AOA - Little Mermaid

[atm55]

I'm trying to decide between the Little Mermaid and one of the other value resorts. I'd like to stay at AOA since it's new but would like to be close to food court and transportation. Last time we stayed at the Movie Resort in a preferred room and we were really close to the pool and food court. It looks like Little Mermaid is quite a walk from food court and transportation - Can someone give me their opinion on which would be better, Little Mermaid, Pop or Music. We're a family of four so the suites are too expensive for us.

 

[Disneyact82]

I have stayed at bout POP and AOA and love them both. Yes you are right about the little Mermaid rooms being a good walk from the main building. The distance is about the same if you walked from the far side of 90's building to main at POP. If you want to stay at AOA I recommend Cars or Nemo if you want to be close. The food court does not have as good of food as Pop does though! We have been at AOA 2x in Nemo room and they are quite nice. We would walk across the bridge to POP for any dinners or the Mickey ear ice cream which they don't have at AOA. I will be staying at POP this Sept in Perferred Poolside, because I too like to be close to main building. Hope this helps

 

[Disneyact82]

I woud choose Pop over Music. The resort is more centrally located and the bus rides are much shorter. And you do not share a bus with any other resorts

 

[dawnhaze]

I stayed in a LM room in January and it was about a 7-10 minute walk from the buses to my door, depending on how fast I felt like walking. Some people cut across the parking lots and made it quicker.

I stayed in Broadway at ASMu last October and it was maybe 5-6 minutes' walk from the bus stop to my room, again depending on how fast I felt like walking. The only time I had a shorter walk was at All-Star Sports last August when they gave me a football room and it was so close to the main hall that I never even bothered timing the walk.

I've never stayed at Pop but I'm going to in a couple months and plan to request 80s/90s. I did eat once in their food court when I was at AoA because I was visiting anyway.

I generally only eat at a resort food court once or twice during a trip so I don't really have strong opinions of those. AoA's was good, Pop's was good when I wandered over there, ASSp and ASMu were good too. It's a food court, my expectations are quite low.

Bus-sharing at the All-Stars is nowhere near as big a deal as people make it sound like, either. There are dedicated buses almost as often as there are shared buses, in my experience. It probably varies by season. I also noticed very little difference in transportation time between AoA and the All-Stars.

Here's the point of my post: You're going to get basically the same room with different decorations no matter which one you pick. AoA is going to have the coolest decorations. ASMu will probably be the cheapest. Pop is very popular and therefore probably can't be a bad choice. You'll have at least decent food and transportation at any of them and those factors are so hit or miss for different people that I'd never select a resort based on them. (One person will hate Pop's food, another will say it's the best they've had. One person says the buses at the All-Stars stink, another person says they never had a problem. etc.)

 

[mom to minnie&mickey]

We have been to POP 3 times and really loved it. However, the last time we were there it was a zoo. Unsupervised kids running around everywhere. The food court was a mess every day and several times we had to clean a table ourselves so that we could sit and eat because people just would leave their dirty trays there and I guess cm's couldn't keep up. Because it is a very popular resort and much larger than any of the all-stars ( I think 1000 rooms more) it was always chaotic, more so during our last stay.
We are leaving tomorrow and we are booked at Music for the first time. Not only was it $130 cheaper but it is a smaller resort so hoping it will be a bit calmer. Of course with the closure of the food court at Sports I don't expect the foodcourt will be much better than Pop so we shall see.

As far as the busses I am not very concerned about any sharing that may happen because it is 3 resorts so the busses come more often. At Pop sometimes we would wait 5 min for a bus but many times if we happened to just miss it the wait was a good 20 min or so, especially for DTD.

 

[atm55]

Thanks Everyone. My concern was the walking distance from LM to the food court and transportation. I am familiar with the buses and food courts I just needed a resort that I can get close to the food court. I think Pop will be the best for me and my family - however, MOM to Minnie&Mickey - is the food court closing in Pop or Music???

 

[Mickey's Best Girl]

Thanks Everyone. My concern was the walking distance from LM to the food court and transportation. I am familiar with the buses and food courts I just needed a resort that I can get close to the food court. I think Pop will be the best for me and my family - however, MOM to Minnie&Mickey - is the food court closing in Pop or Music???

Its the food court at All Star Sports that will be closed until later this year.

I know most people say the walk from LM at AoA isn't that bad but I have to respectfully disagree and I am on my feet at work 42 hours a week, I can handle walking. I thought it was way too far from the main building. My DD20 and I joked that it would have been closer to stay home and walk from there.

Based on what you're looking for I think Pop is a better choice for you than AoA. I have not been to the All Stars so I cannot comment to that end.