Disney's Art of Animation Resort |
Address |
1850 Animation Way |
City |
Lake Buena Vista |
State |
Florida |
Zip |
32830 |
Telephone |
(407) 938-7000 |
Members Rating |
(4.5) |
Reviews from Members |
Member |
Review |
Imagineer
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We've previously stayed at POR, CSR and AKL (Kidani). We chose AOA because our DD was now 3 and thought she would love this resort with all the statues and theming of the resort, we thought we would loose some room space and amenities from the likes of POR and CSR however whatever we lost or looked like we were loosing couldn't be seen. Honestly I don't know why we have been staying at POR and CSR. Not that there's anything wrong with those resorts but we couldn't find any major difference when compared to AOA. We would gladly stay at AOA again. The pools were great, the CM's were great, food courts and shops were what we are used to. We loved playing ladder toss on our way to and from our room, roasting marshmallows, making a tie-dye t-shirt and watching our DD play on the playground.
We enjoyed the Skyliner, one thing to add about this is that we could hear the Skyliner running early hours in our room but it didn't interrupt our sleep. The resort was clean, I didnt notice anything out of place.
We had so much fun at this resort and will return3 |
September 2022 |
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VIP Dibber
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Stayed here for 5 nights in September during Hurricane Irma in the Little Mermaid block. Staff looked after us well, gave us near constant updates, character meet and greets and a flashlight. I didn't like that they charged us $2 for an apple before the hurricane. But I felt reasonably well looked after. Also, when there's no hurricane, it's nice to take a break from the Disney World and rest before going back to the parks.
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September 2017 |
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Imagineer
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We stayed in a little mermaid room for 2 nights after our cruise at the end of December.
We were in building 7. Maybe its because we were at the end of our holiday, but the walk from animation hall to our room seemed a long way! I would say it took nearly 10 minutes each way.
The room was nice and clean, but I'm not sure I could stay in that type of room for a full 2 weeks. I don't think there would have been enough storage space for the three of us. Having the fridge was handy. The beds weren't overly big or comfortable, and the pillows were a little flat. The towels are also on the thin side. but I do understand you get what you pay for!
The positives of this resort is without a doubt the theming. It really is fantastic! And the larger than life figures are superb. Its just a shame some people who can obviously speak English cannot read the no climbing signs next to the figures. We say one girl laying in Ariel's treasure chest while the grown up's with her took her photo!
I wasn't overly impressed with the food court. The selection of food on offer is great, but I didn't like the idea of going to different counters to get different types of food, while your first food you picked up goes cold!
The big blue swimming pool is lovely, a great area for kids. My DD loved it! Although the resort was busy we did always manage to get a seat / sunbed.
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December 2015 |
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Imagineer
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Good pool area for families but quiet enough to relax if you don't have kids. Rooms are a little small but very colourful and are comfortable (we had Little Mermaid). We would stay there again. |
September 2015 |
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VIP Dibber
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We stayed here for the last 4 nights of our holiday. I'm afraid we were disappointed.
We had driven from Vero Beach and could not find the resort at all at first. The signposting for this resort is shocking - almost non-existent. The Cast Member behind check in confirmed that the comment had been made on a number of occasions previously.
Our room was a Little Mermaid room in the Ursula building. The theming was great but the walk from the main building was lengthy in the heat. The room was clean if not overly large and we were surprised to find that there was no coffee making facility in there. We considered buying a refill mug but the only filling station seemed to be in the main building and the coffee would have been cold by the time we got back to the room.
The food court was the worst part of this hotel. The menu did not change from day to day. There was no facility to serve yourself with anything and the servers were slow and many seemed to struggle with understanding guest requests. The salad bar was extremely limited, the queuing took ages which meant that the food was tepid by the time you got to eat it.
I'm not sure this hotel can truly be classed as a value resort as the prices are far more than the others in the same class and you don't seem to get anything extra for the money.
I'm sure that, if you can afford to stay in a suite, the overall experience would be much better. Personally, we would not choose to stay here again. |
August 2015 |
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VIP Dibber
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We changed our booking for a room at CBR to a suite at AoA just a month before travelling. I'm glad we did, because it was wonderful having all that extra room to spread out into, as well as a full size table (we all take laptops on holiday with us). The first night our daughter slept on the pull-down table bed as we thought it would be easier than humping the bedsettee out. She slept very well, considering: none of us sleep well in a strange bed for a couple of nights. OH and I enjoyed the privacy of having our own room and bathroom, too.
