Disney’s Art of Animation is one of 5 value resorts at Walt Disney World. Theming pays honor to Disney’s movie animation, and to those who brought iconic Disney characters to life.

Art of Animation is one of the two value hotels with family suites, the other is All Star Music. These are larger value rooms with a separate bedroom.

This resort will particularly appeal to those of you with smaller children. Rest assured, they will absolutely LOVE it. In this  review, I’ll help you decide if this resort is the right fit for you and your family/friends. 

Let’s get to it. Here’s a look some of the rooms, amenities, and dinning options available at the resort!

Location

Location can also play a huge part in your Disney vacation. Depending on your hotel’s location, you can save huge chunks of time, primarily due to multiple transportation options.

Art of Animation is in the Wide World of Sports Resort Area located within walking distance of Disney’s Pop Century Resort.

It is just south of Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort, between Epcot and Disney’s Hollywood Studios.

it is closer to Epcot, Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and Magic Kingdom than the All-Stars are.

Note- Art of Animation is the farthest from Magic Kingdom. All of the other Parks are about a 10-15 minute ride from the resort, whereas Magic Kingdom can take closer to 25 mins depending on traffic.

If you have your own car—It’s within close proximity to the Disney Springs, and the water parks. 

Amenities at Art of Animation

3 Pools

Art of Animation doesn’t  have a hot tub or jacuzzi; those are found at Disney's moderate and deluxe resorts. There’s also no water slides at Art of Animation's pools.

The Big Blue Pool

• Largest pool on Walt Disney World property.

• Located off the backside of the Animation Hall and Landscape of Flavors.

• Busiest of the 3 since it’s the resorts main pool.

• You can listen to Disney songs while swimming, as this pool has underwater speakers.

• A giant Mr. Ray, whose wingspan is 27 feet, looks over the area, which includes a colorful reef and the East Australian Current.

• Splash Pad areas

• Squirt’s Righteous Reef playground (in the Finding Nemo courtyard)

Cars Cozy Cone Pool

• This pool has cone-shaped cabanas!

• Themed after the Cozy Cone Motel from the Cars movies, and features giant traffic cones. 

• Quiet Pool

• Lift accessible for guests with disabilities or limited mobility.

Flippin’ Fins Pool

•  Located in the Little Mermaid section.

• This pool area has theming from the “Under the Sea Orchestra” conducted by Sebastian. 

• It’s surrounded by large sculptures of King Triton and Ursula

• Smaller and less busy 

• Lift accessible for guests with disabilities or limited mobility

Recreation + Resort Activities at Art of Animation

Movies Under the Stars

• Occurs most nights

• Guests can enjoy complimentary Disney movies on the grassy area found between The Lion King building and Finding Nemo building.

Righteous Reef Playground

• Located in the Finding Nemo Courtyard, next to the splash pad. 

• A fantastic area of the resort for your littles to burn some energy!

Walking Trail

• Art of Animation Resort has a 1.38-mile trail around Hour Glass lake that you can walk/ jog. The lake is shaped like an hourglass with a large bridge between Pop Century and Art of Animation.

Pixel Play Arcade

• Located just off the Animation Hall lobby

Sand Art Resort Activity

Daily art class called Animation Academy

• This is a cool drawing class available to all guests. You can learn to draw a favorite Disney character!

Ink and Paint Shop Gift Shop

• Located to the right of the lobby when you come in from the bus entrance. You can also cut through it to go directly into the Landscape of Flavors.

Childcare Services

•  Disney contracts with a third party company, Kids Nite Out, to provide in hotel room babysitting services at the resort hotels. 

Dining at Art of Animation

On-site dining options at Art of Animation are limited but still provides great options families hoping to keep their food budget down. There’s 1 main dinning option and 1 pool bar. 

Landscape of Flavors

• Located off the Animation lobby.

• This is the one main dinning option. It’s a combo of made- to order and quick service items. Food stations are arranged cafeteria-style. 

• Divided into four themed seating areas, each one designed like the backgrounds in the four films represented at the resort. The art on the walls are landscape paintings from the films.

• Breakfast, lunch, and dinner are served.

• American themed menu with burgers, pizza, chicken sandwiches,  bakery case, and more. 

• The food isn’t anything special. I’d comparable it to your average quick service meal. 

• You can walk up and order. However, using Disney’s mobile order service in the My Disney Experience app can save you a lot of time!

