Disney's Art of Animation Resort Info Thread! Mouseketeers welcome!

[ang]

I signing up for info! Thanks!!

 

[czmom]

OOooooh!! Maybe if lots of suites are sitting empty they will upgrade some of the LM rooms to suites trying to 'sell' them for future visits. Wishful thinking, but that is what most resorts do with empty rooms - gets more buzz out about the suites. Once we stayed in a 1 BR DVC, we never wanted to go back to staying in a studio. Fingers crossed..

I like how you think! We are booked for a LM room in December, but would happily take an upgrade to a suite. Or maybe the suites will be included in the room only discount for the fall??

 

[Hoosier37]

I would love some pixie dust to upgrade us to a suite - we honestly like all the Disney movies referenced at AoA and would love a suite if it wasn't for the price. However, we'll be just fine in our LM standard room too.

 

[mickeye]

Just got back from five nights at AoA yesterday. It was very UNcrowded. Of course only Nemo and Cars are open right now. The CM checking us in said the suites are not selling like they expected. We were told by her they were operating at about 30-35% occupancy for the sections open, but then we had another CM tell us they were at about 60-65% occupancy, so who knows. They both said LM were the rooms most requested, so it looks like that's where everyone wants to stay.

I've wondered about this from the get-go. I think there was demand for more family suites. But I'm not sure there was THIS much demad. Gonna be interesting to see if that changes over time.

I heard that the suites weren't selling that well, also. The LM rooms, however, are the 'hot tickets' in town!

My guess is the suites aren't selling as well b/c of the price. I think in this economy, cost is really a factor for many people.

Absolutely. Some people may have money to burn, but your average family or person has to watch the budget and price can mean a difference between getting to WDW or not, or how long you can stay on your trip.

I agree. I think Little Mermaid and Lion King should have been "standard" rooms and then Nemo and Cars for suites. Limiting to just LM I think is going to be too restricting for the resort. I guess we will see if LM is always booked, yet the suites are wide open.
Even if they had made a small portion of all buildings have standard rooms, that would have been good to. Time will tell.

Yes, I think that making the LK section standard or making some of each section into standard rooms is going to be a future possibility. Guests would love to try the different themes and there are a lot of small sized families today. Many couples don't have too many children, so unless they go with extended family they only want a room for four.

Here's a sample of activities at the resort.

Thanks for the info; we are def into pin trading!

 

[Mom2six]

Yes, I think that making the LK section standard or making some of each section into standard rooms is going to be a future possibility. Guests would love to try the different themes and there are a lot of small sized families today. Many couples don't have too many children, so unless they go with extended family they only want a room for four.

I don't think they would go to the extra cost of converting the rooms...if that's even possible with the current layout. I would think it would be easier and more cost effective to fill the rooms with strategic use of discounts/promotions, or simply lower the price to be similar to 2 LM rooms.

I would have loved for there to be standard rooms in each building (esp. if a few of them connected to a suite to make an larger suite. As it is, we had to get two suites for our September trip because we have 9 people, and are going before the LM rooms open.

 

[mnmhouston]

Upcoming trip staying in LM for an intro to the resort. We are loyal Poppers and unless this resort blows our mind will probably go back there for future trips.

We, and probably most, go to value for the VALUE. Would love to check out the suite but would rather stay in a mod with some of the mod luxuries for the same price.

I know the all stars have suites too. Never priced them, what's the price difference between those and the ones at AoA? Just curious as they should def be in line with each other.

 

[sixkristy6]

OOooooh!! Maybe if lots of suites are sitting empty they will upgrade some of the LM rooms to suites trying to 'sell' them for future visits. Wishful thinking, but that is what most resorts do with empty rooms - gets more buzz out about the suites. Once we stayed in a 1 BR DVC, we never wanted to go back to staying in a studio. Fingers crossed..

I would be surprised if they did it but not unhappy. I would think the only way they would do it is if many of the suites were not booked and all the LM rooms were booked. I read some posts awhile back that people were hoping for an upgrade due to a special occasion. I think it was on another board. I doubted that would happen, but could see it if the LM rooms were all sold out but not many of the suites.

 

[mom2rtk]

My guess is that they will tweek the room only discount enough to fill the suites just in the nick of time.

 

[Mom2six]

Also, the AoA suites are still new - not everyone really knows about them. They may fill up more readily as people discover them.

