Category — d. Where to Stay at Walt Disney World

For the first page of this review of Disney’s Art of Animation Resort, see this.

LITTLE MERMAID ROOMS AT DISNEY’S ART OF ANIMATION RESORT

Note: guests at Disney’s Art of Animation Resort are eligible for Disney World’s Early Entry program, and for early access to its paid individual system for access to certain rides, but NOT for its Extended Evening Hours.

Disney’s Art of Animation Resort has two very different types of rooms.

One room type, Family Suites, fills the seven most convenient buildings at Art of Animation.

These spaces sleep six in over 500 square feet, and cost $450 to almost $800 a night including tax. See this for more on these Family Suites.

The other room type, standard rooms in the Little Mermaid, is the subject of this page.

Standard rooms at Art of Animation are found in its three least convenient Little Mermaid buildings, and sleep 4 in full beds in about 260 square feet. These rooms cost $180-$330 a night including tax—less than half of what the Family Suites are going for.

These two room types are profoundly different—anyone reserving one but expecting the other is in for a shock.

And you can’t really compare them to each other.  The relevant comparison for standard rooms at Art of Animation is standard rooms at the other four Value Resorts: Pop Century, All-Star Movies, All-Star Sports, and All-Star Music.

Based on this comparison, standard rooms at Art of Animation outshine the alternatives, (except possibly queen bed rooms rooms at Pop Century, All-Star Movies, and All-Star Music) and are this site’s most highly recommended value resort standard rooms.  They have the highest kid appeal of any value resort—for both boys and girls—and this kid appeal outweighs for almost all families their slight deficits in convenience.

That said, Little Mermaid rooms average $80/night more than All-Star rooms, and $40/night more than rooms at Pop…and in the summer approach the prices of moderate resorts. So you are definitely paying for the kid appeal there rooms present.

Note that the long-time travel agent partner of this site, Kelly B., can help you book your Disney World vacation at Art of Animation or anywhere else–contact her at using the form at the bottom of this page

REVIEW: LITTLE MERMAID STANDARD ROOMS AT DISNEY’S ART OF ANIMATION RESORT

Resorts are ranked on this site for first time visitors based first on their kid appeal, and then on their convenience.

On this basis, Disney’s Art of Animation Resort is the best value resort for first time family visitors.

Kid Appeal. Several of the deluxe resorts–notably, the Wilderness Lodge, Animal Kingdom Lodge, and Polynesian Resort–have spectacular kid appeal. None of the moderates do.

All of the value resorts–Disney’s All-Star Sports, All-Star Music, and All-Star Movies,  its Pop Century Resort, and Art of Animation–have terrific kid appeal.

This appeal comes from the approach to theming they all share: bright and vibrant exteriors, framing much larger than life objects of interest to kids. These objects reinforce that these resorts were designed for the sake of kids…and not necessarily for adults!

While Art of Animation has taken this theming to a whole new level, both in exteriors and interiors, the exterior theming in the Little Mermaid area is similar in scope and scale to what you will find at the other value resorts.

As you walk into the Little Mermaid area, you are greeted by Prince Eric.

Then you’ll find three large accommodation buildings surrounding a pool.

Outside of each of the three buildings there’s a four-story statue of a character from the movie:

Triton outside of Building 9…

…Ursula outside Building 7…

…and Ariel herself outside of Building 8.

As at the other value resorts, attached to the facades of the buildings are other reminders of the theming.

What distinguishes the Little Mermaid area form the other value resort standard room areas is the pervasive theming inside the rooms themselves.

For example, the Little Mermaid Standard rooms are meant to be “under the sea.”

So the carpet mimics the sea floor, and the window curtain extends the sea floor and brings undersea plants to it…

As a result, Art of Animation has the deepest level of Disney theming ever created in a hotel. If your kids like the movies it represents–Nemo, Little Mermaid, Lion King, Cars–they are going to love this place.

Convenience.  Convenience on this site means transportation convenience in carrying out its itineraries. By that standard, Art of Animation overall is tied with Pop Century Resort for being the most convenient value resort.

Among the values it shares with Pop Century both the most convenient buses and the only value resort access to Disney’s new Skyliner gondola system, which–after a transfer at Caribbean Beach–offers fun, simple routing to Epcot and Disney’s Hollywood Studios.

