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For the first page of this review of the Family Suites at All-Star Music, click here.

THE FAMILY SUITE BEDS AT ALL-STAR MUSIC

One key difference between the Family Suites at All-Star Music and those at Art of Animation is the number of beds.

Each has a queen in the master bedroom and a two-person fold-out sofa. After that come the differences:

• The final two spots at Art of Animation are together in a fold-down dining table sleeping two
• The final two spots in All-Star Music are in two separate beds, one folding out of an ottoman, the other folding out of a chair

These last two sleeping spots are much more comfortable at Art of Animation, but–so long as one of your kids is short and light, and also has not named you in his or her will–much more flexible at All-Star Music.

THE OTTOMAN BED AT ALL-STAR MUSIC

The most challenging bed in the Music family suites is the ottoman bed.

The top cushion and fabric sides of the ottoman lift right off, revealing that the rest of the ottoman structure is a cot-like folded bed.

I measured the bed that folds out of the ottoman as 3o inches wide by 72 inches long.

I slept on each of the beds at All-Star Music for at least half a night except this one, as it took only seconds to discover that it’s far too uncomfortable for adult-sized people, and likely for anyone over 60 pounds or so.

The issue is the thin cushion–which I measured as 3 inches deep–interacting with the metal frame and suspension.

The cushion is suspended near the head on woven fabric (see the image of the folded bed above), in the middle on two metal bars, and near the foot on metal wire.

You can see all three suspensions in the image above.  The problem is with the two metal rails that hold up the middle part of the bed.  The cushion is so thin that these press right into your body if you are tall, heavy, or both.

A really little kid won’t notice these rails, as the first rail is 31 inches from the head of the bed–and a lightweight but taller kid won’t notice them either.  But I wouldn’t put a kid heavier than say 60 pounds on this bed, or there will be no end to the whining.

The bed that unfolds from the red chair has a similar suspension, but, with a four-inch deep cushion, is not nearly as uncomfortable.  I slept fine on this bed.

This bed pulls out–and has two pillows tucked inside the foot of the chair.

I measured this bed as 28 inches wide by 74 inches long, with a four-inch cushion.

The last bed in the living room is the sofa bed.

I measured it as 55 inches wide by 77 inches long.  Its cushion is also 4 inches thick, and comfort is fine.

Like the chair bed, this bed also has two pillows stored inside.

Figuring out where to put all three beds is tricky.  The ottoman not only is easily movable, but also has to be moved, as both its bed and the chair bed can’t take up the same space.

See the floor plan for the issue–you can easily block the bathroom with the ottoman bed, or, at the other end of the living room, block the door.  I found a way to tuck it in by the table.  See the photo that begins this page for how it fits there.

A less awkward layout is possible if you move the side tables away from the couch, and move the couch as close to the wall by the entrance door as possible.  This creates just enough room to put the head of the ottoman bed between the sofa bed and the chair bed.  But that sofa is heavy!

For families with odd numbers of boy and girls, having three sleeping spots can be a real advantage for All-Star Music Family Suites compared to the two sleeping spots for the kids in the Family Suites at Art of Animation.

But pragmatically, this will only work if your littlest kid is short or light enough for the ottoman bed to not be uncomfortable…

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

PHOTO TOUR OF THE FAMILY SUITES AT ALL-STAR MUSIC

Note: these suites began a refurb in late 2019 expected to be complete in 2021. It looks like the three folding beds in the living area will be replaced by two drop-down queen beds, and the dining and bath area near the master bedroom are being re-arranged so that the bath becomes private to the master bedroom.

Resorts are ranked on this site for first time family visitors based first on their kid appeal, and then on their convenience.

On this basis, the Family Suites at All-Star Music are the second-best choice for larger families seeking value pricing, after the Family Suites at Art of Animation.

Art of Animation has much more kid-appeal than All-Star Music, and a bit more convenience. (For more on All-Star Music, the overall resort within which the Family Suites at All-Star Music are found, see this.)

However, the Family Suites at Art of Animation are not just a clone of those at All-Star Music.  There are differences in floor plans and livability that may make a difference to some families, and Art of Animation is quite a bit more expensive.

So I’ll do a space by space comparison by means of a photo-tour of the All-Star Music Family Suites. To avoid confusion, all the images on this page will be of Music; you can find the equivalents from Art of Animation here.

PHOTO TOUR OF ALL-STAR MUSIC FAMILY SUITES

Starting outside the room itself, the corridors at Music are outside, and the corridors at Art of Animation are inside. This means heated and cooled, so in general that’s a plus for AofA.

