Disney's ART OF ANIMATION RESORT Information & Questions

[leannak]

We tried to get to the buses at 90 minutes before each park’s official open time, so we’d be in front of the bus line waiting for them to start moving. We used this waiting time to talk about our park plans, apply sunscreen, etc. I would pull one kid at a time out of line to use the spray and cream away from the crowd.

I think most people use that 90 minute time marker so when we got there at 91 minutes prior, the line filled up like crazy behind us. if we got there a few minutes late there was often a larger line waiting for buses to start.

90 minutes seemed to work fine for everything except maybe HS. We got to the skyliner at 95-100 minutes before official opening and the line was huge. Out and around the building. I guess it’s just because it’s 2 resorts and one mode of transportation. We hopped into line and started sunscreening, etc. but it was hard because the line kept moving. I think they were just bringing people up into the building. The line got really long behind us, about at the 90 minute mark. But then things started moving with them actually loading passengers and we were in pretty good position at rope drop when we got there. Everyone seemed to go toward Slinky Dog Dash and the line looked crazy long but it moved very fast and was about 20 minutes?

 

[mickeybaby]

We got in line for the skyliner 90 minutes before HS opened and the line was already off the bridge. If you truly want to be early, I would definitely get in line prior to the 90 minute mark.
We did not know, however, that the end of the line is on Pop’s side of the bridge. This is helpful to know because we were in building 8 at AofA and could have walked around the end of the lake and gotten in line quicker than walking along AofA side of the lake, across the bridge to Pop and to the end of the line.

 

[dmband]

I still don’t get the point of lining up 90+ mins early unless you are already up and ready to go.
I rather sleep and stand 90+ mins in lines at the park then get up and stand for a bus/get in

 

[Haley R]

We’re booked September 5-8 in a cars suite. This will be our first time staying at AoA. We have a 14 month old and plan to drive our car to the parks. After watching a vlog of the finding Nemo rooms I’m second guessing myself. They look way more fun than the cars rooms. Can someone convince me one way or the other?

 

[WEDWDW]

I still don’t get the point of lining up 90+ mins early unless you are already up and ready to go.
I rather sleep and stand 90+ mins in lines at the park then get up and stand for a bus/get in

They "gain" 90 minutes of Park Time in your scenario.

 

[bluezy]

We’re booked September 5-8 in a cars suite. This will be our first time staying at AoA. We have a 14 month old and plan to drive our car to the parks. After watching a vlog of the finding Nemo rooms I’m second guessing myself. They look way more fun than the cars rooms. Can someone convince me one way or the other?

We've never stayed in a Cars suite (the decor doesn't appeal to us -- though the outdoor theming is stunning, especially at night) but we've stayed in a LK suite 3 times and a Nemo suite 1 time. We drive to Disney but use Disney transportation while we're there. While we enjoyed our stay in a Nemo suite, we most likely won't stay there again because we don't feel it's worth the extra $40-45 per night to stay there. Maybe if we had several young children and spent a lot of time in the pool it might be worth the extra cost. But our kids are all late teens/adults and can walk to the pool themselves *and* usually only go swimming 2 or 3 times during our stay. Another down side to the Nemo suites is that it can be a hike to the parking lot if you're planning to use your car every day. I had to walk to the car twice during our stay in the Nemo suite and I was very glad I didn't have to do that every day (and we had a pretty good parking spot). We love the LK rooms because we find them to be a great location (for us) *and* we were always able to get a parking spot very close to the building (which was very handy for loading and unloading). You'd have the ability to park close to the Cars buildings as well (at least buildings 1 & 2). I'll be honest, once we have all of our stuff in the room, I don't even really notice the decor anymore. Ideally, I prefer the color scheme in the Nemo suites, but not enough to pay extra for it. And again, I would not book a Nemo suite if I was driving to the parks all the time. YMMV.

