Disney's ART OF ANIMATION RESORT Thread

[bluezy]

Has the pool at AoA always been fenced in? Are both of them?

When we were there last June, we needed our room key (or Magic Band) to unlock the fence at both the Big Blue Pool and the Little Mermaid pool. We didn't swim at the Cars pool but we did walk past it and it was also gated.

 

[tnd]

My kids had no issues with the AOA food court (neither did DH or I for that matter). They have burgers, pizza, sandwiches, all basic stuff. They also have more exotic things. I do think they tend to be a bit slow, but that is because a lot of their offerings are "create your own" so they are freshly made. Overall, I think the food court is a highlight of staying at AOA.

 

[nydancemom]

We just returned from a ten day stay at AOA and ate at the food court a few times. The grandchildren are 3, 6, 10 and 12. They had no trouble finding something to eat that they liked including pasta, burgers, wraps, etc. The adults loved the more "interesting" choices especially the Indian inspired dishes. Food court is busy and noisy, but aren't they all?

 

[rcklein5269]

Just spent ten days at AOA too!! Everyone from my 68 yr old dad to us to my 14 year old to my 2 year old all loved all the options. There are four different sections to pick from and one section does have a few interesting choices but there is soo much variety that you can't go wrong. My wife absolutely loved pasta options. The pizza was actually pretty good too. I even tried the pulled pork on a cornbread waffle and wow I couldn't get enough!! We have been to all of the moderates and we have never eaten so much at the resort. We booked our bounce back offer with free dining and can't wait to eat there again!!

 

[annyeb]

Oh good! Not that we're planning on eating there a lot, but we like unique things here anyway and none of my kids are picky except for maybe my toddler. I just had to ask because she went on and on about what poor selection they had and weird offerings.

Good to know on the pack'n'play too! Thank you!

 

[BBC]

We were there a few times last week and while I thought the streak sandwich was ok, my mom really really disliked it.

The pizza was good, similar to Digiorno's, and the chicken Caesar wrap was great.

Like I stated, the surf n surf was awesome even if it was the most extensive item on the menu.

From what I ate, can't complain about the food.

 

[indieretailer]

My DH and boys,( 14,10&10) came from SO. Cal to WDW for the first time as a family. The availability of the Family Suites is what closed the deal for me. (At the time of booking our other options were concierge level room for 5 at WL, or a villa for 8 at AKL.)
The design of the AoA helps you feel immersed in DIsney and that is what appealed to me for our sons first visit.
The suites are good for a value resort. Again, the design details made the accommodations charming. My 14 year-old is 6' and he found both the bed and Murphy bed to be comfortable. House keeping was good.

I was really ready to fall in love with the food court, Landscape of Flavors. We had TS reservations throughout the week, but we liked the idea of being at a resort where we had an option to get something decent to eat. It gets so hot in August that one's appetite is not very big, or picky. I hate to say that I was a bit disappointed with LoF.(Mind you, I am aware of the food being quick service, etc, and I was not looking for things to criticize.)
We found that if you come to eat late after 10 pm, that the tandoori station is usually closed for the night even though the other stations may be open.
The line at the pasta station is the longest, but my husband was most satisfied with this station because of his ability to customize his order.

At checkout, one is always scrambling to find clean utensils at the stations, sometimes you would find metal place settings, but most were plastic utensils.(Mind you, this is the resort that makes a point of saying they are green and do not use disposable plates or flatware.
If you are with children, you have to try to time the stations right because someone could be finished getting their food at the sandwich station while the others are still online at the burger or pasta station. I know this sounds trivial, but we like to be together to pay and sit down together to eat

The transportation buses were great. Never felt as if we had to wait too long to catch a bus anywhere. The CM's were very nice. One cannot help but hear the Disney music in the backround and after 10 days were dying to know what some of songs were. I asked a CM who was not certain about the list of music as there were 120 songs compiled for the A0A sound system, but the CM sought me out in the lobby and gave me a print-out of 15 songs...Now we know it is Brian Wilson singing "Kiss the Girl"..............

I've got other insights, but we had a trip of a lifetime....I found it is a great place for kids and families. (I appreciated having access to a good laundry room @Cozy Corner's pool. Late night is a good time to wash)

 

[SugarSpice]

So I took the leap and had 4 packages of stuff shipped to the resort - case water, diapers, snacks, etc. How do I actually claim those once I get there?

 

[cgattis]

Just ask for them at the front desk . We shipped water one trip when we flew. It was great.

