In this post we’ll review a family suite at Disney’s Art of Animation Resort. Specifically, we’ll be reviewing a Lion King Family Suite. We’ll start with the basics (like all the types of suites at Art of Animation) before diving into a discussion of the room and, maybe most importantly, what we think of it at its relatively high price point. Read on to learn all about the Lion King Family Suites at Art of Animation!
Basics of Art of Animation Family Suites
Art of Animation is a value hotel at Walt Disney World. We’ve reviewed the hotel, and its standard (non-suite) Little Mermaid rooms, separately here. We also reviewed a Finding Nemo Family Suite here. In this post, we’re going to focus specifically on the Lion King Family Suites, with some general discuss about suite pricing, too.
Art of Animation is one of two value hotels with family suites, the other being All Star Music. The family suites are not the same quality as one bedroom villas at DVC properties or one bedroom suites at deluxe or moderate hotels. Basically, they’re bigger value rooms with a separate bedroom.
This isn’t to say they’re bad—we’re actually completely fine with the quality of the room, as you’ll read. But in booking them it’s best to expect theming and space, not luxury.
There are three categories of family suites at Art of Animation—Lion King, Cars, and Finding Nemo. Besides the theming and location, the rooms are the same. You can expect to pay $478 to $963 per night in 2024 for a family suite at Art of Animation. The suites are often a part of discounts, though.
You can see in the above map the Lion King suites are just north of Animation Hall (the main resort building), with the Little Mermaid rooms (non-suites) past them. The Finding Nemo rooms are $20-$30 more expensive than the other two due to their proximity to Animation Hall and the feature pool.
Finally, there’s a fourth category of just “family suites.” These are actually the same rooms as Lion King / Cars / Finding Nemo suites, you just don’t know which you’ll be in until you check in.
Booking Art of Animation Family Suites
We had our travel advisor Lauren Quirk of Travel With Character book our room. We paid $1,058.40 for two nights, a rate that included an annual passholder discount.
Our Lion King Suite at Art of Animation
As a preliminary matter, let’s remember that the suites are the only value rooms at Disney World that don’t have outside facing (“motel style”) doors. I’ve never felt this makes much of a difference at the value hotels, though I suppose the noise—particularly if you’re near a pool—is worse with a door that faces outside. The hallways are bland but there is some artwork near the elevators.
Entering the room I was pleasantly surprised by its size. Yes, it’s a “suite,” but that word can have a wide range of meanings. With a toddler, it’s really about having as much separation as possible after bedtime at 7PM, so some “suites” that occupy, say, a single large room, aren’t as valuable. This is a true suite, with a living room (that can also function as a bedroom), a pure bedroom, and two bathrooms.
Let’s start with a video then two galleries (click the arrows through the photos) before we move onto further discussion of the room.
This gallery looks at the main (living) room and its bathroom:
This gallery looks at the bedroom and its bathroom:
One thing that struck me is how dated these rooms feel, particularly in light of the recent renovations that have occurred at every value resorts except All Star Sports.
“Well, it’s Lion King! The babies love the Lion King!” Sort of. As far as I can tell, there’s actually only one lion in the room, and to see it you have to pull the Murphy bed down. Otherwise, we’ve got Zazu above the main bed, Timon and Pumba on the shower curtain, and the rest is…jungle? savanna? theming. (Lion King enthusiasts can surely argue with me here, but I’ve seen the movie a few times, I read the abridged story to my kid daily, I’m more savvy than median, at least.)
As far as functionality, there isn’t much to complain about. The room has ample outlets. The bathrooms are a bit dated, but with two of them you shouldn’t have much trouble getting a large party ready in the morning.
The suites are equipped with a kitchen sink and microwave, in addition to the mini-fridge available in all Disney rooms. I’m continually disappointed with the prevalence of Cuisinart machines (as opposed to Keurigs) in Disney’s expensive rooms. Luckily all (almost all?) the deluxe rooms now have Keurig’s but I pretty firmly believe these suites should, too.
For sleeping arrangements for our three-person family, we had Zoe sleep in the main bedroom in a crib (we bring our own Pack ‘n’ Play, but the hotel also has a crib or Pack ‘n’ Play available) while we slept on the Murphy bed. This allowed us access to the living room in the evening while Zoe slept.
