55. Disney's All Star Resort Deep Dive

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[00:00:21] Coming up, a value resort with tons of value. Staying on site at Disney World does not need to be something that you can't do. You can stay on site, you can capitalize on everything that Disney World has to offer when you consider Disney's all-star resorts. We're diving deep into the locations, rooms, different themings, and more on today's episode.

[00:00:46] Hey there, everyone. Welcome in to another episode of the Moms Behind the Magic. I am your host, Allie, and I'm here today with co-host Stacy. And the two of us together, if it's not a Thursday, can only mean one thing. We are diving deep into a resort. And I'm excited to talk about this one because when I think about Disney and I think about the Disney bubble and I think about inclusivity and maximizing your vacation, this resort is such a sweet spot.

[00:01:10] You're getting so much value at this value resort. We're talking all-stars, movies, music, sports, all three today. I'm excited to do it. I think we're going to shine some good light for our M&Ms and give them something to really consider. But before we do, how are you doing today?

[00:01:26] Oh, I'm doing good. I'm doing good. We are just in the throes of our house is for sale right now and all that entails. You know, it's just, it's a little bit of a resting spot because like we got the house ready. Now we have to keep it ready. And, you know, even like my podcast equipment, I had to fold it and tuck it away, you know, when there's chances of somebody coming by and I couldn't find my ring light this morning. And I was like, oh, where'd I put it? And I remembered, oh yeah, it's just, you know, hope it doesn't last long.

[00:01:56] I will tell you something. When I was selling my house, my kids were maybe like five and eight, I want to say. And the keeping it ready was the hard part. That was just the showings and then like the pop-up showings and all that. That was just crazy. I do have a question though. Would you, what would happen if you left your podcast equipment out?

[00:02:18] Well, I'm not so worried about it looking bad. I'm worried about somebody with their eight-year-old kid coming through and, you know, oh, microphone, you know, that's what makes me a little more nervous. The reason I asked is because we did, you know this, but I don't know if I talked about it. I can't remember if I talked about it, but we did the historic home tour in our, I think I did. So it was back in the spring, but I left my podcast area set up for that as people would come and look through the house and everything. And they would come downstairs and say,

[00:02:48] who's the podcaster? Who's got a podcast? What podcast is it? And that was just a fun conversation starter for five to 700 people that were coming through my house that day. That's awesome. That just made me think, you know, but you're worried about somebody actually touching it. Yeah. I mean, it's not like we're going to have five or 700 people coming through, first of all, because it would be like an awesome marketing. Like, hey, five or 700 people, let us, let them know about our podcast. Yeah. No, it's really just more just to keep it out of potentially children's hands.

[00:03:17] We have a very child-friendly house, big open spaces, lots of bedrooms, which is why we bought it. It has a good fit for a large family. So I just, the chances of somebody coming through with kids is pretty high. Yeah. Well, that's tough. I am glad that I was telling our other co-hosts the other day, you and one of our other co-hosts are moving. And I, that's four out of five of us have moved since we all met. During it. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:03:45] Since we all met, four out of five of us have moved when y'all are done. So that's really crazy. We all have really recent-ish, you know, in the last five years experience doing this. And so I'm just glad mine's behind me. I'm glad I'm where I'm staying. I look forward to that. And I wish I could have as awesome a story as you as far as like how fast it was. And I have historically do not have great experiences. The house before this one that we sold, it just took forever and ever and ever.

[00:04:13] And it was just, it wasn't even in this town. I just feel like we don't have good luck. Yeah. We, we were so, our first looker bought the house. Amazing. Yeah. Amazing. And to be fair, she already lived in town and she knew she was looking for another older home in town. Her daughter was moving into town. And so it just, the stars aligned when hours went for sale for her. And so it was just one of those stories that worked out.

[00:04:39] And I, but the, the showings and the packing, when you pack my best advice, two things we did and M&Ms, if you're moving or thinking about moving, this is two things we did that was really helpful. Number one, we used a lot of packing bags. So you can get. I totally do that. Absolutely. The industrial, ours were black, but it's like that material that the Ikea bags are made out of. Yep. They zip up, they hold so much. They fold up small. You can carry them. Yes. Super helpful. I totally agree.

[00:05:07] The other thing we did was when we moved our clothes, we kept all of our clothes on our hangers and we zip tied them together. And then we put trash bags over them, labeled what was in each trash bag and kept them on hangers so that when we got to our new house, it's actually my closet behind me. We just hung it up. And actually recently I found a hanger with the zip tie still on it. And I've lived here for three years now. And I thought, okay, if it still has a hanger tag on it, time to go. I haven't worn it in three years.

[00:05:35] We have put a lot of things into storage, which helps so much because it's just already packed. The things that were like, okay, we can get by without these for right now. Although there is one thing we're going to get for the weekend. But anyway, we have a lot packed away. I just don't want it to take very long. You're trying to stay in your town or you're trying to go to a different town? Not my town, but just the next county over. Closure to my parents. And here's the reality. We don't have to sell right now. I mean, there's no reason that we have to leave.

[00:06:04] So if heaven forbid something happens and we just can't sell right now, we can come off the market and just wait it out. That's nice. I mean, so there's no panic here. It's just something we would like to do as empty nesters and get closer to living near my parents. And, you know, just a choice. It's a choice. So it's not a necessity. So we'll just ride the wave and see what happens. Yeah. Ours was a choice, but it's compounded by the fact that we really wanted this house. And we had to sell it.

[00:06:32] Yeah, we had to sell it and jump before somebody else did. So ours was quite serendipitous the way it all aligned. So I hope for that for you. But we moved. We're in the same town. We're five minutes down the road from where we did live. And so our moving day was hilarious because we just packed a truck and drove it five minutes away. We were there. We did like multiple trips. It was so, you know, it was the easiest story ever. So I don't envy any of the process, but I'm here to talk about it if you need. It's a thing most of us do. I hadn't moved in like 17 years when we bought this house.

[00:07:01] So we do it very infrequently and I hope to maybe never do it again until I absolutely have to. Right. So, all right. Well, best of luck. Godspeed. And next time we are on this together, hopefully that house is sold. Would be amazing. Would feel almost miraculous. Yeah, it's a big thing. All right. Well, I'll tell you this. When you are at home and you have all of your things, your life is so easy. Things just fall into place when you're at home and you're taking care of your kids. But you know where it's not easy? It's on vacation.

[00:07:32] You're traveling and you don't have your things. Everything just feels a little bit out of step and the rhythm is off. And before you know it, what was supposed to be a relaxing vacation no longer is. And that is why here on Moms Behind the Magic, we are big fans of baby quip. We realize that having your things, having cribs, having strollers, having normalcy and rhythm and routine for your kiddos are the keys to unlocking the relaxation that you are seeking on your vacation. That's why we're big fans of baby quip.

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[00:08:54] That's code magic 10 to save $10 off of every $50 at baby quip dot com. Pack light, travel happy. You know what else is really exciting is we have a direct link into our promo with baby quip now. So any M&Ms listening can head to our show notes, click that link. You're going to unlock some magic in savings and you're just, your life is going to be way easier. So I'm excited. I know. That's a great little discount. That's awesome. Yeah. And the link. So all things good from baby quip. Okay.

[00:09:22] Are we ready to dive in to talk about all star? Yes. Yes. Yes. So excited we're doing this. You know, I just finished like at 2 a.m. Just a few hours ago. Not many hours ago at all. And it was our episode with our deep dive into Port Orleans. So I'm a little sick of hearing us, to be honest. Like I've had us in my ears and just focused on it for a long time and I finished it up. No, it was a great, it turned out to be a great episode. I hope everyone enjoyed it.

[00:09:50] By the time people are hearing this, they've already heard the Port Orleans. But yeah, it was, I love our deep dives. We have such a great time. Yeah. I say this every time, whether you're trying to figure out where to stay or whether you just came off of the best vacation ever and you're not ready to let go. So you just need to relive it. Or you're thinking where to stay next time. You know, where are you going to spend your bounce back offer? So many reasons that you need to know about these Disney resorts. And we look at them from all of the angles. We've ranked every resort. We've talked about the pools. We've talked about dining selections.

