Being an annual passholder and going to Disney World as often as I do, I have many people asking me for tips, tricks, and reviews of the parks. Of course, I don't mind sharing all my Disney knowledge either, so I decided that after each trip I will give reviews on what I have done.
Disclaimer: I don't claim to be an expert, but I do feel like I have gone enough times to give adequate reviews. Also, these are just my personal opinions from my experiences, so please keep that in mind when reading my reviews. I would always suggest you experience these things for yourself!
The trip we took in September was the longest trip that we've taken. 11 days! We stayed in All Star Sports and Animal Kingdom Lodge (for one night), went to Night of Joy, Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party, had many dinning reservations, and even got the photo pass for this trip.
Since we did so much this trip, I am going to break up my reviews into parts.
For this first blog on my reviews, I will talk about the places we stayed.
The first resort we stayed in was All Star Sports.
Since we did so much this trip, I am going to break up my reviews into parts.
For this first blog on my reviews, I will talk about the places we stayed.
The first resort we stayed in was All Star Sports.
I will have to admit, we were not happy about our stay here.
When we first arrived I stayed in the car with our kids and my husband went to check us in. What was suppose to be something simple turned out to be two hours long!
Somehow our magic band (which is suppose to be our room key and tickets) accounts were tampered with and our reservations were all messed up. I can't give too much information about it because I was in the car for the most part. My husband said the first cast member was unable to help him and sent him to another desk so they could get it all fixed.
While this whole situation was irritating (Especially after being in the car for 10 hours), Disney really does know how to make things better! They gave us $100 cash back to make up for the inconvience and gave us Fast passes to Hollywood Studios (the park we were going to go to that night) because we spent so much time there we missed our scheduled fast passes.
After we got checked in, put our luggage in our room, we headed over to Hollywood Studios. While at Hollywood Studios, my husband got another call to check back in with the front desk at the resort because there were still problems with our magic bands, which they fixed quickly.
I know that this is a value resort on Disney property, but I do feel like it still needs to be held to the Disney standards and could use an update. The sink didn't drain properly and most (not all) of the staff didn't fell like they really enjoyed working there.
This was the first time we tipped Mousekeeping (housekeeping) and I feel like the care was careless. We didn't expect towel animals or anything special like that, but the room still had trash on the floor after they came through and one day the pillows weren't even placed in the correct spot, they were just thrown on the bed.
The pool was great though! We were right by a smaller pool (not the main one) and my kids (2 1/2 and 14 months) LOVED it! It was never too busy, and they provided life jackets for smaller children and beach balls for everyone to play with.
We are the type of Disney go-ers that are usually at the parks all day, so we are usually only at the resort to sleep at night. While this resort did the job, the beds weren't very comfortable. I would rather stay at a nicer off property resort.
Some perks about staying on resort are the free transportation, which with two littles in strollers is more of a hassle for us. We would rather drive ourselves in our own car (We get free parking with our annual passes). It is faster and we don't have to deal with a crowded bus. Also, my favorite perk, extra magic hours. Each day, at least one park will open early or stay open later and only guests who are staying on Disney resorts get to take advantage of these extra hours for even more park time!
On our last night, we stayed at Animal Kingdom lodge, and let me tell you, I want to stay there forever!!
I wish our stay was longer than one day, we didn't really get a chance to explore the resort like I wanted. Our room was somewhat far away from the bus stop, but there were windows to look out along our walk to see the animals. The view from our balcony was amazing and we enjoyed waking up to seeing the animals as much as the kids did!
The bed was much more comfortable than the one at All Star Sports and EVERY cast member we came across had the Disney spirit!
I want to stay at this resort again (if the funds allow) and take my time to explore it and eat at the restaurants there.
(Tip: You can visit any of the resorts on Disney property and check them out even if you aren't staying there)
Thanks for reading my review on the two resorts we stayed in during our September 2015 trip. If there is anything specific you would like me to review, please let me know!
~Alison Shane~
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