Disney's ART OF ANIMATION RESORT Thread

[JennyMarie821]

We are staying at AofA in November. Our first time at Disney...can't wait!

When I booked with the FD offer I could only select the generic family suite. Can I put in a request for a certain section (and how) or will I just be given whatever is available? I would really prefer Nemo or Cars because those are what my kids are most familiar with.

 

[dgramling]

Ugh! Sorry. I was advising my DS (8) not to get too worked up about where we are staying because Disney could change it. I am not even going to tell the littles (2) where we are staying at all. DH overheard this, and I was telling him about your situation, and he was really mad. We had a friend who changed from AsMo to ASSp last minute (like a few days before going) because she thought her sons would like ASSp better. Well, on her way down, Disney called and told her they needed to move her to Grand Floridian (this was 2009, I think). DH was sensing a slip in customer service.

We arrived today and when we returned to the room we were treated to some disney magic, a delivery to our room with two balloons and two Nemo plushes for my nieces they are glowing, my youngest Niece ran all around the suite with the balloons tied to the one nemo yelling MO MO made me very happy as I head to bed the first night at the world.

 

[smiths02]

We arrived today and when we returned to the room we were treated to some disney magic, a delivery to our room with two balloons and two Nemo plushes for my nieces they are glowing, my youngest Niece ran all around the suite with the balloons tied to the one nemo yelling MO MO made me very happy as I head to bed the first night at the world.

Ahhhh...that's nice!

 

[tiffany2009]

We arrived today and when we returned to the room we were treated to some disney magic, a delivery to our room with two balloons and two Nemo plushes for my nieces they are glowing, my youngest Niece ran all around the suite with the balloons tied to the one nemo yelling MO MO made me very happy as I head to bed the first night at the world.

That is fantastic! Good move Disney! Have a wonderful vacation.

 

[cakebaker]

We arrived today and when we returned to the room we were treated to some disney magic, a delivery to our room with two balloons and two Nemo plushes for my nieces they are glowing, my youngest Niece ran all around the suite with the balloons tied to the one nemo yelling MO MO made me very happy as I head to bed the first night at the world.

How nice!

Disney sure knows what they're doing. lol

 

[mum2four]

We are staying at AofA in November. Our first time at Disney...can't wait!

When I booked with the FD offer I could only select the generic family suite. Can I put in a request for a certain section (and how) or will I just be given whatever is available? I would really prefer Nemo or Cars because those are what my kids are most familiar with.

Yes, you can call and have a request noted on your reservation, though it is not guaranteed. Cars is the largest section of the resort with suites, so there is a good chance you could get placed there. Nemo is the most popular, so the chances of being placed there are slimmer, but you never know.

 

[Ava]

I'm sure this has been asked a million times, but are the sofa bed and table bed comfortable for an adult to sleep on for a week or more?

I'm trying to plan a trip for next year for my family (2 adults, 6yo, 2yo), my mother, and my wife's mother. If we stay at AoA, my mother and wife's mother would each sleep on a pull out and we'd bring a twin-size Aerobed for my 6yo. (2yo will be in a pack-n-play in the bedroom with my wife and I.) Will the grandmothers be comfortable on the pull outs, or should we get two regular rooms?

 

[mum2four]

I'm sure this has been asked a million times, but are the sofa bed and table bed comfortable for an adult to sleep on for a week or more?

I'm trying to plan a trip for next year for my family (2 adults, 6yo, 2yo), my mother, and my wife's mother. If we stay at AoA, my mother and wife's mother would each sleep on a pull out and we'd bring a twin-size Aerobed for my 6yo. (2yo will be in a pack-n-play in the bedroom with my wife and I.) Will the grandmothers be comfortable on the pull outs, or should we get two regular rooms?

We found both of the pull out beds to be comfy. We actually preferred the pullouts over the "real" bed in the bedroom, which was much too hard for my liking!

