Wee! Time to take pictures at a hotel we weren't staying at!! XD
When the husband and I go on vacations we tend to get the lower end when it comes to hotels. For us hotels are just for sleeping and freshening up. We usually don't spend tons of time in them. And even then we probably would spend a lot of time watching TV or doing internet stuff. Or researching more vacation stuffs to do. So the hotels at Disney World called Value Resorts are what we usually go with or the Shades of Green military resort. You get what you pay for though and many of the value resorts are a bit outdated and..themed in special ways.
Enter the newest "value" resort of Walt Disney World The Art of Animation. Using some of the land and one of the buildings left over from the Pop Century this new value resort was created and this week the last of the areas The Little Mermaid was finished. Of course we went to Disney on the 11th and 12th and The Little Mermaid regular rooms were finished on the 14th. Had they been opened during our stay we would have gone there. But we went to the All Star Movie resort and hopped over during some free time on the 12th.
After getting our ID checked at the gate (we just said we were checking in) we parked in the massive check in parking lot...and walked in. XD All the areas we explored were available to the public and didn't require a key. We only entered on building and that was just the hallway but the pools at the least require a hotel key to use. Gotta keep the amenities to the ones paying for it you know.
Up first on our adventure was the Cars section of the hotel. Cars Land in Disney California Adventure just opened up this summer and has been extremely popular. Well...we got a hotel. XD While it will never compare to lands and gift shops this part of the hotel was amazing! Almost like I was at a Disney park.
My favorite part of the hotel happened to be the Cars section. The little statues of all the main characters were sprinkled all over the place. They were big enough to notice but small enough to take pictures with. Almost like a character meet and greet. The overall area was themed just like the show without cramming things all over the place.
This is the entrance to one of the buildings in the car section. See how well themed it is without being over the top? Now a lot of people are saying the entire hotel itself is over the top and geared towards kids. This is probably true. There are tons of hotels on the Disney property that aren't full of Disney characters. They are themed yes but more like how Liberty Square or Main Street are themed. For me I don't think I would mind be surrounded by Disney for my entire trip but for some I can see how the Car themed soap, shower curtain, bedspread, and pillow cases could drive people crazy. HAHAHA I got jokes. XD
But as an adult who plans on keep kids away from her at all times this hotel still had things to offer me. I really liked the little details sprinkled here and there. Really felt like I was in the movies.
We only poked our heads inside one building before retreating back outside. It was decorated with one mural that we could see and the rest of the hallways looked pretty standard. Again this post is only about the exterior of the hotel buildings, not the rooms themselves.
Front of another building. Can you imagine staying in one of these? XD I guess I can stay in a normal hotel any other trip but at Disney...bring on the Disney I say!
It was pretty cloudy when we were taking pictures and it did start to rain for a bit. That being said there were several families walking around and taking pictures. Walt Disney World is more than parks. It is the whole experience. I am sure one could spend an entire day just hotel hopping. XD
So many bumper stickers! Got to respect Mother Road!
Entrance to the third Cars building. I love the little Tire Guy.
Onward to the next set of buildings. The Pop Century buildings are visible between the Cars and Finding Nemo sections but you can sorta ignore them if you walk fast enough. I love how the first three sections of the buildings have these little sketches on them.
Mine Mine?! There was tons of merchandise for these little guys in the gift shop.
The main area of the Finding Nemo section centers around a massive pool. The Cars pool and The Little Mermaid pool are pretty tame compared to this one. Little fishes from the movie surround the outside pool area.
Behold the pool area. XD Even though it was quite dark outside people were still in the pool having fun.
The center of the pool area. Got to have Nemo and his dad as the stars right? Although it might be hard to get picture ops in the middle of the pool area with these two...
A small playground area for the kids. I love the baby turtle! Most of the statues aren't small scaled like the Cars ones but they do serve a purpose. Like we are in this GIANT coral reef and tiny little fishes wouldn't make that much sense.
There was a building for restrooms and what appeared to be a laundry area for guests. The little schools of fishes spelled out what each part of the building represented. XD
Onward to The Lion King section of the hotel. Finding Nemo was my husband's favorite part of the hotel but he said most of that was because of the pool. Cars had a pool but was no where near the size of the Finding Nemo one. Note the official looking people walking around. XD We saw many on our trip.
But yes Lion King time! There were only a few statues in this area you could take your picture with them and you looked on scale with them. Instead a lot of work was placed on making things into a jungle. A lot of landscaping and rock work.
The mural on the buildings helps create the atmosphere that we are in the jungle. This area might rely too heavily on this mural set to create the mood though. Maybe a few more things here and there might have made it feel more like The Lion King? Although...they are animals and really didn't own a whole lot did they?
Yes you can take pictures with everything in the area but I still think the Car section does a better job of making you part of the action. XD Of course the Castle at Magic Kingdom is huge and people still take pictures in front of it.
Best part of the entire area. It is the entrance to one of the buildings. Not climbing kids! We must put signs all over the place repeating this too.
Wait that's it? Didn't the Lion King have chicks in it?!
And then...it was time for The Little Mermaid. Cars, Finding Nemo, and The Lion King are all classified as value resort hotel rooms...for families. People with 7 or more people. Since my husband and I are a party of one we do not need 5 beds and two bathrooms. So I am sure these value rooms save people money as they only need to get one room instead of two. They are not a good value for the husband and I who need considerably less space. Also the idea of reliving my anime convention days with 348934 people to a room doesn't sound appealing.
The Little Mermaid section is the part of the hotel that caters to people who are couples or have 4/less people in their rooms. Naturally these rooms are cheaper and...the outside shows. Shows in a bad way. Do you see the people in this picture and how SMALL they are to King Triton? Yeah special. These is exactly what the other value resorts look like. Of course I stayed at one during my visit but those hotels were made a million years ago.
It is just hard to see compare this section to the Cars section. They look SO different. Even the outside of the building lacks the mural paintings! Instead the stairs and the rails have tacked on statues to cover up the lack of theming. Ariel looks so huge and scary..I don't understand this at all.
Needless to say I am disappointed with this section of the hotel. Maybe the rooms are amazing and I can enjoy them but I was expecting all the sections to be similar and since Cars and Finding Nemo were so awesome I was expecting the same at the other end. Le sigh indeed.
The main building though brings my spirits back up. The check in area is covered in art...which is good since it is an art hotel yes? XD
The Lion King film strip didn't really work for me but I really enjoyed the other three.
One side of the check in area. All the sketches represent different moments in the 4 films without being spot on accurate. As in they are concept arts or pieces created just for the hotel. Some of the pictures were so far off from the ending work it was amazing. And scary. So much to look at.
The actual check in area. This side of the room gave me a headache. A lot of weird colors and lighting going on. Hope no one goes blind.
Favorite piece from the check in area. Love it. XD After the check in area there is a gift shop that was cute and a dining area that was...different. After reading about it online I realize that it was supposed to represent the landscapes of all four movies but when you are in the room itself it seems lightly themed. Well..that is my post. No inside pictures but I am sure if my husband and I pull off becoming Annual Passholders next year we will book The Little Mermaid room to see if the inside is better than the outside. Thanks for reading!
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