We took a 10-day family vacation in August to WDW. A total of 8 of us traveled-my mom, sister, 2 nieces aged 12 & 4, 2 nephews aged 3 & 21 months, a 13 yr. old cousin and I- whew! We stayed for 3 days, 2 nights at Disney's Old Key West in a 2 bedroom villa. We then switched to an All-Star vacation home at 2615 Pawnall in the Windsor Hills resort community for 7 days. It was Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious-ly awesome!!! It was a 5-bedroom house, with a private pool and spa, an in home movie theater with a projection screen, reclining leather movie theater seating, foosball table, and an arcade game that had both Galaga and Ms. Pacman (I was in 80's era heaven). The house also had a Wii game system, PS 2, stereo system and a gas grill. 3 of the bedrooms featured king-sized beds, 1 had a queen and the last had 2 sets of bunkbeds themed to Peter Pan. Each bedroom had its own connecting private bathroom and each also had a flat screen tv w/ cable. The gated community of Windsor Hills had its own clubhouse w/ an olympic sized pool and waterslide, an arcade, general store and a fitness room. The house was located 3 miles from Disney. It took us maybe 5 minutes to get from our house to the gates of Disney. There was a full eat-in kitchen and a separate formal dining area. With all of these amenities, the house cost $100 less per night than the 2-bedroom villa at OKW on property!!! We loved the place and did not want to leave. We could see the Magic Kingdom fireworks from the hot tub. Every night we watched a Disney movie (free movie check out from All-Star) in our private theater. Everyday we came home and had a swim. The kids even enjoyed going to bed, b/c the bunkbeds were "pirate ships" and there was a treasure chest in the room. Their bathroom had a Tinkerbell shower curtain and Peter Pan on the wall. There were different Disney character "portraits" around the house, so the magic continued even when we were away from the parks. The only downside is that since it's not on Disney property, going to the Magic Kingdom was a bear (i usually stay at Wilderness Lodge and just hop a boat to the park), but that is with any stay off property, so I will not hold that against All-Star. This was as close to being on property as possible and we LOVED it. We were near several restaurants and eateries, which helped us save money since we were not a captive audience to Disney dining. We still ate at Chef Mickey's, Akershus, Crystal Palace, etc for some dinners or lunches, but we also stocked up at Wal-Mart and Winn-Dixie and made our own hot dogs, hamburgers, sundaes and smores. We saved so much by not staying on property and got so many more amenities.
The All-Star people were the friendliest and most helpful people and that's even compared to the people at Disney! They couldn't do enough to help us. Fabulous, awesome, wonderful experience!! I'll definitely be coming back! I love staying on property and was very hesitant about staying off property for the 1st time in my adult life. (We had previously stayed at Orange Lake Resort when I was a kid but I much preferred staying on property to staying at Orange Lake. ) But now that I've tried All-Star, I want to keep coming back. My family and I just loved the experience. My 12 yr old niece never thought she would like anyplace as much as Wilderness Lodge, but she now has a new favorite. We even have a picture of the pool as a screensaver!
