by: Nick the Disney Devo
Last month, Barbie and I stayed one night at the All Star Movie Resort before moving over to The Villas at The Grand Floridian. This was our first All Star experience.
The movie theme begins as soon as you enter the lobby with a Hollywood mural behind check in, and “Hall of Fame” displays throughout.
Check in was smooth. True story, upon entering the lobby, I said to Barbie, “I completely forgot to call and request any section except the Mighty Ducks.”
Guess where our room was? Yes, I could have asked to be moved, but our luggage had already arrived via Magical Express, and it was one night.
Before heading to the room, we stopped in to get lunch at the World Premier Food Court located just off the main lobby.
The food court has a movie marquee theme, with different “theaters” having a variety of food options.
We chose our lunch selections from the Majestic menu.
Barbie had the Hot Italian Sandwich with the cucumber salad. The salad was very heavy on the onions, but tasty. The sandwich was very good, I kept stealing bites.
The Meatball Sub was surprisingly delicious. I say surprisingly because the sauce and meatballs were actually better than I’ve had at some authentic Italian restaurants! The chips were also really good, but I’d have liked them a little saltier.
We made a quick pass through the shop, Donald’s Double Feature, also located off the main lobby, to check for Disney Pins, and then headed for our room.
The Mighty Ducks section is located on the far end of the resort property. The map makes it look much further away than it really is!
The area is decorated with a hockey theme. If you aren’t familiar, Mickey Ducks is a 1992 Walt Disney Pictures movie about a hockey team, which actually led to a real-life version of the Mighty Ducks, a National Hockey League expansion franchise!
The Duck Pond Pool is themed to an ice hockey rink.
The room was small at 26o square feet, but clean. There isn’t much theming besides the poster.
There were a couple of issues, which I informed the main desk about, such as a burned out light in the bathroom area.
Somehow, I doubt this chunk of missing particle board is new, but I brought that to their attention as well.
There is a small fridge.
Our friends had warned us that the resort could be very noisy, and the walls are thin. We didn’t experience any issues, but that could have been because we were very near an end room.
The other sections are 101 Dalmatians.
Tip: Don’t miss the cute photo ops scattered throughout the resort.
The Dalmatians section features one with the TV loving Lucky the pup.
The main pool is located in the Fantasia section, and is appropriately themed with Sorcerer Mickey.
A photo op with Daisy and Donald is tucked away back in here.
Behind Fantasia, is the Love Bug area.
Last but not least, the Toy Story.
As you head towards Andy’s bedroom door, stop for a photo with RC Car.
Then enter Andy’s room!
So, final verdict?
At first I was going to suggest, if you could spend a little extra, that you pick Pop Century over this resort. But in retrospect, comparing apples to apples, I don’t know why. Pop is more vibrant, especially in the lobby area, but I can honestly say I don’t know that the rooms are much more themed, and they are the same size at 260 square feet. While we love Everything Pop, Pop Century’s food court, I really liked the theme at World Premier Food Court, and thought my meal was great.
But, if you could step up price-wise a little more, I would absolutely recommend Art of Animation over All Stars, for the fact it’s newer and nicer, if nothing else.
Portions of this article were originally posted on the Disney Musings Blog, which Nick co-writes with his wife and friends.
