Friday October 2 - Hit the ground running

I was a bit concerned because, as we were only going to be there for 3 days, I knew that any major travel delays would seriously cut into my goal of MDE (that's Maximum Disney Exposure). I figured if all went absolutely perfect we would be at WDW by noon, but that's a pretty big "if".

Our plane touched down at 9:30 AM, a little ahead of schedule. There was also no line at the Dollar Car Rental desk, so we were on the road by 10:00. Pleasant surprises number one and two. As soon as we walked outside one thing was obvious. It was hot and very humid. I would guess the temperature was in the 80s but the humidity made it feel much hotter. And it was still morning. There was no traffic on the drive to WDW (although I did note that the signs, which I followed, take a slightly longer route than the car rental place recommended). So far so good. We got to the front desk at Disney's All Star Music Resort (ASM) by 10:30. No line there either and we were checked in immediately. If that weren't enough, our room was actually ready. Big pleasant surprise there. Not even 11:00 AM and we are there, we have our car, we have out Length of Stay passes, and we have our room. We are on a roll!

Disney's All Start Music is one of two (including All Star Sports) and soon to be three (including All Star Movies, which is opening soon) "budget" resorts at WDW. Each resort has ten buildings, two each with a specific theme related to the overall theme of the resort. In the case of All Star Music the themes are different types of music: Calypso, Jazz, Rock, Broadway and Country. We stayed at the Country Faire because I thought the giant boots looked cool (we had stayed at ASM for one night on our last trip, in Jazz) and that Nat would get a "kick" out of them, and because we are fans of country music. I did this knowing full well that the Country Faire buildings are the farthest from the food court, lobby and bus stop, but I didn't care.

As we drove to a parking space closer to our building, we drove by the All Star Movies Resort, which is under construction. I could see one building styled after "101 Dalmatians" with a giant Pongo on one end and a giant fire hydrant on the other. It looks very cute. I could also make out a "Mighty Ducks" building and another with some sort of car racing theme ("The Love Bug" perhaps?). The buildings themselves looked like they had the same basic structure as the two older "All Stars" resorts.

As we walked to our room (639 - building 6, 1st Floor) I noticed something just a little odd. The grass at the resort looked like it hadn't been cut for about a week. This may sound like a real nit-picky point, but anyone who has stayed at a Disney resort will attest to the level of upkeep they maintain for their grounds. It was far from being messy or ragged looking, it just struck me as a bit surprising.

When I tried to open the door to our room I found that my key didn't work and I was worried that we would have to go back to the lobby. If you've seen the ASM resort you understand how much I didn't want to do this. The lobby is, quite literally, about a quarter mile from the Country Faire buildings. Add to this the fact that I had my 5 year old daughter and one really heavy bag, not to mention the heat, and you can understand why I really did not want to have to go back to the lobby. I looked at our card keys more carefully and realized I was using the wrong card. They gave us two cards - one each for me and Nat - which also serve as our Length of Stay (LOS) passes. Mine, however, was the only one that served as a room key, and I was trying to open the door with Nat's. Once I tried my key the little green light blinked right on. Whew!

We walked into the room and I was immediately hit by three things. First, the AC was blasting and it felt good. Second, the antiseptic "motel room" smell was somewhat overpowering. (Nat said "the room smells good", but I have learned through experience not to trust Nat's judgment on these sorts of things.) Finally, the room was a bit tattered around the edges. It was perfectly acceptable, but far from pristine. The carpet was a bit worn and the quilts were faded. These are really nit-picky quibbles once again, but when you've stayed at Disney resorts you get used to a level of quality that is exceptionally high. If this had been, say, a Best Western (at the same room rate of $80 per night) I wouldn't have even noticed. But then the beds were firm, the pillows were soft and the towels were fluffy, so who am I to complain?

On the drive over I promised Nat that we would go swimming first thing, if we were able to get into our room right away. I warned her, however, that we would probably not get into the room until later. Well, I was wrong, so I made good on my promise. We put on our bathing suits, strolled out into the heat past the giant cowboy boots with Mickey stitched into the design, and jumped into the Piano Pool.

ASM has two pools. The one closest to our building is shaped like a giant piano. At one end of the pool there is a statue of Ariel, Sabastian and Flounder from "The Little Mermaid" playing musical instruments. At the other end of the resort, near the lobby building, is a pool shaped like a giant guitar. It has a statue/fountain with Donald Duck and the two other birds (whose names escape me - Joe Carioca?) from "The Three Caballeros". Disney is known for their pools and even the budget level All Star resorts have great ones. One thing I noticed about the pool at the Wilderness Lodge (where we stayed on our last trip) as well as the Piano Pool is that they are very kid friendly. The pools are large with plenty of shallow areas and very gentle slopes to the deeper parts. I also noticed that the life guards were extremely attentive and appeared to take their job very seriously. Nat is learning how to swim and getting better all the time, and it was nice to feel like I didn't have to stay right next to her all the time while she was in the water.

A few notes here about which building to choose. As I indicated earlier I selected the Country Faire knowing full well that it is in what is considered to be a somewhat less desirable location far from the main building with the lobby, gift store and food court. If you are staying at any of the All Star resorts for any length of time it would probably make sense to opt for one of the front buildings (Calypso & Jazz at ASM). On the other hand, all of the doors open to the outside at All Star resorts and I would imagine that the front buildings are a bit noisier. Additionally, since there are two pools you are never very far from a wet retreat. The laundry facilities are all located at the pools (the one by the Piano Pool looks like a giant radio - I didn't notice the one by the Guitar Pool), so that shouldn't matter either. Overall it's really a question of noise vs. convenience.

Our little pool excursion led to the first (very minor) disagreement between Nat and me. Being a typical 5 year-old who lives pretty much in the moment, when I suggested it was time to leave the pool and make our way to Disney's Animal Kingdom, Nat would have none of it. We ended up staying in the pool for over an hour - longer than I would have liked to - but she simply wouldn't budge on this issue. "I want to stay here" she informed me emphatically. I tried to convince her (not for the last time on this trip) that I really knew what I was doing and she really did want to go to Animal Kingdom. Finally I had to get a little stern with her, something I hated to do, but I knew she'd appreciate it later. Eventually I got her out of the pool. We went back to the room and I gave her a shower lest her blonde hair turn green from the chlorine, and off we went to our first park - Disney's Animal Kingdom.