The Art of Animation Resort opened in phases in 2012. The resort features four areas. Three (Cars, Finding Nemo, and Lion King) feature family suites. The fourth (Little Mermaid) mirrors the Pop Century/traditional Disney value resort model. The Resort is shares a lake with Pop Century and was originally planned to be the second phase of the resort featuring the early decades of the 20th century.

I have not yet stayed at the Art of Animation Resort but was lucky enough to attend a sneak preview of the Resort in April of 2012. Click here to view photos from this trip. On a visit in September 2012 I revisited the resort to tour the grounds now that it was officially open. Click here to view photos from this visit.

Here are my first impressions from the preview on 4/26/12:

• WOW! As soon as you walk into Animation Hall the colors, artwork, and detail are amazing. The Imagineers have packed a lot into this resort and I am betting this will become a fan favorite. We had a brief time to tour the resort and take pictures so I had to move quickly and on a future trip I cannot wait to spend more time there. On this brief trip we were able to explore the lobby building and some of the Nemo area, plus a glimpse into the Cars area and I managed to click off over 500 pictures and I feel like I still missed a lot.
• The attention to detail in this new Resort is definitely going to set a new standard for the value resorts and now curious if they will do some major upgrades to the others in the upcoming years to meet this new level.
• The first thing that struck me as I entered the Nemo courtyard was again, WOW! The colors, scale, and immersive nature was incredible. Then walking over to look at the Cars courtyard it just continued.
• There seems to be some overlap between the Cars area and Cars Land out at DCA. Some of the signage appeared to be the same, which made sense but when pressed the Imagineers and representatives really did not say too much.
• It should be interesting how the cabanas work out. There are eight cones that make up the Cozy Cone Motel and they will each be a cabana that will be available on a first come, first serve basis. The cast member said there will be no additional fee or reservations. It will be curious to see if this holds or if they become a premium service.
• Next up I was able to tour the family suites. These are the first family suite rooms built from the ground up that way. The others were converted rooms. The rooms seemed spacious even with quite a few guests with cameras trying to work their way around for pictures and video. The colors and immersion continued to be just as bold and engaging as the out door spaces.
• I did not see the dimensions anywhere so not sure how the square footage compares to getting two Pop Century rooms.. it seemed larger to me (we have done the two Pop rooms several times over the years), but this may be due to the layout/furniture more than real size.
• Another interesting note is for the family suite buildings they all have interior hallways. This could be interesting come checkin/checkout when navigating with maid carts, etc... they felt a little narrow to me.
• The dining area seemed smaller to me than Pop Century which seemed odd. I did not get a chance to compare but I am assuming they are the same size, just with the new layout it felt different. Also they may not of had all the tables in yet.
• The gift shop looks great and there will initially be a large selection of resort specific items, even shower curtains and lamps from the rooms. Hopefully this does well and is expanded to other resorts!

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