Disney's ART OF ANIMATION RESORT Thread

[AngiTN]

Well, we are heading to our first stay in one of the suites. We've had 1 night stay at AoA, couple years ago, in a LM room following a very late arrival. Like most, we found the walk pretty daunting and haven't hurried to return.
DGD has express a desire to stay there again and we are taking a surprise, to her, trip for her 10th birthday and we could use the space of a suite since DD is coming too (she usually doesn't) so AoA it is.
I've got a Nemo suite. It's not a long trip, just 4 nights, March 9-13. We'll be spending a lot of time in the parks. It's a pretty busy time, being middle of Spring Break season.
Anyone have a favorite building for the Nemo rooms? Or are they both pretty equal?

 

[wehrengrizz]

Has anyone gotten a really good deal on the suites here? If so how? and how much was it?

I got an annual pass in October, and had a Cars suite already booked. Once AP discounts came out for our dates (2 days!) I applied the discount and saved a ton. I believe the end price was about $262/night, which since we have 5 kids is right about the price we'd have paid for 2 (non-AP -discounted) rooms at Pop (our "usual" situation). DD2 made it easy to choose AoA suites this time since it's essentially the only time we can all 7 use a suite before she's 3.
Hope that helps!

 

[KirbyLouWho]

Well, we are heading to our first stay in one of the suites. We've had 1 night stay at AoA, couple years ago, in a LM room following a very late arrival. Like most, we found the walk pretty daunting and haven't hurried to return.
DGD has express a desire to stay there again and we are taking a surprise, to her, trip for her 10th birthday and we could use the space of a suite since DD is coming too (she usually doesn't) so AoA it is.
I've got a Nemo suite. It's not a long trip, just 4 nights, March 9-13. We'll be spending a lot of time in the parks. It's a pretty busy time, being middle of Spring Break season.
Anyone have a favorite building for the Nemo rooms? Or are they both pretty equal?

I can't answer your question, but we'll be there the exact same dates! We're in a LM room because it's a surprise for my daughter (6) who will be coming straight off her last cheer competition of the season. She has no idea these rooms exist and she is obsessed with all things mermaid. I'll be sure to say hi to my fellow Tennessean if I see you!

 

[AngiTN]

I can't answer your question, but we'll be there the exact same dates! We're in a LM room because it's a surprise for my daughter (6) who will be coming straight off her last cheer competition of the season. She has no idea these rooms exist and she is obsessed with all things mermaid. I'll be sure to say hi to my fellow Tennessean if I see you!

How fun! Please do, I love meeting Dis'ers
I know a lot of the area is on Spring Break that week. It's not ours, so we are sneaking her out of school for 2 days (shhh... don't tell )
We have other friends going that week who are on their Spring Break. They are the ones that put the bug in my ear to go. DH and I were supposed to go for President's Day instead. But when they asked about Spring Break and I realized I could do DGDs birthday so we changed our plans.

 

[bluezy]

Has anyone gotten a really good deal on the suites here? If so how? and how much was it?

We've stayed in a suite 3 times. Twice we've gotten 15% off the room & tickets plus free park hoppers added to our tickets. Once was a 25% discount on the room. We're currently booked for a stay next June under the Summer Meal Deal which gives us 1 QS meal per night per person. That will save us about $700-750 for the week. If a better deal comes out, we'll switch to that. These have all been deals available to the general public that our travel agent added to our reservation when they became available.

Well, we are heading to our first stay in one of the suites. We've had 1 night stay at AoA, couple years ago, in a LM room following a very late arrival. Like most, we found the walk pretty daunting and haven't hurried to return.
DGD has express a desire to stay there again and we are taking a surprise, to her, trip for her 10th birthday and we could use the space of a suite since DD is coming too (she usually doesn't) so AoA it is.
I've got a Nemo suite. It's not a long trip, just 4 nights, March 9-13. We'll be spending a lot of time in the parks. It's a pretty busy time, being middle of Spring Break season.
Anyone have a favorite building for the Nemo rooms? Or are they both pretty equal?

