Disney's ART OF ANIMATION RESORT Information & Questions

[tcherjen]

My DD and I will be down in May 2022. She originally wanted to stay at POR in a royal room but because it isn't open she says a mermaid room is second best so here we are!

For the price, is it truly "worth it"? Would we be better off at Pop? Or should we wait and see if other resorts might open?How far is the walk to the skyliner from the mermaid section and to the buses? Would it be wise to rent a car instead?

We have stayed multiple times. Pop does not appeal to us, so I would always choose AoA over it. We drive and never use our car. It was not too far about a 5 ish minute walk to the buses. The lines can seem long for the bus, but aren’t too bad. Unless you really want a car, I do not feel it is necessary. We love AoA and it is a nice substitute for us since POR is not open.

 

[Melissa Chittum]

IN everyone's opinion is it worth paying extra for the Finding Nemo suites? TIA

 

[Chief Cardinal]

IN everyone's opinion is it worth paying extra for the Finding Nemo suites? TIA

To me, the extra room and extra bathroom is totally worth it if its not out of your price range!

 

[leannak]

IN everyone's opinion is it worth paying extra for the Finding Nemo suites? TIA

Do you mean in relation to a Little Mermaid room or as opposed to the Cars or Lion King Suites?

 

[jdowney83]

IN everyone's opinion is it worth paying extra for the Finding Nemo suites? TIA

Compared to Little Mermaid is it worth it 100%

Compared to Cars or Lion King, it depends on the how much more it is. I would pay maybe $20-$30 more a night for Finding Nemo, but not much more than that. The only real benefit to me was being closer to transportation and the pool. While those are nice, it's not like Cars or Lion King are that much further.

 

[bluezy]

IN everyone's opinion is it worth paying extra for the Finding Nemo suites? TIA

If you mean compared to a LK or Cars suite, our family doesn't find them worth the extra money for us (your preferences might be different than ours, though.) We've stayed in a LK suite 3 times and Nemo once. While we enjoyed our stay in a Nemo suite, we don't find the $40/night price difference worth it. We don't spend a lot of time swimming while we're at Disney World (usually only using the pool 3 or 4 times during the week) so having a pool at our doorstep isn't a priority for us. We like to be close to the food court as we use the refillable mugs frequently during our stay -- at least 3-4 times per day. We also like to be close to the bus stops as we often use the buses a few times a day. We haven't been at AoA since the Skyliner opened, but I don't think that will change our minds about paying $40/night extra to stay in a Nemo suite. The Skyliner was under construction during our last stay, so we know what the walking distance is like from LK to Skyliner. The other issue for us is that there are usually only a very small number of Nemo suites available for a discount rate, so the price difference could be way more than $40/night when you have to pay rack rate at Nemo but can get a discounted rate at the other buildings. The trip that we stayed in a Nemo suite we were able to get the discounted rate there, but we still payed $20/night more for Nemo than we would have for LK. We were willing to pay that difference to try Nemo, but that's about our limit. There's no way we would pay $40/night more. We've always had great locations in the LK buildings so we were super close to the food court and buses. Our Nemo suite was only slightly closer to those things than our LK rooms. And there were a lot of rooms in the Nemo buildings that would have been much further than our LK rooms. We wouldn't be opposed to staying in a Nemo suite again, but unless the price is close to what a LK suite is, we'll stick with LK. Now, if we did a lot of swimming and had little kids (with lots of stuff to lug to the pool) we *might* think it was worth $40/night. But it's certainly not worth it (to us) when everyone is teenager or older and barely uses a pool the entire week.

 

[leannak]

Can anyone tell me if pool noodles are allowed in any of the pools at AoA? What about little dive toys?

also,I’m assuming there are towels by the pool - are they adequate or we need to pack beach towels for all of us?

 

[cgattis]

Can anyone tell me if pool noodles are allowed in any of the pools at AoA? What about little dive toys?

also,I’m assuming there are towels by the pool - are they adequate or we need to pack beach towels for all of us?

I’m sure there are plenty of folks who have been more times and more recently than I have, but I’m fairly certain no kinds of personally-provided flotation devices or toys are permitted in any of the Disney pools. In fact, I distinctly remember being at Beach Club and complaining about not being able to use the lazy ricer because there were no noodles available (like constantly) but you couldn’t use your own either.

 

[t64]

You can bring your own pfd/life jackets/puddle jumpers as long as they are US Coast Guard approved (they also have free ones available for use, but my kids prefer their own that they 'trust'). If they are coast guard approved, they will be clearly marked as such.

 

[a-mad]

I'm sure this has been discussed before... but bringing it up again for convenience.

For those that have stayed at either POP or AoA - do you use Skyliner or buses for transportation to DHS and Epcot? If Skyliner, how early do you recommend getting to the station if you want to be there for park opening? Also - how early do buses start running? I have heard "45 minutes prior to park opening" but is that set in stone? I know that most parks open up 30 minutes prior to scheduled opening, so does that mean that the buses open 45 minutes prior to that, or 45 minutes prior to scheduled opening? (i.e. if Magic Kingdom has a 9am scheduled opening, but they let visitors in at 8:30am, do buses not start running at resorts until 8:15, or is it 7:45?)

 

[CastAStone]

I'm sure this has been discussed before... but bringing it up again for convenience.

