S71 does AOA and a MNSSHP...Yipeeeee

[Judy in Texas 150]

And he at the stage of always grabbing his junk...lol

Maybe he's just practicing to be a major league baseball player. 

[DaveInTN 3,247]

And he at the stage of always grabbing his junk...lol

 

You grow out of that stage?  :clint:  

[Starbuc71 162]

Moving on. We saw the Nemo area and the cars area next on our walk was the lion king area. If anyone has been to pop century, AOA is set up just about the same way. Infact most know originally AOA was going to be an extension of pop century focusing on the 20's, 30's and 40's. Both resorts in my opinion are very simple resorts. I guess they have to be to qualify to be a value resort. The lion king area does not have a pool. It only has a cool walkway through the buildings that is heavily themed

Besides the themed walkways and life sized characters, I think this is a very simple resort with minimal amenities.

Since we knew we would most likely be put in the little mermaid area, we chose not to walk there now. It was now 4pm and we did not get a Disney text yet stating our room was ready. We went back to the check-in desk and the lines were worse than before. People were screaming and throwing magic bands. I had to laugh at this point. Throwing magic bands at the desk was a huge laugh. I should have grabbed a pic. Anyways Disney did get smart having a few CM walk around the lobby with iPads to help guest. I finally fought to get ones attention and she stated our room was ready. Hooray.. We could finally leave the insanity area.

Next up we get to our tiny room

[alexwyattmommy 181]

Really?  They were throwing their magic bands?  They must not have known how much it would cost to replace it.  That would have stopped them in their tracks.

 

The cone cabanas do look pretty cool.

[DaveInTN 3,247]

While pics of the magic band throwing would have been good, video would have gone viral.  Take that, Disney!  LOL.  

 

Looking forward to hearing about your room.  

[Starbuc71 162]

Really?  They were throwing their magic bands?  They must not have known how much it would cost to replace it.  That would have stopped them in their tracks.

 

The cone cabanas do look pretty cool.

  

While pics of the magic band throwing would have been good, video would have gone viral.  Take that, Disney!  LOL.  

 

Looking forward to hearing about your room.

If I were not so upset trying to figure out a way to not stand in the extra long line to see f our room was ready, I'm sure I would have at least gabbed a pic. The one lady that threw her band was swearing at the CM that the band would not open her room door and she was with 1 handicap child and 4 others and was a single mom. She threw it and said "stick this". I will say the bands do not work like most proximity cards. You have to make sure the Disney head is right against the sensor or it will not work

[fortpartyof4 108]

Your kids are adorable.  I love the cozy cones at the pool, but agree it is probably next to impossible to score one.  Maybe you could go down at like 3 am and sleep the rest of the night there so you can be sure to get one?!?!?

 

We've walked around AofA twice, but both times it was spring/summer and super hot and sticky out.  Had to keep ducking into the buildings for the ac.  Never have made it all the way around so I am looking forward to more pictures!

 

Why do so many recent TR's turn to the subject of male junk?  (though I, too noticed your little boy doing the "gotta pee" sign…….know it well)  Kidding of course.

[Starbuc71 162]

Well, it's now 4:15 and the iPad CM states our room was ready which was awesome since I did not have to wait in the monster line. I did not receive a text yet so I wanted to see how long it would take. Besides the magic bands, we also received KTTW cards. I figure we would use these since I have new magic bands coming in November. When we got to our room, we had no choice to use the bands since the card slots were removed from the doors. We were assigned the little mermaid section. My wife read the reviews of the hotel prior to coming and walking distance was one of the biggest disappointments. Even moving the car to the closest spot to the room was a haul. This was defiantly a thumbs down for the resort. Even the configurations of the sidewalks made you walk way out of your way to get to an end spot of a wing

Our room was on the front corner and yet we had to walk to the end of the opposite wing to get to it. I guess I could have dragged the suitcase and strollers through the grass but that would have gotten me more mad.

Not many pictures of the room, but it was tiny. Also a friend of mine who is in construction told me a while ago," spackle and paint make things what they ain't". This was totally true for these rooms

To me these rooms were put together mega fast with minimal little mermaid props (headboard, bed spread, mirror, blue paint and dark blue shower tiles) and of course a $150 shower curtain

The walls were all marked up from previous suitcases hitting the wall and the carpet was not the cleanest I've seen. The room reminded more of the cheap dark rooms of a cruise ship rather than a magical place with Ariel under the sea. But the kids enjoyed it and that's all that mattered.

[LONE-STAR 370]

The room doesn't look great but the resort looks nice.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Since we knew we would most likely be put in the little mermaid area, we chose not to walk there now.

 

 

Dave-  FYI all of the rooms in the other sections in AoA are family suites- so if you reserve a regular guest room, the Little Mermaid area is the only area you'll be assigned.

 

The buildings for this part of the resort were almost complete when they scrubbed the idea that it would be part of Pop Century.  So, those rooms are identical in size to Pop Century rooms.

 

But, they do have nice shower curtains.

 

TCD

[devores 382]

A note on the KTTW card and door locks not having a card slot,

 

The KTTW cards have an RF chip and will work to open your door by just holding the card to the Mickey logo.

 

The new keys and tickets all have RF chips and will function just like a MB.

[Starbuc71 162]

A note on the KTTW card and door locks not having a card slot,

 

The KTTW cards have an RF chip and will work to open your door by just holding the card to the Mickey logo.

 

The new keys and tickets all have RF chips and will function just like a MB.

That's what I thought but our cards refused to work. We waved them, smacked them and everything else to get the card to open the door and no luck

[Laura 17]

Great report so far!  You had me laughing almost to tears twice!  Once for the Joke mug suggestion of buying 1 new one and refilling your old ones with it.....and second your description of trying to use the KTTW cards to open the door.   We toured the AOA resort last year and it is a TON of walking. I think they should allow golf carts....... The resort is pretty, BUT less than functional as far as ease of getting around and getting to food/drink stations.  I would hate it there. I am WAY too spoiled at the Fort.

