I said we would never do it but ......

Jimmy Mouse

My other car is the Monorail
Joined
Sep 3, 2017
We booked a value. The last 3 years we stayed at the Contemporary Atrium and we just got back (9/6-9/16) Atrium Club Level and we loved it beyond what we could imagine! So while there we applied our 10 day hoppers and Memory Maker towards Platinum Passes so we decided to come back for Christmas! Not "Christmas time" per say but actually Christmas week (I know, crazy crowds) because our girls really wanted to be at Disney on Christmas and our 4 year old turns 5 on the 27th! What's better than Christmas? A Disney Birthday of course! So after finding out the room price at Contemporary Club Level was going to be $7404 AFTER our Passholder discount, I told the wife it was just way too much for 5 nights room only. The agent on the phone recommended the Nemo Family Suite and AoA. Same dates (12/22-28th) $3004 and we get a suite? really? So we booked it. Now I have buyers remorse setting in. After being spoiled at Club Level, are we going to be disappointed? It it crazy noisey? How is the transportation? Minnie Vans are getting too expensive and during Christmas, probably limited availability. So did I make a mistake? The girls already know about it so I'm not going to break their hearts. We will still go but just want some insight on what to expect.
 
We booked a value. The last 3 years we stayed at the Contemporary Atrium and we just got back (9/6-9/16) Atrium Club Level and we loved it beyond what we could imagine! So while there we applied our 10 day hoppers and Memory Maker towards Platinum Passes so we decided to come back for Christmas! Not "Christmas time" per say but actually Christmas week (I know, crazy crowds) because our girls really wanted to be at Disney on Christmas and our 4 year old turns 5 on the 27th! What's better than Christmas? A Disney Birthday of course! So after finding out the room price at Contemporary Club Level was going to be $7404 AFTER our Passholder discount, I told the wife it was just way too much for 5 nights room only. The agent on the phone recommended the Nemo Family Suite and AoA. Same dates (12/22-28th) $3004 and we get a suite? really? So we booked it. Now I have buyers remorse setting in. After being spoiled at Club Level, are we going to be disappointed? It it crazy noisey? How is the transportation? Minnie Vans are getting too expensive and during Christmas, probably limited availability. So did I make a mistake? The girls already know about it so I'm not going to break their hearts. We will still go but just want some insight on what to expect.

Wait, hold up. You are paying $600 PER NIGHT at a value suite????

Don't do that. There is no way in hell that is worth it. It's technically a suite, I guess. But it's not really anything special at all. The beds are hard, the sheets and towels are scratchy, the walls are thin...at the end of the day, it's a value resort and nothing at all like the Contemporary. I could never in a million years justify $600/night for that. We paid less than that for our Contemporary Tower Club room in July.

There has to be some middle ground. Try any other Deluxe without Club Level. Or if you really want a suite and a deluxe-ish experience, stay at the Dolphin or Swan.
 
Wait, hold up. You are paying $600 PER NIGHT at a value suite????

Don't do that. There is no way in hell that is worth it. It's technically a suite, I guess. But it's not really anything special at all. The beds are hard, the sheets and towels are scratchy, the walls are thin...at the end of the day, it's a value resort and nothing at all like the Contemporary. I could never in a million years justify $600/night for that. We paid less than that for our Contemporary Tower Club room in July.

There has to be some middle ground. Try any other Deluxe without Club Level. Or if you really want a suite and a deluxe-ish experience, stay at the Dolphin or Swan.

We paid $761 per night on our recent trip (9/6 - 9/16) Contemporary Atrium Club Level. That is September rates and at the time we we not Passholders so we didn't get the Passholder rate. For our December stay 12/22-28th which is 6 nights the only rooms available at Contemporary in the tower are $829.35 (not club level) which is $4976.10 plus tax. Club level is over $1200 per night but now sold out. Holiday Rates for the Nemo Suite at AoA are $475.31 per night Passholder Holiday rate which comes to $2,851.86 plus taxes. Plus we are technically getting 2 rooms, 2 bathrooms, 2 TV's, a kitchen and from what I read, the best pool in all of WDW. No way I would pay $600 per night at a value.
 
Wait, hold up. You are paying $600 PER NIGHT at a value suite????

