Work of Art: The Art of Animation Resort

A couple months back, Disney's Art of Animation Resort was announced.  The resort will feature family suites that will be themed to one of four classic Disney/Pixar movies.  The movies represented will include:  The Lion King, The Little Mermaid, Finding Nemo, and Cars.

The resort will be categorized as a "value" resort.  The addition of value family suites has great appeal and is a welcome addition to Walt Disney World's family of resorts.  And paying tribute to the company's roots by highlighting animation is a move I can also get behind.

However, while I am a fan of all 4 of these movies, they wouldn't necessarily have been the 4 films I would have selected.  My first thought was, while Disney has been in the animated feature film business for over 70 years the movies being used for inspiration only represent the past 21 years.  I get the marketing angle behind this...these are the films that today's families are most familiar with.  But I think most families are (or at least should be) familiar with many of the classics from the earlier part of last century.

So...what would be my criteria for selecting which movies should inspire this new resort?  First off, I agree that the films need to be some of the more popular from the Disney library.  As much as I love Oliver and Company, I don't know that it has left a big enough footprint in Disney's animation history (at least compared with some of the "major" classics) to warrant a starring role at WDW's newest resort.  Plus, from a business standpoint certain films will better support the selling of merchandise.  I wouldn't make a decision solely based on that, but it is a nice "tie-breaker".

Secondly, the setting of the movie needs to be able to provide an immersive experience for guests of the resort.  Granted, you could make the case for pretty much any Disney classic as each build a wonderful world for fantasy and escapism.  But I believe some films' settings lend themselves to an even higher level guest experience.

Finally, and I've mentioned this earlier, I would like the collection of films selected to represent wider range of the company's animation history.  I know this is tough to do with only 4 films....but I think an effort has to be made.

So here we go....the 4 movies that you would see at the Art of Animation Resort if I was WDW CEO....

• Alice In Wonderland - How great would it be to stay in Wonderland on vacation?  Perhaps a recreational area with a croquet course (Queen of Hearts style) and a hedge maze.  A garden of talking flowers would be another area for guests to explore.  And somewhere (maybe coming out of the main check-in building) there has to be a giant door where guest can walk through it's keyhole "mouth".  In certain corners of the resort a disappearing Cheshire Cat should greet and talk to guests as they pass by.  And one of the buildings could maybe be themed to the White Rabbit's house, with Alice's arms and legs coming out the sides.

• Peter Pan - This was the first movie that popped into my head.  I can't think of a better setting for a resort than Neverland.  In fact, you could even make the case that the whole resort could be Peter Pan themed.  A pirate ship...tree houses...Skull Rock....plenty of areas for the family, young and old alike, to explore.  The pool could be themed as Mermaid Lagoon.  Disney Imagineering could even use some sort of LED lighting or some other technology (along with some sound effects) to give the illusion of Tinker Bell flitting around the buildings.  So that as your family is wandering the premises, every now and then you hear and see Tink fly-by.

• The Little Mermaid - Okay...I know Disney already selected this one.  So this may seem like a cop out choice for me.  But I do love the idea of theming one of the areas of the resort as being "Under the Sea".  Finding Nemo (also selected by Disney) could fill that role...however, all things being equal I'll take the strictly Disney title.  Plus, from a historical perspective this film represents the reemergence of the Walt Disney Company as the animation power house.

• Toy Story - It helps that there are 3 movies to draw inspiration from.  The building could be themed as Andy's house, with each guest room themed as some part of his house.  Everything could be scaled to make the guest feel as if they are one of Andy's toys.  Different outdoor areas of this corner of the resort could be themed as Andy's yard...Sid's yard...or the Sunnyside Daycare playground.  If it didn't already exist at Hollywood Studios, I'd even say we could put in Pizza Planet as the food court. 

So there are my selections....what about you?  What films would you like to see at the Art of Animation Resort?