It’s impossible not to appreciate Disney Imagineering when you’re in the parks. They are the main attraction of any visit, and eery ride, land, restaurant, building, and piece of decor in the parks is a reflection of Imagineers. But recently I got a unique chance to see another way they influence a major aspect of any visit. Nerdist was among the small handful of press allowed into a model Little Mermaid room currently being tested at Walt Disney World’s Art of Animation Resort. And seeing it made me realize I wasn’t paying enough attention to all the ways Imagineers immerse you in a Disney story.
Executives talk about Art of Animation with genuine reverence. Multiple cast members, independently of one another, used the word “special” to describe the large family-friendly resort when Disney hosted my family there recently. We were at Walt Disney World for “Stay in the Magic,” an event dedicated to highlighting the advantages of staying at a Disney property. During out visit I was also able to see something few, even those who work there, ever will: a model testing room.
Art of Animation opened in 2012 and has four different themed buildings of guest rooms. Three—Cars, The Lion King, Finding Nemo—feature family suites. The fourth is The Little Mermaid, which consists of standard rooms. Earlier this year, Disney announced that building would undergo a massive remodel. It’s the hotel’s first-ever major, top-to-bottom room refurbishment. (It’s also another project in what Walt Disney World’s ongoing focus to reinvest in classic rides and resorts. Recent examples include the major overhauls of Big Thunder Mountain and Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin. Next year, a new version of the Carousel of Progress will also open at Magic Kingdom.)
Back in May, when execs announced the refurbishment, these new rooms only existed in concept art. Now they exists as two fully furnished rooms inside the Little Mermaid building. Disney built them for beta testing. During our tour, hosted by the Imagineers leading the project, press was not given or allowed to take any images of the room because it’s not yet in its final version. But it is a full room. It’s been used by employees and their hosting families. Cast members, executives, and Imagineers have been staying there to see what works and what can be improved. What Disney ultimately settles on could be very different from what I got to see. But I doubt much will change.
The room is already a vast improvement over the current Little Mermaid rooms. (It’s no surprise this building is getting the first upgrade. It’s the one that needs it most.) Themed as an “Under the Sea” celebration, it’s full of character paintings on every wall. The aquatic color scheme is also lighter, brighter, and more varied than the current edition. The decor, while still overly playful, is also a significant upgrade. The model room hasn’t abandoned the joyful ethos of the current style, but it looks fancier and more expensive. The bureau is also much longer and that curtain divider for the bathroom is thankfully gone.
There are also fun touches throughout, like how the bureau has fork handles, a wonderful nod to Ariel’s misunderstanding of human items. My favorite element was a multi-dimensional custom light fixture that looks like the sun reflecting from above the water. It’s one of the many small aspects that really sells the theming of the room. You’re meant to feel like you’re under the sea with Ariel and her friends and you do. Some of those sea creatures are also hiding in spots meant for little ones to find. I only saw them because Imagineers cited them as one of their favorite special parts. That led me to searching for them at a toddler’s eye level.
The room is also more practical while being even more fun for kids. The model room provides much more space than a current Little Mermaid room despite the size of the room not changing. To help make Ariel’s rooms feel bigger, they are turning one of the two Queen-sized beds into a Murphy bed. That’s a fun feature on its own, as my 5-year-old found when we showed him how the table in our Cars suite was secretly hiding a bed in the wall. (Guess where he insisted on sleeping after seeing that?) In a Little Mermaid room, during the day a Murphy bed will allow for both a lot more space and a place to sit and eat. It’s a much needed pragmatic improvement for adults that also makes it more enjoyable for kids.
To get a sense of the layout, you can see what the recently refurbished rooms at the neighboring Pop Century Resort look like. The model room follows this general design from Pop Century seen below. But Art of Animation’s model room is much more immersive, colorful, and kid-focused. The Little Mermaid room is geared for families with youngsters, which is what Art of Animation does best.
After seeing the model room, we then headed to a presentation inside a current Lion King suite. It’s the next AoA building getting remodeled rooms. (The plan is to then do the same for the Finding Nemo and Cars buildings.) The new Lion King suite is still in the concept art stage. Imagineers say a model room is still at least a few months away. What we saw of the design is a more modern, more sophisticated, and lighter room. The current suites feature a very dark green, cartoon-like jungle vibe. This is what a current Lion King suite looks like. The decor had me singing “I Just Can’t Wait to Be King.” (I wish I were joking.) The art for the new design feels like the complete opposite. It’s much more modern, adult-oriented and calming.
When I pointed this big difference between the old design and the new one to the Imagineer leading the Lion King project, she said that’s very intentional. She described the general idea as “whimsical but tranquil.” It was a perfect description for the concept. But that would be totally wrong to describe the model Little Mermaid room which feels like its hosting a party. And that’s the point.
Imagineers, who consult with their predecessors who designed the original rooms, aren’t trying to make every Art of Animation building the same with only the IP changing. They’re trying to create something unique in each so that every stay feels different. They’re also trying to provide options so every guest, each with their own needs and preferences, can find what works best for them. If you have very young kids, the new “Under the Sea” rooms will appeal to them more than the serene approach Disney is taking with its refurbished Lion King suites.
For some it won’t matter which room they book, and I get it. The parks are always and forever the main attraction of any visit, and some guests view their room as “the place they sleep” and nothing more. I don’t and never have. I like when my room has a clear theme and vibe. But after getting a peak behind the test curtain I realize that, even though I do care about my hotel, its theming, and those fun extra touches that envelop you in the Disney bubble, I wasn’t paying enough attention to a side of Imagineering I’ve taken for granted.
Most (all?) of my conversations both with and about Imagineers has always been about what they do in the parks. But, like anyone who stays on property, the parks are just one aspect of any stay. The “story” of being at Disney doesn’t start or end when you enter or leave a theme park. It starts and ends in the place you start and end your day. And Imagineers put as much work, care, and passion into those resorts as they do the parks for that reason.
When I got back from my tour of the model Little Mermaid room and the Lion King suite refurbishment presentations, I started looking around my Cars suite. Despite it being my second time staying there I noticed things I never had before. There were fixtures I hadn’t paid attention to, both on the wall and on the furniture. I had somehow missed “obvious” things like the orange cone that holds up an end table. I had “seen” those elements dozens of times without processing them. The same was true when I then walked around the entire resort, something I hadn’t done before, the morning we left. I saw decorations and statues on buildings I had never thought to look at. I felt silly for having missed them, as though I had robbed myself of one of the best reasons to be on property.
Disney wanted press to see its model room to help publicize a big refurbishment coming to a signature resort. That was fun and informative, but it wasn’t what I found most interesting about the experience. Not as someone obsessed with Imagineering. After getting a chance to learn firsthand just how much storytelling, real-world testing, and tinkering goes into a single room in a single building at a single resort, I won’t make the mistake of taking that for granted again.