Disney's ART OF ANIMATION RESORT Thread

[21hearts]

We stayed in a Cars suite last year and I believe you should be ok. I assume there's a way to "fold" her wheelchair. If so, it should be able to slide between the folded out couch and wall, the table bed and wall, or in the master bedroom. If it doesn't fold in some way, you can probably still fit it in the master bedroom. We loved AoA and I sincerely hope you have a fabulous trip!

Yeah it does fold but because she's six her chair is pretty small and it doesn't fold that much. She's not confined to her chair so I'm not worried about her being able to use it in the room. Just worried that at night with the couch pulled out and the murphy bed down their may not be enough room to park it without it being in the way if the kids get up in the middle of the night.

 

[Graciegirl5]

Yeah it does fold but because she's six her chair is pretty small and it doesn't fold that much. She's not confined to her chair so I'm not worried about her being able to use it in the room. Just worried that at night with the couch pulled out and the murphy bed down their may not be enough room to park it without it being in the way if the kids get up in the middle of the night.

I still think you will be fine. My youngest took the couch cushions and slept on them like a bed. If no one is sleeping on the floor, there will be plenty of room in front of the kitchenette and there should be ample room in the master if necessary. In the main room, it may block part of sink or fridge, but that probably won't be a problem through the night. Like I said, I've only stayed in the Cars section, but I would assume the others are set up pretty much the same way. I hope your kids like AoA as much as mine did.

 

[bluezy]

Yeah it does fold but because she's six her chair is pretty small and it doesn't fold that much. She's not confined to her chair so I'm not worried about her being able to use it in the room. Just worried that at night with the couch pulled out and the murphy bed down their may not be enough room to park it without it being in the way if the kids get up in the middle of the night.

You'll have plenty of space. My 20-something nephew has Muscular Dystrophy and uses a power wheel chair. He said there is plenty of room for his chair in the room without it being in the way so I'm sure you'll be fine. He said he usually parks it in front of the kitchenette. You may have to walk around it to get to the sink, fridge, or microwave, but it's not a big deal.

 

[quandrea]

Just returned from a fabulous stay in a one bedroom villa at Animal Kingdom Lodge. We are booked in a card suite for a week in December. We are a family of five. This is our first cash reservation in eight years. This was a last minute trip so no dvc available. I'm worried we won't like the family suite. I'm going to miss my kitchen, washer/dryer, free DVDs, king bed. I looked yesterday for alternate lodging but Disney is just about fully booked. For those of you with art of animation experience, do you think we will be happy there after staying dvc for eight years?

 

[PatMcDuck]

I have been a DVC member for 20 years. We stayed in 2BR and now 1BRs, as the kids have grown up. I am in a Cars suite right now, as I type this, ironically. With "only" 200 points, we do not have enough points always have a cash trip each fall. I use my points (BCV now, was OKW at first) most often at VGC for my yearly DL trip.

This is our 3rd stay at Art of Animation, did Nemo, then Lion King, and now Cars. 3 years in a row! I just LOVE the AoA suites. In my case, my son gets the BR and I sleep in the living room (on the Murphy bed). (he is a special needs adult, so a different situation than you of course). I even find the food court convenient, if it too noisy many people bring for back to their rooms to eat, or eat outside. The pools are nice, too. No hot tubs, but I never feel comfortable in them in the Disney resorts anymore, because of all the young children in them.

We drive to most parks, so we also are ok with not walking to a park.

Not saying it is the same as a Deluxe DVC resort, but I love it here. PS the Cars section is far and away my favorite section.

 

[quandrea]

I have been a DVC member for 20 years. We stayed in 2BR and now 1BRs, as the kids have grown up. I am in a Cars suite right now, as I type this, ironically. With "only" 200 points, we do not have enough points always have a cash trip each fall. I use my points (BCV now, was OKW at first) most often at VGC for my yearly DL trip.

