see what we were doing! Bus service was excellent, we were lucky and had no waits longer than 5 minutes (we left the parks about 1/2 hour before closing). I did miss a hot tub, but the Calypso pool has a nice tropical feel and was not at all crowded while we were there. We had our choice of tables and lounge chairs. Overall we liked it much better than 2 value rooms. I would probably choose 2 moderate rooms for a christmas trip that started in value season tho, for the hot tub and more elaborate decorations! But the really nice features of the Family Suites would make it a hard choice! :cloud9:
 
does anybody have any pictures of the all star music lobby and arcade food court gift shop etc. that they would be willing to share


thanks :teeth:
 



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