 

[shoes99]

I'm sure this has been asked a million times, but are the sofa bed and table bed comfortable for an adult to sleep on for a week or more?

I'm trying to plan a trip for next year for my family (2 adults, 6yo, 2yo), my mother, and my wife's mother. If we stay at AoA, my mother and wife's mother would each sleep on a pull out and we'd bring a twin-size Aerobed for my 6yo. (2yo will be in a pack-n-play in the bedroom with my wife and I.) Will the grandmothers be comfortable on the pull outs, or should we get two regular rooms?

We found both of the pull out beds to be comfy. We actually preferred the pullouts over the "real" bed in the bedroom, which was much too hard for my liking!

My sister slept in the table bed, by brother in law slept on the pull out couch, he watched the GIANT game on the tv before bed, and we took the bedroom. All adults felt the beds were fine. We stayed in the CARS suite.

 

[JennyMarie821]

Yes, you can call and have a request noted on your reservation, though it is not guaranteed. Cars is the largest section of the resort with suites, so there is a good chance you could get placed there. Nemo is the most popular, so the chances of being placed there are slimmer, but you never know.

Thank you! I'll try calling and see if they'll note it on my reservation.

 

[rcklein5269]

I'm sure this has been asked a million times, but are the sofa bed and table bed comfortable for an adult to sleep on for a week or more? I'm trying to plan a trip for next year for my family (2 adults, 6yo, 2yo), my mother, and my wife's mother. If we stay at AoA, my mother and wife's mother would each sleep on a pull out and we'd bring a twin-size Aerobed for my 6yo. (2yo will be in a pack-n-play in the bedroom with my wife and I.) Will the grandmothers be comfortable on the pull outs, or should we get two regular rooms?

We stayed ten days and at one point my wife slept on the table bed cuz the bedroom bed was just too hard and her back was hurting. My 14 yr kid slept on couch and table and said table was a little more comfy but not a big difference. We like really firm mattresses but it was a little too much in the bedroom.

 

[Ava]

Thank you for the answers on the beds. Sounds like the grandmothers will be okay on the pull outs, and it may be us in the bedroom who are uncomfortable. I remember the mattress at POP was kind of hard after a few nights sleeping on it, so I'm assuming the ones at AoA are the same. I'll suck it up to be at Disney, though. Or just make my kid give me the Aerobed and she can sleep with my wife.

 

[mickey2000]

Excited
On August 22nd got BB with free dining at AOA Nemo room for Aug 27 - Sept 6. First tome for AOA. While at POP got a private tour of the resort and it looked great!

 

[bluezy]

Thank you for the answers on the beds. Sounds like the grandmothers will be okay on the pull outs, and it may be us in the bedroom who are uncomfortable. I remember the mattress at POP was kind of hard after a few nights sleeping on it, so I'm assuming the ones at AoA are the same. I'll suck it up to be at Disney, though. Or just make my kid give me the Aerobed and she can sleep with my wife.

I also found the bed in the master bedroom at AoA to be a little too firm for my liking. I'm a side sleeper and by the 3rd night my hips were so sore/bruised from the bed that I didn't want to sleep there anymore (but the sofa bed and table bed were being used by our teens/adult children who, FWIW, found them both to be very comfortable). So I called Mousekeeping and asked for an extra blanket. I folded that up and put it on my side of the bed and slept on top of it. That provided a little more padding -- which felt much better on my hips.

 

[cakebaker]

I also found the bed in the master bedroom at AoA to be a little too firm for my liking. I'm a side sleeper and by the 3rd night my hips were so sore/bruised from the bed that I didn't want to sleep there anymore (but the sofa bed and table bed were being used by our teens/adult children who, FWIW, found them both to be very comfortable). So I called Mousekeeping and asked for an extra blanket. I folded that up and put it on my side of the bed and slept on top of it. That provided a little more padding -- which felt much better on my hips.