 

[sixkristy6]

My guess is that they will tweek the room only discount enough to fill the suites just in the nick of time.

I bet that's a real possibility too.

 

[beef5stew]

I booked a cars suite for a mid October trip. I have stayed at most of the mods and the deluxe rates are just insane.

If a room only discount comes along for akl or wl, I will probably switch. Otherwise I will be bunking with McQueen.

I don't really see any advantage of a moderate standard room over aoa suite.

 

[cristen72]

Checking in Sept 22 for 5 nights in a LM room. We're driving down from NC and won't arrive until at least 9pm. I've read stories about hotels overbooking their rooms. Anyone know if Disney does this? I'm worried that since we're arriving late for a popular room they won't have one left for us. I don't want to move to another value resort.

Anyone know if I'm guaranteed to get my room no matter how late I check in?

 

[im4kycats]

Checking in Sept 22 for 5 nights in a LM room. We're driving down from NC and won't arrive until at least 9pm. I've read stories about hotels overbooking their rooms. Anyone know if Disney does this? I'm worried that since we're arriving late for a popular room they won't have one left for us. I don't want to move to another value resort.

Anyone know if I'm guaranteed to get my room no matter how late I check in?

When you do online check-in they will ask your arrival time - this will let them know you will be a late arrival. If they did over-book, they would move you or upgrade you.

 

[Sandy Mouse]

Checking in Sept 22 for 5 nights in a LM room. We're driving down from NC and won't arrive until at least 9pm. I've read stories about hotels overbooking their rooms. Anyone know if Disney does this? I'm worried that since we're arriving late for a popular room they won't have one left for us. I don't want to move to another value resort.

Anyone know if I'm guaranteed to get my room no matter how late I check in?

They would not overbook without a plan for handling overflow. You will have a room upon arrival.

 

[cristen72]

When you do online check-in they will ask your arrival time - this will let them know you will be a late arrival. If they did over-book, they would move you or upgrade you.

I've only been to WDW one other time and I didn't do online check in. What's the advantage? Guaranteeing a room? That would make sense

 

[cristen72]

They would not overbook without a plan for handling overflow. You will have a room upon arrival.

I know I will have a room somewhere. I know they won't leave me without a place to go. I just want a LM room. Not to be bussed to AS Sports or something. This is our last trip to WDW for 6 years and I just really want to be at AoA!

If you think the online checking could help my worries then that's what I'll do.

I guess my real question is how often does something like overbooking happen? Perhaps I should start a new thread to ask

 

[kyliem]

was wondering about online check in myself?

 

[disneydreamfan14]

Countdown to AoA Cars Suite...96 days! So close!

Going to start making some trip tshirts this week for the family.

 

[acc9242]

Do you think LMR are being held for Pop Warner overflow? I tried to book a room for the first week of December (tried different days checking in, less days, more days, etc.) and no LMR rooms came up until I tried checking in on the 9th, which is the first day after Pop Warner ends. No problems finding one after that either. I ended up booking for later in the month but would reallllly like something before the 9th. I was just wondering if the rooms would be released closer to Pop Warner or if this is completely unrelated. I'll keep trying (and also trying to get the military discount).

 

[bluezy]

I know I will have a room somewhere. I know they won't leave me without a place to go. I just want a LM room. Not to be bussed to AS Sports or something. This is our last trip to WDW for 6 years and I just really want to be at AoA!

If you think the online checking could help my worries then that's what I'll do.

I guess my real question is how often does something like overbooking happen? Perhaps I should start a new thread to ask

I don't know for sure how often it happens because I don't think Disney ever says "we've overbooked" (or at least not that I've heard). I think when it happens, people have just been "magically" upgraded to a better room within the resort or to a better resort. I've never heard/read of someone being down graded or even a lateral move. It's always an upgrade. I'm not saying that a downgrade/lateral move has *never* happened, but just that I've never read/heard about it so I would think it's much more likely that if they're overbooked, they'd upgrade people. They want to keep their guests happy and finding out at check-in that you're getting downgraded isn't going to make for a good start to a vacation. On one of our trips we had booked 2 connecting standard rooms at Pop Century and when we checked in we were upgraded to 2 connecting rooms in a preferred location. I'm guessing they were overbooked for standard rooms when we checked in on that trip.

Keeping my fingers crossed that you get your LM room, though. I'd be disappointed, too, if I had booked at AoA and ended up getting moved somewhere else (even if it was a HUGE upgrade).