[00:10:19] But really diving deep into why would I stay here? What is the benefit? What are the pros? What are the cons? No resort is perfect. You know, if the location, food, theming, amenities, if all of that is perfect, well, then the cost is probably a little imperfect, right? And if the cost is perfect, well, maybe you're lacking in some other area. So nothing is going to be fully well-rounded into perfection. But there is a right resort for everyone.

[00:10:43] And I understand that I'm very on the record of saying that I love staying at the Boardwalk, Yacht and Beach Club, Polynesian. Like, I understand that those are my favorites. But I am in no way undervalue every single resort. I find so much happiness and value in use out of every single property at Disney. I've made incredible memories across all of the value resorts, moderate resorts. And now at this phase of my life, my deluxe resort stays. All-Star, first of all, have you stayed there?

[00:11:13] Do you stay there often? What's your history with All-Star? So my history, if we go way back to the beginning of time, was we were newlyweds. And we actually won a trip to Disney World. I don't know if you remember one time I talked about my little streak of winning. I had a few years there. We were winning all kinds of stuff. And one of them was a trip to Disney World, an Alabama football game down at Citrus Bowl. And we went down there and we stayed at some off-site hotel, like a, I don't know, like a Marriott.

[00:11:42] It was the Omni, the Omni. We stayed at the Omni for our prize. And it was really nice. But it was right at the time the All-Stars were almost open. They were just finishing up. They were kind of building up to releasing them to the public for booking. And so we drove by there and looked at them. I was just so impressed. And we were newlyweds and poor. And I was like, this is amazing. You know, we're going to be able to stay on property and not have to stay at the contemporary Polynesian.

[00:12:10] Like it was this, we were just very excited about it. And they were so cute and colorful. And, you know, to drive by and see the names, it's just obviously larger than life immediately upon driving by from the street. So I had this real excitement to be able to go. But when I look back historically, I'm like, it's crazy that it took so long to get value resorts at Disney World. You know, like it makes sense why I stayed off property so many times in my life that I have. But very exciting. Now, have I ever stayed there? Oh, yeah.

[00:12:39] I have definitely stayed there, particularly when I'm going. I often have to drive to Disney World to meet up with you guys. And we're going to stay deluxe when we're together. Because I drive. Because I drive down there, I usually drive the day ahead of us and stay by myself. And so I will stay in an all-star resort. No problem at all. So have done it several times. Mostly all-star sports and all-star music. Donnie and I have stayed in all-star music a few times.

[00:13:06] And because of one particular room class there, it's real easy to stay there too. So what about you? I have stayed at all-star one time. I've said a lot on this, on the pod. We grew up staying at mostly Port Orleans before we switched to like boardwalk area and stuff. We never really stayed on the monorail growing up. But we stayed at all-star. I don't know which one. Isn't that crazy? When I was a... No, I get that. I get that. They're like a blur. Yeah. Well, and we're going to talk about the differences, of course.

[00:13:35] But back then, I really didn't know. And they would have been semi-new. You know, they would have been under 10 years old. I was in high school. Or maybe they were just 10 years old. Either way, I danced at Magic Kingdom. My dance studio, or actually it was my high school dance program. It wasn't a dance team. We had like a company at our high school. And we did a performance. There used to be a stage in Tomorrowland. I don't think it's still there at all, but it was called the... There is a little stage like where the dance parties are at the parties and such. It wasn't that stage.

[00:14:03] This one was called the Tomorrowland stage and it was tucked back. I don't know where in Tomorrowland it was, which is so funny. As many times I went to Disney growing up, there are visually things that just I don't remember. And I just remember it was the Tomorrowland stage. It was tucked away somewhere in Tomorrowland and we danced there. We did like a 30-minute set and it was really fun. But we stayed at All Star. My mom was there. She chaperoned the trip, but she did not stay in my room with me, which I think is funny. Like, I don't know who she was staying with.

[00:14:32] Maybe I guess another chaperone. But I stayed with three friends. So it was me and three buddies. And then my mom was there somewhere. And I don't remember which all... I don't have any memory walking around other than... I'm going to talk about a story. I have a very funny story when it comes to transportation. So I'm going to put a pin in that. I'm going to tell it to you. It is very funny. It's one of my favorite Disney stories. But yeah, that was the only time I stayed there. I actually am having a little bit of a remembrance memory of one of your stories. I think I've told you, but I'm going to tell it again because it's very relevant today. I think I know a little bit. Yeah, so I'm going to tell it again today.

[00:15:02] But we had a great time. This is often where school groups, organizations, especially cheer and dance will stay. And with good reason. It's affordable. It's fun. And honestly, when you think about that trip to Disney and taking your kids' immersion and color and vibrancy, things that are larger than life, that's really, I think, what a lot of families consider, right? And before you become a Disney family that goes all the time, you're probably thinking,

[00:15:29] okay, this is our one and done and I want to do it and I want it to be affordable, but I don't want to cut corners. You know, I want to get all of the Disney perks without cutting corners, but I want to be able to afford my mortgage and still go. And this is really, truly how you're going to do that. And, you know, the Disney All-Star Resorts, they open in three phases. There are three of them, music, movies, and sports. We'll talk about sort of all three today. But we are considering them one big compounded premises, right? But like it is, it is, they all have different food.

[00:15:58] They all have different bus stops. They all have different pools, but it is also one communal property. The All-Star property. So they open in phases. The first one that opened was sports and that opened in 94, followed by music a few months later, also in 94. So it was like April, then November. And then movies a few years later in the final phase did not come until 99, which I think I think is really fascinating because movies is, you know, Disney movies. It took them five years to get movies open after the other two open. Yeah. Interesting.

[00:16:28] Isn't that wild? Very interesting. And the themed areas also were kind of in phases. So each of the, so you have All-Star music, movies, sports. Now within each of those, there are their own subcategories of rooms. And we're going to kind of talk about the layout and the room types, but just keep in mind that, you know, when you're thinking of a resort like Art of Animation, you can say, I want to stay in the Lion King section, or I want to stay in the Little Mermaid section. At All-Star resorts, you cannot specifically book a room section.

[00:16:57] So you can't say, I want to stay in the Toy Story section of All-Star movies. But we will talk about ways that you can try to up the chances of that when we get into that section. Yeah. Very good. Yeah. So the reason that this resort opened was, you know, it was like in the Eisner years of the 90s. And they decided that they needed more value resorts. They wanted to capture budget conscious families. They wanted to really open up a world of Disney.

[00:17:26] And I can come and I can make Disney World a destination for my entire vacation where I don't have to leave because I can't afford it. Right. And at that time in the 90s, that's really, I think, what was happening is Disney was just not, people couldn't do it. So the idea of going to Disney World as a destination and not Disney Parks as a destination, right? And I've talked about what I think the difference is. Going to Disney World and that being the final destination, well, we needed a way to do that.

[00:17:55] And so we came up, not we, I wish. They came up with All-Star. So we're keeping guests now on site. And it's massive. Not only are they keeping people on site, but there are close to 5,800 total rooms across all of the All-Star properties. Nearly 2,000 properties between movies and sports and then a little less at music. So huge properties. Very, very hard to sell these out. Often available under promotions.

[00:18:24] Often available under bounce back. So your opportunity to not only stay here and save money by doing so, but also save additional money in the future with offers. It's all very high chance. Yeah. Although it may be considered the lowest priced value, the least, you know, fancy amenities, but people want them. And because people want to just make a quick trip to Disney or they just want to do it as inexpensive as possible. And they actually do get booked, particularly in the promos.

[00:18:52] I don't think I have seen it sold out for sure. I've definitely seen some All-Stars sold out, but the promos do go fast. I feel like those rooms, when a discount comes out, people are like, oh, I'm not only going to go and stay at All-Star, but I'm going to stay with this discount. So those rooms do book pretty quick. So jump on it. When you hear a promo, let your agent hop on that real quick for you. Especially during the months when you're going to be seeing those cheer and dance competitions going on.

[00:19:21] I already mentioned this is a hot spot for those. So I will say if you are heading down to Disney, January, February, April, May, those kind of four months, you're going to be seeing a lot of UCA and a lot of UDA and just a lot of different smaller brand competitions as well. And that's when the cheerleaders take over and the dancers take over. And now you're in my wheelhouse. You know, now this is me and it's also my life's work. Have I told you I'm very seriously considering going down before our trip together to watch

[00:19:49] the collegiate mascot competition? Stacey. In UCA. I. Can we go? Do you want to go? Yes. Yes. I mean, I can't tell you. It's a dream. Bucket list. Stacey, UCA dance. Yes. Yes. The dance is happening at the same time as the mascot competition. But Ohio State. Yes. Just north of me is like the number one dancing. They are unbelievable. So kids in my area, this is like our Super Bowl. We all pay. We all pay the big bucks for varsity subscriptions and we watch.

