Disney’s Art of Animation Resort

By
on

I can think of a few places I’d rather vacation before going to Disney World’s Art of Animation resort, like Mogadishu, Kabul and those drug cartel-operated areas of Mexico where they sew the faces of murder victims onto soccer balls.

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  • http://www.slitherandfriends.com Mike

    It’s like they vomited a kid’s room decor all over a resort.

    Give me something classy and nostalgic. The neatest trick that Disney ever accomplished was building a strong association between his company and an America everyone remembers but never existed.

  • Jason H

    They really need to get a new spokesperson. ‘Pattie’ is pretty soulless.

  • Dan Kyder

    I love the idea of this place

    All the kids will beg to stay here, and there will be less of them at the Animal Kingdom Lodge running into me and stinkin’ up the joint

  • Gobo

    And the bitter, coldhearted post of the year goes to Amid! Congrats.

    This place will be fantastic for parents and kids. But I guess it’s fashionable to compare Disney to a crime ridden third-world drug running slum.

    • Karim

      That’s okay, irony ain’t your cup of tea, we got it.

      • Harry P

        Knee-jerk Disney abuse = irony. Got it.

    • Paulina

      Mexico isn’t a “crime ridden third-world drug running slum”

  • Mike

    Hoo boy, as someone who’s known about this place for a while, as soon as the page loaded and I saw the Amid’s name on the article I knew it was going to be stunningly caustic.

    That said, it was a pretty nice jab and God knows Disney World doesn’t need another economy hotel covered in tacky oversized props.

  • dbenson

    This is much closer to package design than architecture, but consider that the target audience: Small kids who’d prefer cartoons on the walls to an immersive recreation of old Atlantic City, and parents who like being aware they’re at Disney World, not in a objectively superior but boringly generic chain hotel anywhere in the country.

    Also, it’s primarily a place to sleep, eat a breakfast burrito and splash around a pool between theme parks.

    In short, it does what it’s designed to do. One might as well criticize Costco for not offering free alterations and a wine bar.

    • http://www.gfxalchemist.com/ Eric Oliver

      I have to admit, I feel sorry for any parents whom get stuck at this place as part of a vacation on top of having to visit the parks as well, great for the kids, but not exactly the type of vacation a grown up would envision.

      • Matt

        You mean not exactly the type of vacation YOU would envision.

        There are plenty of “grown-ups” out there (myself included) who still enjoy a week spent with the family at Disney World.

        Is it relaxing? No. It’s go-go-go all week.

        Is it cheap? No. It’s something that you save up for for years.

        Is it your typical “mature” vacation spot? Obviously not.

        But at the end of the day, I’d rather spend all my money in the world to see my family enjoying themselves together for a week that we will remember for the rest of our lives.

        “…HAVING to visit the parks?” I’ll gladly take your tickets buddy. Enjoy yourself at the beach with all the other “grown-ups”.

    • Gobo

      “Closer to package design than architecture”…That’s actually a very accurate statement. The Animation Resort was originally built as Phase II of the Pop Century Resort, and was supposed to be themed as ‘The Golden Years’… the 20s through the 50s. They built the structures, but never finished the theming or rooms. The Animation design is literally a ‘package design’ of the unfinished resort.

      And having stayed at the Pop Century, yep, it’s just a bright, clean, cheerful, convenient, well-maintained place to sleep and swim between park visits. Very utilitarian and relatively inexpensive.

  • http://janruneblom.com jan rune blom

    Of course animators will not stay here, its like bringing your work with you on vacation…

    but I would prefer this place before Amids Holiday recommendations… ;)
    Hey… its Las Vegas for kids!! .. :)

    • http://animatedlane.com JWLane

      Let’s remember that Las Vegas is a town custom built for ‘easy marks’. Do you know what I mean?

  • Robert Schaad

    Competition is healthy. Therefore, I’ll be staying at the Ralph Bakshi theme park/resort when it’s completed.

    • B.Bonny

      Free cocaine in every room? Prostitutes, urban decay, gang battles and nasty african american stereotypes? Tres chic!

      • Robert Schaad

        That’s only one of several themed rooms.

  • http://pitchbibles.blogspot.com Steve Schnier

    I don’t think that they designed this place with Amid in mind.

  • Chris Sobieniak

    I guess I’m in Amid’s camp on this, it is that lame!

