Art of animation resort

Im staying at the art of animation resort in September, just wanted to know if anyone has stayed there and what you thought of it?

 

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We stayed there in Feb. Our 1st night we were in LM and we were NOT impressed. We upgraded the next day to a Cars suite and loved that.

Pools were great food court was not.

 

Why was they LM not very good? Knew the food court wouldn't be great as it is the same as pop century

 

I know we wouldn't stay there for no other reason than the buses, we were there in Feb at CBR and the day we were at MK the bus lines for there were horrible. And it didn't matter what time of day either as it was bad all day, and at the end of the night the line was full constantly and they didn't have anymore buses running than any other resort.

 

How did you get back to the resort, that sounds kind of scary!

 

As to values, I can only compare LM rooms to POP. We were very disappointed with the lack of surface space in the LM rooms. There is no shelf above the sink like at POP, so all toiletries need to be on the sink counter. The table in the room is much smaller than at POP and the chairs were very uncomfortable - At POP, the table could hold two laptops and still have a little room, LM room table could only hold one laptop. The cabinet with the drawers, mini-frige, and TV has very little space on top for putting items - especially bad when emptying your pockets at night. Plus the Ariel building is so far away from the buses and food court - in fact it is just a short distance to one of the 50's buildings at POP. When we were at POP last Nov, the luggage service person who was bringing our luggage to the room, told us that the LM rooms are actually closer to POP's luggage services than to AOA's.
I was also very disappointed with the food court when we stayed there this past Dec.
We had visited the food court back when AoA first opened and were quite excited about the food. We stopped over for lunch one day and found the the food very fresh and delicious back then with some very different items from other food courts. This past Dec. we were so looking forward to getting some of that freshly made food with the naan bread. To our disappointment, the Mongolian grill stir-fry was premade not cooked when you ordered it like before. The veggie sides - the spinach and paneer cheese was soggy, the roasted cauliflower and tomatoes were dry and overcooked.

 

We just spent 2 nights in a LM room with our family of 4.

I liked AoA ... theming was excellent. Main pool was exceptional IMO ... well beyond what you would expect from a value resort. Quiet pool was nice as well. Very clean and well maintained.

Food court was chaos during busy times, but fine during off times - this was the same experience we had at Pop. I thought our food was fine there, but we only ate one full meal there and that was dinner at 5:00pm. We stopped in at the food court multiple times, so that is where I get my "chaos during busy times, fine during off times" statement.

We only went to the MK during our trip, but bus service was the same as what I've experienced at any other resort - the service to the park first thing in the morning (we are rope drop people) was great, but unless you got lucky, the wait for a bus coming back from the park to the resort was longish. The bus stops are totally covered which is great (I don't remember them being totally covered at Pop, but I could be wrong).

The room itself was about what I expected based on online pictures. Again, awesome theming ... I didn't show my kids pictures of the bathroom, so they loved the grotto theme in the shower. The cooling fridge was a nice touch ... we kept soda and water in there and the temp was fine. We spent very little time in the room. The safe held our ipad, 1 Nook, 1 Kindle and a wallet just fine.

Housekeeping was great. I called for extra towels as soon as we were in our room and they were delivered before we even changed into our swimsuits. We had two towel animals when we checked in ... so that was nice. On our second day, I left a note requesting extra towels (again, for the pool) with our tip and we were given about 6 extra towels.

I really had no complaints. We were on the 4th floor facing the parking lot in building 8. I made no requests, but the location was fine for us - very quiet. I don't think we had to wait at all for elevators. It is a bit of a walk to Animation hall, but we had beautiful weather so it was pleasant. Plus, I knew it would be a bit of a walk based on reviews.

The resort was filled with families having fun ... very friendly atmosphere. We saw babies, little kids, teens, tweens and everything in between.

 

Thanks for the info my partner and I have stayed at the POP and we thought it would be quiet similar to that. We just need a room to sleep in, wash in and store our stuff with the bonus of the transport. Why spend more money on accommodation when it can be your spending money

 

My partner and I have stayed in the POP and we expected it to be the same as that. We just need a place to sleep, wash and store our stuff and the bonus of transport to the parks. It's more money to spend while in the parks

 

I think A of A will suit your needs just fine.

 

we were there in the last week of Febuary, loved it, stayed in Cars suite.
we had no problems with the buses.
Landscapes was okay, was busy unless you went on off times, grilled shrimp was cooked to much, though, had to throw it in the trash.
Surf & Surf burger was good.

 

For those who said the food court was chaos, what would you say are the peak times vs. off times? For example, when is the "rush" for dinner, etc.?

 

I thought AoA was great. I was very happy with my LM room. It was clean and the theme was awesome. Pools were amazing. Food court was fine -- no better or worse than the other values. I only had a long bus wait one time. A HUGE rain storm began near the end of Wishes in the MK and EVERYONE ran to leave the park at the same time. But all bus lines were long -- even those for Deluxe resorts. Give it a try, at least once!

 

We LOVED it! We stayed in a Nemo suite looking at the pool but close to the bridge to Pop. We had no problems with buses. Going to the parks was good and coming back we would just hop on the first bus - AoA or Pop. The walk from Pop is very short.

The food court has some unique items - which is good/bad depending on your taste in food. I loved the Surf and Surf! The only complaint I had with the food court is the real plates and utensils. It was a pain putting those away.

We loved it so much we are going back in March 2014.

 

During the off times Landscapes was not busy, We ate several meals there. We would go to the parks at rope drop & be back at the resort in the early afternoon.
Breakfast at 6 to 7am was not bad at all. We only ate 1 breakfast there & that was a Sunday Morning. Our first full day there.

The night before, Saturday night, we checked in around 5pm & by the time we went down for dinner, it was packed, we decided to order pizza to be delivered to the room, big mistake, it took 2hrs, (now they did tell us this when we ordered- just grumpy DH went to bed without eating because he did not want to wait for it & he would not go to Landscapes to get anything) Pizza was delivered at 9:30PM. We should have got some pre-made sandwiches at landscapes, but it was like a Zoo that night & we were all extremely tired after driving for over 14 hrs & it took an hour to check in, do to some problems.

Lunch- a late lunch around 2-3pm was not bad.

Dinner around 5-6 was not bad.
Of course this was during the week in the last week of Febuary.