Landscape of Flavors 5 five mini stations:

• Soup-Salad-Sandwich Shop - create your own salad; caprese sandwich on focaccia; Buffalo-style turkey sandwich with argula and a blue-cheese-Buffalo sauce-mayo spread with house-made potato chips

  • Pizza Shop - create your own pasta dish, cheese or pepporoni pizza; meatballs on ciabatta bread

  • Burger Shop - customize beef, vegetarian, seafood or chicken burgers; pastrami cheeseburger

  • The Market - wild berry, mango or strawberry-banana smoothies; iced mochas; cappuccinos; espresso; iced French vanilla coffee; desserts; gelato

  • World Flavors Shop - For breakfast, enjoy a challah French toast or veggie flatbread sandwich on naan with paneer cheese. For lunch or dinner, choose from tandoori chicken, shrimp or sausage; Mongolian beef or fish with basmati or multigrain rice

The Drop Off Pool Bar

• Here, you can order various speciality drinks and snack items.

• Serves both alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks.

• Located directly of the Big Blue Pool, just past the main indoor lobby.

Animation Hall at Art of Animation

Although this is just the main the lobby at Art of Animation, it’s definitely worth taking some time to look at all the animation details.

Beginning at check-in, pencil drawings set the stage as the process begins. As you move through Animation Hall, the sketches become more detailed as the animators figure out more of who their characters will be.

Across from check in— there’is a kids' TV area within clear view of the check-in desks to keep your littles occupied while you check-in. 

• To minimize waiting, complete online check-in before you arrive. Lines can get  long during peak check-in and check-out times, so rely on the Disney app to check in.

Don’t miss the Storyboard Chandelier! It features sketches and drawings from a few of Disney’s best-loved animated feature films.

The colorscript wall is right next to the Ink and Paint Shop.

Themed Areas at Art of Animation

One of the biggest selling points for Disney’s Art of Animation, is the  theming at the resort. The bright colors and fun designs throughout the entire resort create a very cheerful and fun atmosphere

Each section features larger than life iconic film characters in massive statue form and the building exteriors are adorned with colorful murals depicting scenes and characters from the movies.

The 4 themed resort areas at Art of Animation:

• Cars

• Finding Nemo

• Little Mermaid

• The Lion King

Guest Rooms at Art of Animation

Art of Animation has both standard rooms and family suites that are themed after the Disney and Pixar animation movies

Both the suites and the standard rooms have plenty of space to store luggage, clothing, and other items. There are closet bars with hangars and dressers to hang whatever you need. Plus, there is room underneath the beds to place suitcases, if needed.

That said, the standard rooms and family suites do vary signficantly.

Art of Animation has 2 room types:

• Standard Rooms-  Sleeps 4 Little Mermaid has standard rooms 

• Family Suites-  Sleeps 6

1. Standard Rooms at Art of Animation

• Slightly larger than comparable rooms at other value-level resorts, standard rooms are 277 square feet.

• The bathroom has a sink and mirror separate from the shower/tub combo and toilet.

•  In-room safe, iron, and ironing board, mini-fridge, microwave, and coffeemaker. 

• There’s one big room with a table and chairs, 2 Queen Beds or 1 King Bed, a dresser, and a TV.

• Design wise- These rooms feel pretty dark in my opinion.

• Standard Room Views

  • Each offers either the pool, courtyard or parking area views.

2. Family Suites at Art of Animation

There are three categories of family suites at Art of Animation. Apart from the theming and location, the rooms are the same.

• Finding Nemo

• Lion King

• Cars

Art of Animation’s family suites are 565 square feet, about what you’d get by combining two standard rooms into one suite. Booking a suite is ideal if you have a large family, and you’re looking for more room, as they can sleep up to 6 guests! 

Each family suite comes with 1 Queen Bed, 1 Double-Size Table Bed, and 1 Double-Size Sleeper Sofa. The room with the Queen Bed also has another TV, dresser, a place to hang clothes, and a bathroom attached.

Amenities: hairdryer, microwave, free WiFi, telephone, iron and ironing board, an in-room safe. There’s a good amount of outlets for charging.

Each Family Suite has 3 sleeping areas:

• 2 can sleep on the queen in the master bedroom

• 2 can sleep on a fold-out couch in the living area

• 2 can sleep on a Murphy bed. The table pulls down from a wall with hiding the double-size bed.

The master bedroom bathroom has a walk-in shower while the bathroom off the living room has a bathtub.

The living room area has a small kitchen with microwave and mini-fridge, pull-out sofa with a double sleeper, dresser, and television.

If you’re wanting for a room on Disney property with a full kitchen, consider the Disney World Villa Resorts.

Price wise, the family suites at Art of Animation are much more expensive than the standard rooms. You can expect to pay roughly $450 to $850 per night for one of theses family suites at Art of Animation. 

Little Mermaid Section at Art of Animation Resort

• STANDARD ROOMS ONLY

Located on the far end of the resort, the Little Mermaid section is where you’ll find the actual “value” portion of the resort. 

