Disney’s Art of Animation Resort I Magical DIStractions

Disney’s Art of Animation Resort opened in 2012 making it one of the newest resorts on Walt Disney World property. The Art of Animation Resort, also known as AoA, is home to the Lion King Family Suites, the Cars Family Suites, the Finding Nemo Family Suites, and the Little Mermaid standard rooms. There are 1120 family suites and 864 standard rooms at the Art of Animation resort.

Guest check-in is handled upon entrance to the Resort at the Animation Hall. If you are arriving via Magical Express, you will be dropped off at Animation Hall. If you are driving, you will need to stop at the guard house, show your I.D. and you’ll then be directed to the large parking lot outside of Animation Hall. Parking is abundant.

Located inside Animation Hall are guest check-in/out, concierge services, airline check-in, the Ink and Paint Shop, Landscape of Flavors food court, and an arcade. Valuables too large to fit in the in-room safes can be left with Guest Services in Animation Hall where they will be securely locked away. Ask for more information when you check in. If you need assistance getting your luggage to your room, Bell Services will be happy to assist you. Simply stop by their desk or call them from your room telephone.

Pixel Play Arcade is located in Animation Hall and is across from the Ink and Paint Shop.

The Ink and Paint Shop sells both Disney related and non-Disney themed items and also stocks an assortment of snacks, drinks and assorted sundries.

Landscapes of Flavor is the resort food court and is also located within Animation Hall.

**See pictures in the photo gallery below

Resort Room Options

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The spacious Family Suites at the Art of Animation Resort are designed to comfortably accommodate up to six guests. The Finding Nemo, Cars and Lion King sections of the resort are all family suites. The suites include:

2 separate bathrooms
A master bedroom
In the main living space, a pull-out couch converts to a Double size sleeper sofa, and the dining table converts into a Double-sized Inova bed that can sleep up to 2.
Queen size bed
Mini-kitchen with microwave, coffee maker, sink and small refrigerator
Flat panel televisions
In room wall safe
Hairdryer
Iron and ironing board
Crib is available upon request
Wheelchair accessible rooms are available
Views of the parking lot, courtyard or pool

LK Murphy bed, Art of Animation Resort

The Little Mermaid standard rooms are designed to accommodate up to four guests. The rooms include:

2 Double Beds; or 1 King
Flat screen television
In wall safe
Hairdryer
Iron and ironing board
Mini refrigerator

The Little Mermaid rooms have an array of cute touches inspired by the world of Ariel and her under the sea friends. The colors and touches make you feel as if you are in an underwater wonderland!

Interior of The Little Mermaid standard rooms

**See the picture gallery below for additional pictures of the suites and rooms!

amily suites include two bathrooms, a kitchenette and three separate sleeping areas that can sleep up to six; while standard rooms at The Little Mermaid can sleep up to four. – See more at: http://wdwnews.com/fact-sheets/2012/07/17/walt-disney-world-resort-hotels-fact-sheet/#sthash.cuzxbggt.dpuf

While the Little Mermaid rooms are a favorite of young girls, we have a DIStracted Tip for you: these rooms are quite far from the bus stop. The Little Mermaid section of the Resort is located in buildings 7, 8 and 9 on the map below. There is only one bus stop at the AoA Resort and it is located in front of Animation Hall (just behind the large Art of Animation sign you see above). After spending a long day in the park, the last thing you want to do is carry a sleeping child or worse, a screaming child, all the way to the Little Mermaid rooms. Of course this is just our opinion. You know your family and what works best for them and it just may well be a stay in the Little Mermaid rooms.

The Various “Themes” At The Resort

The Finding Nemo courtyard features:

The Big Blue Pool is the resort’s main pool and features underwater music and is the largest pool on Walt Disney World property
The Drop Off Pool Bar
The Schoolyard water play area for kids
Squirt’s Righteous Reef playground
Larger than life statues of Mr. Ray, Crush, Marlin & Nemo

The Cars courtyard features:

The Cozy Cone Pool-one of the resort’s quiet pools
The Cozy Cone Motel “office”
Larger than life statues of Lightning McQueen, Sally, Mater, Ramone, Flo, Sheriff, Luigi, Guido & Filmore

The Lion King courtyard features:

The Elephant Graveyard playground
Larger than life statues of Mufasa, Timon, Rafiki, Pumba, Simba, Shenzi, Banzai, Ed, Scar & Zazu

The Little Mermaid courtyard features:

Flippin’ Fins pool-one of the resort’s quiet pools
Larger than life statues of Ariel, Ursula, King Triton & Prince Eric

**See the picture gallery below for pictures!

**DIStracted tip – If staying in the Lion King Suites, request a room in Building 10 close to the outside stairwell. This puts you directly next to Animation Hall, the bus stop as well as the Big Blue Pool!

