Disney's ART OF ANIMATION RESORT Thread

[seb65]

Is there a way to make a room request other than My Disney Experience? It does not list the request I need (ground floor).

 

[Disturbia]

I think touringplans can put in a request. You can also view room views, room numbers and a resort map.

https://touringplans.com/hotel_maps/disneys-art-of-animation-resort
Also you can call Disney reservations and add a request.

 

[Haley R]

Is there a way to make a room request other than My Disney Experience? It does not list the request I need (ground floor).

I always call. I have to request a crib because I didn’t see that anywhere on there

 

[CableKC]

You do not get to choose when you catch ME. Disney will leave a note on your door with instructions the day before you're scheduled to leave with the time you are to catch the bus. It is usually 3 hours (4 hours for international) before your flight time, +/- 15 minutes. It is highly recommended to be at the ME pickup area 15 minutes before your scheduled time. It may be a direct drive to the airport, or it may make several stops before or after your pickup. You will never know until you are aboard.

My flight is at 8am in the morning. That means that my ME is scheduled for 5am in the morning. Although we will try to make that ME bus ( which translates into us having to leave our room no later than 4:40am ), what happens if we end up missing that 5am ME bus?

I don't intend to miss it, but given how early we have to get up in order to catch a 5am bus.....would we be able to catch the next bus that eventually shows up at AoA that will go to MCO?

 

[Ghost Host 998]

My flight is at 8am in the morning. That means that my ME is scheduled for 5am in the morning. Although we will try to make that ME bus ( which translates into us having to leave our room no later than 4:40am ), what happens if we end up missing that 5am ME bus?

I don't intend to miss it, but given how early we have to get up in order to catch a 5am bus.....would we be able to catch the next bus that eventually shows up at AoA that will go to MCO?

Yes, your pick-up time will be somewhere around 5am. I completely understand your concern, if possible, we schedule afternoon flights (even if it costs more) for this very reason, but we also understand that is not always possible.

I highly recommend you do not miss your scheduled ME though. However, it can and does happen. Let the CM outside the entrance know. The official answer will be they will not know when the next bus will arrive, it may be 20 minutes, it may be 2 hours. And, ME will only let you board if there is room so that they don't bump somebody off to let you on. In practicality, Disney and Mears (who actually owns and runs ME) will do what they can, within reason, to accommodate.

 

[mickeybaby]

Are there laundry facilities near the Little Mermaid standard rooms?
I am anticipating a lot of smelly, sweaty laundry in my future and would love to be able to wash a load or two throughout the week.
Thanks!

 

[tjmw2727]

My flight is at 8am in the morning. That means that my ME is scheduled for 5am in the morning. Although we will try to make that ME bus ( which translates into us having to leave our room no later than 4:40am ), what happens if we end up missing that 5am ME bus?

I don't intend to miss it, but given how early we have to get up in order to catch a 5am bus.....would we be able to catch the next bus that eventually shows up at AoA that will go to MCO?

This issue with this is twofold - they are not fully loading buses to allow for social distancing so there may not be room on the next bus, and the next bus could be many hours later as they only pick up if there is a reservation.

So if you miss your DME your pretty much on your own! I would budget for ride share or taxi if you can't count on making it to DME on time.

 

[leannak]

Anyone know the best way to Ale & Compass restaurant from AoA? I think it's at Yacht Club Resort. Skyliner? It's a late reservation - 8:30pm so hopefully there won't be lines going in that direction, just people leaving the parks?

 

[BebopBaloo]

Anyone know the best way to Ale & Compass restaurant from AoA? I think it's at Yacht Club Resort. Skyliner? It's a late reservation - 8:30pm so hopefully there won't be lines going in that direction, just people leaving the parks?

Skyliner via Epcot line

 

[bluezy]

Are there laundry facilities near the Little Mermaid standard rooms?
I am anticipating a lot of smelly, sweaty laundry in my future and would love to be able to wash a load or two throughout the week.
Thanks!

There are laundry facilities in the pool area at each of the pools.

 

[CastAStone]

My flight is at 8am in the morning. That means that my ME is scheduled for 5am in the morning. Although we will try to make that ME bus ( which translates into us having to leave our room no later than 4:40am ), what happens if we end up missing that 5am ME bus?

I don't intend to miss it, but given how early we have to get up in order to catch a 5am bus.....would we be able to catch the next bus that eventually shows up at AoA that will go to MCO?

