Post-trip update April 29, 2025
We ended up staying at AoA for our recent trip and had no regrets. The theming is so much fun, my teens still loved it and so did my MIL who felt like she was in a 4 star luxury resort. It's so well done, we felt immersed in Disney the entire week.
We were originally assigned 2 connecting rooms in Building 8 (Little Mermaid section) but at check-in we were able to change to 2 side-by-side rooms in Building 7 with a pool view. The walk to the lobby/restaurant and Skyliner is a little longer from the Little Mermaid section of the resort, but really not noticeable, even after a long park day. After this last visit, I can't imagine booking anywhere else, and I really loved the Little Mermaid standard rooms compared to the family suites (we have previously stayed in both the Lion King area and the Finding Nemo area).
Reasons we loved it:
Skyliner - this is such an elevated (no pun intended) way to travel to the parks, I would 100% only stay at a resort with Skyliner access in the future.
Landscape of Flavors - great food court with plenty of options and both indoor and outdoor seating.
Pools - all three pools are great and provide a lot of room for swimming. This time we only swam in the Flipping Fins pool near our room and it was wonderful - great size for swimming. And you are surrounded by the Little Mermaid sculptures and theming, so it felt very fun. We visited a few other resorts this trip and noticed that while their pools are highly themed, they are much smaller and thus more crowded than any of the AoA pools.
Immersive experience - we love the feeling of being at Disney 24 hours a day during our trips and the theming at AoA really supports that. This was our 4th stay at AoA in 9 years and I still got all the feels walking into the beautiful art-themed lobby.
Little Mermaid room vs Family Suites - we loved the family suites when our kids were little and our family of 5 was very comfortable. But once our kids got bigger (and had their own suitcases with more stuff) it started to feel quite cramped and it was harder for tall pre-teens to share a double bed. This time we opted for LM rooms with 2 queen beds each and it was a great decision. We had 3 people per room so there was enough room for everyone's stuff and sleeping arrangements were much more comfortable. We asked for additional luggage racks so we could get the suitcases off the floor and this really helped as well.