Little Mermaid Room Review
The Little Mermaid rooms at Art of Animation Resort are the most expensive standard Value Resort rooms in all of Walt Disney World. This review features room photos, our thoughts on the rooms, whether they are worth the money, and other basics about the Little Mermaid rooms at Art of Animation Resort.
This review has been a long time coming. When originally writing our Art of Animation Family Suites Review, we included a line that we’d review the Little Mermaid rooms “very soon.” That review was first published 4 years ago and we’re just now writing this review. Better late than never, I suppose?
Our delay in staying in and reviewing the Little Mermaid rooms wasn’t for lack of effort. We have priced these rooms out no less than two-dozen times for various trips, and the price has always been too high to justify. Initially, we balked at the price, thinking it’d come down over time or eventually be included in discounts as popularity wore off. (As if the movie released in 1989 was suddenly going to wane in popularity.)
That never happened, and we ended up paying more for our stay this year than we would have if we just stayed there back when Disney’s Art of Animation Resort first opened. I’m actually a bit embarrassed to admit that we paid $140/night to stay here, which is more than we typically pay for Moderate Resorts after discounts.
I’m mentioning all of this not as a plea for sympathy or so you’ll respect the tough research we do, but as a reality check so you have an idea of what to expect here. The rate we paid is the value season rate for the Little Mermaid rooms. That’s the cheapest they get–you can expect to pay above $200/night if you travel during the summer or around holidays.
While the Little Mermaid rooms at Disney’s Art of Animation Resort are often touted as being a small surcharge over the other Value Resorts, this is a bit deceiving. The rooms started out as a $20/night surcharge, but that has climbed to more like $30-$50/night, and that’s when comparing rack rates.
The gap becomes even more significant when you compare discounted rates at other resorts to rack rates on the Little Mermaid rooms, which is a relevant comparison when the former is discounted and the latter is not. In that scenario, you’re often looking at the Little Mermaid rooms costing roughly double the price of the All Stars. Yikes.
Objectively speaking, the Little Mermaid rooms at Disney’s Art of Animation Resort are not worth the money. These are small motel rooms, and rather than having elaborate theme and details, they have fairly cheap decorations scattered around. The carpet is probably the coolest element of the room, and that isn’t saying much.
That’s not uncommon for a Value Resort, but the lazy thematic effort is disappointing given what you’ll pay here. For the cost difference over the course of a weeklong vacation, you could easily afford to make a stop at Party City and buy a boatload of decorations and make your own Little Mermaid “themed” room. I wish I were kidding.
None of that probably matters to those of you considering the Little Mermaid rooms. The calculus is not a rational one, but an emotional one. Sarah’s first comment when walking around the room was how much she would’ve liked it as a kid. That’s probably what you’re asking yourself, too. Will your kids love the room? You probably already know the answer to that, and no review is really necessary.
However, in the event that a review is necessary, let me attempt to dissuade you from staying at the Little Mermaid rooms. First, your child or children probably like more than one Disney film aside from the Little Mermaid. In which case, stay at the Port Orleans Riverside Royal Rooms (read and see more in our Royal Rooms Review). Those are a significantly better option for only a small premium in pricing after discounts.
Second, these rooms are in the worst possible location at Art of Animation, farther from the main lobby than the Lion King, Cars, or Nemo family suites. Depending upon the exact location of your room, this could mean a 10+ minute walk to the bus stop.
Finally, your kids only know what they tell them. These are All Star-caliber rooms (they aren’t even as nice as the rooms at Pop Century) that leave a ton to be desired in terms of space and quality. For $140-200/night, you don’t even get a coffee maker.
If you don’t tell your kids these Little Mermaid rooms exist, how are they going to know? (I guess maybe one of their punk friends could tell them.)
Rather than catering exclusively to their whims, opt for a nicer room at a cheaper price elsewhere. Put the savings towards an experience at Walt Disney World they will enjoy that actually is worth the money.
Now, this is not to say that you shouldn’t stay at Disney’s Art of Animation Resort. To the contrary, we rather like the resort, and think its common areas have a lot of appeal for families with small children. In fact, Art of Animation is my pick as the best Value Resort at Walt Disney World.
