Disney’s Art of Animation is located near Hourglass Lake and was  originally intended to be the “Legendary Years” of the Pop Century Resort.  Due to the September 11, 2001 attacks and resulting economic downturn which impacted tourism, the “Legendary Years” were never built.  Instead, the Walt Disney World resort got the first value resort with families in mind….The Art of Animation.  The Art of Animation has both standard hotel rooms (984 to be exact).  What makes the resort  unique is the 1,120 family suites.  This is a refreshing change from the other value resorts at Pop Century and the All-Star family of resorts.

A couple of years ago, my family made a special trip during our day to explore the Art of Animation resort.  Most of these photos, including the collage before the jump, were taken during this trip in November of 2012.  The first thing that jumps out is the resort is fairly compact.

Six of the ten buildings (2 of the Cars themed rooms, and both buildings housing the Finding Nemo and Lion King rooms) are a very short walk from Animation Hall where the check-in, dining, and other activities are located.  The only rooms with a far walk are The Little Mermaid room and the far building of the Cars rooms.  The Little Mermaid rooms are a further walk than the Cars rooms.  But for a value resort, it is a very compact footprint.  It’s probably about 10-15 minute walk from one end of the resort to the other.

You will find suites in the Cars, Finding Nemo, and Lion King sections of the resort.  The Little Mermaid section is standard hotel rooms only.  The Little Mermaid section is also the only section which uses buildings left over from the construction of the Legendary Years section of Pop Century.

Larger than life icons are present throughout each wing of the resort which really bring the resort to life.  It was these larger than life icons that really make this resort stand out and bring the buildings to life.

Our walk took us closer to the Lion King and The Little Mermaid than it did to the Finding Nemo rooms.  We did not explore the Cars wing because we were hungry and wanted to explore the Landscape of Flavors dining area.  Each area has its own smaller pool while the main pool is located the two Finding Nemo buildings.

The Landscape of Flavors is a wonderful counter service location.  In the morning, the location has a make-your-own cereal and yogurt bar.  At lunch and dinner time, the make-your-own cereal and yogurt bar converts into a make-your-own pasta bar.  The rest of the food choices are broken up into different stations with a pizza station, a hamburger station, and a hot/cold sandwich station for the lunch and dinner hours.  At breakfast, there is a pancake station as well as a waffle station where you can watch your own Mickey waffles get made.

The seating area has themed areas as well with different artwork, banners and lighting decor through the seating area.

Also in Animation Hall, guests can find the Ink and Paint Shop for their souvenir needs.  The front desk can be found in Animation Hall as well.

Transportation from the Art of Animation to the four theme parks and Downtown Disney is by bus and there is one central bus stop by Animation Hall.  There is no boat or monorail transportation to the parks from the resort.

• Bus to Magic Kingdom – roughly 20 minutes
• Bus to EPCOT – roughly 15 minutes
• Bus to Hollywood Studios – roughly 15 minutes
• Bus to Animal Kingdom – roughly 20 minutes
• Bus to Downtown Diseny – roughly 10 minutes

 

Here is the map of our Magical Blogorail Orange | Walt Disney World Value Resort Reviews Loop:

• 1st Stop – Dad for Disney | Drawing a New Value Resort – Inside Art of Animation
• 2nd Stop – Frontierland Station | Experience The Nostalgia of Pop Century
• 3rd Stop – Bibbidi Bobbidi Booze | Why You Shouldn’t Rule Out A Value Resort For Your Disney Vacation
• 4th Stop – Adventure in the Great Wide Somewhere | Let’s Go To The Movies!
• 5th Stop – Disney Nouns | Value Resorts Offer Way More Eye Candy