Pros: Cheap but comfortable way to stay on Disney property
Cons: Pretty much just the basics
The Bottom Line:
A good place to crash
If spending all day in parks
Comfortable basics
Disney Shoots and Scores with a Fun, Cheap Place to Stay
Disney fanatic that I am, I recently made my first trip to
Disney World. I went with a large group
of friends. Since we had to keep costs
down, we stayed at the All Star Sports Resort.
(Rather ironic since few of us are sports fans.)
The All Star Sports Resort is one of three All Star resorts
located near the Animal Kingdom Park. As
you'd expect from the name, the theme here is sports. The outsides of the buildings are themed
after surfing, tennis, basketball, baseball, and football. The buildings feature decorations to go with
their themes. For example, we stayed in
one of the basketball buildings, and the outsides had giant hoops with balls
going into them. And the stairs were hidden
by a giant megaphone.
The rooms are small.
I stayed by myself, but others in the group did manage to get four to a
room. It was doable but crowded. The rooms contained two double beds, as well
as the usual hotel amenities like TV small dresser, table, etc. There is a small safe in each room which can
be used for money or small valuables.
The sink is in the room while the toilet and bathtub/shower are in a
separate bathroom. The resort does
provide you with shampoo and bars of soap as well as towels. And everything was clean when I arrived and
kept clean every day.
Prices start as low as $82 currently (I'm sure they'll go up
in a year or two), but increase based on location in the resort and time of
year among other things.
There are two pools at the hotel. The smaller pool is the "Grand
Slam" pool, basically a diamond shape near the baseball buildings. The "SurfBoard Bay
In the main building, you'll find a gift shop (like that's a
surprise) and an arcade. The shop had
some over the counter medicines as well as many souvenirs. I never did make it into the arcade.
The main building also houses the cafeteria for the
resort. Here, you can eat breakfast,
lunch, and dinner if you so choose.
Offerings range from French Toast and Breakfast sandwiches to waffles
for breakfast. Lunch and dinner (pretty
much the same menu) offers chicken, sandwiches, burgers, and pizza. There aren't many choices, but most people
should be able to find something. The
food is filling and cheap. Okay, cheap
for Disney.
Of course, since you are staying on property, you can take advantage
of such perks as Disney's Magical Express (which picks you up and drops you off
from the airport for free), the complimentary buses that take you anywhere in
Disney World, and the Extra Magic hours, which get you into one park a day an
hour early or three hours late.
My plan when I went to Disney World was to spend as much
time as possible in the theme parks and go to my room only long enough to
crash. That's exactly what I did. And this resort was all I needed. The beds were comfortable. I could hear my neighbors running water in
their pipes, but I didn't hear them walking around or talking. I was only in my room late, so that might
have helped.
I do think calling it a resort is a misnomer. My friends and I agree that it is the Motel 6
of Disney hotels. But if I had spent
more money to stay at a nicer place, it would have been wasted since I was
hardly in my room.
If you are looking for a cheap, no frills place to stay on
Disney property, the All Star Sports Resort is exactly what you are looking
for. If you want more luxury, however,
you'll want to spend the money on a nicer place.
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