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art of animation resort

5 Reasons to stay at Disney’s Art of Animation

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Disney’s Art of Animation Resort is Walt Disney World’s newest Value Resort, having opened in 2012. It is a first at Walt Disney World, a Value Resort that offered family suites, rooms that slept 6 rather. All the other Value Resort rooms only sleep 4, with the exception of a few test family suites located at All-Star Music. Originally intended to be the second half of Pop Century, Art of Animation was redesigned years after it was originally scheduled to open with the majority of rooms as family suites. But why should you stay at Disney’s Art of Animation Resort?

5 Reasons to stay at Disney’s Art of Animation

art of animation

  1. Little Mermaid Rooms – Everyone loves Ariel, and the Art of Animation Resort is the only place you can find Little Mermaid themed rooms. These rooms are just standard value resort rooms with 2 double beds and a bathroom. Nothing too special, but the Little Mermaid theming makes them magical. If you have a little girl that loves Ariel, you have to stay here. Ok, blame it on your daughter, it is ok if you love Ariel too.
  2. Family Suites – This is the reason why most people choose to stay at Art of Animation. The family suites feature a “master” bedroom with its own bathroom, as well as a front room with 2 pull-down beds, and another full bathroom. So, these suites are perfect for families that want to stay together but need their space. You can choose between several themes for your family suite, either Cars, Lion King or Finding Nemo. Personally, I love the Cars rooms, they are really fun and well done. These rooms sleep 6, but please be aware of the cost, you can often find some rooms at deluxe hotels for about the same cost, so compare options for your family, you may be better off staying elsewhere.
  3. Big Blue Pool – This is THE value resort pool, none are bigger or better. Surrounded by Finding Nemo characters (or Finding Dory if you prefer), this pool is downright fun and plenty big for everyone at the resort. There is also the Schoolyard Sprayground, a fun water play area as well as Squirt’s Righteous Reef, a playground next to the pool. Don’t want all the people at the Big Blue Pool? Consider the Cozy Cone Pool near the Cars rooms or the Flippin Fins Pool near the Little Mermaid rooms. Both are smaller pools but have great theming and are just as fun as the Big Blue Pool.
  4. Landscape of Flavors – Art of Animation’s food court, Landscape of Flavors, is the envy of just about every other food court on property and runs circles around every other Value Resort food court. Grab a quick breakfast, lunch or dinner or refill your drink mug, Landscape of Flavors has options for everyone in your party.
  5. Art of Animation Resort Recreation – While I typically don’t hang out at the resort while at Disney, there are times you have a few hours at your resort, and Art of Animation has some great recreation options to fill your needs. Each night they offer a movie under the stars, usually featuring relatively recent Disney movies. This is my kid’s favorite thing to do outside of the parks. Art of Animation also rents Surrey Bikes that you can ride around the resort and Pop Century. Personally, I prefer to rent the bikes on the Boardwalk, if you have half an hour to spare at the resort, these bikes sure are fun. Art of Animation also features an awesome jogging trail, arcade and other entertainment options for you and your family.
  6. Bonus! Disney Skyliner! Walt Dinsey World has added the Disney Skyliner, a gondola system that will connect Art of Animation (and a few other Dinsey Resorts) with both Epcot and Disney’s Hollywood Studios. That means staying at Art of Animation means fewer buses than other resorts and more really cool transportation with spectacular views.

Why do you stay at Disney’s Art of Animation Resort?

all star movies resort

3 Reasons to stay at Disney’s All-Star Movies Resort

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Walt Disney World offers some fantastic resorts, but every once in a while (or much more often than that), we just need a nice resort to sleep since we plan on being in the parks all day. Location and amenities don’t mean nearly as much as the Disney dollars we have to spend. The Walt Disney World Value resorts are great options for these cases, they are fairly reasonable in cost, offer fun, nice rooms plus huge pools. Disney’s All-Star Movies is one of our favorite Walt Disney World Value resorts, and here are our top three reasons why you should consider staying there.