While I think some elements of the design could be better, there’s undeniable appeal in the resort, and walking around the common areas is a fun experience. It’s not Walt Disney World theming in the traditional sense of transporting guests to a different time and place, but there’s a certain charm to the oversized characters, elements pulled from Disney animated classics, and vibrant colors.
There’s absolutely no nuance to Art of Animation, but (and I really hate to use this line) kids love it. Art of Animation is whimsical and fun, and can work for some adults, too. And unlike the slipshod design of the Little Mermaid rooms, the common areas and family suites have considerably more depth and detail, and are arguably worth the money.
To be sure, Art of Animation is not for everyone. All of the things we praised above could just as easily be construed as tacky and loud by others. That’s not our perception of Art of Animation, but we could see how other adults might view it as such. In that regard, Art of Animation is a love it or hate it resort.
Generally speaking, we fall into the “love it” camp with regard to Art of Animation. However, that enthusiasm does not extend to the Little Mermaid rooms. The decor is simply too weak, the price too expensive, and the size too small. While they are more expensive, we’re much bigger fans of the family suites, and feel the proportionate value for money they offer is higher.
By contrast, the Little Mermaid rooms feel like an afterthought, as if Disney didn’t know what to do with those buildings once the Pop Century ‘Legendary Years’ project fell through and the buildings were abandoned for a decade. (That’s what the Little Mermaid rooms were originally intended to be, and exactly what happened. For those unfamiliar with the history of Pop Century’s Legendary Years, you can find it here.)
If you’re inclined to ignore us and book a stay in the Little Mermaid rooms, you can take some solace in knowing that the resort’s general amenities are nice. We already covered this in our family suites review, so we’ll keep this section brief…
The food court at Art of Animation is called Landscape of Flavors, and it’s one of the best counter service spots at any Walt Disney World hotel. It’s by far the best Value Resort food court. Additional amenities include a play area, arcade, free a jogging trail, WiFi, and movies under the stars. These are amenities standard to most Walt Disney World hotels.
Art of Animation also has dedicated bus transportation to the Walt Disney World theme parks, meaning that it does not share buses with any other resort. Along with Pop Century, it has the best bus transportation in all of Walt Disney World. Come 2019, both resorts will also have a (shared) Disney Skyliner gondola station, meaning unique transportation to Epcot and Disney’s Hollywood Studios. This will be a huge selling point…but also the basis for a huge price increase.
The pools are also solid at Art of Animation. The Big Blue Pool is the only Value Resort pool to not allow pool-hopping, and is pretty cool. We think it’s slightly overrated, but it’s still a strong–and huge–pool. I actually prefer the Cars pool, which is quieter and has a neat look with the Cozy Cones nearby.
Overall, this review was probably entirely unnecessary. Like we said at the outset, there was a good chance you probably already knew whether the Little Mermaid rooms at Disney’s Art of Animation were a “must-do” for you, or something you should skip. While we both really enjoy Disney’s Art of Animation Resort, we would never do the Little Mermaid rooms again. We’d pay more for a family suite at Art of Animation or the Royal Rooms at Riverside, or (if it’s just us) less money for a nicer standard room at Pop Century. The price of these very basic motel rooms is too much for us to stomach, and that would be true even if we had kids who were the biggest Little Mermaid fans of all time.
Not sure which Walt Disney World hotel is right for you? Check out our Walt Disney World Hotel Reviews page, which offers quick-hit capsule reviews of the strengths and weaknesses of every Walt Disney World hotel, plus links to our reviews and photo pages for every hotel we have reviewed. For overviews of all of these topics and more, the best place to start is our comprehensive Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide to make the most of your experience!
