We are going in Feb 2009. Wanting to stay at CSR.
But now I'm thinking I could save huge $$$ if we stayed at All Star Movies.
We are going for 10 nights.

Any comments on the resort for 10 nights? My hubby is a little nervous about it. He has a coworker who stayed for a week and didn't really care for it, said it was a glorified motel 6!

We were just there 9/2/07 to 9/8/07. We LOVED it. The room was not huge but roomy enough for the 4 of us. We ate meals at off times but never had to wait long and I never saw the food court full. The ice cream shop was great and we ate several snacks there.

We stayed in the Woody building which was fairly close to the main building and busses. The pool was fun but we did not use it to much. We had no trouble finding chairs when we did.

The one bus shared by the all stars was an issue once or twice. When it was a crowded time, open, close they seemed to run individual busses. We did not always stop at all the resorts.

We loved it. I have stayed at CBR before and do like it better but for the money saved and for what was trying to be a quick and low budget trip we had a blast and no complaints. My 8 year old son and 11 year old daughter loved the theming and we walked around one day taking pictures of the different large items.

Hello! Well, exactly one year ago, DH and I, our 4 YOUNG kiddos, and my parents stayed at Movies for 9 days. We loved it - largely because of how much money it saved us, which we could in turn spend on other parts of the trip.

We had two rooms next to each other and the rooms were crowded, but we had a TON of stuff! My kids were 6, 4, 2, and turning 1, so we had a pack-n-play, one regular stroller, an umbrella stroller, refrigerator, etc etc. However, it was virtually not an issue that the space was pretty cramped because we were never in our room! We left early and got back late from the parks each day, and we were only able to squeeze in 20 mins at the pool before DME took us back to the airport! The CS was good, especially because it was always off times when we ate there. I liked there gift shop, mousekeeping was great, and we stayed in the Fantasia building so it was very convenient to the CS, buses, etc.

I would say the main thing to think about is how often will you be at the hotel. At other vacation spots, I only like to stay in nice and very spacious rooms, but considering that you may not be in the room much and how much money you will save, I think Movies is a great choice. My kids loved the theming too. Oh - and bus service was fine when we were there - no better or worse than any of the moderate lines at any of the parks. Good luck deciding!

Hello! Well, exactly one year ago, DH and I, our 4 YOUNG kiddos, and my parents stayed at Movies for 9 days. We loved it - largely because of how much money it saved us, which we could in turn spend on other parts of the trip.

We had two rooms next to each other and the rooms were crowded, but we had a TON of stuff! My kids were 6, 4, 2, and turning 1, so we had a pack-n-play, one regular stroller, an umbrella stroller, refrigerator, etc etc. However, it was virtually not an issue that the space was pretty cramped because we were never in our room! We left early and got back late from the parks each day, and we were only able to squeeze in 20 mins at the pool before DME took us back to the airport! The CS was good, especially because it was always off times when we ate there. I liked there gift shop, mousekeeping was great, and we stayed in the Fantasia building so it was very convenient to the CS, buses, etc.

I would say the main thing to think about is how often will you be at the hotel. At other vacation spots, I only like to stay in nice and very spacious rooms, but considering that you may not be in the room much and how much money you will save, I think Movies is a great choice. My kids loved the theming too. Oh - and bus service was fine when we were there - no better or worse than any of the moderate lines at any of the parks. Good luck deciding!

I Think we are winning Hubby over. After seeing your post with 4 kids and all.
Its only Hubby, Me, and our will be then 7 yr old daughter.

Is there a reason why you're focusing on Movies, and not say, Pop Century, for a Value resort? Just something else to consider.

Is there a reason why you're focusing on Movies, and not say, Pop Century, for a Value resort? Just something else to consider.

POP: May be nice, and newer. But, we just don't care for the theme.

Music: Seems like it could be noiser than the rest of them. Is that true?
I picture loud music everywhere.

Sports: By trade, I am a sports book administrator. I really don't want to look at it on my vacation. :rolleyes: God forbid if I was put in a football building. This vacation is comming right after Superbowl.

Movies: We all like Movies!! and the Fantasia Pool looks cute! Toy Story building is so cute!

I had a feeling that you had considered others - I'm not sure about the music being louder in music (I stayed there once, before movies was built, so my info is way too old - not to mention my memory!). But other than that, your reasonings seemed to be good ones for you!

Sometimes one All-Star resort will fill up before others, or not have the 'deals' available that others do when codes come out - so make sure you leave yourself some flexibility to save money, if it comes to that!

While the Pop theme may not overly appeal to you, I have to say that the feel of the Pop Century is MUCH nicer than the All Stars. It's the newest value resort, and I think Disney improved their value standard quite a bit. There's better landscaping, and I even think the rooms are nicer. I stayed at All Star Sports one time, and I agree that it felt like a glorified Motel 6. The Pop had much more of a moderate feel to it. It's the only one of the value resorts I'd consider staying at when budget is an issue (as it is way more than I'd like!).

Next time we get to go I am planning to try Pop Century. However, we have stayed at Sports and Movies, and of the two, Movies was my favorite. The pool was never really crowded, and we were there in mid June. The food court wasn't crowded during off times. I will say that after 7 days we felt a little cramped. That was mainly because we had a couple rainy days.

