Disney’s All-Star Music Resort is one of the three value resorts that make up the “All-Star Resort.” In this review, we’ll cover the ins and outs of the resort, from booking to transportation, amenities, and what our room looked like. Along the way, we’ll compare to the other All Star hotels, along with some of Disney’s other resorts. Here’s what we thought of one of Disney’s lowest-cost hotel options!
Basics of Disney’s All-Star Music Resort
All-Star Music is one of the three All-Star resorts at Walt Disney World. These are Disney’s lowest-priced value hotels, and they’re all near each other and roughly equivalent in quality. Rack rates for standard rooms at All Star Music in 2024 range from $133 to $305 per night. Deal prices can get closer to $100 per night. Suites at All Star Music range in price from $336 to $696 in 2024.
If you’re considering All-Star Music, you may want to read some of our other posts, including reviews of the other value resorts. We have a ranking of the Disney World value resorts. We also have a guide to all the hotels of Walt Disney World.
Here are our reviews of all the value resorts (links open in new tabs). First, the All Star Resorts, which neighbor each other and usually share buses:
Review of Disney’s All-Star Movies Resort (refurbished room)
Review of Disney’s All-Star Music Resort (you are here)
And the other two value resorts:
If you’d like to see where this resort falls overall, check out our complete Disney World hotel rankings.
All Star Music also has family suites, but we won’t be reviewing those here. We’ve reviewed an Art of Animation Family Suite (Lion King) here.
Also worth noting—due to the presence of the suite room type, you need to be extra diligent to make sure the Disney World website shows you the lowest prices here.
All-Star Music Grounds
Like the other value resorts, All-Star has simple amenities, smaller rooms, and somewhat kitschy theming.
The grounds are broken into eleven buildings and two pools. The main building is “Melody Hall.” That’s where you’ll find reception, the concierge, the Note’able Arcade, Maestro Mickey’s Gift Shop, the Intermission Food Court, and the Singing Spirits pool bar.
The buildings are all decorated with larger than life musically inspired figures, in keeping with the design at all the value hotels. The musical theme at All Star Music doesn’t quite wow me the same way the other value resorts do.
Nearest to Melody Hall is the Calypso Pool and the accompanying Kiddie Pool. Further from Melody Hall is the Piano Pool. Both pools have laundry rooms next to them. Then ten room buildings form the outer border of the grounds.
Athletic Hosting at All Star Music
Like all the All Star Resorts—and occasionally Pop Century and Art of Animation—All Star Music frequently plays host to athletic teams competing in competitions at ESPN’s Wide World of Sports. These teams range from young kids to college students.
If your visit happens to coincide with one of these events, the All Stars get quite busy and quite loud. For this reason, we don’t recommend the All Stars for adult-only trips to Disney World. (You can read our Adulting at Disney World Hotel Suggestions.)
Even families with kids might not enjoy a stay that co-occurs with one of these events. Especially if your kids are light sleepers, the increased noise won’t be great, and the behavior of large, unsupervised groups of teenagers is often sub-optimal.
You can check the ESPN Wide World of Sports schedule for events, but keep in mind that’s going to be hit or miss. The teams might not use a specific hotel for a specific event, or the hotel might get used for something that isn’t on the schedule when you look. This is one of those things you just sort of have to accept as a risk.
All-Star Music Activities & Perks
All-Star Music also has a decent activity schedule. These are geared toward children, but we were able to enjoy a viewing of Hocus Pocus (the night before we went to Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party).
Staying at All-Star Music, you get the perks of any Disney stay. You’ll have access to free transportation (by bus, as discussed below) to and from the parks and Disney Springs. You’ll also have access to Early Theme Park Entry and the ability to book your individual Lightning Lanes at 7AM (as opposed to when the parks open).
Booking Disney’s All-Star Music Resort
We were looking for a low-cost option at Walt Disney World for a short stay, and knew the All-Star resorts were on our bucket list. Music was the best priced, so we went ahead and booked it. We booked directly through the Walt Disney World website for $141.88 per night, including tax. During deal season, you might even see nightly rates under $100 after tax.
If you’re interested in booking a stay at All-Star Music, we recommend reading out to our go-to travel agent, Lauren Quirk of Travel With Character LLC.
Arrival & Rooms at All-Star Music
If you’re flying in, there are several ways to get from MCO to Walt Disney World. Our pick is usually Uber or a private car service. If you’re on a budget trip, you’ll want to consider the shuttle bus services, but those are no longer free so you might well find that Uber is cheaper, depending on your party makeup.
I had done online check-in via the My Disney Experience app and got a text at about 1:45PM telling me our room wasn’t ready. When we arrived at 2:05PM, I went to the desk anyways, and they found an available room.
All Star Music Refurbished Rooms
The All Star Music rooms completed their refurbishment to the style also found at All Star Movies and Pop Century. This leaves All Star Sports as the only value resort with the old rooms. Below is a video walkthrough of a room, but we haven’t yet taken photos specifically at Music (see the Pop and Movies reviews for a closer look at these rooms, generally).
