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Disney’s Art of Animation Resort Review

One of the highlights of attending the Disney Social Media Moms Celebration was our exclusive sneak peek into Disney’s newest value resort — the Art of Animation  Resort, scheduled to open at the end of the month.

Art of Animation Resort Review

On the final night of the conference, Disney threw a party for all attendees and their families at the Art of Animation Resort, where we were able to tour the property and sample the most creative and delicious food offerings the Disney chefs could conjure up. It was also a great time to hang out with friends and catch up on the weekend.

At the Art of Animation Resort, guests are invited to become a part of their favorite animated films. Our party took place in the pool area (see above) and it is just fabulous. You feel like you’ve indeed gone “Under the Sea” to a land far, far away!

psmm bloggers at disney art of animation resort

They even had fantastical sea creatures wandering around for photo opps. (Yes, that thing was walking around!!) Only Disney could pull this off so perfectly.

There are three pools in the Art of Animation Resort:

The largest is located in the Finding Nemo courtyard and features a pool bar. Two smaller pools, located in the Cars and The Little Mermaid courtyards, provide additional relaxation.

The Nemo pool is actually the largest on Disney property. I can attest, it was magnificent.

Everything is themed to make you feel a part of the action, right down to the rooms. Guests can choose from Finding Nemo Family Suites, Cars Family Suites, The Lion King Family Suites and The Little Mermaid Standard Rooms. (Family suites are scheduled to open in May 2012, and standard rooms are scheduled to open September 2012.)

They opened up one of the buildings so we could tour the rooms for ourselves, and we discovered that they have specially designed family suites to accomodate families of six.

We were all delighted to see this because it’s very hard to travel as a family of five or six. Everything seems to be designed for families of four, and once you go beyond that, prices suddenly increase exponentially. Disney has taken this into consideration at their newest value resort, attempting to make a Disney vacation accessible to families on a budget.

I took a video of the room, but it is all very confusing with many people in the room, so I’m not sure it’s worth posting. Suffice it to say, these guest rooms are super fun. Kids will absolutely adore staying at this resort.

I mean, seriously. Check out this slide.

When you get hungry, there is an animation-themed (of course!!) food court with a variety of family favorites and Grab ‘n Go market selections; and the Art of Animation Resort is conveniently located near Hollywood Studios and the ESPN Wild World of Sports Complex, making it a great place to stay with tweens and teenage kids.

Disney invited me to the Disney Social Media Moms Celebration. I paid my way, but there were many fun perks — such as this spectacular party and a sneak peek at the new Disney Art of Animation Resort!

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12 Responses

  1. I’ve been going to Disney World since it first opened in 1971, and it is amazing to see how much it has grown! I remember when it was only the Magic Kingdom; when you needed tickets for each attraction you went on. Looks like you had a fun and fabulous weekend!!

  2. We love Disney and always stay at Pop Century when we go. It’s a great value resort and close enough to watch those buildings go up. I’m torn about which resort to choose when we go back next year. It sounds fabulous!

  3. This so makes me want to start saving for a Disney vacation someday. I cannot say how much I love love love the idea of a suite big enough for 3 kids. Cute as it is I think the color pallet of the Nemo rooms would drive me crazy, we’d have to go with the Cars Suite.

  4. We are planning a November week-long trip for a family of four. My kids are both boys and obviously gravitate to Cars and Nemo as they are 5 & 8 years old. With that said, the family suite is too expensive and way more room than we need. That leaves us with just the option of the Mermaid standard room. Honestly, would my boys be disappointed with this knowing that we don’t spend any time in our rooms when we are at Disney? Would they just appreciate the hotel for what it represents…..their favorite Disney movies??

    1. Tough call. There are other value resorts, of course, that might have a theme that is more interesting to them. But if they love the pool, this resort has an AMAZING pool area. And of course, it is brand new, which is always appealing to me, when it comes to hotels. Let me know what you decide!

  5. I don’t know if we’ll ever make it to Disney World (Alaska is quite a ways away!), but I’ve been entertaining myself lately by reading about it. This is definitely the hotel I’d choose to stay at. My husband and I don’t have any kiddos yet, but we love Pixar movies (he actually just turned on Toy Story…) so this hotel would be great. I do wonder though why they made the standard rooms Little Mermaid themed? I would think The Lion King, Cars, and Finding Nemo ALL have wider appeal than The Little Mermaid, which is so girl oriented. The movie came out when I was 4 and even though I was a little girl, I wasn’t very impressed with it. We would tolerate the Little Mermaid themed room because we wouldn’t want to spend the money for one of the upgrades, but I do wonder why they went that route. What do you think?

    By the way, I just happened to find this post when I glanced at some comments on Reeni’s blog. Funny and well timed 🙂

  6. Thanks so much for the information. We currently live about 6 hours for Disney World and plan to go for Christmas. We actually were planning to stay at this resort, so glad to hear how wonderful it is.

  7. We are staying in the little mermaid section in October ?? Looks like its gonna be a far walk to the bus’s and restaurant …how far would you say it was ?

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