Reviews of Art of Animation Resort (Value Resort)

Reviews

211

Rating

8.07 / 10

Recommended By

87%



Reviewed by motoman41 Review Date: 01/06/2013

Rating: (10)
Recommended

Just got back from stay 12-28 to 1-3-13. Had a king room in Building 7 of Little Mermaid. Great room on 3rd floor in back facing Hourglass lake and Pop Century. Long walk to Animation Hall and bus stop and main pool.

Room has motion sensor thermostat so room got hot in middle of night. when I got up it turned air on. Food court was crowded at times but ok.

Will probably stay at Pop Century again next time.
If you stay in a suite up front, you will be ok.

Pros:

Nice decorations, Big pool, New rooms

Cons:

Long walk to bus and food
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Reviewed by mg0914 Review Date: 01/07/2013

Rating: (8)
Recommended

We stayed at AofA during the first week of December in a suite in the Nemo section. The lobby, hallways and rooms themselves are all visually stunning. So much thought and imagination went into the design!

We had a negative experience our first night at the hotel that bears mentioning and I'd like to do that first and then talk about all the good stuff! After turning in for the night around 11:00, we were awakened repeatedly until past midnight (and then again after 2:00 a.m.) by people returning to their rooms. It was amazing how many families think it's okay to be loud and obnoxious at that hour. I've never experienced that to that degree at any other Disney hotel. It only happened that one night however.

The cast members were all very friendly and helpful. We had an issue on the first day and were unable to get into our room but several cast members went out of their way to help us out.

The four of us had enough space in the suite. There were two full baths - very nice! The beds were only okay - I believe they were full size, not queens and just semi-comfortable. Everything else about the room was very cool though.

We experienced no problems whatsoever with the Wifi, or the tv reception or cell phone reception as I read others have in previous posts.

The cafeteria has a wide variety of selections. It's best to go at off peak times of course and take a few minutes to study the various selections before jumping into a line. We went to the cafeteria twice and it was not crowded. The gift shop is large and has a nice selection of resort themed items.

The bus wait was very reasonable. It was usually crowded coming home at night and it still amazes me that most guys won't give up their seats for a lady or for kids. Come on guys...be a gentleman. Seat arrangements shouldn't be determined strictly on a "first come, first served" basis!

Everything else about our stay was great and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend AofA. We toured the entire resort and were amazed. Disney did a great job! Even if you're not planning on staying there, it's worth a visit!

Pros:

design & layout

Cons:

none
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Reviewed by mamalydia Review Date: 01/07/2013

Rating: (10)
Recommended

This was our 1st visit and it was great! Front desk as extremely helpful..got to check in as soon as we arrived at 11am! Room in NEMO section was perfect....close to main lobby, food court and pool. Hotel themes were great!! Took LOTs of pictures!!

Housekeeping was GREAT!! Clean rooms, rooms were FULLY stocked with all necessary items, shampoo, towels, places,cups,utensils. We had our own bus transportation to/from parks, DID NOT share the ride with any other hotel..this is a PLUS, especially after a very LONG day at the theme parks! We will definitely return to this hotel! Price was great for the NEMO Suite, and room enough for 4 adults!!!

Pros:

great location;bus transportation;great housekeeping;fun hotel theme

Cons:

none
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Reviewed by clayalex02 Review Date: 01/07/2013

Rating: (9)
Recommended

Stayed at AoA Dec 15-23. Loved the extra room, however there was not enough comfortable furniture in the living room if we all wanted to watch TV together.

The resort is beautifully designed, did not see much other than what was immediately around us, but what we did see we loved. Stayed in Lion King Suite in building 10. Great location, not far from the buses (going the back way through the parking lot was even quicker), close to the pool and the food court.

The only issue was the air conditioning system. We, as a family, prefer to sleep in a cold room and cover up with blankets. The system kept shutting off in the middle of the night and the room would become warm, waking me up. I finally figured out that if you left it on Auto, it would shut off automatically thinking no one was in the room. So finally, left the fan running on med. That seemed to solve the issue.

