Review of AoA Little Mermaid section

[MacFam4]

My friend and I flew down for a quick girls trip and stayed at Art of Animation Little Mermaid section Sept 26-Oct 1. We arrived at the resort on Wednesday afternoon. My friend had already done online check in, and we only waited for a few minutes to get our packet.

The lobby is very pretty when you first walk in...excellent details. The service at the front desk was great every time we stopped by. BUT, check in lines on Saturday and Sunday were crazy long!!!! Glad we didn't have to stand in them! There looked to be a table with free cookies and drinks available in the lobby on Saturday; I didn't notice this on Sunday. It is a little hike from the lobby/food court to the LM section, but I don't think it's more than about 5 minutes. I would not carry a food tray from the food court to the LM section as we saw some people doing...too far for that. But even after a long day at the parks, the walk wasn't unbearable.

We stayed in building 7, behind Ursula, 3rd floor. I think we were both pleasantly surprised when we first opened the door to our room...it was adorable!! The details were great, and there was such a clean, new feel. The absolute only complaint was a wash cloth that was lying on the table. I think the housekeeper must have left it there when she was making our Mickey towel. It didn't seem to be dirty, but still kind of weird. Housekeeping was great the whole time we were there. Of course with two adults we didn't make much of a mess at all. The tub/shower was great!!!

The beds were very firm but very comfortable. The comforter was so stiff it felt like cardboard, so it was never used. Storage is pretty limited, only 3 drawers.

The room itself was small, just like the other value resorts. It was perfect for the two of us, but a family of 4 would be cramped. Although we've stayed at Pop as a family of 4 and it was doable. We didn't swim at all, but the pools looked great! I think my favorite section though was the Cars section. It was themed wonderfully!

We only ate at the food court twice, once for lunch and once for breakfast. We didn't walk over to Pop, but it's not far at all.

I think my absolute only complaint was the buses. It seemed like we waited quite a bit both at the resort and at the parks, but nothing too terrible.

Please let me know if you have any questions and I'll try to answer!

 

[belle07]

Are the the little mermaid rooms close to the main building? What building is closer to the main building?

 

[MacFam4]

We were in bldg 7 and it is probably the closest LM building, but it is still a good 5 minute walk from the main building.

 

[tennessee]

we also just got back from the lm section , stayed in building 8. Really nice. The car sections is wonderful, they really did a great job on the section. I felt like the walk was just to far. Did enjoy the pool at the little mermaid,not very busy. I did not like the food court. I did like the size of the food court and differnt drink stations. Also like the new safes with the punch in codes,have they updated the other values with these? Would I stay there again, no would stay in car section and take the grandkid for that. But would not walk to lm with a little one. Im in pretty good shape and after a long day at the park did not look forward to the walk back.

 

[BuzzLiteyear]

Thanks for the review. We are planning on staying here within the next year.

 

[dreamcruiser]

OP, I was interested in your review because we stayed in a LM room a couple of weeks ago, for one night. Tho I, like you, found the decor charming, I thought it was too spread out. We were in building 9 (Triton) We didn't try to walk from our building to Animation Hall, but drove instead.
Like you also, I thought the comforter was very stiff and uncomfortable. I would hope for future guests that washings will soften it.
We only ate 2 meals in the food court but thought each was ok. There seemed to be plenty of choices, and we didn't have a problem standing in line either ordering food or checking out.
We didn't swim either and didn't really go close enough to the pool to check it out in detail. What we did see looked really cute tho.
All in all, I prefer mods or deluxe (preferably) when at WDW, but we were eager to stay in a brand-new resort, and chose Little Mermaid to save money.

 

[Jedimike]

Those of you that have stayed recently in a Little Mermaid (or other value resort) -- do you think we can fit a full size air mattress on the floor somewhere?

 

[dreamcruiser]

Those of you that have stayed recently in a Little Mermaid (or other value resort) -- do you think we can fit a full size air mattress on the floor somewhere?

In my opinion, you could not.

 

[Good Morning Dewdrop]

Those of you that have stayed recently in a Little Mermaid (or other value resort) -- do you think we can fit a full size air mattress on the floor somewhere?

I agree with the PP there's really no room for an air mattress. Shoot we had trouble finding a good out of the way place for the stiff comforters. Ended up putting them in front of the door at night (no not room for an air mattress there IMO)

 

[FantasiaMagic]

Thanks for the review! The resort looks great and the theming is magnificent!!!

