Disney's Art of Animation Resort
Disney's Art of Animation Resort is a value resort hotel at Walt Disney World in Bay Lake, Florida. Opened in stages beginning on May 31, 2012, it is themed to the art of animation and to four Disney and Pixar films — Finding Nemo, Cars, The Lion King and The Little Mermaid — each of which occupies its own section of the resort. It stands on the far shore of Hourglass Lake from Disney's Pop Century Resort, on a site first developed for a different hotel.
History
The land was originally the Legendary Years half of Disney's Pop Century Resort, intended to celebrate the decades from the 1900s to the 1940s. Construction began in 1999 but was abandoned after the tourism downturn that followed the September 11 attacks, leaving a completed lobby shell and several unfinished buildings standing empty across the lake from the opened Pop Century for nearly a decade.
Work resumed in 2010 under a new concept. Rather than decades, the resort would be organised around animated films, and rather than standard rooms alone, most of its accommodation would consist of family suites — a format Disney had tested by combining rooms at Disney's All-Star Music Resort, with strong guest response. The Finding Nemo section opened first, on May 31, 2012, followed by Cars on June 18, The Lion King on August 10 and The Little Mermaid on September 15, 2012.
Layout and theme
The resort's central building, Animation Hall, is decorated as a celebration of the animation process, with large concept sketches of characters from the four films progressing across its lobby walls from rough drawings to finished colour art. It contains check-in, the Ink & Paint Shop and the Landscape of Flavors food court, whose dining areas are themed to the four film sections.
Each courtyard is an immersive reconstruction of its film's setting, populated by large character figures. The Finding Nemo section places guests among the coral reef and the East Australian Current, with figures of Nemo, Crush and Mr. Ray. The Cars section reproduces Radiator Springs, complete with the Cozy Cone Motel and full-size characters from the film along a Route 66-style street. The Lion King section runs from the elephant graveyard to Pride Rock, and The Little Mermaid section surrounds its buildings with objects from Ariel's collection, scaled to appear giant-sized.
Rooms
The resort has 1,984 units of accommodation in two forms. The 1,120 family suites, in the Finding Nemo, Cars and Lion King sections, sleep up to six guests and contain a master bedroom, two bathrooms, a living area with convertible beds and a small kitchenette; they are reached by interior corridors, unusual for a Walt Disney World value resort. The 864 standard rooms, all in The Little Mermaid section, follow the conventional value pattern of exterior walkways and sleep four. The difference in formats means the suites are priced well above ordinary value rooms, closer to moderate-resort rates, while the resort as a whole remains in Disney's value category.
Recreation
The Big Blue Pool, in the Finding Nemo section, holds about 308,000 gallons and was the largest single swimming pool at any Walt Disney World hotel when the resort opened; it has underwater speakers playing music and dialogue, and an adjoining children's play area themed to Nemo's schoolyard. The Cars section has the smaller Cozy Cone Pool, guarded by traffic-cone cabanas, and The Little Mermaid section has the Flippin' Fins Pool. A Pixel Play arcade, playgrounds and the lakeside path around Hourglass Lake, shared with Pop Century, provide the remaining recreation.
Transportation
Art of Animation shares a Disney Skyliner gondola station with Pop Century, opened on September 29, 2019, giving direct aerial connections to Disney's Hollywood Studios and, via Disney's Caribbean Beach Resort, to EPCOT. Buses serve the Magic Kingdom, Disney's Animal Kingdom, the water parks and Disney Springs.