Don't do that. There is no way in hell that is worth it. It's technically a suite, I guess. But it's not really anything special at all. The beds are hard, the sheets and towels are scratchy, the walls are thin...at the end of the day, it's a value resort and nothing at all like the Contemporary. I could never in a million years justify $600/night for that. We paid less than that for our Contemporary Tower Club room in July.

There has to be some middle ground. Try any other Deluxe without Club Level. Or if you really want a suite and a deluxe-ish experience, stay at the Dolphin or Swan.
I'm counting that 12/22-12/28 is 6 nights which makes it $500 not $600 per night.

The OP is going during a Holiday pricing season. According Mousesavers the time that they are going is the highest pricing for the AOA Family Suites (the next highest being New Years Day).

Have you stayed in the Nemo Suites?
 


We paid $761 per night on our recent trip (9/6 - 9/16) Contemporary Atrium Club Level. That is September rates and at the time we we not Passholders so we didn't get the Passholder rate. For our December stay 12/22-28th which is 6 nights the only rooms available at Contemporary in the tower are $829.35 (not club level) which is $4976.10 plus tax. Club level is over $1200 per night but now sold out. Holiday Rates for the Nemo Suite at AoA are $475.31 per night Passholder Holiday rate which comes to $2,851.86 plus taxes. Plus we are technically getting 2 rooms, 2 bathrooms, 2 TV's, a kitchen and from what I read, the best pool in all of WDW. No way I would pay $600 per night at a value.
If you want my honest opinion? Don't think about it in terms of "It's a Value".

Ask yourself some questions:
"Do you want to stay there with the amenities?"

"Do you like the theming and decor?"

"Is the layout especially sleeping arrangement work for your travelling party?"

"Do you think the space will be adequate for your traveling party?"

"What types of transportation will you be using to get to and from the parks"--I ask that because your prior trip you were within walking distance to MK so was that a big perk of being at the CR or are you ok with using buses and/or car.

etc,etc..you get the idea lol

If you're wondering about pictures google images pulls up a bunch for the Nemo Suite to give you an idea.
 
If you want to go to Disney Christmas Week and stay at a Disney hotel you are going to pay bags full of money for your room. No matter which room you pick that is what it will be. All relative. SO you set a budget for yourself and book it. Now that you are passholders, why not make each trip a bit different. Have different expectations for what each trip is. Why do the same thing over and over?

Your kids are young and they will have fun there. It is one of the best imagineered hotels on property that you have to take time to walk all over, it's a photo shoot dream. The Nemo area is close to the main pool, the cool coral reef playground, the main hub, food court and buses. The landscaping there is awesome, they picked out plants that make it look like you are under water.

You have choice of three pools (all heated) with the main big pool (underwater music), the cool Cars pool with cozy cone cabanas and the LM pool surrounded by awesome LM icons. The Cars section is so cool with roads and you feel like you are IN the movie. The Lion King section as a cool boneyard. Three pools are fun to bounce around and I would say a nicer pool minus slides/hot tubs than Contemporary. Nicest at WDW, no, but nicest of values for sure and competes with some moderates.

Food court is one of the better ones on property, wide range of food options and they serve all on real plates with real silverware. Bus service is relative no matter which resort.

The suite will give you a private bedroom and bathroom. The kids can each get a bed with the fold down murphy bed and sofa bed. They get their own bathroom as well. Living room space, dining table space and kitchenette. Mini fridge, microwave, sink, coffee maker and storage. It's highly decorated, whimsical and bold .......... but with younger kids it will be magical for a holiday trip.

IMG_2380.jpg



http://www.wdwinfo.com/walt-disney-world/our-familys-review-of-the-finding-nemo-suites-at-disneys-art-of-animation-resort/5222/
 
I've stayed at AoA twice. Ariel room and cars suite. It's my favorite value. Every section is so cute. The nemo pool is huge, zero entry and has music under water. The cars pool has cozy cone cabanas. The food court is great. As far as the buses I've stay value, moderate and deluxe and the buses can be hit or miss everywhere. I've never been Christmas week but my guess is all the buses will be busy. I think you made the right decision.
 


If you want to go to Disney Christmas Week and stay at a Disney hotel you are going to pay bags full of money for your room. No matter which room you pick that is what it will be. All relative. SO you set a budget for yourself and book it. Now that you are passholders, why not make each trip a bit different. Have different expectations for what each trip is. Why do the same thing over and over?

