q. Reviews - 71/94 - yourfirstvisit.net

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 →]

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

ACCOMMODATIONS AT THE FAMILY SUITES AT DISNEY’S ART OF ANIMATION RESORT

The family suites are innovative and spacious, sleeping six on three beds. Photo tours of each themed suite are later in this review.

The dining area–the first space you enter when you come in from the hall–is the most innovative.

In a meeting of Murphy beds and Rube Goldberg, the dining table converts into a bed…making it a Murphy Goldberg bed…it’s easy to set up and re-convert to a table, and fun to play with.

For the price (they are not cheap) I can’t think of a better value for space on property.

There are even some deluxes that I’d skip to stay in instead in one of these family suites. You lose the fine dining, more sophisticated décor, balconies, and cooler pools of the deluxes, but for that you get a larger, better equipped, and more livable space…plus two baths.
In some circumstances I’d even pick the Family Suites at Art of Animation over some of the smaller and more awkward Disney Vacation Club one bedroom villas, like those at Saratoga Springs.

However, the most direct comparison for the Art of Animation Family Suites is the Family Suites at All-Star Music.

The All-Star Music family suites were built by combining two existing rooms, and adding a door between them and a wall to create privacy for the master bedroom and space for the mini-kitchen.

See the floor plan.

There’s only a couple of broadly-applicable reasons to prefer All-Star Music to Art of Animation.

One is price. Art of Animation family suites are ~$70-100 per night more expensive than those at All-Star Music.
Another is the number of individual sleeping spaces. Art of Animation has three, each sleeping two, while Music has four, two sleeping one each and two beds sleeping two. This creates more flexibility for some family structures–e.g. families with 3 boys and one girl, or a family of five plus Aunt Ida.

Some other minor points that may sway some families to Music are the easy access to both baths from all beds–in Art of Animation the second bath is in the master bedroom, not so open to the living space–and the fact every bed in Music has a TV view, while in Art of Animation the “Murphy Goldberg” bed has no TV view-able from it.

One could also like the living room, mini-kitchen, and master bedroom more at Music. (For a space by space comparison, see this.)

Otherwise Art of Animation rules All-Star Music.

The family suites at Art of Animation were also designed within constraints–the footprints of the buildings had been established years ago, when the area it now occupies was meant to be the second phase of Pop Century.

Working within this constraint, Disney’s designers did a remarkable job.

The first key decision was to have one interior corridor rather than two exterior ones. This created an extra 5 feet or so of space available to lengthen the rooms, enabling adding a couple of feet to the window to entry door dimension.

This extra length–combined with the decision to move the closets–enabled Disney to rotate the baths and thus free up a ton of space in the center of the entry area.

The second key decision was to discover and decide to use in this space the “Murphy Goldberg” bed (this is my name for it, there’s a real brand name–Inova Table Bed).

This dining table that converts into a bed that converts into a table adds greatly to the livability of the room, and also simplifies what the living room area needs to deliver in terms of beds.

It’s also fun to play with.

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PHOTO TOUR OF A FINDING NEMO FAMILY SUITE AT DISNEY’S ART OF ANIMATION RESORT

This review continues here.

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

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

A PHOTO TOUR OF THE FINDING NEMO FAMILY SUITES AT DISNEY’S ART OF ANIMATION RESORT

This is the basic floor plan of all of the Art of Animation Family Suites. The entrance is from an enclosed hallway, and while the windows are large, there’s no balcony.

A refurb currently in process is shifting the floors to wood laminate, and the queen bed in the separate bedroom to a platform bed–which adds storage underneath. I’ll have updated images later in 2020.

(Images on this page are from Finding Nemo; for a Lion King photo tour, see this, and for the Cars Suites, see this.)

You enter directly in to the dining area, with the master bedroom area on one side and the mini-kitchen/living room on the other.

