Join me for a photo tour of Disney's All Star Sports Resort!
The resort's marquee and bus stop area.
The All Star Sports Resort is one of three All Star, value-priced resorts at Walt Disney World. Like the All Star Music and All Star Movies Resorts, the All Star Sports Resort provides nicely maintained accommodations with a minimum of extras. For folks on a stricter budget or for those people that really don't spend much time at their hotels when they're at WDW, the All Star Resorts can be the perfect answer. Even without a long list of amenities, the All Star Resorts have the advantage of being on-site — which means that the WDW transportation system can be used to take you wherever you want to go during your stay.
The resort's check-in lobby.
The lobby, as at the other All Star Resorts, had a long line of guests trying to check in (or handle other front desk chores) — even in the early afternoon. At the far left, on the green wall, you can see the “Wall of Fame” for this resort. Each of the All Star Resorts has a similar wall with photos and mementos from, this case, well-known professional and amateur sports figures.
Each All Star Resort also has a gift shop (Sport Goofy's is shown below) where guests can pick up souvenirs or needed sundries.
Sport Goofy's Gifts and Sundries shop.
The End Zone Food Court provides a place to pick up a bit to eat. It's definitely not formal, but the price is right for simpler meals. This is also where you can refill your refillable mugs, if you choose to invest in one of the bottomless beverages.
The End Zone Food Court.
The All Star Sports Resort also has Game Point Arcade where you can drop a few quarters and Team Spirits, where you can quench your adult thirst with your favorite libation.
Walking outside from Stadium Hall, the main resort complex, you come across the way-big-kidney-shaped Surf's Up themed pool. It's the largest pool at the resort, the baseball diamond-shaped one at Homerun Hotel is very small in comparison. The two Surf's Up buildings provide the themed backdrop, but the pool itself isn't really special (unless your hot and want to cool off, in which case, it's perfect, right?) The outsized boards and the wavy scallops along the top of the buildings don't add much flavor.
Surf's Up pool.
To the right, as you exit Stadium Hall, is Touchdown! This is one of the coolest areas of the resort, with the small gridiron just begging for a pick-up game with a pigskin. The outsized Xs and Ox and the goal posts just add to the fantasy. Of course, the oversized helmets, which hide the building stairs, are a nice touch, too.
Down at the far end of the “playing field,” you might be able to make out an oversized Coca Cola cup. I wonder how much the Coke marketing types had to dole out for that addition to the skyline?
Touchdown! (seen from the end zone).
If you have younger kids, they'll really love playing on this surface (it's the same spongy surface you find at the various kids play areas in the theme parks).
There's a slightly better view of that Coke cup. Even from this distance, you can see that it's a good three-stories high!
Touchdown's gridiron.
Beyond Touchdown, is Homerun Hotel. This old-style ballpark themed area reminded me of old Tiger Stadium in Detroit, with the light towers way above the field. Pennants with the names of the major league teams decorate the tops of the buildings (you'll have to humor my zoom-in to the Detroit pennant), and the old-style scoreboard add to the feel of being in Yankee Stadium, Wrigley, Fenway, the Polo Grounds, or one of the other classic parks.
The Detroit Tiger's pennant on Home Run Hotel.
As I put together this write-up, I'm wishing I had a good picture of the baseball pool to show you. I didn't take one the day I was at the resort, though, simply because I was so under whelmed by it. It's very small, and except from the top, you can't really tell that it's supposed to be in the shape of a diamond.
Home Run Hotel's stadium pool.
Homerun Hotel is the end of the line toward this end of the resort. Center Court and Hoops Hotel, the other two themed areas, are straight back from Stadium Hall through Surfs Up. Center Court is kinda cool, with a Wimbledon Look to it. It's definitely a grass court. Donald is one of the players (I can't remember who's on the other side, and I can't tell from this picture… but rest assured, it's not Anna Kournekova (too bad for the bean counters, they could have offered “Anna View” rooms here, if she was).
Center Court.
You can also see the over-sized racquets and the umpire's stand that top off the theme-dressing.
Hoops Hotel, surprisingly enough, is decorated like a basketball court. There are backboards and nets everywhere, and some huge referee's whistles laying around just to remind you that someone has to be in charge. Seems like every ball goes through the hoop here, not that I'd like to lift one of those six-foot diameter balls and give it a try. I'd be in a truss for sure.
Hoops Hotel.
Well, that's about it for the All Star Sports Resort. It's a nicely decorated resort, but it doesn't have quite the charm, I don't think, that the other All Star Resorts have. Of course, that might just be because I'm more of a music and movie fan than a sports nut. To each, his own.