Generally we’re fans of these rooms. I totally understand people who bemoan the lack of theme, but these are value rooms with highly functional rooms—lots of usable / storage space, USB ports, big TV, wood floors (easy to keep clean). I don’t expect to lounge in my room taking in the theme when booking a value hotel, so these work fine for our family.
All Star Music also has family friendly suites, but we won’t be reviewing those here. The standard rooms get pretty tight once the murphy bed is down, so I’d encourage families to consider suites if they’re in budget.
We were located in a Broadway building, probably around a five-minute walk from the main building.
Food & Drink At All-Star Music Resort
We’re noted fans of cafeteria food at the value resorts. There’s no fine dining options here, just plain old, delicious, reasonably priced cafeteria options. Chicken, pizza, burgers, salads—it’s all here.
Our favorite option is to purchase a full cheese pizza for $18.99+tax. An individual (large) piece is $8.79+tax, making the full pizza a pretty good deal for families.
So, why all the love for cafeteria options? Walt Disney World is filled with awesome table service options. Regardless of your hotel, you’re going to want to consider restaurants across the resort for your meals. Having great restaurants in your hotel is only a perk if you really want to be eating at those restaurants over all the other great ones in the resort.
Conversely, quick service options at the deluxe resorts are often awful. They have limited options, can be tough to track down, and sometimes have limited hours. We love having a solid quick service option right in our hotel so we can grab a quick, “cheap” bite as we’re passing through.
I will concede, there’s probably a sweet spot for some families at which your kids are old enough to enjoy table service meals but young enough that you don’t want to keep them up too late or wake up too early. In that case, having table service meals on-site is helpful. That said, we’ve navigated table service meals across Disney property with our toddler, and we most prefer our home base to have good quick options.
Transportation at All-Star Music
Traveling to and from the All-Star resorts, you’ll be relying on buses and rideshare (Uber, Lyft, Minnie Vans) to get to all four theme parks, the two water parks (Blizzard Beach and Typhoon Lagoon), and Disney Springs.
While our experiences with the buses at All Stars have mostly been fine, there were times we were in Ubers and saw huge lines that would definitely require more than one bus. Keep in mind that the All-Star resorts often share buses, too, and All-Star Music was in the middle for pickups.
Non-stop travel times to the theme parks are, approximately:
All Star Music to/from Magic Kingdom — 15 minutes
All Star Music to/from Animal Kingdom — Less than 10 minutes
All Star Music to/from Epcot — 10-15 minutes
All Star Music to/from Hollywood Studios — 10-15 minutes
But keep in mind you will typically stop at least once in each direction at another All-Star. So figure an extra 5-7 minutes (on average) for that stop.
Even though it can come with some added costs, having a car at Disney World when staying at the All-Stars can significantly cut down on your travel times (you’ll still want to bus to Magic Kingdom, though, since the parking lot isn’t adjacent to the park).
When it comes to getting to other hotels for Advance Dining Reservations or getting to the parks early, we still favor using Uber. We had our worst Uber experience at Walt Disney World while staying at All-Star Music, but we still support using the service. (Just FYI, the driver got lost on the way to Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort for a meal. We should have been more proactive helping her.) Getting back to the resort by bus we had no issues, though the lines at park close are always going to be long.
Should You Stay at Disney’s All-Star Music Resort
I’ve noted a number of times that I grew up staying at the deluxe resorts, but I quickly found a soft spot for the value resorts once I started staying at them.
The value resorts, Disney’s lowest prices options, are the easiest option to access all the perks of staying at a Disney hotel. And while you might get some of these by staying at a comparably priced Disney Springs hotel, there’s still an unmistakable Disney feel at the value resorts.
With refurbished rooms, Music definitely can be compared to All Star Movies (roughly equal in all respects, though I prefer the theming at Movies) and Pop Century (which has some advantages, like the Skyliner). The location and rooms at Pop Century and Art of Animation are better (albeit at a slightly higher price).
The only advantage it has over these options, though is that it has suites that are significantly lower-priced (about a 30% drop) than the suites at Art of Animation. But if that’s the niche you’re in, you might also just consider an Airbnb Near Disney World for better bang for your buck.
All Star Music makes sense when you want to stay at a Disney hotel for the lowest price possible. There’s nothing wrong with it, and I don’t proactively avoid it. That said, if Pop or Art of Animation, with their Skyliner access, are available, I’m picking them every time.
Like all the value resorts, it’s probably not the best place to kick back for a no parks day, and that’s fine. If you’re planning a trip to Walt Disney World and ready to spend most of your time at the parks or exploring the rest of the resort, then All-Star Music is a good option at a reasonable price.
All Your Other Disney World Planning Questions Answered
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Just starting out? Check out our Walt Disney World planning guide! If you're still picking dates, we've got everything you need to know about Disney World crowd calendars. For picking your hotel, check out our Walt Disney World hotels guide.
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Know what to ride with our guides to: Magic Kingdom rides, Hollywood Studios rides, Epcot rides, and Animal Kingdom rides! Plus learn about the water parks with our guide to Blizzard Beach and our guide to Typhoon Lagoon! And for some some fun prep, check out our Ranking of Every Ride at Walt Disney World.
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