Hi Cindy, and welcome back to the Disney Parks Moms Panel!
This is indeed a tough choice, as both hotels have many great qualities!
Disney's Art of Animation Resort is gorgeous and has some of the best rooms at the Walt Disney World Resort. The Cars Family Suites are design masterpieces in my opinion.
Disney's Contemporary Resort, on the other hand, offers a combination that is tough to beat: beautiful rooms, Theme Park views and Monorail access.
While the complimentary bus transportation that serves Disney's Art of Animation Resort is great, Disney's Contemporary Resort offers easy Monorail access to both Magic Kingdom Park and Epcot, so you will only have to take buses to Disney's Hollywood Studios and Disney's Animal Kingdom Theme Park. Those bus rides, specifically, will range between 25 and 30 minutes. So, if I were in your position, I'd choose to stay at Disney's Contemporary Resort.
After you've made a choice, you can also maximize your time by using a
new feature that was recently added to the My Disney Experience mobile app. It enables Guests to check up-to-the-minute estimates for buses departing and arrival times. It is super useful when takin buses within the Walt Disney World Resort!
As the questions about your October vacation continue to pop up, please, come back to the Disney Parks Moms Panel. We will be here to walk you through every planning step of your AWESOME first trip!
May the magic be with you,
Julie