The Little Mermaid courtyard is filled with the treasures that Ariel has rescued from the human world, just like in the movie. Those who love the movie, will enjoy being greeted by their favorite characters when coming and going.

These are also the ONLY rooms that are set up like a motel rather than a hotel. The door leads you directly outside, just like they do at the Value Resorts. 

There’s one main living area table and chairs, 2 Queen Beds or 1 King Bed, a dresser, and a TV.

A themed curtain separates the living area from the bathroom sink vanity. 

Amenities included: hairdryer, in-rooms safe, mini-refrigerator, free WiFi, telephone, iron and ironing board.

Little Mermaid Room Theming:

• Shell mirror, small table with chairs, Under the Sea curtain divider and a Prince Eric painting.

• You’ll see Ariel inside the bathroom in her thing-a-ma-bob place.

If you're hoping to stay in a standard hotel room at Art of Animation, this is your only option. The other 3 sections are all made up of family suites

Little Mermaid Rooms are far from the food court, main pool and bus area.Keep that in mind if you don’t want to walk far after a long park day to get to your room. 

Buildings 7 & 9 will get you little bit closer to Animation Hall and bus transportation.

Lion King Section at Art of Animation Resort

Located directly across from the Little Mermaid.

 he Lion King rooms are a bit further away from the main pool and Animation Hall, but they're  closer to the bus transportation.

Lion King buildings are the only ones at Art of Animation that don’t surround a pool….makes them way more quieter.

I LOVE how they have Mufasa siting atop Pride Rock overlooking guests and the family suites. If you have littles— there’s a play area called Elephant Graveyard.

Lion King Room Theming:

• Lion King rooms feature Zazu performing on the headboards and Pumbaa and Timon decorating the shower curtain.

Buildings: 6 & 10

Cars Section at Art of Animation Resort

• FAMILY SUITES ONLY

This section is my favorite out of the 4. It reminds me of Cars Land out at Disneyland Resort in California. I love the life-size cars and the billboard welcoming you to Radiator Springs!

Located to the immediate right when you exit the main resort lobby. Buildings 1 and 3 are the closest in the Cars section to Animation Hall.

Cars Room theming:

•  "Cozy Cone Motel" vibes

• The most colorful out of the 4 sections

• Tool chests serve as drawers and storage spaces, while a map of Radiator Springs sits above the coffee table. Bedside light fixtures are cones.

No standard rooms are offering in this section. Instead, they’re are all Cars family suites.

Buildings: 1, 2, & 3

Finding Nemo Section at Art of Animation

• FAMILY SUITES ONLY

The Finding Nemo section welcomes guests to a “Big Blue World…”!

Located in the center of the resort. It’s right in the heart of the property, and it’s where you’ll see the main lobby, dinning options, and my favorite, “The Big Blue” Pool.

The Finding Nemo rooms cost more because they are all considered “preferred” meaning they’re the closest of any buildings to Animation Hall, the main pool, and most importantly the Skyliner.

It is about a five minute walk to the skyliner station from the suites, so if being close to the skyliner is important to you, keep that in mind.

Prices for the Finding Nemo Family Suites range from $284 - $500 per night depending on the time of year you visit Walt Disney World.

All of the rooms in this section of the resort are Finding Nemo family suites. There are no Standard rooms in in this section.

This section of the resort can be busy and noisy late into the evening. If you want to stay here but want less noise, request a room on the outside of the building and not a pool view.

The living room area features a pull-out couch, a small kitchenette area and a TV. There’s a bathroom in between the Murphy bed and living room. The sinks are on the outside of the room which is always my preference when it comes to hotels.

The bedroom in the suite can be closed off from the rest of the room with a door. This room was a little more subdue in terms of theming, with a queen bed and simpler walls. The lamps add some fun details and the color scheme adds a little more purple in here.

Finding Nemo Room Amenities:

hairdryer, internet – free WiFi service, coffee maker, telephone, in room safe, iron and ironing board and a mini refrigerator.

Finding Nemo Room Theming:

• Finding Nemo rooms have coral-shaped chairs and ceiling lights that look like bubbles. 

• The bathroom is designed like the submarine scene in the movie, right down to the porthole that serves as a mirror.

Finding Nemo Buildings:

• 4 & 5 (Preferred room location)

Art of Animation Transportation

Art of Animation offers 2 types of transportation: 

Disney’s Skyliner

Art of Animation is linked by the Disney World Skyliner gondola system to Epcot and Disney’s Hollywood Studios. It shares a drop-off and pick-up point with Pop Century in the center of Hour Glass Lake. 

