Disney’s Art of Animation Resort

My family recently had the pleasure of spending five days at Disney’s Art of Animation Resort in Florida. It was our first stay at a Disney resort, and we were not disappointed. Disney’s Art of Animation is the newest Disney resort. It boasts the following…

• Total property size: 87 acres
• The Nemo pool has 310,000 gallons and is the largest pool on Disney property, not counting water parks
• If you combined all the swimming pools, you could park 125 cars inside the pools
• For the first time ever at any Disney resort hotel, in-room décor pieces may be purchased at the gift shop. Ink & Paint Shop offers such items as the “Bruce” shower curtain or cozy cone lamps
• The flooring in Landscape of Flavors is made from all recyclable materials. And Guests will dine with real silverware on melamine, reusable dishware instead of paper and plastic
• Guests can enjoy the convenience of a self-service business center, the first one to be offered at a value resort
• The Pixel Play arcade is cashless; but instead uses a swipe card with recharging stations
• Its 27 acres of landscaping and irrigation is the equivalent of twenty football fields
• With 227,000 lineal feet of carpet could stretch from downtown Orlando to Kennedy Space Center
• There are over 529,000 square feet of ceramic tiles on the project, enough to cover a standard two-lane road four miles long
• If you stacked up all the doors at the resort, they would be as tall as the Empire State Building
• There’s enough metal railing to wrap around the new Amway Center eight times
• The project used 23,000 gallons of paint, which is enough to fill a typical backyard swimming pool
• There are over 2,300 parking spaces within the project, which is approximately the number of players in the NFL
• More than 800 construction jobs were created, and at full operation it will create 750 resort hotel jobs

We stayed in one of the Cars’ Suites. It had a master bedroom with attached ensuite, a living area with pull out couch, a kitchenette, a dining area that doubled as a second bedroom when you pulled down the Murphy Bed, and a second washroom. The decor was so fun. Every room had pictures on the wall that showcased different characters from the Cars movies, and every detail was customized to fit into the Cars theme. The master bedroom had lamps with cone shades…

The dressers looked like big tool boxes…

The living room continued the cone theme in the carpets and curtains and with a unique light fixture. The coffee table was a map too, which the kids loved. The couch was reminiscent of an old vinyl bench seat, and the checkerboard floor in the kitchenette area really fit into the theme. As you can see, there was a microwave, coffee maker, mini fridge and sink in the room.

The dining area was decorated in familiar Cars signs, and pulled out into a bed when not being used for meals. The Murphy Bed was fun because it had another picture behind the mattress, and a handy little light built into the headboard. It was so easy to pull down and put away too.

Neither washroom was forgotten when doing the decor. They both had the fun “Spiffy in a Jiffy” sign and the same green and white tile with fun bubbles on it. The main washroom had a Cars theme shower curtain too. It also had a door separating the toilet/shower area from the sink, making it easy for everyone to get ready to go in the mornings.

The resort had an arcade with a lot of fun games to occupy the kids. There was something for all age groups, and they earned tickets to get little prizes at the end of the week.

A dining hall and store were also available at the resort. The Ink and Paint Shop was a fun stop for sweet treats, souvenirs, sunscreen or some Disney clothing. I loved the Christmas decorations that they had for the season. Next to the Ink and Paint Shop was the Landscape of Flavours Food Court. They had a variety of types of food to choose from. The kids meals came with a drink and sides, and you could buy platters that were already put together and had yogurt, cheese strings and other healthy treats that my kids enjoy. I liked these because we could keep them in the fridge in our room.

Outside of the resort you could find the Cars pool and the Finding Nemo pool. We swam at the Finding Nemo pool where you could listen to Nemo and his friends when you go under water, and we were surrounded by larger than life sized characters and props from Finding Nemo. I especially enjoyed the Disney cast members leading a song and dance on the pool deck!

If you love the movie Cars, you will want to take a walk around the resort and visit all of your favourite characters. I believe you can do the same in the Lion King, Little Mermaid and Finding Nemo parts of the resort too!