Reviews of Art of Animation Resort (Value Resort)
Reviewed by HannahS Review Date: 04/03/2021
Rating: (3) Not Recommended
The poorest of resort we’ve stayed at since beginning our annual trips in 2005.
The theming and reasonable prices drew us to trying this value resort. Our kids loved exploring the fantastic character themes and great for a family photo shoot. We found the dining options and transport to be more than sufficient for our needs.
We stayed in the Little Mermaid area for a week and experienced so much noise from not only the adjoining rooms but also those that sounded further away - we could hear cupboard doors closing, word-for-word conversations, toilet usage, the list goes on - and all of this was above my kids and the tv and at all times of day.
Room cleaning was also an irk of mine, with cobwebs, hair all over the bathroom and bread tags and clothing tags on the floor - it appeared that a sheet change was all that was completed before our arrival. It took 3 days of asking and a supervisor to get our room cleaned appropriately for our check-in.
IMO poorer quality than the All-Stars resorts and we’ve stayed in cheaper motels for better quality. We travel from the UK for 3-4 weeks and I’d have been even more upset with my choice if we’d have booked our entire stay here.
Pros:
Great theming Excellent transport optionsCons:
Better quality built motels for much less expense. Lots of noise carries between rooms.Reviewed 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.
Pros:
food court, friendly staffCons:
basic rooms, sterile atmosphere, zero resort like feelReviewed by Reed2015 Review Date: 08/29/2023
Rating: (4) Not Recommended
Cute. Dining is fine. Go to POP instead of AoA unless you HAVE to have a suite. The walkt to The Little Mermaid area in just too far.
Pros:
Themed.Cons:
Not necessary unless you need a value suite. And most time you can pay a little more and go to a moderate.Reviewed by Anonymous Review Date: 12/02/2021
Rating: (4) Recommended
Honestly a major let down. With all the money that was paid I wish we would have got better service. There was only two blankets and there was three beds. And when we called the front desk to brink up some extra blankets they never came. And we were also told that someone would come into the room and clean it while we were at the park and no body came and did a thing. With all the people that came with me only one person liked the room and it was our little six year old. The room also felt extra small and the bathroom was also small. With all the money that was spent I did not expect to look at room that looked like we only paid $20 for it. Also even though we were still in the room somebody nocked only gave us like ten seconds to answer and then opened our door. The crew member did NOT tell us she was going to open the door.
Pros:
The outside of the hotel was cute. If you really like Disney then you would have loved it. It was visually appealingCons:
To expensive for really bad quality of service.Reviewed by Anonymous Review Date: 08/22/2020
Rating: (4) Not Recommended
it was a hard time to get in and they ruiend my day at parks and restruant
Pros:
nice peopleCons:
i dont knowReviewed by GaryRuotolo Review Date: 09/28/2019
Rating: (4) Not Recommended
This is the second straight year we have stayed at the Art of Animation - Ariel room. We stay 1 night each time before heading to our DVC resort. For the second straight year, our room was dirty and I was not happy about this. The resort is nice with the pool and theme, but the cleanliness of the room is a big turnoff for a future stays there. The bed had dirt stains, there was glitter all over the carpet, the walls had stains (came off when I rubbed with a wash cloth so housekeeping could have done this). I am very disappointed that for the second straight year our room was dirty. We did not say anything since we arrived at 6:30PM and staying one night but if I planned to stay for more than 1 night then I would have complained. I expect better than this from Disney. I would not recommend Art of Animation to anyone for this reason.
Pros:
theme of resortCons:
room cleanlinessReviewed 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 eric731 Review Date: 09/23/2013
Rating: (4) Recommended
Pros= Size of suites. Cast members were very friendly and helped out when needed. Bus service was fantastic and never had to wait a long period of time for a new one to get there.
Con= Atmosphere over all was very average at best. Outside of buildings looked like army barracks then Disney characters slapped on. I also felt the furniture in the rooms was very average at best.
The worst part of the resort had to be the food court. It was horrible. Thank god we only had one meal there. I could not believe the time spent in lines waiting for stuff and then getting back to the table and everything was cold. They need to really think about the way they do things and the food that they serve. It was below average. Even a late night burger and fries where not that good.
We will never stay at this resort again. For the amount of money that we paid for a suite, it should of been a lot better.
Pros:
Buses,Mousekeeping,Cast MemebersCons:
Food courtReviewed 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.