Phone service was spotty. Could not get the internet service to work at all.

Would stay here again.

Pros:

Theming, two bathrooms, food court

Cons:

air conditioning system
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Reviewed by Dale Review Date: 01/12/2013

Rating: (9)
Recommended

We had a great stay at Art of Animation. Staying in the Little Mermaid Section, we found the rooms bright well themed, and large for the two of us. We had a great view of hourglass lake and Pop Century Resort. The grounds were filled with lively thememing from the corresponding movies. The lobby was bright and colorful and the large food court had an excellent variety of items.

Pros:

Vibrant Design, Nice Pools, Elevators

Cons:

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Reviewed by alwill Review Date: 01/16/2013

Rating: (9)
Recommended

Stayed at the Art of Animation in the Cars Luigi & Guido section. Loved it-- great theming, nice sized room with plenty of space (and two bathrooms!) We especially liked the table/bed for our 10 year old.

It's like an upgraded Value resort: the buildings are regular and rectangular but have enough of a facade to ramp it up a bit. When walking from the Food Court with our trays of food, the huge seagulls perched in the Finding Nemo building squawked "Mine! Mine! Mine" (but we never heard them do it again when we walked by other times)

The only hitch was the swimming pool water didn't appear to be heated. We started in the Nemo pool and ended up in our native Cars area. This was strange as we've always noted the heated pools in whatever resort we've stayed in-- and we've stayed in several, from WL, AK, PO, CS, etc.

But we'd be inclined to stay there again. We'll just have to save up more money as it is a bit pricey, but worth it!

Pros:

Great theme, good size room

Cons:

The heated pool wasn't warm, a bit pricey
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Reviewed by jedinite16 Review Date: 01/16/2013

Rating: (9)
Recommended

I stayed with my mother for the Walt Disney World Half Marathon. I go every year and was excited to stay in the newest resort. We stayed in the Little Mermaid section. It was wonderfully themed and the room was comfortable.

I love the fridge in the room but you have no drawer space other than 4 small drawers. I lived out of my suitcase for the whole trip. Not a really big deal, just a pain.

The food at the food court was varied and different which was nice.

Only issue I really had was the walk, it was a long one, to get to the main building if you were not in a suite it was very far, even cutting through the parking lot was far to get a bus.
The wifi was good during the day but the minute the parks closed and everyone got back to the rooms, it became hard to get on to the system.

If I am staying with a bigger group, I will stay here again, if I am going with just 2 people, I think that I will pay for a premium room at Pop Century and walk over the bridge if I want food from this food court.

Pros:

Very Pretty, Food Court had wonderful food, Everyone was very nice and helpful.

Cons:

some parts of the resort are very far away
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Reviewed by goofygirl74 Review Date: 01/24/2013

Rating: (8)
Recommended

We stayed at AOA from November 24th - December 1, 2012. Overall, we liked the resort. The larger-than-life figures of Nemo, the Lion King, Cars and the Little Mermaid were fantastic!

We were in Building 9, ground floor, in the Little Mermaid section. The themeing of the room was fabulous, with the bathroom decor being the bomb! The room was small, but we liked having the refrigerator. The air conditioning left much to be desired. I had read other reviews that said that the AC was designed to be "motion activated" and that if we took off the front panel of the thermostat, we could control the temp better. I tried to get it off, but alas, I was afraid of breaking it, so I gave up. The room ended up being extremely warm and stuffy, especially overnight.

Landscape of Flavors (the food court) was just fine for our needs. We only ate a "snack" breakfast there most mornings, and the pastries were fresh and delicious. The CMs were friendly and helpful.

