Disney's ART OF ANIMATION RESORT Thread

[howaboutme]

The Nemo Suites are more centrally located and right by the main pool. Even the furthest room in Nemo would be pretty close to the main building. Building number 2 Cars would be further away. Lion King is pretty close, but it does not have it's own pool. The family Suites sleep 6. All of the rooms are suites except for the Little Mermaid rooms which are much smaller (sleep 4) and are much further away from the main building.

As a PP said, there is no difference between the Nemo suites and the Cars and Lion King Suites. They just started charging more for the Nemo Suites in the last few months. I'm sure that's because they get the most requests for those rooms and they are always booked solid. Most people will look at the map and think that the Nemo suites have the best location because they're right in the center of the resort and they have a pool. I thought the same thing. Then we stayed in a LK suite and realized that many of the LK suites are closer to the bus stops and food court than most of the Nemo suites...but you trade off having a pool right outside your door (though it's a quick walk to either the Nemo or the Little Mermaid pool from the LK buildings). And while most of the the Cars suites are decently close to the main building and bus stops, Building 2 has some suites that are as far away from the food court and bus stops as some of the Little Mermaid rooms. The Cars area does have it's own pool, so that's an advantage. If you go to a mapping website and starting calculating the distance from various rooms at Art of Animation to the food court and bus stops (usually the 2 things people want to be close to), it quickly becomes obvious that while Building 5 in the Nemo section is pretty centrally located and close to the food court, bus stops, and of course the pool; Building 4 in the Nemo section is not any closer to the food court or bus stops than either of the Lion King buildings...though it still has the advantage of a pool right outside the door. We have booked a Nemo suite 3 times but the first two times we switched to a LK suite when discounts came out (because there were no discounted rooms available in the Nemo section). On our upcoming trip, we were able to get the Summer Meal promotion on a Nemo room so we stuck with the Nemo suite. We probably would have stayed with the Nemo suite no matter what because we're traveling with another family who is staying at Pop Century, so we wanted to be close to the bridge since we will most likely be heading back and forth between the two resorts several times during our stay. So while I wouldn't normally be willing to pay more for a Nemo suite (since we prefer the location of the LK suites in relation to the food court and bus stops), on this trip it makes sense for us to try a Nemo suite...plus, we wanted to try something new this trip.

The term "family suite" is just a general term for any of the suites. They will put you wherever there is space available -- though most likely *not* in a Nemo suite since they're usually sold out. Some people have no preference for the 3 themes available or just can't decide which one they would prefer to be in so they leave that decision up to the room assignor.

Thank you!

So what I am hearing is that if there are any room discounts, historically, the Finding Nemo rooms are excluded (as is the LM rooms). But for FD, all rooms qualify??

 

[Disneylover99]

Thank you!

So what I am hearing is that if there are any room discounts, historically, the Finding Nemo rooms are excluded (as is the LM rooms). But for FD, all rooms qualify??

LM rooms don't generally qualify for fd.

 

[bluezy]

Thank you!

So what I am hearing is that if there are any room discounts, historically, the Finding Nemo rooms are excluded (as is the LM rooms). But for FD, all rooms qualify??

*Historically* the Finding Nemo rooms have only had a few rooms allotted to any promotional discount including free dining (I've heard there were less than a dozen Nemo suites allocated to any discount or promotion. Not sure how accurate that is, but it seems legitimate.). However, there appears to be plenty of availability for the Summer Meal promotion in the Nemo rooms so I don't know if that's an isolated incident just happening for this promotion or if the Nemo rooms will now have a larger inventory available for promotional rates since they charge more for the rooms to begin with. Time will tell.

Other than the first few months that AoA was open, the Little Mermaid rooms have not been available for *any* discounts or promotions. And I don't think that will change any time in the near future. Those rooms are in high demand.

 

[bluezy]

Ugh. Sorry for the multiple posts. Having internet problems....

 

[bluezy]

See above.

 

[bluezy]

And again. :-(

 

[howaboutme]

*Historically* the Finding Nemo rooms have only had a few rooms allotted to any promotional discount including free dining (I've heard there were less than a dozen Nemo suites allocated to any discount or promotion. Not sure how accurate that is, but it seems legitimate.). However, there appears to be plenty of availability for the Summer Meal promotion in the Nemo rooms so I don't know if that's an isolated incident just happening for this promotion or if the Nemo rooms will now have a larger inventory available for promotional rates since they charge more for the rooms to begin with. Time will tell.

Other than the first few months that AoA was open, the Little Mermaid rooms have not been available for *any* discounts or promotions. And I don't think that will change any time in the near future. Those rooms are in high demand.

Got it! Thank you very much!

 

[MudQueen22]

The last time we stayed, our dd was age 5 and we brought our umbrella stroller with a 50 lb weight capacity.
She will be over the 50 lbs when we go back, but I think she needs a stroller.

Does anyone have experience with this? Should I rent one, or can I get away with putting her back in the Summer umbrella stroller? If I rent one, will they fold up easily for boarding the buses?

 

[Mousemommy1]

The last time we stayed, our dd was age 5 and we brought our umbrella stroller with a 50 lb weight capacity.
She will be over the 50 lbs when we go back, but I think she needs a stroller.

Does anyone have experience with this? Should I rent one, or can I get away with putting her back in the Summer umbrella stroller? If I rent one, will they fold up easily for boarding the buses?