Your Thoughts…
Do you think Disney’s Art of Animation Resort is for you? Have you stayed in the Little Mermaid rooms? Do you think they were worth the money, or were you disappointed? Do you want to stay here? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing feedback about your experiences is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
The Art of Animation resort suites were perfect for us as a family. I agree the Little Mermaid rooms are way out there and not worth it. The suites though were spot on for us. It was much cheaper and nicer having 6 people in one room vs 2 separate hotel style rooms. The kitchenette was perfect as we tend to bring our own gluten free items for breakfasts and buy milk and or items for bagels. The pool there is fun especially for the kids. And it has. I’ve grounds to walk around and see the various themes. We have stayed in both the Nemo and Lion King suites. While the Nemo suites are convenient, the decor of the Lion King was more appealing. You are correct about their bus system being the best we’ve used too. Adding gondolas there will only enhance the experience
My husband and I have a goal to stay at every WDW resort but Art of Animation is hard pill to swallow and might end up being last on our list, mainly due to the practicality in pricing for us. It’s just the two of us and with no plans for kids the suites just seem too excessive in size for us. Why stay at AoA when we can stay at AKL for the same price? and we also have the same problem with The Little Mermaid rooms. Why stay in one of those when we can stay at Port Orleans? I just feel like AoA holds no real value for us, especially when we can walk over while staying at Pop to check out the grounds and try out the food court.
could you stay there for just a night, just to say you did? The family suites are AMAZING but you def don’t need the size. But I feel like you’re not going to get the true feel of AOA unless you picked one of those. LM rooms aren’t going to give you the AOA experience.
We definitely could, we love resort hopping on trips and Disney makes it super easy for you to do that. We also love all things Cars related so we would definitely choose a Cars suite over LM. We still have about half of the WDW resorts to hit (especially the deluxe ones, having only stayed at The Contemporary and Animal Kingdom Lodge) and it’s just that AoA has been the most problematic when it comes to justifying the price. We’re just going to have to bite the bullet though!
I LOVE disney with my kids, but am also looking forward to a different experience someday when just my husband and I can go, and experience resorts we could never have dreamed of staying at before because of the price for a family of 7. Someday 🙂 I hope your experiences have been magical!
Thanks! Every trip is super magical! Going as just a couple is wonderful experience, you will definitely love it!
Hi, little question: when you “hop” from one Disney hotel to another one, how is your luggage transferred and how to you do check-in? Do you bring your luggage at the concierge desk and they make the transfer to the other hotel? Do you check-in at the new one at your return from the park? Or do you have to do everything by yourself? Thanks!
Hi Stephanie!
Basically what we do when we resort hop is we bring our bags down to Bell Services in the morning and tell them what resort we are switching to and they deliver our bags to the next resort. We also utilize online check-in so we get a text message and email when our room is ready with our room number so we don’t even have to go to the front desk when we go back to our new resort. They make it pretty easy, and resort hopping is a great way to experience a bunch of different resorts.
Thank you very much for the quick answer Teresa!
First off, I love your blog and love getting your emails! As a busy mom (even though obsessed with Disney and always looking stuff up to get my fix) it’s the best way for me to stay on top of announcements and info, so thanks!
We have 5 children who are currently ages 2-10 so the only rooms we can get without going to a deluxe are the family suites here. I keep crossing my fingers that Disney will release decent priced (i.e. not deluxe prices at $700+ a night) rooms ANYWHERE that will accommodate 4-5 children families. I know it’s apparently not the norm, but it’s not so rare that they should only have the rooms for 2-3 kid families either! We can’t go to Disney for less than 10k anymore (without travel, souvenirs, even food), which is discouraging. But they know people will keep paying it, and that’s not the point here. Just a little vent I guess, because AOA was like a diamond in the rough until we were surprised with baby 5 and will no longer be able to stay there either.
