Monday, January 6, 2014

End Zone Food Court - All Star Sports

The Poorly Renovated End Zone Food Court - All Star Sports

In August I found out that the End Zone Food Court at All Star Sports was going through renovations until Dec. 20th, 2013. As a result, I changed my hotel in August 2013 to All Star Music. I was excited to go back home to All Star Sports on December 23,  2013 and especially the End Zone Food Court. Unfortunately when I arrived at All Star Music in August, the Rapid Refill program started a few days afterwards meaning that my mug that I had on a previous trip was no longer valid. Even worse, I could not get water from the machine at Music. I complained and finally Disney did allow a few days later for guests to get water from the machines. During the renovations of the End Zone Food Court, there was a bus to take guests to Music to eat and get drinks. They also had a grab and go station in the arcade or merchandise location.

Please excuse the fact that I was a bad blogger and did not take any pictures. However, PHOTOS - All Star Sports Resort End Zone Food Court reopens after major refurbishment has a great look at the new food court.

High Expectations Leads to Disappointment
During August 2013, I ventured over to Art of Animation to their food court since I heard it was wonderful and had a variety of food stations. It is similar to The Land Food Court where you can get more than a burger, hot dog and fries. I thought this might be the make-over for the End Zone Food Court. However, the  only changes that seemed were the decor and new machines. In fact, I saw the grill still had a piece of cardboard from the box the week of December 23rd .

The food is the same boring offerings. I am thankful that the prices have not gone up.
The Bounty Platter ($8.99) now has a small mickey waffle instead of the two small french toast sticks. I prefer the french toast sticks, but I guess it is nice to have some Mickey magic in the morning. It includes the thinnest, smallest bacon slices that you can barely call bacon along with sausage, eggs (which were buttery good), and potatoes (I got some cold ones one day). In fact, there are two stations for the Bounty Platter since it is so popular. It is available at the station on the far left and far right.
They of course had a Large Mickey Waffle for those that like waffles in the morning.
Chocolate Muffin ($2.49) was good and since I needed something with chocolate, it was the perfect breakfast snack knowing that I would eat an early lunch.
Chocolate Croissant ($2.99) looked good also.

Atmosphere
The utensils are right after the registers rather than the large island of utensils, condiments and napkins like before. The utensils near the registers are nice because there are more registers and less people crowded around one huge island.
I think they need to put more condiments and napkins in the dining area rather than by the drink station. Often I felt that I could not find napkins or the machines were not full. Also, the napkins and cheap and plain as they no longer have an Disney or Mickey logo on them. Even Chipotle has their name in their napkins and their food is much cheaper.
There are partitions in the dining area. They are sports related including surfing, which I do not always think of as a sport. The partitions have Disney characters doing sports that are related to the areas of the hotel such as surfing, football and baseball.
I don't like the new chairs at the End Zone Food  Court. They are medal and I preferred the comfortable leather chairs that were there before even though I've stubbed my toe on them.
The booths seem a little small for the expanding waistlines for Americans.
There were more outlets on the wall towards the pool. I saw the same couple a few mornings on their computer eating breakfast and doing work thanks to being able to plug in. However, we can always use more outlets especially since Disney wants you to do their app to make FastPass+ reservations that go along with the Magic Bands.


My suggestion for improvement for the other All Star Resorts Food Courts
Do not spend the money, time and inconvenience for guests to just update the Food Court like it was before. If you truly want to renovate it, create more and different dishes just like Art of Animation. The Bounty Platter for breakfast was available at two stations rather than coming up with a different dish that guests would love.

PHOTOS - All Star Sports Resort End Zone Food Court reopens after major refurbishment



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