Art of Animation Family Suite Info Needed

[Disney OB RN]

A friend is asking me advice on this resort for her first family trip for herself, hubby & 3 young boys. This resort looks great on-line, & I'm a DIsney frequent flier, but since my kids are teens, we usually stay @ the Epcot resorts so they can walk !!! I'd love some info to give her!!! I have heard good things about the family suites in general. Anything specific this resort would be helpful. Thanks!!

[Joannelet]

Tell her with 3 young boys definitely request a CARS suite. There are 2 full bathrooms which is great with little ones and a mini kitchen. The kitchen tabe pulls out toa bed....very easy! We were just there a few days ago with my 2 boys. You can read my trip reports on that resort. I am still here at AKL now. The cafeteria that is there is wonderful. The resort pools are great. They will have a blast swimming in the Nemo pool or the Cozy Cone pool. They can take pictures standing next to all the cars characters. It is a great and the best section of the resort. I highly recommend it! The attentionto detais at this resort is amazing!

[Melanie]

Yes, just be careful with themeing. Make sure your friend looks at pics from all the rooms and decides what is best for her family.

[BrerGnat]

We stayed for one night in a Cars suite in August. We are a family with just two young boys (8 and 6). I found the suite to be adequate for our size family for one night, but I have a hard time seeing how a larger family could be comfortable here for a long period of time. My main gripe was the "loss" of usable space once you convert the sofa AND table to a bed. If you are using the table for storage and/or eating, you have to clear it off entirely to turn it into a bed, and there really isn't much other place to put "stuff" in the room.

We found our room decor to be quite nice, actually, in Cars. From what I've seen of the other rooms, though, I could NOT stand to look at that awful decor for a week. Just too loud. Cars was quite subtle and not "in your face" so much, so I'd recommend that area unless they are totally into sensory overload in their own room.

One issue we had that MANY complain about is the A/C unit in the room. The room is quite large, and the unit just doesn't really quite do it for BOTH rooms. The master bedroom only has a tiny vent up high on the wall that barely blows cold air in, and there are no fans at all. Ceiling fans would have helped immensely here. Also, the thermostats are some new "green" kind that you CANNOT bypass, and the lowest temp setting is 70. The unit shuts off frequently at night, so we felt hot all night. In the cooler months, this won't be an issue, but it bears mentioning.

The suites themselves look more spacious in photos than they really are, and the furniture is quite large, making the space seem small, but it is adequate. The public areas of the resort are beautiful, well themed, and well maintained. The food court has some issues that I hope they will work to improve, because it has the potential to be an amazing food court.

Overall, while there is nothing wrong with this resort, it is a whole lotta hype for a value resort, and it's nothing more than a value resort. I find the rack rates GROSSLY inflated, and feel that one of these suites is worth, at maximum, about $250/night.

Personally, we felt overall that we enjoyed our room at Beach Club a LOT more than the suite at AoA. The larger deluxe resort rooms are better laid out and the extra bathroom is really not necessary for our family. Just made more work for me, honestly, having to divvy up the toiletries. For the money, I think you can do much better by booking either a moderate or a deluxe resort when you take into consideration the OVERALL resort experience. I found nothing particularly wonderful about AoA outside of the visuals that anyone can see by simply visiting. The pool was not that great, and beyond that, there is nothing else offered here in terms of recreation.

I would say anyone who has the money for a suite and who really does not NEED the suite layout would be better served at a Moderate, at least.

[Roger's #1 Fan]

We spend 14 days in the Nemo section (Crush Bldg 5) in mid-August. With six of us, the two bathrooms were a must and the kitchenette was great for having snacks and cold drinks in the room. We acutally took a quick trip to the local Walmart and stocked up on beverages and snacks

If your friend is a "parks oriented" person like we are then the room will be more than adequate. We don't spend much time in our resort and over the two weeks went in the pool twice. I thought the food court was very good for breakfast but found some of the dinner selections and snack a little too expensive for my taste.

The one positive is that there is also the Pop food court across the bridge which is easily accessible and offers other dining options.

I agree that if your friend is looking for extended down-time at a resort with activities this is not the place. Otherwise, if they are looking for a place to crash every night and dedicated buses that give pretty promp service to the parks and elsewhere, this is the place.

[Disney OB RN]

Thanks for the feedback!!

[lawgirl]

We always stay at AKL, but we did visit AoA on our last trip. It was fun walking around, but I don't know that I'd want to stay there. The theming is extreme...which is great to visit, but for me it was all a little overwhelming. And my 2YO son went nuts over the Cars section. We literally had to pull him away after an hour of him running around to all the different Cars characters. I think he would be on sensory overload 24/7 if we stayed there!

One thing I love about AKL is that the decor and theming is immaculate and its such a soothing place to be. We tend to have more downtime at the resort so for us it's worth it to spend the extra money.

Has she looked into renting DVC points so that they can rent a 1-2 bedroom villa at a better rate?

[Crow]

i walked around it a few minutes when i stayed at POP. it looks nicely themed. for that age of kids i think it would be nice.
check the prices of that and other resorts.
the food court was better than POP.

[Disney OB RN]

The family is there now....have not heard a report on the resort as of yet....just have seen pic of 3 beaming boys in front of Spaceship Earth & Cinderella's Castle. Don't you just love it when you help someone with their first Disney trip!!!!! If you can't be there, its the next best thing!! Will post their resort experience when I get it......