This is our 3rd stay at Art of Animation, did Nemo, then Lion King, and now Cars. 3 years in a row! I just LOVE the AoA suites. In my case, my son gets the BR and I sleep in the living room (on the Murphy bed). (he is a special needs adult, so a different situation than you of course). I even find the food court convenient, if it too noisy many people bring for back to their rooms to eat, or eat outside. The pools are nice, too. No hot tubs, but I never feel comfortable in them in the Disney resorts anymore, because of all the young children in them.

We drive to most parks, so we also are ok with not walking to a park.

Not saying it is the same as a Deluxe DVC resort, but I love it here. PS the Cars section is far and away my favorite section.

This is so reassuring. Thank you. You just can't beat the price of the suites. I got a terrific AP rate and we are doing this week long trip for under $4000 total. Fingers crossed. Thanks again.

 

[disneymomcc]

Does Art of Animation charge daily for parking or have a one time fee?

 

[pcstang]

They don't charge for parking separately. It's already built in to the room cost....

 

[disneymomcc]

Thanks!

 

[21hearts]

Thanks so much everyone! I feel so much better now.

 

[jbsa]

How long of a walk is it from LM to Cars suites? We're travelling as a group and some are staying in LM and some in Cars. Is that unreasonable? We plan on doing parks together and some evenings but not sure how much time we'll spend together in evenings.

 

[bluezy]

How long of a walk is it from LM to Cars suites? We're travelling as a group and some are staying in LM and some in Cars. Is that unreasonable? We plan on doing parks together and some evenings but not sure how much time we'll spend together in evenings.

Worst-case scenario: 1/2 mile
Best-case scenario: 1/4 mile
Most likely somewhere in between. It's a nice walk, though...especially at night.
If you're concerned about being close together, you might want to switch to a Lion King suite so you're right next to the LM section.

 

[trishadono]

Worst-case scenario: 1/2 mile
Best-case scenario: 1/4 mile
Most likely somewhere in between. It's a nice walk, though...especially at night.
If you're concerned about being close together, you might want to switch to a Lion King suite so you're right next to the LM section.

i was going to guess at this but thought i would wait to see if you answered first.

Its nice having someone knowledgeable here for help.

So i am getting closer to my first AoA, can't wait!

We used to pool hop at Pop and the kids and i could do the computer pool to the bowling pin pool in January cold, so i don't personally feel its too far, however my parents would.
(i would have to look at my signature but i am at least 8 times at POP and have been wanting to try this for sometime.)

 

[AngiTN]

We are planning our first stay at AoA. Sort of. We have stayed 1 night at a LM room last May. We arrived late at night and opted for 1 night at LM before moving to CR TPV for the rest of the trip.
This trip is with our adult DD so we needed the space of a suite so I booked a Nemo room. Dec 17-22
Any opinions on room location?
Upper floor vs. ground floor? Advantages to one over the other?
Can upper floors get any views of fireworks high in the sky?
I'm hoping for closest to the Main Lobby and transportation so I was thinking avoiding Lake View would be wise. Right/wrong?
We sleep with ear plugs so noise from a pool will not matter to us at all

 

[melificent]

Our third floor Nemo room had some small fireworks visibility. (It was 5740, IIRC). We went with the upper room to get a little less noise--unfortunately, we were right by the nighttime movie projection, and it was SO. VERY. LOUD. (I even called and complained, knowing nothing would happen, because I was so frustrated.) But if you're up anyway and not trying to get babies and toddlers to bed, it's probably not as bad.

 

[AngiTN]

Our third floor Nemo room had some small fireworks visibility. (It was 5740, IIRC). We went with the upper room to get a little less noise--unfortunately, we were right by the nighttime movie projection, and it was SO. VERY. LOUD. (I even called and complained, knowing nothing would happen, because I was so frustrated.) But if you're up anyway and not trying to get babies and toddlers to bed, it's probably not as bad.