Wow- good to know about the beds. We're driving and I'm going to demand packing space for a mattress pad!

I hate hard mattresses!!!

My grown daughters are taking the other sleeping areas and I had agreed to take my toddler grandson in my bed as long as I got the regular bed- maybe I didn't work myself such a great deal after all! lol

 

[Minniekins]

Hi! We added on two nights to our trip, so my DD24 and I are going to be staying at AoA - Little Mermaid for two nights, arriving Thanksgiving day, then transferring to BWV. I see that the LM buildings are very far! Is there a good spot to request? We won't be arriving until about 6 pm Thxgvg day, though, so I suppose getting a request will probably not be very likely.

Wondering, is it confusing to find your way around if you are checking out the other areas?

Also, we will have an ECV with us. Will this easily fit into the room at night? And, with the buses, is there a special section to be when waiting to load onto the bus? Seems different places have different rules on where to wait. Do they share the buses here with anyone else? Little worried about having to load onto a bus that is already full with people, lol! Or are the buses for this resort only and come empty when then heading out to a park?

And, when we need to switch resorts on Sat, can we just call Bell services to get them to get our luggage to send over to BWV?

Thanks for any help!

 

[bluezy]

Hi! We added on two nights to our trip, so my DD24 and I are going to be staying at AoA - Little Mermaid for two nights, arriving Thanksgiving day, then transferring to BWV. I see that the LM buildings are very far! Is there a good spot to request? We won't be arriving until about 6 pm Thxgvg day, though, so I suppose getting a request will probably not be very likely.

Wondering, is it confusing to find your way around if you are checking out the other areas?

Also, we will have an ECV with us. Will this easily fit into the room at night? And, with the buses, is there a special section to be when waiting to load onto the bus? Seems different places have different rules on where to wait. Do they share the buses here with anyone else? Little worried about having to load onto a bus that is already full with people, lol! Or are the buses for this resort only and come empty when then heading out to a park?

And, when we need to switch resorts on Sat, can we just call Bell services to get them to get our luggage to send over to BWV?

Thanks for any help!

I can't answer all of your question since I've never done a split stay, but I'll try to help with the others.

The Little Mermaid rooms are the farthest rooms from the bus stops and food court at AoA. However, the farthest room is still only a 10 minute walk to the bus stops. My son and his girlfriend were in a LM room last June -- one of the rooms closest to the bus stops and main building -- and they could get there in 5-7 minutes. I would just request a room close to the bus stops and hope for the best.

I didn't find it confusing at all to wander around the resort grounds. We did that a few times while we were there last year. I especially loved walking around at night when everything is lit up. We especially loved taking a bus back to Pop Century looking at AoA all lit up from across the lake.

You should have no trouble fitting an ECV in your LM room. The rooms aren't enormous, but there's some empty space in front of the window or you could move the table and chairs in front of the window and put the ECV along the wall. I don't know where the outlets are.

AoA doesn't share buses with any other resort (other than I've heard a few reports that during really slow times, they occasionally will share a bus with Pop Century but that seems to be very rare). The buses will be empty when they show up at the resort.

 

[ejgonz2]

Got back last week from an AMAZING week!! My and DW's first trip in 20+ years each and the first trip for DD4 and DS23 months (twins). We were there from 9/3-9/10 and had the QSDP.

I can't say enough about how much we LOVED AoA and the Finding Nemo suite. The entire resort is awesome, each section is themed so well and we are already planning on going back next year. I wouldn't mind staying in any of the sections, except Nemo's convenient location is the tie-breaker.

After doing Turtle time with Crush at Epcot, my boys (who are just forming sentences now) were non-stop with the surfer talk (duuuude! sweeet!! and their versions of totally!!) every time they passed Crush, it was hilarious and adorable.

I'll try to do a quick review of the resort and of our stay.