  • tamsam

    Disney kitsch overload…I’m about to puke!

    and women still wear their hair like 10-yr old girls from the 60′s????????

  • http://youtube.com/tavoman Tavoman

    Actually my only problem with this is the movie selection and since it’s a family resort it’s very unlikely I’d chose it for my vacations

  • Inkan1969

    Wouldn’t this be a love motel if it were in Japan?…

    Dang, I thought this was that place Disney used to have (still has?) where you could take a two day course in learning to animate; the writeup I read about stated the poor teacher had to spoonfeed the students. But from the looks of things, you can’t even do that. It’s just a themed hotel.

    Actually, a hotel with that theme might’ve been awesome. But this hotel looks garish instead. Way too much detail, and colors that clash more than Mogadishu warlords. Who was in charge of design here? If artists and architects had a free hand in designing this place, wouldn’t it have turned out much more appealing?

  • http://www.segaltoons.com Steve Segal

    Now they’ll have to make another theme hotel and decorate with items from films made when Walt was alive.

  • Gerard de Souza

    As one who loves animation, as we all do, it gets a shrug from me. It’s a hotel with styles that are based on 4 movies.

    I suppose little kids may like it. If it’s just a place to sleep, go to the bathroom and eat; makes no difference.

    I guess at first I thought it was some kind of animator’s fanatsy camp. That may be cool.

    Who dressed Patti as if she was from 1971 Hee-Haw?

  • Schmegz

    What in the hell is this?

    I’m sure this started as a great idea in some board room and like an Alkaseltzer tablet dissolved into this land of nothing.

    There is nothing here that has anything to do with any art of animation what so ever. Then again it’s Disney, so instead of presenting today’s youth with integral knowledge of what art truly is, how it is made, educating them on key figures involved, equipment used, diverse styles, it is just Disney selling you on four of their most purple red and blue movies. Actually smothering your face in the pillows of those movies and suffocating you.

    Burn it down and start over.

    Executive trolls obviously can’t drum up a building like this. It’s like having fast food restaurant managers build us a hospital.

    This presentation video is a train wreck, I bet there was a lot of people getting yelled at making this.

  • EHH

    *looks at Amid’s comments* O_O …you’re taking this a bit personally, aren’t you? I rather go to Fort Wilderness myself.

  • Bud

    “Patty,” the pigtailed yakker, looks like a cheap Vegas whore.

    • Dave

      ^
      That is pretty much the way all young girls are presented on the Disney Channel now.

  • E. Nygma

    They should rename this blog “Let’s Crap on Disney”.

    For this video, they would deserve it though.

  • Eric

    It started so simply, so innocently. Your children enjoy the movie. They see and advertisement for the themed resort and ask you if the family can vacation there for a summer vacation. You think to yourself, “I enjoy the movie too. The resort may be a bit pricy, but I just got a raise and we don’t vacation like this very often. Why not stay there for a few days?” You don’t live nearby so you decide to take a plane. Within a week, you find yourself all packed for the trip and driving to the airport with your family.

    After dealing with the stress of checking your bags, going through airport security, waiting outside the gate while keeping track of your children, sitting for hours in a jet breathing cold, recycled air, finally landing and retrieving your luggage, you are exhausted. Thankfully there is a shuttle from the airport to the resort, so you and your spouse load up your luggage, buckle your sleeping children in and get a few minutes of rest as the driver takes you all to your destination.

    As you reach the resort, you see the massive murals covering the buildings. Impressive. You walk into the courtyard and see the gigantic statues of characters from the movie. Most impressive, even at night. Your children seem to like everything as well, although they are still half-asleep. You check in and go to your suite.

    You open your door and throw your luggage into your room and, after putting your children to bed, lay down on top of the covers and go to sleep. You dream of the movie.

    The next morning you wake up and look around. You see something that reminds you of the movie. You soon tired of it so you look away, but you see something else that reminds you of the movie. In fact, every single aspect of the room reminds you of the movie. You step outside the room to clear your head, but even the hallways are covered in murals depicting scenes from the movie.

    By now you are feeling quite claustrophobic so you walk out to the courtyard past the smiling statues, seemingly mocking you in your torment. Finally, in a last-ditch effort to get your mind off of the movie you look up at the sky.

    How beautiful the sky is. It is so blue and peaceful. Oh look: a solitary cloud. You know, it kind of looks like…

    Once your vacation is over and you and your family are home, you take your DVD of the movie and set it on fire. The end.

