In this post we’ll review a family suite at Disney’s Art of Animation Resort. Specifically, we’ll be reviewing a Cars 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 Cars 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’ve also reviewed the Lion King suites here and the Finding Nemo Suites here. In this post, we’re going to focus specifically on the Cars Family Suites.
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—Finding Nemo, Cars, and Lion King. Besides the theming and location, the rooms are the same. You can expect to pay $497 to $800+ per night in 2025 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 Cars suites are just south of Animation Hall (the main resort building) and the main pool. If you’re in building 2 (all the way south), you’ll have an extra minute or two of walking, but overall the suites all have good locations.
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 $1,110.67 for two nights as part of an annual passholder discount.
Our Cars Suite at Art of Animation
The family 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.
As far as I can tell, all the family suites at Art of Animation have the same basic layout. These are true suites, with a bedroom, living room (that can also function as a bedroom), and two full bathrooms.
Let’s start with a video then three galleries before we move onto further discussion of the room.
This gallery looks at the main (living) room:
Next up, the bathroom adjacent to the living room:
This gallery looks at the bedroom and its bathroom:
All the rooms at Art of Animation are a bit dated. The Little Mermaid rooms (not suites) are the most modern, but still behind most of the other rooms at Walt Disney World. The suites—all three types—are almost to the point of feeling nostalgic.
Having now stayed in all three suites (comparison post forthcoming), I’m glad to say that I think the Finding Nemo and Cars suites are both themed well enough to offset my grumblings about their age. I wrote that the Finding Nemo suites did well because the theme was basically so jarring it took over—you were swimming in it! The Lion King suites, by contrast, sort of just felt like they were rooms painted “jungle green.”
The Cars suites walk a different line. Here the challenge is to feel like you’re in a small town with roadside motel without feeling too much like you’re in that roadside motel. I think the room walks this line just fine.
The repetitive use of “cones” is maybe a bit much (all the lamps and curtains), but I think the lamps specifically are pretty cute. The bathrooms have a fun car wash motif.
Several surfaces are plastered with (painted on) “postcards” / stickers highlighting some of Radiator Springs. It’s overall just charming.
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 similar to those in all Disney rooms. I’m still (yes, STILL) disappointed that the Art of Animation suites have Cuisinart machines instead of Keurigs.
For sleeping arrangements for our three-person family, Zoe slept on the living room’s pull-out sofa while we used the separate bedroom. I was coming back late from Jollywood Nights one evening, and heading out to run early one morning, so we didn’t want Zoe in the Murphy bed right by the room entrance. We also felt like the bedroom bed was too high. The room was big enough that I didn’t disturb Zoe with my comings and goings.
Conclusions
My initial impressions of the Art of Animation suites were the Lion King suites, which definitely fell flat for me personally. Our two stays at the Finding Nemo and Cars suites, though, have been great.
The only tricky thing is the price. If you head over to David’s DVC rentals, you can get a look at what you’d pay to stay in some One Bedroom Villas throughout Walt Disney World. I have to admit, the prices for rooms bigger than studios aren’t as appealing as I recall. At $555 per night, my Art of Animation suite was not a bad deal to have separate spaces for Zoe and us.
That said, you might still look at non-suite options and wonder how much the upgrade to the suite is really worth. The Little Mermaid rooms at Art of Animation start $280 less than the suites. You get the exact same amenities as the suite rooms. Head across Hourglass Lake to Pop Century and you’ll save another $34. You’ll be downgrading your pool / splash pad quality a small amount, but you’ll still be right by the Skyliner.
What I love about Art of Animation is the theming and the Skyliner. Zoe specifically loved walking around the “Cars land” one evening. But you can walk around the hotel just as well from the Little Mermaid rooms as the Cars suites.
The bottom line is that while I like the rooms, it’s tough to pin down exactly the best use case. “Larger families” is of course one answer, but you can also often book multiple rooms, particularly when you’re look at value resort prices vs. suite prices. If it’s just two parents and multiple small children, the suites start to become more appealing, though.
Will you be staying at a Cars suite at Art of Animation?
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