 

[cinderkelly]

Well I think I got the dreaded " you can't have the Nemo suite you booked 6 months ago" call today. They left a message and I have to call them back tomorrow. My message from Guest Services said something like " we have some important information regarding our Nemo room and need to speak with you." We are booked on the 18-21 of Sept. Has anyone else gotten " the call?" I've read they are doing renovations to Nemo and are relocating people. I don't really want to go to Cars or Lion King, curious if anyone has successfully talked them into an upgrade?

 

[Frozen2014]

We were there a few times last week and while I thought the streak sandwich was ok, my mom really really disliked it.

The pizza was good, similar to Digiorno's, and the chicken Caesar wrap was great.

Like I stated, the surf n surf was awesome even if it was the most extensive item on the menu.

From what I ate, can't complain about the food.

How is the breakfast? I don't see many comments about it, and for us, it's probably the only meal we'll grab at the resort.

 

[cakebaker]

Well I think I got the dreaded " you can't have the Nemo suite you booked 6 months ago" call today. They left a message and I have to call them back tomorrow. My message from Guest Services said something like " we have some important information regarding our Nemo room and need to speak with you." We are booked on the 18-21 of Sept. Has anyone else gotten " the call?" I've read they are doing renovations to Nemo and are relocating people. I don't really want to go to Cars or Lion King, curious if anyone has successfully talked them into an upgrade?

There was someone a few posts back who got moved to Saratoga Springs...technically an upgrade because it does cost much more, but I wouldn't have been happy with that at all. Others have said they were just moved to another building.

Just in case, if I were you, I'd decide what you'd settle for before you make that call. Unfortunately, if they have room in Cars or Lion King, that may be all they offer. If they're moving you to another resort, I'd think you have a bit more leverage.

 

[rcklein5269]

Well I think I got the dreaded " you can't have the Nemo suite you booked 6 months ago" call today. They left a message and I have to call them back tomorrow. My message from Guest Services said something like " we have some important information regarding our Nemo room and need to speak with you." We are booked on the 18-21 of Sept. Has anyone else gotten " the call?" I've read they are doing renovations to Nemo and are relocating people. I don't really want to go to Cars or Lion King, curious if anyone has successfully talked them into an upgrade?

I just stayed at the lion king suite and loved it.... Ask for building 10 and really your just about as close and we just loved the rooms

 

[bluezy]

Well I think I got the dreaded " you can't have the Nemo suite you booked 6 months ago" call today. They left a message and I have to call them back tomorrow. My message from Guest Services said something like " we have some important information regarding our Nemo room and need to speak with you." We are booked on the 18-21 of Sept. Has anyone else gotten " the call?" I've read they are doing renovations to Nemo and are relocating people. I don't really want to go to Cars or Lion King, curious if anyone has successfully talked them into an upgrade?

What are your concerns with Cars or Lion King? The Cars section is gorgeous -- probably the most well-themed area of the entire resort....especially at night.

I just stayed at the lion king suite and loved it.... Ask for building 10 and really your just about as close and we just loved the rooms

I completely agree. We had originally booked Nemo but when room discounts came out there were none available for Nemo so I switched to Cars. I was feeling disappointed because we were looking forward to the Nemo buildings simply because they would be convenient to everything. Our previous 2 stays at Pop Century had us walking further than my husband wanted to to get to the main building and bus stops. When he saw the map of AoA, he was insistent that we stay in Nemo for the convenient location -- until there were no discounts there and then his wallet told him to move to one of the other locations. I chose Cars because of the theming and having it's own pool. We requested building 1 since it is closest to the main building. When we checked in to AoA, we were assigned to Bldg. 2 in Cars which I knew was not going to make DH happy. Plus the kids (and I use that term loosely -- they were ages 8-24 at the time) said they would rather be in Lion King. I talked to the CM to see if we could get a room closer to the main building regardless of what section we were in. He put us in Bldg. 10 of Lion King. We were right by the stairway closest to the main building. It was less than 100 yards from our room to the door of the food court and not much further to the bus stops. We loved the location and will request it the next time we go. We quickly realized that our room was closer to the food court and bus stops than 3/4 of the rooms in the Nemo section. And while we did have to walk to Nemo to use the pool, it wasn't much further than walking to the food court...and we only used the pool a few times during our trip as compared to walking to the food court to refill our mugs and using the bus service several times each day.

 

[cinderkelly]

What are your concerns with Cars or Lion King? The Cars section is gorgeous -- probably the most well-themed area of the entire resort....especially at night.