Room

We had requested 2 pack and plays and when we got there had to call to have them brought to the room. DD stayed in the queen bed with the boys in the pack and plays on either side of the bathroom door. DW and I slept on the table bed, which was comfortable enough for us. And the kids loved to climb into bed with us in the mornings. We preferred to have the kids in the room so they could go to bed earlier than us and we could prep for the next day and have some quiet alone time.

We ordered breakfast foods, milk, OJ, water, snacks, diapers and wipes from Garden Grocer and it worked out very well. The food was delivered just after we checked in. The fridge fit a LOT of food. We bought way more than we needed. I do recommend pulling out the fridge so that it doesn't overheat and cools the food properly. Even then, the freezer doesn't quite freeze the way it should. But it was good enough for our purposes.

Grounds (pools, splash area, play grounds, etc)

This was all perfect for a family with toddlers and pre-schoolers. They spent hours in the splash ground while we had some adult drinks and kept an eye on them. It was the most relaxing part of our trip. We love the pool but our 'youngest' DS (by 4 min) was afraid and had to be held tight the entire time. DD loved the activities and everything going around. She really enjoyed night swimming while watching a movie. They all loved the Nemo and LK playgrounds and loved walking around the resort to the different sections.

I just can't say enough about how much we loved the grounds.

Landscape of Flavors

DW is a vegetarian and we both like 'ethnic' foods and thought the food court was great. Managing 3 hungry kids while dad goes to different lines was a challenge, but we did ok.

My kids are pretty picky and didn't like the food in general. Rice and chicken are a staple in my house but they didn't appreciate the indian style food there. Regular pasta ended up being their favorite meal. I think plain chicken fingers would be a very helpful addition to the menu. We considered heading to Pop for dinner one night, but the lightning dissuaded us from crossing the bridge.

Buses

The buses were overall convenient, but we just missed them a number of times and had to wait. The biggest issue were our strollers, managing 2 strollers, including a monster double stroller with 3 kids, was not easy. So thank you to all of patient and helpful people who helped me get the strollers on and off and one night even held a sleeping toddler while I set up the stroller. And also thank you to the helpful bus drivers as well. This trip proved that it takes a village!!

Given our situation we talked a lot about maybe staying at a monorail resort next time, but I just can't justify the extra costs and we just love this hotel so much.

Theme Parks

We were pretty ambitious and for a 7 night stay did 2 days at MK, 1 day at Epcot, 1 day at HS (and went there for Frozen fireworks on our 'off day') and 1 day at AK. Had a great time at each park. DD saw pretty much every princess and hasn't stopped talking about it. Did the majority of toddler/pre-K friendly rides, attractions, parades and shows. Had breakfast at Chef Mickey on our off day and lunch at Akershus on our Epcot day. We did everything Frozen related which made this trip so special for DD (and DS's who sing "Let Go" too).

There weren't really any meltdowns, meals were pretty hard overall, and the boys napped in the stroller more than I would have thought. They all loved the rides and characters and really had a great time.

Overall, it was a fantastic trip and as I said to our TA when we got back, DW and I are the ultimate cynics who were generally anti-Disney and now cannot wait to return!

I'm jealous of those of you heading there soon -- enjoy!

 

[libbylast]

Little help needed pls
I have 4 kids aged 3,5,11,16 we are booked into the cabins at fw for 8 nights then 2 nights at aoa
I'm beginning to think mayb my kids would prefer the whole time at aoa so they can enjoy pools and extra bed space and 2 bathrooms.
If we stay at cabins it's one bathroom one bedroom not near pools and somewhere to refill mugs. We would also need 2 golf carts.
Any thoughts pls

 

[smiths02]

ejgonz2
Thank you for your review!

I have to say that I bow down to you and your wife...we have just turned 2 year old twins and we just starting even trying local outings (zoo, etc.) in the last few months

Our twins will be 33 months or so when we go plus we will have a 9 year old. I kept debating on resort, but in the end decided on AoA as being the most comfortable with the extra room and "fun" for that age.