Disney's ART OF ANIMATION RESORT Information & Questions

[elkkthunder]

AoA Bus Boards were working when I was at AoA in Mid-April.

Do they just show the eta for next bus? How accurate are they?

 

[WEDWDW]

Do they just show the eta for next bus? How accurate are they?

Yes,they show "next bus times".

Everyone's experience with them is different,but I've always had excellent accuracy with them.

 

[moremouse]

It depends how fast you walk but the farthest LM room from the food court is a little under 1/3 of a mile...so about a 7-10 minute walk for most adults. The bus stops are just a little further than that -- maybe another minute. The closest LM rooms would be about a 5-7 minute walk to the food court.

I will say that it feels like a million mile walk to LM after a full day at the parks.

 

[bluezy]

I will say that it feels like a million mile walk to LM after a full day at the parks.

I have no doubt it does. Even our 2 minute walk to our LK room felt like a hundred miles at the end of a long day in the parks (and then one of us would still walk back down to the food court to fill up all of our mugs). This time we're booked in a Nemo suite and it will most likely be a longer walk than what we've had to our LK suites. My husband thought the walk to the LK was too long...he's not going to be happy in Nemo (but he was the one who insisted that after 2 stays at LK, we should try something different). Keeping my fingers crossed for something in Building 5 so we're semi close to transportation and food court. Maybe we'll luck out and get one of the handful of Nemo rooms that are closer to those things than we were in our LK rooms.

 

[Kevin355]

So, if I am reading correctly, request LK for near to transportation. Taking my 80 year-old mother with us and she has issues walking long distances. We are renting a wheel chair at the parks, but shouldn't need one at the resort.

 

[VeronicaZS]

So, if I am reading correctly, request LK for near to transportation. Taking my 80 year-old mother with us and she has issues walking long distances. We are renting a wheel chair at the parks, but shouldn't need one at the resort.

The closest building to transportation (and luggage service) is Cars building 1.

 

[Kevin355]

The closest building to transportation (and luggage service) is Cars building 1.

Thank You.

 

[VeronicaZS]

Thank You.

No problem. There is a very good map on the first post of this thread.

 

[VeronicaZS]

No problem. There is a very good map on the first post of this thread.

Actually, looking at the map maybe building Lion King building 10 is closer. We were exploring one day and walked from the front of building 10 to the busses and it seemed like a long walk but if you exit from the back of the building it doesn't look bad.

 

[bluezy]

So, if I am reading correctly, request LK for near to transportation. Taking my 80 year-old mother with us and she has issues walking long distances. We are renting a wheel chair at the parks, but shouldn't need one at the resort.

Actually, looking at the map maybe building Lion King building 10 is closer. We were exploring one day and walked from the front of building 10 to the busses and it seemed like a long walk but if you exit from the back of the building it doesn't look bad.

Bldg. 1 of the Cars section is physically closest to Animation Hall. However, both the bus stops and food court are at the end of Animation Hall closest to the Lion King section so if you're coming from the Cars section, you still have to walk to the far end of the building. While some of the rooms in Cars Bldg. 1 will be closer than the rooms in LK, since you can't book preferred location rooms at AoA, we've felt like the LK section in general was a better guarantee for "close to food court & transportation" (which is what is important to our family). Buildings 1 & 3 in Cars have similar (but potentially slightly longer) walks to food and transportation as both buildings of the LK section. However, Building 2 in Cars is going to be a much longer walk. Being close to a pool is not important to us, so that and the fear of ending up in Bldg. 2 of Cars makes LK a better choice for our family. One stay we were in LK Bldg. 10 and the other stay in Bldg. 6. Both times we were at the end of the building closest to Animation Hall/Nemo which put us about 100 yards from the food court and about 200 yards from the center of the bus stops.

I will mention that if you need to use an elevator, those are located in the center of the building (where the AED & Phone symbols are on the map) so depending on the location of your room, that can add to your distances.

 

[Iowamomof4]

Bldg. 1 of the Cars section is physically closest to Animation Hall. However, both the bus stops and food court are at the end of Animation Hall closest to the Lion King section so if you're coming from the Cars section, you still have to walk to the far end of the building. While some of the rooms in Cars Bldg. 1 will be closer than the rooms in LK, since you can't book preferred location rooms at AoA, we've felt like the LK section in general was a better guarantee for "close to food court & transportation" (which is what is important to our family). Buildings 1 & 3 in Cars have similar (but potentially slightly longer) walks to food and transportation as both buildings of the LK section. However, Building 2 in Cars is going to be a much longer walk. Being close to a pool is not important to us, so that and the fear of ending up in Bldg. 2 of Cars makes LK a better choice for our family. One stay we were in LK Bldg. 10 and the other stay in Bldg. 6. Both times we were at the end of the building closest to Animation Hall/Nemo which put us about 100 yards from the food court and about 200 yards from the center of the bus stops.

