Happy with AOA?

[MelissathePooh]

We stayed in a Cars suite this past October. Room was great although storage was tight. Theming is fantastic. We didn't have any issues with transportation other than having to wait leaving the parks due to the line of guests.

Biggest issues were:

Cell signal - Could not get a cell signal in the room unless I stood next to the window. Internet was horrific. I have never had issues before or since with my phone or service.

Food Court - is poorly set up with trash/plate return sections next to the doors - blocks 1/2 the doorway. Using real plates and silverware is really disgusting when it comes time to take your plates up - as fast as the CM's were trying to clear things out it was just gross. And the CM cart made the exits even worse. Food court staff was incredibly unfriendly in several areas.

Pool - its cute, but it was COLD and despite the cuteness it was kind of boring. The locked gates and locked bathrooms were a pain. Very easy to get locked out and challenging to keep up with your room key in nothing but your suit - epsecially at the bathroom. It was FREEZING cold in the bathroom/shower area.

The main mug refill area was inside the pool in the corner - not easy access if you walking by and didn't open until 12 or so.

We walked to the edge of LM and decided it was not ever going to make our list - its just a haul.

Its definitely cute and nice and new, but just Disney's way of charging more for a value resort.

I will say this - the key pad on the door fell off as we entered the room for the first time. It snapped back into place easily. I didn't think much of that until we went to get into our room at VWL a few weekends ago and the same thing happened. I don't think the keypads are particularly sturdy in general.

 

[emilyindisney]

I've heard both sides of the distance debate, and I think your feelings will depend on the type of group you're going with. People with strollers, or young kids complained the walk to LM rooms was too long. Older groups and adults said the walk was fine, and scenic. All in all, I've heard its somewhere between five and ten minutes from Animation Hall to the LM rooms depending on how fast you walk.

 

[SarahJN]

This was our first stay at a value and overall, I thought it was fine. Would we stay here again? Maybe. The suite was a bit smaller than I expected - I had to keep reminding myself that it is a value resort.

I didn't like the fact that there were no towels at the pool. And when you call for more towels in your room, it can take hours for those towels to be delivered.

I am slightly OCD and the real plates and silverware in the food court grossed me out. We would ask for extra plates so that we could split meals and more than once, we were handed a dirty plate. It also seemed like every time I picked up silverware, something would be dirty.

 

[DisneyFlower]

We LOVED this resort. We were there in October for a short trip and it is by far our favorite value resort. Took a stroll over to POP while I was there and was so glad I was staying at AoA - everything's new, there is extreme detail all over the place that I so appreciated, loved the food options at the food court, the pools, atmosphere! One night we went over to the Lion King section for the movie of the night and that was nice, too!
We have stayed at values, moderates, and deluxes. Since we are a family of 6, we've gotten 2 rooms elsewhere in the past and now not sure what we'll do on our next trip - trying to decide between 2 rooms at POFQ (our family sentimental favorite) or AoA again. We really liked it!
I didn't do a trip report on the boards, but I did write it up with lots of pictures on my blog. The link to it is right below you can view it if you want to - for more detailed info about what we experienced at AoA.

http://www.daydreamsandmoonbeams.blogspot.com/2012/11/our-happy-place.html

 

[VeronicaB]

I'm so happy to read some positive reviews of AoA! I think we have decided to stay there on our next trip in September to save a little money and the kids would LOVE the theming! I just hope I can get over the down grade from a mod to a value. I'm just glad I haven't stayed at my "dream" resort yet. LOL I know I couldn't downgrade from a deluxe to a value.

 

[Mariep26]

We stayed in a Cars suite and LOVED everything about the resort. Our friends stayed in LM so we made the haul from Cars Bldg 2 to LM Bldg 7 at least 2x per day and we had no issues -- took us about 10 min to cross the whole campus and it is a nice walk along the lake if you chose to go that way. Food court has some flow issues but nothing worse than I saw at ASMo. The theming was great, we had 6 in our suite - my mom, me, MH, DSS8, DS4 and DD3. No issues with space but we did utilize all of the storage space. We even had two single City Mini strollers with us and didn't find it cramped.
We are new DVC members so we probably won't be going back but if the opportunity presented itself, I would stay again.

 

[lovingeire]

I'm so happy to read some positive reviews of AoA! I think we have decided to stay there on our next trip in September to save a little money and the kids would LOVE the theming! I just hope I can get over the down grade from a mod to a value. I'm just glad I haven't stayed at my "dream" resort yet. LOL I know I couldn't downgrade from a deluxe to a value.

We have always stayed at a mod and did a split stay doing our last night at POR and we really missed AoA. We loved it. Originally we were going to so a deluxe this trip, but my two year old is obsessed with Cars so we switched to AoA. No regrets here! Of course, not having stayed at our dream resort either this was a quick favorite!

 

[cristen72]

We stayed in a LM room in September. I didn't think the walk to the food court was bad at all!

We had our car so we didn't use the buses.

Food at the food court was great but scraping the plates, etc was a pain. It took a while to clean up when we were finished because there was literally a line for the garbage can. I like the idea of using real plates and utensils to cut down on waste but I think they need a better system.

Internet service was crappy but we dealt with it. Didn't use it often enough to really matter.

We would definitely stay here again! DS tried two of the pools and we spent one evening taking tons of pics around the resort.

 

[mike the canuck]

Here is my video tour of the Cars Wing and Pool
http://youtu.be/bEHo_97ABwc

 

[dfarner]

We LOVED this resort. We were there in October for a short trip and it is by far our favorite value resort. Took a stroll over to POP while I was there and was so glad I was staying at AoA - everything's new, there is extreme detail all over the place that I so appreciated, loved the food options at the food court, the pools, atmosphere! One night we went over to the Lion King section for the movie of the night and that was nice, too!
We have stayed at values, moderates, and deluxes. Since we are a family of 6, we've gotten 2 rooms elsewhere in the past and now not sure what we'll do on our next trip - trying to decide between 2 rooms at POFQ (our family sentimental favorite) or AoA again. We really liked it!
I didn't do a trip report on the boards, but I did write it up with lots of pictures on my blog. The link to it is right below you can view it if you want to - for more detailed info about what we experienced at AoA.

http://www.daydreamsandmoonbeams.blogspot.com/2012/11/our-happy-place.html

I loved reading your blog. Your pictures are great and your family is just beautiful . Thanks for sharing.