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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…

OVERVIEW: APRIL 2013 AT DISNEY WORLD

This page reviews April 2013 Walt Disney World crowds, prices, deals and discounts, weather, operating hours, adds a few other notes, and ends with week by week summaries.

[Read more →]

FASTPASS+ AT WALT DISNEY WORLD

You see a lot of concern about Disney’s FASTPASS+ program, which–someday, and perhaps soon–will give people the opportunity to reserve ride times from home months in advance, on discussion boards and in comments on this site.

The concern is mostly about what happens to people who can’t, or won’t, make their plans in advance. Will they be shut out of rides and not able to get regular FASTPASSES any more?

While Disney World has not told me its plans 🙂 , I don’t think so—I think things will be mostly fine for everybody—and I think the math backs me up.

THE MATH OF FASTPASS PLUS

The operational insight behind FASTPASS+ is that everyone on a ride at Walt Disney World could have been on that same ride at without waiting if, instead of standing in line, they had a reservation for a specific time.

Riding a ride thus becomes like eating at a Disney World restaurant, and this is where the concern comes in: these days it’s hard to get a reservation at the most Disney World popular restaurants unless you are willing to commit months ahead, so will the rides become like that too?

Math comes to the rescue here:

• There’s much more ride capacity than restaurant capacity
• Ride capacity is being increased
• Not all available slots need be allocated to the FASTPASS+ program, and
• The current day-of-visit FASTPASS ride program can be largely retained, although it will have less same-day capacity

In a program that’s been under-reported in the Disney World blogging community, Disney World is spending millions to expand ride capacity.

At least 20 rides have already been attached to this program, and just two (Space Mountain and Pirates) have added between them additional capacity of 1.2 million rides a year. Treating these two as examples twice as good as average results, this program alone could add 16,000 rides a day—the equivalent of another headliner attraction.

And of course two more headliners are coming to Magic Kingdom, one this year and one next.

But most importantly, over time, the number of FASTPASS rides will more than triple.

These days, on a typical day, about 20 rides offer FASTPASSES (more on busier days). The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World 2013 suggests that over time, the number of FASTPASS-like reservable experiences will cross 70, including new opportunities to reserve good spots for fireworks shows and parades.

More than tripling the number of FASTPASS attractions and events means that Disney World could, for example, keep the same number of regular FASTPASSES available to people with no advance ride reservations, or not as many as they’d like, while having twice that many available to those willing to commit to a ride reservation in advance! It’s just math…

Now, where adding FASTPASS attractions doesn’t help so much is with the current FASTPASS rides. Space Mountain now has half a million more seats available, from the capacity expansion noted above—but that’s a drop in the bucket, less than an hour’s worth of extra capacity, compared to the demand it will see from both advance reservation seekers and guests without advance reservations.

So Disney will have to be very careful about how it allocates the capacity of the current FASTPASS rides among advance reservations, regular day of visit FASTPASSES, and riders with neither. Many of the advance reservations—the FASTPASS+s–will go to people who otherwise would have drawn day-of-visit regular FASTPASSES, but not all of them, so for these rides it’s easy to foresee that some will be disappointed and others will face very long standby lines.

But overall, with the added base capacity, new capacity, and more than tripling of FASTPASS rides, guest experience on average should better, and those who show up without any FASTPASS+ passes, or many fewer than they wish they had, should still be able to have a fun visit!

There still will be a higher payoff for guests who can

• Plan in advance, and
• Stay in a Walt Disney World resort hotel

…but this has always been true. The FASTPASS+ program will make it even more true, but I don’t expect it to do so at the cost of making everyone else just miserable. And tripling the number of FASTPASS rides available is the key to that…it’s just math.

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 →]

DISNEY WORLD NEXT WEEK: SEPTEMBER 15 TO SEPTEMBER 23, 2012

The material below details operating hours, Extra Magic Hours, parades, and fireworks.

The same stuff is in the table, but organized by park, not by topic.

(For more on September 2012 at Disney World, see this)

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