It’s funny you say it’s chaotic. I never felt that way. And this past trip, we visited from HS via SL as a break and ate at the food court and we said how glad we were to eat there compared to the chaos of HS.
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I very much feel that Disney resorts are like the “wand choosing the wizard” (I know, wrong IP). It wasn’t for me and it’s why I ultimately changed from my initial reservation there. Compared to CBR, it felt loud and chaotic - like I was still in a theme park - but many others definitely do not feel that way and have an excellent experience and visit.
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Yes interesting- and I’ve never been to CBR but I imagine that to be loud and chaotic. We also took a break from MK and went to Polynesian and I was not impressed - that was busy to me.
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I’ve stayed in both of these types of rooms–a Cars family suite (2018?) and the ASMu suite just last month. Both rooms are actually great. As you point out: the AoA theming is much better, both inside and outside the rooms, and the kitchen space is much better at ASMu–full fridge, much more counter space. I am not a toaster user, so I honestly don’t remember if there was one there or not.
Other differences I remember: AoA family suites may be much further from the main area/lobby, whereas the ASMu family suites are all in the preferred section, so quite close to the lobby, restaurant, buses. The AoA second bath seemed smaller to me–at least in my recollection (and the “primary” bath seemed bigger in my recollection). And the AoA had a queen, a sofa bed and murphy bed, whereas ASMu has 2 queens and a murphy bed, so no sofa bed (no sofa bed is my strong preference).
I don’t recall noise issues in either instance, though that could vary widely depending on your sensibilities and the luck of who your neighbors are. Both are very busy resorts with lots of kids and large groups, like hs cheerleading or bands.
IMHO, the extra $$ is for the theming and skyliner. The ASMu room is otherwise nicer in some ways, and it’s not like there is no theming. Not much in the rooms, but out at the pool, etc. it’s pretty garish and kitschy. In a good way, of course. 
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You can reserve the Nemo suites, which are closest to the main area. If you reserve Cars, Lion King or the generic family suite category you may be farther away. We were lucky when we reserved the generic family suite category and ended up in the Nemo section.
I know you said you don’t consider the skyliner a benefit, but your kids may find riding the skyliner to be an experience in itself. And with AOA, you have the food choices at AOA, Pop is easily walkable, and the skyliner offers Riviera (we really liked Primo Piatto), Caribbean Beach and also if you ride to the international gateway you can walk or boat to Beach & Yacht Club and the Boardwalk area. We planned to Minnie van on our last trip but found the skyliner met our needs.
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Depends on the class of booking. In many/most cases they are quite close to the main building; the LM rooms are the furthest away.
I know @linsalt said the ASMu suites are not on the pool-facing side of the building but when I stayed there we were. It was fine for our purposes but we could hear the pool. This probably depends on which building you end up in. IIRC we were in Calypso (it was quite a long time ago LOL)
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@NervousRex thanks for that. I’m glad they didn’t feel like they were missing out on the actual stay. I have read several times of people who find that staying there is overstimulating for them or just too much. So, I could understand wanting to wind down somewhere else. I am hoping that a less themed room at All Star Music will help my kids settle down when we’re in the room.
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Oooh, a toaster oven would be something!
@NervousRex great analogy. I try to just remember that nothing is going to be terrible and I’m pretty lucky to have so many choices in the first place. (Maybe too many)
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@amywilkh It’s nice to find someone with relatively recent experience with both. Thank you for the notes of comparison. That kitchen area really has me interested. And it looks like the price difference is going to be about $500 over the whole trip. That will buy us some Minnie Van trips since we won’t have the Skyliner. I am very afraid of heights anyway. I was so scared on a gondola at the San Diego zoo that I literally could not speak, lol. Had only planned to take it for the family to get to experience it. I will miss the beautiful theming. But, we might enjoy a walk around AoA the property on our day off.
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I have to plead old age on this one … I could swear when I was doing the room request last year there were none on the pool side, but I definitely got that wrong!
I don’t remember a lot of noise at either AoA or ASMusic. To be fair I was in a standard room at ASMu and Nemo suite at AoA. For me, the theming was FAR superior at AoA. I didn’t really use the kitchen area but it was very similar to what you get in a studio DVC so not big. So depending on how much groceries you want to refrigerate that could be your deciding factor.
At AoA, If you really want to keep the kids in the quieter room you could put them in the bedroom and sleep in the livingroom/dining room yourself (at least for naps) because that’s where I slept and I heard nothing.
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We chose Music and got a good deal. I’ll report back when we return. (and clear up the toaster issue)
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THANK YOU! 
What if…you only get a toaster if you request it? And then sometimes it’s left in the room and sometimes it isn’t? If there’s not one there, maybe ask housekeeping. 
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Reporting back. Let the record show that there was no toaster as of mid November 2023
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Way to close the loop!!
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