[00:20:19] I would die to go watch. It is days before we're planning to go. Is it really? Yes. I mean, can you come early? Because I'm not kidding. I mean, I was looking at All Star Room to like come down and stay early. But. Oh my God. I so want to see. We're going to talk. Yes. We're going to talk. We got to make plan. Okay. That might be. That might be Zanna's with me though. Come on. Yeah. Yeah. All right. All right. Now you're getting a little insight, Eminem. This is exactly how Stacey and I can spiral. I'm into that. Okay.

[00:20:46] So all of that to say, these dancers and cheerleaders and performers, they often will stay at these resorts. And if that's something you want to avoid, be aware. But if you think that's kind of cool. I mean, often they'll be out on the lawn practicing their routines. I think that's fun. I think that's a great time to stay there. When it's a sports and you have the background of this larger than life sports themed resort. Cool. Very cool. I think it's cool. Yeah. I. Yeah. We're obviously into it though. Yeah.

[00:21:16] Well, I think everybody should be. How about that? I know. That sounds fun. Sounds fun. Okay. A little bit about the themes that they have within each section. And Stacey, tell me if I'm forgetting any because I'm kind of doing this off of. Oh. Off of the head here. So sports has the surf section. Surf's up. I'm not going to be good at this. Okay. I've got it though. They have the touchdown football section. Big helmets and the actual football field, which honestly, you and I on a football field, that sounds like great fun. Even though I'm in mourning over football and I don't want to talk about it.

[00:21:44] They also have the hoops basketball area. Right? Which is so cool. I think that's a very cool looking area. But yes, go ahead. That has the little balls that are like going through the motion. Absolutely. So it's like a, I don't know. It looks cool. I like it. Yeah. Really, really fun. Yep. And then a baseball section. Right? The home run hotel. So really, really fun there. And then over at, let's see, music, they have the calypso section. My favorite. Yep. That's where the maracas and stuff are, right? Very brightly colored. It's all brightly colored everywhere.

[00:22:14] It is. Yeah. Then they have the jazz in. So jazz music, saxophones, clarinets, things like that. They have the rock in, which is going to be the giant jukebox that you've probably seen promoted on ads and things. And then the country fair with boots and straps. Let's go country fair. And then Broadway is also there. So Broadway opened last actually. And that's with like the theater marquees. And that's where I personally want to stay. Huge Broadway fan. Love it. I feel like that section is kind of under the radar. Less celebrated and even less known.

[00:22:44] Yeah. But I like it. Yeah. And then at movies, you're going to see 101 Dalmatians, Mighty Ducks, Fantasia, and Herbie the Love Bug. And then Toy Story being the last section, kind of the open there. So I think it's interesting because over at Art of Animation, which is the other Disney immersive, Disney movie immersive area, you get movies that I think are more recognizable, more identifiable to a lot of kiddos.

[00:23:10] I, you know, Herbie the Love Bug, Mighty Ducks even. It's old school. Old school Disney. Other than Toy Story. Other than Toy Story, which is exciting for young kiddos who are all still into it, obviously. But that's kind of how that works. That's the reason why all of these sections, like if I say you're in the jazz section, you are in the jazz section. You are immersed. The music is themed. You know, the colors are changing. The statues or whatever you would call them are all very, very fun. You know what?

[00:23:38] If you have pictures, if you have pictures, your kiddos have pictures with these all over the all-star properties, send them, post them on our Mom's Mind the Magic Facebook group and show us, you know, your family enjoying the resort because that is one of the really fun things. Your kids are going to run up to these. They're basically oversized icons is really what it is. They're huge and cool. They're larger than, they're like three stories tall objects, right? Football helmets and surfboards, guitars, and then of course your movie characters, right?

[00:24:07] It's a really great way to stretch your budget, get some cost efficiency, get your immersion and kind of give your kids an experience that maybe they're not going to remember the room or maybe they won't remember when they're my age if they stayed at sports or music, but they will remember, oh my gosh. Remember when we got to run up to a Herbie and get our picture and that was so fun. And do you still have that picture? You know, that's really what you're going to be looking at. Yes.

[00:24:33] So, okay, let's talk a little bit about the way the layout looks, right? There are three separate really resorts, right? They are three lobbies, three properties within a massive property and there are sort of these T-shaped buildings, right? Is that kind of, that's how you would describe it? That's how I have learned to picture them is T-shaped, yes. They're kind of T-shaped buildings and you walk on grass between the buildings of each section, right?

[00:25:01] So you pull up to All-Star Sports and Surf's Up might be right in front of you and the football area might be to your left with Surf's Up to your right along with in front of you, right? And then behind it, you're going to see baseball off in the distance and you're going to see the center court. I don't think I mentioned the tennis area is also there. And then there's also the basketball area. So kind of the way it works is you're in your lobby and then you look straight forward and right or left, that's going to be your preferred areas.

[00:25:27] And then even beyond that into the landscape, you're going to have more T-shaped buildings all separated by their patches of grass. And that's kind of where the theming ends. So you get like a baseball diamond between your T-shaped buildings in the baseball section of All-Star Sports. So if you have a baseball, a little leaguer, like that's really, really fun. My son is so into football. He loves football. I should probably take him to stay at All-Star Sports in the football section. I really probably should. You know, you should. Yeah, I know.

[00:25:55] And that's kind of the way that works for all of them. It goes, depending on if you're looking at it left to right, it's sports followed by music followed by movies. So either way you're looking at it, music is the central location and then they kind of all branch out from there. That's the way the layout kind of works for these. Oh, I'm sorry. I forgot to mention tennis when I was talking about the different themes of sports. That's where Huey, Dewey, Louie are, right? I think that's where they are. Yay. Oh, yeah. So cute. Yep, for sure.

[00:26:23] So it's like five different sports, right? Is that what I said? And 10 different buildings, kind of two buildings per sport. And you're going to see that emulated throughout the rest of these resorts. It's sort of two to three buildings per theme within the theme, right? So it's almost like a, it's almost like a, what is that? Like a flow chart. You know what I mean? Saying it all-star sports. Are you at music, movies or, or sports? And then, okay, you're at sports. Are you at tennis, baseball or basketball? You know what I mean? Are you in this building?

[00:26:50] So it works really nicely as a flow chart if you kind of envision it that way. But that's kind of how the layout looks, right? Anything you want to add sort of to that? The most impressive things to me, maybe the massive helmets. I think the soda cups are quirky. They're giant soda cups that are the stairwells. Yes, yes. And then in the football section, there are pennants that go around the buildings. And so you can look for, even though they're not collegiate branding, you know, so it's not like for Alabama, it's not the script A or Roll Tide or anything.

[00:27:19] But there is a red one that says Alabama. So it's kind of fun to walk around the buildings and find your school and find some sort of reference to a team that you recognize and know. So it's very cool. I think it's awesome. I've stayed there multiple times. Yeah. So each of these resorts has the three story buildings that are kind of that T-shape that I mentioned. And there's maybe 10 in each section. And then they have the one main lobby.

[00:27:47] And the main lobby is where you're going to find the food court, arcades, gift shops, guest services, anything you may need like that. And then you're going to have that big bowl theming throughout everywhere. So I will say kids love it. If you're... I keep going back to the football section. Obviously, it's no secret I love football, but I do think it's one of the most fun areas. But pick the movie your kids love or pick the style of music your parents love or whatever it is for who you're going with. But if you're on the football field, there's actual yard lines. You know, go play a football game.

[00:28:16] Go have your kiddos run against each other. You know, it's so fun. And that's what kids are doing. They're finding other kids to play with. But it's a great way to relax, you know, maybe on a park break or maybe on a down day or maybe you come back early and it's an early night. And the bonus to this really large steaming with young kiddos, very easy to find your room and you can put them in on it, right? You can say, go find the, you know, whatever pennant you just said. Say, you know, go. Our room's at the 40 yard line. Go find it. So that's a good bonus to this. Yeah.

