Category — q. Reviews

For the first page of this review, click here

MORE ON DISNEY’S POLYNESIAN RESORT

There are currently 8 official Disney owned and operated deluxe resorts at Walt Disney World.

In their recommended order for first time family visitors, they are

1. Polynesian
2. Wilderness Lodge
3. Animal Kingdom Lodge
4. Contemporary
5. Grand Floridian
6. Beach Club
7. Yacht Club
8. BoardWalk Inn

(Many of these also offer Disney Vacation Club studios and villas, all for rent to the general public–see this for more on the Disney Vacation Club resorts.)

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OVERVIEW: DISNEY’S POLYNESIAN RESORT

Our most recent stay confirms what this site has recommended since the day it was launched: for those who can afford it, Disney’s Polynesian Resort is the best place for first time family visitors to stay.

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For the first page of this review, click here.

MORE ON DISNEY’S SARATOGA SPRINGS RESORT AND SPA

There are currently 8 official Disney Vacation Club resorts at Walt Disney World.

However, I have come to count them as ten, because two of the resorts–Saratoga Springs and the Animal Kingdom Villas–have two very different areas.

In order of their appropriateness for first time family visitors to Walt Disney World, they are:

1. The Villas at Disney’s Wilderness Lodge
2. Disney’s Animal Kingdom Villas–Jambo House
3. Disney’s Animal Kingdom Villas–Kidani Village
4. Bay Lake Tower at Disney’s Contemporary Resort
5. The Villas at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort and Spa
6. Disney’s Beach Club Villas
7. Disney’s BoardWalk Villas
8. Disney’s Old Key West Resort
9. Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort and Spa, main resort
10. Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort and Spa, Treehouse Villas area.

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REVIEWS OF DISNEY WORLD HOTELS

There are dozens of hotel reviews on this site, based on my 170 stays in Disney-owned spaces, and two dozen stays in other on-property hotels that also offer early access to pre-booking Lightning Lane Multi Pass and Lightning Lane Single Pass rides, and/or access to its Early Entry program. This page brings to one place links to all of these reviews.

The hotels are grouped first by Disney owned and then those owned by others, and within groups by price category. See this for details on the features of the various resort price categories.

Within price categories, they are in order of how well they suit typical first time family visitors. See this for more on where to stay.

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To go to the first page of this review, click here.

MORE ON DISNEY’S ALL-STAR SPORTS RESORT

Disney’s All-Star Sports Resort officially celebrates “the fun and excitement of sports–including baseball, basketball, football, surfing and tennis…Guest rooms are divided into 5 pairs of 3-story buildings—each bright, whimsical pair is themed after one of the featured sports.”

It includes an arrival building called Stadium Hall, where you check in, buy tickets, catch the bus, and find the gift shop, the food court, etc.

Just outside Stadium Hall you will find the main pool, Surfboard Bay.  See photo.

All-Star Sports has 1920 rooms in ten identical three-story buildings, all with elevators.

These buildings are in five areas, each themed around a different sport. (See the first page of this review for a resort map.)

• Buildings 1 and 6, called “Surf’s Up”  (surfing), grouped around the main Surfboard Bay pool, and very close to Stadium Hall
• Buildings 7 and 10, “Touchdown” (American football), grouped around a playground designed to look like a football field, and close to Stadium Hall
• Buildings 8 and 9, “Homerun Hotel” (baseball), grouped around a second pool, the Grand Slam pool, and far from Stadium Hall (see below for a photo)
• Buildings 2 and 3, “Hoops Hotel” (basketball), quieter than those above, but more distant than the first two from Stadium Hall–most rooms in building 2 are closer than those in building 3
• Buildings 4 and 5, “Center Court” (tennis)–like Hoops Hotel, quieter than the first three, and like i,t further than the first two.  Building 5 is mostly closer to Stadium Hall than building 4.

All-Star Sports (and the other values) are often dinged for being “too large and spread-out.”

This is an inaccurate criticism, as each of the values fits into a much smaller footprint than any of the three larger moderates, leading to much less walking than at the moderates.

Like the other values, All-Star Sports has no sit-down restaurant. In Stadium Hall you will find a somewhat small food court and gift shops.

Among the values, Sport’s strength for first time visitors is a slightly higher degree of convenience than the other two All-Stars, as buses stop at Sports first both on the way in and the way back from the parks, and its theming, which will work great for kids interested in the sports it highlights.

Its negatives compared to the other values include thin Disney theming (All-Star Movies and Pop Century are both better with this, and Art of Animation much better) and a smaller food court than at Movies and Pop.

See this for more on distinctions among the values.

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EXTERNAL LINKS FOR DISNEY’S ALL-STAR SPORTS RESORT

• Official Walt Disney World All-Star Sports Site
• Wikipedia
• Disboards unofficial FAQ

MORE ON WHERE TO STAY AT DISNEY WORLD

• For where to stay, see this
  • For your next best choices, in order, see this
  • For picking your resort based on appeal to kids, see this
  • For picking your resort based on convenience, see this
  • For where not to stay, see this

• For what you get in each resort price category, see this
  • For Walt Disney World resort price seasons, see this
  • For resort reviews, see this
  • For the value resorts, see this
  • For the moderate resorts, see this
  • For the deluxe resorts, see this
  • For suites at the deluxe resorts, see this
  • For the Disney Vacation Club (“DVC”) Resorts, see this

• For a (geeky) overview of comparative room size, see this

• Large families should look at this, and also at
  • Large Families Looking for Value Pricing at Walt Disney World
  • Large Families Looking for Deluxe Accommodations at Disney World
  • Beds and Sleeping Spaces at the Walt Disney World Resorts
  • Renting Disney Vacation Club Points
  • Suites at Walt Disney World

• Military/DOD families should look at this

• Tightwads should look at this

• Families seeking the most comfortable place to stay should see this

Where to Stay    Resort Features by Price    Kid Appeal    Large Families

The Value Resorts   Art of Animation   Pop Century    Movies    Sports    Music

OVERVIEW: DISNEY’S ALL-STAR SPORTS RESORT

I’ve stayed at Disney’s Value Resorts more than a dozen times, at All-Star Sports most recently the week after Easter.

Disney’s Art of Animation Resort is number one among the values.

The rank of the rest for first time visitors is, in order,  Pop Century, All-Star Movies, All-Star Sports, and All-Star Music.

These last three All-Star Resorts are very close in their rankings. Of these three,

• All-Star Sports is the most convenient, but kid appealing only if your kids are into baseball, football, basketball, surfing, or tennis
• All-Star Movies is the most broadly kid-appealing, and the most comfortable of the three
• All-Star Music is the most compact, most lovely, and the only one with family suites

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