The dining table is large. It comes with four chairs, but despite the fact that this is a six-person room, that’s all that comfortably fits. There’s a couple of round tables in the living room that double as stools (except in Cars rooms)–a very clever idea. You can pull them up to the end of the table, but there’s no room for knees. And knees often are important…

The dining table is replaced by a bed that folds down from the wall. Note the darling image at the head of the bed of Nemo sleeping with his dad. A larger version is at the top of the page.

I measured this bed as 54 by 74 inches, but for some it will sleep a little shorter than that. The head of the bed is within the framing that supports it when it’s up, and this may feel a little claustrophobic to some, causing them to skooch towards the foot.

The single cushion is 8 inches deep, and I found it easy to sleep on though a little short.

It includes overhead reading lights on a dimmer switch, and two end tables. There’s a bit of storage in the end tables

The bed is easy to set up–clear the dining table, take away the chairs (which don’t stack–kind of an odd choice), and pull it down. The bed is already made, so all you need to do is add the pillows (stored in drawers in the living room) and you are set!

The kids’ bath opens off the dining room. It has two doors that divide it into two spaces–a pocket door to the sink area, and a hinged door to the tub/toilet area–making it quite flexible.

There’s a couple of ways in which finishes and furnishings at Art of Animation are a major upgrade over not just other value resorts, but even moderate resorts. Most notable of these is the bath–see the sink furniture in the above photo, and note the tiling in the tub surround, which looks even better in real life than in my photo.

Your kids likely will be more impressed by the shower curtain than the tiling…

The dining area also opens to the living room.

On one side you’ll find the mini-kitchen (further below) and large, comfy sofa, at the end a cute easy chair, and in the middle the two tables/stools I mentioned above. Using the stools, the room easily seats 6.

The other side has a flat-screen TV, good-sized dresser, and a clothes area with a shelf at the top, closet rod and hangers, another shelf, and a big drawer below.

There’s a little less storage here than meets the eye, as two of the largest drawers are stuffed with pillows and blankets for the sofa bed. You can get storage space back by creating a tippy stack of pillows on the shelf above the closet rod when the bed is not made.

A closer view of the dresser storage…

…and the storage drawer at the bottom of the closet thingy.

The living room sofa opens up into a bed. Unlike the dining table, it has sheets but not a blanket when you open it (grab the blanket from the storage area on the TV side).

I measured it at 54″ by 78″–4″ longer than the dining table bed. Although the mattress is only 4 inches thick, I had no trouble sleeping on it. But then I’m not picky…

The other item in this space is the mini-kitchen.

There’s a sink, mini-fridge, microwave, and a coffee maker.

There’s also some supplies–not just cups and coffee, but also paper plates and bowls, plastic utensils, a can opener and a corkscrew/bottle opener. This is a very nice touch.

For an image of the inside of the fridge, see this (and thanks, Hayden, for sending it to me!).

The master bedroom opens from the dining room.

One side has a flat screen and a dresser–the same size as the equivalents in the living room–and a closet space with safe, iron and ironing board, suitcase rack (which you will probably fold up so that you can stack a bunch of roller bags here) and hanging rack with a shelf above.

Master bedroom dresser storage. There’s plenty of drawers in these suites.

The other side has a colorful queen bed and a couple of bed tables.

The master bath opens from the master bedroom. It’s not divided, which creates space that enables a longer sink counter than in the kids’ bath. The shower has a glass door, and the same lovely tiling as the kids’ bath.

Like the kids’ bath, the furniture and finishing in this bath are at a much higher level than at the other values.

PHOTO TOUR OF A LION KING SUITE AT DISNEY’S ART OF ANIMATION RESORT

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This is the fourth page of this review of Disney’s Beach Club Villas. For the first page of this material, click here.

THE THEMING OF DISNEY’S BEACH CLUB VILLAS

Disney’s Beach Club Villas opened in 2002 as the fourth on-site Disney Vacation Club resort.