We had originally requested a Lion King Suite for the colouring/theming, but when we got to check-in the only room they had available on the ground floor was at the far end of the nearest building and I thought it would be too far to walk on my stick. Besides, there's no laundry area in the LK part of the resort. I asked about a Cars Suite instead, and was shown an extremely convenient suite right by the main entrance - perfect for me to manage on my own in my ECV.
Walking to our room once we'd moved our car to the Cars paking lot, we felt a frisson of excitement: the Cars theming is absolutely spot on: it really felt as if we were in Radiator Springs. The only disappointing part about our suite was the general colour scheme: it's all sands/oranges so feels a bit dowdy, but other than that we had no complaints about size or amenities. We had the usual facilities in the kitchenette, although we never actually used the microwave (as we had the QSDP).
Day one was busy: I'd discovered we had no hot water at the kitchenette sink, the light above the bath in the 'family' bathroom was on its last legs and the safe didn't work. However, after a succession of peope coming to the room bringing new lightbulb, a tool kit, the gear to re-set the safe and a housekeeper bringing an armful of spare hangers, it was all sorted out within the hour. Turns out the hot and cold pipes had been cross-connected so that was an easy fix!
The general theming of the resort is amazing. While OH and DD relaxed round the pool that afternoon, I put my sunhat and sunglasses on, picked up my camera, got on my ECV and did a tour of the entire resort. Yes, it is huge: not a tour I'd want to make on foot, to be honest. However, it is amazing. When the landscaping has settled in a few years (you can see it's all relatively-newly planted) it's going to be even better.
There is a bridge over to Pop Century, which is just the other side of the lake. In fact, from the bridge Pop seemed to be nearer to the main building than the Little Mermaid rooms. We did go over to Pop once or twice: even though it's identical in general lay-out, it seems so different as it's all rooms and no suites there. AoA is what they call 'value plus' and has that little bit extra.
The food hall at AoA is enormous. It's also not laid out in the most logical way, with food to go at the front but the cold drinks fridges right at the back. By the time you've queued up at any of the food stations (where ALL the food is prepared or even freshly cooked) and got through the till and then sat down, the food is invariably luke warm at best. I don't think we had a single properly hot meal while we were there: they have the aircon jacked up so high. Food-wise it wasn't bad, but we were there for 2 weeks, and quickly got bored with the selection. They could really do with some choices that involve chicken quarters, for example. Even the salad bar was really disappointing; the only 'protein' they had was chicken or prawns, both liberally coated in black pepper - which I hate. And unfortunately the USA is hooked on ranch dressing, which we hate. What's wrong with salad cream! It's the only food hall we've eaten in which has china 'flatware' and real metal cutlery! It's so much easier to eat using proper cutlery, I can tell you! Also, nearly everything they serve is available in card 'take away' boxes so you can take it back to your room/suite to eat.
We couldn't fault the bus service at all. There was a separate stop for each park, and a shared stop for DTD and the water park (this changes depending on which water park is open - Blizzard beach was closed while we were there). I don't think we ever waited longer than 15 minutes for a bus, and a couple of times a bus was waiting to take over as soon as a full bus left (MK, especially).
I totally agree with an earlier reviewer's comments that the road signs hardly show up at night. They're extremely difficult to read, and it was very difficult when we first arrived as the way the roads are laid out it's easy to go the wrong way and find yourself in a CM- or bus-only road!
It was also very difficult trying to find our resort! I didn't know that AoA was classed as a 'World of Sports' resort, and OH and I got lost 3 times on the way back from Walmart on our first morning. We found ourselves at the paybooths for Epcot and then Animal Kingdom! It's a good thing we weren't in a hurry. It was nearly the end of the second week before we could come out of the hotel and know whether to turn left or right, or know exactly which lane to get into on our way back! It's good the roads weren't busy, as we were crossing lanes so much the first few days. It all looks the same, that's the trouble! AofA is not signposted properly at all: it's there, you turn the corner, go up the road - and it's gone again! Still, we now know how close it is to CBR so if we saw a sign for CBR we headed for that one and instead of turning into the main entrance, carried on, took the next left, and AoA would be 3rd entrance on the left.
Cars has its own laundry room (in the same block as the toilets and changing rooms for the Cars pool), but note that the washing machines there aren't as big as the usual facilities you find in hotels. Also note that it was $1 for the washing powder (one dose), $2 for the machine and a further $2 for the dryer. So, I only did one wash as a result.
We would absolutely stay at AoA again, though. Everyone was friendly, the CMs were good and efficient, and the whole place was clean, fresh and colourful. |
March 2015 |
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VIP Dibber
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We stayed in the Nemo suite for 2 nights in August 2014,the hotel theme was fantastic and the nemo suite had everything we needed as a family of 6. We however thought the food hall was crowded and noisy and feel the hotel would benefit from another restaurant with waiter service. We enjoyed walking around the hotel grounds so many wonderful things to see.
