Reviews of Art of Animation Resort (Value Resort)
Reviewed by shazzey Review Date: 08/20/2013
Rating: (7) Recommended
Party of 6, 4 adults, 2 teens, stayed 8/11-8/17
Magical Express went off without a hitch, room ready early (used online check in). Plenty of room, nice to have bathrooms. It was a great room for that many people and would definitely recommend for larger parties.
Front desk service very helpful. Mousekeeping good, but not over the top like other resorts
The food court was chaotic at best. Unless you would get up early for 6:00 opening or really late, it was always packed and unorganized (they seemed a bit overwhelmed). Bought refillable mugs, but they had a hard time keeping up with coffee, drinks. Should also have some kind of fruit punch available for refillable mugs.
Onlione check out and airline check in service was great and also went off without a hitch. What a great service!
Overall, a good resort, great for the room, but do prefer moderate/deluxe service and grounds a little better
Pros:
theming, room sizeCons:
food courtReviewed by jbkilcoyne Review Date: 08/12/2013
Rating: (8) Recommended
We just returned from a 5 night stay in a Cars suite. My son is 3 and loved the life sized cars! Our room was really too big for a family of 3. We had an abundance of space to spread out and relax. I liked having a mini kitchen to prep a toddler snack or have milk handy.
The only real draw back were large crowds. This resort is massive! The suites hold 6 people! All that adds up to longer lines, full buses, and tons of pool patrons.
We've only ever stayed at a deluxe resorts. Both my husband and I agreed that we would stay here again...only in a off season time.
Pros:
Theme, Layout of suitesCons:
crowdsReviewed by tinkw Review Date: 08/10/2013
Rating: (2) Not Recommended
The theming of this resort is fabulous with so much attention to detail, it's an animation fan's heaven. Check in was swift and the cast member who checked us in noticed my birthday fell whilst we were there and gave me a birthday button during check in. By the time we got to our room she had forwarded a call from Mickey and Minnie wishing me a happy birthday and sent a card to the room the day before my birthday. That made for a good start but unfortunately that's where the praise ends.
Little Mermaid Rooms -
As previous visitors to Disney Value resorts we are no strangers to the 'long walk' from some parts of the resort to the food hall, although I have to say the walk from Little Mermaid rooms with small children would be complete torture particularly after a day in the parks.
Mousekeeping -
The room was kept tidy although bins were not always emptied and the bath wasn't cleaned daily. Bathroom tissue wasn't always replaced and on one occasion I returned early whilst the room was being cleaned, so to be polite waited for the maid to finish- it took 40 minutes. Now why does it take 40 minutes to empty 3 bins, wipe a sink and bath and tuck in a few bed sheets? By the end of the 2 weeks I could write my name in dust on the furniture - so I did!
The food hall -
Where to begin on this one?
The types of food are a little bit strange and probably not to everyone's taste. I'm not a picky eater by any stretch of the imagination, but the food was the same every day and really who wants Indian based foods for breakfast? What's wrong with the good old traditional Bounty Platter? The quality of the food is also not what you come to expect from Disney.
The lines were long and the cast members clueless about the products they were selling.
On the first day, the ice machine on the beverage isle was clearly broken and as a result the floor was flooded and coned off whilst it was fixed. Later in the holiday, the same machine began churning out ice and wouldn't stop. I witnessed 3 cast member look at it, do nothing and walk away. What happened to Disney's Safety First policy?
As good resort guests, we bought a refillable cup each and used it with our meals, however other guests clearly don't believe they should do this and walked up to the machines, filled a variety of drinking vessels and walked away. Again this was witnessed by cast members who chose not to challenge them. Surely this is theft?????
Coffee pots were often empty as were the creamer machines, so if your a coffee lover, forget it!
As a traveller from the UK I always bring Travellers Cheques, BIG MISTAKE! I got tired of having to explain to cast members what they were and then having to wait whilst they found out what to do with them - resulting in lots of cold meals!
