A Magical Three-Generation Trip

I just returned from a five-night stay at All-Star Music, and I wanted to share some of the magic with you all. I've got a bunch of photos to share, and I'll scribble a little narrative for you, too. I hope you enjoy my trip report!

The participating parties for this trip are my mom, my one-year-old daughter, my sister, and my two-year-old niece. My sister is a Floridian by marriage, so she and her daughter did not stay on-site with the rest of us. But they visited every day, and all five of us ventured out to two parks: Magic Kingdom and Epcot. The two-year-old is very into characters, so we took a lot of joy in watching her meet lots of them, including the princesses, Mickey & Minnie, Pluto, Donald, and Goofy. And she and Chip & Dale had a lot of fun together, too. We had great luck with short lines at the meets at MK, but we waited about 45 minutes at the Character Spot in Epcot. We all agreed, though, that my niece's interactions were well worth the wait.

On to the pictures! Mom, baby, and I rented a car and drove ourselves to our "hotel home": an All-Star Music Suite! We made it to Property in no time at all after grabbing our car at Dollar Rental. (Tip: Membership in the free Dollar membership club really can save time.)

Here you see everyone's favorite sign! And it wasn't long before we pulled up to ASMusic.

After a bit of a wait at check-in (neither of our requests were granted for room location, so Philip at the front desk called around to see what he could find), we were assigned to Building 10, Calypso, pool-side, second floor, room 0560. Turns out, the room was in a great location. We could even watch the dance party down at the pool in the evening.

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[SarahBella82]

I did a fair amount of research on Disney suites before we decided on Music. Our first inclination was for Art of Animation, but we were really hoping for a pool view (we stayed in that set-up at Pop last year and loved it), and that was not an option at AoA. When we narrowed our search to ASMusic's suites, I browsed lots of pictures of the suites online, but upon entering our room, we were pleasantly surprised. It was even better in terms of space planning and function than we expected. When all the girls (including my sister's YOUNGER babe who's 8 months old) were there, we still had plenty of space for them to play and move around. We never felt that we were on top of each other, and the fridge was a life-saver for us as two of the three girls are milk-drinkers. We were able to buy half-gallons of whole milk in Maestro Mickey's (the gift shop) and save money compared to the smaller bottles.

All that said, the suite was a great fit for us, and we remarked that it would be hard to go back to a single room in the future. Here are some pictures!

You see my little one making a break for it. Ha! This is the main living space. The chair, the ottoman, and the couch pull out (easily) for additional sleeping. You can see that there's a fair amount of floor space in the living room when the beds are in their furniture state. Straight ahead is the first bathroom. It's your standard value resort bathroom.

As I walked into the room, with the TV on my left and couch on my right, I turned the corner to see this open space leading to the second bathroom, the kitchen, and the separate bedroom. For most of the time we were there, we kept my stroller (open) against that wall in the center of the photo, and there was still plenty of room to navigate.

I took a few more steps, rounded the corner and saw this: the kitchenette and the bedroom. The kitchenette, for those interested, contained a small refrigerator (not big enough, as far as I could tell, for a gallon jug of milk, but we had several cans of soda, bottles of juice, leftovers, and a half-gallon of milk in there with plenty of room), a microwave, a coffee maker with a few packets of tea and coffee, six hot beverage cups, six cold beverage cups, six sets of plasticware, six paper bowls and six paper plates. There was also a can opener. Oh, and of course there was a sink (another life-saver with kids in bottles and sippy cups... I'm tellin' ya). There was a ton of shelf space, so if you brought a lot of food, you'd still likely have plenty of places to organize it.

Mickey greeted us on the spacious bed in the bedroom.

This is the view from the bedroom. For some reason, I have no photo of the bedroom itself. (Slacker!) Besides the large bed, there was an armchair (a bit on the small side so not much to curl up onto), a large desk with desk chair, and a bureau with flatscreen TV. The room was small; I would say there wasn't much extra space in there. But what space there was was used well. And from the armchair (or the end of the bed), you could see our the bedroom window and gaze out over the pool. It was a great space.

