Two weeks ago I took my family on a Disney vacation – two nights at Walt Disney World and three nights aboard the Disney Dream cruise ship. Our two nights at WDW were spent in the Art of Animation Resort, our first time there and I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed it. But probably the person who enjoyed it the most was my two year old son.
At Art of Animation, there are four clusters of buildings, each with their own unique theme: Finding Nemo, Cars, The Lion King, and the Little Mermaid. We stayed in the Little Mermaid section.
We had to walk through the Lion King section to get to our room. There’s an elephant graveyard themed play area/tunnel that we had to stop at every time, but it was a good way to get some of his energy out.
The best themed area of Art of Animation, and one of the best themed areas in any of the Walt Disney World hotel resorts, is the Cars area, or as I call it “Cars Land East.” We all loved walking through here and snapping pictures with all the cars.
Needless to say, this area really comes to life at night, just like Cars Land West.
One of the perks of staying at Art of Animation is if you get bored of the décor or food options, simply walk across the Hour-glass Lake bridge over to Pop (half) Century resort. There’s some fun theme elements there too.
Even with the quick service dining plan, I found the food at Pop Century and Art of Animation to be great. I thought their options were a lot better than quick service at other resorts I’ve eaten at, including Polynesian, Grand Floridian, and Wilderness Lodge. Can’t miss out on that tie-dye cheesecake.
You can see either Epcot’s or Hollywood Studios’ fireworks just over the Art of Animation parking lot.
And I haven’t even mentioned that Art of Animation has one of the biggest pools (the biggest?) on Walt Disney World property and it plays music underwater! Just be aware that you have to bring towels with you from your room, or go get them from the front desk – a fact I would have liked to have known before getting into the pool.
One big negative is if you’re staying at one of the Little Mermaid rooms furthest from the main building it is quite a hike for everything – main pool, food, and bus stop. Here’s a map of the resort:
Overall, Art of Animation is probably the class of the value resorts at Walt Disney World. I highly recommend it, especially if you have children between the ages of 2 to 5, as they will totally love all the theme elements and things to do, which will make you a happy parent. Have you stayed at Pop Century or Art of Animation? How did you like it in comparison to the other Walt Disney World hotels?
Read part two of our Disney-centric vacation trip report – rundown of our day at the Magic Kingdom.
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