However, the standard rooms at Art of Animation are the least convenient of all this hotel’s offerings.

See the map.  The standard rooms at Art of Animation are all in the Little Mermaid section, highlighted with the orange circle.

These rooms are by far the least convenient offerings at Art of Animation, being five minutes further away (at worst) from the Skyliner station, central pool, food court and bus stop than other (Family Suite) Art of Animation options.

For most families, this extra few minutes won’t matter; but those with mobility issues might want to consider Pop Century, the next most highly ranked value resort, especially if they are targeting a summer visit or need the queen beds or coffeemakers found in its refurbed rooms.

At Pop, as at the other value resorts, rooms can be found that are much more convenient to the central resort services.

THE LITTLE MERMAID ROOMS THEMSELVES

Little Mermaid room layouts at Art of Animation are pretty much identical what was formerly found in standard rooms in the other value resorts.

However, refurbs at Pop Century, All-Star Movies, and All-Star Music have added queen beds and coffeemakers to those resort.  So the only clear comparable these days is All-Star Sports, which like these rooms still has full beds and no coffeemakers–but even All-Star Sports may be getting queens soon.

See the floor plan. These rooms have two full beds, a table and chairs, a dresser with a TV on top and a mini-fridge inside, and a divided bath.

And as in the other value resorts, this room is about as small as it can be and still fit two beds.

Note that some says that these rooms are slightly larger than other value resort rooms, at 277 square feet, rather than 260.

In fact, these rooms are no bigger than those at the other value resorts.

My tape measure got all the major dimensions as within an inch or so of those at Pop Century.   For this room to have 17 more square feet, it would need to have been a foot and a half longer, or nine inches wider, or 6 inches more in both dimensions, or some such, than All-Star Music.

My measuring isn’t perfect, but I would have noticed that big a dimensional difference…so I’ve got it as 260 square feet, same as the other value resorts.

BEST AND WORST PLACES TO STAY IN THE LITTLE MERMAID AREA OF ART OF ANIMATION

The Little Mermaid Section of Art of Animation has three buildings, numbered 7, 8 and 9.

Seven is the best, and 8 the worst.  Specifically, ask for an Hourglass Lake view room in building 7 closer to the Lion King area.  This will give you the shortest walk, least pool noise, and best views.

Distance. Building 8 is furthest from the Skyliner, central services and bus stop, Buildings 7 and 9 closer.

Noise.  Unlike in the Family Suites at Art of Animation, corridor noise is not much of an issue in the Little Mermaid section. This is because there are twice as many corridors, none is walled on all sides, none is air conditioned, and thus none has a real draw as a pathway to  the resort’s central services.

Noise, to the extent it is an issue, comes from the pool.  One-third of rooms in building 8, and one-sixth of rooms in each of 7 and 9, face the pool.

Views. Two thirds of the rooms in both buildings 8 and 9 have parking lot views; there are no bad views in building 7, though as noted above the pool-view rooms in 7 can be noisy.

Art of Animation and Pop Century are the only value resorts on a lake—Hourglass Lake separates the two.  While there may be some obtuse views of Hourglass Lake from a few of the pool-facing rooms of building 8, a third of building 7 rooms have a view of the lake.

All in, building 7 is the best and 8 the worst of the Little Mermaid buildings.  So ask for a lake-facing building 7 room, as near the Lion King area as possible.  This will give you the shortest walk, least noise and best view!

The best rooms specifically are 7513-7524, 7613-7624, 7713-7724, and 7813 to 7824.

The long-time travel agent partner of this site, Kelly B., can help you book your Disney World vacation at Art of Animation or anywhere else–contact her using the form below:

A PHOTO TOUR OF A STANDARD LITTLE MERMAID ROOM

This review continues here.

MATERIAL IN THIS REVIEW OF DISNEY’S ART OF ANIMATION RESORT

• Overview of Disney’s Art of Animation Resort
• The Little Mermaid Area and Rooms
• Photo Tour of a Little Mermaid Room
• Overview of the Family Suites Areas
• Accommodations in the Family Suites
• Photo Tour of a Finding Nemo Family Suite (plus bed dimensions, storage, etc)
• Photo Tour of a Lion King Family Suite
• Photo Tour of a Cars Family Suit
• Amenities at Disney’s Art of Animation Resort
• The Pools at Disney’s Art of Animation Resort

OTHER KEY PAGES FOR WHERE TO STAY AT DISNEY WORLD

• Where to stay–the Basics
• Where first-timers should stay
• Reviews of all the Disney World resorts, based on my 150+ stays in them

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THE LITTLE MERMAID SECTION OF DISNEY’S ART OF ANIMATION RESORT

Prior to the opening of the Little Mermaid sections at Disney World’s new Art of Animation resort, there were a couple of concerns about these standard value resort rooms:

• Are they too far from the main services in and near Animation Hall–the main pool, bus stops, dining, and shops?
• Is their Little Mermaid theme too “girly” for little boys to find them fun?

