Disneys Art of Animation Resort

What People are saying

Beautiful on the inside and out

AbundantLoveon 14/08/2017 00:16

Disney’s Art of Animation Resort is a Walt Disney World Value hotel with standard and family suites themed to Disney Animated films. My fiancé stayed here over one weekend in July. Since it was just us 2, we stayed in the standard Little Mermaid room. This resort is so beautiful on the inside and out. Our room was very clean and we had no issues. There is a mini fridge in the room. The outside bar is a nice place to hang out but the drinks are really expensive, not to mention all of the extra ice they add to take up more space. We didn’t eat at the food court but it was pretty huge. The pools were very crowded as well but I love the Finding Nemo Theme.

Yes the Little Mermaid section is farther away from the food court but this doesn’t bother me or my fiancé as we liked walking around and exploring the grounds. I wish this hotel had a fitness center, that would be a plus for me. We also brought our own pillows as we always do and their bed was pretty comfortable too.

The only thing is that, I don’t know what makes this place a value resort when it is over 2x the price of the other value resorts.
All in all this is the best value resort in my opinion as I have stayed in the other value resorts in the past. I would absolutely stay here again.

I’d rate this Hotel a 10/10.

Wonderful tesort

wsox2624on 13/08/2017 17:31

Fun, spacious and Disney!

Fun: The three pools, shaded playground, and interactive arcade all contributed to the fun of this resort. Pools were a bit crowded but reasonable for the heat.

Space: The resort itself, as well as the rooms, are ver spacious. Never bumping into people, didn't wait long for elevators. The family suites were ideal to relax And spread out.

Disney: the rooms, art decor, and vine of resort scream Disney! If this is what you are looking for, stay here!

A few other notes; people complained about the bus service by I found it to be solid. Check in/out was a bit of a wait but staff made you feel like gold. Great stay overall!

OK hotel - service very mixed...

basisboyon 13/08/2017 15:30

I stay at hotels weekly for my job - I stay in the big chain hotels all around the world. Although the hotel is the usual noisy, usual spread of stupid selfish holidaymakers the staff are a mixed bunch.
Some of the worst and best hotel / restaurant staff I have ever witnessed.
When on holiday and you have problems / questions, you kind of want the staff to second guess your issue and offer solutions ... not look like out of Day 1 Hotel Reception training!
There is no "love" that I get when going to reception desk at Hilton, IHG, Marriott etc., but hey it's Disney they got lots of your cash already so I guess they don't need to try hard ;)
We had Disney Dinning Plan and probably did get money worth, however eating at the Art of Animation Resort is something I don't think I will ever forget in a hurry.
A bit of organisation .. a bit of common sense management and you know it could be a decent place!
Again somef clueless .. one lady even put the order in a FILO manner .. so food got cold.. long queues .. frustration when trying to keep family happy!
There was an exception guy in the restaurant Edie however - he took control after seeing his clueless colleague and made the experience much better like a true pro should :)
But hey it's Disney they all ready got your money and why do they need to try?
Just because someone puts a harsh review in TripAdvisor then it won't impact punters anyway .. more will come!
Ending on a positive note - the rooms are good. We stayed in Cars Suite - we found the room to be bigger than other rooms, and like the 2 bathrooms, and separate room for us adults.
The aircon worked great, adequate TV when needing time to unwind and recover.
The swimming pool was good near the Cars - apart from one day when the pool was "contaminated" with cleaner .. I have the video showing you couldn't see your hand in it .. and the attendant had to call everyone out whilst maintenance did maintenance thing to clean up!
The main pool was overcrowded on the day we tried.
We took a walk to the Pop Century hotel which is near - this overall seems less crowded.
Tips: You can use Pop Century to eat, and even catch bus (or get bus back from Parks) if it comes earlier than Art of Disney as it's only 6 mins walk over the bridge. BTW .. Art of Animation buses around the parks are mostly at the furthest away point... You can tell this is a value / cheap hotel ... so be prepared to walk from stop to Park entrance.
Buy a 4 port extension cable if like me coming in from UK - not enough sockets and saves travel adapters if need to charge mobile phone / tablets etc.,
UBER's are great if you on Disney Dinning Plan and another resort and don't want to change bus / monorail etc. also if you want to escape for a day to Florida Mall which as Apple shop etc., and all undercover.

Fantastic Theming - feels a bit like student halls...

Jeremy Bon 13/08/2017 04:02

I'll start this review by saying, this was our first stay in a value resort, all our previous stays have been in DVC resorts.

First off, the pros - the theming here is incredible, the huge statues of Little Mermaid, Lion King, Finding Nemo and Cars look amazing, we had great fun wandering around taking a lot of photos.
The pools were also great, we used the Little Mermaid pool first thing and it was so quiet and relaxing, it was everything we wanted from our first day.
The room was brilliantly designed down to Ariel cave on the wall of the bathroom.

The cons?, we stayed in a Little Mermaid room and the building behind the theming feels like a student hall, there are no balconies and the rooms open directly outside, no internal corridors, which feels very exposed.
The staff seemed less attentive and it took longer to check-in than were used to, even though there were not many people ahead of us.

There is quite a long way to walk from reception to the Little Mermaid area.

Would we come back here? Probably not for a while, we want to try other Hotels and this didn't have enough wow factor to bring us back.

Great resort

WMW10on 12/08/2017 00:08

We stayed here for 3 nights at the start of our holiday.
We arrived quite late and check in was fine, the cm was polite but it wasn't as magical as our normal experiences.
We had booked a little mermaid room and were allocated a room in Ariel's section, it was the furtherst away section, its what we booked so I have no issue with this but we had loads of luggage as we were in Orlando for 18 nights and we did not have a car and cm said its not too far, maybe my fault but he didn't mention bell services and I was unsure of the set up at values.
Anyway without luggage the walk was actually really pleasent and did not seem that far. The room was well themed, small but clean and fine for the 3 of us.
The food court is one of Disney's best.
We swam at the Nemo pool and the little mermaid pool, both were great.
It was nice to be able to walk accross the bridge to visit Pop for food as well. We didn't visit the parks during these 3 days so I can't comment on transportation.
Art of Animation is beautifully laid out and we would happily stay there again.