Rooms for your Mermaids at Heart
Maggie Ballantyne
6.17.21
I always enjoy my stays at Disney’s Art of Animation Resort. I love the theming, the larger-than-life characters, the Skyliner, and the general feel of the resort. It is fun, it is relaxing, it is a perfect vacation spot, it is Disney. But on this specific visit in February 2021, I was more pleased with my stay than ever been before. Why? Newly renovated Little Mermaid Rooms!
At the Art of Animation there are two room categories: Standard Rooms and Family Suites. The Little Mermaid is the theming for all the standard rooms. As soon as you walk in the room, you will be blown out of the water by how perfect the theming is combined with the cleanliness and “newness” of the room. Remember the old blue carpet that used to line these rooms? Gone. There are new hardwood floors! Remember the smaller double beds? Gone. Now you can spread out on two queen beds!
I was thrilled to see the decor had not changed much. I love the lyrics to the movie’s songs on the table, I love the portrait of Prince Eric and Max on the wall, I even love the purple octopus from the Under the Sea scene is a featured coat hanger! The bathroom is equally nice with its renovations and decor. Your shower curtain still leads you to believe you are in Ariel’s grotto and the shower is decorated to look like you are surrounded by her whoozits and whatzits galore.
If you travel like I do, you actually have a million whozits, whatzits, dinglehoppers, and always overpack. These rooms have plenty of room for storage with shelving, drawers, a closet, and the beds are high enough up off the ground that you can slide suitcases or larger items under the bed.
Outside the Littel Mermaid standard rooms is the Flippin’ Fins Pool and huge statues of Ursula, Ariel, Flounder, Sebastian, and King Triton. Keep walking! You will see Ariel’s souvenir statue of Eric, a dinglehopper, a buried treasure, and a snarfblat. If this isn’t enough for your little mermaid at heart, head to Animation Hall one morning for breakfast. Your character waffles are not Mickeys! Instead, the waffles have characters from the movies represented at this resort including: The Little Mermaid, Cars, Finding Nemo, and the Lion King. I love ordering my waffles and seeing cute little Flounder on them!
And if that still isn’t enough to send your heart swimming, go to the lobby of Animation Hall and look up. The gorgeous chandelier is made up of original sketches from these movies. Lining the walls of the lobby are blown up versions of these sketches as well. See what the original Ursula, Sebastian, and merpeople looked like through different stages of imaginEARing.
If you are ready to fully immerse yourself in this one-of-a-kind resort, or learn about other Disney resorts, please contact me at maggie@wishesfamilytravel.com. You can also find me on Facebook at www.facebook.com/wishesfamilytravelmaggie