Disney’s Art of Animation Resort Review
Art of Animation Resort is a Walt Disney World Value Resort with family suites themed to Lion King, Finding Nemo, and Cars. This hotel review features room photos, pool & restaurant info, pros & cons, and whether AoA is worth the money.
In the sense that it mostly consists of family suites, Disney’s Art of Animation Resort (AoA) is a bit of an anomaly as compared to the other Value Resorts. For the most part, the other Value Resorts are all small standard rooms that cater to parties on a budget who still want on-site perks. Those also exist at Art of Animation, but they’re not the focus. (All standard rooms at AoA are themed to The Little Mermaid, which we review separately here.)
Art of Animation’s family suites push the envelope a bit with the ‘Value Resort’ designation. For one thing, they cost significantly more than other Value Resorts, with AoA family suites routinely costing between double and triple the price of All Star standard rooms. For another thing, the style of accommodations is materially different than other budget hotels at Walt Disney World. We’ll cover this in detail later in the review, and offer comparisons to some other comparable hotels.
In terms of its theme and style, Art of Animation is pretty much exactly as described above. The main lobby has a strong animation motif, with details that suggest various stages of the animation process. Outside of the main lobby, the artistic process is mostly glossed over. There are some sketches of characters on the sides of the buildings, but other than that, each individual section is more about recreating environments from their respective films than about taking a peak behind the curtain at the underlying process.
Design-wise, this was a good decision. Kids are the target audience here, and they probably care more about the animated film itself than taking a look behind the scenes. While the execution of some of these environments, particularly the Cars area, is well-done, it’s worth noting that these are still the “big box” Value Resorts you might be used to at Walt Disney World. Most of the ‘theming’ is window-dressing consisting of oversized characters and objects, and vivid colors on these large, big box hotel buildings.
Because of this, Art of Animation is one of those love it or hate it things. Art of Animation is like the Crocs of Disney resorts. The people who love Art of Animation love it because it just makes them happy. To them, it’s fun, whimsical, and reminds them of the magic of Disney animation.
To the people who dislike Art of Animation, it’s tacky, loud, and abandons traditional means of nuanced Disney theming in favor of something that gets by on clunky looks and characters. Sort of the same idea with Crocs, and any of the above adjectives could be used to describe the footwear.
While I’m not quite as sold on Crocs, I love Art of Animation. The difference to me between Art of Animation and Crocs (I really can’t believe I’m keeping up this ostensibly absurd comparison) is that Art of Animation visually does work on a certain level, whereas Crocs are universally hideous. Kids are almost guaranteed to love it, which is a big reason why Art of Animation ranks highly on our list of the Best & Worst Value Resorts at Walt Disney World.
No, Art of Animation doesn’t hit the same high notes thematically as Wilderness Lodge, the Port Orleans Resorts, or BoardWalk Inn, but it does have redeeming qualities and brings something worthwhile to the table. It is not the pinnacle of themed design nor is it something that academics or even fans of themed design will someday devote thoughtful analysis and critique. The short and simple of it for me is that it is a fun resort thematically. That’s it, and in this case that’s enough.
With that said, let’s take a look at the rooms. Some people will view these as fun…and others will see them as obnoxious. I’ll let the photos speak for themselves and you can be the judge.
First up: Cars. Excuse the fisheye lens here, but I wanted to give you an idea of the layout of the family suite. The door to the left (just barely in the frame) is a full bathroom. Moving around the room, you see the living room, then the main bedroom with its attached bedroom, and on the right is the kitchen table, which converts to a pull-down queen bed.
In total, the room is about 565 square feet, which is just over twice the size of a standard room. The space is used incredibly well in these rooms, so it truly feels like a suite.
A closer look at the main living area. As you can see, it’s heavy on the Cars theming. Great for kids and those who are kids at heart, possibly not ideal for honeymooners.
Note that the carpet has been removed in all of the AoA family suites since these photos were taken. We’ll have a fresh review of the new-look Cars family suites soon, so stay tuned for that.
Same idea in the bathroom.
These rooms are themed from top to bottom. Great plus if you have kids, very busy in a general design sense.
