Pros/Cons to AoA

[wonder4fam2011]

By one have pros/cons to AoA please.

Will have an 18 & 15 yr old. 18 yr old wanted to stay there sometime. Was thinking of the suites. Is it worth it? We do get a cm discount so the price is still high but not as bad as it could be. Want to take her Senior pictures there so I thought it would be easiest way to combine the two.

What other resorts should we consider but we would need 2 rooms or do mom/daughter dad/son sleeping arrangements. Or even staying at the town home we are staying at for the beginning of our trip at a much cheaper rate than on site.

Thanks!

 

[bookgirl]

I think AoA will give you the sleeping arrangements you want at the best price and it will be at the resort your daughter wants for her pictures.

The only cons I found when I stayed there was it was a super noisy and had over crowded buses.

 

[NicoleLarson]

Cons....have to walk outside to the main building/bus stop, so rain, heat, cold. For the same price you can get a deluxe with a day bed. So that's all of them except WL and AKL.
The beds are super rock hard.
Food court is absolutely crazy and choices are different than the typical American palate.
You will be the VERY last bus stop everywhere you go.

Pros: although walks to main building are outside, the decor is great so it makes for a very nice walk and all suite buildings are no more than a 5 minute walk.
2 full Bathrooms!!!!!!
I personally like the choices at the food court, it's nice to have something different. Plus POP food court is very close 5-10.
For buses, you can always use the POP bus, so we never waited for more than 5 minutes.
Microwave in room and larger mini fridge
A separate parent space.

 

[Jdismom]

We stayed at AoA twice this year and loved it. The food court had a great variety and there was plenty of seating. We didn't find it too crowded.
We also thought the beds were very comfortable and enjoyed having a separate living space from the bedroom.
It is a fairly easy walk to anywhere in the resort and of course the theming is great.
We never waited too long for any buses. There seemed to be a lot of them servicing this resort.
For us the only con was the pool crowds in June at the main pool, but it probably would have been the same at any resort during that time.
I don't think you can go wrong staying there.

 

[Squggl3]

I LOVED AOA!!! Great theming (best on property IMHO) the proximity to pop for 2x the dining choices. My only issue was we stayed at LM cause I wasn't getting a suite for just my hubby and I and it was a long walk back and forth. But since you are getting a suite that won't be a problem.

 

[KangaFan]

We were looking at doing a stay next summer and realized that it is cheaper to pay for 2 rooms at POP Century than 1 suite at AoA. You still get 2 bathrooms, but you also get 2 fridges and 4 real beds. (Unfortunately, no microwave, which I think you get with the suites)

We've stayed at POP before and the kids loved the food court, arcade, pools, etc. Just a thought . . .

 

[tobiana]

We found it worth it. The decor was awesome, inside and out. DH loved the food, huge bows of pasta made to order. We usually brought the food back to the room and used the table in the room to eat, we stayed at a Nemo suite and it was three minutes walking to food court and buses. We found the beds comfy, we usually feel it the next day if the bed was too hard and these weren't. We slept in the living area beds. The fridge was pretty big.

The buses were great. At the parks it the farthest stop usually but more often than not we had a bus come a couple of minus after a full one left us waiting at the stop.

We just loved it.

 

[5Hfan]

Cons....have to walk outside to the main building/bus stop, so rain, heat, cold. For the same price you can get a deluxe with a day bed. So that's all of them except WL and AKL.
The beds are super rock hard.
Food court is absolutely crazy and choices are different than the typical American palate.
You will be the VERY last bus stop everywhere you go.

Pros: although walks to main building are outside, the decor is great so it makes for a very nice walk and all suite buildings are no more than a 5 minute walk.
2 full Bathrooms!!!!!!
I personally like the choices at the food court, it's nice to have something different. Plus POP food court is very close 5-10.
For buses, you can always use the POP bus, so we never waited for more than 5 minutes.
Microwave in room and larger mini fridge
A separate parent space.

I will second all of this, except the beds, we found them fine. But prefer a firm sleeping surface. Not sure about the buses, it was the first time we've used bus transportation. But it seemed long to me...We were in a Nemo suite which everyone loved, on the ground floor close to the main building and it was quiet, super convenient, and a nice water view/jogging trail area. We walked through all the areas, they are awesome and worth seeing! The kids swam in all 3 pools (and the lifeguard in the cozy cone area was especially attentive, he jumped in and was a fingertip behind my husband in grabbing our 5 year old when he went too far). We did ave a discount, so $250 a night I think was our rate. The 2 bathrooms were nice!!

 

[JennyDrake]

While I am a HUGE fan of all of the values, ONCE at AoA was enough for me. We were in LM section and it is a HIKE--bear in mind that I am a runner.......and it was a hike. Made the refillable mugs downright laughable.