 

[Haley R]

We've never stayed in a Cars suite (the decor doesn't appeal to us -- though the outdoor theming is stunning, especially at night) but we've stayed in a LK suite 3 times and a Nemo suite 1 time. We drive to Disney but use Disney transportation while we're there. While we enjoyed our stay in a Nemo suite, we most likely won't stay there again because we don't feel it's worth the extra $40-45 per night to stay there. Maybe if we had several young children and spent a lot of time in the pool it might be worth the extra cost. But our kids are all late teens/adults and can walk to the pool themselves *and* usually only go swimming 2 or 3 times during our stay. Another down side to the Nemo suites is that it can be a hike to the parking lot if you're planning to use your car every day. I had to walk to the car twice during our stay in the Nemo suite and I was very glad I didn't have to do that every day (and we had a pretty good parking spot). We love the LK rooms because we find them to be a great location (for us) *and* we were always able to get a parking spot very close to the building (which was very handy for loading and unloading). You'd have the ability to park close to the Cars buildings as well (at least buildings 1 & 2). I'll be honest, once we have all of our stuff in the room, I don't even really notice the decor anymore. Ideally, I prefer the color scheme in the Nemo suites, but not enough to pay extra for it. And again, I would not book a Nemo suite if I was driving to the parks all the time. YMMV.

Thank you so much! I love the color scheme of the Nemo suites but in the end I guess it’s not worth the extra $ per night. We’re locals so we will have our car. We will most likely drive to AK and Epcot (the only parks we’re doing this time). It’s just easier for us with a toddler to be in control of getting there/leaving. You’ve made me feel a lot better about our choice so I appreciate it!

 

[CableKC]

We tried to get to the buses at 90 minutes before each park’s official open time, so we’d be in front of the bus line waiting for them to start moving. We used this waiting time to talk about our park plans, apply sunscreen, etc. I would pull one kid at a time out of line to use the spray and cream away from the crowd.

I think most people use that 90 minute time marker so when we got there at 91 minutes prior, the line filled up like crazy behind us. if we got there a few minutes late there was often a larger line waiting for buses to start.

90 minutes seemed to work fine for everything except maybe HS. We got to the skyliner at 95-100 minutes before official opening and the line was huge. Out and around the building. I guess it’s just because it’s 2 resorts and one mode of transportation. We hopped into line and started sunscreening, etc. but it was hard because the line kept moving. I think they were just bringing people up into the building. The line got really long behind us, about at the 90 minute mark. But then things started moving with them actually loading passengers and we were in pretty good position at rope drop when we got there. Everyone seemed to go toward Slinky Dog Dash and the line looked crazy long but it moved very fast and was about 20 minutes?

Thanks for responding. Just to be clear, you're suggesting that we get to the bus stop 90 minutes before the park opening time?

Epcot - 09:30am for an opening time of 11am
AK - 06:30am for an opening time of 8am
MK - 07:30am for an opening time of 9am
HS - 07:30am for an opening time of 9am

From what I can tell, it will take me about 15 minutes to get from the LM room to the bus stop. That should give me a good idea about when to make sure that we physically leave the room.

I was watching some very recent videos about the new Rope Drop procedures for entry into the park. Like at MK, there is some huge and long line that people have to wait at before they can even get to the gate where they scan your ticket. Does this change what time we should try to arrive at the park?

Does the AoA bus go directly to the parks?

or

Does it make stops at other resorts?

 

[CableKC]

We got in line for the skyliner 90 minutes before HS opened and the line was already off the bridge. If you truly want to be early, I would definitely get in line prior to the 90 minute mark.
We did not know, however, that the end of the line is on Pop’s side of the bridge. This is helpful to know because we were in building 8 at AofA and could have walked around the end of the lake and gotten in line quicker than walking along AofA side of the lake, across the bridge to Pop and to the end of the line.

I thought I read that some people suggest not to take the Skyliner to HS if we wanted to do rope drop and that it was better to take the bus to HS?

 

[CableKC]

We’re booked September 5-8 in a cars suite. This will be our first time staying at AoA. We have a 14 month old and plan to drive our car to the parks. After watching a vlog of the finding Nemo rooms I’m second guessing myself. They look way more fun than the cars rooms. Can someone convince me one way or the other?

It's all bout the theming both inside and outside. Does your 14 month old know the difference between Cars and Little Nemo or have a preference of one over the other?

I would assume that it's based off of recognition of the characters at this point and which one that your 14 month old would see and enjoy?

If your 14 month old doesn't know the difference or can't recognize one over the other, then maybe it's more your preference when it comes to taking pictures inside and out that I'd assume that you'd be enjoying.