According to Disney’s web page on the Beach Club Villas, they

“…wrap leisure, elegance and romance into a full-service New England-style Disney Deluxe Villa Resort…

…The nautical allure of the Eastern Seaboard comes alive with architecture that features intricate wooden accents and a soft pastel color palette. Retreat to one of our stately Studios with kitchenettes or one of our spacious Villas complete with a kitchen, living area and a host of home-style amenities. Enjoy charming views from your windows and private porch or balcony.”

Designed by the architect who did the rest of the Epcot resorts, Robert A.M. Stern, the Beach Club Villas share the charming “Stick” architecture of sister resort the Beach Club, but are even more graceful and lovely than the sister resort is.

The Beach Club Villas are in fact as lovely as any other resort at Walt Disney World, and are at least comparable in beauty to the Grand Floridian…and perhaps, because of their smaller scale, even more charming.

The smaller scale, angled facade, and more playful detailing of the Beach Club Villas help it better reflect its roots in domestic architecture.

For example, some of the facades include not only the clapboard siding common at the resort but also towers designed with board and batten siding. A small thing, but one that hints at having a domestic history rather than being a monolith.

The Villas are a lovely sea green, a warmer and more inviting color than the (still-nice) cooler blue of the Beach Club.

Interiors spaces are just as nice, especially the main entry lobby through which guests will walk many times as they access the Beach Club, Epcot, Crescent Lake, and the BoardWalk.

The Beach Club Villas have many strengths for first time visitors, bringing together the positives of the DVC resorts–extra, more livable space, full kitchens–with those of the Beach Club: access to Stormalong Bay, Epcot and Disney’s Hollywood Studios.

The weaknesses of the Beach Club Villas are also shared–many families won’t be in these rooms enough to enjoy their amenities, and the architecture, lovely to adults, is dull to kids.

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MORE ON WHERE TO STAY AT DISNEY WORLD

For where to stay, see this
- For your next best choices, in order, see this
- For picking your resort based on appeal to kids, see this
- For picking your resort based on convenience, see this
- For where not to stay, see this

For what you get in each resort price category, see this
- For Walt Disney World resort price seasons, see this
- For resort reviews, see this
- For the value resorts, see this
- For the moderate resorts, see this
- For the deluxe resorts, see this
- For suites at the deluxe resorts, see this
- For the Disney Vacation Club (“DVC”) Resorts, see this

For a (geeky) overview of comparative room size, see this

Large families should look at this, and also at

Military/DOD families should look at this

Tightwads should look at this

Families seeking the most comfortable place to stay should see this

For the first page of this review of the Caribbean Beach, see this.

A PHOTO TOUR OF A STANDARD ROOM AT THE CARIBBEAN BEACH RESORT

Update: as part of a refurb that began in late spring 2014, the old full beds are being replaced with queen beds in standard Caribbean Beach rooms. As of 9/14, Jamaica is done, Aruba is almost done, and Barbados has started. See this for more!

Caribbean Beach rooms are accessed from an outside corridor. You enter into the living area, with the bath at the back.

As you enter the room, on the bed side you’ll find two full beds, brightly decorated with a Nemo theme.

Here’s a close-up of the bed.

On the wall between the bed and bath there’s Disney Cruise Line art.

On the opposite side of the room, you’ll find a dresser with a built-in mini fridge and a flat screen TV. Next to it is a chest.

Closer view of the table…

…the dresser and its storage capacity…

…and the mini-fridge.

The bench and coat hooks are the last bit before the bath…

…the bench containing another good-sized drawer.

A curtain gives a little privacy between the bath and the sleeping area.

Further back in the room you’ll find a split bath. One part has double sinks…

…and a clothes hanging area…

…the other has a tub and toilet. Note the colored tiles…

…fun shower curtain…

…and nice detail incised into the shower wall.

Update: as part of a refurb that began in late spring 2014, the old full beds are being replaced with queen beds in standard Caribbean Beach rooms. As of 9/14, Jamaica is done, Aruba is almost done, and Barbados has started. See this for more!

PAGES: Previous | 1 | 2 | 3

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

FAMILY SUITES 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.

Resorts are ranked on this site based first on kid appeal, and then on convenience in carrying out the site’s recommended itineraries.

