9 Things I Learned While Staying At Art of Animation

Here are the 9 things I learned while staying at Art of Animation:

1. Take a picture of your room number – When you check-in, take a picture of your room number so you don’t forget. We got all the way to our floor and forgot the resort map in the car. Jason had to run back to the car to get it.
2. The pools at the resorts are warm – When you swim in the middle of the day you want cool and refreshing water. Instead we found the water to be lukewarm. My friend that has lived here all of her life said the pools in the summer are usually like that due to the high temperatures.
3. The resorts have special events on the 4th of July – We went to Old Key West for lunch and then we stayed the night at Art of Animation. Both resorts have special events for the 4th of July. Old Key West had a parade featuring Goofy in his patriotic clothes. Art of Animation had a special pool party and shirt making event (cost $17 so we passed).
4. The Little Mermaid Rooms are awesome – These rooms might be a hike to Animation Hall, but they are really well themed and decently sized. We found them to be more spacious than the Pop Century rooms (it is 17 sq feet bigger). The shower though is my favorite. You feel like you are under the sea in her treasure room. I really want to duplicate this at home!
5. The fridge worked great – The in-room fridge might be small but it got our drinks pretty cold.
6. Pool hopping is the best – Art of Animation has 3 well themed pools. We hopped into all 3 of them during our time there. The Big Blue Pool is the largest and you can hear the music under the water which the kids think is cool. There is also a splash pad area behind it that the baby loved. The Cars pool has large cones around it that offer shaded seating. The Mermaid pool has a huge Little Mermaid overlooking it. If you stay at Art of Animation make sure you swim in all their pools.
7. They are running double buses – To save on cost and move people faster, Disney World is starting to add more double buses. We went between Art of Animation and the Magic Kingdom twice and both times we were on a double bus. We didn’t have a single issue with the buses. After the fireworks on the 4th we waited on a second bus so we would have a seat. It came almost as soon as the first one pulled out.
8. They had a bus monitor – I am not sure if she is permanent (the deluxe resorts have one year round) but there was a Cast Member monitoring the buses. She was able to update us on when the next one was expected.
9. The bus stop at the Magic Kingdom is at the very end – Unfortunately the bus stop for Art of Animation is at the very end of the stops in the very last spot. It is quite a walk from the gates to the Magic Kingdom.

Hope this helps you make the most of your visit!