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

[disneydreamfan14]

Trying to book my trip! Love the idea of the suites! How did you like yours? Where do you make your trip T-shirts?

We looked through absolute_mandy's designs here on the DIS (Creative DISigns board) and asked for custom designs.

Then we printed them onto transfer paper, got matching t-shirts/colors from A.C. Moore, and ironed the transfers onto the shirts! They looked great and made for some awesome family photos!

 

[smidgy]

i dont think room request has anything to do with it being ready. you may be assigned a room that someone is checking out of that day, so who knows when those people will check out

we often get our room early, but 7AM is REALLY early! I kinda doubt it.

our last trip we used our room until the last minute 11AM. if we drive, we are usually out of our room by 6 or 7, but housekeeping still has to clean it, etc.

probably the only way you get your room that early would be if it was empty.. and at AOA, that's kinda doubtful..

sorry, just want you to be prepared. hopefully it will be warm enough for you guys to snooze by the pool for a while. we have gotten a room at other value resorts as early as 9 am, though! oh, you could snooze in the car!

you'll probably be so excited, that you could get some breakfast, look around a bit, and maybe by then they'll be a room ready. good luck!

 

[ikeymakes3]

Just returned from our stay in the Finding Nemo suite. Found it very discouraging that I had "no service" with my cel phone (AT&T and my friend has Virizon). Felt like the dinosaur ages having to head outside to make a phone call. Wi-fi was spotty and unreliable. In this day and age with a resort like this I find it completely unacceptable.

 

[PrincessLilysMommy]

we often get our room early, but 7AM is REALLY early! I kinda doubt it.

our last trip we used our room until the last minute 11AM. if we drive, we are usuallyout of our room by 6 or 7, but housekeeping still has to clean it, etc.

probably the only way you get your room that early would be if it was empty.. and at AOA, that's kinda doubtful..

sorry, just want you to be prepared. hopefully it will be warm enough for you guys to smooze by the pool for a while. we have gotten a room at other value resorts as early as 9 am, though! oh, you could snooze in the car!

you'll probably be so excited, that you could get some breakfast, look around a bit, and maybe by then they'll be a room ready. good luck!

Thanks, I was thinking it was a bit of a stretch. But who knows? Besides with my four year old I'm sure the excitement of Disney nothing will be able to contain her in the room right after a long drive.

Breakfast and looking around the resort sounds like a good idea.

Thanks!!

 

[TJDisneymama]

Just returned from our stay in the Finding Nemo suite. Found it very discouraging that I had "no service" with my cel phone (AT&T and my friend has Virizon). Felt like the dinosaur ages having to head outside to make a phone call. Wi-fi was spotty and unreliable. In this day and age with a resort like this I find it completely unacceptable.

i agree its unacceptable. do other resorts have this issue or it mainly AoA? i only r e ally read AoA threa ds

 

[RayJay]

Hello All!

Quick question: DH and I decided we will load up the car with DD4 and drive from Tulsa, OK to AoA for our May12-21 vacation. It is an 18-19 hour drive. We estimate me will arrive around 7am. If I make a room request a few weeks before we arrive, how likely is it that we will be able to check in early and get into our room?

I know we will be tired and want a shower. Just hoping we can get our room asap.

Thanks!

We were just there for the holidays as an add on to extend vacay, couldn't get into room until 3:00 pm.

I did like the text message they gave you though for notification.

RayJay

 

[RayJay]

Just got back... a few positives and some not so...

AoA is a beautiful resort, always the case when they are new
Pool was great, cars land especially well done
Room was right near buses, 940 in Lion Ling, I think we were the closet of anyone.
Arcade was fabulous

Not so good...

The adult bedroom bed is way too small for two adults
Cell service, forget it, stinks thru out, very frustrating
Busses to Magic Kingdom were really bad, MK is easily the
busiest park from AOA. Sometimes had to wait for 3rd bus.

 

[dawnhaze]

Just returned from our stay in the Finding Nemo suite. Found it very discouraging that I had "no service" with my cel phone (AT&T and my friend has Virizon). Felt like the dinosaur ages having to head outside to make a phone call. Wi-fi was spotty and unreliable. In this day and age with a resort like this I find it completely unacceptable.

Agreed. They desperately need to install cellular repeaters and boost their wifi network. I've complained repeatedly to different people in hopes that maybe one of them will pass it up the chain. The internet help desk number is totally useless as well. I know more about networks than anyone I've talked to when calling in.

i agree its unacceptable. do other resorts have this issue or it mainly AoA? i only r e ally read AoA threa ds

I've had perfectly usable wifi and cellular service at All-Star Sports and Music. (Touchdown and Broadway sections respectively.)