There seemed to way be more "room noise" at this resort than the AS or Pop--and I am a heavy sleeper. Very aware of babies crying in rooms and doors opening and closing all around. We were on the second floor. In the future, I will ask for a top floor room.

Bus service was good to/from parks, but each and every bus was packed.

The REAL negative is the food court. It has a terrible layout and it is just BEDLAM. The queuing lines are not nearly as long as they need to be. Service was sluggish and I can't tell you why. It seemed a bit understaffed, but not terribly so. It took 10-15 minutes (one time 20 min) to get through the lines and get food, then stand in line again to pay. By the time you are seated, the food is tepid. Then you have to get silverware, drinks, find a table, etc. The noise level is HORRENDOUS even at non-peak times. And the traffic flow design (WHAT traffic flow design??) is very poor. There is no real flow pattern.

Seating is ample, which is nice. You get real plates and silverware which is good news/bad news. I found that I bristled at having to so bus my own table. You have to try to get the trash and remnants into a trash receptacle with a too small door that is spring loaded to close. Then you sort of recycling and the dishes in one bin and flatware in another. It reminded me WAY too much of bussing tables in a restaurant.

Food quality was OK but not remarkably better than AS, which is what I had hoped for... The food "looks" better than it tastes. Naan bread is VERY good and I really enjoyed the build your own fruit bowls and yogurt/granola bowls for breakfast.

 

[connorok]

I agree with previous poster. Was also in LM and what a hike everyday. Didn't get near the benefit of the refillable cups as in trips past due to the distance from the food court. Also found it to be much noisier than either POP or All Star Movies and my bed was too soft for my bad back. The one pro was the bus service as we hardly ever had to wait more than 5 minutes for a bus.

 

[bookgirl]

I was in LM as well but I did not find it a hike. I found the food court busy but I didn't like the meal I got so I only ate the one time had bought a mug but I was only here two days before I moved on to another resort). Like I said my biggest complaint was the noise/crowded conditions.

 

[lustergirl]

Haven't stayed there yet. I have no need to stay in a suite and if I was going to pay that price I would stay deluxe. Plus the regular rooms are too far away from the foodcourt. If I want to stay in a regular value resort room I would stay at one of the All Stars. They are smaller in size.

Anyways, good luck

 

[ilovebassets]

We stayed in a Cars suite for a night about two weeks ago. The room and decor in general were great, but the whole place felt so CROWDED. From check in to the food court to just wandering around. The food court was also incredibly loud. And it was hard to get food from multiple different places. For breakfast and dinner, we just ended up all eating the same thing which defeats the purpose of a food court.

Glad to have seen it, but once is enough. We will not be going back.

 

[CarbonRiver]

We stayed in a Cars suite in late May last year and absolutely LOVED it. The buses from the resort weren't too bad, but they were the farthest away at the parks, though not that much farther to walk really once you get to the bus stops. The theme of the resort both in and out of the rooms was just amazing in terms of having all the Disney characters. Ate at food court twice for a lunch and a dinner and while it was nothing amazing, burgers and pasta and grilled cheese for the kids, it wasn't bad either. Might avoid the Nemo rooms, as I would expect it is louder in those around the Big Blue Pool. Cozy Cone pool wasn't very loud at night.

I might also discount some of the LM room reviews if you are looking at a suite. LM is a long way down from everything else and is where the "value" resort part of AoA is. Suites really should be treated as a different category as it is not fair to compare the two parts. If we had stayed there it probably would have tainted our views on everything else.

 

[ejgonz2]

Just took my first trip since I was a kid in Sept and stayed at AOA Finding Nemo. So, I can't compare to other resorts. I thought the foodcourt was perfectly fine, really liked the diverse options, but DW and I like 'ethnic' food. My kids are very small (DD4 and DS22 month twins), so we just can't eat sit down too often and the noise drowned out my kids noises.

Loved the pool and splash area for our little ones. Loved the theming and characters everywhere. The bus was annoying, but I can't imagine its that different than any non-monorail resort. They all seemed equally crowded and it was week after labor day, so a very low crowd time.

Thought the beds were perfectly comfortable, we slept on the murphy bed and put the kids in the room so we could use the room after they were in bed. Next time we might switch that since they'll be older.

Overall a great time and we're planning on going back next year.

 

[Terra Nova guy]

Might avoid the Nemo rooms, as I would expect it is louder in those around the Big Blue Pool.

Just thought I would mention that I stayed in a Nemo suite on the ground floor, right next to the pool (could see it outside our window) and noise was not a problem. It didn't disturb us in any way.