This is part two of Visit Walt Disney World with a child or toddler and our second stint at Walt Disney World was at the value resort, Art of Animation, now I have stayed at all levels of Walt Disney World accommodation, value, moderate and deluxe. This is one of the newer value resorts and whilst the lay out is similar to Pop Century or the All Stars resorts, it’s just in a league of its own, It’s so immersive!!! I knew before we booked we just had to stay here with Teddy and whilst it didn’t have the extra amenities of the higher class hotels the theming makes it all worthwhile.
In the past I have never stayed at the same Walt Disney World hotel twice as my aim is to stay at them all, with this being the exception as I would 100% stay here again with having a child. It’s completely perfect for little ones, it features the largest pool on Walt Disney World property and is themed to Finding Nemo and I mean properly themed! There are different sections to the hotel, so standard hotel rooms are themed to the Little Mermaid and then a slightly smaller Little Mermaid pool but this was still fairly sizeable.
They also have apartments sleeping up to 6 people with a small kitchenette and dining area. These are Cars, Finding Nemo and the Lion King themed. We stayed in the standard room as Teddy was still in a travel cot so we didn’t need the extra space but if you are travelling with more older kids the apartments are amazing. Taking a step away from the rooms just walking around the resort felt like being in yet another theme park! The Cosy Cone pool on the Cars section was mind blowing as was all the statues of the Cars characters lining the fake streets as if you were in Radiator Springs for real. I’ve never seen a hotel so perfectly designed for kids and I’m getting excited just writing about it I cannot wait to go back again!
There was no pool at the Lion King area but they had an amazing elephant graveyard play area for the kids. Again, this hotel, like the Caribbean Beach Resort, was on the sky liner system making it even more perfect to reach the theme parks. The only downside was you joined the queue with the guests at the pop century hotel which meant for massive queues and you then had to get off and changed at the Caribbean beach (our first hotel), so it did take longer. This wasn’t too bad changing; it was fairly easy as you just wheeled the pram on and off again and the journey time is only minutes. However, combined with the fact that you had to queue with another busy hotel and then join the queue again at yet another hotel, and we weren’t getting up at crazy o clock anymore as we had adjusted to the time zone, did mean much longer wait times but still much more efficient that taking the bus.
We spent far more time at this hotel as there was just so much for Teddy to do and there is a walkway that connect this and the pop century hotel making a lovely walk around Hourglass Lake which we did with Teddy to get him to nap a few times! We did head to the parks in the evenings though and had another brilliant showing of a Harmonious at Epcot, we got on Journey Into Imagination with Figment and spent quite a lot of time in the Imagination pavilion after, which I would usually walk past and straight out after the ride but for kids it’s really interactive and even more so for slightly older ones as they will appreciate what to do more than Teddy did at the time even though he had a great time playing. And as most people exit the ride and carry on it was nice and quiet with benches situated all around so we could sit whilst he had a nice time playing and amusing himself.
There was another morning at Animal Kingdom where we again loved walking around the shady paths which are perfect on a hot day with younger children. We tried to watch the Festival of the Lion King (one of my fav shows) but Teddy wasn’t for sitting down quietly so we left before it started… a shame and I think he would have enjoyed it once it started but the show wasn’t yet back to its original format after covid so no tumble monkeys or anything so i don’t think it would have been as enjoyable as the full show you would normally expect.
That afternoon we headed to Hollywood Studios and made a beeline for Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Minetrain another new attraction since I had last been and also one that teddy could enjoy….. a bit like Remi he was overwhelmed and a bit scared so to be honestly so this was the last dark ride we took him on with the exception of Its a Small World because even Teddy couldn’t possibly find that scary!
The next morning we went again to Hollywood Studios and again to the Disney Junior Dance party which he enjoyed just as much as the first time it was so so special to see him dancing and having the best time of his life! I had another sneaky single rider go on Rock and Rollercoaster also. For our final evening we spent it in Hollywood Studios as we had a reservation for a Ogas cantina in the Star Wars land. This a bar not a restaurant but it does require a reservation as it’s so new and gets booked up so far in advance! It was very crowded and not necessarily the best place for a young child, but we just stayed for one drink and Teddy had an absolute blast! There was music playing and they provided him with a highchair, and he got so much attention and the atmosphere was electric! The drinks are so interesting we just ordered a few and shared them between us so try as many as we could!
We had our final morning at Disney Springs as we always do and did a last minute bout of shopping to try and cheer ourselves up for the really depressing journey home! We were picked up by the Mears Connect bus and it was off to Orlando international airport for the end of our most amazing family holiday to date!