[00:28:45] Looking at these all-star resorts. And I'll have clients, you know, as a travel agent that'll ask for specific things and they have very, something very specific in mind. But if you're just shopping for a value resort, these things really, when we get talking about rooms, they're going to all be very, very similar. So if you don't have a preference, they're all great and the same as well. And for me, when I'm shopping, I don't necessarily care so much about the characters and the sports,

[00:29:13] even though I love the way certain areas look, to me, it's much more about proximity. How close am I? Because all of our bus stops and all of our being for those drink refills and, you know, going to the food court is in that big center room and that, in that center building. And that's where I want to be. So once you're in the rooms, they're all going to be very, very, very similar, almost exact. So theming is great and fun if that's the, if that's how you want to choose where you stay and why you stay there.

[00:29:43] But for me, I'm looking for availability and price and preferred, honestly. Well, yeah. And I was going to say the theming is heavy. I've talked a lot about it, but the theming is heavy on the outside. I would not say you expect theming heavy on the inside. We could talk about that when we talk about the rooms. Also, as similar as these are, they all have the T-shaped buildings. They all have approximately the same number of buildings. They're all, you know, about two buildings per sub theme within each all-star resort.

[00:30:09] As true as that is, the layout of each is also just different enough that, and correct me if you think I'm wrong here, but I think music is really, it's kind of designed on a straight line. It's the most square. Yeah. Yeah. I think those far buildings in the farthest sections of standard feel like a real hike, whereas maybe movies feels a little bit more circular. And so you're fooling yourself into, I'm a little closer no matter where I am.

[00:30:37] And I really think that that's, you know, maybe that's not a fact, but it is certainly the way I feel. Yeah. There's certainly a perspective to it when you're coming off of the bus and you're tired and what you can see visually and how far away your room is. So yes, when it's a straight shot and you can just see way down the grassy corridor over, you know, over a pool and over three characters and like, it looks very far away.

[00:31:02] But you're right when you're in more of the curvy areas, like at sports where the buildings are kind of in the way and all the fun sports things, you don't really know that you just got to go around the corner and it is a little mind strike on you. So I agree. You're right about that. Yeah. It's interesting. I will say you talked about preferred room and we are going to talk about that in rooms coming up here soon. But I just think that that's going to be worth the upgrade more often than not. That's all I'm going to say about that now.

[00:31:29] Just as we're talking about how big these properties are in the layout, preferred is really going to be worth it in most cases. But I think at the end of the day, when you're thinking about this resort, you're thinking about, should I stay here? You know, would you like to stay at a resort that has a basketball hoop that's, you know, taller than your house? You know, do you want to swim in a pool that's shaped like a baseball diamond? Do you want to have a life-size football field? You know, like I, these are things that are going to make a difference and have an impact on your trip.

[00:31:58] Uh, you're not going to remember your exact room. I don't remember my exact room from my stay there, but I remember the giant football helmet or I remember, and I did see them all, even though I only stayed in one. I can't remember which one because I'll tell you why I remember them all in my transportation story here coming up. But you know, those are the things, those are where your memories are made. Your kids are going to remember that giant thing, whatever it was. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Okay. The lobbies, we do always touch a little bit on lobby when we're doing our breakdowns.

[00:32:27] Lobbies here are pretty generic, right? You've got guest service help. You have that arcade that I mentioned, which not every Disney resort has an arcade. I'm not even 100% sure every all-star resort has an arcade. I know at least two out of three do. I'm inclined to say all three do. So if they have an arcade, this is where it's going to be. This is where the sort of cafeteria-style quick service location is going to be. This is where your gift shop is going to be. I love resort gift shops so much. It's crazy.

[00:32:56] And they do all have different things. Like we did a Skyliner tour once. We just took the Skyliner for fun and walked around Art of Animation property just so my kids could see all of the fun movie things. And we went in the gift shop there and two of my kids found their trip souvenir in that gift shop. Nice. All three do have arcades. Yeah. Okay. So that's what I thought. I was inclined to think that all three do. So that's where that's going to be located. And I will say not every resort has an arcade. And this one does. And so that's a huge perk for little ones.

[00:33:24] One thing to keep in mind, and this is true of most Disney resorts, but let's say it's bad weather and you're trying to look for something. You're going to be walking, you know, because you're going to have to go outside. And depending on where your building is, the arcade isn't necessarily super close to your room, but it is there and it is fun. It does cost extra. But yeah, that's kind of how the lobby services. And if you do online check-in, you're not even going to really need to stop there unless you choose to. That's where you're going to get your quick service breakfast before you head to the parks or that dinner when you come back, things like that.

[00:33:52] Since I drive into my resorts, it is important to me. I am going through there most of the time, unless I have just really looked at a map ahead of time, which I do recommend if you're driving in and have that online check-in and know which building you're in. And you can kind of see where your better parking is. And there's signs, of course, for that too. But if you're coming in before check-in time and you're needing to get your luggage put into luggage services and bell services or whatever, this will all be there in that main building as well.

[00:34:20] Also, now we're going to talk about transportation. I think this is a good segue because also located near your main lobby is going to be your one and only bus stop. Right? Yeah. Yeah. Pros and comms to that. I say one and only because when you look at the moderate resorts, like Polynesian only has one bus stop. So this is not a value resort only thing. The League Contemporary only has one bus stop. Animal Kingdom Lodge only has one. So a lot of the –

[00:34:48] Actually, most if not all of the deluxe resorts now that I really think about it only have one bus stop. Riviera. I'm going through them all in my head. I know. Oh, oh, oh. You know what is a big exception here? Our Saratoga Springs and Milky West. Yes. Yes. Those are the big ones for sure. I'm certainly not going to make a sweeping statement because I would have to go through every single one. Right. But all of this to say it is not a value resort downgrade to only have one bus stop. It's a normal thing.

[00:35:14] The reason I pointed out here, though, is because when you look at large resorts like All Stars, they're very, very large. When you think of those in the moderate level, Caribbean Beach, Coronado Springs, and Port Orleans, you are getting multiple bus stops throughout the entire property. You are having an easy walk no matter where your building is. Whereas when you're looking at All Star, you could be in the furthest back building. If that were a moderate, you might have a bus stop right there.

[00:35:41] At this resort, you're walking all the way to the lobby to get your bus stop. That's right. That's right. The things I say are, there's some pros to this as well, is you're not having that multiple stop situation. So when the bus pulls up at your resort, you get out. You don't have to say, oh, this isn't my stop. And then wait for another one and wait for another one and wait for another one before you finally get off. So that's a good thing. Also, Disney seems to really take care bus-wise of their All Star resorts.

[00:36:09] This is where those double-decker, I say double-decker, what do you call it? A stretch. Your stretch buses with the little connector, slinky dog connector in between. Yeah. You know, those are what you see pull up at these All Stars, which is awesome. And multiple, like all the time. And on it and on it. But this is a really good place. Whenever you've got these, when buses are important, use the app inside your resort section of your app is a bus schedule. And you can see if you're in your room when the next one is coming.

[00:36:37] And you can kind of hustle your family along. Say, hey, there's a bus coming in 10 minutes. Run. Let's go. Get this thing going. And say, if you don't, we're having to wait for another one. So it's just, it's not bad at all. There's nothing bad about it other than I'm still, I still think the biggest pain point for buses is strollers. Yeah, it is. You have to, no matter what, every single park and Disney Springs and the water park, everything you want to do at Disney World, when you're staying at All Star Resorts, it's all accessible by bus.

[00:37:06] So no matter what, you are folding that baby quick stroller to get on your transportation. That is what you are doing. There's no way around it. They're not going to let sleeping babies lie. It's not a single stroller versus double stroller thing. You're folding it. So just make sure you have a stroller that, number one, you are comfortable folding. You know it well. Even if you rent one, make sure it's when you know how to fold or you take some time to make sure you know how to do it. And be prepared when the bus pulls up. I have waited too long before and then it's so embarrassing and you're trying to hustle and get everything off. And it's just...

[00:37:36] And have a bag. Yeah. Have a bag for all of your stroller mess that you dumped in the bottom bucket of your stroller. Try not to do that. Have a bag in there and like a canvas tote or something that's kind of propped open and just throw things in that. And then when it's time to get everybody out and unfold it, I mean, unfold it back up, you just take the bag and that's got everything in it. I'm very angry. I'm very angry that we are recording this episode like four years beyond my stroller days because that would have been helpful. Mine was terrible. It was so hard.