I will mention that if you need to use an elevator, those are located in the center of the building (where the AED & Phone symbols are on the map) so depending on the location of your room, that can add to your distances.

Do you recall if the stairs are on the interior or exterior of the suite buildings? I don't remember from our one night there.

 

[bluezy]

Do you recall if the stairs are on the interior or exterior of the suite buildings? I don't remember from our one night there.

Stairs are on the exterior of the building. They're covered, but they're outside the physical building.

 

[Iowamomof4]

Stairs are on the exterior of the building. They're covered, but they're outside the physical building.

Thanks!

 

[moremouse]

I have no doubt it does. Even our 2 minute walk to our LK room felt like a hundred miles at the end of a long day in the parks (and then one of us would still walk back down to the food court to fill up all of our mugs). This time we're booked in a Nemo suite and it will most likely be a longer walk than what we've had to our LK suites. My husband thought the walk to the LK was too long...he's not going to be happy in Nemo (but he was the one who insisted that after 2 stays at LK, we should try something different). Keeping my fingers crossed for something in Building 5 so we're semi close to transportation and food court. Maybe we'll luck out and get one of the handful of Nemo rooms that are closer to those things than we were in our LK rooms.

Tell him it's his fault! He was the one that wanted to try something different.

 

[slbgnb]

since you can't book preferred location rooms at AoA

you can't request "close to transportation" within your room choice? We are staying in the LK suites - we can't make a room request within the LK area? Or are you referring to something different?

 

[smiths02]

you can't request "close to transportation" within your room choice? We are staying in the LK suites - we can't make a room request within the LK area? Or are you referring to something different?

At AoA, there are only a few types of room that you can BOOK...General family suite, Little Mermaid, Nemo, Cars, Lion King
You can request close to transportation, but you can't book it

 

[slbgnb]

At AoA, there are only a few types of room that you can BOOK...General family suite, Little Mermaid, Nemo, Cars, Lion King
You can request close to transportation, but you can't book it

I see the difference now! Thanks for clarifying!

 

[bluezy]

Tell him it's his fault! He was the one that wanted to try something different.

Oh believe me, I'll be sure to mention it if he says anything about how far we have to walk. Actually, I know he wouldn't be happy if we had a 1st floor room at the end of building 5 closest to Animation Hall. There would be too much noise as we'd either be facing the pool, or facing the grassy area where they show the movies every night (or at least that's where they were showing them last summer). Also, I know *everyone* in that building is going to come in that end door by the stairs, let the door slam behind them, and then talk loudly while they're walking to the elevators. I have no doubt that while he would like the short walk to food and busses, he will be complaining about the noise within 24 hours. So I'm making the pre-emptive strike and using Touring Plans room request fax to specifically request a 1st floor room in the wing of the buillding that extends out toward the LK area. I don't think we'll have nearly as much walk-through foot traffic there and we won't have the movie or pool noise either. Of course I won't mention that I've made that request. We'll see if we get it.

you can't request "close to transportation" within your room choice? We are staying in the LK suites - we can't make a room request within the LK area? Or are you referring to something different?

As a PP mentioned, you can't specifically book "close to transportation," it's only a request (one that they will try to honor, but won't guarantee. We've always been lucky in the LK section and gotten what we requested. I think it's because that section doesn't get booked to capacity so there's more flexibility for the room assigner to honor requests. Even though we've been there during the busy summer weeks, we've never really seen more than one or two other families coming and going from the rooms in our hall/wing). The other value resorts have a booking category of "preferred" location rooms for a higher cost. Those rooms are all close to the main building. Sorry for the confusion.

 

[CanadianAli]

In the final stages of planning our trip...leaving next week with our 2yr old twins! We had a thought and weren't sure if it would work. We're staying in a Cars suite with me, DH, twins and my mother. We are renting cribs from Kingdom Strollers, as the boys haven't done pack n plays since they were about 10 months. Is it possible to fit the two cribs in the bedroom and then the three adults on the pull down/sofa beds? It seems like that might make the most sense to make it easier to come and go/prepare breakfasts.

Anyone with insight on that one?

 

[Mousemommy1]

In the final stages of planning our trip...leaving next week with our 2yr old twins! We had a thought and weren't sure if it would work. We're staying in a Cars suite with me, DH, twins and my mother. We are renting cribs from Kingdom Strollers, as the boys haven't done pack n plays since they were about 10 months. Is it possible to fit the two cribs in the bedroom and then the three adults on the pull down/sofa beds? It seems like that might make the most sense to make it easier to come and go/prepare breakfasts.

Anyone with insight on that one?

I think you could probably fit two cribs in the master. One on each side of the bed. Then you and DH could be on the pulldown and your mom could be on the pullout.

I will say that our DS doesn't ever sleep in a pack n play, only his crib, but he did fine in the pack n play.