Art of Animation

[amber.miller]

Hi all! We'll be staying at Art of Animation from April 24th-May 4th in a Finding Nemo Suite. Just wondering if anyone has stayed there and can give any tips of some extra fun stuff, or any concerns/issues? We usually stay at Port Orleans, so this will be a bit of a change for us, thanks!

 

[kimnvbva]

We just stayed at AOA in November in the LM rooms. It was the furthest from the food court but not too bad. Finding Nemo is the closest. Try to do breakfast early at the food court. It gets so crowded and crazy by 8:00am! Lines everywhere! There is only one bus stop for the whole property. In front of the main building. That was a little rough. Busses were slightly crowded at times but manageable. Take lots of pictures, the resort is beautiful! Have a great time!!!

 

[mommytoliandlu]

We are staying there as well, but in a Little Mermaid room. It looks like the movie themes will make it really fun for the kids! We are going in late June. I'm subbing here to hear responses

 

[kimnvbva]

We are staying there as well, but in a Little Mermaid room. It looks like the movie themes will make it really fun for the kids! We are going in late June. I'm subbing here to hear responses

We stayed there and loved the room. Kids loved all the characters everywhere to take pictures. We'll be going in late June too! Staying at Saratoga springs this time. Have a wonderful trip!!!

 

[mom2l&t]

Interested in the responses on this thread as we are planning a trip this year. We are considering this resort as well. The buses are a major concern of my DH. I heard they have their own buses and at this time do not share. Hope that is true and helps with the wait time. We want to spend our time in the parks not in a bus line.

 

[lynypixie]

You will have so much fun!

Our only peeve was how long the food court was a times. And there was not enough washing machines!

Other than that, we just loved our stay there.

 

[amber.miller]

We just stayed at AOA in November in the LM rooms. It was the furthest from the food court but not too bad. Finding Nemo is the closest. Try to do breakfast early at the food court. It gets so crowded and crazy by 8:00am! Lines everywhere! There is only one bus stop for the whole property. In front of the main building. That was a little rough. Busses were slightly crowded at times but manageable. Take lots of pictures, the resort is beautiful! Have a great time!!!

My biggest concern is the bus and transportation time! We are used to POR which has 4 bus stops, so we almost never had to wait and never encountered a full bus. Just wondering if you felt this happened more often at AoA, and how much longer the transportation took to get to the Parks?

 

[amber.miller]

You will have so much fun!

Our only peeve was how long the food court was a times. And there was not enough washing machines!

Other than that, we just loved our stay there.

I am really excited, just getting to that point where I second guess my choices! (I've done it every trip, my DH just rolls his eyes and tries to reassure me!) We are all very light breakfast eaters so we'll eat in our room, was the food court busy at all the meal times though? We do have a couple days where we planned on doing an early dinner there. And if you don't mind my asking what food did you guys enjoy the most at Landscapes?!

 

[zgirlz]

We stayed there this past January 18-28 in Finding Nemo family suite. Traveled with 4 adults and 2 girls under10. We loved this hotel! Decorations in all areas were amazing. Pool was very nice, food court had a lot of options. The food court can get very busy if planning on breakfast I would recommend going as early as you can as it is not very busy before about 8am after that it is pure craziness! They also offer whole pizzas that take about 10 minutes we opted to take this back to the room a couple of nights, reasonable priced at about $15. We loved walking around and looking at the different areas; Cars, Lion King, Mermaid as well. One night we walked across the bridge to check out Pop Century this was a fairly quick walk and fun to see as we'll. This resort does have its own dedicated buses although the bus stop is near the end of the line from all parks bus rides still were not too bad 15-20 minutes to and from the parks. On a few mornings the lines for the buses to Magic Kingdom were very long to they immediately called for more buses and actually had 1-2 waiting as the other one loaded to get all to the park quickly no 20 minute wait between buses these mornings. Overall we had a great time.

 

[herb102211]

We stayed at AoA last September, the first weekend the LM rooms opened. We were in one of the LM rooms and it was a hike, lol. The theming of the resort is beautiful though. The bus waits weren't too long (under 10-15 minutes) for most of the parks except MK and DTD. Try to avoid the food court before 9am and between 4-6pm. We found it to be the busiest during those times. Enjoy your trip!

 

[mommytoliandlu]

How much of a hike would you say?

 

[OneTreeHillAddict]

We stayed at AOA in December and loved it! Even in the mermaid area the walk doesn't feel long to me. There's so much to see and do as you walk through the resort grounds. It feels like you are walking around in a cartoon! I have a lot of pics on my current trip report if you want to see more. Here are a couple of my favorites.

The food in the food court was very good too. When I first saw that menu last June I was not interested, but after trying a few things out...

 

[JeannieKY]

Staying at AoA LM section late June-early July. How is the phone/Internet connection for cell phones?

 

[primrosea]

Staying at AoA LM section late June-early July. How is the phone/Internet connection for cell phones?

We stayed in the LM area for 2 weeks in October into November and had no problems with Internet or cell phone connectivity. We were actually stuck there during hurricane sandy so I had to do work on our laptop and send it into work and had no problems at all.

Also, I would like to mention that the walk to pop was boy bad at all so we would occasionally have meals there or take buses there from parks if they came before the AOA buses. We felt it really expanded our options for food and transportation.

 

[kimnvbva]

My biggest concern is the bus and transportation time! We are used to POR which has 4 bus stops, so we almost never had to wait and never encountered a full bus. Just wondering if you felt this happened more often at AoA, and how much longer the transportation took to get to the Parks?

The busses seemed to be full all the time. I guess it happened more because of the one bus stop. That was the main reason my husband doesn't want to go back. We're staying at CSR in June. Hopefully it won't be too much of an issue.

 

[JeannieKY]

Thanks for the feedback!

 

[travlnman1]

Stayed in the Lion King last month. We enjoyed the property very much but housekeeping stole $700.00 in gift cards from my travel wallet that I accidentally left out one day. Enjoy your stay but be conscience of putting everything in the safe, always.

 

[amber.miller]

Thank you all for your responses and information! I know it will be a different experience than we're used to, but I'm sure we'll have a blast

 

[Alabama Minnie]

Just stayed in a LM at AoA in Feb. Hardest beds ever! The theme here is the BEST of ANY of the other values IMO though. For a adults-only trip I would not pay the extra $$ over Pop Century. LM would be great for a family with little girls. Hope to take the grandson to Lion King or Cars someday.

We have AT&T cells and had to stand outside the doorway to get a signal in LM room, none inside.

 

[Tomader]

We were at AoA Feb17-26 in the Cars section. We loved it! Food court was busy but all food courts are crazy in the morning. The only thing I did not like about the food court was the dishes and silverware. The really need plastic throw away dinnerware. I noticed alot of people leaving their trays for the staff to clean up. The internet service was horrible and my cell phone never worked in the room. I have Verizon. Other than those few problems I loved the resort. I am already booking for August in the Cars area.