[Starbuc71 162]

Time for an update. It's now 5pm and we just got our text that our room was ready. Luckily I checked with iPad girl an hour earlier and got our room then. The resort was still packed and we wanted to have a nice dinner not in a hectic food court. Being that I love to surprise our kids I got sneaky and got a ressie at Trails End at the fort the night before. That's only one reason you gotta love the fort. Where else can you get a 6:30 reservation the night before. And IMHO the food at TE has improved a lot the past few years and we really enjoy it.

So off we went on our mile trek to get to the AOA bus stop. Our plan was to take the MK bus then hop the campground boat to the fort. God I feel like TCD since we never did this before...lol. Of course the bus stop was packed

Every other stop was empty. Just our luck. Most of you know how much I hate crowds..lol. This was our bus to the MK

This was the only bus trip on this vacation that we got to sit. The bus trips get worse from here. We arrived at MK with a so so crowd at the bus stop

The MK did not look to bad for a MNSSHP

A fort boat was pulling up shortly so I got a shot of the always packed poly and GF boat

Once on the boat I snapped these. I call them sunset over GF and Sunset over CR

I call this one monorail on fire

Since there were only 4 people going to the lodge, they let them on which meant one more stop until the fort. We saw this when we got to the lodge

This was the line at the lodge for the MK boat. They let them all on. I thought that was totally unfair for the poor campers who were waiting to get on the MK boat back at the fort. The boat was packed and only about 10 people got off at the fort. We finally made it

I still could not understand why all the resorts were so busy. The settlement area was packed. More than usual for a HDDR and a mickeys backyard BBQ

Here is one of our favorite places

Here is my son loving his dinner (without grabbing his junk)

......and of course, some dessert

Before we left, I had to get a pic of how the rapid joke machine is working out

I had to laugh again just like the throwing of the Magic bands. I guy went up and started to get some sprite then changed his mind and poured it out. When he went for the coke it hypothetically said "no coke for you". Movie quote, guess it? I guess there is like a 20 sec or so delay between fill ups but this guy must have been in a bad mood because he started slamming the levers with his cup until I guess the delay was over. With a quiet "FU" machine, the man left.

Next up, the horror of getting back to AOA

[Thrill Shakespeare (Andy) 58]

"No coke for you" would be a play on "no soup for you" from Seinfeld.

 

Those were some crazy crowds.  Enjoying the report!

[Starbuc71 162]

"No coke for you" would be a play on "no soup for you" from Seinfeld.

Those were some crazy crowds. Enjoying the report!

Nope, no Seinfeld. Actually the quote I was thinking of was ," you ain't gettin no coke". My bad

[alexwyattmommy 181]

Those are some crazy crowds.  They look like high summer crowds.

[LONE-STAR 370]

Trails End sounds good about now.

[GaDawgFan.....Kelly 799]

The crowds are surprising me too. I wonder how the number of rooms at a value resort compares to the moderate and deluxe resorts.

[LONE-STAR 370]

The crowds are surprising me too. I wonder how the number of rooms at a value resort compares to the moderate and deluxe resorts.

When we stayed at AKL over spring break it felt like we had the place to our self.

[mouseketab.....Carol 1,261]

In Art of Animation there are 1120 family suites with a max occupancy of 6, and 864 standard rooms with an occupancy of 4.

 

That equals to a max capacity of 10,176 people!

 

When we stay at a Value we choose All-Star Music, because it only has a max capacity of about 7300 with the same sized food court, same sized check in area, and the same bus stop service (although sometimes they do share with the other All-Stars and the same amount of acreage as far as land use.

 

The difference is that All-Star Music only has 3 floors per building vs. 4 floors at AoA, and 192 of the rooms have been converted to family suites, so capacity wise, it is the smallest.

 

and if you can imagine it, Pop Century is even worse!!  It has a max capacity of 11520! with the same size public services and acreage as the other values.

 

Yes, the Fort has a max capacity of 10438 + the capacity of the group camping area, but undoubtedly, there is rarely 10 folks on EVERY campsite, or 6 folks in EVERY cabin, and the acreage of the Fort is huge.

[Travisma 1,317]

The Fort was at capacity + the weekend of the 18th. Settlement was mobbed. Loop 2000 was nuts. But the internal busses weren't too bad, and the boat to MK Sunday to get to the AKL bus at the transfer station wasn't bad, nor were the busses to and from AKL.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

I call this one monorail on fire

 

 

 

Excellent job, S71!

 

I wish old Lou wasn't hibernating.  He would love that monorail on fire photo!

 

Man, you had a crowded trip to the Fort. But, I salute you for doing the boat from the MK- that is an awesome way to go.

 

That is classic how they made all the Fort guests take a detour so four WL guests didn't have to wait a few minutes for their own boat- and then they loaded up WL guests on the Fort's boat!  Could they make it any more obvious that the Fort guests are at the bottom of the proverbial totem pole?

 

Uh-oh, sounds like the trip back was worse than the trip there.  I can't wait to hear about that.

 

TCD

[mouseketab.....Carol 1,261]

The Fort was at capacity + the weekend of the 18th. Settlement was mobbed. Loop 2000 was nuts. But the internal busses weren't too bad, and the boat to MK Sunday to get to the AKL bus at the transfer station wasn't bad, nor were the busses to and from AKL.

Every site may have been booked, but very doubtful that 10 people were booked on every site.

 

Carol

[Travisma 1,317]

Every site may have been booked, but very doubtful that 10 people were booked on every site.

 

Carol

It sure seemed like every site had 20 people!