So far we have been to Disney World three times. Our first stay was at Port Orleans Riverside with 4 kids (1 baby in crib) and we were really disappointed. That was our first trip though and we didn’t know to ask for a preferred room or we would be walking for 20 minutes to get to our room back in the Bayou, the theming was just OK and we didn’t like any of the restaurants on that particular property (the food was too spicy for the kids) plus the fact that it shares a bus with port Orleans French quarter, it seemed like it took forever to get back to our room at night. Our second stay we opted for Caribbean beach (4 kids and baby under 3) Again this was a learning experience because I felt like I had learned a lot from our first trip about asking for a preferred room, when to go and when not to go ( first trip we went over spring break not knowing any better and not thinking that duh, it would be terribly crowded and miserable. Lesson learned! Second trip we went during the school year) etc. but even with a preferred room, we were still extremely far from the main hall because of how obnoxiously huge that resort is. Again when we would come back at night, it would take forever to get to our drop off point because there’s like nine different areas at that resort and we always seem to be the last one. Our third trip we tried the family suites at AOA and fell in love (5 kids, 1 being under 3 so we got away with it). We shied away from the value resorts before thinking they were cheap (quality wise) and would ruin the experience (i know, i know) but this time we were so pleasantly shocked. The theming of that resort is amazing. We absolutely loved the food hall and even the pizza was pretty good compared to the rest of Disney World pizza which is a disgrace to pizza LOL. Let’s not talk about the room service pizza at Port Orleans or Pizza Planet…barf. The best pizza in Disney World is at Via Napoli for sure! And the pizza at AOA seemed different because it was really good too. Anyways, we absolutely adored AOA and wanted to stay there forever, but the realization had come that our younger/last child’s third birthday is rapidly approaching which means we will never be able to stay in the family suites again. We’ve been looking at the little mermaid rooms as an alternative because of how much we love that resort and thought about booking two rooms and requesting them to be close together just so we could stay there. Our other options are getting two rooms at a moderate resort which would cost more than we can likely afford (or at the very least would cost the same as renting DVC at a deluxe resort), or moving up to a deluxe where the only way we could afford that is by renting vacation club points. Other than that we would be forced to stay off property. We were pleasantly surprised and completely fell in love with this resort and especially the Nemo family suites. The pool is amazing but as a parent I did find myself struggling a little to keep an eye on all three of my older children because the pool is so absolutely huge and theres no barriers between the wading side of the pool and the far deep end. If you have kids at different ages, you really need both parents to be at opposite ends of the pool to watch them.
It was really cool how when we were down there swimming Goofy showed up to play some games and do some dances with the kids etc.! My kids learned the King Tut dance which to this day 2 years later they still do, lol. They thought that was awesome and got their picture taken. On another day we visited the cars pool which to me was just mediocre and disappointing. It was a lot quieter, but just so small and the theming was just okay. Big blue is definitely amazing especially with all the different features that it has including the playground and splash pad, the music playing, and cmon parents, who doesn’t love a swim up bar if you’re able to take advantage, lol! Not that we did, but I dream of someday. haha!! Our room was conveniently located to where our windows overlooked big blue.
I know the deluxe resorts are amazing and we have visited many of them for meals but our hearts at with AOA. It’s just bright, lighthearted, amazing fun and the theming of the family suites is spectacular for a value resort. We even talked about redoing our own bathroom at home like the ones at finding nemo. Plus a lot of the deluxe resorts seem to focus more on amenities than disney theming and we want the DISNEY feel in our room. With young kids, we do spend decent time there for naps or just sleeping and having downtime, and theming is a big deal to be IN the disney world, otherwise we might as well stay offset and save a ton, you know?
I’m really disappointed to hear that the LM rooms are just meh, or cheap. We want to continue staying at AOA so bad, and getting 2 LM rooms will be the same price pretty much as a family suite there, but even paying that much I would be very disappointed to find out it’s just a glorified motel. The layout looks the same at port orleans and caribbean beach, but at least there the rooms had substance and seemed worth the price. LM just seems cheap 🙁 I also forgot that we needed our wrist bands to access Big Blue…didnt even think about that! I guess that means that staying at AOA in the LM rooms, we wouldn’t even have access to a pool. I had planned walking to Big Blue and figured it was a better sacrifice than staying somewhere else because of how much we love AOA. Overall, this post gave me a lot of food for thought and mostly negative (sad) feelings, now trying to figure out what our next move will be. Currently, our youngest’s birthday isn’t until late October, so we are planning our next trip for 2 days prior to her birthday…at least we will be able to stay at AOA Nemo one more time and will have a while to figure out our next move. <3 I can't believe I wrote a novel, sorry! Love your posts. Thanks again.
Hello, Can you explain to me if you’re staying at AOA in the Little Mermaid rooms how you can not swim in the Big Blue Pool. Isn’t that for all resort guest?
per the post: “The Big Blue Pool is the only Value Resort pool to not allow pool-hopping, and is pretty cool. We think it’s slightly overrated, but it’s still a strong—and huge—pool. ”
It has gates that require your wrist band to enter. I prob misread that as only Nemo guests can enter it. Haha nevermind.
