Solo birthday trip planning, AoA or POR

I'm going solo this fall to WDW for my 35th birthday on 10/13. I'm splurging on this trip, but trying to keep it relatively reasonable. The travel dates will be 10/8-10/17. I'll fly out 10/8 and check in at Royal Pacific and play at UO and IoA taking full advantage of the resorts free EXPRESS pass. I'll check in at a WDW resort Sunday night 10/9 and stay until 10/14 and visit each of the 4 parks. From there, I'm going to get onto the Disney Dream for 3 days in the Bahamas and fly back home 10/17. When I stay onsite at WDW, my go-to has usually been ASMo. I've stayed at both moderate and deluxe resorts but I hardly spend any time in the room except to sleep and shower. I spend every waking minute in the parks. That being said, I want to try a new resort and have had my eye on AoA Little Mermaid rooms because I think the theming is super cute, but I've been reading quite a few negative reviews about the resort, namely looooong walk to the lobby and bus stop. I've checked our POR and adore every little aspect of this resort. However, it would be a $300 upcharge and I'm not sure if I can justify shelling out the extra money if I'm barely going to be in the room. For fellow DISers who've experienced either resort, or better yet BOTH, I'd appreciate any tips you may have to help me get over this indecision.

Having stayed in a LM room at AofA and POR, I would book Pop and just walk over and check out AofA. I find the walk from the LM room to the buses/main building long, but I also find the blue walls in the LM room dark and depressing. Some people might find that wall colour relaxing, but not me.

I've stayed in both. The Mermaid room was a bit small, even for one person, in my opinion, so if that matters to you, I'd suggest POR. Otherwise, I think either is fine. I didn't mind the long walks too much at AoA. POR is also spread out, so you may do long walks there also.

I stayed solo in a LM room. I love the AOA resort - my friends and I stayed in a Finding Nemo suite in 2012. The theming is amazing in every section of the resort. But I will not stay in a LM room again - the walk felt very long from the main building to my room after a long day in the parks. I requested a higher floor but was placed on the ground floor. The soundproofing was awful - I could hear the couple next door talking, their baby crying, and worst of all those golf carts outside delivering luggage and pizza to people. The suites have inside doors, and I found them to be much more soundproof.

I haven't stayed at POR, but if you want to spend some time in Disney Springs, then I say go for POR or POFQ.