The Pools
The pools at AoA are gated and require your Key to the World to access them. On many occasions I witnessed whole groups of people waiting by the gates for guests with keys to open the gates and then followed them in. Were they really AoA guests? I suspect not!
If this is the future of Disney hotels, I think I will keep a foot in the past thank you very much!
All I can say is thank goodness Pop Century was only over the bridge - as a result I didn't starve, my sanity remained in tact and I still believe in Disney customer service!
Pros:
ThemingCons:
Everything elseReviewed by bellebookworm9 Review Date: 08/01/2013
Rating: (9) Recommended
I stayed at Art of Animation with my two friends for the first time for six nights, 7/24-30. I had been twice prior to walk around and was able to previously tour a Cars suite with allears. This time I wanted a Lion King suite, and was able to book with a 60% off cast member discount.
I'll start with the minor negatives.
1)At check in, Pat forewarned us that cell phone service in the rooms and buildings might be poor as they were designed for hurricane weather, not wi-fi and cell towers. We had AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon as carriers, and none of us got great reception-one bar or no service at all.
2)The bathroom lighting, at least in the "guest" bathroom, was super dim due to the energy saving lightbulbs. It was so dark in there at first that I couldn't even tell I'd turned on the light.
3)Mousekeeping, particularly during the weekend, was a little odd. One day, they didn't make up the sofa bed at all, and while they replaced a few towels in the bathroom, the rest were just left in a pile (and not even a folded one, at that) on the Inovabed. We also came back to the room on Saturday night to find the safe locked and unable to be opened. Perhaps mousekeeping saw that there was money and medication in it and locked it? We called the desk and they sent up the Duty Manager quickly to help us out. Also, for the first two days we couldn't find the privacy tag (it was behind the emergency exit plakaed on the door), so I was woken up at 8:30am by mousekeeping knocking. Once we found it, we had no more disturbances.
4)When we first got to the room, my room key, and only mine, wouldn't work to open the door. I went down that evening to get it fixed. They told me that they would print me a new key and hopefully that would fix the problem. If not, it may be that a Magicband error was attached to the reservation and that would take longer to fix. Of course, it couldn't be the easy solution. On our second day I called the desk and they told me they would have to essentially re-book the reservation and cut us all new keys, which they did promptly. However, I didn't have my credit card with me, so the PIN and charging privileges were unable to be set up. This caused some confusion with the dining plan and purchases until I was able to go back again to add it back on. We also ended up with an extra day of CS credits on the DDP and a second set of mug credits as a result of the re-booking. Thankfully all cast members were extremely eager to help fix the problems I encountered.
All of these were pretty minor things and did not influence my choice of staying here again.
When we arrived around 1pm, our room was ready. I had requested a highest floor lake view room prior to arrival, and we were given a third floor lake view room. Our room was 6738, the second door from the exterior stairs, which made it a quick jaunt to the parking lot. The lake view was great! We hardly ever heard neighbors upstairs or to the sides, so either we didn't have any, they were very quiet, or the insulation was fantastic!
We found the suite to be spacious for the three of us and it allowed us to separate: the two girls took the living area and we gave the boy the bedroom. I slept on the Inovabed and found it perfectly comfortable, and nobody else complained about their beds either. The bathroom vanity had enough space for two females to spread out all their stuff. I did find the towels to be uncomfortable scratchy and thin, but hey, it's a value resort.
We liked having the kitchenette for drinks, breakfasts, snacks, and leftovers. I was sad that that they've done away with the colorful bedspreads; now they are just white with a runner at the bottom. We did have enough drawer and closet space, but the male in our group also basically lived out of his suitcase (his choice, not due to space restrictions). There was enough room to put luggage, albeit not out of the way-I kept mine against the wall between the living and bedrooms. We left the sofa and table beds pulled out all the time and mousekeeping left them that way. The floor by the living area windows was crowded with suitcases, the bug chair, and the couch cushions, but this wasn't a big deal. We also found there to be plenty of outlets, which is kind of a rarity in Disney hotels. The wi-fi in the rooms was great.
