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For the  first page of this review of Disney’s All-Star Sports Resort, click here.

THE POOLS AT DISNEY’S ALL-STAR SPORTS RESORT

Each of Disney’s All-Star Resorts has two pools. There’s a larger one between two accommodations buildings just outside of the central lobby/dining/shops area, and a smaller one back in a different area.

At All-Star Sports, the larger main pool is between the Surf’s Up buildings. Here you’ll also find pool games played with Disney cast members, and evening movies.

The smaller one–but not that small–is over between the Homerun Hotel buildings, and is themed as a baseball infield, with  Goofy on the pitcher’s mound.

The larger Surfboard Bay pool:

From another angle:

Movies show here many nights. Each of the All-Stars has a different movie schedule, so also check out what is playing at All-Star Music–a short walk away.

Nearby is a kid’s play pool.

The play pool at night.

There’s also pool-side ping pong tables. A little away from the pool is a playground.

Between the pool area and the food court (and serving both) you’ll find this bar.

Deeper in the resort in the Homerun Hotel area is the Grand Slam pool, themed as a baseball infield with Goofy on the pitcher’s mound.

Another view of the Grand Slam pool. The “bases” are raised to just a few inches below the water level. This makes them one of the best places to sunbathe in all of Walt Disney World!

The Grand Slam pool at night

None of the pools at Disney’s value resorts have slides, and they also sometimes don’t provide towels–you are to bring your towels from your room. (Call housekeeping if you need more.)

MATERIAL IN THIS REVIEW OF DISNEY’S ALL-STAR SPORTS RESORT

• Disney’s All-Star Sports Resort overview and summary
• Accommodations and theming at All-Star Sports
• A photo tour of a standard room at All-Star Sports
• Amenities at All-Star Sports
• The pools at All-Star Sports

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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For the  first page of this review of Disney’s All-Star Sports Resort, click here.

ACCOMMODATIONS AT DISNEY’S ALL-STAR SPORTS RESORT

Disney’s All-Star Sports Resort is one of 5 value resorts at Walt Disney World:

• Disney’s All-Star Sports Resort, opened in April 1994
• Disney’s All-Star Music Resort, opened in November 1994
• Disney’s All-Star Movies Resort, opened in January 1999
• Disney’s Pop Century Resort, opened in December 2003
• Disney’s Art of Animation Resort, opened in May 2012

Each of these five has four-person standard rooms, and for standard rooms, for most families Art of Animation is the best choice, followed by Pop Century. All-Star Sports is the fourth best choice.

Art of Animation rooms are the most expensive, and next Pop Century. The All-Stars all have the same, lowest pricing. While prices vary tremendously over the year, on average the All-Stars are around $40 less per night than Pop Century, and $80 less per night than Art of Animation.

Four person room sizes are similar across all five value resorts.  Art of Animation has the best theming, and All-Stars Sports and Music the weakest (unless your family particularly resonates with the depicted themes at these two).

Until recently, all four person value resort standard rooms offered two full beds (the beds at Sports are shown above), but now, rooms at Pop Century, All-Star Movies and All-Star Music offer queen beds. All-Star Sports rooms have begun a similar refurb to queen beds.  As they emerge between now and mid-2023, refurbed rooms will look like these.

Above is the floor plan of a full-bed room at All-Star Sports. There’s a full photo tour of a room at All-Star Sports beginning here. There are also a few king bed rooms here–I believe they are all in accessible rooms–but king bed rooms are not a separately bookable class, though you can call and request one.

There’s two price classes of rooms here–preferred rooms and standard rooms. Preferred rooms are closer to the main pool and the central services in and bus stop outside Stadium Hall.

THE THEMED AREAS AT 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.”

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.

Buildings 1 and 6, called “Surf’s Up” (surfing), are grouped around the main Surfboard Bay pool, and very close to Stadium Hall.

Buildings 7 and 10, “Touchdown” (American football), are grouped around a playground designed to look like a football field, and close to Stadium Hall.

Buildings 8 and 9, “Homerun Hotel” (baseball), are grouped around a second pool, the Grand Slam pool, that is designed to look like a ball field (the pool is the infield) and far from Stadium Hall.