Well, these rooms opened over the weekend of September 15 and I stayed in one starting the Tuesday after opening. A full review begins here, but I can tell you now that the walk to Animation Hall is 7 minutes or so, and that these rooms aren’t remotely “girly.”

Here’s the scoop on these two concerns.

THE FURTHEST LITTLE MERMAID ROOMS ARE ABOUT A SEVEN MINUTE WALK FROM ANIMATION HALL

My room–I didn’t ask for this, my readers are just lucky that way–was about as far as you can get from the main services in Animation Hall.

See the image–the Little Mermaid section, where all of Art of Animation’s standard rooms are (see this for its Family Suites, a different room type), is in the orange circle.

My room, on the 4th floor in the area indicated by the red arrow, is just about as far as you can get from the main services, in the lower middle of the map.

I timed multiple trips back and forth, and they ranged from 6.5 minutes to 7.5 minutes.  Now, I walk a little faster than most, but regardless, that’s not a hardship.

The distance is, in fact, about as far as it is from the entrance of the Magic Kingdom to the Carrousel in Fantasyland.  See the images–they are at the same scale, and in each the orange line is the same length.

LITTLE MERMAID ROOMS ARE WONDERFUL FOR LITTLE BOYS

There’s been some concern that the theming of this area and its rooms would be all Ariel and her loot and combs and such, and that this might be off-putting to little boys.

Not so; in fact, you could even argue that it’s thin on Ariel.

The theming of the buildings and grounds of this section is meant to recall the settings and characters of the film, not Ariel.  The first character you see is not Ariel, but rather Prince Eric, in a heroic pose.

There is a three-story (!) depiction of Ariel deeper in the area, but not only is she no more prominent than, for example, Triton, but also the initial view of her is occluded by the Prince Eric statue.

By the way, it’s not that Ariel is charmless for little (and big) boys; the concern was that this area and its rooms might be all Ariel all the time…but it isn’t, by a long shot…

In the rooms themselves, you see Ariel only on the shower curtain.

The only other direct reference to her is the tub surround, which mimics her lair.

In the main sleeping and living area of the room, you don’t see Ariel; rather, you’ve got another heroic pose for Prince Eric and his teeth…

…Flounder and Sebastian…

…and lots of nicely done work meant to indicate the you are indeed “under the sea,” and walking on the sea floor–note the carpet and how sea plants “grow out of it” on the window curtain…

..and on the bedspread.

The Little Mermaid section of Disney’s Art of Animation Resort is themed around the movie, not the character.  It doesn’t overdo Ariel, and if anything is a little short on her and long on a heroic vision of Prince Eric.  As a result, little boys will like it just fine, and some little girls will miss Ariel a bit.

I’ve just checked in to my standard room in Art of Animation’s Little Mermaid section.

A full review will start soon, but I wanted to get a first impression out, and am too shy for live-blogging.

So I thought I’d send you all a postcard…

For the first page of this review of the Family Suites at All-Star Music, click here.

THE FAMILY SUITE BEDS AT ALL-STAR MUSIC

One key difference between the Family Suites at All-Star Music and those at Art of Animation is the number of beds.

Each has a queen in the master bedroom and a two-person fold-out sofa. After that come the differences:

• The final two spots at Art of Animation are together in a fold-down dining table sleeping two
• The final two spots in All-Star Music are in two separate beds, one folding out of an ottoman, the other folding out of a chair

These last two sleeping spots are much more comfortable at Art of Animation, but–so long as one of your kids is short and light, and also has not named you in his or her will–much more flexible at All-Star Music. [Read more →]

For the first page of this review of the Family Suites at All-Star Music, click here.

