Disney's Art of Animation Resort

This was a wonderful birthday stay for my family! Myself, husband and our 2 year old stayed in the little mermaid room. We were given a king bed as requested and had a pool view. The room was so CLEAN and housekeeping was incredible! We asked our Disney “alexa” for towels, they were brought up right away. One of the lights went out in our room, they had it fixed within minutes. We came back from the parks, our room was spotless and they even decorated our sheets with a huge bow. Our son loved the ariel bathtub and we loved the shower pressure! The hidden mini fridge was perfect to store his milk, bottled waters and leftovers. We loved the Ariel pool and Nemo pool. The skyliner access was great and very fast! The buses were also available quickly and our son loved the themes on them. The cafe was great! We are vegan and if we wanted anything off menu, the chef was more than accommodating! I even got a vegan springtime cupcake for my birthday! We had our car with us, but never even had to leave the resort. The gift shop was great for any souvenirs or getting ears before a park trip. Our son also loved tje arcade, nemo playground, splashpad and all the lion king decor! We didnt get back from the parks early enough to try the smores, but what a fun activity! Check in was fast, friendly and easy! I recommend the refillable cup if you’re going to be drinking more than ice water, definitely worth it! We loved having early entry to the parks and just relaxing in the pools on non park days. We can’t wait to stay here again! Read less

I stayed at AOA for 4 nights in mid-April, with my mom and 2 kids (age 9 and 6). We loved it, and would definitely go back. Check in: was super easy – we didn’t have to do anything! We got to the hotel around 4:30pm and our room number had already been assigned in the app, so we didn’t even need to go to the front desk. My phone and our Magic Bands opened the door, although sometimes it wasn’t easy to actually get the door open so we got frustrated a few times. Also just be aware, my son (age 9) was able to open the door as well, which I didn’t think would work with kids’ bands! Room: We stayed in the Cars section, Building 3 and it was the PERFECT location. Close to the Big Blue Pool, lobby, and Skyliner! The room was cute, and having 2 bathrooms and a separate bedroom was super helpful when everyone was getting ready in the mornings. The pullout couch was surprisingly comfortable. The room had plenty of storage space. Watch out if you have tech-obsessed kids….as there is a Disney Alexa in the room where you can ask it to play music, bring stuff to your room, etc. My 9 year old was driving us crazy with it so we had to unplug it after the first hour 😝 The Cars section is really cute too, with life sized models of all the characters that the kids love to climb on. Pools: We walked to the Cozy Cone pool (super cute) but didn’t go in. We swam at the Big Blue Pool a few times and it was great. Huge, nice water temp, and a little bar next to it where you could get drinks and snacks. We never walked over to the Little Mermaid section so didn’t get to see that pool. Food court: Decent selection, and food was pretty good (not excellent). Kids dinners came with a drink and cookie. We didn’t do any mobile orders but the regular lines were not bad at all. We did not invest in the refillable mugs. We mostly just got the free water from the food court, and drank the coffee in the room. Transportation: On our first day, we took the bus to Magic Kingdom. We got in line around 8am and had to wait maybe 2 minutes. That night we stayed at MK for fireworks, and rushed out as soon as they were over, and managed to get on the 2nd bus, so again less than a 5 minute wait. The next 2 days we went to Hollywood Studios and Epcot, so rode the Skyliner. It was our first time ever going on it, and it was fun! The kids loved looking at the different movies/characters on the gondolas and taking in the views from way up. The lines were pretty short and moved quickly, even at the end of the day. You have to get off at the Caribbean Beach resort, then get in another line to board for the parks, but it was very easy. The Skyliner also stops at Riviera resort, but you just stay on and continue to the park. Gift shop/arcade: The hotel has a pretty big gift shop with tons of cute gifts. They had some food/snacks too, so we got a box of donuts to eat in the room before leaving for the parks to make mornings quick and easy and not need to stop for food on our way to the transportation. The arcade was big and SO affordable (especially in Disney lol). We put $25 on a card and it lasted forever, even with 2 kids using it. Overall, we loved this hotel. I definitely recommend the suites if you can swing the cost. I split it with my mom so that made it more affordable for us. Read less

BEWARE OF BEDBUGS!!!!!! We spent $400 a night to stay at art of animation. We loved the theming and the fact that it has skyliner access. Our joy ended there. Our Cars suite had 3 beds (a bedroom, a kitchen table bed, and a pullout couch.) We slept on the pullout couch. On the 2nd day of visiting the parks, my husband started to notice small bug bites. They were completely unlike mosquito bites, but we live across the country so we dismissed it. The bites increased each day to the point that we were worried about bed bugs by the time we were heading home. Unfortunately, we were only on resort for 4 nights and had 3 full park days planned so we didn't get a chance to ask art of animation staff to check our room. Bed bugs, turns out, are a delayed reaction for up to two weeks so we've seen more and more pop up each day. I personally experienced reactions about 5 days after my husband started. By the time we were needing to head to the airport, both of us were covered in bites. Our bites meet every single sign of bed bugs. We filed a claim with Disneyworld and asked them to check the room. Since we'd seen reddit reviews that Disney takes care of guests who experience bedbugs, we were confident they would be honest and kind. It took Disney 5 days from when they inspected the room for bed bugs to tell us that we don't have them. Pat Casey, our awful Disney claims rep, even had the gall to tell us she thought we got them at home. We've never experienced bites like this until visiting Art of Animation. We've done a thorough screening of our house, heat washed everything (120+ degrees F). My guess is since we aren't throwing a fit on resort, they are covering it up. Absolutely appalling. Evil resort. I will never visit Disneyworld again. (This is coming from a lifelong Disneyland fan who goes several times a year.) Save your money and skip this place. Read less