Would definitely return. |
August 2014 |
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Imagineer
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This Hotel is everything you expect from Disney and more. Well worth every penny. Highly recommend |
November 2013 |
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Imagineer
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We booked to stay here for the last 2 nights of our holiday as a surprise for DD6 and we are so glad we did. I don't think any of us could have imagined just how it would be. Of course you see the pictures but nothing prepares you for it in 'real life'.
On arrival we waited in line for about 10 minutes to check in as I had forgotten to do online check in before hand. Why we were waiting though a cast member came over with an iPad and completed the registration for us so when we got to the desk it was only to collect the key cards, magic bands, information ect. The cast member actually had DD behind the desk telling her where she needed to get things from to out our pack together. She was absolutely over the moon!
Our room was a Little Mermaid room in the Ursula building, the theming was great. DD just kept walking round with her mouth wide open! Even DH was impressed and he's a hard nut to crack. The room was spotless. It wasn't the biggest room and space to put your clothes would have to be juggled very well if you were staying for over a week I would say but all in all it was fine. The only thing that I was disappointed with about the room is that they was no coffee making facility. It seems odd in an American hotel not to have even a one cup coffee machine.
The outside areas of the resort were also very well themed and spotless. Everything has been completed to such high standards and the amount of photographs people were taking was proof of this. There was lots of big open spaces too so you didn't feel all closed in.
In the food court was a large choice of meals however the downside was that the menu never changed. So even though you had the burger station, a pizza and pasta station, etc, the food at each station was the same every day. We weren't on the dining plan though I can imagine e that this would get a bit boring if you were. Also, as with any big complex, the food hall got busy at certain times so you have to manage your time well I. Order not to have cold food by the time you have queued up to pay for it.
Overall a fantastic resort with great theming and comfortable, clean rooms. Would we stay here again, definitely! |
October 2013 |
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Imagineer
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We stayed here in October 2013 in a cars suite, we actually booked a little mermaid room but got an upgrade. The check in was quick and smooth and the rooms easy to find. The theming of this hotel is amazing! We were very impressed with the food court, I'm a fussy vegetarian and had some lovely pastas there. The bus service was excellent, everywhere was clean and tidy. The Only thing the room didn't have was a kettle but we took our own travel kettle so we could still have a cup of tea! You won't be disappointed if you stay here it's a fabulous resort! |
October 2013 |
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Imagineer
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We stayed here for 8 nights in July 2013.
On first arrival at the Check In Lobby, it was like Blackpool Illuminations with all the lights, guess it’d be fun to check in at night, although you’d probably have to put your sunglasses on. Check-in was quick and efficient, desks were well-manned (and womanned).
We actually were offered an upgrade to Cars Suite, we had booked a Little Mermaid Room. However we politely refused as we had already planned for our little girls stay and the tie-in with The Little Mermaid. A quick call to ensure the room was ready and okay was done and we set off. We were driving so took our cases ourselves by driving down to the block.
We were booked into the Ariel Building, the other 2 being Ursula and King Triton. Ariel’s building would be the furthest from The Big Pool and Animation Hall. However this was only a short stroll, and only in wet conditions would it be a slight nuisance, although that could go for anywhere.
As already said the place is still shiny new looking and is super clean, although I found that to be the case with Orlando in general. The room was on the 3rd floor (2nd floor to us, but it seems the 1st floor is us Brits Ground Floor). The building is serviced by 2 lifts as well as a stairwell.
On arriving at our room the easy to use access panel with our room keycard opened up to a beautiful clean and bright room. Obviously this might be deemed more towards the female side of families, Ariel is only evident on the Privacy Curtain and the Shower Curtain, the rest us just basically sea type decoration, the lights being beautiful pearl shades. So I wouldn’t be overly concerned if a boy was in the party. The room is relatively small, but this was of no concern to us. 2 double beds each with their own light on the headboard, storage was pretty short, but we were fine with this. The chest of drawers is actually only 3 drawers, I thought it was 6, but our little one actually opened the right side of the chest to reveal a refridgerator which is of decent size. There is a small table and chair (2 of ) set, the chairs are a nice red with a seashell design whilst the table is round and has some song sheets imprinted onto it with the words to ‘Under the Sea’.
TV is a nice plasma with remote (And thankfully had a USB connection to charge my iphone as our charger broke, and only had a USB charger left). There was another device under the television, but did not take much notice of this, but it did seem to have various jacks for possible video equipment.
