I’m here in Walt Disney World this week for the 2011 Resort Showcase, during which Disney will be spotlighting their newest and upcoming resort hotels, as well as new features of older resorts, here in Orlando, California and Hawaii.
At the event’s welcome dinner, which was held in the Grand Floridian’s grandiose Convention Center, I was drawn to a display showing a series of artist’s renderings for the new Art of Animation Resort, due to open May 2012.
I learned that the Imagineers have been working hard to find ways to bring the guests into the story of this heavily themed resort, which will feature larger-than-life icons, similar to those found at the All-Star Resorts and nearby Pop Century.
One of the ways they will do this is by employing different scales with the figures scattered around the buildings.
For example, in the Little Mermaid section, guests will view icons such as the giant-sized King Triton, as though they were the size of tiny Sebastian the Crab. Therefore, Triton will be 35 feet high! Similarly, in the Finding Nemo themed area, figures like Crush the sea turtle will be scaled as though their onlookers were the size of the little clownfish Nemo — Mr. Ray, who’s only about 6 feet in the mock-up in the photo above, will also be 35 feet high in the finished resort. In the Cars section, though, the scale will be much closer to 1:1 — so that you will feel that you could actually get in a vehicle and drive off.
Other elements bring the story to life as well — in the Finding Nemo bathrooms, for example, your shower curtain will feature the sharks from the film. In the Little Mermaid rooms, the decor will reflect Ariel the mermaid’s penchant for collecting her “thingamabobs” and “whatsits”.
Here are some official Artists Renderings of the new resort:
I’m hoping to learn more about the Art of Animation Resort as the week goes on, and the Health and Wellness Suites at the Contemporary. I’m even getting a sneak preview of the recently announced Royal Guest Rooms at Port Orleans tomorrow, so check back with AllEars.Net’s Blog Central!
Just booked a Little Mermaid room for October! Super excited!!!
We have stayed at the aa star move and pop Century.We loved staying both with our grandson and is mother and farther. we have a new grandson this year.We all ready booked for next year at the art of animation in oct. we will be both famileys down we will be staying in cars suites.
My husband and I are staying at POP Sept 10-18/2011 (our annual WDW vacation with our 4 year old grand-daughter). So I am excited that next year’s trip, we can stay at AOA. It would be nice if the bridge was open to POP but I do agree dedicated buses would be best. And I love the 4 animated theme choices.
We want so badly to stay at this hotel the cars theme one as soon as it opens. How far ahead will we know the dates it will start booking for??
Deb Koma replies: They aren’t giving a specific date, yet, Sheryle, just saying “soon” and “keep your eyes peeled.”
All I can say is that we’ll report it on AllEars.Net just as soon as we know for sure!
We can’t WAIT until this wonderful resort opens. We will be making reservations as soon as it becomes available! We stayed at the Pop Century last year and we were so happy! We just wished we would have stayed sooner! I am happy to hear that buses will not be shared as when we were there sometimes we had to wait for a second bus, so I couldn’t imagine during peak times what a zoo it would be if this were to happen. Whatever room we get, it will be magical! Thanks for the good pics and newsy update!
I would love to see close-ups of those room photos from the mock-up board. Is there any way you could do that??? The AOA family suites have “Inova” beds – I googled them and they are pretty impressive pieces of furniture – I would like to see what they will look like in the AOA resort (hopefully there is a reference in those photos)! I have never been so excited about a value resort before. We are staying in ASM family suite 8/14-20/11 because there are 6 of us and 2 bathrooms is a must (plus the villas are out of our range) so seeing another option with family suites is very exciting! I LOVE DISNEY WORLD!!!
I can assure you all that you will NOT have to share the busses….
Each Pop-century resort will have its own entrance and the two resorts are seperated by “Hourglass Lake” with the only connection being “Generation Gap Bridge.”
Now, unless Disney builds a new roadway and bridge at the south end of the property, I think we’ll be ok.
And besides, if they put in another bridge then they’d have to change the name of “Hourglass Lake.”
Deb Koma replies: Yes, from what I’m hearing the services and amenities will be separate — Pop and Art of Animation will not share buses, or pools for that matter. Of course, nothing’s been finalized, but as of now that’s how it looks.
This will be our 7th trip, my 8 year olds 3rd trip and my 2 year olds 1st. We’ve stayed at many resorts and absolutely LOVE the WL but my kids will go absolutely NUTS over Mater and McQueen. I hope they start booking soon!
Really wanted to book this resort for our Grand Gathering 11/12. 2 families in suites, 3 in reg rooms. Not sure if 2 families with only boys want to stay with Ariel, Wish they had made the single room section more appealing for either gender.
These 2 families may decide to stay at Pop instead, so I’m also looking forward to see just how sisterly these resorts will be. Walking to and from by the bridge? Shared busses? Pool hopping?
Can’t wait for more info!!!
I cant wait. My family of 11 maybe more are planning on staying in the little mermaid rooms in September 2012. we will be there November this year so we will get to see construction especially since we will be at pop!
I would like to know if the new resort is going to be that close to Pop Century will the two be required to share a bus like the All Star Resorts do? Honestly, I hope that is not the case because that is why I prefer Pop Century. Nothing against the All Star Resorts because they are just as nice, but the fact of the matter is it has been a longtime complaint of a lot of people the overcrowding of the buses because they are required to share the same bus. I prefer to stay at Pop Century because it has its own bus and I don’t run into that problem.
I am so excited to see more reports and details on the AOA resort unfold! Can’t wait until 2013 when we hit the world again and will probably be staying there!
Can you also find out if the bridge between Pop Century and Art of Animation will be open once AofA opens? And will there be any sharing between the two properties (like being able to use pools/view movies between the All-Star resorts)? Bottom line — will the guests at Pop Century be able to easily venture over to AofA to look around, enjoy the kiddie splash fountain, pools, etc.?
Any idea when they will start taking reservations?
Deb Koma replies: Hi Jennifer. They don’t have a definite date yet for booking — the only answer I got was a vague “late fall” answer. As soon as we know for sure, we’ll post it on the site!
I’ve never been so excited to go to a value resort before! I think this might be enough to keep us on the east coast next summer! Thanks for the update 🙂