Have a great trip!

He has a coworker who stayed for a week and didn't really care for it, said it was a glorified motel 6!

That couldn't be further from the truth! We have stayed at number of different WDW Resorts ranging from the Wilderness Lodge and Polynesian all the way down to POP Century and the All Stars. We LOVE ASMo! Both of our boys consider it "home"! To call ASMo a "glorified motel 6" is a huge injustice IMHO!

Stay at Pop Century; you won't be sorry. It has excellent themeing, is clean, well run and so much fun; if we stay at a value next time, it will be a no-brainer for us: Pop Century.

Okay, here's some more input from me. We (being just DH and I this time) just got back from 5-nights at Old Key West. We were not impressed. For the LARGE increase in cost per night (compared to value and moderate resorts), we expected a lot more. The rooms are said to be so large, but they really didn't seem much larger than ASMo, just laid out differently. The bathroom was about three times larger though - that was nice! It did have a more "tropical" feel, which was fun, but for us, when we are at Disney, we want to be AT Disney. KWIM? I guess we feel that when you pay the price for a Disney vacation, you should be spending your time in the parks, and when you are at your hotel, it's nice to still see Disney stuff around you. Otherwise you may as well stay off-site. We don't utilize the pools much at all or do other "resort things" we would normally do at a different vacation location. We want to be in the parks. So to us, we really missed ASMo.

We also hopped a bus over to Pop Century, as I was planning on booking that for our next trip with the kids based on such great review, etc. I did NOT like Pop and I am so happy we went to look at it! It is bright and colourful, but my kids (and us!) loved the movie theming at ASMo. You just can't beat being surronded by Toy Story and Fantasia stuff if you want that constant Disney feeling. We will definitely book our next family trip back at ASMo and will probably always call that resort "home"!

As far as the buses go, we still had two LONG waits for a bus for Old Key West, but the other times they were only half full. That is one thing that was nicer than ASMo, as their buses are always full! Also, the location of Old Key West was nice, as it is close to Downtown, Epcot, and MGM. ASMo is farther out from the parks. However, if you go into your trip with the right attitude and know that waiting for buses is part of the deal of staying onsite without a car, you'll be fine. I still much prefer not dealing with a rental car and take the bus delays with a grain of salt. When you're at Disney, you're surronded by magic - don't let a bus burst your bubble! :p

I need to change my Sig. All Star Movies is the winner for 10 nights.
I'm just gonna make sure we get the perferred room.

Paying a little extra for the preferred room is worth it. We were in the Fantasia building. It was easy to get to the pool and main building (which came in handy when we had a rainy day.)

Just watch out for the bugs flying around the lights inside the big hat!! They scared my son to death and caused him to fall as we were carrying our luggage out on the last day. Big scrape on his little elbow!

I Figured 10 nights. We will be walking enough. So lets get a good room.
How is the weather in February anyway?

We are not used to humidity living here in the desert, Las Vegas. So, when we visited in April thinking it would be perfect, we were so miserable! 75 to 80 degrees with 70% humidity. Sticky, Sticky, Sticky!!! YUCK!

We have stayed at Movies in 2000 and we stayed at POP Century in Feb 2007, paid for the preferred location, this is totally worth the extra cost, closer to the busses and the food court area. The other consideration is bussing, POP gets its own bus where the Sports, Music and Movies share busses so if you stay at the Movies you may be waiting for extra busses to arrive, if you stay at the sports you are the first on and first off.

We stayed at All Star Movies last year and we liked it. We did not want to pay extra for the buildings closer to the pool and food because they were noisier. We stayed in the Love Bug building and it was great and nice and quiet!! The Fantasia pool is fun but thought the food choices in the food court were a bit lacking. The rooms were nice but very small but if you only have one child that is probably perfect. :) Plus it saves you money so that is always a bonus!

I've stayed at Movies twice. The first time was a couple of years ago and I loved it. The theming was great, the rooms were clean. I didn't feel like we were staying in a value resort.

I also stayed at Movies this August. Let me begin with the high points... There were 3 adults and 2 kids, so we had adjoining rooms. Because my mother has Parkinsons, we requested a preferred location so that the walk to/from the busses and food court would be as easy as possible for her. Our request was granted and we were given a room in one of the Toy Story buildings. The location was great.

Check-in went smoothly. The CMs at the desk and at the food court were courteous and helpful. The theming is fun and the place looks really cool at night when all the over-size icons are lit up.

Now for the low points... our room (and the resort in general) just wasn't as clean as it was the first time we stayed there. There was a nasty stain on the bathroom door, scuffed walls, etc. The wait times for the bus were horrible. Sometimes we couldn't find a table in the food court. It was crowded. The pool was full of dead insects and the water felt slimy and looked really cloudy. Let me put it this way--it felt like we were staying at a value resort.

In 2006, we stayed in one of the newly renovated family suits at Music and I can honestly say I preferred Music over Movies! I never thought I'd say that because I love the theming of Movies.

Conclusion--I don't think we'll stay at Movies unless they do some renovations to tidy up the rooms. Also, the time of year seemed to make a difference in the crowds at the resort. In 2005 during November, Movies was great. In 2007 during August, Movies was not-so-hot.