Based on that, the 6 person Family Suites at Disney’s Art of Animation resort rocket ahead of their only comparable rooms, the Family Suites at All-Star Music.

That said, the Music suites are much less costly (on average in 2020, $160 less per night), and are currently in a refurb that looks likely to eliminate one of their biggest negatives–uncomfortable beds.

REVIEW: DISNEY WORLD’S FAMILY SUITES AT THE ART OF ANIMATION RESORT FOR FIRST-TIME VISITORS

Art of Animation accommodation buildings are in four different areas, each themed to one beloved Disney movie.

Family suites are found in the Cars, Lion King, and Finding Nemo areas. The Nemo suites are a little more central, and a little more expensive than the Cars and Lion King suites.

(Standard four person rooms are in the fourth area, the Little Mermaid-themed section; there’s no family suites in the Little Mermaid area, and no standard rooms in the Cars, Lion King, or Finding Nemo areas.)

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 using the form at the bottom of the page.

THE CARS AREA AT ART OF ANIMATION

On the map, the Cars area is at the far right.

Here’s you’ll find three buildings, each with a major depiction at its entry.

Building 1 has Mater…

…Building 3 Luigi…

…and Building 2 is fronted by stars Lightning McQueen and Sally Carerra.

The Cars Family Suites themselves are also deeply themed to Cars (there’s many more room photos later in this review)…

…as is the general environment in the courtyard created in the middle of the three buildings.

THE FINDING NEMO AREA AT ART OF ANIMATION

On the map, the two Finding Nemo buildings are just above the central services buildings and surround the largest pool at the resort.

Building 4 is fronted by Mr. Ray, and Building 5 by Crush. I love to take pictures of him, day…

…or night.

The stairs are themed to the seagulls…

…also fun at night…

…and the courtyard created between the two buildings, besides holding the main pool (more on the pools later), is themed to make you feel like you are underwater with Nemo and Friends.

The rooms continue the Finding Nemo theme (many more room shots are later in this review).

THE LION KING AREA AT ART OF ANIMATION

The two buildings just to the left of the Finding Nemo area on the map, numbers 6 and 10, are the Lion King Buildings.

The courtyard between has parts themed to a savanna…

…and parts themed to a jungle.

You’ll also find all the key Lion King characters here:

Rooms continue the African theming. Many more Lion King room photos are here.

THE BEST AREAS TO STAY

Although the Nemo rooms are a bit more expensive, choices as to which group of buildings to book will, in many families, simply be guided by which of Cars, the Lion King, and Finding Nemo is their favorite film.

For those open to any of the three, go for Lion King. You can book the Lion King, Cars, or Nemo suites directly on Disney’s site.

More specifically, go for a 2nd floor or higher Hourglass Lake view room on the Finding Nemo side of Building 6 in the Lion King area. This will yield the least noise, best view, and relative closeness to the main services and bus stop.

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.

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Category — q. Reviews

Review: The Family Suites at Disney’s All-Star Music Resort

THERE ARE FAMILY SUITES AT ALL-STAR MUSIC TOO!

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

Accommodations in The Family Suites at Disney’s Art of Animation Resort

ACCOMMODATIONS AT THE FAMILY SUITES AT DISNEY’S ART OF ANIMATION RESORT

PHOTO TOUR OF A FINDING NEMO FAMILY SUITE AT DISNEY’S ART OF ANIMATION RESORT

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

OTHER KEY PAGES FOR WHERE TO STAY AT DISNEY WORLD

Photo Tour of a Finding Nemo Family Suite at Disney’s Art of Animation Resort

A PHOTO TOUR OF THE FINDING NEMO FAMILY SUITES AT DISNEY’S ART OF ANIMATION RESORT

PHOTO TOUR OF A LION KING SUITE AT DISNEY’S ART OF ANIMATION RESORT

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

OTHER KEY PAGES FOR WHERE TO STAY AT DISNEY WORLD

Review: Disney’s Beach Club Villas, p4