[00:38:06] So many little pieces, if they're all in the bottom of that little basket, don't do that. Be prepared. So this resort area, all of the All-Stars, they all opened a good few years prior to Animal Kingdom theme park. But the way that Disney sort of categorizes the resorts is they put them in theme park areas. So they may say that's in the Magic Kingdom area. That's it, you know, whatever. This All-Star resorts are in what is considered the Animal Kingdom area. That is the park that is closest by proximity.

[00:38:35] In fact, All-Star Sports, I think, is very close to the entrance of Animal Kingdom if you really look on a map. But it's still going to be a bus. Everywhere you go is going to be a bus, even for the parks you're closest to. I mean, Animal Kingdom, it's a bus no matter what. So now you really get to thinking if that's your closest park, you're definitely bus only. So just I think with good strategy and understanding, here's my story. We were staying at All-Star and I was probably pretty annoying, honestly. Like I was, we were freshmen and I had been to Disney a lot.

[00:39:01] And I think it all stemmed from a place of I was excited to show my friends, you know, I knew what I was doing or whatever. We were getting ready to go. We had these matching park outfits. I'll never forget it. We had made our shirts. It's so exciting. And we hit the bus stop right on time and we were waiting and we realized we had left something in the room. Who knows back then what it could have been? We didn't have cell phones. Definitely not that. Which is so funny, too, because I'm like, where was my mom? She was on this trip. She was on this trip and she definitely wasn't going. She was hanging out with her chaperone friends. That's what I'm saying.

[00:39:31] She was with her friends. And we know what she's doing. Yeah, it just makes me laugh because I'm thinking we didn't have cell phones. Like, I guess we had coordinated a plan that I was going to the park. So I was meeting up with her at different parts. I don't know. Whatever. I know she was having a blast. Yeah. Times were different. Yeah, exactly. So we went to the bus stop and we're waiting there. We forget something in the room. I would love to know what we forgot. Sunglasses. Let's just say maybe sunglasses or something. Sure. And we have been waiting and we really didn't want to wait again.

[00:39:59] And I thought I was this Disney pro. And I was like, you know what? Whatever bus comes to pick us up is also going to go to the other two all-star resorts. So I'm going to run. I'm going to run back to the room because our bus still isn't here. Then I'm going to get what we need. And then I'm going to run across every all-star property. And I'm going to meet you at the third bus stop at the last all-star resort. And I bet I beat you there. And it's going to be great. And so me and my friend, Lee, we start running.

[00:40:30] I mean, we are running across the property. We get whatever it was we needed. And now we're off to run the distance from all-star property number one to all-star property number three. First of all, that distance. Wow. It's not close. It is not third and manageable. It is third and very freaking long. Okay. You are going like we were going the distance. We were running. We were getting lost. There was some sort of fence. We did not know what we were doing. We just kept going that direction. We're, I mean, my inhaler.

[00:40:59] It was probably trying to like send you towards the front of the building. So you probably, yeah, I can picture that. Actually, I feel like what I forgot was my inhaler. I feel like what I forgot was my inhaler. Anyway, so we're going. I vividly remember taking my inhaler. Yeah. Now we're to this point, we're in the backwoods of the all-star resorts. We don't know where we're supposed to be, but we are going to beat this bus. Right. And so all of a sudden, what I remember to be an armadillo. Now, are there armadillos in Florida? I don't know. Was it an armadillo?

[00:41:29] I have no idea. That is in my brain what I remember it to be. We're running and we scream because we'd never seen one before. And I swear to you, it started chasing us. So we were screaming and running. We finally, it had to have taken us so long. I mean, so long. When you had friends on the bus, right? Well, so we get to the third all-star bus stop and there's our friends sitting there. Just so mad. I'm like, did we make it? We're like, did we make it?

[00:41:57] They're like, well, first of all, obviously not because we're off the bus. They're like, we rode the bus here and had to get off because you weren't here. And now we've been here for, you know, 40 minutes. 40 buses. Yeah. Yeah. So anyway, all of that to say, don't try to go from one to the other to catch the bus. And don't make my mistake of 15-year-old Allie or 14-year-old Allie running across all-star properties that are farther apart than you may realize. So yeah, that's a funny story. Yeah. My friends and I, we told that one for years. And without cell phones to give updates.

[00:42:28] No cell phones. Those were the days. Those were the days. Just my freshman friends waiting on two other freshman friends. I had no idea if they were coming back. And how, if we hadn't, if they hadn't waited on us there, how would we have ever found each other again? Yeah. There's no way. I have no idea. There's no way. Like there's just, there's no telling what would have happened. So yeah. M&Ms that are listening that can tell their, explain to their kids what that must have been like with no form of communication at all. It was hilarious. It blows my mind.

[00:42:57] So anyway, you're going to access all of the parks, Disney Springs, water parks, everything by bus. It is, it's a great reason to choose onsite, honestly. Getting onsite at any cost just for those buses. They are convenient. They get you where you need to go. They get you there efficient, like, you know, with good efficiency. If, if a park is open late, it's still going to be running that rotation. If you're going to a party, you don't need to worry about it. Even if it's one in the morning, they're going to keep running those buses till everybody is home.

[00:43:25] And so even though buses are not my favorite. They are awesome in their, in their place. Yeah. You know, that trip I was talking about that we won to Orlando. We went to this football game and we went to Disney World and we were at the Omni. So it's got this offsite bus system. The worst. And I have a picture of us, of Donnie laying in the middle of the parking lot, completely abandoned. We are the last people to be picked up.

[00:43:51] Probably, I felt like in all of Florida, I felt like we were just the most alone and it was no cell phones. There's not a pay phone nearby to call. We wouldn't have known who to call. And we're just trusting that eventually the hotel that we're staying at that said they would come pick us up at the end of the night would. And we're just waiting forever. And I promise you, it's a picture of him laying down on the asphalt with this miles of empty parking lot around us. Just nothing. It's crazy. It was crazy.

[00:44:20] And I said, I really don't like this. And I'm just watching all the other buses pick everybody else up. I'm like, why are we not on those? We could be home by now. You know, that's the statement that you could be home by now. Exactly. You could be home right now. Yeah. It was not great. Buses are, buses on site, regardless. That's the way to go. And All Star has them. Stay on site. And All Star is a great way to access that. Wer riestert, der rostet. Zeit, Vorsorge neu zu denken.

[00:44:46] Mit dem neuen Scalable Altersvorsorge Depot wächst nicht nur dein eigenes Geld bis zu deiner Rente. Du holst dir obendrauf jedes Jahr bis zu 540 Euro Förderung vom Staat. Jetzt für das Scalable Altersvorsorge Depot voranmelden. Kapitalanlagen bergen Risiken. All right. We've touched a little bit on room types. There's not a lot to dive into here, but there are a couple of things we really need to point out. And the reason I say there's not a lot to dive into here is because these rooms are truly

[00:45:13] all the same across all three, with the exception of one. Across all three music, movies, and sports, the interiors look almost identical. The thing you really need to think about if you are a family of four, okay, a family of four is all that can fit in one room at each of these resorts. One standard room at each of these resorts, family of four, no more than that unless one of your babies is under three. So if you have like two kiddos over three and a two-year-old, you can fit because one

[00:45:41] kid under three does not count against capacity. So keep that in mind. I think a lot of young families stay here. So some families of five do fit when one kid doesn't work against capacity. All of the rooms have your normal amenities, a beverage cooler, coffee maker, hair dryer, things like that, normal things you would expect. But each location, each of these resorts has that standard and preferred options. They are often for an entire stay, an entire package, five nights day, you can often upgrade

[00:46:09] to preferred for less than $100, honestly. It's usually not a massive upgrade to get preferred. And I really feel like it is the most worth it upgrade on maybe any Disney package at any resort ever. Agree. Yes. And, you know, and we'll often say preferred room and it's actually, it's a preferred location, right? It's classified as a preferred location that you're a little bit closer to that main building

[00:46:37] where the bus stop and the food court and the arcade and all the things. So it's not that it's, all of your rooms are going to be the same. You're not getting a better room per se than any of the others. So just wanted to point that out, even though we interchange the word room and location what we're talking about. Yeah. And this is really where you, the value resort part of it shines through. These are very basic rooms. You know, you're getting a king bed or a queen bed and a table size pull down bed. Very basic amenities.