Most rental companies in the area rent out City Mini's which do fold up and go onto buses very easily.

 

[CarouselOfProgress4]

What kind of discounts are available for AoA generally?

I've read that AoA is often not included in some discounts like free dining and room discounts.

 

[mindeola]

Are there more pictures of the resort anywhere? Considering a stay in may, cars family suite. Thanks

Disney Tourist Blog has some awesome photos and a review of the different suites.

 

[jcarwash]

What kind of discounts are available for AoA generally?

I've read that AoA is often not included in some discounts like free dining and room discounts.

The Little Mermaid section of standard rooms at AoA quickly went into a pattern of being excluded from special offers due to popularity and capacity.

Suites at AoA can often be found in special offers, including the active ones right now, although which theme is available as part of that offer may be limited -- you may not be able to book a special offer with the Nemo section, for example.

 

[BlvInMagic]

The last time we stayed, our dd was age 5 and we brought our umbrella stroller with a 50 lb weight capacity.
She will be over the 50 lbs when we go back, but I think she needs a stroller.

Does anyone have experience with this? Should I rent one, or can I get away with putting her back in the Summer umbrella stroller? If I rent one, will they fold up easily for boarding the buses?

We've rented the CitiMini from OrlandoStrollers.com on our last 2 visits to WDW. We had a wonderful experience with them; very quick and smooth one-hand folding system, easy to carry onto the busses, and the steering of the stroller was awesome (we could turn on a dime!)

 

[BlvInMagic]

Lion King Suites preference -- 1st floor or top floor? We'll be traveling to AoA soon, and will have a little one with a stroller. I hear really good things about the top floor rooms -- but are the waits for the elevators a pain? Which floor preference is really best?

 

[bluezy]

Lion King Suites preference -- 1st floor or top floor? We'll be traveling to AoA soon, and will have a little one with a stroller. I hear really good things about the top floor rooms -- but are the waits for the elevators a pain? Which floor preference is really best?

We've had a top floor Lion King suite on 2 different trips. Both times we were at the end of the building closest to Animation Hall. I really liked the location. It was very quiet. On both trips, we had very little hall or room noise. I don't think our wing was fully occupied on either trip which I'm sure helped with the quietness. Since we were right by the steps, we usually just used those instead of using the elevator since that required walking through the building to access them and then walking all the way back to our room. If our room had been past the elevators when coming from the bus stops or food court, we probably would have used them more often. On the few occasions we did use the elevators, we only had to wait for them to come from whatever floor they were currently on.

I'm afraid to request 1st floor because I worry about all the foot traffic walking past our room on their way to and from the elevator. My husband wants to try a first floor room on our next trip (Nemo suite), so I may suck it up and try it.

 

[Boopuff]

Our last trip we stayed in the Cars Building 3 it was perfect. Close to everything. And the cozy cone pool is a nice, quiet place to relax.

 

[slbgnb]

As of right now, I'm booked at CR, but think we've decided to switch to AofA. We have a family of 5 and my teenage daughter really wants more space, so I think we have decided the extra space will indeed be nice. I saw that you can't take a bus to another resort...you have to take a bus to Downtown Disney and then take a bus from there to the resort. Is that super annoying and time consuming? I've also heard waiting for buses at Downtown Disney is a long, painful process. Just thinking when we have an ADR at Chef Mickey's or 1900 Park Fare - how long will that take if we have to go to Downtown Disney first?

 

[CJK]

As of right now, I'm booked at CR, but think we've decided to switch to AofA. We have a family of 5 and my teenage daughter really wants more space, so I think we have decided the extra space will indeed be nice. I saw that you can't take a bus to another resort...you have to take a bus to Downtown Disney and then take a bus from there to the resort. Is that super annoying and time consuming? I've also heard waiting for buses at Downtown Disney is a long, painful process. Just thinking when we have an ADR at Chef Mickey's or 1900 Park Fare - how long will that take if we have to go to Downtown Disney first?

I wouldn't take a bus to Downtown Disney (now Disney Springs). Instead, I'd take a bus to Magic Kingdom and walk to Chef Mickey's at the Contemporary. For 1900 Park Fare, take bus to Magic Kingdom and transfer to a small boat or take resort monorail to Grand Floridian. Much less painful than going to Disney Springs. Have fun!!

 

[Jaimie1911]

Hi again! Can anyone tell me what the room request options are when checking in online? I'm hoping to request a 4th floor lake view. I tried searching but couldn't seem to find it.

Thanks!

 

[CampbellScot]

As of right now, I'm booked at CR, but think we've decided to switch to AofA. We have a family of 5 and my teenage daughter really wants more space, so I think we have decided the extra space will indeed be nice. I saw that you can't take a bus to another resort...you have to take a bus to Downtown Disney and then take a bus from there to the resort. Is that super annoying and time consuming? I've also heard waiting for buses at Downtown Disney is a long, painful process. Just thinking when we have an ADR at Chef Mickey's or 1900 Park Fare - how long will that take if we have to go to Downtown Disney first?

In my experience a bus to Disney Springs to get ANYWHERE is a bad idea. The buses to and from there take FOREVER. Definitely take a bus to MK and take the monorail or walk to the Contemporary. Not a difficult trip!!