Did you arrive to AoA after 3 pm? Or since you did the online check in you got your room earlier????

Thanks!!

-FantasiaMagic

 

[si-am]

Those of you that have stayed recently in a Little Mermaid (or other value resort) -- do you think we can fit a full size air mattress on the floor somewhere?

Single, yes. Full would be a problem.

 

[MacFam4]

Thanks for the review! The resort looks great and the theming is magnificent!!!

Did you arrive to AoA after 3 pm? Or since you did the online check in you got your room earlier????

Thanks!!

-FantasiaMagic

no, we arrived before 3pm, probably close to 2pm. The resort didn't seem to be very full Wed-Fri, but once the weekend hit, there were people everywhere.

 

[MacFam4]

Single, yes. Full would be a problem.

I agree, you could find room for a single, definitely not a full.

 

[MacFam4]

OP, I was interested in your review because we stayed in a LM room a couple of weeks ago, for one night. Tho I, like you, found the decor charming, I thought it was too spread out. We were in building 9 (Triton) We didn't try to walk from our building to Animation Hall, but drove instead.
Like you also, I thought the comforter was very stiff and uncomfortable. I would hope for future guests that washings will soften it.
We only ate 2 meals in the food court but thought each was ok. There seemed to be plenty of choices, and we didn't have a problem standing in line either ordering food or checking out.
We didn't swim either and didn't really go close enough to the pool to check it out in detail. What we did see looked really cute tho.
All in all, I prefer mods or deluxe (preferably) when at WDW, but we were eager to stay in a brand-new resort, and chose Little Mermaid to save money.

We typically stay in mods, and if it were my family of 4 on vacation, I would go back to a mod. I have teenage boys, (almost 12 and 16), and we are more comfortable in a larger room with double sinks. I don't think we would stay in the suites...for that price I would stay Wyndham Bonnet Creek again. But for a trip with 2 adults, we were fine in the LM room.

 

[goofy4tink]

Those of you that have stayed recently in a Little Mermaid (or other value resort) -- do you think we can fit a full size air mattress on the floor somewhere?

Nope, but a single would fit if you put it upright during the daytime.

I imagine that AoA is laid out pretty much the same as Pop, which would put the LM rooms in the same area as the 50's section of Pop. I've stayed in bldg 2, third floor, as far to the back as humanly possible. I didn't find the walk to the food court to be too bad..under 5 mins. My room at POR was much further out and I still carried a tray to the room every morning!!
I'm looking forward to my one night stay in a LM room in Dec...it looks incredible!!! Thanks for the review!!!

 

[Jedimike]

Thanks all for the responses regarding a full sized air mattress -- good to know (and now I have some ammunition to convince my wife to do a split stay at Polynesian )

 

[MomofCKJ]

Thanks for the review! I have an email in to my TA to book a LM room in March for myself and my 3 kids. Quick trip and we don't spend much time at the resort. We usually stay Pop but thought we'd try this since it is something new. Would you say the rooms are the same size as Pop?

Thanks!

Allyson

 

[kordoyne]

Thank you for the review! We have reservations for Feb 2013 for the Little Mermaid section. The only thing I'm worried about is the walk to and from with children. In your opinion, do you think I should change to POP for closer room or its not that big of a problem with walking? I really love the AoA and think the kids would love it!

 

[MacFam4]

Thanks for the review! I have an email in to my TA to book a LM room in March for myself and my 3 kids. Quick trip and we don't spend much time at the resort. We usually stay Pop but thought we'd try this since it is something new. Would you say the rooms are the same size as Pop?

Thanks!

Allyson

I would say the rooms are the exact same size as Pop. Although I haven't researched the square footage, if there is a difference, it can't be much at all.

 

[MacFam4]

Thank you for the review! We have reservations for Feb 2013 for the Little Mermaid section. The only thing I'm worried about is the walk to and from with children. In your opinion, do you think I should change to POP for closer room or its not that big of a problem with walking? I really love the AoA and think the kids would love it!

I think the walk is doable. You pass through the Lion King section so they have plenty to look at as they're walking. I look at it this way...you're at Disney, you're tired no matter what We stayed at Pop in the 50's building and I think the walk is about the same.

Oh, I forgot to mention earlier that they show an outdoor movie every night in the Lion King Section. They pull up some pool chairs to sit in, but people were also sitting on the ground.