Your kids are young and they will have fun there. It is one of the best imagineered hotels on property that you have to take time to walk all over, it's a photo shoot dream. The Nemo area is close to the main pool, the cool coral reef playground, the main hub, food court and buses. The landscaping there is awesome, they picked out plants that make it look like you are under water.

You have choice of three pools (all heated) with the main big pool (underwater music), the cool Cars pool with cozy cone cabanas and the LM pool surrounded by awesome LM icons. The Cars section is so cool with roads and you feel like you are IN the movie. The Lion King section as a cool boneyard. Three pools are fun to bounce around and I would say a nicer pool minus slides/hot tubs than Contemporary. Nicest at WDW, no, but nicest of values for sure and competes with some moderates.

Food court is one of the better ones on property, wide range of food options and they serve all on real plates with real silverware. Bus service is relative no matter which resort.

The suite will give you a private bedroom and bathroom. The kids can each get a bed with the fold down murphy bed and sofa bed. They get their own bathroom as well. Living room space, dining table space and kitchenette. Mini fridge, microwave, sink, coffee maker and storage. It's highly decorated, whimsical and bold .......... but with younger kids it will be magical for a holiday trip.

IMG_2380.jpg



http://www.wdwinfo.com/walt-disney-world/our-familys-review-of-the-finding-nemo-suites-at-disneys-art-of-animation-resort/5222/

I just got off the phone with Disney. We talked about all options and we could stay at Beach Club for about $1000 more for the whole trip but what you say makes total since. This is for the kids. I think they will have a blast at AoA in the Nemo suite and the pool looks awesome! We are going to stick with what we have. Worse case, we can come back in a few months and stay somewhere else right? One question I do have about AoA pool. Since it seems to be huge with all the cool things going on, will it be overcrowded with people coming from all stars and pop or do they actually enforce the no pool hopping rule.
 
I just got off the phone with Disney. We talked about all options and we could stay at Beach Club for about $1000 more for the whole trip but what you say makes total since. This is for the kids. I think they will have a blast at AoA in the Nemo suite and the pool looks awesome! We are going to stick with what we have. Worse case, we can come back in a few months and stay somewhere else right? One question I do have about AoA pool. Since it seems to be huge with all the cool things going on, will it be overcrowded with people coming from all stars and pop or do they actually enforce the no pool hopping rule.
They dont really enforce anything there, but it won't be crowded with other hotels coming there...honestly it's just a pool and isn't "worth it" in terms of time/effort etc of coming from a different hotel. Dont get me wrong, it's cute, but just a regular value pool, plus a lil sound under the water in the main pool...def. not anywhere near the best pool on property. - Probably out of the values, but again nothing so much better that ppl are going to travel there to "break the rules" to swim.
 
I just got off the phone with Disney. We talked about all options and we could stay at Beach Club for about $1000 more for the whole trip but what you say makes total since. This is for the kids. I think they will have a blast at AoA in the Nemo suite and the pool looks awesome! We are going to stick with what we have. Worse case, we can come back in a few months and stay somewhere else right? One question I do have about AoA pool. Since it seems to be huge with all the cool things going on, will it be overcrowded with people coming from all stars and pop or do they actually enforce the no pool hopping rule.

Every amount you save pays towards the next trip. With an AP you’ll always be checking for a deal to return.

AllStars are not close or convenient to travel and I’ve been at POP about 35 times and never gone to AoA to swim. I have to eat and take a walk. I don’t think it will be an issue AND many people won’t swim that time of year.
 
FWIW ... We are Boardwalk junkies but couldn't get a room there on our last trip so booked a room at Beach Club instead. We HATED it!!! It's theming is "relaxing" which translates to boring! They apparently book a lot of corporate affairs (BIL is often at YC for seminars, etc.) so the vibe is decidedly less "Disney".

We are heading there in a couple of weeks and will be trying POR which was a favorite of ours when we were poorer and it was Dixie Landings. What we save now (just a long weekend trip) will make it easier to afford to come back for Spring Break in April. The kids will LOVE AoA and you will love the savings!
 