We were in a Nemo Suite last year. We chose Building 5. I requested Room #5520 through Touring Plans and we ended up in #5518 (which was fine -- I just wanted to be in that hallway and indicated that on the request). I specifically wanted building 5 because we use the refillable mugs a lot during our stay so I wanted to be as close as possible to the food court. It also feels like Building 5 is closer to the bus stops (something else we use frequently during our stay) than Building 4 because we'd walk through the food court to get to the front of the building and go out to the bus stops. I really loved the location of our room -- we were close to everything that was important to us (food court, bus stops, pool) and we were in a quiet hallway with a lake view. Just do yourself a favor and close your eyes as you walk through the main hallway (basically from the door closest to Animation Hall down to the elevators) because the carpeting is horrible -- very stained -- and in need of replacement. I complained about it to guest services when we were there in June 2016 and got a call from a GS "manager" (no idea if he really was or was just saying that) to discuss it. We had a long conversation about it and he said he felt it warranted an onsite visit by upper management. I have no idea if that ever happened, but the last I heard (in Fall of 2017), it still hadn't been changed. Everything in the room was fine, but the carpeting in the main hallway was in desperate need of replacement (it was beyond needing a good cleaning). It wouldn't stop me from staying in that building again, but it makes a terrible first impression.

 

[KirbyLouWho]

It's our (Shelby County's) spring break. We were originally only supposed to be there Fri-Sun for the competition (don't worry, most of the hordes are at *** & the DS area friend hotels lol), but then when I realized the overlap I decided we should stay. I'm beyond excited because it'll be the first time going just the two of us & I CAN NOT WAIT for the freedom of not having to organize our big family!

 

[KirbyLouWho]

How fun! Please do, I love meeting Dis'ers
I know a lot of the area is on Spring Break that week. It's not ours, so we are sneaking her out of school for 2 days (shhh... don't tell )
We have other friends going that week who are on their Spring Break. They are the ones that put the bug in my ear to go. DH and I were supposed to go for President's Day instead. But when they asked about Spring Break and I realized I could do DGDs birthday so we changed our plans.

It's our (Shelby County's) spring break. We were originally only supposed to be there Fri-Sun for the competition (don't worry, most of the hordes are at *** & the DS area friend hotels lol), but then when I realized the overlap I decided we should stay. I'm beyond excited because it'll be the first time going just the two of us & I CAN NOT WAIT for the freedom of not having to organize our big family!

 

[AngiTN]

We were in a Nemo Suite last year. We chose Building 5. I requested Room #5520 through Touring Plans and we ended up in #5518 (which was fine -- I just wanted to be in that hallway and indicated that on the request). I specifically wanted building 5 because we use the refillable mugs a lot during our stay so I wanted to be as close as possible to the food court. It also feels like Building 5 is closer to the bus stops (something else we use frequently during our stay) than Building 4 because we'd walk through the food court to get to the front of the building and go out to the bus stops. I really loved the location of our room -- we were close to everything that was important to us (food court, bus stops, pool) and we were in a quiet hallway with a lake view. Just do yourself a favor and close your eyes as you walk through the main hallway (basically from the door closest to Animation Hall down to the elevators) because the carpeting is horrible -- very stained -- and in need of replacement. I complained about it to guest services when we were there in June 2016 and got a call from a GS "manager" (no idea if he really was or was just saying that) to discuss it. We had a long conversation about it and he said he felt it warranted an onsite visit by upper management. I have no idea if that ever happened, but the last I heard (in Fall of 2017), it still hadn't been changed. Everything in the room was fine, but the carpeting in the main hallway was in desperate need of replacement (it was beyond needing a good cleaning). It wouldn't stop me from staying in that building again, but it makes a terrible first impression.

Thanks. Great info.

Sad about the carpet. Those buildings are the newest on property. No excuse for them to be so bad. I know they get a lot of foot traffic but so do all the other carpeted halls. Many of which have been down longer than AoA has been. They don't look that bad. Probably just need to put tile down in the hall

 

[bluezy]

Thanks. Great info.

Sad about the carpet. Those buildings are the newest on property. No excuse for them to be so bad. I know they get a lot of foot traffic but so do all the other carpeted halls. Many of which have been down longer than AoA has been. They don't look that bad. Probably just need to put tile down in the hall

It is sad....and pathetic. At the time we were there the buildings had only been open for 4 years. There's no reason that the carpeting should have looked like that at that "young" of an age. I honesty don't think they had ever been steam cleaned. And at that point, the stains were so set they weren't going to come out anyway. And they aren't little stains. There are several that are the size of a dinner plate or larger. I didn't remember the LK hallways looking like that on our previous stays so I walked over and looked at those to compare. While they could have used a good steam cleaning, they didn't have the amount of stains as Nemo building 5. I told GS that if I had walked in to a non-Disney hotel and saw something like that, I would have turned around and left. I know that if I had gone to the front desk to complain when we arrived, they would have moved us but I didn't want to give up our awesome room location. And like I said, the carpeting (and everything else) in the suite was fine. I just walked along the outside of the building and came in the main doors by the elevators as much as possible during the week so I didn't have to look at it. Fortunately, our hallway didn't look bad.