The Skyliner will take you from Art of Animation to Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort. There you can board an additional gondola to Epcot or Hollywood Studios. 

Consider taking the Skyliner to Caribbean Beach or Riviera for better dining options.

Being able to utilize Disney’s Skyliner is a HUGE selling point for those considering a stay at Art of Animation. The other value resorts (All-Stars) only have bus transportation.

Disney’s Bus Transportation

Art of Animation is one of only two resorts at Walt Disney World that has only one bus stop, and also doesn’t share buses with any other resort. (Pop Century is the other.)

The bus stop for Art of Animation is located at the front of the resort, off the side of the lobby.

You can take a bus from the resort to:

• Disney Springs

• Magic Kingdom

• Aninal Kingdom

• Blizzard Beach

• Typhoon Lagoon

Note— the resort only has 1 bus stop, some rooms with be a further walk than others. The Little Mermaid section in particular has rooms furthest away from the bus stop. Those rooms take roughly 10 minutes to walk from your room to bus stop.

Parking at Art of Animation

Parking is available at Art of Animation, but it’s not free for resort guests.

There is a standard $15 overnight self-parking fee (including tax) that is applied to guests’ hotel folio upon check-out.

Dog-Friendly Resort

Art of Animation is one of Disney World’s Dog-Friendly Resorts

•  There is a limit of two dogs per room.

• There's  an additional pet cleaning fee if you bring your dog with you. It is $50 per night, per room (with $75 per night at Yacht Club).  

• Every dog that checks in gets a frogtastic welcome — a Pluto-themed kit to make your stay easy and fun. 

  • Pluto’s Welcome Kit includes:  Pet identification tag Food mat Food bowl Water bowl Bandanna Map to walking paths List of dog-friendly areas Rules for Dogs in Disney World Hotels

Rules for Dogs in Disney World Hotels

The room policy includes rules for keeping your pet on property with you. Keep in mind that these rules cover companion animals only. Your service animal is welcome in all resorts and theme parks in Orlando.

• Dogs may not roam the grounds and must remain on a leash at all times. There are designated rest areas at each of the four resorts specifically for your dog and each of the dog-friendly rooms are close to pet walking and rest areas.

• You may bring up to two dogs per room; there are no breed restrictions.

• Bring your own food, toys and bedding, but you’ll also receive Pluto’s Welcome Kit when you check in, a toadally fun bunch of goodies for your dog.

• Dogs are not permitted in pools, ponds or fountains.

• Your dog can still spend the day at the on-site Best Friends Pet Care for exercise, pampering, grooming and more, even if he stays in the room with you at night.

Notable Perks at Disney’s Art of Animation

• Guest staying at Disney’s Art of Animation Resort have access to ADDITIONAL tone in the Disney World theme parks!

  • Early Theme Park Entry allows guests to enter any of the parks 30 minutes early to get a head start on their day in the parks.

• Early access to WDW’s paid individual lightning lanes service

  •  All guests have the ability to buy Individual Attraction Selections. 

  • Guests staying offsite are able to get their first one when the park opens. Those staying at Disney-owned and operated hotels are able to make their first Individual Attraction Selection at 7AM each day.

Things To Consider Before Booking Art of Animation

• Guests are NOT eleigble for Extended Evening Hours.

• Compared to staying off-site, the value resorts are set apart by their higher appeal to children, convenience to WDW, and access to certain key perks that off-site hotels can’t provide.

• This resort can feel huge at times due to the way it’s laid out. If you’re traveling with small children or those who tire out easily, that could create a huge inconvenience. Especially at night after a long day at the Parks.

• Little Mermaid rooms are rarely part of promotions

•  Most expensive of the Value Resorts

Overall Impression of Disney’s Art of Animation

The best part about Art of Animation, is that even with all the amazing amenities and features listed in this post it’s still considered a Value Resort, placing it in the most affordable hotel category at Disney World.

Location wise-compared to the All-Stars, it’s more centrally located.

Disney’s Art of Animation is a fantastic choice if you have small children in your group, or if you’re considering one of the family suites as they come with a kitchenette.

Most of the ‘theming’ is window-dressing consisting of oversized characters and objects, and bright colors on the large hotel area buildings.

The rooms at Art of Animation are much more heavily Disney themed than those at All Stars Music. It has the most kid appeal of all the value resorts.

While I love the resort, it’s not my favorite choice when it comes down to standard rooms.  

Oversall this resort is more expensive that the other value resorts. These rooms are priced much like a Moderate Resort.

If you want convenient access to the Skyliner, or to sleep in a room themed to your favorite Disney or Pixar animated film, consider Art of Animation for your next Disney vacation!