 

[Haley R]

It's all bout the theming both inside and outside. Does your 14 month old know the difference between Cars and Little Nemo or have a preference of one over the other?

I would assume that it's based off of recognition of the characters at this point and which one that your 14 month old would see and enjoy?

If your 14 month old doesn't know the difference or can't recognize one over the other, then maybe it's more your preference when it comes to taking pictures inside and out that I'd assume that you'd be enjoying.

He’s watched both Nemo and cars but I doubt he’ll recognize the characters. He’s more interested in blues clues lol. He will most likely enjoy both outside the rooms but I have a feeling he’ll like the cars more. The inside was my own personal preference based on he color scheme but I think we would rather do cars to be close to a parking lot and hopefully have quieter rooms

 

[Disneylover99]

Does the AoA bus go directly to the parks?

Yes.

 

[mickeybaby]

I thought I read that some people suggest not to take the Skyliner to HS if we wanted to do rope drop and that it was better to take the bus to HS?

We wanted to take the skyliner because this was our first trip where it was an option. We definitely were not the first people in the park that day. But we were able to ride both Rock n Roller and Tower of Terror with minimal ride each.
It worked well for us!

 

[Ninja]

Almost a zero chance you will encounter any Groups at AoA.

They DO stay across Hourglass Lake at Pop Century so you could run into a few using the AoA buses from time to time,a few eating at Landscape of Flavors possibly,etc.

And you will definitely share Skyliner with them if they are there when you are.

But basically very little impact to AoA Guests.

Great, thanks

 

[dmband]

Did anyone lose a new t-shirt at AoA in the last couple days?
I found one - tell me some details like size, design, where - something to show it is yours and I will mail it to you.

 

[Spassvogel]

We booked several months ago and got a 2 queen room in an Ariel building because that was all that was open, but on arrival they didn't have a room ready for us, and we ended up in a Cars suite in building 2 (the Wheel Well). The suite was out of our price range so we didn't complain! It was nice having a bedroom and two bathrooms, and a bed for each of the kids. (fold out couch for one, and the kitchen table drop down for the other. Only thing I didn't like about the room was the hard tire floors were tough to walk on after destroying your feet at the park haha.

The outside theming for the Cars area is pretty great. The walk to the main building wasn't bad at all, and neither was the walk to the Skyliner. I was amazed at the sound management. We rarely heard any noise. The dining hall was spacious. We never had to hunt for tables. I was less fond of the new soda machines (new since I was there last at least). The sensor that detects a cup underneath the spigot sometimes wouldn't work and you couldn't fill your drink very well.

The online ordering was really great actually. The first night we got in the one "walk up" line, but after that it was easy to order from our room and click "I am here" and the food would be ready about 1 minute after we stepped through the door.

The theming in the rooms was fun, cone shaped lamps, postcards embedded into the furniture, and paintings featuring scenes from the film. There was a nice walk-up alcohol stand called The Drop Off.

I liked the location of Art of Animation. The Skyliner was a great way to get around. Much nice than the buses in my opinion. If not for the Skyliner, I wouldn't have known that HS has an enormous parking lot, that there's a warehouse-sized McDonalds in the areas, and that Gusteau's is all but ready to go.

 

[dmband]

Anyone interested in Capri Sun, Coke or Aquafina water??
I will have extra from my delivered order, free to someone who can use it - Sunday check out

 

[dthogue]

Ones anyone have a picture of the activities that are offered at the resort? Are they doing the animation classs?

 

[CouponGirl]

Anyone interested in Capri Sun, Coke or Aquafina water??
I will have extra from my delivered order, free to someone who can use it - Sunday check out

Wish I had seen this sooner! Hope you had a great trip!

 

[phkc070408]

Hi all:

We're staying at Art of Animation coming up in August. A few simple questions for a 1stimer

1. Are resorts currently accepting grocery orders?
2. Does the resort room have Utensils? Forks, Knives, Plates, Cups, etc?
3. I know the room has a refridge with a small, useless freezer. Does it have a Microwave and/or toaster oven?
4. We're going to bring some insulated water bottles. Is there a place to fill them with purified drinking water (not tap water, I'm a water-snob).
5. If there isn't a specific place for drinking water, does anyone know if the ice is purified, thus we could use melted ice as water?