AoA - First Impressions

[chanty]

Hi all,

We got here last night around 10:00pm.
Here are my first few impressions:

Magical Express Transportation: awesome! Our plane landed at 8:50 and we were at the resort by 9:55pm! First resort to be dropped!

Online check-in: we got most of our requests! Love it! Very fast & efficient!

Food court: we were hungry when we arrived! It wasn't so bad! Loved the pasta!

Rooms: they are smaller than Pop I believe (or it feels like it) but its still comfy!
Only 3 drawers - glad we brought the hangeable shelves!
Beds are good. Hate the comforters!! Lol. So stiff!!
Room temperature doesn't go below 68 but it's still okay...
Fridge is also great! Left the door open and our drinks are really cold!!

WiFi: well our first night & even this morning - works great for me & my stepdaughter!

Walk to LM: I was expecting SO MUCH WORST! Wow....its not THAT bad!
And we walked with our carry-ons, mugs, and tired legs at 11pm... I'm thinking this morning it'll be "a walk in the park".

Overall, my first impressions are very good!!!

 

[TigrLvsPooh]

Yay!!!! So glad to hear you are enjoying it! Have a wonderful vacation!

 

[HawkeyeFan]

Thanks for posting!! We are still trying to decide on a resort and one of them is AOA! Enjoy your trip!

 

[goofy4tink]

Thanks!!! I can't wait to stay in the LM section in early Dec!!!!

 

[discookiemonsta]

Thank you so much for posting! We'll be at AoA (LM section) in December and I love reading other people's first hand experiences at the new resort. I hope you come back to post more exciting details

 

[chanty]

So I have to say that my 2nd day report remains the same! WiFi is good, our feet are too tired to walk to building 7 of LM...we walked the whole resort in under 30 minutes (with a lot of pics!!).

Food court is good but choices aren't the greatest...but the make your own pasta is amazing!! I would eat pasta every night!

Buses have also been awesome! No problems here!

I'll report as I go but all in all, we all like this resort!

And Pop Century is about 8-10 min walk. Very decent for additional food selection!

Chantal

 

[Mickey's Best Girl]

We just returned from a 10 night stay in the LM section.

Is it just me or is there a major design flaw in the landscaping v. sidewalks around the buildings? Our room was at the far end of the Ursula building, ground floor which was fine but all I could think of all week was if my room had been on the end of that wing closest to the main building, we would totally have walked through the landscaping to get to our room. After that rather long walk to our room, I would not have wanted to walk to Ursula (the middle of the building) just to walk back again.

In fact, with our room being the last one on the ground floor, during our afternoon napping sessions I witnessed many mousekeeping/resort staff walking through the landscaping to get to the main sidewalk.

Pop just seems to have a better layout with all staircases accessible from any sidewalk in any direction.

I'm not sure why this drove me so crazy I'm usually not such a nitpicker

Other than that one minor aspect, we loved the resort. I especially loved how the outputs for the televisions were easily accessed from the front of the units so we could view our photos/videos on the tv screen.

 

[FantasiaMagic]

That's great! Glad your enjoying the LM rooms! How have the pools been???

Enjoy the rest of your stay!

~FantasiaMagic

 

[chanty]

That's great! Glad your enjoying the LM rooms! How have the pools been???

Enjoy the rest of your stay!

~FantasiaMagic

Can't say much about the pools as the weather isn't the best for pools! Tomorrow should be our first dip

Chantal

 

[tripletsmama]

I'm glad to hear the walk to the LM rooms isnt too bad. That's what I've been concerned about. We'll be there Monday.

 

[mlittig]

Hope the rest of your trip remains magical

 

[hrt2hrtmomdeb]

We're here now also. However I think the walk is way too long but we are in building 8 so maybe that makes a difference. I agree with you on the food choices. The pasta and make your own salad bar were our saviors lol. As another poster said I keep reminding myself to "keep of the grass" as I want to cut through the landscaping to shorten the walks to the main building and bus stops. I did find for us it seems shorter to go out to the path along the parking lot between LM and LK to get to the bus stops. Funny I can walk all day in the parks but the walk here is killer.

 

[bluehawaii19]

We got bumped from TLM standard rooms to the FN suites (because my mother always gets a preferred room when we stay at Disney World (due to her being visually impaired) so a suite is definitely something we aren't used to.