  • Oscar Grillo

    The face of “Disney’s sincerity” of the presenter of this video sends me up the wall!

  • Carl Russo

    I’d recommend a trip to the Museo Dalí instead.

    http://www.fotocommunity.es/pc/pc/display/14038938

  • what_in_the_cel

    What, no Song of the South building?

  • Professor Widebottom

    Monstrously vapid. A scary self-parody of a bloated rudderless enterprise gone mad.

  • John

    What no Treasure Planet or Lilo and Stitch? :(

  • http://maketeanotwar.co.uk Gagaman

    Thought this sounded a bit harsh until I watched the video. Seesh, mind you they’ve always had tacky resorts like this along side the much less tacky ones.

    I’m not the only one that found it hilarious how they kept putting terrible filters over the pixar images to try and make them look like they were sketched first?

  • John Morgan

    I remember when they opened Pleasure Island an area for shopping and dance clubs/bars I laughed first at the reference to Pinocchio and then at the fact that none of the managers were well versed enough to grasp the situation. Have you seen the the other “All Star” resorts. Full of kitsch icons to fit the themes. I’m just glad in this one (though I’d of preferred some other choices)remembers that Disney has a history of cartoons. In my resort, we are lucky that our general manager doesn’t eradicate any evidence of Mickey at all.

  • Antonio

    Well that place look awesome, but cars? really?
    BTW I live in one of those Mexican drug cartel operated areas (Zitacuaro), and it’s not that bad.

    • Josef

      Not as bad as how the news reflects Mexico or not as bad as a Disney animated themed resort?

  • http://hand-drawn-animation.blogspot.com David Nethery

    Interesting how for marketing purposes Disney Corp. still wants to exploit the imagery that evokes nostalgia for classic animation (the animation disc , the “drawing board” imagery) but it seems that the company is in fact very lukewarm about committing to an ongoing slate of NEW hand-drawn animated films.

    Hand-drawn Animation at Disney has apparently become just another fake theme park attraction like “Main Street USA” — nostalgia for something that used to exist, but where no one really lives (or makes a living) anymore.

  • http://fartoonsblog.blogspot.com Ryan

    Pattie, I really hope I don’t see you anytime soon. In fact, I hope to see you never again.

  • Scarabim

    Why doesn’t Disney build a resort that looks truly fantastic, like a castle or a spooky Victorian mansion? If its Vacation Club offered resort accommodations like those, I’d maybe invest in one.

  • http://animatedlane.com JWLane

    I could only watch 30 percent. I had a good laugh at some of the comments above, though. I’ve been to conventions at Disney hotels in Florida. The whole place was laminated to 3/8 in. particle board. The saving grace was Pilsner Urquell on tap.

  • Josef

    This blog is starting to become unreadable because all the negativity. What’s wrong with Disney building a Disney animated themed resort and what’s wrong if people want to stay in it? Absolutely nothing.

    Comparing a Disney resort to dangerous locations that are unrelated seems a bit extreme to me.

  • Was My Face Red

    Pattie; “Hey, I want to sleep in one tonight!”
    Imagineer (leering)”You can Patti. You can.”

  • Mike Cagle

    If it’s an animation themed resort, the rooms should be equipped with drawing boards and the minibars should be stocked with jars of paint. There should pads of tracing paper instead of little notepads, and an airbrush instead of a hair dryer. The room service menu should list bad pizza joint and bad Chinese food.

  • http://www.animatorisland.com/ J.K. Riki

    I… don’t understand all the cynicism and negativity. When I was a kid this would have been a dream come true for me.

    *confused*

  • MC Burnett

    I’m counting down the days for the Amid blog post: “Announcing my new book: The Art of Disney Resorts!”

    • amid

      Then I hope you know how to count really high numbers.

  • victoria

    I’ll stick to San Diego Comic Con, like I do every year ;)

  • Dave

    Read all the comments first, THEN watched the video, and I can safely say:

    I’d rather stay in a Silence of the Lambs/Buffalo Bill water well-themed or Hannibal Lechter prison cell-themed hotel room than in one of these garish animation monstrosities.

  • http://www.classicparamountcartoons.blogspot.com ParamountCartoons

    This is how she react if she ever did a One Saturday Morning throwback video (A=La the Nostaliaga Critic, as reworded from the wiki’s transcript)…..

