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Disney’s Art of Animation Resort will become the 24th hotel at Walt Disney World when its first phase opens on May 31, 2012. That initial phase will feature buildings, characters, and decor from the Disney/Pixar film “Finding Nemo,” with three more wings to follow.
Today Disney announced the opening dates for the remaining three wings.
Here’s the full opening schedule:
Finding Nemo (Grand opening) – Opens May 31
Cars – Opens June 18
Lion King – Opens August 10
Little Mermaid – Opens September 15
It was previously announced that July 2012 would be the opening for the “Cars” wing, followed by “The Lion King” wing in September 2012 and “The Little Mermaid” in late 2012, but that schedule has been moved up by several months, with the new hotel now scheduled for completion in mid-September.
Also announced, guests can begin booking rooms for Disney’s Art of Animation Resort beginning tomorrow, March 23.
The Lion King, Cars and Finding Nemo buildings will be entirely family suites, with 1,120 suites between them. The Little Mermaid buildings will feature 864 rooms in the “value” room category.
“We are excited that the Cars, The Lion King, and The Little Mermaid wings at Disney’s Art of Animation Resort will all open earlier than we originally planned, bringing more permanent resort jobs to Central Florida sooner,” said Kevin Myers, vice president of resort operations for Walt Disney World Resort. “Demand for family suites exists in the marketplace today and the new opening dates reflect how optimistic we are about tourism in Central Florida.”
Learn more about Disney’s Art of Animation Resort and its many unique amenities here.