In this post we’ll review a Lion King Family Suite at Disney’s Art of Animation Resort. 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 and the Cars suites here. We also have the post that answers the question on everyone’s mind—Which Art of Animation Suite Is Best?
In this post, we’re going to focus specifically on the Lion King Family Suites, with some general discussion 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 themes 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 $497 to $800+ per night in 2025 for a family suite at Art of Animation. The suites are often a part of resort-wide 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 $30ish 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 8PM, 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 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 all the value resorts.
To be clear, Disney can get these right, as in the case of the wonderful “Under the Sea” rooms at Caribbean Beach. In general, I actually think the modern trend has been favorable, and once these suites inevitably get put on the remodel schedule, they’ll come out looking fantastic.
“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.
Conclusions
Overall I think it’s clear these are fine, big rooms. They’re themed, even if not spectacularly. I now have a separate post talking through Suite and Villas Pricing at Disney World, which used to take up a lot of space here.
Even if you put the issue of renting DVC points aside (discussed in that post), my feeling on the Lion King Family Suites is that they just don’t deliver enough value for their price point. I think some Lion King fans will disagree—I’m notably a much bigger fan of both the Finding Nemo and Cars suites, to be fair.
But since I think the theming falls a bit flat, these rooms—which can come in at more than 2X the cost of standard rooms at Art of Animation—aren’t offering enough for me to pay $500+ per night. That said, if you’re comfortable at that price, the additional space is great, and I don’t think I’ve ever had a bad stay at Art of Animation.
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