Review of All Star Music Resort

As most of you know, we took a trip to the World over Spring Break. Man, was it crowded! I didn't realize how spoiled we were with crowds over fall break in October! However, with a little planning (and the blessing of not having to rush to see everything since we were just there in October), we survived, and of course had a great trip.

As I have posted in the past, we almost always stay at Value resorts on our trips as we like to stay as long as possible. We would rather stay cheap, and stay longer. So, that is where we usually stay. Up until now, I have been a big fan of Values. We usually spend most of our days at the parks, and are usually only at the resorts for breakfast, late night swimming, and sleeping. With our family of three, room size isn't a true factor when deciding where to stay. Therefore, we are perfect candidates for Value resorts. After this past stay at All Star Music though, that may have all changed. Below I will try to outline a few of the issues that we had. Now, not all of them are huge issues, but when you combine them all together I can confidently say that I will never willingly stay at Music again. That statement actually makes me very sad as until this trip I had very fond memories of this resort. This is the resort we stayed at during our daughter's first trip to Disney World. Therefore, I was very excited about taking her back this time and re-experiencing everything with her again (six and a half years later). I only wish that the experience would have been as great as I had built it up to be in my mind!

Our first minor issue occurred with check in. Let me first say that the check in process was great! I am used to staying at Pop Century which is always super busy. The lines can get long during peak check in times, and the only times I have had a fast check in there is when we check in early in the morning. When we got to Music around 1:00 pm, I walked right up and requested my packet. Since I had done online check in a few days before our trip, our packet was all ready to go, and our room was even available (I was shocked)! So, we get in the car and we head to our room. We looked at the map and headed towards what we thought was our room. However, we got turned around as the map wasn't super clear and there are a few different ways to go when you leave Melody Hall (the main building). Since all three All Star Resorts are together (and all look very similar), it is easy to get confused. Alas, we got back on track and headed to our room....which was way in the back of the resort. Which is part of my first issue. When you do online check in, you can select a few options as room requests. These are not guaranteed to be granted, but in the past we have always had at least one of the two requests granted. I had selected ground floor and near the main building. We had a second floor room almost as far away from the main building as possible. However, we were in the Broadway section which was a very cool themed area and our room was on the end so I quickly reminded myself that the requests aren't guaranteed so it wasn't a big deal. At least we were in the building next to the piano pool (not the main pool, but this one is usually quieter). So, I was happy. Then we looked at the pool....there were construction walls around it and the water was drained. Wish I would have known that when I booked the room, or at least been told that at check in. That meant that every person in the hotel would be using the one main pool. Not too happy at this point, but again, told myself it wasn't a big deal. I didn't go to Disney to swim, I went to enjoy the parks. Again, reminded myself it wasn't worth being upset over.

Then we went into the room and started to put our stuff on the bed. I looked at one of the beds and thought it had a dip in the mattress, but figured it was just because maybe my daughter must have set a bag in that spot, then moved it. Truthfully, I forgot all about it until later that night when we settled into bed. I could actually feel the dip. It was very awkward, and hard to comfortably sleep around. Luckily, the next night I had the bed to myself so I was able to sleep on the other side of the mattress. So again, not too big a deal for most nights of the trip. It was an issue that could be worked around.

The next night, we headed back to the hotel to clean up before going off property for dinner. As we were walking to our car we were surrounded by a massive throng of kids heading to the parking lot. I am not exaggerating the massive size of the group. There were so many of them that they filled five (maybe more) tour buses. Normally this wouldn't be a big deal, but we were stuck in the parking lot for several minutes while they all crossed the roads and loaded the buses, a few of which were parked in the road. Once we finally started moving, we hit another huge group who were just standing in the middle of the road. Ummmm....hello! The worst part is that there were adults in the group who just looked at us. Finally, we got past them and headed to dinner. All was forgotten....until they returned late that night. Around 11:00 that night some of these same kids were running around the building across from us, knocking on doors, and screaming and laughing. This went on for about 15 minutes. Now, I know that this is not the resorts fault. This solely lies on the adults who were supposedly supervising these kids. However, it was very inconvenient for us and the noise was truly unacceptable in my mind. I didn't like the fact that several days while we were there we saw large groups of teenagers checking in. I know that they have to stay somewhere, but I just wish I had known this before checking in. I would have stayed somewhere else.

