Disney Art Of Animation or AllStar Movies

[Bethie2015]

I am planning a vacation for my 5 year old niece and am trying to decide between these two resorts. Can
someone let me know which has the better offerings and what might be the drawbacks for selecting either of these resorts?

 

[greenmom2b]

We have stayed at Art of Animation Little Mermaid the past four trips. But, our first stay was at The Contemporary and it just wasn't our thing. It is myself and my two daughters ages 12 & 7. They LOVE the resort! This past trip in December was my newly adopted 7 year old's first trip. Yes, it is a walk to the front food court and buses, but she did fine with the walk -there is just so much to see and talk about walking past Nemo & Lion King with the decorations that it passes the time well.
AOA has three pools to choose from with the Big Blue Pool right in the center of things -that one is the most popular. They have a lot of daily kids activities & the animation class in the lobby. Some days it is hard to get them past the pools to the park for the day!
The food court has so much variety that it's almost too much to choose from. I really like that variety compared to the stand alone restaurants at the deluxe resort.
Yes, it can be noisy but going in you know it is suppped up kiddo focused!!!
The buses - okay the AOA bus stop is the LAST one at most parks - oh my that part is hard at end of long park day I will freely admit- I sometimes mutter bad things about that bus stop as I drag us all there!
All that to say we love AOA, but we are looking to branch out and stay at another resort after four stays there just for something different. We never get a discount there, but we always look and it's a couple hundred dollars more to just stay where we know in LM room . However, I have said that before & we always come back home to AOA!!!

 

[Brenda Kim]

I agree with pp....AoA to me is a win! They are both very well themed and the walk from The Little Mermaid rooms at the AoA to the bus stop or the food court is about as long as the one from Music's furthers rooms. I would say at AoA since almost everyone is at the Big Blue Pool, the pool at the Little Mermaid is very quiet and we even had it all to ourselves of a few hours one afternoon.

Both are well themed, you will walk a bit more at AoA then Music, but no more than 3-5 minutes. If your niece is a big Little Mermaid fan, I would go with AoA.

Also depending upon when you are going sometimes the All Stars resorts are booked out with the kiddos in tournaments at the ESPN. Which leads to craziness at the pools there and in the hallways as they seem to have one adult for every 10 kids or so. I was there one time during some cheer group competition. Talk about spirit, these girls and guys had it! All down the hallways, until late at night and I was amazed how much the sound echos through the stairwells.

 

[emilyindisney]

I'd pick Movies for sure. It's a smaller/quieter resort plus it's cheaper that the AoA Little Mermaid rooms. Request a room in the Toy Story section. This area has been refurb/is in good shape and offers some of the closest non-preferred room to the main building. The theme of the Little Mermaid rooms was fun but it was a long walk and probably wasn't really anything special given the increased cost.

 

[CinderellaCupcake]

Art of Animation gets an A+ for themes.. really, it's fantastic. But the walk to the Little Mermaid rooms is a real killer, especially for little ones and especially after a very long day at the park, springs, etc.

If you're not spending that much time in the room anyway, go with All-Star Sports. Since all of the All-Stars share the park buses (besides MK), Sports would be the most convenient as it is the first one to be picked up (so you can get a seat, probably) and the first to be dropped off (so if you're standing, you won't be for long). We haven't stayed at the All-Stars in a while but I'm almost positive all of their food courts have recently been redone - 2015/2016 I think?

 

[HopperFan]

AoA

Little Mermaid room and pool areas
Theming throughout the resort
Food Court
Theme of main pool ]
Carsland, feel like you are IN the movie
Newness
No Tour Groups and School Groups
No Groups on the buses

 

[maxiesmom]

The problem with the Art of Animations is that unless you book a suite you are going to be at the very back of the resort. None of the regular rooms are close up to the food court or bus stop. so it is guaranteed you will have to do a bit of walking at the resort. I'd go with an All Star as the resorts are much smaller.