To be completely honest ( and very persnickety ) the color scheme and decorations of lion king and cars just doesn't appeal to us inside the suites. Yes, I know that's being VERY picky but when you spend that much $$ on your first family vacation to Disney you want what you want . I think the outside theming is great though in all the areas and location of room isn't a concern at all. I still have to call them and see what they say. I think I made it worse on myself because the airline changed our flights 3 times and now this kinda sent me over the edge I'm sure it will be great wherever we end up!

 

[bluezy]

To be completely honest ( and very persnickety ) the color scheme and decorations of lion king and cars just doesn't appeal to us inside the suites. Yes, I know that's being VERY picky but when you spend that much $$ on your first family vacation to Disney you want what you want . I think the outside theming is great though in all the areas and location of room isn't a concern at all. I still have to call them and see what they say. I think I made it worse on myself because the airline changed our flights 3 times and now this kinda sent me over the edge I'm sure it will be great wherever we end up!

I totally understand that. Before we got there, I really only liked the interior colors scheme of the Nemo rooms. I thought the Cars rooms looked like old motel rooms (which is really what they're *supposed* to look like) and the Lion King rooms were way too "loud". I was worried about it up until I walked through the door of our suite. While people say (and I completely agree) that the pictures you see online don't do the exterior areas of the resort justice, I now also feel the same way about the interior pictures. The LK room was beautiful. I especially loved the shower in the master bedroom. While the pictures make the interior of the rooms look a little "wild" (no pun intended), in my opinion they're much easier to take in person. And once we had all of our stuff in the room, I really didn't notice the "wildness and loudness" of the room at all. I think the triple-sheeting of the queen bed really helps to tone down that room -- the themed comforters just added to the craziness of the decor. But the white sheets with just a themed runner on the foot of the bed helps to calm things down in the bedroom.

I'm sure you'll enjoy it (seriously, before I actually walked through the door of the LK suite, I thought I was going to need an Ativan to survive in the room). AoA just has a way of completely immersing you in the themes.

 

[cakebaker]

What are your concerns with Cars or Lion King? The Cars section is gorgeous -- probably the most well-themed area of the entire resort....especially at night.

To be completely honest ( and very persnickety ) the color scheme and decorations of lion king and cars just doesn't appeal to us inside the suites. Yes, I know that's being VERY picky but when you spend that much $$ on your first family vacation to Disney you want what you want . I think the outside theming is great though in all the areas and location of room isn't a concern at all. I still have to call them and see what they say. I think I made it worse on myself because the airline changed our flights 3 times and now this kinda sent me over the edge I'm sure it will be great wherever we end up!

Not persnickety at all! I think folks who stay at AOA are doing it mostly for the themes and what one loves another doesn't.


If you think you're picky, we're obsessing over whether Lightning and Mater will be available to see! lol

 

[GAJulie]

Yep - my travel agent got "the call" regarding our Nemo reservation as well. I'm furious. I know the theming is great for all three...but I'll just be honest - I don't really like either of the other movies...and my daughters haven't even seen Cars or Lion King!!!! So I have zero desire to stay in one of them. TA is working with Disney to see what, if anything, they can do for us.

Curious...what reasons were you given? We were told they were refurbishing the AC in the Nemo suites, but I suspect they are just oversold.

 

[GillianP1301]

For those getting relocated out of Nemo Suite, I totally understand your frustration. We stayed there last week and my son specifically chose that theme and I would've been pretty upset if I had to make a last minute change.

Is it all Nemo buildings though or just 1 of them? I wonder that because I think I would first try to insist that they keep your reservation as is. It's very possible that they are just contacting everybody and seeing who will easily make the switch for them. Assuming at least one of those buildings is still open while you are there, then somebody has to get chosen to stay in it. I would push hard to be one of the ones staying. Now, if it's both Nemo buildings, well then you're just plain out of luck.

This wouldn't be a straight oversell situation, not at this time of year. Looks to me like an unplanned maintenance that needs to get accommodated that may very well have something to do with the A/C unit that was damaged earlier in the summer and if that's the case, it's only one of the buildings.

Good luck to those of you affected, I hope you are able to work things out.

 

[Madame]

We had to pack up and move out of a Cars suite to a Lion King suite at the very end of our trip due to an a/c failure that was going to take 'a few days to fix.' I would not be surprised if they were doing preventative maintenance. Most people got upgraded to SS 2 bedroom villas, but we did not want to switch resorts at 7pm with only one day remaining. My kids have never seen the Lion King but still enjoyed the decor. And of course we went over to say good-bye to Mater & friends