Just got Free Dining at AOA!!!

Just switched my 3 POP rooms in September to Art of Animation with the free dining!!! Little Mermaid rooms and the first day that section opens. So excited!!!

what dates??

9/15-9/22. 9/15 is the opening day for the little mermaid section so we're so excited to be the first in the room. If you peek at the offer on Disney's site it no longer says "excludes AOA".

We too are going to be there from the 15th until the 22nd. I originally was going to book Pop but changed to POFQ after a slight $150 difference. I saw that AoA was being added and asked the family if they wanted to change and be the first people to stay in whatever room they gave us. We all decided to keep our POFQ reservation. We just couldn't give up the DtD boat, smaller resort, and closer proximity to MK and Epcot.

I must admit, it would be cool to be the first people to ever stay in the room. Piece of history!

Just make sure not to break anything. No previous people to blame. :lookaroun

too cool

your going to have an amazing time! that would be so cool to be the FIRST guests in the rooms...think about it....over the next 2 or 3 decades, how many dreams will be coming true when that resort door opens and all the memories will be starting! so many families...too cool

Yep, I told my kids "20 years from now we're going to be able to say...we were the very first ones to stay in that room". Will be pretty neat. :sohappy:

I'm hoping to switch. We are going with a few other families, and I have all the others on board except for one. Giving them a few more hours to decide...

That is too awesome!!! So exciting, congratulations!! :sohappy:

Take Lots of pictures!!!! Congrats!

Congrats! Just tried to book it for the week that we're there (Sept. 23-28) and the only thing open is the Lion King suites for the free dining. :cry:I don't need a suite because there's only 3 of us. So, I guess we're keeping our res. at Pop. So disappointed!

Would definitely love to see some pictures of a brand new room. Please share on your return! :wave:

Awesome! I am going to be there during similar dates (12 - 20) and we went with POFQ because we stayed at POP our last 4 trips. I do want to check out AoA. Next trip for sure!

That's so AWESOME that you guys are the first family to stay there. I would take a sharpie and put some sort of symbol or date or something under a bed or bedside table to put your mark on the room. It will be so cool for years to come to go to room #### and say "yep, we christened that room. we were the first to sleep in there"

Have an awesome trip! Maybe we'll see you down there!

Had the same problem trying to switch - only The Lion King suites are available I hope that changes and they add more Mermaid Free Dining rooms. Sigh...

Hope you have a great time, but personally I'd be worried what happens if they're not ready to open. I'd assume they'll probably be ready to open a few weeks beforehand, perhaps even offering people staying in other Value resorts a chance to move to AoA so they can iron out the kinks. And if I'm wrong...maybe they'll upgrade you

That's just it.. Disney won't screw you.. they would take care of it. And if they couldn't move you into something at least as nice or better (doubtful) they would compensate you. Worst case you don't stay where you expected.. but the chance of being left without a place or put in a worst place is about zero. If you can flex.. it should be all good

I don't think opening is going to be an issue with AoA since opening dates were already pushed up. I think they know that they are going to be ready to open when they said they were. However, should Disney need to walk someone (industry lingo for not having a room for a guest who already purchased one and providing a substitute) they will give you something better. They had opening issues with Pop and it wasn't ready for the first people who made reservations. A number of those guests were given reservations at AKL at no extra cost. Disney is usually top notch when it comes to service recovery in these situations.

Yippee! I can't wait to see pictures!!!

I will take many pictures. And yes, I'm not worried about the date being pushed back because I've read many times about situations like this where they upgrade people to deluxe resorts so either way, I think we're gonna be good. :sohappy:

That is pretty awesome. You'll always have a soft spot in your heart for that resort.

BTW does anyone know if the free dining was open to Canadian residents. I have had several people looking since it was announced and it was not available for any resort, for any date and has never been advertised at all. My sister would have gone, a friend from Ontario and perhaps myself again but I couldn't find anything about it.

Even on the Disney site when I checked for special offers the only one that ever came up was "up to 30% off resort rooms for Canadian residents"