A look at the outside of the Cars wing. We both agree that the Cars wing is the best in terms of exterior theming. It’s like Cars Land except with skimpier theming, no restaurants, and no attractions. That’s not meant to be a dig–for a value hotel area it’s really cool. Sarah and I disagree in terms of interiors.
I prefer Lion King, whereas she prefers Cars. She actually returned to the Cars wing on girls’ trip with her sister, who also liked the hotel. The less scrutinizing, casual young-person Disney guest perspective on the hotel from her was that it was a really fun and cute hotel.
Layout in The Lion King suites is exactly the same.
This table is just inside the door. Here’s how it looks as a table, and how it looks as a bed…
The perfect arrangement if you’ve ever wanted four of your closest friends to sit in chairs around your bed and watch you sleep!
The Lion King rooms are just as over the top as the Cars ones, but I feel like there are fewer clashing pieces of decor, although the color scheme itself does clash more. Pick your poison, I suppose.
What I prefer is that it pretty much is “jungle stuff,” even if that presents a wide array of colors. I just think it’s more harmonious for whatever reason. Then again, maybe I’m just biased towards The Lion King.
Restroom adjacent to the main bathroom–note that it’s a walk-in shower as opposed to a bathtub with shower.
Standalone bathroom with a tub. All of these rooms are consistent in terms of layout, so the Finding Nemo rooms are just like these, except with Nemo stuff. After looking at rooms online, we weren’t wowed by those rooms, but if there’s a Finding Nemo fan in your party, you should look at those rooms. Also, they are the closest ones to the main lobby.
On the exterior, we agree that The Lion King is the weakest. There’s a lot of dead space, and none of it is illuminated at night. Don’t let the photo above fool you–that is a really long exposure and looks better than it would look at night when viewed with the naked eye.
Now let’s take a look at everything else at the resort outside of the rooms, because Disney’s Art of Animation has some excellent amenities!
Landscape of Flavors, the food court, is one of the most inspired food courts at any Walt Disney World hotel, and is superior to any other Value Resort. Additional amenities include a play area, arcade, free a jogging trail, WiFi, and movies under the stars.
The best amenity of all is the Disney Skyliner gondola station, which Art of Animation shares with Pop Century Resort. This connects these sister Value Resorts to Disney’s Hollywood Studios and Epcot via Caribbean Beach. Access to two parks and several hotels (including the character dining at Riviera Resort) without getting on a bus is huge.
Since going into operation, we have used the Skyliner many, many times, and are huge fans. From our perspective, the value the Skyliner adds to Art of Animation cannot be overstated. It’s great to be able to utilize non-bus transportation for getting around Walt Disney World. Read our Skyliner Gondola Review: Walt Disney World’s Most Magical Flight on Earth for more info and commentary.
Even when you do need to use buses, the good news is that Art of Animation does not share bus transportation service with any other Walt Disney World hotel.
This means that, along with Pop Century, it has the best bus transportation in all of Walt Disney World. Sort of odd that two Value Resorts would share this crown, but whatever, I guess.
Another thing to take into consideration when booking a room at Disney’s Art of Animation Resort is the walk. The Finding Nemo suites are closest to the main (Finding Nemo-themed) pool, with The Lion King and Cars wings being about the same distance away, maybe a 5-7 minute walk from the lobby. The Little Mermaid standard rooms are a bit of a hike, maybe 8-12 minutes from the lobby depending upon how quickly you walk.
The Little Mermaid rooms are also disadvantaged in that they do not have internal halls, whereas the suites do have internal halls between the rooms. To this extent, the suites are less like the other Value Resorts and the standard rooms are more like the other Value Resorts.
Above is the main, fittingly named “Big Blue” pool.
The Big Blue Pool is the only Value Resort pool to not allow pool-hopping (likely to keep the riff raff from Pop Century out! ;)) and is pretty cool. Disney really hypes up the underwater music, which is a cool touch. I actually prefer the Cars pool, which is quieter and has a neat look with the Cozy Cones nearby.