3 Reasons to stay at Disney’s All-Star Movies Resort

All-Star Movies

  • Disney Movies! – Of course, All-Star Movies is the resort home to Disney movies. If your family loves Disney movies, this is the place for you. There are 5 themed areas at the resort, each section a different Disney Movie. You can choose between Toy Story, Fantasia, Herbie Love Bug, 101 Dalmatians and Mighty Ducks. Personally, I love the Toy Story area, it is one of my favorite movies and the oversized Buzz Lightyear and Woody are fantastic.
  • Fantasia Pool – The main pool at Disney’s All-Star Movies is the Fantasia Pool, themed after the classic Disney animated movie Fantasia, of course. Complete with conductor Mickey spouting water everywhere. At the Fantasia Pool, there is also a great water play area for the little kids. If you don’t want to hang out at the Fantasia Pool, there is a second pool over in the Might Ducks section called the Duck Pond. The Duck Pond is a quite pool, and tends to be much less crowded and noisy that over at Fantasia. BTW, did you know if you are staying at one of the All-Stars you can pool hop at any of the other two? Just walk on over to the pools at All-Star Sports or All-Star Movies just to change it up a bit.
  • World Premiere Food Court – My favorite Value Resort food court is at All-Star Movies. I really like the new one at Art of Animation too (Landscape of Flavors), but Word Premier is still better. World Premiere is set up like a mall food court with 7 different stations, all serving different types of food. Plus, don’t forget that you can refill your drinks (coffee, tea, soft drinks, hot chocolate, juice and milk) as many times as you want during your meal, which is a great deal! Also, don’t forget the room service pizza delivery. While it won’t be the best pizza you have ever had, it is quite good for those nights when everyone is too tired to go out.

What is your favorite reason for staying at All-Star Movies?

art of animation little mermaid rooms

Art of Animation – Little Mermaid Rooms

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After the successful opening of Disney’s Pop Century is 2003, Walt Disney World planned a second “half” of Pop Century, which would be themed after the Legendary Years of 1900 – 1940, to be located on the other side of Hourglass Lake. Construction started on the main building and several of the outer buildings that housed the rooms, but then was stopped due to a downturn in the economy. The buildings and foundations sat for years, like a ghost town. Finally, in May, 2010, Walt Disney World announced a new resort was to be built on the site, but not an extension of Pop Century. It was going to be a brand new resort called Disney’s Art of Animation Resort, themed after Disney and Pixar movies, which makes a whole lot more sense. How many kids want to stay in a room themed after the 1920’s? Not mine.

Pop Century Abandoned

Pop Century Legendary

One big change to the plans was that Disney would make this new resort mostly family suites. There were two existing buildings, as you can see in the photo above, that had sat in place for years, which Disney completed, along with a third building as standard rooms, very similar to the rooms at Pop Century, all themed after The Little Mermaid. The rest of the resort was built on the existing foundations, and made into all family suites, themed after The Lion King, Finding Nemo and Cars.

There are 864 Little Mermaid rooms at Art of Animation, each with two double beds (there are some handicap accessible king bed rooms), and each room sleeps up to 4 people. In addition to the rooms, there is also a Little Mermaid themed pool, the Flippin’ Fins Pool. The Little Mermaid Rooms are just standard Disney Value Resort rooms, but with a Little Mermaid Theming. Without a doubt, these rooms are the most popular in all of Disney, they are ALWAYS sold out.

Little Mermaid Rooms
Existing Little Mermaid Rooms

Pros of the Little Mermaid Rooms

  • If you have kids the love Arial, or you want to blame the attraction on your kids, the Little Mermaid Rooms at Art of Animation are the only Ariel themed rooms on property.
  • Art of Animation is Disney’s newest resort, and the rooms are the most “up to date”.
  • The pool choices at the resort are better than any other value resort, from the Little Mermaid Pool to the main Finding Nemo themed Big Blue Pool are fantastic.
  • You may have family members staying in a family suite at Art of Animation, but you don’t need one, and want to stay somewhere close. These rooms are less than half the cost of the family suites.

Little Mermaid Room

Cons of the Little Mermaid Rooms

  • Discounts! Ever since the Little Mermaid rooms opened in late 2012, Walt Disney World has excluded the rooms from every single discount released. So, if you want to stay there, you pay full rate. Especially when we see discounts like free dining, that is a huge premium just to stay with Ariel.
  • The room location isn’t the best. The Little Mermaid rooms are the furthest away from the lobby and bus stop at Art of Animation, as you have to exit the Little Mermaid area, walk through the Lion King area and into the Finding Nemo area where the main lobby is. While on paper it isn’t too far, when you get off the bus in the evening with tired kids and even more tired feet, that 5 minute walk to your room will feel like a marathon.
  • All of the standard rooms at Art of Animation are in the Little Mermaid section, but none of the family suites are located there. So, if you have a group that needs a mixture of family suites and standard rooms, you will be spread out throughout the resort, there isn’t any way to get those two room types near each other.

Art of Animation is a fantastic resort, by far my favorite Value resort at Walt Disney World. However, unless you must stay in a Little Mermaid room at all costs, then consider looking at some of the other value resorts, you will get more for your money.