Disney’s Art of Animation Resort: New Details
Posted by ThemeParkMom on June 6, 2011 | 6 Comments
Disney World’s newest resort, Art of Animation, is set to open in phases during 2012. I recently spoke with Katie Gallagher, who works in resorts marketing at Walt Disney World, to get some new details on what Disney guests will find at the Art of Animation Resort.
Katie said that the resort, along with the new Royal Guest Rooms at Disney’s Port Orleans, really do expand on the idea if storybook rooms at Walt Disney World. “We know that people come to immerse themselves in these stories, so this is taking it to the next level,” Katie said.
Art of Animation will have 1,120 family suites and 864 traditional guest rooms. The resort is themed around four animated movies: Finding Nemo, Cars, Lion King and The Little Mermaid.
In each of the four sections of the resort, Disney imagineers have scaled features to one of the key characters. In The Little Mermaid section, for example, everything is scaled as if a typical guest were the size of Sebastian the crab, making the Ursula statue a towering 45 feet high.
The public spaces will include a feature pool in the Finding Nemo section, a second pool in The Little Mermaid section and a quiet pool in the Cars area. The Lion King section will have a dry play area Katie called “spectacular” that will be set in the movie’s elephant graveyard scene.
Because animation is the theme, imagineers have come up with an inventive treatment for the resort’s main building, as well. Here the story of the animation starts inside the animator’s head. So as you walk into the resort’s reception area, food court and shop, you will see the characters as sketches, starting to take shape. Then a walk into the main resort guest areas brings the animated characters to life.
The guest rooms and family suites will then immerse guests in Disney characters, as well. In the Finding Nemo section, Nemo’s undersea world will be depicted in family suites decorated in shades of blue. In the Cars section, rooms will have lights shaped like orange traffic cones and a car-wash themed bathroom. Colors of nature will dominate in the Lion King rooms, where stools will be adorned with the catch phrase “hakuna matata” and tile work in the bathroom will present a favorite movie scene. The Little Mermaid guest rooms will have a portrait of Ariel’s beloved, Prince Eric, and kelp bedspreads.
The first phase of Disney’s Art of Animation Resort is slated to open in May 2012. The resort is adjacent to Disney’s Pop Century Resort.
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Thank you for the sneak peek! We saw the construction of it 2 wks ago and it was massive. I’m curious though, how will transportation to and from resort be? Will it share a bus with Pop Century much like the All Star Resorts do? One of the nice things about Pop is that it has it’s own bus line, unlike the crazy crowded mess that’s the All Star Resort buses.
Thanks so much for the descriptions and pictures. I have to say that the more I see of this resort, the more excited I get about it! The themes and details look amazing and I think it is going to be a very popular resort!
kelly, when we were at disney we asked a bus driver about the new resort. he told us that adding the new hotel was going to add over 30 more buses to the disney fleet and several more stops! the buses will be going to the art of animation!
Thanks for the intro! I wish they would have done Tangled rooms instead of the Little Mermaid. That would have been fantastic for my little Tangled fan who wants to let her hair grow out now! =) hehe
i wanted to go this summer like june or july, buttt heard the standard rooms arent being booked till like nov or dec ?? The suites are nice buttt i dont reallyy need the suites. standard rooms are fine with me (and cheaper) ! Will prob go summer of 2013 when i can get a standard room .
wILL LIKE TO RECEIVED MORE INFORMATION SINCE WE ARE PLANNING A FUTURE VACATION.L