In October, I decided it was time for me and my kiddo to have a vacation on a magical trip to Walt Disney World. It had been four years since we had been (kiddo was just four) and I thought now that he is eight, we would enjoy double the fun.
We flew into Orlando International via Southwest seamlessly. Once we landed, our excited started to build when we had first seen Mickey!!
This trip, we did stay on resort for Disney. I based my decision on all the “perks” one gets when staying on resort. I did spend some time doing my research to find the best deal for our family of one adult and one child. Based on the fact we were not planning on staying in the resort room other than sleeping and showering, we choose the Value Resorts for this trip; and the price was right since we didn’t need all the extras and since all Disney resorts are top notch, we loved our choice!
Not to mention the All Star Resort pool is awesome as well. When reserving our room, we were able to indicate some options like: prefer being close to pool OR what floor level of our room. Once we arrived and checked in, I was not particularly happy that our room was the further away from the pool and the bus stops. In addition, it become a reality that we would be doing a lot of walking daily!
Since we decided to stay on Disney Property, we were able to take advantage of the Disney Magical Express Bus line from Orlando International Airport straight to our resort, All Star Sports.
This was a nice feature for just the two of us, and being in no hurry to get to the parks, we were able to sit back, relax and enjoy the ride (OK, so the kiddo watched with his eyes closed) but still is was nice to be taken to our resort hassle free. (Disney even picked up our checked bags and delivered them to our room that same day).
And of course being Disney, the bus was clean and the Driver was very helpful and friendly.
Upon check in, and being reminded that the food court is closed, I inquired about the new FastPass+ program. I was told by the Disney Cast member checking us in that the new Fasspass+ was being phased in and therefore was not yet available at the All Star Sports Resort (but was available at the other Value Resorts with open food courts) until the following week.
Hmmm, first I am told I will have to travel to another location for meals (other than at the parks)and then told I needed to “be patient, one thing at a time” in regards to the Fast pass+. I think at this very moment, I was felt Disney could improve on their Customer relations because this was not looking very magical at all.
We had all after noon to relax and check out the place, so first after we headed to the pool. Since we knew our bags would not arrive to our room at the same time we did, we pack them in our carry on and enjoyed some Florida sun in the All Star Resort pool while our luggage was delivered.
This year, we stayed in the All Star Sports Resort. Since my kiddo is all about sports, I thought this would be the perfect vacation resort … We both loved all the oversized basketballs, footballs and tennis courts as part of the theme. They made for great backdrops for photo-ops too!
Now, being time for dinner and deciding we were hungry, what I failed to deduct and what Disney did not make perfectly clear is that we had to plan at least 30-minutes extra travel time to the food court each meal.
We did however, go with the Disney Dining Plan (as another one of those perks) and it was nice to not have to worry about that part of the meal. We just showed our room card and the meal was deducted from our plan.
Following dinner, we decided to head to bed early for our day at The Magic Kingdom the following day ….
