AoA or Pop...Who's Stayed at Both???

[CB Wolf]

I have stayed at all Star twice, and both times the resorts shared buses.

 

[2princesses3princes]

if it helps at all, I measured the distances on Mapmyrun.com and from the very furthest point of LM rooms to the center of Animation Hall it is about a 1/4 mile (I think it was more like .26 ) From the very furthest room at POP was about .21 so not much difference. BUT there were a LOT more rooms at POP that were more in the .1 to .15 range. The rooms closest to the bridge on POP side, were about a 1/4 mile as well. So if you are willing to stay at POP and walk to AOA for the food court its the same as staying LM and walking.

For us, the .25 is about the same as going from our cul-de-sac to the end of the block to visit neighbors. Not much of a walk at all, we do it all the time. Would I want to do it if I just need a mug refill? I don't know.
Will there be a poolside bar that we can refill mugs? That would certainly make it easier. We also will have a car, so I was thinking, worst case scenario, we can drive and park closer in the am for breakfast. Quicker to go off to the parks that way!
Tough decisions!

 

[TSM]

We switched our room reservations from Pop to AoA a few months ago. When I gave my family the option they definately wanted me to switch! A brand new resort with an amazing theme! We are staying in LM area and yes it is farther than we are used to but it doesnt really matter to us. The Lion King area looks really cool too which is where you will walk through to get to buses. My husband is a complete germ freak so when I told him we would be there on opening day he jumped on the idea!(he doesnt like any hotel no matter how deluxe it is!)

 

[jenlov]

We're staying in LM in December and can't wait! Of course, my 4 boys were begging to stay at Cars and Lion King, but w/ 7 kids, we don't even fit into a family suite (our girls, 1, 12, 15 really don't care). So, we chose LM, 2 rooms. From what I've read, they are the same layout as Pop. If you look at a map, it's almost like mirror images across the lake, since it was originally built to be an addition to Pop. Anyway, so all that to say, my boys are just excited to be going period. They've already gotten over the fact that they're staying in a "girl" room, lol. They'll enjoy walking through Lion King. I've also called and put in a "request" to be put on the end closer to the food court. I know it's not a guarantee, but one can hope!

I read on another thread that there is talk of there being a drink station somewhere in LM. Not verified, so keep that in mind. it sure would be nice, though! We probably won't be eating much at our resort anyway. We have free QSDP, and I have our meals sort of planned out according to which park we'll be in for the day, along with a few other resort QS meals that we would like to try out. Oh and Wolfgang Puck Express. That's a must for us!

The choice of pools is a big plus for us as well. We have a long stay, so we're hoping to check out each section and pool while we're there. The playgrounds look really cool, too!

Overall, the positives definitely outweigh the negatives for us. Can't wait to stay there!

 

[Magalex]

On the topic of the LM being kind of leaning towards a girl theme I wouldn't worry about it. Ariel is not in the rooms from photos that I have seen. We have one soon to be 12 yr old DS. We visited the AoA food court this past June.(We drove over from CBR) After eating breakfast & walking out to the pool area & just seeing how cool the whole resort looked our DS said he wouldn't care if we had to stay in the LM rooms on our next trip. He thought the resort was so cool.
The rooms are just someplace to sleep. What an awesome kid

 

[bdoyledimou]

the LM rooms are not Pink Princess rooms at all --

they are an underwater theme -- kind of like Nemo, but with more elements from LM -- Sebastion etc-- I wouldn't stress it