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Resort Recreation

The Big Blue Pool at Disney’s Art of Animation Resort holds 308,527 gallons of water making it the single largest pool at the Walt Disney World Resort! This zero entry pool is fun for all ages. The pool has underwater speakers so even swimmers can enjoy the tunes! For the adults, the Drop Off Pool Bar is centrally located and serves alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages. It is also listed as a favorite Pool Bar by the Disney Food Blog.

The central laundry room is conveniently located near The Big Blue Pool so you can run your laundry while you relax poolside.

The Schoolyard water play area for kids is located near The Big Blue Pool.

Squirt’s Righteous Reef playground for kids is located near The Big Blue Pool.

The Cozy Cone Pool is the quiet pool in the Cars section of the resort.

The Elephant Graveyard playground in located in the courtyard of the Lion King section of the resort.

Flippin’ Fins Pool is the quiet pool in the Little Mermaid section of the resort.

Daily activities, weather permitted, are held at the main pool.

Nightly outdoor movies are shown in the courtyard of the Lion King section of the resort. The nightly movie will only be shown weather permitting.

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Resort Dining Options

Landscape of Flavor, the resort’s food court, has several different stations to choose from: The Soup & Salad Shop, World Flavors Shop, Pizza Shop, Burger Shop and The Market. Not only do they serve the more traditional items like pizza and burgers but guests can also dine on a Surf & Surf burger, Mongolian Beef Stir Fry and a Roasted Vegetable plate with Naan.

There are four “themed” seating areas in the Landscape of Flavor: Cars, Finding Nemo, Lion King and Little Mermaid.

Pizza Delivery is available 4:00 p.m. to midnight.

*Hours are subject to change.

Art of Animation Transportation

Bus service to all four theme parks, water parks and Downtown Disney runs one hour prior to park opening and one hour after park closing. Buses are scheduled to run every twenty minutes. That’s the official word from Disney; however, guests may notice that they run earlier, later and more frequently than the official time.

Art of Animation has a single bus stop and it’s located outside of Animation Hall. There are separate lines for each of the theme parks and Disney Springs (formerly known as Downtown Disney). At the present time, buses to the Animal Kingdom also stop at Blizzard Beach and the Disney Springs buses also stop at Typhoon Lagoon. There is a possibility that there will soon be separate buses for the water parks.

Resort Tips & Reviews

“In my honest opinion, if you are looking for a value resort that sleeps up to four and you want to get the most bang for your buck, check out Disney’s Pop Century Resort. You may be more satisfied there. During my stay at the AoA Resort, I heard way too many people complain about the distance of the Little Mermaid rooms from the bus stop. Granted, if you have access to your own vehicle and plan to drive yourself to the parks, you should be fine.”

“The Cars section is my favorite Art of Animation section as far as theming goes. You will literally feel as though you have stepped into Radiator Springs. Here you are centrally located to Animation Hall (the lobby) and the bus stop. You are close to the Big Blue Nemo pool, yet far enough away from the noise. The Cars section also has their own smaller pool, The Cozy Cone Pool. This pool is much quieter than the Big Blue Pool which sounds to me like a great place to kick back with a good read!”

I highly recommend the Art of Animation Resort to families looking for some extra room or for parents who like the privacy of a door. My family and I stayed in the Lion King suites in December 2012 and absolutely loved it! Everything about the resort was top-notch. We stayed in the All Star Music (ASMu) Suites prior to this and I will say the AoA suites are significantly newer and nicer than the ASMu ones. The Lion King area (buildings 6 and 10 on the map above) are very quiet and peaceful. There is not a pool in this area. Most of the noise and activities are centered around the Finding Nemo area and Animation Hall. If you are looking for a quieter section of the resort, request a Lion King suite.” – Magical DIStractions Owner & Chief Editor, Caroline Knowles