My biggest issue with Art of Animation is the pricing of the suites. These suites range from about $400/night to about $650/night. (The range of regular prices is $474 to $570.) That varies significantly based on dates, with winter and early fall off-season costing the least, and holidays costing the most. Typically, two standard value resort rooms combined will cost you less than a single family suite.
Now, this isn’t an apples to apples comparison as there are certainly benefits to the single family suite as opposed to two adjacent single rooms, but that still gives me pause, and makes me question just how much of a value these suites truly are.
Interestingly, though, if Walt Disney World were to re-classify Disney’s Art of Animation Resort in a higher (or its own) tier, I think it would pass for something higher. If you actually like the theme at Art of Animation, it might pass muster as a Deluxe-caliber resort. I still don’t view them as rooms that are worth over $450/night, but if you can score a discounted rate at one, I do think ~$350/night for a party of 6 is reasonable. Everyone’s opinion of value-for-money differs, though.
Transportation, pool, and other amenities are all top-notch, and really the only significant amenity missing as compared to the Deluxes is a nice table service restaurant and a good location in relation to a theme park, and these two things aren’t even something all Deluxes have. We aren’t suggesting that you should compared Art of Animation to a Deluxe when determining whether you should book it (we do not think it’s Deluxe-caliber), just pointing out that the argument could be made.
In terms of theme, price, and category, Art of Animation compares interestingly to Cabana Bay Beach Resort over at Universal Orlando Resort. For those unfamiliar with it, Cabana Bay is very similar in nature, offering both value single rooms and value family suites. Its look is one of a 1950s retro, with a lot of midcentury modern and Googie architecture, and styling drawn from beach and car culture. It’s the kind of style that has become popular in recent years thanks to stores like IKEA and shows like Mad Men.
Cabana Bay has a lower price and a theme that is more adult. What it lacks is the Disney theming and on-site advantages of a Walt Disney World hotel. To many people, this will be an absolute deal-breaker. Our Florida visits focus primarily on Walt Disney World, so staying on-site in a Disney-owned hotel is a must. Your mileage may vary on that, depending upon your priorities in Orlando. I think both hotels have their place, and each will be the ‘clear-cut’ winner for some guests depending upon their vacation plans, design preferences, and budget.
The Art of Animation family suites price-point makes them something we don’t strongly recommend unless you want to be on-site at Walt Disney World, need to sleep 6 people, and the layout of a family suite is desired. In fairness to the Art of Animation suites, maybe viewing them solely in terms of capacity and thus comparing them to two standard rooms at a Value Resort is missing the point.
One bedroom villas might be the more apt comparison, and these compare fairly to those, price-wise. The living area in the suites is totally different than simply doubling a standard room, after all, and the suites are actually larger than two standard rooms combined, even if the total capacity of the suite is only 6, versus 8 between two standard rooms.
Overall, this review was a very long-winded way of saying the Family Suites at Art of Animation and the hotel as a whole are really cool, but also not for everyone’s personal tastes and party size. While we both really enjoy Disney’s Art of Animation Resort, we also have concerns about it and how it compares to similarly-situated options.
Hopefully, our playing of devil’s advocate and presentation all of the pros and cons of Art of Animation was helpful to your decision…and didn’t complicate it further. Ultimately, we like Art of Animation and will definitely return here. We will probably stick with The Little Mermaid standard rooms in the future, but if we had a party of 6 and we wanted more of a “resort” type room for our Walt Disney World trip, we wouldn’t hesitate to stay here again–especially in the Cars wing.
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Your Thoughts
Do you think Disney’s Art of Animation Resort is for you? Have you stayed here? Do you want to stay here? Agree or disagree with our resort review? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback—even when you disagree with us—is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
Bought my 6 year granddaughter here. She loved all the Lion King and Airel charactures. But the first day there the Disney/hotel/airport lost our luggage, so we had to wait for them to find it five hours later. And the rooms refrigerator door would not close. So we called and had maintanence come up to fix it. The next day all of our food was frozen solid. It never did work right the rest of the week. The cafeteria food was a good variety for kids, but if you are looking for better choices for adults this is not the place. And if your single without kids this is not the place to stay. With all the kids running and slamming doors and yelling, your best bet to find a better resort.