Buildings 2 and 3, “Hoops Hotel” (basketball), are 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, are quieter than the first three areas, and like it, further than the first two.  Building 5 is mostly closer to Stadium Hall than building 4. The area between buildings has Donald and the boys playing on a tennis court.

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.

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 full beds, thin Disney theming (All-Star Movies and Pop Century are both better with this, and Art of Animation much better) and more raucous kids. See this for more on distinctions among the values.

A PHOTO TOUR OF A STANDARD ROOM AT DISNEY’S ALL-STAR SPORTS RESORT

This review continues here.

MATERIAL IN THIS REVIEW OF DISNEY’S ALL-STAR SPORTS RESORT

• Disney’s All-Star Sports Resort overview and summary
• Accommodations and theming at All-Star Sports
• A photo tour of a standard room at All-Star Sports
• Amenities at All-Star Sports
• The pools at All-Star Sports

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

Follow yourfirstvisit.net on Facebook or Twitter or Pinterest!!

DISNEY WORLD 2016 PLANNING TOOLS

Over the last few days, I’ve updated a number of key planning tools for Disney World in 2016.

Based on my completed analysis of 2016 public school breaks (covering 12.4 million kids from almost 200 school districts), I’ve updated my 2016 Disney World crowd calendar.

No week had its crowd ranking changed by more than one point on my 1-11 point scale, and no week changed “class”–that is all the former green weeks are still green, all red still red, etc. Changes are all within classes– “Low” to “Low-Plus,” “High” to “High-Minus”, etc.

Disney’s 2016 prices came out a week ago, and these are now fully updated in my 2016 Disney World Price Seasons, which until then had been projections.

Disney World made major price season changes at the values and moderates from mid-August 2016 until almost the end of October 2016. As a result of particularly large increases in the second half of this period, many projected “Low” price weeks shifted into “Moderate” prices in the second half of September and October.

The combined effects of crowd and price changes led to a number of weeks shifting ranks in my 2016 Disney World Week Rankings. My week rankings are aimed at first-timers who may never return, and are based on first chunking weeks by attractiveness, then, within chunks, sorting by first crowds, then prices. (More detail on how the week rankings are constructed is here.  The story at the link is about 2015, not 2016, but the principles are eternal.)

However, no week changed class. For example, all previously recommended weeks are still recommended, all weeks that used to be “not so keen” are still classed as “not so keen,” etc.  What’s changed is position within the classes.

In general, there’s nothing in these revisions to make you rethink a week you’d already targeted with one exception.  If you were targeting later September or October based on traditional prices at the moderates or values, note that prices have gone up a lot these weeks. For example, compared to the same weeks in 2015, Little Mermaid rooms at Art of Animation are up 17%, All-Star Sports up 16%, Caribbean Beach up 7%, Riverside and French Quarter up 12%.

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DISNEY WORLD SPRING BREAK CROWDS IN 2016

Walt Disney World Spring Break crowds are typically governed by two and a quarter factors:

• Public school Spring Break calendars, which are still largely framed around Easter but vary more than you might think
• The demand of snow-belters for a break from winter weather, which peaks in March, and
• The quarter factor, the date of President’s day.  Later President’s Days (which can range from February 15 to February 21) tend to make the first part of March better

An early Easter combines the first two factors, making for more than the usual horrible crowds in March but a great April; a late Easter spreads the first two factors out, yielding some good early March and early April weeks.

Easter 2016, on March 27, is early in its possible range. President’s Day 2016–covered in more detail here–is also early, February 16. Unusually, Passover 2016 is decoupled from Easter, and begins April 22.

As a result, 2016 Spring Break crowds at Walt Disney World will be

• Bad Presidents Day Week
• Fine the weeks beginning February 20th and February 27th
• Bad the week beginning March 5
• Very rough the weeks beginning March 12, 19, and 26
• ..and back to fine after April 2.  The weeks of April 2nd and 23rd may in fact have more crowds than I am forecasting, but not enough to move them into the “bad” category.