We stayed at this hotel for one reason and one reason only – Radiator Springs!
When I initially booked our first WDW trip, I did not realize the lack of Cars attractions. The trip was for my Cars loving son’s 3rd birthday, so of course was relieved to know we could stay in a Cars suite and get that experience.
Planning our next Disney for this December, but leaning towards Cali for Cars Land.
“Planning our next Disney for this December, but leaning towards Cali for Cars Land.”
Cars Land is incredible, especially decked out for the holidays. If your son is still into Cars, I’d absolutely recommend visiting Disneyland Resort instead. He’ll be blown away by Cars Land. (Plus, California is awesome.)
We “upgraded” to the Little Mermaid rooms a couple of times last year, when we were able to book them for only a few dollars more a night than the rooms we had booked at Pop. We requested a king bed both times – once we got a handicap accessible room, with a roll-in shower, and once we just got a regular room. The handicap accessible room was nicer, because of the bathroom. The layout of the handicap accessible bathroom was really nice and the shower was awesome. The regular room was kind of a let down after being in that room! However, I do think that the rooms are comparable to Pop rooms and probably slightly better (I say that as someone who has yet to stay in a refurbed room at Pop though). We didn’t find the walk to the buses to be bad at all, especially if you use the sidewalk that runs along the parking lot instead of walking through the resort. I wouldn’t pay significantly more than Pop to stay there, especially once all the rooms at Pop are refurbed, but I think it’s worth it if you can book it for around the same price like we did.
We stayed at the LM rooms a few years ago. My daughters absolutely loved it and I thought the room was very cute. I didn’t think the walk to the main area was that bad. We probably wouldn’t return now that our girls are older due to the smaller beds but we had a great experience.
My husband and I stayed in the LM rooms on our Christmas trip this year. It was cheaper then a moderate but more than the other Values. The child in me, loves LM, and I wanted a chance to try out AoA. I knew the walk back to the room was long but didn’t think it would bother me, as we’ve staying at other sprawling resorts. For some reason tho, it just FELT longer. That, coupled with the only bar being all the way at the main pool sealed the deal for us. It’s unlikely we’ll stay again until we have kids and maybe need a suite. I stayed at All Star sports in October, and was pleasantly surprised. Less sprawling, and cheaper. For a budget trip it did the trick just fine. Glad we tried LM rooms for the experience, but they are simply not worth it!
Since you say AoA is worth it other than LM rooms, what type of rooms are the BEST value there?
All of the other Art of Animation rooms are suites that are the same quality and price. Personally, I favor the Lion King suites, but that’s the inner-child in me talking, as that was my favorite movie as a kid. I’d say go with whichever movie you or your kids like the most.
I don’t think AoA is a “value” resort at all any more. I was looking into prices for Memorial Day weekend, and even with a discount the price of the suites is $391-404 per night after discounts (full price $434-449). For the same dates, deluxe hotels start at $418!!
We stayed in a LM room with our granddaughter in 2016 and must say she absolutely loved it and the LM pool. Sure its small and overpriced but we were so happy we did because of the joy and delight on her little face. Returning to AoA resort this summer but opted for a family suite for more room and from your reviews believe we made the right decision. We are sure she will be just as delighted with the Lion King suite, at least we hope so.
My daughter and I stayed in the LM rooms in Feb 2017. I WILL NEVER STAY THERE AGAIN. My grand daughter was supposed to go but didn’t. That is why I booked the resort. The staff were rude to me more than once!! We usually stay at POP. And if we need a value resort and only ART is available we won’t go.
Oh dear. I have 4 nights booked in these rooms for July. Got a fantastic discount, so really pleased with the price, and wanted to try the resort. I love the look of the Cars family suites, but hard to justify the price point being a deluxe resort level. But now you are making me second guess my decision. Maybe I should just suck it up & pay the $ for the Cars suite? Hmmm… Some pondering to be done now… Thanks for the perspective!
The Little Mermaid Rooms are excluded from discounts. How did you book your room/package?