 

[cruisingkat]

We are two adults and stayed at the AoA resort this past Dec (Little Mermaid section) and never again. We felt the room was smaller than POP - hubby claimed the beds were smaller although I told him they were the same size as I believe there is nothing between a twin and a full size but they sure looked smaller. The chairs at the table were very uncomfortable and the table was way too small to be of any use. There was very little space on top of the dresser/tv stand/refrigerator unit for our munchies and other items and in the sink area there wasn't a shelf under the mirror so you had very little space for toiletries on the sink counter. We so disappointed and bothered by the fact that we paid a premium price for this value resort compared to POP's price.
We ate in the food court when AoA first opened at a non-busy time. The food was delicious and the stir fry made when ordered. Since it was so good then, we stopped in on this trip (again at a non-busy time). The food was terrible -the stir fry was sitting already made with soggy vegetables, the vegetable sides were also terrible - the cauliflower and tomatoes were overcooked and the instead of tomatoes it seemed like they had tomato paste on them. For breakfast - couldn't believe that we had to go a different station to get potatoes to go with our omelets (omelets are served with a biscuit). But we did love the made to order omelets.
We had no problem with cell phones or wi-fi even though we were in the furthest building from the lobby (we were actually closer to POP's lobby than AoA's.)

 

[bluezy]

i agree its unacceptable. do other resorts have this issue or it mainly AoA? i only r e ally read AoA threa ds

I think some of the problem with cell service also has to do with the type of phone. Our last two stays at Pop, my husband would have great cell reception in the room -- even in the back of the room by the bathroom and sink. I, however, had to stand right by the window or outside to even get minimal service. We both have AT&T but 2 different types of phones.

 

[JessiMommy]

i agree its unacceptable. do other resorts have this issue or it mainly AoA? i only r e ally read AoA threa ds

I have had spotty cell service at every Disney resort I've stayed in. (I've stayed in a lot of them.) I'm always having to go outside the room to make a call.

 

[jcarwash]

We are two adults and stayed at the AoA resort this past Dec (Little Mermaid section) and never again. We felt the room was smaller than POP - hubby claimed the beds were smaller although I told him they were the same size as I believe there is nothing between a twin and a full size but they sure looked smaller.

Apparently the LM rooms are slightly larger by floor space at 277 square feet vs. 260 for Pop and All Stars. But if the fixtures in the room don't allow for easy storage, your impression could be that everything is smaller or scaled back.

You're right that the beds are supposed to be the same size -- perhaps being reminded of small a full size bed can be makes them seem smaller.

Your point is valid though -- is it worth paying more for LM vs. Pop? Perhaps not for everyone.

 

[Jacindyyy]

I'll apologize up front here if this is somewhere on the thread already, but I can't find it. We stayed in November, had a LM room, Bldg 7. The one thing that absolutely drove me crazy was the bathroom fan that came on if anyone even got close to the bathroom. And it stayed on for 20 minutes every single time before shutting off. Not a problem during the day, big problem in the middle of the night. And there is no switch to turn it off. Is this standard in all the LM rooms. Anyone know?

I was there last week, it was on 24/7. Never stopped.

 

[adamsbrla]

Just got back... a few positives and some not so...
The adult bedroom bed is way too small for two adults

It is supposed to be a queen size bed. Did you get a smaller one?

 

[Rychelle924]

Well, we have officially switched to a LK suite for our Dec trip. We had been all booked at Wilderness Lodge, and then my boys (8 and 5) saw AOA while googling Disney stuff and freaked out!!! Lol they were so in awe I couldn't say no. So we switched. May as well stay here while they are still young enough to love the child like quality of this resort.

 

[dmbcanada]

I keep hearing complaints about the LM rooms at AOA. I am interested to know the actual time it takes in minutes to get from LM to the lobby or even a distance in miles. I am staying here in April and wanting to know before I leave how far am I looking at.

 

[Jacindyyy]

I keep hearing complaints about the LM rooms at AOA. I am interested to know the actual time it takes in minutes to get from LM to the lobby or even a distance in miles. I am staying here in April and wanting to know before I leave how far am I looking at.

The walk is nothing at all! I really don't know what people are complaining about. It's like a 3 or 4 minute walk if even that, really not sure if those complaining walk at a snail's pace or if they are lazy and just don't like walking. :/

 

[TJDisneymama]

I keep hearing complaints about the LM rooms at AOA. I am interested to know the actual time it takes in minutes to get from LM to the lobby or even a distance in miles. I am staying here in April and wanting to know before I leave how far am I looking at.

i've seen several people respond to this issue in minutes and the average seems to be about 7 minutes walk at a leisurely pace.

 

[dawnhaze]

The walk is nothing at all! I really don't know what people are complaining about. It's like a 3 or 4 minute walk if even that, really not sure if those complaining walk at a snail's pace or if they are lazy and just don't like walking. :/

I'm lazy and hate walking, and even I don't think it's that far - but I don't have kids and a stroller to manage. I might feel differently if I did.

I timed the walk from the food court to my room and it was about 7 minutes just wandering along.

 

[lovingeire]

It is supposed to be a queen size bed. Did you get a smaller one?

It a queen bed in the master in the suites. We sleep on a king at home but were fine in a queen, even if it was "small" based on what we're accustomed to! For us it just takes a day or two to adjust.