[00:47:07] You have your sinks, you have your curtain, you have your toilet and shower or in a separate little area. I like that sort of communal sink area. It's nice for getting ready. And the, there's little convenient hooks and cubby holes and the, the organizational thoughts that have been put into these rooms is really nice knowing that there's going to be, you know, up to four people and the amount of luggage that you might need. And so take advantage of all the little places to tuck your, your suitcases and to hang your

[00:47:36] clothes and to, you know, just kind of place your things. It's very well done. Very nice. Lots of smart moves for a small space. Yeah, they are motel style, which is not abnormal for Disney World. The exterior entry on the three floors. They are, these rooms are a bit on the smaller side. They, these resorts were built a considerable few years before Pop Century and Art of Animation, the other value properties on Disney. So they are on the smaller side, but they do function well if especially you're just looking for a convenient place to lay your head.

[00:48:05] Upgrade to that preferred so you can be close to Cinema Hall, Melody Hall and Stadium Hall. Those are the lobby locations we were kind of mentioning earlier. This is where preferred is going to get you close to shopping, transportation, dining, everything we've been saying. A standard is fine, but you, you need to prepare yourself mentally for the walk back to your, your room at night. That's the one, you know, in the morning you're excited, you got a pep in your step. It's fine. But if you're back in your room and you just want to refill your refillable resort mug that you got with your dining plan.

[00:48:34] Your water bottle that's in that nice cold water from the, from the food court. Yeah. Yeah. It's all far. It's far. You mobile order food, it's going to be far. So that's my best advice there. There's an outlier room though, that I want you to talk about because our items know you are a super fan. Yeah. Well, it's just really important, you know, because I remember a time because we, we did outgrow even the family suite. Okay. Family suite will sleep up to six people.

[00:49:02] Guess how many people are in my family when I had my children at home? Seven. Seven. So we even outgrew this, but for so many people, it is such a nice option to have a value resort available to you for up to six people in your family or your group. Hey, this is what I actually have talked to my children about when they're young and they're like, I want to, mom, can you help me get my friends, me and my friends, we want to go.

[00:49:27] Like this is such a great place to get a family suite, six buddies together and split the cost of that bad boy. It's awesome. Anyway. So there's a lot of angles to look at this, but it has three queen beds, not couches, not pull out couches. And Becky and I, we love this. We've talked about this. We're, we're big fans because of that in particular thing. All art of animation, beautiful, fun, super cute, going to be way more themed, especially interior than your all-star.

[00:49:57] But you're going to have one of those three beds is a little more uncomfortable. These three beds, all super comfortable, wonderful, two full baths. I mean, it's hard to beat, hard to beat. And the kitchen. Yeah, it is. So when we did this back and forth on our sleepy episode, it really was presented to the world that I didn't think this was a good room. And I would like to go on the record correcting that. I think this is a great room and a great option.

[00:50:25] And I think that for many, many, many vacations, it is the option. On that particular episode, we were shining a light on what I thought the seven best, most epic must-day experiences were. And I don't necessarily, no, I definitely don't, not necessarily. I don't think that this is that. But I think in terms of affordability and functionality, convenience, comfort, it checks a lot of boxes. You know, my family, we have five.

[00:50:52] And even just having those beds for, you know, my wife and I get the main bed. And then my oldest daughter gets her own bed. Maybe my twins sleep together. Maybe my daughter's sleep together. My son gets to bed. Whatever it is, whatever the pattern is that we put everybody in, whatever the configuration, it doesn't matter because having the three spaces that are big. Like right now, my family is getting by on two queen beds and a child-sized pull-down in most of the rooms that we go with. That's not going to last. And so, or like, unless my youngest daughter is my height, which actually I think she's going to be taller than me.

[00:51:22] You know, I'm going to end up being the one on the child-sized bed. So we're not going to get by forever. So those family suites are fantastic. The kitchen, the three queen beds, and they really do stay affordable. My gripe with Art of Animation suites being value, they cost deluxe prices. They literally are so expensive. The package difference between an Art of Animation suite, which is a similar type style

[00:51:48] room, and a music, also a music family suite, is really quite large. Significant. Yeah. I mean, and even if you're only looking at five, a sleeping five, it is usually more cost effective to, you know, you will lose some bathroom space and some floor space, but to go like Caribbean Beach and get the fifth sleeper there versus trying to sleep, get in the Art of Animation. So let me go one more rebuttal for the family suites in our sleepy episode. You don't need a rebuttal. You don't need a rebuttal. One more.

[00:52:17] I just said I think it's a great option. I need to put it on record here. I just said it was a great room. That's a great part of it. But the magic part of it is because I've been in this situation. I just want to speak from this situation. When you are young family, you have a lot of children and you think, I'm going to have to stay off property because I got to get two rooms. So I got to get two rooms at the Motel 6, get an adjoining room because I just can't afford, you know, there's too many of us. We have to get two rooms. And then to find out, no, you don't.

[00:52:47] You can have up to six people in this room. That is magical. That is. And it changes everything. When you have, this is what I have to do. And then you realize, oh my gosh, no, I don't. I have this magical option to be on property and in my budget. I do not disagree. The Pixie Dust is flying. It's flying. I think this is such a great option. I don't think it's one of the seven best days on Disney property.

[00:53:13] I do think it is a great room that checks many boxes and opens a possibility of Disney travel and Disney world vacations to many, many, many families that wouldn't have the option otherwise. So I value it. I think it's beautiful. I love it. But when you have, you know, I came around. You know, I came around. I did. I felt, I felt. I particularly came around after editing, you know, like after hearing the whole thing because I needed to get to the end of our episode.

[00:53:40] You know, at the beginning of our episode, I didn't have the whole picture. Well, everybody needs to make sure now. When we voted. Yeah. Go back and listen to Sleepy and see where you stand, especially now hearing my point of view on the suite here. And I'm saying I see value. I understand it. I love it. Stay. I'm telling y'all stay there. But then just put that in context to that episode. Tell me if you come around. Okay. So that is kind of how the rooms look.

[00:54:05] Again, you're not getting that outside larger than like theming threaded into these rooms. These are very basic rooms. I feel the need to say that. They're very basic, very just to the point, functionality forward basis. That's true. Another section we're going to talk about, but unfortunately, I don't think it needs a lot of our time is dining. Dining at this resort is just very, again, that value tier. Very basic. You're getting food courts and then poolside bar, bar food type options.

[00:54:35] Every single one of these resorts, movies, music, and sports have their own version of the same thing, right? You're getting the food court serves, you know, hot breakfast, lunch, dinner options, really kid friendly things, burgers, pizza, chicken, different things you can kind of scroll through. Late night snacks. Late night snacks. That's right. Music has the intermission food court and then the singing spirits pool bar. Sports has the end zone food court and grandstand spirits.

[00:55:04] And movies has the world premiere food court and cinema spirits. So all the same but different. You're going to mobile order from your app, from your room to the food court that is coordinating with the all-star resort you're staying at. You know, don't order from cinema or don't order from the world premiere food court if you're staying at all-star sports, you know, and then you'll walk and pick it up. So super easy. Mobile ordering is very, very simple to do from your app.

[00:55:34] It's a skill you have to have if you're traveling to Disney. But there is one thing, you know, food courts and poolside bars are very standard. I don't think they need a lot of talk. But there's one thing all-star sports, movies and music does that is very unique that other resorts do not exist, do not have. It doesn't exist. Do you know what it is? My brain is going, oh my goodness, I need to open the notes. I don't know what you're going to. Pizza is available for room delivery. Whole pizza. At the all-star. Whole pizza. Yes, yes, yes. That's right.

[00:56:03] Whole pizzas are amazing. You cannot do that other places. I don't know why you can't do that other places. I have no idea why at this resort you can do that. Why is it easier here? What is the function of that kitchen versus, I have no idea. You can order whole pizzas to your room. That is a massive, massive perk. Yeah, do that on your app, on your way, on the bus, on your way in, because you are going to be starving. Aren't you always starving after the park?

[00:56:29] Oh my gosh, I just want something salty and fattening and a nice cold drink. I just get back to the room and I just want to pig out. It's not healthy, but man, it's every time. I really need this. That's really what we do when we're together. That's right. It is. Pick up that. Order the pizza. Pick up the box on the way back to your room. Take a box of pizza to your room. Go swimming for a late night swim. All of this sounds so fun. It sounds so fun. It really does sound great.