We are a family of 5 (and sometimes one of our kids brings a friend) and we’ve always stayed at the Fort Wilderness Cabins. I’m much more inclined to stay there again after reading some of these reviews. We have **never** had a bad experience in 5 trips when staying in the cabins…. We just booked to go back in October and were considering staying at AoA (Nemo) but just swapped back to the cabins. I think we will go check it out, but I love everyone’s candidness about their experiences.
I love you review and your entire blog! I can’t wait to read more. We will be staying in the AoA Cars Suite for our trip in January of next year (I’m a super planner.) We are driving and want to park the car at the hotel and not use it until we drive home. I want to make sure I understand the bus route. It only runs between AoA and all the parks or just Magic Kingdom?
Each park has a separate bus. So AoA <-> MK, AoA <-> Epcot, and so on…
Is it faster and more convenient to take the bus, or to use our car to go to and from the parks?
We have a 5 year old boy and have done AofA 3 times now (also have done movies and Caribbean beach) …. twice just the 3 of us and once with the extended fam (8 total-3 rooms) Besides the walk, this is an amazing resort. The saltwater pools means no chlorine smelling room every night and no red eyes for little guy. The food court has a wide variety of delicious food. And the scenery is amazing in all 4 areas. We are planning another trip and want to try something new but with Art being so amazing its hard to give all this up! Highly recommend Art!
We’ve visited this resort a couple of times- we LOVE Cars, and my son just went nuts over the “life-size” versions of his favorite characters. We enjoyed walking around the place, and enjoyed the food court. We are usually deluxe villa people- I adore the AKL and Yacht Club was our last trip. But I didn’t mind the AoA so much- its supposed to be fun, and I think they did a great job.
One caveat- last year when we were walking around, my little ones (2 and 4 at the time) were absolutely terrified of the Lion King skeleton/graveyard in the courtyard area- they were so freaked out they wouldn’t walk anywhere near it. I was so very thankful we weren’t staying there at that point in time. I would love to try the Cars section, but if you have sensitive little ones, beware of that Lion King theming. Otherwise, I think its a very fun place. Thanks for the review!
Took granddaughter to Disney for her First visit and stayed 1st night at Art of Animation Lion King Suite and 2nd night at All-Star Music Suite. We had 4 adults (2 of our kids are under 23), plus our 6 yr old granddaughter. First night we had a late check-in 8:30 pm, none of the Magic bands worked to open the door. Had to call from courtesy phone to get bands re-programmed to work. Master bed was hard as a rock, sofa mattress was so thin my 20 yr old could feel the bars, murphy bed was the only bed that was comfy. 2nd night we had to leave park to go to resort because of malfunction with online check-in. Magic bands didn’t work again and took 30 min at check-in desk and only 1 ended up working to open room door. Room was large, master bed was comfy; but, again sofa was hard/thin and chair/ottomon mattresses were so thin had to stack both mattresses one on top of the other and still was horrible. For the amount of money paid for these rooms you would think the beds would be top of the line. Rather stay off-site and get a good night sleep than stay on property for convenience.
I have to say the extra price for a family suite is almost worth it just dor the in room coffee pot and microwave. However, i paid for two standard room three months ago. My family laughed at me for being on disney sites all the time. Now they dont laugh because i found a new late summer special that allowed me to upgrade bothroom to two family suites for 75 dollars. We are taking six kids and staying 7 nights with six day Everything tickets.
Recently stayed in a Cars Suite with 6 adults (all couples) and had a great time. There was plenty of room for all of us, we never felt cramped or on top of each other. My husband and I rotated between all 3 beds and I can attest that all were comfortable. The Master bedroom bed was obviously the most comfortable but the sofa bed and Table/Murphy bed were pretty comfy as well. Both were on the firm side, but not at all like sleeping on a cement block. I was really surprised with the sofa bed because every other sofa bed I’ve slept on feels like sleeping on a bag of springs with a bar in the middle of my back. The bed was totally serviceable and easy to pull out. The amount of pillows they initially gave was far too few, but housekeeping brought up our extras super fast. I was totally satisfied with my stay here and would stay at the Cars Suite again with a larger party in a heart beat.