 

[SarahBella82]

The next morning, we ventured out early to visit our (my mom's and my) favorite park: Epcot. Some morning shots for you:

We arrived at Epcot at just before nine, having missed the EMH but feeling okay about it.

How do you not feel okay about things with this in your view?

Mickey made with a mop.

After a ride through the history of communication (the two-year-old was unimpressed), we hit up the Character Spot and finally made our way to The Seas with Nemo and Friends. A few non-flash shots:

The girls seemed to enjoy the ride. I think the kid-friendly voices and great animation made up for the darkness for the two-year-old. Naturally, the aquariums after the ride were a big hit. Both little ones spent time gazing at the dolphins. (Who am I kidding? I was gazing, too.)

We moseyed over to The Land, which is a pavilion that I love. We rode Living with the Land and ended up lunching at Sunshine Seasons because (wait for it!) it was raining so hard we didn't feel like leaving.

When we finally left, I took an obligatory picture of the upside down fountain.

The girls liked playing around in Imagination after the ride. The carpets that make sounds were the big hit of the afternoon (until we met Snow White later...).

We tried to ditch the returning rain by popping into MouseGear for a while. It worked fairly well. And we ended up with some sweet loot, so it was a win-win. We eventually made our way to Mexico, Germany, etc. Voila:

(Just realized there's a guy with a Jets bag on in the foreground. Is it too late to edit him out? I'll just cancel it out: Go, Patriots!)

The girls loved Fife and Drums.

We happened to be in the right place at the right time to get up close and personal.

We stopped by France before meeting Belle and managed to inhale an apple tart and a Napoleon. Holy Moses, that Napoleon was delicious!

 

[SarahBella82]

We returned to the hotel after making our way completely around World Showcase, taking in a fabulous bagpiping set in Canada. And eating chips in England. And meeting a rather aggressive duck. Well, anyway, you get the picture. We eventually made our way back to our "hotel home."

The sofa bed when unfurled:

I would not say it is the MOST comfortable thing I've slept on, but it served its purpose. If you're traveling with someone with a bad back, do the right thing, and let them have the bedroom. The problem with the sofa bed was that it didn't lay completely flat. My head and my feet were slightly elevated, and I just couldn't get as comfortable as I like to be. That said, again, it served its purpose. I slept.

The next morning, my little wonder and I wandered around and took some hotel grounds shots:

After a hearty Bounty breakfast, we were off to Magic Kingdom.

See? Told ya.

Love this little alley.

Straight on 'til Fantasyland:

Admittedly, we all enjoy IASW.

 

[SarahBella82]

Here's the New Fantasyland from August 18.

And a couple shots of the new (cool and refreshing) Dumbo queue:

Followed by Dumbo itself:

View from Dumbo.

We took a relaxing steam engine ride.

Detail:

Water for the steam:

 

[SarahBella82]

Here are a few shots from the train:

A picture of a train from a train:

My niece and I already have a tradition of riding these:

After a hot and fun day at MK, we knocked off around six. Touring with kids is tiring. Haha!

Parting shots:

Theming at ASMusic:

An angry elephant towel friend:

See ya real soon!

This was a really special trip for us. Our family has been through a lot of big changes in the past year, and this was a big HURRAH for getting through it all. My mom was beyond generous spoiling all of us, and the memories (for the girls the pictures) will bring us joy for a long, long time.

Take care and thanks for reading!

 

[jlevis]

Thanks for a great report. We just got back from our trip with four generations, including our 3 week old great granddaughter. It was a special trip for many reasons. Glad you had a great time, but then, how can you not have a great time at Disney?

 

[PolynesianPrincess]

Awesome TR! We are looking into the ASMu suites for next May. I think you're photos have convinced us that's the way to go!! Thanks for sharing!!

 

[SarahBella82]

Let me know if you have any questions.

 

[DisneyDebNJ]

Great report! Thank you for sharing