I did go down to the Flippin' Fins pool one night, but sadly, never made it to the Nemo pool. It wasn't crowded, but the water was warm, so it was relaxing. We enjoyed walking around the resort and exploring the different areas. I do feel the Lion King got a bit jipped on outdoor theming. There was construction on the "playground" the whole time, so perhaps Disney is finally converting it to something resembling more of a play space.
We used the buses only a few times: once coming back from Downtown Disney late at night, and one time each to and from Magic Kingdom in late afternoon/early evening. The wait was 10 minutes or less for all trips.
Landscape of Flavors was very good. The Ink and Paint shop had some cool stuff, and the cast members were very easy going and helpful when we had to return a couple of items. Pizza delivery was also satisfactory.
I highly recommend using Resort Airline Check In if eligible. Although they had a bit of difficulty finding our info at first, we were able to check in, get our boarding passes, and leave our luggage. It arrived back in Buffalo with no problem, and this also allowed us more space for souvenirs from Downtown Disney!
I absolutely adored this resort, and would not hesitate to stay here again. In fact, I may stay here in December or January with my mom and brother. None of the minor complaints inconvenienced us enough to influence our thoughts on the resort.
Pros:
Fun theme, friendly cast, great roomsCons:
Bathroom lighting, spotty mousekeeping, room key snafuReviewed by jberrong Review Date: 07/16/2013
Rating: (8) Recommended
We had a total of 13 people in two Cars Suites on June 16-20, 4 nights and 5 days. 2 adults, 4 kids, and one 2 year old in one room and 3 adults and 3 kids in another. It was roomy and at the same time cramped. I have stayed in almost every resort in WDW and I would rate this at the top of my list!
Everyone loved the theming. From the Cozy Cone table lamps to the auto shop dressers, it was amazing! Being a mom of boys, I loved the 2 separate bathrooms and sleeping areas. From our window, we could face the pool and the “Route 66†road. It was a sidewalk painted to look like a road. All the Cars characters were there spaced out on the side of the road. At night, the Cars' headlights would light up! Too cute! The family of 7 had never been before so they were overwhelmed at how nice and magical it is.
When all the beds were up (the pull out couch and hide-a-way bed/table) it was a good sized living space. No storage in the bathrooms, just a shelf that could fit a small suitcase or bag. I always bring extra hangers for my clothes so I don't have to use the drawers, I save them for everyone else. (And being a newer resort, they had a ton of hangers! Usually there are just a hand full, I didn't need mine!) We seemed to have plenty of drawer space and hang up space. (We did use the bedside tables as storage, too.) But the hang up spaces were in an odd spot, right next to the TV in both rooms. I like clothes tucked away, not out in the open, but I don't know where they would have put a closet. Oh, and there was really no great space to put your shoes or stroller. Usually shoes would go in the closet, but they were all out in the open, and when everyone has at least 2 pairs, it gets crowded. The stroller just stayed in the kitchenette. The kitchenette was really nice. We brought a lot of snacks and had left over pizza we could heat in the microwave later. They had silverware, paper towels, plates, and bowls given to you by the mousekeeping every day.
Then, when it was time to go to bed, all the stuff on the table had to be moved, the chairs had to be pulled out, those took up space, and the 2 huge cushions to the pull out had to be put somewhere. It really wasn't a big deal because I was just happy to be there!
The food at the food court was amazing! It did get a bit crowded, the line to order the food took forever, but the lines to purchase that food was never longer than 2 people. There were plenty refilling stations for your cups, tons of seating, as well as seating outside. I don't know what they did differently with their pizza delivery, but it is amazing! I was hesitant to get the pizza because I had been disappointed before, but it was very good.
