Art of Animation

[Tootsie]

Hi all, I am 60 days out, yay!!, so I am ready to check in, but it gives you two "request" out of about 12, we are staying in the Cars suites, what's the best place, top floor? I understand that if you're in the right place you can see the nighttime fireworks.Thanks for any suggestions.

 

[Tootsie]

Nobody??

 

[DisneyJoe]

"best" is relative to what you want. "best" for me is ground floor.

Top floor should be the most quiet - but then you need to contend with elevators or stairs...

 

[DfromATX]

We'll be leaving for our trip this Friday and we're staying in a Lion King suite. I didn't know about being able to see the fireworks, which would be pretty cool. I picked the Lion King because of it's location being closer to the main area (I think). Unfortunately, I just learned they don't have a pool of their own! Oh well...

P.S. - My mom's life long nickname is "Toots."

 

[allgiggles]

We've stayed at AoA three times now. Twice in a Lion King suite and once in a Nemo suite. As a pp said, the "best" request is what works for your family. Personally, we always choose "close to transportation" as one of our choices. We had 4th floor rooms for our LK stays and those were nice because it was very quiet. I don't think the floor (or at least our wing) was anywhere close to full occupancy. We only ever saw one other family and there was never a housekeeping cart in the hallway. The only downside for the 4th floor was that both times our rooms were right by the exterior staircase closest to Animation Hall (which is *exactly* where we wanted to be) which meant we either had to walk up or down 4 flights of stairs *or* walk to the center of the building to use the elevator and then walk *back* to our room. It wasn't a big deal for us (we usually took the stairs), but I can see where that might be annoying for some people. For the Nemo suite, we chose 1st floor and close to transportation. However, I really did *not* want to be along the main hallway (too much noise from people talking as they walk through the building and also from the exterior doors closing -- they don't "slam", but they aren't silent, either) or in a room that faced the pool. I also knew I wanted to be in Building 5 so that we would be closer to the food court (we always get the refillable mugs and use them a lot throughout our stay). So I used the Room Request Fax Service at touringplans.com to request a specific room that was in the wing of the building that juts out towards the Lion King section. We got a room in the area I wanted and it was perfect for us. Close to the pool, close to the food court, close to the bus stops, and in a quiet location. Our wing was filled to capacity this time but we never had any noise issues.

So...back to your request. Things to think about: Will you be using Disney Transportation or driving your own vehicle to the parks? Do you plan to get refillable mugs or eat a lot of meals in the food court? Do you have young children who will be napping during the day or going to bed early who might easily be woken up by doors closing or people talking in the hallway? Just some things to think about so you can narrow down your choices.

As far as fireworks... We like to watch them from the bridge between AoA & Pop Century. You can see the high fireworks from both Epcot and DHS there. We also were able to see the high fireworks from DHS over the top of the main building while swimming in the Big Blue Pool in the Nemo section. That was an unexpected surprise.

 

[allgiggles]

We'll be leaving for our trip this Friday and we're staying in a Lion King suite. I didn't know about being able to see the fireworks, which would be pretty cool. I picked the Lion King because of it's location being closer to the main area (I think). Unfortunately, I just learned they don't have a pool of their own! Oh well...

P.S. - My mom's life long nickname is "Toots."

Don't worry, it's a quick walk to the pool from the LK section. Walk to one end of the building and head to the quiet Little Mermaid pool or walk to the other end of the building and head over to the Big Blue Pool. It's really not a long walk to either.

 

[DfromATX]

We had 4th floor rooms for our LK stays and those were nice because it was very quiet. I don't think the floor (or at least our wing) was anywhere close to full occupancy. We only ever saw one other family and there was never a housekeeping cart in the hallway.

Do you think the LK suites were less crowded because the LK is older? I'd think Nemo and Cars would be most popular, but my oldest son is 20 and he grew up watching the LK (and Little Mermaid), so that's another reason why I picked it. We are leaving tomorrow!

 

[SyracuseDisneyFan]

I would agree that the "best" section's whatever you choose. I stayed at the Art of Animation in October of 2012 in the Lion King section. We stayed on the top floor and had no issues really.

 

[allgiggles]

Do you think the LK suites were less crowded because the LK is older? I'd think Nemo and Cars would be most popular, but my oldest son is 20 and he grew up watching the LK (and Little Mermaid), so that's another reason why I picked it. We are leaving tomorrow!

Just my personal opinion, but I think it's less crowded because it doesn't have a pool. I'm sure the age of the movie might have something to do with it as well, but I think the pool is a big thing for people -- I've had people say to me that they'd never stay in the LK suites because there's no pool there. Seriously? It's 100 yards away from The Big Blue Pool. I *really* like the location of the LK buildings -- they're very close to the food court and bus stops. Those are things I use several times every single day I'm at the resort. I use the pool 4 times during the week -- at most. I'd pick Lion King over any other building/section in the resort *other* than the outer wing on the first floor of Building 5 of the Nemo section. I have no interest in being in Bldg 6 of Nemo and no desire to be anywhere in the Cars section even though I think that's the best themed area of the resort -- especially at night.

I hope you enjoy your stay!

 

[jenluvswdw]

I will be staying there next month and was wondering the same thing. I think staying away from the pool side is best. But, I can't make up my mind about the top floor or not considering we will have a stroller. Can't wait to hear more suggestions!

 

[mattdenine]

Just my personal opinion, but I think it's less crowded because it doesn't have a pool. I'm sure the age of the movie might have something to do with it as well, but I think the pool is a big thing for people -- I've had people say to me that they'd never stay in the LK suites because there's no pool there. Seriously? It's 100 yards away from The Big Blue Pool. I *really* like the location of the LK buildings -- they're very close to the food court and bus stops. Those are things I use several times every single day I'm at the resort. I use the pool 4 times during the week -- at most. I'd pick Lion King over any other building/section in the resort *other* than the outer wing on the first floor of Building 5 of the Nemo section. I have no interest in being in Bldg 6 of Nemo and no desire to be anywhere in the Cars section even though I think that's the best themed area of the resort -- especially at night.

I hope you enjoy your stay!

Whats the difference between the two Nemo buildings?

 

[allgiggles]

Whats the difference between the two Nemo buildings?

Simply the location. It's a really short walk from Bldg. 5 to the food court (we use the refillable mugs a lot --- filling them any time we're in the room). From the end of Bld. 5 to the back door of the food court is less than 50 yards. From Bldg. 6 it's about 150 yards. I know, not a significant walking distance compared to all the walking we do in the parks, but once we're at the resort we like to relax and walking 50 yards sounds (and feels) so much better than walking 150 yards. So Building 5 is just a much better location than Building 6 for our family. Plus, we were in LK twice so we were spoiled by the very close proximity to the things we used frequently every day (food court, bus stops) so I knew if we would be in Bldg. 6 of the Nemo section we'd feel like we were really far away from those things.