However, the design also means that any corridor at Art of Animation has twice as much traffic as at Music (because there are half as many of them…), and there’s more reason for people to use them (since they are heated and cooled).

This results in much more corridor noise at Art of Animation in general, and particularly on the first floor corridors that lead from the elevator bank to the direction of the main building, main pool, and bus stops.

Inside the rooms, Music has a larger and more livable living space than Art of Animation.

The smaller chair (the red one) is much larger than the equivalent chair at AofA, and as a result the chair and sofa together can seat 5, compared to 4 at AofA.

The two large, cushioned ottomans have no real equivalent at AofA.  Overall, the living room Music can comfortably seat a family of 6, while the living room at AofA can seat six, but not comfortably.

The other side of the Music living room has an area with drawers and a TV, and a small table and chairs.

The table is much smaller than the equivalent at Art of Animation, which has a real dining table, and Music has only chairs for three (the third chair coming from the desk in the master bedroom).

The Art of Animation dining table will almost fit six–though two will be uncomfortable, as only four of its seating spots have knee space.

Art of Animation has a little more drawer space than Music, but this is a little deceiving, as Music has more overall storage space, with much larger closets, and many more storage shelves and cabinets in its mini kitchen than that in AofA.

Here’s an example of one of the two identical closet areas in the Music bath spaces.

The baths at Art of Animation win over those at Music in every way but one.  Their sink areas have actual doors for privacy and quiet, and decor that’s both lovelier and more kid-appealing.

The dimension where some families may find a difference is that one of the two baths at AofA is entered from the master bedroom, while both baths at Music can be accessed without entering the master bedroom.

Some parents will prefer the AofA private bath; others, on the theory that the kids will use both regardless of their wishes, will prefer that at Music, where the kids don’t have to come into their room to use either bath.

The mini-kitchen at Music is much better than that at AofA.

At Art of Animation, it’s a 4×2 foot space in the corner of the living room; Music has an alcove mini-kitchen with much more counter and storage space.

For first time family visitors–who won’t be using this space much–it hardly matters, and both spaces have the same equipment–coffee maker, mini-fridge, microwave.  But for families intending to really work out their microwave and store a lot of food, All-Star Music prevails.

Here’s the mini-fridge…

…the microwave and coffeemaker…

…and some of the supplies the kitchen comes with.

Overall, the master bedroom at Music is better than at Art of Animation. The beds are equivalent…

…but Music has both an easy chair…

…and a desk, both of which the master at AofA lacks.

This lets the master bedroom serve better as a retreat from the kids than the equivalent space at AofA.

The master at Art of Animation has more in-room storage than Music, has closet rods in the room itself (at Music they are outside the room, in the bath area) and, as noted above, has “private” access to the second bath.

So here’s where we are so far: compared to those at All-Star Music, Art of Animation Family Suites have MUCH better kid appeal, and slightly better convenience; the dining space at Art of Animation is much better and the baths largely better.  Music Family Suites have more livable living rooms and master bedrooms, and a more flexible mini-kitchen.

THE FAMILY SUITE BEDS AT ALL-STAR MUSIC

One key difference between the Family Suites at All-Star Music and those at Art of Animation is the number of beds.

Each has a queen in the master bedroom and a two-person fold-out sofa. After that come the differences:

• The final two spots at Art of Animation are together in a fold-down dining table sleeping two
• The final two spots in All-Star Music are in two separate beds, one folding out of an ottoman, the other folding out of a chair

These last two sleeping spots are much more comfortable at Art of Animation, but–so long as one of your kids is short and light, and also has not named you in his or her will–much more flexible at All-Star Music.

The most challenging bed in the Music family suites is the ottoman bed.

The top cushion and fabric sides of the ottoman lift right off, revealing that the rest of the ottoman structure is a cot-like folded bed.

I measured the bed that folds out of the ottoman as 3o inches wide by 72 inches long.

I slept on each of the beds at All-Star Music for at least half a night except this one, as it took only seconds to discover that it’s far too uncomfortable for adult-sized people, and likely for anyone over 60 pounds or so.

The issue is the thin cushion–which I measured as 3 inches deep–interacting with the metal frame and suspension.

The cushion is suspended near the head on woven fabric (see the image of the folded bed above), in the middle on two metal bars, and near the foot on metal wire.

You can see two of these three suspensions in the image above.  The problem is with the two metal rails that hold up the middle part of the bed.  The cushion is so thin that these press right into your body if you are tall, heavy, or both.