The sink area also has an Ironing Board (didn’t know how to put it back down, LOL) and Iron, as well as a Hairdryer. This area also houses the clothes-rail with hangers supplied (maybe about a dozen, but that’s just a guess). And also the Safe which is now electronic and easy to use, although it was a tad small. Mirror has a nice under the sea theme to it with the pearl light shading.
The bathroom is very small, and quite bizarre as not that it should be an issue, but if the toilet door opened and you were sat in the pan be prepared to have sore knees. The shower area is tiled with lovely rich blue colours to imitate the sea along with a nice mural on the shower wall of an underwater effect.
Both toilet and washroom are supplied with soap and shower items (H2O range during our stay).
The resort itself is very impressive, if you’re looking for a place away from the parks and the whole in-your-face stuff, then you’re going to be very disappointed. The value resorts for me have fab theming, some may think overboard, but I love it. Art of Animation delivers this in abundance, all areas with the resort are heavily themed with film characters and locations dotted all around, this will probably be the most photographed resort you’ll see, the Cars Section is especially impressive.
The food court (which I will admit we never got round to trying) seemed to have a good range of meals, although some close earlier than others, I believe it serves upto 12am, but on our arrival late we could only order from the Pizza section which we decided to opt against, as it was very busy with a load of people like ourselves coming off the bus from the parks. The Ink & Paint Shop which is the merchandise shop is a decent size and sells a lot of different various Disney memorabilia.
The pools are usually busy, The Cars Section and Little Mermaid section have a small pool area, Lion King Area does not have a pool. And obviously Finding Nemo section houses the large Big Blue Pool, this also incorporates the small water play area and also Squirts small play area too. The other play area to be found is at Lion King Area (this area was shut off a few days into our stay for renovation work).
The bus service is also very good, these are found at Animation Hall and take you to all the various Disney Parks, they are not a shared service. Taxis can also be found outside the Check-in/out area. Parking offers plenty of spaces and take in all areas of the resort.
Would have no hesitation to stay in the resort, as it has wonderful theming and into the bargain for even more picture opportunities and a different theme you can pop over the hourglass bridge to the neighbouring Pop Century Resort (you could actually use their bus service too if you wish).
Superb resort.
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July 2013 |
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Very Serious Dibber
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Our first trip to Disney and we chose to stay at the Art of Animation hotel and were not disappointed!
Check in was swift and being a first timer I asked lots of questions and they were all answered and was encouraged to come back with any more or if I needed anything. We were in the Lion King suites which were great. Very practical layout and with 3 separate sleeping areas for the 4 of us it meant that we weren't on top of each other -great as our kids 10 and 12 don't always get on very well. Theming was fab and everything was clean, housekeeping was good and left down the beds when we asked as this saved making them up if we got in late. We were about 5 mins walk from the main building and pool which was really convenient. I did walk around the whole resort and the furthest rooms were not that far, 10 minutes at most for an adult. The kitchenette had a coffee machine, microwave, fridge, sink and disposable cutlery and plates. It was all replenished when necessary.
We only used the main pool, the kids would have probably spent the whole holiday here if they could. Again fab theming, music is played under the water and there is a splash area which is great for little ones. People did seem to reserve sun beds and then never appear, but we only had to wait for one once and that was during Easter week. Lifeguards very diligent. At the pool there is a launderette which was very reasonable and a bar which we didn't use as well as table tennis.
Transport to and from parks was very slick and we never had a very long wait, even in Easter week.
There is also a gift shop on site which also sells basic toiletries and a few food items, postcards and stamps as well as loads of Disney stuff!
There is a sizeable amusement arcade, we only used this when waiting for our coach back to the airport, but you have to get and load a card with credit so you don't need cash but it would be easy to spend a lot of money as you can charge it to your room or a bank card.
The only thing which we wouldn't rave about is the food court. It is the same thing day in day out, no variation, and at certain times of day seems quite chaotic. We weren't on a dining plan so some of the food seemed very expensive for what it was, 4.99 for a tiny bowl of cereal then you had to buy the milk, we didn't do that twice. Also if you wanted food from different places then it is likely that one of you would end up with cold food whilst waiting for the other. The best items that we had here were the choose your own salad, family size pizza (very good value) and in the morning we got choc chip pancakes to take out and ate them in the room, it made the early starts easier! You could also buy large cartons of milk which we stored in our fridge. The drinks machines for the refillable cups were also located here. The food court is adequate, but is a bit like being in a motorway service station you just want to eat and go.