We had AofA booked for October. Cars suite. I just couldn’t do it. Was really dreading the chaos, noise and crowds of a value. We are dvc but are out of points this trip. I ended up going with a Fort Wilderness cabin. We are thrilled to have a full kitchen. Even with the golf cart rental it is cheaper than AofA. We have three real beds instead of one. So many activities. The kids are more excited to stay at the Fort than they were for AofA. It might be worth a look. Call in for a passholder discount. For my dates the AP rate was not online, but the phone agent had it.
 
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I am not a fan of the values. I stayed at Pop once and never again. I really like the Deluxe hotels, the convenience to the parks and indoor hallways. During Christmas week it is going to be crazy crowded. So you'll be spending a lot of travel time getting places. I think Deluxe would come in more handy then than any other time since you can be within walking distance of a park. I also think the price you are paying for the room at a value is crazy high and not worth the cost. At that rate you might as well stay off sight and get a lot more bang for your buck.
 
We’ve stayed in the Nemo suites and we really enjoyed it. Since then we’ve stayed Deluxe and we are planning to stay in a moderate our next trip but my husband still prefers the AOA suites because of the space and extra bathroom. We haven’t gone back yet because we decided to try a different hotel every trip. I’m sure we will stay there again at some point though because it was great. The pool and main building are really close to the building which makes everything easier. The food was good with a nice variety of things to choose from. We had no problems with the buses and probably had less of a wait then at the Wilderness Lodge.
 
I've stayed at all levels of Disney resorts. Poly Club level, Beach Club-standard, AKL-standard (twice), CBR, and AoA-twice!
Admittedly, I come from humble origins, but we really enjoyed AoA. We loved the space and eating breakfast and having a microwave. The kids loved the decor.
We had a car and drove everywhere except MK.
The two bathrooms were so helpful!
I found all the beds adequate and the kids just loved those pull down beds. Having two tvs was nice as well.
We didn't notice noise to be any better or worse than anywhere else...so I don't understand those complaints.
You still get interior doors.

ETA: At basically every resort unless it has a monorail or walking access to a theme park, we found using our car the best way to get around. We did use the bus to MK from AoA and it was fine. The only bus problem we had was related to a car accident outside of DHS one evening (which would have prevented us from leaving by car as well).
 
I'm counting that 12/22-12/28 is 6 nights which makes it $500 not $600 per night.

The OP is going during a Holiday pricing season. According Mousesavers the time that they are going is the highest pricing for the AOA Family Suites (the next highest being New Years Day).

Have you stayed in the Nemo Suites?

Sorry. OP said "5 night room only" so I was going by that.

I stayed in the Cars suite. I wouldn't do it again and we only paid $200/night. The AC didn't work well in the master, it was a cell signal and Wi-Fi dead zone inside our room, and the bed was super uncomfortable. My kids loved it but they were little at the time. I wasn't impressed by the pool at ALL. Overcrowded and really boring with no slides or any other real features. The music underwater was annoying Miley Cyrus style pop music. Eh. No way would I pay close to $500/night, but that is just my opinion. FWIW, my kids have never asked to go back there. They ask to go back to Pop all the time, though.
 
We paid $761 per night on our recent trip (9/6 - 9/16) Contemporary Atrium Club Level. That is September rates and at the time we we not Passholders so we didn't get the Passholder rate. For our December stay 12/22-28th which is 6 nights the only rooms available at Contemporary in the tower are $829.35 (not club level) which is $4976.10 plus tax. Club level is over $1200 per night but now sold out. Holiday Rates for the Nemo Suite at AoA are $475.31 per night Passholder Holiday rate which comes to $2,851.86 plus taxes. Plus we are technically getting 2 rooms, 2 bathrooms, 2 TV's, a kitchen and from what I read, the best pool in all of WDW. No way I would pay $600 per night at a value.

It is not even close to the best pool on WDW property. That would be Stormalong Bay at the BC/YC.

$475.31 per night plus taxes comes out to about $535/night total. That's not too far off from $600/night.
 
I think it is all in how you manage your expectations. The kids will probably love the resort you chose, and all you need to do is be sure you do not compare amenities to the club level rooms you are used to.

I know it is not the best solution, but I think that if you go in not just knowing the differences, but making sure you accept them, you will have as much fun as the kids.
 

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