[00:56:58] I mean, again, it's a value experience with a lot of return. Yes, yes. A lot of good things going on here. One very important thing you need to know about Valley Resorts, they do not have pool slides. I think pool slides at Disney Resorts are very iconic. They're a staple of your pool day. Valley Resorts do not have them. They also do not have hot tubs. So sitting in the hot tub at night after a long day in the parks is something I really love.

[00:57:25] That is, when I was growing up, it was one of my favorite parts of our Disney trips is we would sit in the hot tub and we would talk to other families that had been in the parks that day and share stories and tips. And there wasn't a My Disney Experience app and there weren't a lot of planning tools. There were no Disney planning podcasts, you know. And so you got your tips in the hot tub. You would just be like, oh, you know, tell me about that show or how did you ride this or what was your strategy here? It was so much fun. People just don't do that really anymore, I don't think. I still try. I still try to get in the hot tub.

[00:57:53] I mean, I'm totally talking to strangers all day long at Disney. I am too. But if you're around me, I'm talking to strangers. I try to do those tip swaps like we did. Yeah, it's awesome. There's less lesson to it. But I do value that, not getting that at Value Resorts. So at each of these resorts, they have their main feature pool as well as smaller pools, but none of them have a slider hot tub. You know, you were called out about saying you didn't like being wet and also loving hot tubs. That in our Facebook group, somebody called you out.

[00:58:23] I replied to them. I replied to them. They're not wrong. I mean, call me out all day long, you guys. And there's probably plenty to call me out on. Yeah, we're all just one big, you know, irony all the time. We all live on the road. I'll tell you what I, I'll tell you though, what it is, is my hair. That's really what, if I'm going to get specific, it's my, I don't like my hair being wet at all. In fact, when I shower and blow dry and my hair is done and I know I don't have to get my hair wet because I don't wash my hair every time I shower, as I think most people don't.

[00:58:53] So when I know my hair is good and it's going to be dry for two days, I'm peak happy. The other day we, the other day I took a shower, blew dry my hair, straightened it or whatever. And I was getting ready. We were going to a farm night here in town with our dance studio. We were taking our dance studio on a team bonding night. And I swear I bounced into our family room and I told my wife, I said, I am literally peak happy. There's nothing that puts a pep in my step more than knowing that my hair is fresh because it's good for a couple of days. Well, then that night I made that comment.

[00:59:22] And then that night at the farm night, the staff and parents, we all sat around a fire pit. Oh, the smell. The smell. I was like, I'm going to have to shower tonight. I'm going to have to shower tonight. So I had to go home. You can't even get in bed with that. No, absolutely not. So I had to go straight home and wash my hair. I was like, so anyway, to that M&M and to everybody listening, I do not like my hair being wet. But in a hot tub, I put it way up here and then I soak. Yes. Yes. So. Yeah. It's funny.

[00:59:51] The episode we just, I just worked on through last night, the Port Orleans, I talked about how, because you complimented my hair. You said something about your hair looks good. And I said, oh, well, you can tell what day of the week it is. And it's the same kind of thing. I get all of my hair fresh and ready for church on Sunday. And then Monday, Tuesday, it starts to whittle down a little in its freshness. And today is a Wednesday hair. So it's all nice and pulled back in a ponytail and it's barely got any life left in it. So I totally get it. Yeah.

[01:00:20] I do not wash my hair every shower. Yeah. At the risk of like anybody saying it doesn't look like it. I actually did mine this morning. And so I'm very pleased with that. I'm pleased that it's good. So each of these resorts has their main feature pool at movies. It is the Fantasia themed pool. That's where Sorcerer Mickey sprays his water. And it's a very wide, large, extensive swimming area inspired by Fantasia. That's where like the brooms and things are. There's a kiddie pool and a water play area nearby.

[01:00:49] I would say at the Valley Resorts, these are less splash pads and more water play areas. Right? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, in the pools, granted, they're not as many things like the slides and stuff, but they're still huge and fun. They're still playing the pool games there. I mean, it's just, it's a lot of fun. Now we have mentioned, and I think it was kind of like an epiphany that we had during one of our recent episodes, that if you're staying value, it might be worth the effort to really

[01:01:18] try to take advantage of the water parks so that you can have some water play with some slides and things or to add, to do that plus option on your ticket so that you can have a rest day to go do some water parks or something because, because it is a basic pool. Just depending on what your kid's like. Now, if you're not in pools very often, this is probably just right. For me, it's totally fine. I just want to sit in water and sun. That's all I need to do. So totally fine for me. Definitely a lot of kids around though.

[01:01:47] I was going to say, it's not a very serene, relaxing area, but it is, you know, it does its job and then some. There's also the duck pond pool, which is the hockey rink style pool, which is funny that it's at movies and not sports because it is the mighty, but it's for the mighty ducks. Yeah. But it's for the mighty ducks. Right. So that's why they have that. Yeah. Disney loves to do that kind of stuff. They love to name things and put the, well, that's just keep me confused. You know, I love a theme.

[01:02:17] I say it all the time. So we're doing, we have pink out for our football game this weekend because it's the start of October. So it's also youth night and my son's team is doing a bunch of pink things for their youth night appearance and me, us and another mom, we went a little crazy getting all the pink things for the boys. Because I love a theme. Because I love a theme. Well, and you know, it's interesting too, because to even have mighty ducks at Disney World is a nice nod and a little connection. It's one thing that does kind of connect to the Disneyland.

[01:02:44] Disneyland does a lot more mighty ducks because it's an, the mighty ducks are an Anaheim team, right? Isn't that the Anaheim ducks? Do you want to hear, I'm full of anecdotes today. You want to hear another story? Yeah. Come on. One of my best friends in life. She has like family. She's, we're very, very close with her. She lived in California, LA. She was a cast member. She worked for a Disney executive. She worked right by, she was like a secretary to Michael Eisner's secretary, right? She worked in that main Disney building. She's in the circle. There. Yes.

[01:03:14] She was in the building, you know, the one that Becky just toured out in Anaheim. So that is where she worked forever. She was on a lot of projects. The opening of, I think it was the Grand Floridian. She was sort of part of that project and traveled to Disney world with the execs as they were. The Grand Californian? No, because she worked for Eisner, who was over all of Disney, right? So she traveled to Disney world with them and went back. So anyway, she was, she was a cast member. Yeah.

[01:03:41] So she left that role when Disney, the Disney, when the Mighty Ducks hockey team were becoming an NHL team, Disney was a part of that. And she was transferred to that division. And she was on the original executive team that created that hockey team. And then one of her jobs became one of her jobs. So she worked for the Ducks in its inception.

[01:04:08] And one of her main jobs at the beginning, once they kind of were to sell luxury boxes. And that's kind of what she did was sell, sell luxury boxes for the first season of the Ducks. So yes, they are an Anaheim team. And yes, Disney is well rooted in the story. And then of course the movie. Yeah. Yeah. So that's awesome. So it is cool that it's, it's got a place in Disney world in Florida. So very cool. But yeah, why it's not in sports is weird. It's just funny. It's just funny. But I love that movie. So whatever. It's great. It's great.

[01:04:38] Music, the main pool is the guitar shaped pool. Very cool. Shape the pool all day long. And I'm a sucker. I'm there. So the pool shaped like a guitar. It's the, it's where the three caballeros are. Donald Duck and Jose. I'm not even going to try. I'm going to mess up the words, but the three caballeros are there. And they're spraying water on the swimmers and it's really fun. And then there's another kiddie pool there, which is great. Additionally at music, they have the piano pool, which is a piano shaped sort of pool with a deck.

[01:05:07] The deck has black and white keys, which is really, really fun. Again, very immersive. And then at sports, you have the surfboard bay pool with the three story high surfboards that line the pool area, which is great. And then they also have the Grand Slam pool, which is shaped like a baseball diamond. And it has Goofy on the pitcher's mound. And it's just really, really fun. So all the pools immersive, themed well, kiddie areas, splash play areas, things like that. No slide, no hot tub. They do the job. Anything else before we rattle off?