My family and I usually rent a house when we go to Disney but next year we want to stay on-site as my girls are 3 and 4 and LOVE Disney. We really want a suite so that when the kids go to bed, mom and dad can stay up and unwind with a glass of wine. We were thinking Art of Animation (I’m going to get the BOY room comments too) but is there another suite hotel that any of you would recommend that you preferred? I’m not as concerned on cost as I am on ease of transportation and things for the kids to do on our non-park days.
My family (two kids 8 and 5) stayed in the Little Mermaid rooms, and we thought AoA was fantastic. Sure, if just my wife and I were going to WDW, we would pick a different hotel, but AoA is a great choice because a) affordability, b) transportation, especially compared to other Value Resorts, and c) theme is much more interesting than other Values.
I would love to stay in a suite next time we go (Cars area is SO neat), but the fact of the matter is that if you are doing WDW correctly, you aren’t going to spend much time in your hotel room. That’s a big reason why we always stay in a value resort room. If you don’t feel like spending $300/night on your room, I’d highly recommend the Little Mermaid rooms at AoA. The transportation alone makes it (or Pop Century) worth staying at in comparison to the All-Star resorts. Very nice.
Great comments!! We are going on november but we have a 2 year old allergic to mostly everything and i’ll have to cook his food. Is there only a microwave or a stoven too? can anyone tell me if that kitchen will fit me or if there is any other better accomodation on my case??
If you are staying in a family suite there is only a microwave and a small fridge. You can see a picture of the kitchen area above in the cars suite. If you are looking for more kitchen space (full size fridge and stove) then the Cabins at Fort Wilderness is a great option.
enjoyed reading the your review and all the other post,,, we are booked for a trip in May , staying a AOA ,cars suite (my choice ) ,, my daughter wants a lion king suite ,but after reading the reviews here , I’m a bit torn . Cars Vs Lion King ?!?! also she is super excited about the big pool , how for are the cars & lion kings suites form the big pool ??
I’m taking my 2 gran-daughters to Disney in August. I have booked Port Orleans French Quarter, but have considered changing to Art of Animation. After reading the reviews, I am worried about the transportation from Port Orleans to the parks. Has anyone experienced these 2 resorts in August? Which hotel would be easiest to navigate by an old granny and 2 high energy kids? Any suggestions would be great.(The kids are ages 4 and 9.)
Port Orleans French Quarter has the smallest footprint & walking times of any moderate resort, so I wouldn’t worry to much about walking there. I think it will be fine 🙂 The bigger difference , besides the rooms, between POFQ & AOA is theming; I think POFQ is more relaxing & AOA is more like stepping into a cartoon, in a good way. Hope that helps!
@Minnies_Girl
Oh, one more note… if you plan to check out and then spend time in a park on your last day before going to the airport, plan to spend at least an hour checking in you bags for the airport at the hotel’s baggage services. This was the only part of the resort that seemed to need a bit more attention and organization. It’s a convenient service, though and allows you to go play without having to worry about your luggage. And since it is already checked in, you only have to deal with your carry on bags until you get to your home airport! Magical Express is pretty awesome!
We just returned from a wonderful week in WDW and we stayed in the Lion King Family Suite in the Art of Animation Resort. this was only our second trip and last time www stayed in the All Star resort, so we were pretty impressed with Art of Animation. The theme is wonderful, the rooms are adorable!! The staff was very friendly and helpful, and the food court was good too! If it hadn’t been so cold, we would have enjoyed the lovely pool! One of the coolest things they offer is free animation classes in the lobby at 11am, 2pm, and 5pm. We wished there were some evening classes as well… The lion king suite was not our first choice, but we switched to get the free dining plan and it was TOTALLY worth it! While it wasn’t as soothing as the Nemo suites, it was very accommodating for 6 adults. We weren’t in the rooms for much more than to sleep and shower, so we were pretty comfortable. Our housekeeper was great and even left cute towel art!! The decor all around the resort is so fun, you could spend a day just wondering around taking photos and playing!! the only drawback is that some rooms are pretty far from the main building where the food and busses are located. If someone forgets something in the room, it’s quite a sprint back to the room. But overall, it was perfect for our group!! we enjoyed our trip so much, my husband and I are going to spend our 25th anniversary at WDW next year, but we are going to try a deluxe resort, since it’s a special “romantic” getaway!! I can’t WAIT!!!!! There’s just no place like Walt Disney World!!