If you want to sleep in a little bit without the heart palpitations that come with waiting to see if your Uber driver will show up, use a private car service. It will be roughly $70.

DME’s early pickup time rule is frustrating but it’s designed to make sure they get you to your flight on time every time, no matter what happens with accidents, traffic, etc.

 

[CableKC]

If you want to sleep in a little bit without the heart palpitations that come with waiting to see if your Uber driver will show up, use a private car service. It will be roughly $70.

DME’s early pickup time rule is frustrating but it’s designed to make sure they get you to your flight on time every time, no matter what happens with accidents, traffic, etc.

I always plan the last full day at MK so that we can enjoy it as the last best park to spend the day at where we can go into the evening. But I've had to change that up to spending the day at HS and then coming back after dinner time so that we are not out late.

It's gonna be a long night before and the day of travel, but I guess I have little to no choice.

Refresh my memory, we have to have our luggage outside of our doors the night before so that the Resort can put it onto the bus?

I forget how that works.

 

[Ghost Host 998]

Refresh my memory, we have to have our luggage outside of our doors the night before so that the Resort can put it onto the bus?

I forget how that works.

Sadly you are required to bring your luggage with you when getting on MDE. The RAC service was closed for COVID and at this point does look like it will be coming back. Especially with the end of DME at the end of 2021, there doesn’t even seem to be any plans to bring it back. Luggage Service will pickup (you must be present for this) and hold your bags, but again you must retrieve them and have them with you when boarding the bus. The bus driver will take them from you and put them under the bus, and they will unload them and give them back to you at the airport so you can tag and check them at your airlines counter.

 

[Ninja]

We're thinking of staying here next year as there will be me, hubby & DS of 23 so separate bathrooms sound like a Godsend to me! But will our 23yr old be comfy on the pull out bed for 2 weeks, is it as comfy as a normal resort bed?
Also is it over run with little ones being a *younger* resort?

 

[efoote01]

Anyone there now and experiencing the new loading of the skyline?

 

[bluezy]

We're thinking of staying here next year as there will be me, hubby & DS of 23 so separate bathrooms sound like a Godsend to me! But will our 23yr old be comfy on the pull out bed for 2 weeks, is it as comfy as a normal resort bed?
Also is it over run with little ones being a *younger* resort?

Our adult kids (ages 20-30 on various trips) have stayed in the suite with us on several trips. The pull down bed and the sofa bed are close to the size of a normal double/full size bed. The measurements of the pull down bed are 75" x 54" x 8" and the sofa bed is 77" x 53" x 6". While the sofa bed is comfortable (especially for a sofa bed), the pull down bed is more comfortable and is very comparable to many hotel beds. I find the pull down bed to be more comfortable than the queen bed in the bedroom.

I suppose there are a lot of little kids there but I can't say it has ever bothered me....because they're not *my* kids (ours are all between the ages of 16-35 now). The only time I really notice is if we're at the Big Blue Pool -- that pool seems to be overrun with kids. We usually walk over to the LM pool (we usually stay in a LK suite) as that pool is much quieter. We love the whimsical decor at AoA because it keeps us immersed in the Disney magic. Our one son stayed at BWI on our last trip and he said he missed the "fun" of AoA.

 

[NotTheBatesMotel]

Hi, all. We are considering either a Cars or Lion King suite at AoA for our upcoming trip. I have a couple questions. Thanks in advance for any input.
1. Do you find it roomy enough for a longer stay? We're considering a 9 night stay which I know isn't long compared to other's trips but we usually stay 6 or 7 nights.
2. Are there any renovations/construction/closures at the resort currently?
3. How is the food court? We've stayed at Pop before and were pleasantly surprised by the variety there.
4. Is there usually a big group of people waiting for the elevators? I'm an ambulatory wheelchair user and I'm trying to figure out if it'd be easier to request a 1st floor room.
5. Is the Skyliner wait typically long? We don't go right at opening/closing because my son is autistic and the opening hordes overwhelm him. I'm wondering how the Skyliner is ~an hour+ after the opening rush.

 

[CableKC]

About requesting rooms at the Little Mermaid building:

We are staying in the Little Mermaid building after booking the standard room package ( which I assume to be the lowest class of rooms ). Does anyone have any recommendations on which rooms to request?

