Reviews of Art of Animation Resort (Value Resort)
Reviewed by caltex Review Date: 01/08/2016
Rating: (9) Recommended
I have stayed at Deluxe, Moderate, and Value resorts. All things considered, AoA is my favorite. The theming is wonderful…the imagineers must have had a lot fun creating this resort. My family (3 adults and a teen) stayed in the Cars suite and it was more than adequate. While the carpet could have been cleaned a little better, overall, the room was tidy. The mousekeepers in our section were extremely friendly. The Big Blue Pool was nice albeit crowded, but even the smaller Cozy Cone Pool was nice. Nothing fancy, but it was nice way to cool off plus if you need to wash clothes the washers/dryers are in the pool area. As for the food court, the Landscape of Flavors, the offerings are different from the usual options (although you can still standard faves like burgers). The salmon club sandwich was exceptional given that it is a quick service meal. If I had to be nitpicky and identify a negative it might be the cast members at the front desk. Maybe it was due to long shifts or because it was the holidays (rather be home than at work), but they didn’t come off as very cheerful or friendly. Overall, I love AoA and would gladly return.
Pros:
Theming, Mousekeepers, Food CourtCons:
—Reviewed by mamandragon Review Date: 01/03/2016
Rating: (4) Not Recommended
Stayed here Dec 13 to 18 in the Nemo Suites. We were right behind animation hall by the pool. Rooms are just ok - nothing to get all excited about - my son-in law felt he was staying in a concrete bunker. We found it was a bit tight space wise for 4 adults and 3 kids 13, 6 and 2. Check in was good - however.....we were heading to Hollywood Studios and were told that we would receive a text message when our room was ready. My daughter finally called the hotel at 9 pm to see what our room number was. I think the only big draw at this resort is the pool. When we were there the pool hours were 9 am to 10 pm so it was difficult to get a swim in before we went to the parks or after we got back from the parks. We have stayed at many other Disney Resorts and would never choose this one again.....it certainly is a "value resort".
Pros:
PoolCons:
Room and DecorReviewed by annat856 Review Date: 12/04/2015
Rating: (4) Not Recommended
With so many options for staying at a Disney resort nobody in my family of six ever wants to return here! In theory this would be a good resort for families with young children and large families. I couldn't get a Ft Wilderness Cabin when I called to book a free dining package so we decided to give this a try. I see now why we couldn't get a cabin, they were being refurbished. We had no wait to check-in. Very nice cast member checked us in. We were stuck on the 4th floor of a Cars building. It took forever from the parking lot to get to it. The smell was horrible and I couldn't figure out why they used such horrible smelling cleaning products. We came back very late one night from Epcot after a late dinner. And when I opened the fridge to put a drink in it I found some bugs. In the fridge! My DH went down to the lobby to tell/complain. They moved us immediately! The smell when we arrived was a pest treatment smell. So there was a known problem with this room. Our new location was on the 2nd floor with a pool view. We also got a credit to our account and the manager met with us and had refillable mugs that had been in the fridge replaced for us. So the management did do their best with a bad situation. We were just so grossed out and especially my DD who is the picky one anyway.
This was the first time I've been to a Disney resort and found the decor to be ugly. We've stayed at: All-Star Music Broadway standard rooms, Jazz and Calypso Family suites, Ft Wilderness Cabin, Wilderness Lodge standard room, and Bay Lake Tower 2 bedroom villa. All of them were nicely decorated. My teens thought it was like getting stuck in kindergarten at Art of Animation. So it looks like we'll be staying at a cabin when we go again.
Pros:
The family suites have a lot of roomCons:
looked like a kindergarten room and pest problemReviewed by janisgos Review Date: 11/18/2015
Rating: (10) Recommended
We stayed at AoA in the Little Mermaid Section. We were in Building 7 (Ursala) on the second floor. The LM had its own pool. The view of the lake every day was wonderful. The walk to the food court and the buses is only 5 minutes. The CMs were so helpful and nice! We loved the healthy options at the food court as well. The rooms were decorated in such a fun style! It was a mother and daughter get away. We picked the right hotel for our trip. We have decided that this is our favorite value hotel!
Pros:
Food Court, Bus transportation, CM, ViewsCons:
—Reviewed by jdmark Review Date: 11/15/2015
Rating: (6) Recommended
My husband and I made a last minute decision to come to Disney for the night. We booked The Little Mermaid room. It was the only budget hotel available. When we got here we were given a complimentary upgrade to a suite in the Lion King. Virgina checked us in, gave us the upgrade, arranged fast passes for us, even though the website said none were available, and couldn't have been nicer. After spending the day in the parks we came back here for dinner because we were tired. The make your own pasta station was amazing. You select a pasta (bow ties for me), select a sauce (pesto for me) and select toppings-kalamata olives, spinach, roasted peppers, broccoli, spinach, and mushrooms for me), they put all your veggies in fry pan with olive oil, cook them up, put in your hot pasta, add cheese and garlic bread. Delish! Our suite had a bedroom, two bathrooms, a little living area, eating area, murphy bed and pull out bed/sofa. I have stayed at many properties including the Yacht club and Wilderness, but this room was the best so far. So roomy!
Pros:
food court, suites, poolCons:
noneReviewed by teller7 Review Date: 10/26/2015
Rating: (6) Recommended
Hotel cute for young children. We stayed in Cars section. Did not like you can not control temperature in room we request a fan but room was still hot.. Didn't know you had to bring towels from your room for pool.... We have stayed at Port Orleans towels where at pool...Hotel never seem crowded. CM very helpful.