    ” Well let’s just say you knew someone with a very similar name. Someone who grew up with that name all her life. And happened to be raised at the exact same time this show came out. Do you think any jokes or funny remarks in connection with this show could possibly affect her life in any negative way? Do you? DO YOU?!
    *She hears sounds of kids laughing at her and mocking her name in connection with the show; she begins to break down, then suddenly snaps out of it
    KIDS: Oh, look! It’s Patti Mayonnaise! Hey, Patti Mayonnaise! Where’s Doug Funnie? Hey, Patti Mayonnaise! On your way to school? You’re Patti Mayonnaise! You’re Patti Mayonnaise! You’re Patti Mayonnaise! You’re Patti-…”

  • RobEB

    Talk about negative! And to think, last year one of my comments about how I hate constantly hearing about comic-con was pulled because it was “too negative.” Sheesh!

  • Toonio

    From the big picture view, the buildings look like prisons: flat walls, small windows and a backyard surrounded by walls. O_o.

    Has the same feeing you get at their parks,”you all are mine!, muahahaha”.

    But seriously, the rooms look tacky, 70s tacky, there is no sense of flow, story or idea. It’s like somebody but a lot Disney memorabilia and stuck them in a room, which reminds me of those hard core fans that might pull the Cars mirror off the wall to take it home a souvenir.

    Now what will be funny is thinking of frisky newlyweds in the Lion King hotel. They will add that “savage” feeling to the whole thing if you know what I mean ;).

    At the end Disney cannot accept their competitors having better shots at theme hotels, and had to overdo everything to prove whatever they want to prove, with the obvious results.

    Soulless workers make soulless products.

  • T. Reynolds

    Dear lord, let me never become this negative and jaded. Amen

  • Frank Ziegler

    I love it. I’d stay there in a heartbeat.

  • http://a113animation.blogspot.com/ William Jardine

    The resort looks, whilst cheesy, rather good; however this woman makes me want to never watch Disney again, she’s so dull and robotic – and actual robot would’ve been less robotic.

    Good premise, awful selling.

  • 2 sides

    Actually, it should be divided into 2 sides: the ghetto animation side, and the ultra-posh, 5-star animation executive side.

  • Hannah

    i want a real Art of Animation resort where they pay people to dress up like Disney’s Nine old Me,n and you can sleep on a couch and dine on a bag of corn chips… just like a REAL ANIMATOR IN CRUNCH TIME!! i would love to get my picture taken with Milt Kahl as he yells at me for playing music

  • MissConception

    At first I was all “yay!” Then I was all, “Oh…no.”

    I was looking forward to sketchy storyboard panels and mountains of colorful paint jars stacked on the walls. Sound stages and 1940′s architectural stylization! But I must say, they picked the four Disney movies I’m officially tired of being bombarded with. It would have been nicer if they used all their movies and shorts as inspiration and made general animation the theme instead of limiting themselves to cheesy memorabilia style rooms.

    • Chris Sobieniak

      I would certainly go to that place instead myself. But no, it is what it is.

  • http://ww.toonocity.com Fremgen

    Doesn’t look that special to me, I assume it’s a place to sleep when you visit Disney World, because it doesn’t seem like much else.

    Now maybe if one of the themes was the Incredibles, could be cool to see that come to life. But that maybe just me :p

  • Swordsman

    Okay, the one thing I don’t understand of all of this;

    Why are there two Oceanic themed suites?

    I mean, a jungle one makes sense. I like the Lion King, but love the relaxing feel of a jungle even more. And I’m sure many others would feel the same way.

    The Cars one makes some sense as well, even though I wouldn’t like it nearly as much as a peaceful jungle.

    But both Finding Nemo and The Little Mermaid? I mean, I would expect Aladdin or maybe Beauty and the Beast before The Little Mermaid. And I would have expected Toy Story before Finding Nemo. Man, it would have been awesome to sleep in a building shaped like Andy’s toy box. Or lay down on a deceptively high quality bed that looks like one of the cheap beds in Aladdin.

    It may be somewhat silly, but the potential would be limitless.

  • Pedro Nakama

    I heard there’s an all you can eat restaurant called “Lasseters.”

  • http://one1more2time3.wordpress.com hans bacher

    why did they need to build a new place, they could have used the former animation building. should be pretty empty after they fired everybody. so much fun and laughter…