JEG Travels: New Disney Art of Animation Resort to Open 2012

Thursday, January 6, 2011

New Disney Art of Animation Resort to Open 2012

Walt Disney World is about to begin building its first new hotel in seven years, a 2,000-room resort that will open in 2012.

Disney's Art of Animation Resort will feature 1,120 family suites with room for as many as six people each; the remainder of the rooms will be standard single rooms. The resort will be a ‘value’ resort similar to Pop Century and All Stars. The rates begin at $82 per night for those resorts.

The resort will be built on 65-acres across a lake from Disney's Pop Century Resort. The location will allow Disney to use a pair of long-neglected, unfinished buildings that Disney originally constructed as a second phase of Pop Century but which it abandoned amid the 2001 recession.

Each area of Art of Animation will feature different animated movie: The Little Mermaid, The Lion King, Finding Nemo and Cars.

The majority of its rooms will be six-person suites, the resort will have the same capacity as Pop Century, which has 2,800 standard rooms. The thought is that Disney would like to compete with Nickelodeon’s family suite resort located just off Disney’s property.