I was looking at the Resort Map for AoA and was thinking that it would be best to stay at the Ursula / Building 7 on the side that is closer to the lake since these are the closest to the path to walk to the Skyliner, but wasn't sure if there are any drawbacks to staying at that building. I would think that Building 8 is the worst since that is literally the building that is furthest away from everything.

Any thoughts on this or suggestions as to which is the better rooms and building to request?

 

[JoelB]

About requesting rooms at the Little Mermaid building:

We are staying in the Little Mermaid building after booking the standard room package ( which I assume to be the lowest class of rooms ). Does anyone have any recommendations on which rooms to request?

I was looking at the Resort Map for AoA and was thinking that it would be best to stay at the Ursula / Building 7 on the side that is closer to the lake since these are the closest to the path to walk to the Skyliner, but wasn't sure if there are any drawbacks to staying at that building. I would think that Building 8 is the worst since that is literally the building that is furthest away from everything.

Any thoughts on this or suggestions as to which is the better rooms and building to request?

We were just there in January and had an amazing time.

First thing to mention is that all LM rooms are listed as "standard" rooms as opposed to the family suites of the other sections. It isn't a view/location category (there are no preferred/pool/etc. views).

As far as "best" location, your thoughts are fairly in line with what mine were before our trip. I made a room request, mainly hoping just to avoid building 8. We ended up with room 7764, a pool-facing room which is far enough on the NE-end of building 7 that it honestly wouldn't have been that much more of a walk to be in 8. We were very happy with it overall.

I suppose most people that stay at value resorts aren't terribly concerned with their room views, but the LM pool/courtyard area are really lovely to look out at, especially at night. Of course, having a room near the pool means noise can be a concern, particularly during afternoon breaks when they're playing pool trivia games. My girlfriend can sleep through just about anything after five or so miles of walking, though, and I don't nap a lot anyway, so this wasn't too much of a problem for us. Your mileage will definitely vary based on vacationing and personal preferences.

If we stayed there again, I would probably try to get on the lake-facing side of building 7. Partially to try something different and for a little extra peace and quiet, but mainly because you might luck out and get a room where you could watch the gondolas fly past from your window.

As far as as access to the Skyliner goes, really anywhere in building 7 is fine. Even if you're at the far end of the building like we were, just take the path that goes out the back and connects right up to the path along the lake.

The only thing I would really try to avoid is a parking lot view. Although, honestly, that's what we got when we stayed at Pop, and we had just as wonderful a trip. So maybe the moral of the story is don't stress about it too much?

Hope this helps a bit!

Edit: Attached a view from our room

 

[CableKC]

We were just there in January and had an amazing time.

First thing to mention is that all LM rooms are listed as "standard" rooms as opposed to the family suites of the other sections. It isn't a view/location category (there are no preferred/pool/etc. views).

As far as "best" location, your thoughts are fairly in line with what mine were before our trip. I made a room request, mainly hoping just to avoid building 8. We ended up with room 7764, a pool-facing room which is far enough on the NE-end of building 7 that it honestly wouldn't have been that much more of a walk to be in 8. We were very happy with it overall.

I suppose most people that stay at value resorts aren't terribly concerned with their room views, but the LM pool/courtyard area are really lovely to look out at, especially at night. Of course, having a room near the pool means noise can be a concern, particularly during afternoon breaks when they're playing pool trivia games. My girlfriend can sleep through just about anything after five or so miles of walking, though, and I don't nap a lot anyway, so this wasn't too much of a problem for us. Your mileage will definitely vary based on vacationing and personal preferences.

If we stayed there again, I would probably try to get on the lake-facing side of building 7. Partially to try something different and for a little extra peace and quiet, but mainly because you might luck out and get a room where you could watch the gondolas fly past from your window.

As far as as access to the Skyliner goes, really anywhere in building 7 is fine. Even if you're at the far end of the building like we were, just take the path that goes out the back and connects right up to the path along the lake.

The only thing I would really try to avoid is a parking lot view. Although, honestly, that's what we got when we stayed at Pop, and we had just as wonderful a trip. So maybe the moral of the story is don't stress about it too much?

Hope this helps a bit!

Edit: Attached a view from our room

Thanks for the advise. I will request a lake side view of Building 7 as my primary choice and then anything else in Building 7 as a secondary choice. I like the idea about having a nice view at night.