Our final straw for this resort happened one morning while we were brushing our teeth. My daughter and I were both brushing at the same time so about two or three iches water was standing in the sink (the sink had been draining slow and appeared clogged all week, but it wasn't anything too bad for us to complain). Although it was gross for me to see with my poor gag reflex, it wasn't too bad....until the hair dryer fell into that water! I had been having issues putting the hair dryer back into the holder in the wall all week long, but again never thought much of it. It seemed to just be a little loose and no big deal. Then, out of nowhere while we were brushing our teeth it fell into the sink. My eight year old daughter reflexively grabbed the hair dryer out of the sink....while it was still plugged in! Remember, there were a few inches of water in that sink. That could have been really really ugly. She could have been electrocuted. Poor thing thought she had done something wrong when I screamed no! She just didn't realize what had happened, or more importantly what could have happened. That was my final straw.

That afternoon I stopped by the main desk and asked to talk to a manager. The employee I talked to was super friendly and went straight to the manager at the other end to tell him I needed to talk to him. He looked at me, then proceeded to finish what he was doing on the laptop in his arms (I am fine with that). Once he was ready, he walked to where I was standing, still continuing to hold his laptop in his arms. He was nice enough and asked how he could help me. I was very calm and nice and just simply listed all of the issues I had been experiencing with the room that week. I started with the pool being closed, included info on the visibly sagging mattress, talked about the horrible noise of the teens near us, and ended with the hair dryer in the sink experience. The only part that got his attention was when I blatantly said it was a safety hazard and my eight year old could have been electrocuted. He asked my room number and told me he would have the mattress, sink, and hairdryer issues addressed with housekeeping. I am sure that he apologized, but it definitely wasn't overwhelmingly heartfelt or memorable. I didn't expect anything from him, and wouldn't even have said anything had it not been for the hairdryer incident. I didn't want any child (or adult) to face being electrocuted in the future. I just wish he would have been a little more convincing in his apology, or at the least, he would have put his laptop down and acted like he cared about what I had to say. I know he was probably busy, but still we are talking about basic customer service! However, by the time we had returned to our room there was a new drain in our sink. The hairdryer was still loose though, and the mattress still sagging. Although I didn't expect the mattress to be replaced, I had hoped for a new hairdryer. I can only hope that those issues were corrected before the next guess checked in.

One final thing I must mention is that if you are relying solely on buses to get you to and from the resorts, you may want to rethink any of the All Star resorts. In the mornings and at night, they all seem to have their own buses. However, during the day they share buses. The bus will first stop at All Star Sports, then continue to Music, and finally stop at Movies. As you can imagine, that can take a while in the afternoon if you are trying to get to a park. Sometimes, the bus fills up at the first stop or two, and therefore never makes it to Music, or Movies. Also, coming back to the resort can take a while if you are the last stop. There is also a lot of shuffling of people around the bus at each stop as people make room for those trying to get on or off the bus. One of the days we were there we were leaving Magic Kingdom in the late afternoon to head back to the hotel. At Magic Kingdom, each resort does have their own stop coming or going and luckily doesn't have to stop at each resort. Apparently, even during peak season, they only run one bus a day though which can take a while to make its loop. So, we waited about 40 minutes for a bus to head back to the resort. Had we known it would be that long, we would have hopped on the bus that had arrived 30 minutes earlier for All Star Sports and walked to our resort. If you are staying at All Star Resorts I strongly suggest driving to and from the parks (except Magic Kingdom as this one is about the same even with the long waits since you have to take the monorail or ferry over anyway from the parking lot). If you won't have access to your own car, stay at Sports as it is the first stop on the loop. You will definitely get a seat when you are headed to the parks, and you won't feel like cattle when you return to the resort as you are shuffled around the bus as people get on and off!

So, those are all my reasons for not wanting to ever stay at All Star Music again. I have stayed at All Star Music, All Star Movies, and Pop Century and hands down I stand behind an earlier belief that Pop Century is the best Value resort. However, as much as I hate to think about it, we are staying at All Star Sports in October as that is the only one we have not stayed at. After this past trip I am definitely not looking forward to it, but my daughter has convinced me to give it a try. I think she is tired of Pop Century and wants to try something new. Our only other option for value is the All Star Movies resort, but due to the fact that it is the third stop on the bus routes after Sports and Music, I can't stand the thought of trying to use the buses for 10 days. So, as much as I love the theming at Movies, it is not worth it to me to spend hours of my day waiting for buses to and from the parks.

I must remind you that this is solely my opinion on the All Star Music resort and was based off of one stay. I truly hope that it was just a comedy of errors that alligned just right to make our stay less than magical and that everyone else will enjoy a stay here. I however, hope to not have to find out if it can get better. I will stick with Pop Century, or hopefully, moderates in the future.