Need Art of Animation info

[disneygirl76]

Hi All!
So excited! My BFF pulled the trigger and she (actually I did it) booked a trip for the end of this month for a few days with her DH and 4 DD's to DW! She is staying at Art of Animation - a resort which I have not been to or had the opportunity to explore. One of the families I nanny for did go there in October for 1 night but they didn't bring back any info. What I am looking for is any info on the ins and outs of this resort, and ideally, I would love a current resort map and resort activity guide. I would love to get a sneak peak at what is going on at the resort this month. They are staying in a Finding Nemo Family Suite. I have made ADR's for Thursday, Friday and Saturday evening - they arrive on Thurs a.m. and depart Sunday a.m. They want only 2 days at the parks - MK only. Their girls are 6, 2, 1, and 4 months. So MK is enough.
Any info would be great!! Thanks so much!

 

[Pooh Lover]

We only took a look-see side trip there in September but got to see much of the grounds, food court, game room and huge shop. The food court was very large, clean and had an amazing selection for a value food court. We deemed it worth a repeat visit just for lunch alone! The gift shop rivals many park shops in size and selection. Here is a link to the resort map http://allears.net/acc/ResortMaps/ArtofAnimationMap1.pdf. You can also find a very detailed article about the resort as well. We visited the resort around 2:00 pm by bus and were the only ones on the bus each way. Have a great time!

 

[bsiev1977]

We only took a look-see side trip there in September but got to see much of the grounds, food court, game room and huge shop. The food court was very large, clean and had an amazing selection for a value food court. We deemed it worth a repeat visit just for lunch alone! The gift shop rivals many park shops in size and selection. Here is a link to the resort map http://allears.net/acc/ResortMaps/ArtofAnimationMap1.pdf. You can also find a very detailed article about the resort as well. We visited the resort around 2:00 pm by bus and were the only ones on the bus each way. Have a great time!

Do you happen to know which building the regular Little Mermaid rooms are in? Not the suites. That's where I'm staying next December.

 

[Pooh Lover]

Do you happen to know which building the regular Little Mermaid rooms are in? Not the suites. That's where I'm staying next December.

I believe the Little Mermaid rooms are in buildings 7, 8 and 9. This is a great article with many pictures. http://land.allears.net/blogs/jackspence/2012/09/art_of_animation_little_mermai_1.html.

 

[monkeysammich]

The LM rooms are at the far end of the resort... a good 10 minute walk from the lobby. 7, 8 and 9 is correct

 

[MightyMouse]

We stayed in the LM section in October.
- In addition to the game room they have character drawing outside the main lobby for the kids.
- Every night was movie night. Originally the movie was shown outside of the Big Blue pool, however while we were there they changed it to be shown underneath Mufasa on Pride Rock.
- Different poolside activities each day: Dance party, water balloon toss, charades, trivia, etc.
- There is a small slide and climbing area which would be more suited for ages 4-7
- Although not advertised a few of the resort workers with the garden hose would "sketch" water images on the grounds of Disney characters. Was quite interesting to see actually.
- If your friend is fond of the characters it is a dream resort. I took over 300 photos of the hotel grounds on our arrival day. FYI, the character display settings "change" between daytime and nightfall. Ie. the different lighting effects provide a different look. Some by natural lighting and others as a planned look. For example the Cars wing seems to light up at night with all the neon signage. The elephant graveyard at night has a red lighting effect which while not large in area, provided some clever photos ops. I would recommend touring the entire grounds, both day and night
- The Big Blue pool has the underwater speakers. I found it to be a neat experience.
- Recommended food items: Surf & Surf burger, Build your own salad bar, Mongolian Dish (options of Beef, Shrimp, Fish) FYI... The fish is Fantastic however they will tell you, since it is made fresh they will require 10-15 minutes to cook it. I heard a LOT of people complaining that there child's food was cold by the time the adult received their fish dish. What we did was ordered our fish, walked around for 15 minutes, picked up our fish dinner (they provide a buzzer to let you know when it's ready), and then ordered our daughters food. Didn't seem to extreme to me, however I must be onto something 'cause so many ppl couldn't figure this out... apparently. :S

 

[The Mighty Tim]

Not related to the resort itself, but when I was at WDW in September, the bus queue at the end of the day at Magic Kingdom for Art of Animation was so huge, it spilled out of it's own queue zone and into the next one (which happened to be for my resort).

Having said that, they had just opened the standard rooms that week, so it's possible a whole bunch of people were staying there so they could be the first to try it out. I don't know what it's been like since.

Anyhoo, thought I'd chip in with my advice. Enjoy!

 

[bsiev1977]

I saw where they were on the map, I asked because I had forgotten that all the Mermaid rooms are standard. I've really got no problem with the location. I expect the only time I'm likely to spend in the main building will be to grab a quick something for breakfast before heading to the parks. I will have a rental car anyway, so I don't have to rely on the bus system.

 

[disneygirl76]

Not related to the resort itself, but when I was at WDW in September, the bus queue at the end of the day at Magic Kingdom for Art of Animation was so huge, it spilled out of it's own queue zone and into the next one (which happened to be for my resort).

Having said that, they had just opened the standard rooms that week, so it's possible a whole bunch of people were staying there so they could be the first to try it out. I don't know what it's been like since.

Anyhoo, thought I'd chip in with my advice. Enjoy!

This happened for everyone though I think. My DH and I were there in September too - and the lines for PO RS and FQ did the same thing. There was almost a brawl one night for people hopping in front and bypassing the ques. It was awful. Its really the only place they can stay with a family of 6 that is in their budget. The lines were a real issue and I told her to prepare for them.

 

[disneygirl76]

Thanks so much for the map! Does anyone have a copy of the current resort activities for January?

 

[Dwarful]

we were there for two weeks in July/August. It was a last minute move by Disney. Our original resort res.was port Orleans riverside...family of 5. When we arrived our room had a major water leak and they didn't have any more rooms to sleep 5 so they moved us to AoA.

My girls LOVE the drawing experience at the studios and they loved the drawing in the lobby with the artist. much smaller group, more personal, learned some specific detailing etc.,

We were in the Cars section and we did visit the big pool area for the underwater music experience. But we also loved the cars pool...very cute theme. They will def. want time to explore this resort inside and out.

We had no issues with the buses. We had our own vehicle, but only used it for offsite trips. We did everything over those two weeks...downtown Disney, both water parks, all four resorts...early morning hours, late nights, resorts before opening for first seating breakfasts...we never had any problems. If we did we were prepared to drive ourselves, but never had to.

 

[Dwarful]

also, my girls wanted to buy the shower curtain that was in the restroom in the suite. They sold them in the gift shop, but when we went to find out about them we didn't buy one....if I recall it was about $150 for the shower curtain. They were cute but NOT worth that price. lol.