Art of Animation or Pop?

[Cherrychip]

I am planning our second trip to Disney World for next spring and am torn between AoA Little Mermaid room and Pop Century. We will be a family of 5 (two adults, two kids and a 2 month old in a pack n play.) I know a value room will be tight, but anything above those options aren't in our price point for the week we are going and I do want to stay on property to have the flexibility of taking a bus to/from the parks when we need to split up due to baby's schedule. We previously stayed at ASMu and loved it and found the amount of space to be fine (as a family of 4.)

I love the decor of AoA, as would my two girls, and they both loved the pictures of the Big Blue Pool and begged to go swim there. However I understand that Pop has been refurbished and now has queen size beds which would be much better for DH and I, also they look like they are better storage wise with the raised bed to slide suitcases under/more storage in the bathroom area. Also wondering if a pack n play would fit better in one room over the other and if there would be room to place it right against the side of the bed on the door side at night (even if slid down toward the foot of the bed to accommodate for the slanted wall) in either room.

We will likely rent a vehicle, per DH's wish, so the long walk at AoA won't be too much of an issue if there is parking close to that part of the resort. We don't eat at the resort food court much, we either eat in the parks or eat food we have brought with us when in our room, so food court isn't of much concern to us.

Opinions?

 

[Disneylovingmomof2]

I think Pop is getting queen beds so that would be my deciding factor. I haven’t stayed at either but believe you can use the AOA pool if you’re staying at Pop.

 

[sunsetbeachgal]

I have stayed at both, pop twice and aofa in the Little Mermaid rooms. I love the amazing theming of AofA and the fact that this resort does not attract the big numbers of teen and sports groups that Pop does. The food court and resort in general is not as hectic as Pop is. But I still really like Pop, don’t get me wrong, and would stay there again in a heartbeat! And Pop is probably less expensive if that is a consideration.

If you are going to do quick breakfast in the room then head over to the lobby to catch the bus, or drive to the parks it will certainly help. The walk is ten to fifteen minutes with little ones in tow, but quite nice and beautifully themed.

 

[jcarwash]

I'd definitely choose the new Pop rooms over the Little Mermaid standard rooms. (I stay at Pop the most, now especially due to the new rooms.)

Be aware that if your kids have their heart set on the AoA Big Blue Pool, the fence entry gates have Magic Band readers that work for AoA guests only.

 

[Cherrychip]

I think Pop is getting queen beds so that would be my deciding factor. I haven’t stayed at either but believe you can use the AOA pool if you’re staying at Pop.

The queen beds are the biggest temptation for me for POP. If they were still doubles, it would be no contest for me, even with the better looking storage.

I have stayed at both, pop twice and aofa in the Little Mermaid rooms. I love the amazing theming of AofA and the fact that this resort does not attract the big numbers of teen and sports groups that Pop does. The food court and resort in general is not as hectic as Pop is. But I still really like Pop, don’t get me wrong, and would stay there again in a heartbeat! And Pop is probably less expensive if that is a consideration.

If you are going to do quick breakfast in the room then head over to the lobby to catch the bus, or drive to the parks it will certainly help. The walk is ten to fifteen minutes with little ones in tow, but quite nice and beautifully themed.

We will for sure do breakfast in the room. None of us are big eaters at breakfast and will be fine with a bowl of cereal and milk or a granola bar or something. If we do eat in the food court, it would likely be after we are done at the park, so we could just go there first before going to our room. Or I'd send DH to buy stuff and carry back to our room to eat it.

I'd definitely choose the new Pop rooms over the Little Mermaid standard rooms. (I stay at Pop the most, now especially due to the new rooms.)

Be aware that if your kids have their heart set on the AoA Big Blue Pool, the fence entry gates have Magic Band readers that work for AoA guests only.

They do really want to swim there (although if we stayed elsewhere, I don't think they'd miss it-out of sight out of mind!) I also want to swim there, haha, so we would need to stay there before baby gets big or it won't happen, as I don't see us ever booking a family suite, cost is just to far above our price point. Our last trip we went commando and didn't even have a chance to walk by the pool where we stayed. This trip will need to be much lower key, so we would for sure make time to swim wherever we stay and explore our resort. I tried to convince DH a moderate would be worth it since one of us will possibly spend time during the day chilling in the room with baby, and all of us will spend more time in there together since we won't be rope dropping to closing every day but no dice!