We swam at the awesome “The Big Blue†pool. It had the jellyfish/zero entry which the little ones loved and it had a splash park right across from the entry. It was big enough to throw a ball with some kids (my boys made quite a few new friends) and for daddy and mommy to swim alone and still keep an eye on the kids. At 8:00 every night, an inflatable screen would show animated movies at the other end of the pool. You could watch from the pool or on the deck! The only bad thing about the pool was the water. I don't know if it was the chlorine or what, but ALL our suits faded! Faded! Some even started falling apart! I had to throw one out, it had stretched out! Some of these suits were not cheap, Gap, Children's Place, Disney Store, and mine was Lands' End. Another thing about the pool, you have to bring the towels from your room and you had to ask for more towel for your room every time you used them at the pool. I don't remember if that is the norm at all the resorts or if this is a new thing. The Cars' pool was very small. I think it is mainly for adults and is a quieter place to swim! We did not swim at this pool because a family of 13 probably would not have fit!
Pros:
Pool, the room, space, and themesCons:
Bring your own towel to the pool, pool water, no closetReviewed by nikkipoooo Review Date: 07/10/2013
Rating: (4) Not Recommended
I stayed in a Little Mermaid room (building 9) from 7/4/13 through 7/8/13. I've seen all of the conflicting reviews about the distance to the LM section, some saying "It's sooo far" and others saying "It's not that far", and none of those were helpful to me (I was traveling as the only adult with a nearly 6 year old who was without a stroller at WDW for the first time) so I thought I'd post something a little less subjective. I used my jogging app to see how far it actually is to walk from Animation Hall (the back door that opens out to the Big Blue pool gate) to the far end of building 9 in the LM section. It is 0.31 miles, which might be fine for adults, older children, and those with strollers but after even a half day walking around the parks my niece had trouble making it all the way back to the room under her own steam. I also felt absolutely terrible for the luggage service guy, who had to push our bags all the way back to Animation Hall on a regular luggage cart because for some reason they don't have the golf carts for them to use.
Our Mousekeeping was pretty close to awful. I'm a fairly generous tipper, but stopped tipping completely after 2 days of returning to the room to find the bathtub not cleaned, the main wastebasket just dumped, but left with a sticky liner which had trash stuck to it, and really no sign they had even been there except for the sheets tucked and and bedspreads straightened, and a stack of clean washcloths on the vanity.
I'll finish on the high notes...
We enjoyed the food court, and the multiple beverage stations it offered. We never had to wait in line to fill our cups like we've done at other resorts. We never waited behind more than one other guest to order or pay, even at peak mealtimes. I loved the butter chicken with basmati rice I had for lunch the last day.
The attention to detail was simply amazing (even if they did seem to miss some of the larger problems, like only having 3 drawers and 4 hangers due to the fridge taking up half of the dresser) and my niece couldn't wait to take a shower in "Ariel's human stuff". The room was small, an adequate size for a group of 2 or 3 but it might feel quite tight with anything more than that.
I can't complain about the busses. Transportation at WDW is hit or miss no matter where or when I've stayed, but even during the busy holiday weekend we never waited more than 15 minutes for a bus, and only experienced a line with more than one (full) busload of people twice, once coming back to the hotel after the fireworks on the 4th and then going to Downtown Disney at 5pm on Saturday... both were no more or less than what I expected. The one issue I had with transportation is that the bus stops at the parks were all very close to the furthest walks.
The Big Blue pool area is big enough that even when it was very busy it wasn't super crowded, and we were able to find chairs to put our towels and shoes on. The activities were fun for kids from about 4-10, and nearly constant the afternoon we spent there. It must have been too crowded, however, to hear any music under the water, which disappointed my niece.
Overall, my characterization of the hotel is that it's very cute, but I wouldn't stay there again unless I was staying in a Nemo suite. Despite the age appropriate theming, I couldn't recommend it at all for families with children just out of a stroller, due to the extensive walking.
