For the first page of this review of Disney’s All-Star Movies Resort, click here.
Disney’s All-Star Movies Resort completed a room refurb project in late 2019.
The key positive features of the refurb are the addition of queen beds and coffee makers, which, until a very similar refurb happened first at Pop Century, were unheard of in value resort standard rooms.
Less universally praised is the bright white color scheme–exacerbated by the loss of the colorful bed stripes, which has happened generally across Disney World resorts–and the fact that one of the queens is a fold down bed that disappears the table and chairs while it is down.
I had the chance to stay in one of these newly-refurbed All-Star Movies rooms in mid-September, so here’s a photo tour and my observations.
One side of the room has a thingy with the coffee maker above and the mini-fridge below, the dresser and TV, and a connecting door, if present.
This side of the room from the back.
The coffee thingy has multiple cubbies, a general feature of the value resort refurb program.
The drawer in the thingy contains the coffee and tea supplies, and also drinking and coffee cups.
The mini-fridge, as is common in new Disney World rooms, has a glass front so you can see what’s inside without opening it. I popped a shelf out of its supports with my book, but I fixed it later!
The dresser has drawers on one side and shelving and a safe on the other, is flanked with two sets of power points each of which can charge four devices, and is topped with a 54-inch TV.
The three drawers are 31 inches by 13 inches but only 4.5 inches tall.
There is still much more storage in these new rooms than in the pre-refurb rooms at the All-Stars–their dresser/ mini-fridge combo is shown above.
Back to the refurbed room, next to the drawers are shelves and a safe.
I measured the safe as 19 inches by 15 inches by 6.5 inches tall.
By the connecting door you’ll find this coat rack.
In the back of the room are the sinks, closet, and, in a separate space, the toilet and shower.
Following the details of the Pop Century here as in most other matters, the overall bath and dressing area are now closed off from the rest of the room with a sliding solid door, rather than the fabric curtain you’ll find in un-refurbed value resort rooms (and the Port Orleans moderates).
Here’s the sliding door closed.
Note all the crannies and cubbies around the sink.
The cubbies to the left of the sink have the hair dryer and iron.
On the right side of the sink you’ll find this new make-up mirror.
On the side of this space is a solid hanging closet. There’s 19 inches of hanging space inside.
The toilet and tub are enclosed by this two-part sliding door.
The tub is enclosed with sliding doors–a more straightforward arrangement for most than a billowing shower curtain, but an awkwardness for bathing children.
The shower has a rain fall head, but not the hand-held shower head that also comes with the Pop refurb. Other minor differences from the Pop refurb: no luggage rack (at least not in room 9751) and no extension to the clothes rod on the ironing board side of the closet.
The toiletries are in the bottles that we’ve been seeing in recent refurbs across the resort.
Some of the refurbed Pop rooms only have showers, no tubs. I don’t yet know if that’s the case with Movies as well.
Back into the main area, the other side of the room has a table and chairs and a fixed queen bed.
The bed side from the back. Note the seven visible pillows–there’s one more in the closet.
A closer view of the fixed queen…
…and of the art above it. Just with this, these refurbed All-Stars Movies rooms have more Disney theming than any other value resort rooms except refurbed Pop rooms and the Little Mermaid rooms in Art of Animation…and there’s more to come.
Another feature of this refurbed All-Star Movies room is space under the bed for storing your suitcases. There’s 14.5 inches of clearance, which will fit most rolly bags. I stuck mine in sideways to show how much clearance there is.
There’s a table with a cubby below and power points above between the bed and bath wall…
…and another between the bed and table.
The distinctive feature of this room is the fold down bed, found behind this table and chairs.
Stack the chairs in the corner…
…pull the two handles, and the table disappears and this bed replaces it.
Nephews also appear.
I measured the fold-down bed as 59 inches by 79 inches–just an inch short on both dimensions of being a queen, but it’s so much larger than a full (which would be 54″ by 74″) that none can quibble at calling it a queen.
The mattress is a full 12 inches deep–as deep as that of the fixed queen. This bed is entirely appropriate for adults, and in fact adults might prefer it, as they can put the kids in the fixed queen and use the table until they themselves are ready for sleep.
There is yet another table and cubby and power point between the fold-down bed and outer wall.
The addition of the queen-sized beds and coffeemaker is a clear win, as is the safe, the shower head, the sliding solid door to the bath area, and the make-up mirror. The loss of the table when both beds are down is a bit of a pain, but as noted there are a couple of work-arounds–e.g. putting the table users in that bed.
And I know I repeat myself, but queen beds and a coffee maker wildly improve the livability of these rooms.
THEMED AREAS AT DISNEY’S ALL-STAR MOVIES RESORT
This review continues here.
TOPICS IN THIS REVIEW OF DISNEY’S ALL-STAR MOVIES RESORT
- Overview of All-Star Movies
- Photo Tour of a Refurbed Room at All-Star Movies
- The Themed Areas at All-Star Movies
- Amenities at All-Star Movies
- The Pools at All-Star Movies
OTHER KEY PAGES FOR WHERE TO STAY AT DISNEY WORLD
- Where to stay–the Basics
- Where first-timers should stay
- Reviews of all the Disney World resorts, based on my 150+ stays in them
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They changed it. We stayed in Sports in 2014. I really loved the runners at the ends of the beds. These new beds just all look….one neutral. But, I like a lot of Disney color, and I know that in other places design is trending more towards more “grown up” and less bright colors, such as all the disappointing (to me and my kids at least) refurbishments of the McDonalds play places of recent years—making them more appealing to adults, less “little kid.” In these new Disney rooms I do love the appearance of the DuckTales characters though. And I’m glad that I saw in advance that they’d changed the rooms or I would have been very surprised next time I booked an All Star. Thanks!
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Jane, I agree, especially about the runners, which added a lot.
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I’ve stayed at Sports and Pop before and to me this seems very…..sterile. They took away a lot of touches that made the All Stars cute. There used to be a more little pics of Disney characters everywhere. Did it feel that way in person, or were there enough Disney touches to make it fun?
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Hi Jane, I actually disagree with you on this one (but I’m sure we agree on everything else!!) I have a photo tour of e.g. a Sports room here. All that’s in it is a piece of art, wallpaper borders, and the shower curtain.
I find the images above the fixed bed…
…and revealed when the hide-a-bed comes down…
to be in sum much cuter!
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Is the occupancy still the same? (four + infant). Looks way better!
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Hi Sarah, yup, still 4 plus a wombat younger than three in a crib.
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We stayed in a refurbed room for one night in August. We definitely liked the rooms and are planning on staying there again in March. I do feel as though when both beds are down the room seems noticeably smaller. We had a stroller with us so trying to keep that out of the way and have the chairs from the table stacked and out of the way made things a little tighter. Again, we liked the room and are excited to be going back.
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Hi Stephanie, yeah the new beds take up about 13 more square feet when down than the old beds, which doesn’t sound like a lot but there’s not a lot to start with!
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