For those that have stayed at either POP or AoA - do you use Skyliner or buses for transportation to DHS and Epcot? If Skyliner, how early do you recommend getting to the station if you want to be there for park opening? Also - how early do buses start running? I have heard "45 minutes prior to park opening" but is that set in stone? I know that most parks open up 30 minutes prior to scheduled opening, so does that mean that the buses open 45 minutes prior to that, or 45 minutes prior to scheduled opening? (i.e. if Magic Kingdom has a 9am scheduled opening, but they let visitors in at 8:30am, do buses not start running at resorts until 8:15, or is it 7:45?)

The advice has consistently been that with the current hours, you cannot make rope drop even if you’re the first person on the Skyliner. The Skyliner opens at approximately the same time as the actual opening of the gates, 30 minutes prior to scheduled open. If you want to get there for rope drop, take the first bus from the resort, which will be somewhere between 75 minutes and an hour before listed park opening.

At some point this will almostcertainly change so stay close to this thread until your vacation.

 

[CastAStone]

I'm sure this has been discussed before... but bringing it up again for convenience.

For those that have stayed at either POP or AoA - do you use Skyliner or buses for transportation to DHS and Epcot? If Skyliner, how early do you recommend getting to the station if you want to be there for park opening? Also - how early do buses start running? I have heard "45 minutes prior to park opening" but is that set in stone? I know that most parks open up 30 minutes prior to scheduled opening, so does that mean that the buses open 45 minutes prior to that, or 45 minutes prior to scheduled opening? (i.e. if Magic Kingdom has a 9am scheduled opening, but they let visitors in at 8:30am, do buses not start running at resorts until 8:15, or is it 7:45?)

If you REALLY want to make sure you make rope drop, take a Lyft to Boardwalk and walk over.

 

[CheriePenguin]

We've used an air mattress every time we've stayed in a suite. Our kids are teens/adults and don't do well sharing a bed for an 8-night stay.

Can I ask what air mattress you use, and if it has a built-in pump and is easy to inflate and deflate? Thanks so much!

 

[bluezy]

Can I ask what air mattress you use, and if it has a built-in pump and is easy to inflate and deflate? Thanks so much!

The ones we take to Disney are Intex standard twin size and they do have the built-in pump. I think they cost about $25 (maybe more....we bought them about 10 years ago). They are very easy to inflate and deflate. We have about 6 air mattresses here at the house because we use them when our kids have friends staying overnight and also if we have more out-of-town guests than spare beds. We have a few really nice Beautyrest Extra high air mattresses but we prefer to use the standard height (~8") ones at Disney because it's easier to store them during the day. We just prop them up against the wall so they're out of the way. It's easier than constantly inflating and deflating them.

 

[CheriePenguin]

The ones we take to Disney are Intex standard twin size and they do have the built-in pump. I think they cost about $25 (maybe more....we bought them about 10 years ago). They are very easy to inflate and deflate. We have about 6 air mattresses here at the house because we use them when our kids have friends staying overnight and also if we have more out-of-town guests than spare beds. We have a few really nice Beautyrest Extra high air mattresses but we prefer to use the standard height (~8") ones at Disney because it's easier to store them during the day. We just prop them up against the wall so they're out of the way. It's easier than constantly inflating and deflating them.

Thanks so much!
Do you fly there or drive? About how large and heavy are they when deflated (for packing)?

 

[a-mad]

The ones we take to Disney are Intex standard twin size and they do have the built-in pump. I think they cost about $25 (maybe more....we bought them about 10 years ago). They are very easy to inflate and deflate. We have about 6 air mattresses here at the house because we use them when our kids have friends staying overnight and also if we have more out-of-town guests than spare beds. We have a few really nice Beautyrest Extra high air mattresses but we prefer to use the standard height (~8") ones at Disney because it's easier to store them during the day. We just prop them up against the wall so they're out of the way. It's easier than constantly inflating and deflating them.

Going along with this subject - we are also planning on bringing one small air mattress. Does AoA have an “extra” sheet and blankets that could potentially be used for an air mattress or should you pack them from home?

 

[CastAStone]

Going along with this subject - we are also planning on bringing one small air mattress. Does AoA have an “extra” sheet and blankets that could potentially be used for an air mattress or should you pack them from home?

What kind of room? Hotel room or suite?

 

[a-mad]

What kind of room? Hotel room or suite?

Sorry - I should have been more specific. A Cars Family Suite.

 

[CastAStone]

Sorry - I should have been more specific. A Cars Family Suite.

The room will come with the Queen bed made, the pull down bed partially made with the spare pillows nearby, and the pull out couch will have bedding in one of the storage bins. But there will not be bedding provided if you bring a 4th mattress. If you are planning to exceed the room occupancy they will not take kindly to a request for additional bedding.

 

[a-mad]

The room will come with the Queen bed made, the pull down bed partially made with the spare pillows nearby, and the pull out couch will have bedding in one of the storage bins. But there will not be bedding provided if you bring a 4th mattress. If you are planning to exceed the room occupancy they will not take kindly to a request for additional bedding.

makes sense. Nope we’re not exceeding the room occupancy. We are at 6 members of our party. We just have 3 teenagers so with the pull down and sofa bed being a bit smaller we thought we’d bring a twin air mattress as an option for one of our kids if sharing a bed is challenging. Thanks for the info. Much appreciated