Art of Animation...getting a refurb??

[Brett Wyman]

We have a stay booked here in August. Originally was booked at CSR but we realized we wanted more space so we switched to AoA. Now I am seriously considering switching to a different resort again. So bummed the room discounts are over now. Our 2 year old will probably love the resort but I really wanted to stay moderate or deluxe and the junior suite upgrade at CSR was a lot more and it looked too much like a convention resort and didn’t feel ‘Disney’ enough. Is AoA that bad?

It’s heavily trafficked and needs an update. But it’s clean and well themed. Your 2 year old will never notice the imperfections but for the same price, yes you could be in a much nicer room. Heck I’d get two Pop connecting standards instead if it’s a matter of space. Or move up to a moderate or cheaper deluxe for the same price. I never felt AoA suites were a good value for what you get though.

 

[Queen of the WDW Scene]

Ha! What do you think the rooms smell like? I was under the impression that the vacant mermaid buildings were just concrete shells when the project was abandoned.

Last trip, our room reeked of cigarette smoke - tried to figure out where it was coming from and honed in on the shower curtain! Someone must have smoked in the bathroom and it lingered in the fabric. We called mousekeeping and they brought a new curtain and liner. Never experienced bad smells before that, though.

My understanding was that they may have had carpet in the rooms and in the food court and it become soiled so when they decided to use the resort and theme it as AOA instead of the legacy years they took out old carpet and installed new but to me the rooms and food court for that matter even without the carpet smelled like old wet dog carpet.

 

[Disneylover99]

My understanding was that they may have had carpet in the rooms and in the food court and it become soiled so when they decided to use the resort and theme it as AOA instead of the legacy years they took out old carpet and installed new but to me the rooms and food court for that matter even without the carpet smelled like old wet dog carpet.

I think you’re the first person I’ve ever heard say it smells there. I’ve never noticed any wet dog odour in the LM rooms or the foodcourt.

 

[DisneyMomma930]

It’s heavily trafficked and needs an update. But it’s clean and well themed. Your 2 year old will never notice the imperfections but for the same price, yes you could be in a much nicer room. Heck I’d get two Pop connecting standards instead if it’s a matter of space. Or move up to a moderate or cheaper deluxe for the same price. I never felt AoA suites were a good value for what you get though.

Well the junior suite at CSR was quite a bit more than AoA. Although I agree that the price for a family suite at AoA is too much for a value resort. If we could comfortably squeeze in a room at a moderate or deluxe we would have. But we have a 16 year old daughter, 9 year old son, and a 2 year old daughter and we had a nightmare of a time trying to share a room in NYC that we realized it’s not going to happen. The little one sleeps in a crib in her own room and won’t sleep well with noise. I wish I had tried for a 1 bedroom villa at one of the deluxes when it was still free dining and just paid a little more but now the promo is over and everything I quote is way too high.

 

[Brett Wyman]

Well the junior suite at CSR was quite a bit more than AoA. Although I agree that the price for a family suite at AoA is too much for a value resort. If we could comfortably squeeze in a room at a moderate or deluxe we would have. But we have a 16 year old daughter, 9 year old son, and a 2 year old daughter and we had a nightmare of a time trying to share a room in NYC that we realized it’s not going to happen. The little one sleeps in a crib in her own room and won’t sleep well with noise. I wish I had tried for a 1 bedroom villa at one of the deluxes when it was still free dining and just paid a little more but now the promo is over and everything I quote is way too high.

We have the same issue with our two year old. He has to be in a dark room alone. We rent dvc points so we can get a one bedroom unit. We keep joking trips will be much cheaper once he sleeps like a big kid!

Dont worry too much about it. The pool is amazing, the theming is amazing, an you have access to a huge food court. If something is broken or smells bad just let the front desk know and they will 100% try their best to take care of it. Enjoy your trip!

 

[DisneyMomma930]

We have the same issue with our two year old. He has to be in a dark room alone. We rent dvc points so we can get a one bedroom unit. We keep joking trips will be much cheaper once he sleeps like a big kid!

Dont worry too much about it. The pool is amazing, the theming is amazing, an you have access to a huge food court. If something is broken or smells bad just let the front desk know and they will 100% try their best to take care of it. Enjoy your trip!

That’s funny. I think our trips will get cheaper too when she isn’t so picky! As it is, she will have the bedroom to herself until she is fully asleep and we all will hang in the other area of the suite. Those 2 year olds give us a run for our money! Thank you though for the info. We are super excited and we aren’t spending too much time in the room so maybe we will be ok. I am excited for her to see the theming and the pool!!

 

[toonaspie]

Something tells me the Mermaid rooms will be the last rooms of all the values to get a refurb.

I believe (just from what I've seen and what was intended) the original schedule of hard refurbs was to be:

2017 - Pop Century (completed)
2018 - ASMo (50% completed)
2019 - ASMu
2020 - ASSp
2021 - AoA

Unfortunately the refurbs to the value came to a complete halt in the middle of ASMo. So who knows when if ever AoA will get massive upgrades. They could move that up due to the Skyliner but that is a big COULD.