whats the art of animation resort like?

[pigletpete]

hi again - wondering what the art of animation resort is like? ive heard that its all family suites which wouldnt be great for us, is it better than pop century?

[Beccaberry]

The Little Mermaid section is the only section with standard rooms, and it was my experience that it was QUITE a hike from the food court and buses. In fact, we were told it would likely be closer to catch the buses from Pop Century.

Having said that, we found the food court to be excellent and a step above the other value resorts. The pool is also reported to be nicer.

[Wendy]

Uscwest has recently stayed in the Mermaid Wing rooms and I'm sure he'll be along with some more information shortly.

[uscwest]

First let me correct a false impression. It is NOT closer to walk from the Little Mermaid to POP Century. While I didn't walk from Little Mermaid to the bus stop, primarily because I have trouble walking and I got enough of that in the parks, I don't think it is any further from Little Mermaid to the Food Court than it is to walk from the furthest buildings in either the All Stars or POP to their respective food courts.

Now for the resort itself. it is beautifully themed. The CARS theming was far and away the best. It and Little Mermaid are each 3 buildings. I didn't pay much attention to how many stories the suites were but the Little Mermaid buildings were four stories. Finding Nemo is two buildings and The Lion King is also two.

We didn't eat any night or lunch meals in the Landscapes of Flavor (Food Court), but we did try both the Bounty Platter and the World Flavors Breakfast Platter and weren't impressed with either, though I must admit that the Portuguese Sausage on the latter was pretty tasty.

I think they must have borrowed their towels from other value resorts however, as several of ours were threadbare and/or had holes in them. Not exactly what I would have suspected from a new resort. Would we stay there again, probably, especially when we take mixed sex grandchildren down in two years. However, our favorite value still remains All Star Sports.

Oh and one other bit of information, the pools are enclosed and you need your room key to get in. Even the pool bar is within the enclosure.

[Mari]

Thank you John!

We are considering the Little Mermaid rooms for next year, and its good to know we owuldnt be walking more than at other resorts, when staying in a standard room

[Faythstar]

We are also looking at staying in the Little Mermaid rooms on our next trip. If anyone else has any information about the place, I'd love to hear more stories of your experiences there.

[Beccaberry]

Just to clarify, while I absolutely agree that uscwest may be correct about the walk to the Little Mermaid buildings, it wasn't an impression I got about the distance, it was specifically what was told to me by the CM giving us the tour. In fact, we didn't even visit the LM building as it wasn't yet completed when we were there. So, while we may have been given erroneous information by the CM, I didn't want anyone to think I was speaking ill of the resort without at least some basis of information but it DOES seem a long way away, I'm just sayin'

The pool is very interesting, in fact if I had small children with me I might be quite drawn to this resort. The pool is enclosed, as John said, and has a lot to offer families, in my opinion. There is a really neat play area incorporated in the pool area that is just right for small children. I also LOVE that adjacent to the bar is a refillable mug station. Perfect for those days by the pool when you don't want to have go "dripping wet" into the food court to refill your mug!

[uscwest]

Just to give you an example of the distance. Donna left Little Mermaid and walked to Lion King, shot pictures, and then to the main building where she met me, who had driven from Little Mermaid. She was waiting for me when I got there. I'm not sure why the CM told you that Becca.

[Johnie]

The CM told me about the distance as well. In fact, we stayed at Pop Century a week or so ago and drive around to AOA. The distance between PC's 50's section and AOA's Little Mermaid section are very close indeed. I could see why the CM would tell us that information.

[Faythstar]

Just to give you an example of the distance. Donna left Little Mermaid and walked to Lion King, shot pictures, and then to the main building where she met me, who had driven from Little Mermaid. She was waiting for me when I got there. I'm not sure why the CM told you that Becca.

That really doesn't sound that bad. Is there any way you could estimate the distance in yards or feet or something? Because it seems you are the only one who doesn't think it's that bad! lol I want to be optimistic!