A cast member’s friends & family rate.
Without knowing what kind of CM rate you got (I’m guessing it wasn’t that good), I’d probably move to something with a higher percentage off. If there is nothing with a higher percentage discount, I’d just stick with the Little Mermaid rooms and hope that you disagree with our review of the rooms. At the very least, you’ll enjoy the rest of Art of Animation.
Thanks Tom. It’s the same % off all properties with this CM F&F discount, but the little Mermaid rooms are hard to find at this rate. Not sure if it’s because they are very popular among cast members & go quickly, or because Disney doesn’t make many of those rooms available or both. The suites come up for AoA regularly, but again, it’s so much more $. I do think I’d love the Cars family suites, so I’ll consider it, but it’s more than double the Little Mermaid & more than we’re paying at Animal Kingdom during the same trip, so it’s hard to swallow that cost. But now I’m really worried that it’ll finish the trip on a sour note. Thanks for the heads up though! Really enjoy your blog & appreciate all your info & efforts! Cheers!
I’ve looked at AoA a couple times when the price was lose to Pop, but the walking distance was more of a deterrent to me than the price. at the end of a long day, I didn’t want an extra quarter mile hike (probably carrying a sleeping child).
We stayed in the Little Mermaid Rooms once when the Pop was booked. It was the first time the Mermaid rooms had been available to us. We loved the resort and really the family suites are a bit pricey and bigger than we’ve needed. So really that was the only thing we appreciated about the LM rooms was it was a chance to stay at the AOA resort. But the room itself was disappointing, the beds are small and the bathroom (Ariels Grotto) while charming was incredibly dark. The upside was the rooms did not have the miles on them that the Pop & All Stars do, but now that the Pop rooms are mostly remodeled they are a far better experience than the LM rooms. The big blue pool seemed to be the only one that was “locked” and even that did not appear to be always the case. Our toddler loved the Big Blue Splash Zone and it was the best value splash zone we’ve been too.
Stayed at Little Mermaid a few years back. The walk to the main building isn’t worth it to fill up your resort mug at night. Also, don’t forget these rooms are now accepting dogs. If you don’t want to stay at a dog friendly resort, this may not be for you.
My hubby and I stayed at Mermaid onece . we couldn’t wait to check out and go somepl other resort .
The rooms were overpriced , too small and the bed was less than a double size.
Did not enjoy!
This is a place for people with children !
Give me the Boardwalk, yacht or grand Floridian
If you look at from your perspective of AOA being the best value resort, these rooms allow you to stay at the by far best themed value resort for kids for significantly less than the cost of the 1br suites, best food court, best transportation(with pop). If you have a Little Mermaid fan in your family, be it your 2 year old baby girl or 32 year old baby mama they will most likely prefer the theming to either Port Orleans which is more expensive than the Little Mermaid. I wonder if your review would be different if in a few years you had a little girl asking Daddy to take her swimming in Ariel’s pool, and asking Mommy if she gets to sleep in the Ariel bed again? Our daughter loved it so much, we couldn’t stomach paying more for less at a moderate or even deluxe until the kids hit double digits. You guys are the best! I used your site exclusively when planning our first trip to Disney and felt like an expert before we ever got there because of your incredible reviews and attention to detail. Thank you both so much!
“I wonder if your review would be different if in a few years you had a little girl asking Daddy to take her swimming in Ariel’s pool, and asking Mommy if she gets to sleep in the Ariel bed again?”
That’s why we suggested lying and not even telling them the hotel exists! 😉
Kidding aside, that absolutely would change our perspective. The emotional appeal of these rooms, and Art of Animation in general, is something you cannot really measure, but I know for many families, it would be quite high. I do think it’s disappointing that Disney opted to design these rooms on the cheap yet charge high prices for them, but I can absolutely understand why families will book them.