Pros:
excellent theming, large retail shop, very fast check-in processCons:
size, proximity to everything else, terrible MousekeepingReviewed by alexia9694 Review Date: 07/09/2013
Rating: (6) Recommended
Our family of 6 visited the AOA for 8 days in May. The character icons throughout the resort were fun. Excellent attention to detail. We spent the entire morning of our departure exploring the grounds. The food court was large and well staffed. The soda stations were always clean and well stocked. The transportation was typical Disney. The waits varied with no rhyme or reason. The pool and splash pad were wonderful. That's saying a lot because we are from an area in Wisconsin that is a water park vacation destination and we spend a lot of time in the water. We spent every morning before heading to the parks swimming and participating in the poolside
activities. The resort was great!!! The rooms, not so much.
Unfortunately our family will not return to this resort. The room layout is more trouble than it's worth. In order for everyone to go to bed at night we had to take apart a couch and pull down a table after moving everything else in the room over to a corner.
When both of those beds are pulled down there was NO room to get around. Storage areas were almost non existent. Our teens had to live out of their suitcases for our entire stay. Basically there are a total of 4 drawers in the entire suite for 6 people(????). We couldn't set anything on the dining table because that was also a bed. The sofa tables also had to be moved and stacked nightly in order to pull out the sofa sleeper.
We really enjoyed the theming of the Nemo suite we were in. The 2 doors connected with the washrooms were nice. Our 2 younger children loved the decorative wall and lighting behind the table bed. They felt like they were going to bed at night with Nemo and friends.
In the future we will continue to get 2 adjoining rooms. More space , more storage, more privacy, same cost.
Pros:
AWSOME icons throughout the resortCons:
The suite layoutReviewed by mawdryn Review Date: 07/09/2013
Rating: (10) Recommended
My family of 6 visited AoA from July 1 to July 6. We stayed in the Finding Nemo section, building 5, room #5732 on the third floor. The location was perfect (we were close to the pool and Animation Hall), the room was clean and it fit all of our needs. Mousekeeping did an excellent job and we received 3 towel animals upon arrival!!
Traveling with 13 year old twins, a 17 year old and 21 year old, my husband and I weren't sure how the kids would feel about such a child friendly, themed resort. Well, we need not have worried. They all loved it! They had fun swimming in the pool and posing for pictures with all the larger than life statues.
Landscape of Flavors was nice. The lines were long at times, but moved quickly. The food was good. The caprese sandwich was awesome and we all enjoyed the Mickey waffles. The staff was efficient and friendly.
Having stayed at the GF, WL, AKL, and a variety of other deluxe, moderate and value resorts, I wouldn't hesitate to stay here again!!! 🙂
Pros:
Staff, Cleanliness, and ThemingCons:
NONEReviewed by dgagnon519 Review Date: 07/03/2013
Rating: (7) Recommended
We stayed here for one night on 06/28. We stayed in the cars suite. The room was very nice. Carpet was still wet from being cleaned. Check in took awhile. The pool and theming was great. It was our check out day and the resort did not send us our magical express vouchers or pick up time which took a lot of work to straighten out.
Pros:
Great Theming, good food court, poolCons:
Check in service, front deskReviewed by mimmy Review Date: 06/23/2013
Rating: (3) Not Recommended
We booked five nights in the Little Mermaid section of AOA, but lasted only one. The rooms are ridiculously small for two adults and two children, ages 8 and 6. The room is very,very basic and cheap with a few whimsical accessories/touches that make it even more depressing. The resort itself felt very sterile from the lobby to the grounds - a lot of concrete. The oversized plastic characters are just that, nothing special. The next morning we moved to Port Orleans Riverside. For only a few dollars more a night, we stayed in one of the royal rooms w/ 2 queen beds, double sinks and upscale touches. Even if you are just using the room to sleep and shower, I would spend the extra $10 a night to come back to a resort that actually feels like a resort. AOA does not have a resort like feel at all and none of the "magic" that one should expect from a WDW vacation. We honestly couldn't wait to leave. The vacation started once we switched resorts. (See my review for POR.)
We did eat breakfast in the food court, landscape of flavors, and that was fine. The little interaction we had with the staff was fine as well.