Quick Conclusions on Family Suite Pricing
Overall I think it’s clear these are fine, big rooms. They’re themed, even if not spectacularly. The next section will go more in depth in talking about suite pricing and where the family suites fit in, but I wanted to provide a summary for those of you who don’t care about the nitty gritty.
Basically the Art of Animation family suites fall into an unsweet spot. They’re more expensive than the All Star Music family suites without much to justify it (the Skyliner being the big perk, specifically). They’re barely cheaper than the DVC one bedroom villas if you rent points for those.
If you can afford the slightly more expensive DVC one bedrooms and find availability renting points, those are the way to go. If you can’t then it will probably make more sense to look down to the All Star Music suites. If the Art of Animation suites have an ongoing deal, or if availability forces you there, that’s fine, just not ideal.
Comparing Suite Pricing at Disney World
This is probably a topic better suited to its own post, but until I get around to that I wanted to offer some context on suite pricing.
Before I give a sample list of prices, I want to highlight something—most suites are Disney World are best booked by renting DVC points.
The DVC properties all have one bedroom villas. These can be booked directly through Disney, but you can also go through the much less expensive process of renting points to stay at them. \
Below are some prices (including tax) for one-bedroom suites/villas at Disney World, with the rental and rack rates for three DVC properties included. I’ve used a typical 2022 night (I’ll update next with 2024 numbers).
All Star Music (Suite) — $400
Boardwalk Villas (Rental) — $494 (vs. $811 rack)
Old Key West (Rental) — $513 (vs. $655 rack)
Art of Animation (Lion King) — $576
Bay Lake Tower (Rental) — $608 (vs. $935 rack)
Right off the bat, I’ll say that I’d basically never pay rack rate for those DVC rooms. I don’t think they’re the worst value on property—not by a mile—but with renting being a very feasible option, I’m just not into the rack rates.
So focusing the three DVC rental rates, Art of Animation, and All Star Music, I’m a little surprised to see Art of Animation nearly the most expensive.
While I haven’t stayed in all these one bedrooms, I think it’s fair to say based on videos/pictures/my experience at Art of Animation that the DVC one bedrooms are all better rooms than Art of Animation. While I’m sure I’ll prefer the All Star Music suites to Art of Animation, I’m willing to, for the sake of this section, assume those two are equal quality.
In light of that, the pricing of the Art of Animation Family Suites is really hard to swallow. If you can book a one bedroom suite at Bay Lake Tower—and be steps away from Magic Kingdom—for an extra $32 per night, do that! BoardWalk Villas—which gives you walking access to two parks, for less than Art of Animation? Definitely!
Of course, availability is a big “if.” DVC availability isn’t always easy to come by. Would I rent a one bedroom at higher-availability Old Key West ($513) if that was my only alternative? That’s a little tougher, because location comes into play.
Art of Animation has the Skyliner to two parks. I’d prefer walking to those same two parks from BoardWalk or—for families with a kid—walking to Magic Kingdom from Bay Lake Tower. But when you’re comparing to Old Key West and All Star Music, your transportation situation will be worse at those two hotels.
I don’t think many people will struggle to choose between $513 at Old Key West and $576 at Art of Animation—these are very different experiences and reading more about these resorts should help you decide pretty easily. So let’s finish with a comparison to All Star Music.
All Star Music is the other value resort with suites. As I said above, I expect to prefer the suites at Music to those at Art of Animation but I’m willing to set that aside and assume the rooms are equal.
To that end, I’m also going to call the amenities (other than the Skyliner) roughly equal too. This isn’t the place to quibble about differences in food courts or pools. The really question is whether or not Skyliner access is worth $176 per night, and the answer is probably not.
If you’re worried about the long lines for buses or their occasionally infrequent schedule, other options—rental cars, Uber, Minnie Vans—would be fine options at All Star Music that probably won’t add up to $176 per night and might be more convenient than the Skyliner.
If renting or bringing your own car is an option, it’s going to be most convenient. If you’re relying on Uber/Minnie Vans, the Skyliner might have a slight advantage at rope drop at Epcot and rope drop at Hollywood Studios. That said, the advantage—which I’m not going to go into detail here—is just too small to justify an extra $176 per night to go from a suite at Music to a suite at Art of Animation. If you choose All Star Music, wake up early, get on one of the first buses, and you’ll probably be fine if you understand the rest of the rope drop strategy.
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