2016 PUBLIC SCHOOL SPRING BREAKS AND THEIR EFFECTS ON WALT DISNEY WORLD CROWDS

Although more and more school districts are moving away from an Easter-centered Spring Break, the plurality of kids still have the weeks before Easter or following Easter off.

As a result, the single biggest factor determining better and worse Spring Break weeks at Walt Disney World is the date of Easter–which can range from March 22 to April 25.

A later Easter has a couple of different effects: first, it spreads out the dates of breaks for school districts that don’t frame their breaks around Easter, and second, if particularly late, will push districts that typically take the week after Easter off into the week before Easter instead, to keep from compressing their May academic calendars.  

An earlier Easter has the opposite effects.  Districts that traditionally try to take the week after Easter off will be able to do so, and districts that don’t base their calendars on Easter will be largely compressed into a couple of March weeks.

The date of President’s Day–which can range from February 15 to February 21–also has an effect. Because many districts both have a spring break and also take the week of  President’s Day off, the later President’s Day is, the better early March will be–as parents avoid taking their kids out of school the weeks after a long President’s Day break.

The effect of the various dates in 2016 is to compress most 2016 school spring breaks into three consecutive weeks: those beginning March 12, March 19, and 26.  There’s also breaks clustered the weeks of April 2, 16, and 23rd, but since these weeks are not nearly as attractive to snow birds, I don’t forecast they will be bad.

ACTUAL 2016 SPRING BREAKS

The chart above illuminates this.

It’s based on data from a weighted sample including more than 165 of the largest relevant US public school districts.

(For how the database is built, see this. Weekends are in black, except Easter, in red. Click the image to enlarge it.)

President’s Day week–not charted, but see this–has a crowd ranking of 10/higher.  Crowds will start to show beginning the Thursday before and remain high through the 20th.

Next to no kids are on break in 2016 between the week after President’s Day and March 5. I rate the week beginning February 20 4/low-plus crowds–higher early in the week, better later.  The week beginning February 27 is rated 3/low crowds. Both of these are recommended weeks.

The week beginning March 5, 2016 has fewer kids on break than I thought I’d see when I published my draft crowd calendar 9 months ago, so I’ve bumped it down to 8/high-minus crowds. It may even turn out to be a moderate crowd week–but don’t bet on it.

The weeks beginning March 12, 19 and 26 have a lot of kids on break, and even more visitors coming to take a break from the snow. For 2016, I rate all three as 11/highest crowds.

Only scattered districts are on break in April 2016–e.g., Georgia districts the week of the 2nd, Massachusetts districts the week of the 16th, and New York districts the week of the 23rd–and people escaping winter are much less prevalent in April compared to March.

So I don’t see any real crowding issues from April 2, 2016 through mid-May. Almost all of these later spring weeks are recommended. If I’m wrong, the weeks of the 2nd and 23rd will be worse than I’m forecasting–but still OK.

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Steve Bell is breaking the news that the Armed Forces Salute has been extended “to 20 December 2015 for Disney Armed Forces Salute Tickets and 23 December 2015 for Room Discounts.”

See Steve’s material here for important details!

Friend of the site Kelly B can book Armed Forces Salute room discounts. Contact her  at 980-429-4499 or kellyb@destinationsinflorida.com.

Kelly not only will book your trip, but also help you (for free) with

• Itinerary planning, including advising on and booking your FastPass+
• Dining suggestions and reservation planning
• Future discount searches – Ongoing searching for future discounts to apply to your vacation
• Free “Mouse Perks” – tips, updates, and fun freebies

And, for qualifying trips Kelly and her agency, Destinations in Florida, will get you a free copy of The easy Guide to Your First Walt Disney World Visit, the best-reviewed Disney World guidebook in history, after it comes out later this year!

Kelly cannot book Armed Forces Salute tickets–just the room deals.

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Welcome back to Fridays with Jim Korkis! Jim, the dean of Disney historians and author of Jim’s Gems in The easy Guide, writes about Walt Disney World history every Friday on yourfirstvisit.net.