 

[jgleason]

Will be arriving to resort in June 2018 about 8am. Cannot check in till 3pm. How would I go about parking at the resort and catching a bus to a park. Should I go in to get some type of parking permit or just park the car and head out.

 

[AngiTN]

Will be arriving to resort in June 2018 about 8am. Cannot check in till 3pm. How would I go about parking at the resort and catching a bus to a park. Should I go in to get some type of parking permit or just park the car and head out.

You can check on as early as 6 am
You just may not have a room till 3
You just drive up, park and go to the front desk. They may have a room ready early. You can request it. We've gotten ours early many times.
No matter what, you just hop on a bus and go to the park

 

[closetmickey]

Can anyone direct me to past activity guides? I’m trying to figure out what time they play the outdoor movies in the summertime. Thank you!

 

[Stefani P.]

Either Nemo building is perfect location. I loved our stay there Halloween 2016. Enjoy!

 

[helpmabob]

Can I just add to my previous post? On the Disney website, we can choose between any of the suites, Lion King being the one we favour, but The Little Mermaid rooms are much cheaper, but also much further away from the bus stop according to the map.
Is it a very long trek from there, unfit 54 yo here, I can cope with the parks, but once I get off the shuttle I want somewhere close. Thank you.

 

[Stefani P.]

Can I just add to my previous post? On the Disney website, we can choose between any of the suites, Lion King being the one we favour, but The Little Mermaid rooms are much cheaper, but also much further away from the bus stop according to the map.
Is it a very long trek from there, unfit 54 yo here, I can cope with the parks, but once I get off the shuttle I want somewhere close. Thank you.

You will not want the Little Mermaid rooms. It really is quite a walk. And after a long day at the parks especially.

 

[AngiTN]

The mermaid rooms would be fine if you drive. I will not stay in them again using the buses

 

[bluezy]

Can I just add to my previous post? On the Disney website, we can choose between any of the suites, Lion King being the one we favour, but The Little Mermaid rooms are much cheaper, but also much further away from the bus stop according to the map.
Is it a very long trek from there, unfit 54 yo here, I can cope with the parks, but once I get off the shuttle I want somewhere close. Thank you.

I agree with the others that you would probably not want to be in a LM room. If you could guarantee that you'd get a room in buildings 7 or 9 at the end of the building closest to the LK section, you'd probably be ok. Those rooms are closer than some of the suites in Cars building 2. However, there's no way to guarantee you'd get one of those rooms. You could end up in the far end of building 8 and have a quarter of a mile hike to your room after you return from the parks. I'd stick with a suite and just walk over to the LM section one day/evening to see everything. We like to swim in the LM pool when we stay in the LK suites as it's usually far less crowded and much less noisy than the Big Blue pool in the Nemo area.

 

[WonderlandisReality]

Is there anything else that makes the walk to the LM rooms difficult other than the distance? I am actually accustomed to walking an equivalent distance from my office to my car. Difference being 6 months of the year it is below freezing and half of the trip is uphill in either direction. Walk to LM appears to be relatively free of hills and ice, correct? Granted I don't push my children's wheelchair everyday this distance, but I have done it before.

 

[jgleason]

I am gonna try and request a room in building 7, possibly facing the parking lot. Hoping to see some of the fireworks from the resort.

 

[bluezy]

Is there anything else that makes the walk to the LM rooms difficult other than the distance? I am actually accustomed to walking an equivalent distance from my office to my car. Difference being 6 months of the year it is below freezing and half of the trip is uphill in either direction. Walk to LM appears to be relatively free of hills and ice, correct? Granted I don't push my children's wheelchair everyday this distance, but I have done it before.

The walk is flat and no ice. It's just the distance that's difficult. The walk is pretty...especially if you walk through the LK section. Depending on the location of your room, you could also just take the sidewalk along the parking lot. Just keep in mind that you will possibly be making the walk several times a day depending on your routine. For us, we do rope drop; take an afternoon break back at the resort; head back to the parks in the evening; and in between we make a few trips to the food court to fill up our mugs. A typical day for us would have numerous walks from our room to the main building/bus stops. The distance would grow old very quickly for us. But, for someone who doesn't use the refillable mugs and only makes one trip to the parks in a day, it might be fine. The reality is, those rooms are always booked to capacity so obviously the distance isn't a problem for hundreds of people every day.