In the past, my parents have always stayed at the Contemporary, Polynesian, or most recently, the Grand Floridian. This past spring, it was just my mother coming down, and I made her a reservation for AK Lodge, thinking she'd love the animals. Of course, she immedietly changed it to All Star Music, saying that she didn't want to spend all that money for just herself. I was kind of worried that she wouldn't like the All Stars, but she actually loved it. Everyone says the room sizes are small... but I didn't find any problems with them. Unless you're planning on ballroom dancing in the room, they're fine.
In all honesty, the theming isn't for everyone. Personally, I like it... it's very fun, and whimsical. Disney has always been a Family environment... and kids really love the All Stars. Just imagine the eyes on a little boy, as he comes home to Buzz Lightyear... My mother walked all around the complex, and to the other themes, taking pictures of all the buildings to show everyone at home.
Because it's a Value resort, it's reasonable to assume that you won't recieve the level of amenities that you would at Moderate, or Deluxe resorts. But you will still receive the Disney level of service. As long as you plan for the amenities, you'll be fine. One thing that I didn't realize, is that they only have limited Bell Services...
Everyone always assumes that the All-Stars are soooooooo far away, and that they'll be stuck on a bus for hours getting to places. It's completely not the case. It's actually the MK area that is far from everything else. 75% of Disney is based off of Buena Vista Drive, which is the road that the All Stars is on. Busses run more frequently to the All Stars than any other location. Disney always says that busses will run every 20 minutes, but in actuality, it's more like every 7-11 minutes.
Animal Kingdom is about 5 minutes away, both Epcot and the Studios are about 8 minutes away, and the MK is about 12 minutes away. As for Downtown Disney... it all depends on traffic, but it's about a 15 minute journey on average.
Magic Kingdom busses typically will run seperate busses for each All Star. Epcot will run separate busses during the park exit, but will run combined busses during the daytime. When busses are combined, they will run alternate between Sports, Music, Movies.... or Movies, Music, Sports. In addition, Downtown Disney also has a Music, Movies, Sports route. By alternating the order, it allows fairness to all of the ASR's.
When my mother was staying at the All Stars, I obviously had my car, but we relied on Disney Transport to take us to and from the parks. The most we ever had to wait was 9 minutes for the Epcot bus. (Of course, in the heat, it felt like 20... but according to my watch, it was only 9... and yes, I timed it...
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The busses were crowded in the mornings (8-10), and during the park exit. As long as you expect this, and realize you're not the only one who has the same idea, you'll be fine. We happened to luck out, and never had to stand, except for when I would offer my seat to someone. Even still, it was nice to have someone else drive, for a change. And of course, the bus was nice and cool... a far cry from my car after sitting in the sun. (Black leather, florida sun, what was I thinking?)