We are very close to the buses, pool, and food court. Unfortunately, the food court is always packed (which we don't experience staying at a Moderate). The room is nice (my mom sleeps in the bedroom while I am sleeping on the pull-out bed. I don't mind it being a bit stiffer (I normally like soft beds). I like the two bathrooms and showers). The WiFi has also been really great.

I did really love the Create Your Own Pasta. I ate that our first day here for lunch and loved how customizable it is.

I dislike the variety of food however. For myself, I can eat almost anything on the menu but my mom enjoys meals with mashed potatoes and such which is not on the menu.

I don't know if I would stay here again (since we love our Moderates) but it was nice giving it a try and it is a nice hotel, just dislike how busy it is.

 

[hrt2hrtmomdeb]

This was our first stay at a value and we were a bit taken back by the chaos in the food court. Wasn't sure if this was the norm or it was really crowded because so many people were stuck due to the hurricane. We usually stay at deludes and sometimes moderates. I will say the bus service has it all over the deluxes and some of the moderates. Even though you're packed on like sardines sometimes the longest we've waited for a bus was 18 minutes and we had just missed it as we walked up.

 

[bluehawaii19]

This was our first stay at a value and we were a bit taken back by the chaos in the food court. Wasn't sure if this was the norm or it was really crowded because so many people were stuck due to the hurricane. We usually stay at deludes and sometimes moderates. I will say the bus service has it all over the deluxes and some of the moderates. Even though you're packed on like sardines sometimes the longest we've waited for a bus was 18 minutes and we had just missed it as we walked up.

The last time we stayed at a Value was a few years ago. After that, we swore we would never go back and have stayed at a Moderate ever since. The last time, we stayed at POP and the food courts were so overpacked you had to wait like 30 minutes to get a seat and people just left their trash on the tables. We visited FQ yesterday and the food court had maybe 5 people total eating in it. That's what our experience with the Moderate resorts has been the last few trips. Definitely a complete change of pace.

Although we were very disappointed with the bus service at FQ yesterday. We were at EPCOT and decided to go to Downtown Disney for supper. We figured we would take the bus to FQ and take the boat from there. Because of the weather (windy) the boat wasn't running so we went back to the bus area and waited for the Downtown Disney bus. It took almost an hour for a bus for Downtown Disney to arrive. 5 buses for MK came, 4 came for EPCOT, 3 or 4 came for AK. I have never seen the bus system like that ever (having visited 24 years prior).

 

[chanty]

This was our first stay at a value and we were a bit taken back by the chaos in the food court. Wasn't sure if this was the norm or it was really crowded because so many people were stuck due to the hurricane. We usually stay at deludes and sometimes moderates. I will say the bus service has it all over the deluxes and some of the moderates. Even though you're packed on like sardines sometimes the longest we've waited for a bus was 18 minutes and we had just missed it as we walked up.

Yes pretty usual for Values. You have to eat at off hours...or else LOL

 

[bluehawaii19]

Also another kind of "negative" was when we checked into our room, we were early (as we normally are since we fly early) and our room wasn't quite ready. We utilized the online check-in as we always do.

Normally, we are given the room number and can check into the room by 3 PM. At AoA however, we were given a card and had to call that in order to even find out what room we were going to be in. I was offered to receive a text but since I am from Canada, I didn't want to be charged for the text. It also meant I couldn't use my cell to phone the number provided either. I used the resort phone once but was told the room wasn't ready yet. Fortunately, our relatives we were traveling with are US residents and while we were in the park, I used their phone to call and see if the room was ready.

I just found this kind of an inconvenience. Not sure if this is just exclusive to AoA or if it is something Disney is incorporating into their system.

The WiFi has been fairly decent. The first few nights here, I watched some shows on Hulu without any problems. However, the last couple of days, the WiFi has been kind of on the slower side. I am trying to watch a 30 minute episode and it has taken easily close to an hour to watch it.

 

[lovingeire]

Great feedback! We're staying in a Cars suite in a few weeks and it will be our first time in a value! We've had some craziness for the breakfast rush at Moderates before so I'm hoping I can talk everyone into eating in the room as much as possible on the mornings we don't have dining reservations for character meals!

 

[Disneytwinsmom]

Thanks for sharing everyone! So helpful!