Discount on AoA or Preferred room or Standard room at Pop--??

[Sunlover317]

I reserved a Little Mermaid room at AoA a few months back with a room only discount.
I just reserved a Pop preferred room for almost the same price.

5 nights @ Pop = $863.52 (preferred room)
5 nights @ AoA = $855.96

I'm torn on which reservation to keep. When asked, my son prefers not to stay in a Little Mermaid room (He's 11), but of course it's Disney so he'll stay where ever without complaining.

If we keep Pop, should we just get a standard room and save $12 a night? Is preferred worth it?

What would you do?

 

[Vaughn4380]

The Ariel rooms are harder to book, especially at a discount, so if you haven't stayed at one in the past I would vote that way. My family prefers those rooms and we try to book one whenever we stay at a value. That said, our second choice when we can't get an Ariel room is a preferred room at POP, much closer to amenities and still a great resort. If walking will bother you, definitely go for POP as the Ariel section is a bit farther out than a preferred POP room.

 

[dansdad]

I reserved a Little Mermaid room at AoA a few months back with a room only discount.
I just reserved a Pop preferred room for almost the same price.

5 nights @ Pop = $863.52 (preferred room)
5 nights @ AoA = $855.96

I'm torn on which reservation to keep. When asked, my son prefers not to stay in a Little Mermaid room (He's 11), but of course it's Disney so he'll stay where ever without complaining.

If we keep Pop, should we just get a standard room and save $12 a night? Is preferred worth it?

What would you do?

We preferred Pop over AoA before, but now with 2 queen beds instead of doubles? Fuggetaboutit!

In our opinion, paying anything extra for Preferred over Standard is not worth it. Our favorite location at Pop is 60's facing the lake, which are standard.

 

[Sunlover317]

The Ariel rooms are harder to book, especially at a discount, so if you haven't stayed at one in the past I would vote that way. My family prefers those rooms and we try to book one whenever we stay at a value. That said, our second choice when we can't get an Ariel room is a preferred room at POP, much closer to amenities and still a great resort. If walking will bother you, definitely go for POP as the Ariel section is a bit farther out than a preferred POP room.

We've stayed at both Pop and AofA. We stayed in a Cars suite at AoA and in the 70's building twice at Pop. We loved both. If we could afford a suite again, I'd go for AoA, but since we can't, and both rooms are nearly the same cost, I'm torn. How themed are the mermaid rooms? Are they very girlie?

 

[Vaughn4380]

We've stayed at both Pop and AofA. We stayed in a Cars suite at AoA and in the 70's building twice at Pop. We loved both. If we could afford a suite again, I'd go for AoA, but since we can't, and both rooms are nearly the same cost, I'm torn. How themed are the mermaid rooms? Are they very girlie?

I don't feel the Little Mermaid rooms are themed very girlie, lots of blues and underwater themes, not so much princess styling. However, they are the old style with carpet and two fixed beds. The lighting is a bit dark too. We like that area because of the outside decorations and props outside of the buildings, Disney really did a good job of adding little touches around that area (like the ship lights around the pool, the plants that look like they belong underwater, and the giant treasure chest). When comparing just the rooms, I would pick POP easily. Since the recent refurbs, POP rooms are brighter, one of the beds folds out of the way making a (slight) bit more room to walk around and give you more table space, more storage and power points for electronics as well. Plus hard floors which I prefer. The downside of the POP rooms (depending on your preferences) is that they are a somewhat "basic" Disney style without stylistic cues that match the resort itself. That may or may not be a factor for your family.

Having stayed in an AOA suite already, you may find the mermaid rooms lacking, but either will be a great choice and you could always try the other one out on a future trip. The last thing I will reiterate, discounts on the little mermaid rooms are much more rare than discounts at POP, so if you cancel AOA just understand that it might be harder to get a discount in the future whereas POP will most likely always have some type of discount available.

 

[Disneylover99]

I’d pick a standard room at Pop and save a few bucks.

 

[Haley R]

I’d pick a standard room at Pop and save a few bucks.

I agree, I would also choose a standard room at pop. They have a lot of standard rooms that face the lake.

 

[tzeitel]

We have stayed at both and prefer Pop. The LM rooms are a hike (or at least it seemed that way to me ) Personally I would do the preferred at Pop since we have also had rooms there that are pretty far (backside of the 80's!) - never again!

 

[CartyGirls]

I would go with POP preferred

 

[Sunlover317]

Thanks, everyone. We switched to Pop in a standard room. I requested 50's building first choice and 70's second.