I have reservations to stay in the Lion King suites but after reading these reviews I am very nervous. I am hoping that it is not as bad as it seems from these reviews.
Our family of 6 stayed in a Lion King Suite this past November and loved the theming! It was cute, fun and very Disney. We didn’t have any trouble sleeping as others have mentioned lol. We are going again this November and can’t decide whether to stay in the Lion King section or try Cars. We can’t all agree! The nice part about Lion King is it’s close to the Little Mermaid pool which isn’t busy and is quiet large compared to the Cars pool which is pretty small. We didn’t care for the Nemo pool as it was very busy and not as warm as the others.
We actually just got back from a stay at the Fort Wilderness cabins and had a not so great stay there (roaches!, no hot water, tons of mosquito’s in the room and a stray flea).
Anyway, we always stay at the cabins but we drove over to AoA just to walk around the resort and take some pics. It’s so cute! We also asked if we could get a room tour of one of the suites and they took us over to see a Nemo room. We’ve decided we’re going to stay here on our next trip, although I want to stay in a Cars room first..so cute. Having only ever stayed in the cabins, not only where we swayed by the suite itself, and the second bathroom, but everything is basically within walking distance. Not so at the cabins. The refillable mugs are pretty pointless at Fort Wilderness. It can take up to an hour just to go get a cup of coffee!
Anyway, the roaches ruined it for me. The cabin was infested and we literally had to argue our way out of that cabin and into another one. Not pleasant and they couldn’t even get us in a new one until the next day. I refused to stay there that night with all those critters creeping around so they put us up at Port Orleans Riverside (cute, but not enough room for all of us and the fridge there was leaking so every time you went to the bathroom you stepped in a big wet spot on the carpet) and then moved us into another cabin the next day.
Very time consuming all that packing and unpacking, etc…. and we lost valuable park time doing all that. They did end up refunding us 2 nights stay and giving us extra fastpasses (6 extra for one day and 3 extra for the 2 following days) that we could use on anything, at any park, without having to schedule a specific time for them which was really nice but still, the whole ordeal was a creepy hassle all the same.
On the flip side, we did use one of our prescheduled fp’s for the mine train ride and then rode it another 4 times with our fancy fp’s. The kids loved it! 🙂
I couldn’t disagree more! The Lion King rooms were awesome! We were on the third floor and had the perfect view of the front where you see Simba on the hug log that you walk under! We had a 7 year old and 6 year old and they loved the room theme and so did us adults! We felt immersed in Disney which is why we were there. Cafeteria was awesome, all pools and decor were amazing! Would definitely go back repeatedly. This trip we are going to try the fort cabins but were a little skeptical about the lack of Disney theme and not so great pool. Also the walking distances are a little much for kids. AOA also offers a movie each night at main pool kids can swim and watch movie and full bar allows parents to have cocktail. Main pool is steps from the cafe and souvenir store. Food was awesome and they have killer huge Disney decorated cupcakes. I love the option to buy a Disney mug and get free refills all day of soda tea or coffee. Only downside was the bus system. We ended up driving everywhere because buses were awful. Sometimes stopping at 3-4 locations undisclosed until you got on said “direct route” bus. The cleaning staff was awesome and we always had fresh towels, soaps and shampoos which I loved and are Disney themed. Rooms were clean and new. Fresh. It was just amazing. I took hundreds of pictures at the hotel.
If you were able to request amenities, which would you say is the best? We are staying in the Cars section so is it better to request “closer to transportation”, “landscape view” or any other requests? We are also traveling with a 2 year old and will have family in the Nemo section! Thank you!
I love Disney’s Art of Animation because of the your favorite animated films. For me I love Cars Theme. Next Year We are going to stay in the Art Of Animation. I can’t hardly wait to see the lobby and the dining and shops! Awesome!