All-Star Sports is a value resort at Walt Disney World and a unique one, to say the least. This hotel often plays host to athletic teams, and is home to some impressive (if not a bit over-the-top) decoration. Read on to learn more about All-Star Sports!
Basics of Disney’s All-Star Sports Resort
All-Star Sports is one of the three All-Star resorts at Walt Disney World (the other two are All-Star Music and All-Star Movies). These are Disney’s lowest-priced value hotels, and they’re all near each other and roughly equivalent in quality. The hotel is located at 1701 West Buena Vista Drive, Lake Buena Visa, Florida. Rack rates for standard rooms at All Star Sports in 2024 range from $133 to $305 per night. Deal prices can get close to $100 per night.
Staying at All-Star Sports, 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).
If you’re considering All-Star Sports, 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):
Review of Disney’s All-Star Sports Resort (you are here)
And if you’d like to see where this resort falls overall, check out our Disney World hotel rankings.
All-Star Sports Grounds
Like the other value resorts, All-Star Sports has simple amenities, small rooms, and somewhat kitschy theming. Let’s start with a map:
The grounds are broken into eleven buildings and two pools. The main building (top right in that map, with the cluster of markers) is “Stadium Hall.” That’s where you’ll find reception, the concierge, the Game Point Arcade, Sport Goofy Gifts and Sundries, the End Zone Food Court, and the Grandstand Spirits pool bar.
Nearest to Stadium Hall is the Surfboard Bay Pool. Over by the Home Run Hotel buildings is the smaller Grand Slam Pool. Both pool areas have laundry rooms.
Of course, “sports” is the least Disney theme of the three All-Star resorts. Music and Movies can latch onto things Disney does well (i.e. animated films and the music in those films). Sports is mostly just, well, sports themed. You won’t, for example, find the huge figurines of Disney characters you’ll see over at Movies.
That’s not to say the touches aren’t cool. I’m a fan of the football field pictured at the start of this post, and the larger than life Coca Cola cup certainly has some kitschy appeal.
All-Star Sports Activities
All-Star Sports also has a full activity schedule. Here’s an example activity schedule:
Athletic Hosting at All Star Sports
Like all the All Star Resorts—and occasionally Pop Century and Art of Animation—All Star Sports 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 Disney resort 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.
Booking Disney’s All-Star Sports Resort
We needed a place to stay for two nights during the RunDisney Dopey Challenge (we had the other two nights booked), and we had been looking to cross Sports off our list.
We contacted our go-to travel agent Lauren Quirk of Travel With Character LLC about our required nights. Originally, we booked at the rack rate of $152.38 per night. But when an annual passholder discount became active, Lauren applied it to our room to bring the rack rate down to $141.95 per night—a 7% saving.
The value resorts see a lot of variation in pricing depending on where you look. In this case, the lowest we could find on other sites (Priceline, Booking, Expedia, etc.) was around $160. Other times, we’ve seen rates of below $100 on these sites.
As always, if you book through a non-Disney site you should be sure to link your reservation to your My Disney Experience account both as a means of confirming it and to be sure you get all the perks associated with your stay at the Walt Disney World Resort.
Arrival & Our Room at All-Star Sports
We arrived via bus from Disney Springs (we were doing a split stay and had just left Port Orleans—Riverside). Since Disney has ended their Magical Express shuttle service from Orlando International Airport you’ll have to find your own way from the airport if you’re flying in. We used Disney World’s online check-in around noon and our room was ready around 2:50PM, which is before the official 3PM check-in time.
The All-Star Sports rooms were finally refurbished in 2023, making them some of the newest at the resort. These are in the same style as All Star Music and Movies. Unfortunately, we haven’t had a chance to stay in them yet, but you can view a video of the new rooms here.
And if you’re looking for a more spacious suite at a low-ish price, you’ll need to consider All Star Music or Art of Animation, as Sports does not have suites. You might also consider an Airbnb near Disney World if the price/space balance is something you’re looking at.
Food & Drink At All-Star Sports Resort
As always, we’re fans of the cafeteria-style quick service options at the All-Star resorts. Unfortunately, this time we were a little disappointed with the pizza, which seemed a bit lower quality than the other value resorts and didn’t come with a salad.
Food court meals are quick service meals under the Disney dining plans. If you’re on a quick service dining plan, then you’ll have fine options here. But if you’ve got table service credits to use, you’ll have to plan to either eat at other Disney resorts or at table service restaurants in the park.
There’s ample seating at the End Zone Food Court. Attached to the food court is “Grandstand Spirits,” which serves as the pool bar.
Transportation at All-Star Sports
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.
Lines for the All-Star buses can get long, especially as buses are less frequent midday. Keep in mind that the All-Star resorts often share buses, too, and All-Star Sports is usually first for pickup (longer to get to the parks) and drop-off (shorter getting back from the parks).
Non-stop travel times to the theme parks are, approximately:
All Star Sports to/from Magic Kingdom — 15 minutes
All Star Sports to/from Animal Kingdom — Less than 10 minutes
All Star Sports to/from Epcot — 10-15 minutes
All Star Sports to/from Hollywood Studios — 10-15 minutes
But going to the parks you’ll often be making two stops at the other All Stars, which can easily add 10-15 minutes of travel time.
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 Advance Dining Reservations at other hotels or getting to the parks (other than Magic Kingdom) in a pinch, we still favor using Uber. It isn’t a perfect service, but it generally will beat using Disney’s bus services in a pinch. If you want to spring for it or you have to get to Magic Kingdom quickly, you could also consider a Minnie Van.
Conclusion - Disney’s All-Star Sports Resort
Really, there are limited reasons to stay at All-Star Sports. If the other All-Star Resorts are full and you really can’t work Pop Century or Art of Animation into your budget (or they’re full too), fine, stay at Sports. If you have some event—sporting competitions often book rooms there—then don’t worry, you’ll have a fine time.
Other than that, there’s really no reason to stay at Sports over Movies, Music, and Pop Century. During this visit, it wasn’t so bad. In a nutshell, Sports has everything we love about the value resorts—cheap food, fun theming, and big energy. It’s simply easily beat by the other value options.
Since it has the least “Disney” theming of the All-Star resorts, and frequently plays host to large groups of unsupervised teenagers, we’re fine skipping Sports at all costs.
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