Pros:
CleanCons:
Lack of air conditioningReviewed by mickeymom5 Review Date: 10/21/2015
Rating: (9) Recommended
We stayed in a Little Mermaid room October 10-12, 2015. We did on-line check-in and got our room request. We asked to be in the building with Ursula. We were in Room 4376 on the second floor. We had a great view of the Pop Century resort. Our room was very quiet. We were told that every room was full, but the resort never felt overcrowded. The food court is large enough to support everyone and had plenty of choices for our family. We swam in the Big Blue Pool one night and it was fun. We also ordered a pizza from the food court that night to enjoy after swimming. It was reasonably priced. We enjoyed participating in the animator's classes during the afternoon. Buses were timely. The only downside we found was the lack of towels at the pool. You have to use the towels from your room which to us is a hassle...having to ask for extras. All the CM's were very friendly and helpful!
Pros:
themingCons:
large resortReviewed by Correllian Review Date: 09/24/2015
Rating: (8) Recommended
I have been to Disney four times, twice at midrange to upscale resorts and twice at budget resorts, so I knew what to expect at a budget Disney resort.
Art of Animation compared very well if not better to All Star Movies, EXCEPT for the "free in room wifi". Put simply: it barely worked. It worked sporadically in one corner of one of the beds in the room, and nowhere else. I couldn't get news and weather, (Disney's in-room TV doesn't really do much in the way of decent local weather forecasts), I couldn't use social media to keep my family and friends at home updated, and even worse, I couldn't make meal reservations at Disney restaurants.
I detected a little wear and tear in our room at All Star Movies two years ago, but at least the WiFi worked.
Pros:
Decor, food courtCons:
Subpar WiFiReviewed by mlw17mi Review Date: 03/21/2015
Rating: (8) Recommended
So we took a family trip in Dec 2014. We had a group of 5. It was a first time for 3 of them which included my Sister-in-law, 2 yr old nephew and 75 yr old Grandpa. We stayed in a Cars suite. Check-in was easy and they actually greeted us as we walked in and a man with a tablet had us take a seat why he finished checking us in. Our first room assignment was in the furthest Cars Building and I asked right away if they had something on the end of one of the other buildings as with my grandpa we were trying to limit adding on a lot of extra walking. After a quick check they were able to help us. The room is very similar to the pictures online yet still a bit smaller than I expected. However, in 2012 my mom and I stayed here in a Little Mermaid room and the suites are SO MUCH CLOSER than the Little Mermaid rooms. Which was great when hauling a toddler with stroller and an elder. We were able to use the pool only one day we were there as the rest of the week it dipped near 50's and even for Michigan people that's too cold to swim. My nephew didn't mind as he got one pool day and it was great they had the life vests to use and we felt safer even if he never left our hands. The staff kindly obliged bringing two fans as part of us need it for noise and the other can't stand heat. But having my grandfather in the room he likes it roasting. Our housekeeper was fun and left some towel animals and toys playing around the room. A few times we left our daily tip and returned the favor by leaving little setups of our own. We had brought a cheap Cars magnetic writer that my nephew played with and would often write Thanks, etc next to the tip. She would often erase and leave us messages too. This was a change as in 2012 never once was anything done even with a tip left and it was noted we were celebrating a birthday etc. Buses were much better this time as far as waiting time. Still with being a family resort we still ran into some of the issues of waiting for the "scooter parades" and maneuvering the strollers amongst all the other parents on the bus. I'm guessing since it was early December it helped with the crowds being less but keep in mind if you have small children not everyone is willing to give up their seat for parents with babies, sleeping kids etc. I saw more than one kid hit the floor trying to hold unto a parent or bar. I've noticed this more here than when I stayed at AS Movies but again with the suites I think you'll run into this more as it's so family centered. My biggest disappointment here really is the food court. It's just not really my taste ie Tandoori, Mongolian foods, chicken burgers. Turns out the new people in my group wasn't thrilled either. Good news is we often ate away from AOA having the Deluxe DP. But POP Century is less than a 10 minute walk away and they have a much more familiar QS with Chicken Nuggets (a must have for the 2 year old) pork loin, etc. We did do Pizza Delivery one night which comes from POP and it was quite good. I actually don't care for Pizza that much and really liked it. I think for our next trip (just my mom and I) we're going to stay at POP due to the dedicated Bus System and still a Value Resort. If staying with a group Art of Animation is a good option and might be better staying together than in 2 adjoining rooms. (Which when I was looking at reservations WDW told me couldn't be guaranteed). The theming is fun and my nephew loved running around and touching McQueen and Mater. If you're not going to be staying in a Suite I would recommend staying at a different Value resort like POP. Unless you have a die hard Little Mermaid fan the walk is just too far and comparatively you can stay in a preferred room at POP much closer to everything to use your refillable mug, buses etc.
Pros:
Size of roomCons:
Food CourtReviewed by NewmanFamily6 Review Date: 02/18/2015
Rating: (8) Recommended
This is way overdue but we stayed in the Lion King Section July 20-26 2014. Our room was in a far corner and it felt like a long walk in torrential downpours. My kids loved the Murphy bed and no one complained of sleeping on either that or the couch pull out. We liked having the small kitchenette and brought our sandwich maker. AOA mailed back when we left it there. I just felt this resort really has the Value resort feel but is priced too high. We probably wouldn't stay here again. Also, they need to install ceiling fans in the bedroom.