The Front Desk CMs were fantastic as well. Before we left for vacation, I had re-fractured a bone in my leg, which made walking and standing in one place for a while very uncomfortable. I had a letter from my Dr., but when I mentioned this to the Front Desk Manager, she offered to move our room to the closest one to the Main Building that was still in the Little Mermaid section without even asking to see the letter. While that was helpful, the walk from the Little Mermaid section was still HORRENDOUS. In the parks, there are benches on which to sit and rest my leg, but there was really no where along the paths at AOA to rest on the way to and from our room.

It was a nice experience to have...once. We will probably pick another resort next year.

Pros:

Beautiful grounds, food court

Cons:

LOOONG trek from Little Mermaid Section
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Reviewed by disneyhorsefan Review Date: 01/26/2013

Rating: (8)
Recommended

I stayed with my sister in a Little Mermaid room. We had requested a top floor room during online check in and received that. Our room faced the parking lot, but we didn't care since we weren't in there very often and it was nice and quiet.

I loved the decorations in the room, and while the room was small, it was not a problem for 2 adults. The separate sink/shower areas and the privacy curtain separating the sink area from the room made it easy for us both to get ready at once, or in the more common case, me to get ready while my sister was still sleeping!

The beds were comfortable, although the top quilts were heavy and still a very stiff, most likely from being new-I ended up just removing it from the bed before going to sleep every night.

Our only complaint about the room was there was only 3 drawers in the dresser. That, combined with the large closet area, was enough for the 2 of us but would have been a problem with 3 or 4 people. I can appreciate that drawer space was removed to make room for the refrigerator, but since all we stored in there was a few spare drinks, we would have preferred more drawers.

The outside of the resort was amazing-I truly felt like I was immersed in 4 of my favorite Disney movies-the cars section is especially well done. I didn't swim, but my sister said the music underwater in the nemo pool was very cool.
The poolside activities and late night movies looked fun although we didn't stop to participate.

The bus service was busy but fine. We never waited more than a few minutes for a bus, and while the buses were packed, I'd rather ride a packed bus then wait for another one! The only time we had a problem was leaving MK after Wishes, there was an estimated 1.5 hour line to catch a bus. We were DUMBFOUNDED...we had never even seen that many people at the resort! However, they seemed to be doing their best to get buses back and forth quickly.

The food court was fine-quick and convenient, sometimes busy but the employees were efficient. We were impressed by the variety in the gift shop, we bought several souvenirs there.

The only 2 negative things:

1. The resort was HUGE. The Little Mermaid rooms are a LOOOOONG walk from the food court/busses/main building. My sister and I are both young, very active, and athletic-when people said it was a long walk, I didn't really think it would be that bad. It is very far-a five minute walk if you are walking briskly.
While it would not stop me from staying here again, it is definitely something to consider if you are less mobile or have small children.

2. As others have mentioned, cell service is very spotty...I had no service at all in the room and in some parts of the lobby. However, this happened in other parts of WDW so I don't know how much can be held against the resort. I had no problems connecting to wifi with my iphone or my laptop.


Overall, I enjoyed the resort. I would stay here again, although I would consider it equal to pop century (both have their different pros and cons).

Pros:

Theming, comfortable room, great food court

Cons:

long walk from room to anywhere, no cell service
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Reviewed by JoanneS Review Date: 02/06/2013

Rating: (7)
Recommended

We stayed in the Little Mermaid Section from 1/25 to 1/29. The first few days weren't bad, but after a long day in the park, and when you're hot and tired and all you want is a drink, but your refillable mugs are in your room, the distance from the bus stop to the room was unbearable. The room was obviously new and everything was neat, clean, and in working order. The food court in the morning can be very slow. I don't think I had one warm pancake the entire time we stayed there. They usually had either 2 or 3 lines open each morning and the wait time for food was fairly long. Also, not a good variety of grab and go items in the coolers. Housekeeping was very good and we even got a towel animal while we were there. I just wish it wasn't so far to the room and the food court was a little more efficient.

Pros:

Fresh and New

Cons:

Long walk to Mermaid Section, Food Court SLOW
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