A really little kid won’t notice these rails, as the first rail is 31 inches from the head of the bed–and a lightweight but taller kid won’t notice them either.  But I wouldn’t put a kid heavier than say 60 pounds on this bed, or there will be no end to the whining.

The bed that unfolds from the red chair has a similar suspension, but, with a four-inch deep cushion, is not nearly as uncomfortable.  I slept fine on this bed.

This bed pulls out–and has two pillows tucked inside the foot of the chair.

I measured this bed as 28 inches wide by 74 inches long, with a four-inch cushion.

The last bed in the living room is the sofa bed. It also has pillows tucked inside.

I measured it as 55 inches wide by 77 inches long.  Its cushion is also 4 inches thick, and comfort is fine.

Figuring out where to put all three beds is tricky.  The ottoman not only is easily movable, but also has to be moved, as both its bed and the chair bed can’t take up the same space.

You can easily block the bathroom with the ottoman bed, or, at the other end of the living room, block the door.  I found a way to tuck it in by the table.  See the photo that begins this section for how it fits there.

A less awkward layout is possible if you move the side tables away from the couch, and move the couch as close to the wall by the entrance door as possible.  This creates just enough room to put the head of the ottoman bed between the sofa bed and the chair bed.  But that sofa is heavy!

For families with odd numbers of boy and girls, having three sleeping spots can be a real advantage for All-Star Music Family Suites compared to the two sleeping spots for the kids in the Family Suites at Art of Animation.

But pragmatically, this will only work if your littlest kid is short or light enough for the ottoman bed to not be uncomfortable…

AMENITIES AT DISNEY’S ALL-STAR MUSIC RESORT

This review continues here.

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

• Overview of All-Star Music
• Accommodations and Theming at All-Star Music
• Photo Tour of a Standard Room at All-Star Music
• The Family Suites at All-Star Music
• Photo Tour of a Family Suite at All-Star Music
• Amenities at All-Star Music
• The Pools at All-Star Music

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 Music Resort, click here.

FAMILY SUITES AT DISNEY’S ALL-STAR MUSIC RESORT

Among the value resorts, six-person Family Suites are available at two hotels—Disney’s All-Star Music Resort and Disney’s Art of Animation Resort.

While in the past, the differences between these were quite stark, all to the disadvantage of Family Suites at All-Star Music, after the recent refurb at Music spaces at Music became much more comparable. Key changes at Music that make these items now comparable to Art of Animation include

• Much more comfortable queen beds
• A second bath that is now private to the master bedroom
• A dining table that has room and chairs for four

If money does not matter, Art of Animation is still the better choice, as it has insuperable advantages in

• Theming, both inside and outside the Family Suites
• Transportation, with Skyliner access to Epcot and Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and not-shared buses to the other parks (Music sometimes shares some buses with the other All-Stars at off-peak times)
• Food quality in its food court, with Pop Century’s almost equally good food court not far way

For this, you will pay for Family Suites at Music on average $185/per night less than you’ll pay at Art of Animation. Over my recommended eight-night stay, that’s almost $1,500 less…

PHOTO TOUR OF A FAMILY SUITE AT DISNEY’S ALL-START MUSIC RESORT

Note: the images of a Family Suite at Disney’s All-Star Music Resort that follow are screenshots from a Disney YouTube video.

I’ll add many more photos—and an updated floor plan—after my September visit.

Family Suites at Disney’s All-Star Music Resort sleep six in an area combined from two standard rooms. This means that they have more square feet per possible person and also more bath capacity per possible person than standard four-person value resort rooms. At a stroke, this solves the major problem of such rooms, their small size.

What used to be one entire standard room is the living dining area for all, with a common bath in the back.

You’ll note that neither the seating area nor the dining table will comfortably seat this six people this space can hold—the same is true at Art of Animation.

The prior Rube-Goldberg-esque set of sleeping arrangements has been replace by two queen beds that fold down from the walls, taking away as they do so the couch and dining table.

The beds folded down.

The other half of the space includes a kitchenette (with a fridge, microwave, and coffeemaker), the master bath, and the master bedroom.

Compared to the old floor plan at Music, the master bath and kitchenette have been flopped, making the master bath now accessible only from the master bedroom.

The master bedroom keeps its upholstered chair—although many families will carry it into the living room—and loses the old desk, as most Disney rooms have lost whatever desks they had over the most recent set of refurbs.

All in this set of changes is a great improvement, and Family Suites at Disney’s All-Star Music Resort are now a much mor livable and competitive option than they were before.

