Pirate for a Night: Themed Rooms at Disney Resort Hotels
Even if you understand very little about Walt Disney World, you probably understand that everything is themed. Theme parks are immersive, water parks and miniature golf have backstories, and yes, even every resort hotel has a theme. If you stay at the Wilderness Lodge, expect that your room have a rustic raw wood sort of feel. Or if you stay at Animal Kingdom Lodge, don't be surprised to find African masks or shields on your wall. But the themed rooms we are talking about today go beyond the theme of the resort to replicate either fantasy havens for aspiring pirates and princesses to the ultimate stay for a fan of a particular Disney character or movie.
You can find themed rooms in every resort category. Today, we're going to uncover what themes there are and where you can find them.
Art of Animation - Little Mermaid Standard Rooms
Disney's Art of Animation value resort is quite possibly the Queen of Theme when it comes to room offerings. Here you can find both standard rooms and suites (which we will explore below), but you are guaranteed to have a themed room here. At the most basic rate, you will find the Little Mermaid standard rooms. These rooms have a wavy blue ocean floor carpet, clamshell chairs and bed, a curvy dresser, In the bathroom, you will find a seashell mirror and ocean waves wallpaper with Ariel on your shower curtain.
Photo credit: Disney
Given it's a value resort, the theming here is abundant, but not fancy. As you move up in resort category, you'll find themed rooms that make even adults squeal. But this will do for a kid who loves Ariel.
Art of Animation - Cars, Lion King, and and Nemo family suites
Aside from the family suites being a unique kind of room you can't find at any other Disney resort hotel, each one at Art of Animation has a theme. Family suites include a large sitting area, and kitchenette with a bed, a full bathroom off the sitting area, and a master "suite" with another bathroom. They come in three "flavors": Cars, Lion King, and Nemo. Expect vintage checkerboard floors and a sort of 50's Route 66 theme in the Cars suites. In the Lion King suites, you will find jungle themed carpets, a head with a "flower" headboard a la "I Just Can't Wait to be King", and the rising sun over the serengeti on the shower backsplash in one bathroom, and a Pumba shower curtain in the other. While the Cars and Lion King suites might be a little busy with color for adult tastes, the Finding Nemo suites offer a calming blue and coral pallet. Expect an ocean themed floor, coral lamps and upholstery, and (in our opinion) very cool sunken ship themed bathrooms with porthole style mirrors.
Photos credit: Disney
Port Orleans - Riverside - Royal Guest Rooms
Moving up a bit in price, at Port Orleans Riverside, you will find elaborately themed royal guest rooms, if you ask for it. Unlike Art of Animation, not all rooms at this resort are themed, so if you want a royal room, make sure you book that kind of room. While these rooms are a little further from the lobby in the Magnolia Bend area (which seems to have a "plantation theme we wonder if Disney will ever reconsider), these rooms are obviously heavily themed around Princess Tiana and her friends. But here, the theming is subtle enough that adults may enjoy it.
Photo credit: Disney
Expect a lot of gild and velvet in these rooms with subtle details such as Cinderella's carriage on the coat hooks, a genie lamp shaped faucet, and Aladdin's carpet in front of the dresser. It's important to note that these rooms are not pink and glitter "princess" rooms, but rather stately blue and gold "royal" rooms. Still, a tableau of princess portraits on the wall should please any princess-lover.
But where we think these rooms really shine with extra magic is the fiber optic headboards. Those tableaus of the bayou light up with fireworks at the push of a button. Leave it to Disney.
Caribbean Beach Resort - Pirate Rooms
At the moderate Caribbean Beach Resort, you can also request a pirate themed room. These rooms are farther from the main lobby than other rooms, but actually fairly near the gondola station of the Skyliner, which is a bonus if you head to EPCOT or Disney Hollywood Studios a lot. These rooms are also the only room where you can sleep on a boat (well, a boat themed bed). Each bed is shaped like a pirate ship. Instead of a dresser, expect a "pile of crates". You'll also find a treasure map themed carpet, and all the lamps look like lanterns.
Photo credit: Disney
Moana rooms at Disney's Polynesian Resort
These are the newest in themed rooms, having opened for Cast Member previews just last week. Disney has refurbished a number of rooms at Disney's Polynesian Village resort to a Moana theme. Disney's Polynesian Village Resort, being a deluxe resort, already had a pretty strong theme going with each room including pictures of tiki birds and dark wood with colorful Polynesian carvings, so we worried about the Moana rooms destroying that upscale look. But there is good news. The theme is subtle.
Photo credit: Disney
Again, not all rooms at this resort are being refurbished to the Moana theme. From what we understand, the Vacation club bungalows, suites, and villas are being left alone. But standard rooms are being themed. Basically, Pago Pago, Tokelau, and Moorea, and the bungalows, are currently being left alone.
It seems like as you go up in resort category, the more subtle the theming becomes, and we are happy to say that from the looks of it, a guest with no knowledge of Moana at all would not question the design of these rooms. But if you do love Moana, then you might be happy to find Hei-Hei by the coffee maker, and Maui's tattoos painted across one wall. Other than that, expect beachy wood and light blue colors that evoke the Pacific.
As you can see, there are lots of options at the Disney resort hotels. And we haven't even talked about the rooms that are just themed with the resort's theme. There are some amazing options there, like views of the savannah from the Animal Kingdom Lodge, or the upcoming Galactic Starcruiser, which takes theme beyond what we currently know and makes it immersive. We'll write more about those in the future.
If you've stayed at a themed room, which has been your favorite? Do you recommend them or prefer standard rooms? Share your thoughts with us in the comments or over on our Facebook page where you can follow us to see when we publish a new blog every week. Until next time...
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