I know the OP decided to stay at ASMU and I hope you have a magical time
But for our family it's not even close, it's always POP over the AS's.
Where do people get that the skyliner is down often. I can only give you our results. We have stayed at POP 5 times since the Skyliner opened and we usually visit EPCOT and HS twicw each per trip, which is about 40 total times using the skyliner and only twice did it close for weather, both in the evening. Once at EPCOT, it was raining pretty good at the end of the day and since we have common sense we did not walk to the skyliner but instead went straight to the bus depot at the front and took the bus back. The 2nd time was HS, and that is not an issue because the skyliner is at the front where all the other transportation is. This is not counting the times we used it to go to CBR and to RR to visit and eat. So that comes out to be 5% of the time it was down for our 5 trips.
I also find it funny that when people recommend staying at the EPCOT resorts it's because "It's a short walk to EPCOT" but if the skyliner is down it becomes a long walk.
I will say that it's pathetic that WDW cannot just add the skyliner and boats operation to the App.