AMENITIES AT DISNEY’S ALL-STAR MUSIC

This review continues here.

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

• Overview of All-Star Music
• Accommodations and Theming at All-Star Music
• Photo Tour of a Standard Room at All-Star Music
• The Family Suites at All-Star Music
• Amenities at All-Star Music
• The Pools at All-Star Music

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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Update July 21, 2014: the Armed Forces Salute has been renewed for another year!

Disney’s Armed Forces Salute–often called the “Military Salute”–is one of the best deals out there, offering really low-priced four day tickets and also steep room rate discounts for eligible families and their friends.

The Armed Forces Salute is not a permanent feature of the landscape, but rather a response to the recession. The past few years, Disney has made it available during the Federal fiscal year, and has announced it before the fiscal year at various dates.  This year, it’s expected to be renewed again, with the announcement sometime in July.

Nothing is certain until–and if–the renewal happens.

I suspect that the timing is at least partially linked to Disney’s setting and announcing its 2015 resort prices–as Disney can’t fully analyze the deal until it knows the basis from which the discounts will be taken, and until 2015 prices are announced, rooms for then can’t be booked at the correct prices (they can be booked at the incorrect prices, then trued up later).

The past two years Disney has announced the prices for the upcoming year the second Wednesday in July.

There’s nothing magical to this–but it’s also true that with much of Disney business issues, the only sensible way to predict things is to predict for this year what they did last year. That would put the 2015 resort price announcement on July 9, and the Armed Forces Salute Announcement after that.

The best way to keep up with this–and everything else military for central Florida–is to check MilitaryDisneyTips.com and its blog, and in particular to sign up for its newsletter (add your email to the big blue form on the right side of this page).

Run by my friend Steve Bell–that’s him on the right–MilitaryDisneyTips covers the gamut of military-related opportunities at Disney World and the rest of the central Florida theme parks, with a particular focus on available deals.

A tireless advocate for US forces, Steve has built a special relationship with Disney around these issues–and thus is likely to be the first to be notified when–if–the Armed Forces salute is renewed. Sign up for his newsletter and you’ll be among the first to find out what’s happening with the salute!

Steve covers lots of other related stuff, too, and has published a great e-book on Shades of Green.

As you can tell, I think the world of Steve and his contributions.  While we could have added tons of sites and links to our book, we tried to keep The easy Guide to Your First Walt Disney World Visit as short as possible–but even so, we do refer in it to exactly two other Disney sites: Mousesavers.com and MilitaryDisneyTips.com, because no good guidebook can be complete without those two!

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WDW Magazine’s latest issue–covering every facet of the characters at Walt Disney World–is now out.  If you haven’t yet subscribed, see this.

On this site, which focuses on kids eight and older, meeting the Disney characters is handled by character meals.

But there’s some fun characters you can’t meet at meals, some kids are too young for meals to be worth the money, and some families just can’t afford those meals.

So my article for the latest WDW Magazine focuses on characters for families of any age or interest in meals.

For the devoted character hunters, our book has character-centric touring plans–here’s an example for Disney’s Hollywood Studios:

Check out this month’s WDW Magazine–you’ll be glad you did!

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For the first page of this review of Disney’s Contemporary Resort, click here.

ACCOMMODATIONS AT DISNEY’S CONTEMPORARY RESORT

All Disney deluxe resorts have standard rooms; concierge rooms, which Disney calls “club” rooms; and suites. (See this for more on suites at Walt Disney World.)

At Disney’s Contemporary Resort, standard and club/concierge rooms sleep five, in two queen beds and a fold-down day-bed. See page 2 of this review for a floor plan and photo tour of a standard room.

King rooms that sleep three (the third on the day-bed) are also available.

Tower rooms are sold with “Bay Lake”, and “Theme Park” views. While not essential, Magic Kingdom view rooms are hard to beat if you can afford them. Bay Lake views are also lovely.

Garden Wing rooms have no balconies (first floor rooms do have patios), a similar layout otherwise, varied views of parking, water or the pool area, and are more inconvenient than tower rooms.  They are also much less expensive.

 Club rooms are identical to standard rooms except for the access they grant to Club concierge services. See the image for a lousy shot of the concierge lounge.

They are not worth the extra cost for most first time family visitors. However, they may be well worth it for families intending to spend more time at the Contemporary Resort than implied by this site’s itineraries.

TikimanPages.com has a great discussion of the value of concierge rooms here. Though focused on the Polynesian, it applies to any deluxe resort. Co-author Josh reviews a more recent club stay at the Contemporary Resort on easyWDW.com here.