Would recommend this hotel throughly, was a great place to stay on our first trip to Disney. |
April 2013 |
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Imagineer
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Our arrival at Art of Animation didn’t start too well. We found it hard to find as it didn’t seem to be on many signs but we decided to follow the signs to ESPN sports as I thought it was near there and we managed to pick up signs then. It was dark and all the signs in the hotel are hard to read in the dark so struggled to know where to park. We then queued for about 20 minutes to check-in as everyone took ages, when we were called they seemed to have to type everything in again including all our names, address etc even though it was all on the booking form. The CM said it was the new computers and it was driving them crazy!
We were on the 5th floor (4th to us Brits) in the number 5 building in a Finding Nemo Family Suite.
Building 5 has a brilliant location overlooking the Big Blue Pool and right next to the Animation Hall where we could fill up our drinks cups. This was particularly useful for hubby and me as we do like a cup of tea in the morning and there was no way of making that in the room.
The corridor had wonderful wave like carpet which incorporated Hidden Mickeys too.
Our room was very colourful but also really practical too. The master bedroom was very spacious; there would have been loads of room for a cot too. There were lots of drawers throughout the Suite and there was also a hanging rail in the lounge area and the master bedroom. We were only staying 4 nights so lived mainly out of our cases but I was impressed by the amount of clever storage.
As you walk in to the Suite you are in the Dining area which has a table which quickly converts in to a bed with a quick pull. This is a double bed and is also very easy to push back up in the morning ready for breakfast, it has nice lights over it which can be dimmed so are ideal for reading at night as well as two bedside cabinets. The only problem is that the funky orange chairs cannot be stacked which seems a bit of a design flaw, you just have to shove them against the wall where they are a bit of a trip hazard. The other bed is located in the sitting area and is a sofa bed. The resort is very new so the sofa bed was comfortable and not at all worn or saggy like we have experienced in other places, it was also very easy to pull out and put away. The sitting area also had another chair which looked more comfortable than it was and a couple of stools which doubled as tables.
There was also a small area with a fridge, microwave, coffee maker and sink and some paper plates, cups and bowls and plastic cutlery. This was handy for cereals in the morning but I was disappointed that there wasn’t a toaster.
There were two bathrooms which is really handy when holidaying with two teenagers. One had a large walk in shower whilst the other had a shower over the bath. These were well stocked with towels, shampoo and soap but unfortunately no shower gel. Housekeeping kept leaving more soap even when we didn’t open them; we came home with 10 bars!
Our main problem with the room was the fact that the last guest had obviously been a heavy smoker. The windows don’t open and the smell was awful. We were there over Christmas and they said they couldn’t move us (which I think was true) but they immediately sent up an air-purifier to run overnight and the next day they shampooed the carpets and soft furnishings to help alleviate the problem. They phoned several times to check that we were happy with what they were doing and I felt they did the best they could.
Unfortunately we didn’t get to try the Big Blue Pool but it looked amazing, very colourful with a brilliant splash-play area too.
The Animation Hall contained the Landscape of Flavours Quick Service Restaurant. We used the drinks stations a lot and there was lots of variety, the best we have seen at a resort. We only ate there one lunchtime. It wasn’t too busy but I disliked the fact that you have to queue in different places to get the different meals. I ended up eating on my own as my meal was getting cold whilst my family were still queuing to order theirs! What we had was nice but it was just a bit hectic to get. There was lots of choice, salads, soup, pasta, burgers and several desserts so even the fussiest eater should find something they liked.
We only use our car and we were able to park a couple of minutes walk away from our block. However we noticed that the buses only go from outside the Animation hall, they do not service the blocks at either end of the resort so if you were in a Little Mermaid room in Block 8 you are actually quite a walk from the main building. The walk is picturesque with lots to look at but it would probably be very slow with little ones who would want to look at everything!
We only had a short stay here but I would be more than happy to return. If I am honest I prefer having a balcony and that is the only thing that would put me off in the warmer months but the size of the room and the wonderful theming throughout the resort gave it a real magical feel. Every CM we met was helpful and the comfy beds were a definite winner with me!
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December 2012 |
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Proud to wear my Ears
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well this hotel is amazing the theme is brilliant, the only thing I have to point out that let me down was one the pool having a fence around it, its not very eye pleasing other than that its a true disney hotel! |
January 1970 |
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Imagineer
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We (adult couple) stayed here in Nov 16. We were delighted that our room requests were automatically given (top floor with lake view). We stayed in the Little Mermaid buildings and it couldn't have been better for us. Rooms were exactly like All-Stars but the resort is amazing. We loved everything about it. We are definitely going back. We had beautiful views in the mornings and evenings of sunrise and sunset. Staff were lovely and far more accommodating than we found at All-Stars. Food court was lovely to chill out in. |
January 1970 |
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