I Wanna Be Where The People Are...
After our stay at Pop Century two years ago, snagging a reservation at the Art of Animation four months ago had me super excited. Since the two hotels are right next to each other, we would see Art of Animation off in the distance every morning while walking to our bus. We never got the chance to visit the hotel, so having the opportunity to stay there this year was a plus for me.
When we hopped off Magical Express and into the main building, it was like deja vu. Miguel and I looked at each other, and said “we’ve been here before.” LOL. The layout is exactly the same as Pop Century, and so I can see why they are considered sister resorts. When you walk in, check-in desks are to your left. The back drop of rainbow lights behind the check-in desks is visually stunning at AoA. To the right, the wall is covered in cute drawings of The Little Mermaid, The Lion King, Finding Nemo and Cars in various animation stages. When you walk to the middle, the Christmas tree was placed right where Pop Century had theirs. The white tree with colorful ornaments was aesthetically pleasing to look at, and fit the main lobby of AoA well. To the left of the tree was the entrance to the transportation to the buses, and to the right was the entrance to buildings housing the standard rooms and suites with a little arcade nestled in right before you go outside. Straight ahead, there is a Disney store full of the usual merchandise that leads into AoA’s cafeteria.
I’m sure the moderate and deluxe hotels are nice to stay at, but the little kid in me loves walking through resorts like Pop Century and AoA. Our daily walk was through the Lion King area into the Little Mermaid section where we were staying at. The statues are so cute! We actually never ventured into the Finding Nemo or Cars section. Truth be told, I never hopped on the Finding Nemo hype, and I got yelled at by Miguel for never seeing Cars. I had no idea what Radiator Springs was (lmao). Standard rooms are in the Little Mermaid section, and it’s a bit of a walk from the main building. However, like I said, when you see the characters as you walk by, you’re not really bothered by the walk. The themed room was so cute! They really upped Pop Century on this one. The only problem is you’ll end up singing The Little Mermaid songs the entire time you’re there. Every time I was taking a shower, I felt like I was in Ariel’s grotto. Miguel and I were pondering how they managed to design the shower tiles like that. It was a nice detail to the room actually.
We didn’t eat much at the cafeteria. The pizza was as Miguel put it “cafeteria pizza.” Hahaha. When it’s 11pm and you’re hungry, you eat it. They did gave us caeser salads and extra bread sticks though. I liked that they had the Mickey ice cream sandwiches and ice cream bars conveniently there. I took a ice cream sandwich to the room, and scarfed it down. I didn’t even get a picture of it. We had breakfast twice for the waffles and the French toast. Disappointly, there are no Mickey waffles at AoA, just character shaped waffles. Still cute and delicious though. There’s always the option of walking to Pop Century if you’re really looking for those Mickey waffles. I really did enjoy the breakfast, but I can’t attest to lunch and dinner though since we just had pizza.
Just like Pop Century, transportation to the parks via buses was pretty easy. AoA is the closest to Hollywood Studios and Epcot, with Magic Kingdom being the farthest. Still, you get to MK pretty fast in my opinion. It will be interesting to see the Disney Skyliner once it is completed, since it will connect Pop Century and AoA to Hollywood Studios and Epcot.
Overall, I had no problem staying at AoA and I think I prefer it over Pop Century. Not that I didn’t enjoy my stay at Pop Century, I just prefer the Little Mermaid themed rooms since they seem less outdated. You can tell AoA is a newer resort. Also, The Little Mermaid and The Lion King hold a special place in my heart. I can’t really attest to the All-Star themed resorts, which are the other value resorts in Disney, but I think AoA may be my first choice from now on even though AoA is the most pricey.
When we hopped off Magical Express and into the main building, it was like deja vu. Miguel and I looked at each other, and said “we’ve been here before.” LOL. The layout is exactly the same as Pop Century, and so I can see why they are considered sister resorts. When you walk in, check-in desks are to your left. The back drop of rainbow lights behind the check-in desks is visually stunning at AoA. To the right, the wall is covered in cute drawings of The Little Mermaid, The Lion King, Finding Nemo and Cars in various animation stages. When you walk to the middle, the Christmas tree was placed right where Pop Century had theirs. The white tree with colorful ornaments was aesthetically pleasing to look at, and fit the main lobby of AoA well. To the left of the tree was the entrance to the transportation to the buses, and to the right was the entrance to buildings housing the standard rooms and suites with a little arcade nestled in right before you go outside. Straight ahead, there is a Disney store full of the usual merchandise that leads into AoA’s cafeteria.
I’m sure the moderate and deluxe hotels are nice to stay at, but the little kid in me loves walking through resorts like Pop Century and AoA. Our daily walk was through the Lion King area into the Little Mermaid section where we were staying at. The statues are so cute! We actually never ventured into the Finding Nemo or Cars section. Truth be told, I never hopped on the Finding Nemo hype, and I got yelled at by Miguel for never seeing Cars. I had no idea what Radiator Springs was (lmao). Standard rooms are in the Little Mermaid section, and it’s a bit of a walk from the main building. However, like I said, when you see the characters as you walk by, you’re not really bothered by the walk. The themed room was so cute! They really upped Pop Century on this one. The only problem is you’ll end up singing The Little Mermaid songs the entire time you’re there. Every time I was taking a shower, I felt like I was in Ariel’s grotto. Miguel and I were pondering how they managed to design the shower tiles like that. It was a nice detail to the room actually.
We didn’t eat much at the cafeteria. The pizza was as Miguel put it “cafeteria pizza.” Hahaha. When it’s 11pm and you’re hungry, you eat it. They did gave us caeser salads and extra bread sticks though. I liked that they had the Mickey ice cream sandwiches and ice cream bars conveniently there. I took a ice cream sandwich to the room, and scarfed it down. I didn’t even get a picture of it. We had breakfast twice for the waffles and the French toast. Disappointly, there are no Mickey waffles at AoA, just character shaped waffles. Still cute and delicious though. There’s always the option of walking to Pop Century if you’re really looking for those Mickey waffles. I really did enjoy the breakfast, but I can’t attest to lunch and dinner though since we just had pizza.
Just like Pop Century, transportation to the parks via buses was pretty easy. AoA is the closest to Hollywood Studios and Epcot, with Magic Kingdom being the farthest. Still, you get to MK pretty fast in my opinion. It will be interesting to see the Disney Skyliner once it is completed, since it will connect Pop Century and AoA to Hollywood Studios and Epcot.
Overall, I had no problem staying at AoA and I think I prefer it over Pop Century. Not that I didn’t enjoy my stay at Pop Century, I just prefer the Little Mermaid themed rooms since they seem less outdated. You can tell AoA is a newer resort. Also, The Little Mermaid and The Lion King hold a special place in my heart. I can’t really attest to the All-Star themed resorts, which are the other value resorts in Disney, but I think AoA may be my first choice from now on even though AoA is the most pricey.
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