One and Two-bedroom Suites sleeping 2 to 10 people in two to five bays ( a “bay” is the space a standard room takes) are available for families seeking a particularly comfortable visit, in both the Tower and the Garden Wing–see this for more on suites at Walt Disney World.

The five bay Presidential Suite (above) sleeps 8 in more than 2000 square feet overlooking the Magic Kingdom; the four bay Vice Presidential Suite overlooks Bay Lake. Other two and one bedroom suites are also available. Note that in the Presidential Suite floor plan, as is common in suite design, the fifth bay at left is actually a connecting standard room. This creates flex for Disney in what it sells–a four bay suite and, to someone else,  a room, vs. a five bay suite.

This four bay suite is an extreme example of this design concept–it’s really two standard rooms with a hospitality suite in between.

(To each of the capacity figures above, you can add one more kid under 3 at time of check in who sleeps in a crib.)

THE THEMING OF DISNEY’S CONTEMPORARY RESORT

Disney’s Contemporary Resort opened in October 1971, and its last–very nice–renovation was completed in 2013. It is officially described on Walt Disney World’s website as

“…an ultra-modern Disney Deluxe Resort, made up of a towering A-frame high-rise building—the iconic Contemporary Tower—and complemented by one garden wing annex. This lakeside Resort is the only hotel in Walt Disney World Resort to have the Walt Disney World Monorail System pass through the main lobby.”

The Contemporary Resort was designed collaboratively by the US Steel Corporation, Disney, and the under-rated Welton Becket, friend and neighbor of Walt Disney. (This same group also designed the Polynesian.)

Becket is under-rated not as an architect, but rather because, in a sense, he created Imagineering.

According to John Hench, when Disney was looking for help is designing Disneyland, “Becket said [to Walt Disney] ‘You’ve got to use your own people. We can’t help you. We don’t have any kind of a background for this. Just use your own guys.'”

As a result, Walt Disney started bringing artists and craftspeople over from his and other studios to work on the park, and Imagineering was born.

(Quoted in Jeff Kurtti’s Walt Disney’s Imagineering Legends and the Genesis of the Disney Theme Park.)

The original concepts for the Contemporary were that it was to be a high rise, and that the monorail was to run through it.

This led to the internal atrium, and to the length of the building, which was designed to shelter two monorail trains on each track in case of hurricanes.

(Hurricane doors are at either end of the atrium, where the monorail tracks enter.)

At some point the total number of rooms were defined–I’ve seen no source on why the particular number was picked–and the design result was the long, monolithic, and dull facade that we’ve known ever since, livened up a bit inside by Mary Blair’s famous mural.

For more on the background to and construction of the Contemporary Resort, see Jim Korkis’s post here.

Although the building has no comparative kid appeal other than the monorail itself, a family that stayed only there, and never saw one of the value resorts, or the Polynesian, Wilderness Lodge, or Animal Kingdom Lodge, could be forgiven for thinking they were staying in the perfect Walt Disney World hotel!

While the Contemporary served as Disney World’s flagship resort until the Grand Floridian opened in 1988, such was not Disney’s original intention.

In its pre-opening master plan, the never-built Venetian Resort (to be built between the Contemporary and the TTC) was to become the resort’s flagship hotel.

Also planned but never built were the Asian Resort, planned for the current site of the Grand Floridian, and the Persian Resort, to have been built on Bay Lake, between the Contemporary and Tomorrowland.

The Venetian site was revisited in the 90s for the Mediterranean Resort, but the site was found to be too expensive to build on at that time.

Disney World’s master planning is influenced (though not shaped, it’s a long story, see this, though there are some lies in it…) by the Reedy Creek Improvement District’s long term plan.

The latest version includes all of these spots as potentially buildable.

Land suitable for further development is marked on the map in red; marginally suitable land is in light yellow-green. (Unsuitable land is in dark green.)

So maybe we’ll see more Magic Kingdom deluxe resorts one of these days…

TOPICS IN THIS REVIEW OF DISNEY’S CONTEMPORARY RESORT

• Overview and summary of Disney’s Contemporary Resort
• A photo-tour of a standard Tower room at the Contemporary Resort
• Details on the South Garden Wing of the Contemporary Resort
• The amenities at the Contemporary Resort
• Dining at the Contemporary Resort
• The pools at the Contemporary Resort, and
• More on theming and accommodations at the Contemporary Resort

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 160+ stays in them

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