I don’t know what we’d do as parents, but I suspect we’d pony up to stay in the rooms while grumbling about the price paid to ourselves. 🙂
This
I love themed hotel rooms, and think that Walt Disney World should definitely have more of them! But I agree that the Little Mermaid ones are very weak, which is a pity because they could’ve been done so magnificently. The ones at the Disneyland Hotel in Tokyo Disney – now, we think that those are worth every penny. We stayed in a Beauty & the Beast themed room there, and I’d say that one was almost up to the caliber of Cars Land. We’re thinking of doing another themed room on our next trip to Tokyo, perhaps the Alice in Wonderland or Cinderella ones. We’ve been meaning to check out the Royal Rooms at WDW for some time now, but are afraid it may also not be worth the cost.
As a general rule, always lower your expectations after experiencing something at Tokyo Disney Resort before going to do the “same” (or similar) thing at Walt Disney World. Less disappointment that way. 😉
You say best bus transportation “along with Pop Century.” We stayed at Pop Century in 2012 and the bus service was so horrendous we went back to the All Stars for our next trip in 2014. Never even considered AoA because of the bus situation at Pop Century. Has it improved that much?
I wouldn’t say that bus service has gotten noticeably better or worse. The real problem is that it’s possible to get very unlikely (or to have systemic breakdowns) in transportation over the course of an entire trip.
We’ve never had that happen at Pop Century or Art of Animation, but it does happen. Generally speaking, we have had better experiences with the bus service at Pop and AoA than the All Stars over the course of all our visits.
I frankly think the “best bus service” that gets heaped on Pop and Aoa is unwarranted. Leave any Park Amy night and you can always find the Pop bus station… It’s the one with the longest line. Dedicated bus is juice, but the bigger size of the resorts means more people trying to ride.
In fairness, the vast majority of our experience with the Pop or AoA buses at busy times is first thing in the morning. Then, it seems like a bus for Magic Kingdom arrives about every 5 minutes, so even when the line is long, it moves quickly. The downside is that I almost never sit (and it’s a looong ride to MK), but that’s the case with just about every hotel bus to MK in the morning.
At night, we almost never leave with the mass exodus, so I can’t comment on how long/slow-moving those lines are. Our personal experience with the Pop and AoA buses has been very positive–definitely better than the All Stars. As with any anecdotal WDW advice/experiences, YMMV.
I agree with Kevin. Even with extra stops I could at least usually sit down at the All Stars and always get on the first bus to any given park. At Pop Century it was very hit and miss, and that post-fireworks return wait…never again.
I booked a stay at AoA in a Little Mermaid room back in September for our upcoming May trip and I have priced out room changes countless times but I haven’t been able to make a switch. Your review makes it sound as if guests at POP can use the cars pool? Can you confirm if this is true? If so you may have swayed me to make a change!
You know…I’m not entirely sure.
There’s definitely no pool hopping to the Big Blue Pool, but I don’t know if that same policy is enforced at the other Art of Animation pools. They all have gated access opened via MagicBands. I wouldn’t be surprised if the other pool gates are ‘coded’ the same way as Big Blue Pool’s simply because it’s easier (rather than necessary). Perhaps someone who has tried this can chime in.
I have to say, I think Art of Animation theming is the best of all the resorts. I want larger than life, colorful, over-the-top, in-your-face, can not be ignored theming. Nuance is for real life; I’m on vacation. I am totally serious.
If you are going to go Disney, GO DISNEY.
“That’s how Dad did it, that’s how America does it…and it’s worked out pretty well so far.”
I think you’ll find that a ton of people agree with you. The occupancy rate and the very fact that Disney can charge so much for these rooms at least partially bears that out.
I also think what “Disney” design means is different things for different people. For some, it’s the idealized charm and detail of New Orleans Square–not a single character in sight. For others, it’s how you feel like you’ve ‘stepped into the movie’ when walking through Cars Land. Personally, I think it can be both.
My issue is that characters are often a thematic crutch. Because kids are likely to love them regardless, it seems less effort is put by Imagineers into designs of this nature. For me, that’s the problem with the Little Mermaid rooms. On the other hand, I think the common areas in the Cars wing are pretty well done. Not Cars Land-caliber, but about as good as can be expected from a Value Resort.
I totally agree with your comments on imagineers using it as a crutch. Little mermaid rooms aside, AoA is great.
By the other side is how Disney’s upscale resorts tend to emphasize refinement and nuance over dramatic theming. I think the StarWars resort shows a much needed path in the other resort tiers.