HOMAGES TO ECHO PARK

By Jim Korkis

On the first 1989 guide maps, the area that today is known as “Echo Lake” at what was then called Disney MGM Studios was referred to as “Lakeside Circle.”

However, even then this area of what became Disney’s Hollywood Studios was meant to be an homage to the real Echo Park that was built and opened in Los Angeles in 1895. Hence the name change to Echo Lake.

Before the development of Hollywood as the motion picture capital, most of the Los Angeles film industry was centered in a different place, the Echo Park area, including Mack Sennett’s Keystone Studios, which was located on Keystone Street (now part of Glendale Boulevard).

Sennett was known for his outstanding silent movie comedies, including those starring the frantic and inept Keystone Kops as well as Charlie Chaplin, and often used the Echo Park as the setting for some of those wacky comedies.

At today’s Disney’s Hollywood Studios, the Keystone Clothiers building stands at the entranceway to the Echo Park area as a clever reference to that early filmmaker.

Just a few feet from the street sign that says “Keystone Street” is Peevy’s Polar Pipeline, featuring frozen Coca-Cola Concoctions, as well as regular soft drinks and assorted snacks.

When the park opened in 1989, this location was known as Lakeside News, a newsstand that sold a variety of magazines. The architectural inspiration for the façade of the building was a fire station on Pasadena Avenue in Lincoln Heights, built in 1940 but still in operation today.

The location was reformatted and named “Peevy’s” to reference the mechanic character from the Touchstone Pictures film “The Rocketeer” (1991). The film was set in 1938 Los Angeles so it fits in quite well with the park’s theme of Hollywood of the Thirties and Forties.

The location is filled with wonderful details including vintage welding tanks. A close examination of the menu will reveal that it is printed on faded blueprints for the famous Rocketeer rocket pack.

Sharp-eyed fans will also notice that to the left of the stand is an actual rocket pack used in the movie. Just above it is a helmet (actually a stunt helmet from the film because it is wider, making it easier for a stunt man to remove in the air during a dangerous maneuver).

To the right side is a door with the logo for the Holly-Vermont Realty Office. This was the location of Walt Disney’s first studio in Hollywood. When he signed the contract for the first Alice Comedies, he went to this office looking to rent an inexpensive space for the new Disney Brothers Studio.

The owners rented him a room in their building for ten dollars a month from October 1923 to February 1924, when Walt moved to a larger space next door on Kingswell Avenue. The sign in the upper window listing “Space for Rent” suggests that Walt has already moved out to bigger and better things.

The Art Deco restaurant Hollywood and Vine, the “Cafeteria to the Stars”, is modeled after a cafeteria that once stood at 1725 North Vine, near Hollywood Blvd. Before the dawn of fast food, these cafeterias provided actors (and Walt and Roy as well) with inexpensive and varied choices.

Along the inside wall of Hollywood and Vine is a beautiful 42 foot by 8 foot mural depicting some of the highlights of the Hollywood area, including the Disney Studios and the Carthay Circle Theater.

There are many more secrets and stories waiting to be discovered in this quiet and beautiful section of Disney Hollywood Studios for the curious Disney fan willing to spend some time reliving the Hollywood of the past.

*  *  *  *  *

Come back next Friday for more from Jim Korkis.

In the meantime, check out his books, including The Vault of Walt, Who’s Afraid of the Song of the South?, and The Book of Mouse, and his contributions to The easy Guide to Your First Walt Disney World Visit, all published by Theme Park Press.

MORE DISNEY WORLD HISTORY POSTS FROM JIM KORKIS

• “Summer Magic” on Main Street
• Muppets and Mama Melrose
• Peter Dominick and the Wilderness Lodge
• Dixie Landing and Port Orleans Riverside
• The History of Splash Mountain
• The First Disney World Hotel
• The “Sharing the Magic” Statue
• The First Disney World Monorails
• The Water Park River Country
• The Epcot Fountain
• The Fireplace at the Wilderness Lodge
• Sid Cahuenga at Disney’s Hollywood Studios
• Spaceship Earth
• Downtown Disney
• The Missing Resorts
• Echo Park Homages
• Typhoon Lagoon

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