Thanks. That sounds fine to us. We would not be going to bed early, DGD is 7. Odds are, if we were at the Resort at that time we'd be watching the movie anyway. Or swimming. Not really sure we'd be in the room all that much quite honestly. Did think that if we were it would be neat to see some fireworks.

 

[kwdw]

We are planning our first stay at AoA. Sort of. We have stayed 1 night at a LM room last May. We arrived late at night and opted for 1 night at LM before moving to CR TPV for the rest of the trip.
This trip is with our adult DD so we needed the space of a suite so I booked a Nemo room. Dec 17-22
Any opinions on room location?
Upper floor vs. ground floor? Advantages to one over the other?
Can upper floors get any views of fireworks high in the sky?
I'm hoping for closest to the Main Lobby and transportation so I was thinking avoiding Lake View would be wise. Right/wrong?
We sleep with ear plugs so noise from a pool will not matter to us at all

If NOISE is not an issue for you - I'd do ground floor, non-lake view - if you are hoping to be as close to lobby as possible. Based on the location of the buildings - this could still put you as far as you can get in Nemo from the lobby, but it could also put you as close as you can get. Elevators are in the middle of the building, so by doing ground floor - you have a 50% chance of getting the half of the building close to the lobby (you can enter from the end of a buidling) instead of farther from the lobby.

While you can catch SOME fireworks in the distance from some spots at AoA - they are really so far away it's not something I would plan on or even hope for. It's not WORTH the effort.

It is likely that ground floor pool view will be pretty noisy still when your 7 yo traveling companion wants to go to bed. If that doesn't matter to her - then that's fine.

In all honestly - in Nemo - if noise doesn't bother you - I think it's more about the view - the walking distance from lobby is NOT significantly different from one end to the other of the buildings. Look at the resort map online to see what I mean. You might want to decide based on whether you WANT to wait for the elevator or not or if the view matters.

Me - noise matters so I'd never pick Nemo in the first place...... I'd pick Cars - my favorite section.

 

[AngiTN]

If NOISE is not an issue for you - I'd do ground floor, non-lake view - if you are hoping to be as close to lobby as possible. Based on the location of the buildings - this could still put you as far as you can get in Nemo from the lobby, but it could also put you as close as you can get. Elevators are in the middle of the building, so by doing ground floor - you have a 50% chance of getting the half of the building close to the lobby (you can enter from the end of a buidling) instead of farther from the lobby.

While you can catch SOME fireworks in the distance from some spots at AoA - they are really so far away it's not something I would plan on or even hope for. It's not WORTH the effort.

It is likely that ground floor pool view will be pretty noisy still when your 7 yo traveling companion wants to go to bed. If that doesn't matter to her - then that's fine.

In all honestly - in Nemo - if noise doesn't bother you - I think it's more about the view - the walking distance from lobby is NOT significantly different from one end to the other of the buildings. Look at the resort map online to see what I mean. You might want to decide based on whether you WANT to wait for the elevator or not or if the view matters.

Me - noise matters so I'd never pick Nemo in the first place...... I'd pick Cars - my favorite section.

Thanks. Great things to think about.

DGD doesn't go to bed early so that would never be an issue. She'll never go to bed when the pool is still open.

The place I have been torn is ground floor/upper floor. I think ground floor is sounding better and better.

 

[raider97]

Does AOA still have the animation classes? Does anyone know the times and frequencies?

TIA!! This was one of our must-do's at DHS. We are hoping to make a trip over to AOA to get to do it.

 

[dansdad]

Does AOA still have the animation classes? Does anyone know the times and frequencies?

TIA!! This was one of our must-do's at DHS. We are hoping to make a trip over to AOA to get to do it.

They are held daily. This is from the Activities Calendar:

Character Artist
Meet our resident artist during Teach to Draw classes held in the
children’s playroom next to the Front Desk at 11:00am, 2:00pm and
5:00pm. Become an artist yourself by learning how to draw your favorite
Disney Characters. Times and availability are subject to change