THE FAMILY SUITES AT ALL-STAR MUSIC FOR FIRST-TIME VISITORS

Resorts are ranked on this site for first time family visitors based first on their kid appeal, and then on their convenience.

On this basis, the Family Suites at All-Star Music are the second-best choice for larger families seeking value pricing, after the Family Suites at Art of Animation.

Art of Animation has much more kid-appeal than All-Star Music, and a bit more convenience. (For more on All-Star Music, the overall resort within which the Family Suites at All-Star Music are found, see this.)

However, the Family Suites at Art of Animation are not just a clone of those at All-Star Music.  There are differences in floor plans and livability that may make a difference to some families, and Art of Animation is on the order of 20% more expensive.

So I’ll do a space by space comparison by means of a photo-tour of the All-Star Music Family Suites. To avoid confusion, all the images on this page will be of Music; you can find the equivalents from Art of Animation here.

PHOTO TOUR OF ALL-STAR MUSIC FAMILY SUITES

Starting outside the room itself, the corridors at Music are outside, and the corridors at Art of Animation are inside. This means heated and cooled, so in general that’s a plus for AofA.

However, the design also means that any corridor at Art has twice as much traffic as at Music (because there are half as many of them…), and there’s more reason for people to use them (since they are heated and cooled).

This results in much more corridor noise at Art in general, and particularly on the first floor corridors that lead from the elevator bank to the direction of the main building, main pool, and bus stops.

Inside the rooms, Music has a larger and more livable living space than Art of Animation.

The smaller chair (the red one) is much larger than the equivalent chair at AofA, and as a result the chair and sofa together can seat 5, compared to 4 at AofA.

The two large, cushioned ottomans have no real equivalent at AofA.  Overall, the living room Music can comfortably seat a family of 6, while the living room at AofA can seat six, but not comfortably.

The other side of the Music living room has an area with drawers and a TV, and a small table and chairs.

The table is much smaller than the equivalent at Art of Animation, which has a real dining table, and  Music has only chairs for three (the third chair coming from the desk in the master bedroom).

The Art of Animation dining table will fit six–though two will be uncomfortable, as only four of its seating spots have knee space.

Art of Animation has a little more drawer space than Music, but this is a little deceiving, as Music has more overall storage space, with much larger closets, and many more storage shelves and cabinets in its mini kitchen than AofA.

The baths at Art of Animation win over those at Music in every way but one.  They have actual doors for privacy and quiet, and decor that’s both lovelier and more kid-appealing.

The dimension where some families may find a difference is that one of the two baths at AofA is entered from the master bedroom, while both baths at Music can be accessed without entering the parent’s room.

Some parents will prefer the AofA private bath; others, on the theory that the kids will use both regardless of their wishes, will prefer that at Music, where the kids don’t have to come into their room to use either bath.

The mini-kitchen at Music is much better than that at AofA.

At Art of Animation, it’s a 4×2 foot space in the corner of the living room; Music has an alcove mini-kitchen with much more counter and storage space.

For first time family visitors–who won’t be using this space much–it hardly matters, and both spaces have the same equipment.  But for families intending to really work out their microwave and store a lot of food, All-Star Music prevails.

Overall, the master bedroom at Music is better than at Art of Animation.

The beds are equivalent, but Music adds a desk and easy chair, both of which AofA lacks.

This lets the master bedroom serve better as a retreat from the kids than the equivalent space at AofA.

The master at Art of Animation has more in-room storage than Music, has closet rods in the room itself (at Music they are in the bath area) and, as noted above, has “private” access to the second bath.

So here’s where we are so far: compared to those at All-Star Music, Art of Animation Family Suites have MUCH better kid appeal, and slightly better convenience; the dining space at Art of Animation is much better and the baths largely better.  Music Family Suites have more livable living rooms and master bedrooms, and a more flexible mini-kitchen.

THE FAMILY SUITE BEDS AT ALL-STAR MUSIC

This review continues here.

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THERE ARE FAMILY SUITES AT ALL-STAR MUSIC TOO!

With all the deserved hoopla around the opening of the Family Suites at Art of Animation, Disney World’s original family suites at All-Star Music are still worth considering by any family thinking about Art of Animation.

In general, Art of Animation will be a better choice for most, but there are some specific features of the Family Suites at All-Star Music that will make them a better choice for some.

REVIEW: THE FAMILY SUITES AT ALL-STAR MUSIC [Read more →]