Mouse Trip Tips: Art of Animation Resort Review

We stayed in a Little Mermaid room at the Art of Animation Resort in the fall of 2013. The resort was fairly new at that point and we loved staying there! The theme is very well done and we liked walking around and exploring.

The Little Mermaid room is on the small side but we didn't mind so much since we were spending most of our time in the parks. Our kids loved the Little mermaid decorations throughout the room, especially the shower. Our daughter would sing, "Part of Your World" in the bathtub that was decorated to look like Ariel's grotto.

I liked that there was a curtain you could pull across to separate the vanity area from the rest of the room. You could use this as a place to change in private or you could have the light on and do your morning/bedtime routine while the kids are sleeping in the room in the dark.

We had a connecting room with my parents. This was nice as we could open the door while we were awake and the grandparents could help out. We also stuck one of our kids in their extra bed and had our other kid in the second bed in our room. They weren't used to sharing a bed at that point so we thought it would be easier.

The Little Mermaid rooms are farthest from the lobby. We were okay with this since we are in good shape and had strollers for the kids. If our kids were walking or we weren't in good walking shape, it might have been an issue. We found that it was quicker to walk the route along the parking lot to get to the bus stop rather than going through the main path through the resort.

My sister's family stayed in one of Lion King suites. These were very nice and spacious. I was curious to check out the fold down table/bed in person and it was pretty cool and looked comfortable. They did not need the extra bed so they did not use it. They requested a free pack n play from the resort. You can call Disney before your trip and add requests like that to your reservation (as well as connecting rooms, specific buildings, floors, etc.) I think the Finding Nemo rooms would be fun to stay in, are closest to the lobby and food court, but are also next to the main pool which can be noisy.
My son loved checking out all of the cars in the Cars section. We wished they had signs stating the names of the cars as there were a few we weren't familiar with.

We swam in the Big Blue Pool in the Finding Nemo section. They have life vests the kids can use for free. Music is piped in under the water.

Each night they would show an outdoor movie in The Lion King section. This was a neat activity and I only wish we had been able to take advantage of it more often. Some of the movies we saw playing were Cars and Finding Nemo.

The food court was large and had many options. We ate there for breakfast and picked up snacks and smoothies at other times. They also have a microwave and toaster that you can use in one corner.

The gift shop was large and had a great selection. Most of the gift shops in the parks and resorts carried the same merchandise so you don't really have to visit a lot.