[01:05:37] Just some pros and cons. Something we didn't mention. These, a couple of these resorts do have playgrounds and jogging trails. So I know that some people are looking for that. So if you want to go jogging at Disney World. Yeah. If you don't get your steps in enough already. Not this walker. No. Not this walker. But not every resort has arcades and playgrounds. And I think that's a big bonus. All right. I have some pros and cons that I wrote down that I think are just to kind of wrap up here before we head into our trivia, which I did prepare for you. All Star.

[01:06:04] All Star resorts, they're all relatively close together, which means that the pool from the noise from the pools and just general traffic can be like worrisome if you get placed right there just because these are very traffic-y, very kid-friendly resorts. So I would anticipate that the noise could be a little bit higher. If you're near the main building, it can be just a little bit disruptive. I would keep that in mind. But I think the trade-off is really, really worth it. And I don't think it's going to be that bad.

[01:06:33] I mean, honestly, no matter what room you're in, there could be kid noise, honestly. Yeah. Yeah, I agree. The rooms are older, so they're on the smaller side. We kind of mentioned you may, if you are a family of four, but you're bigger, like you have bigger kids, it may become a little bit uncomfortable. Pro tip, if you are a family of five or you have older kids and you only have two adults, you can book guaranteed connecting rooms at these resorts.

[01:07:00] So my family of five could book two rooms with a guaranteed connecting door. So we have double the room space, not in a suite. You can do that up to eight guests as long as there's only two adults. So if what I just said sounds confusing, but intriguing all the same, reach out to your travel agent because that is one way to strategize and get to stay here. It's true. Yeah. And then one other advantage, just a reminder, the Disney buses stop at All-Star Sports first

[01:07:28] before the other resorts. Do you find that that's always, always true? Yeah, but you know, no, that's not always true because a lot of times during peak times, if you're like talking about leaving in the morning and then coming home late at night when it's the end of the day. Well, then it's going to be a designated bus. It's designated, right. Yeah, that's what I was going to say. So it's really only those midday situations where there's the crowds aren't as big and buses are kind of doing double duty like that. Yeah. Yeah. Only times of day where they're double duty. All right.

[01:07:58] Well, this was really a great little insight on, you know, All-Star Resorts. I don't want to ever have a reputation for not valuing the value. I love these resorts. I book a lot of families at these resorts. I absolutely see the impact that staying All-Star can have on your trip, your family's core memories, your conveniences and comforts. The impact is huge.

[01:08:23] For many M&Ms listening today, our magic word will be impact because I think staying value can really, really impact you in ways that you're going to keep with you forever. Totally. I would love to know that this episode is the one that pushes some people to take the leap towards staying on property that never have, that have just assumed it would be cheaper to stay off property. That would make me so happy because... I agree. Bring the debate... This is the way to go. Yeah. Yeah.

[01:08:51] Bring the debate into our Moms Find the Magic community. Let's talk about it because if you're really considering offsite versus All-Star, I think you might be considering ROM. Yeah. I know you are. I think there is a world that you don't realize exists and you're unlocking. Please just give it a try. Right? All right. Okay. I have some trivia for you. Are you ready? You know I am. It's going to be... These are pretty easy. Okay. And then I'll throw a couple hard ones in. All right. Which All-Star resort was the first one to open? I think you said sports. Is that right? It was sports.

[01:09:20] It was sports. Yay! Yep. It opened first in April of 1994, which is crazy. Yeah. Okay. At All-Star movies, which movie-themed section features giant characters from a film about toys? Okay. That one is All-Star movies. In which section? The section. The Toy Story section. Very good. Yep. Just as a reminder that... Thank you for these easy level questions. Thank you. Okay. Let's see. Which of these is not a section at All-Star movies?

[01:09:50] Is it Herbie the Love Bug, Toy Story, Fantasia, or The Little Giants? The Little Giants. There's no Little Giants section at any of the All-Stars. But there is football. There is football. There is football. So funny. Okay. Thank you again for the easy question. Thank you. What are the names of all three All-Star food courts? Oh. This is like a 1% club. This is nowhere near stressful. Grandstand is at Sports? No? The Grand?

[01:10:20] That's the Spirits Bar. That's not the food court. It's the poolside. It's Grandstand. I don't remember. Can you name one? Can you name one? The theater is... Hold on. The one for movies is something about a theater. Uh, Spotlight. It is Broadway. It is shiny. World premiere. World premiere. It is red carpet. I don't know. It's world premiere. It's world premiere. Yeah. World premiere.

[01:10:49] Do you have any of those? No. It's just the food court. Music is intermission. Music is intermission. Music is intermission. And sports is... Sports is... Home run? Football? I don't know. Yes. Football? Okay. Touchdown. Where do you get a touchdown? End zone. It's the end zone. It's the end zone. Gotcha. Now I might remember them. I needed these kind of interactive things to stick in my brain.

[01:11:18] Name all five sports represented in all-star sports. Okay. Oof. Surf. Surfing is... They're on the left. Tennis? Mm-hmm. Basketball? Baseball? Football? Nice. Good job. Up till the middle of the most. Which two all-star resorts have Disney characters featured in their main pool? Music has the three caballeros and movies with Fantasia. That's right. Very good.

[01:11:47] Here's another question for you. How many stories high are most of the statues at the all-star properties? Three. There you go. Easy number for me. Look at me. A number. I answered with a number. That was not the 1% club. No, it wasn't. No. You'd be a millionaire. If you appreciate this episode and you want to support the moms behind the magic, a great way to do it is to leave us a five-star review. Share this episode with your family and friends. Send it to your spouse or your friend that says you guys can't stay on property because it's not true.

[01:12:17] This episode can help prove your point. We'd love to hear what you think. So come share your thoughts. Share your photos. Share your debates. Bring the topics to the moms behind the magic Facebook community. Everybody in there is so friendly and so helpful. And we give a lot of call-outs here on the pod to people that communicate with us in that group. So join us there. And we will keep diving deep into these resorts until we have done every single one. But if there's one you're dying to hear about, you can let us know in our community as well.

[01:12:45] But that is going to do it for us here on another episode of The Moms Behind the Magic. And until next time, we're sending you fun, love, and joy. And we'll see you real soon. I know. And you know what? Let me tell you. Just watch our little Alabama team play in... Oh, that was baseball. That was basically the... Disaster. Disaster. Softball is not always easy. But that is the softball toss is the idea, right? Yeah. What was I going to say? I had another thought. I don't know. It went in. Shit.

[01:13:15] Could you hear that? My phone. Yeah. I know this is dumb. I need to pause here. I did not put on any of my blush. I am looking as white as I can be. You look fine. You're going to have to wait just a second. No, I need a little color. Two seconds. You're leaving this in. I'll put it at the end. I mean, look. This is very washed out. No glasses. Hold on. Two seconds. Really, it's just a bronzer.

[01:13:45] Just do a bronzer so that I'm not all one color. Big difference. Something's moving. Like your camera keeps like moving. Is it unstable? Like maybe when you move it, it's like my table. And then it stops. And then it does it. Like it's doing it right now. Right now, I'm not even touching anything. No, it's not. But now it's not. It only did it for like a second. I can tell. So it must be me touching the table. I can tell when your mic is moving. The microphone. Okay.

[01:14:14] I'll try to be aware. Thank you. Yeah. They gave us a direct link. Awesome. I still can do it. Okay. Okay. Hold on. And or like if I'm sure. Well, it's too complicated. Scratch. Scratch. Scratch. Okay. You're getting. What'd you say? I just lost you for a second. But I was going to smile and go. I'm sure it's there. Yeah. Right.

[01:14:45] Yeah. All right. We're going to. Hold on. Time out. Time out. I don't know. Podcast I listen to does a little bloop-a-doop. If you're at all. Oh, I think you said this. It is. Is that what you said? Yes. You mentioned it during the episode. Were you wrong? I might have been wrong. Cut that out. Cut that out. Okay. Um. I don't know because I have two different answers here. So just cut that out. By the way, you and I just did this.

[01:15:14] You and I just did this and we didn't talk to anybody about it. Like nobody even knows we did this. Look at us. We run the show. Wer riestert, der rostet. Zeit, Vorsorge neu zu denken. Mit dem neuen Scalable Altersvorsorge Depot wächst nicht nur dein eigenes Geld bis zu deiner Rente. Du holst dir obendrauf jedes Jahr bis zu 540 Euro Förderung vom Staat. Jetzt für das Scalable Altersvorsorge Depot voranmelden.

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