Playing on the Playground at Disney's Art of Animation Resort

My little one wanted to put on her Tinkerbell dress and go to the Magic Kingdom today but it's been incredibly busy due to the holiday weekend so we compromised and I told her she could wear her Tink dress and go play at one of Disney's playgrounds instead.

Many of the resorts at Disney have playgrounds for the little ones but they vary greatly in how much they have to offer. Although it is adorably themed Art of Animation's playground is so small it can barely be called a playground but I chose this resort anyways because Alyssa likes to wander the grounds and look at all the character statues and also because we had an arcade card with lots of points on it and Art of Animation is one of the few resorts that still has its arcade prize counter before they all get removed at the end of this month.

Art of Animation consists of 4 themed sections-Little Mermaid, Lion King, Finding Nemo, and Cars. I parked by the Little Mermaid section because the statues in this section are Alyssa's favorite. She spent some time having fun running around the treasure chest statue with some kids she met. We took pictures with some of the other statues as well.

After Little Mermaid we walked through the Lion King section. This section has one of the "playgrounds" but it puzzles me as to how it can actually be called a playground. The bone theming is a little scary for young children and it doesn't consist of anything more than a cave and some bones to run through. Although it is supposed to be a play area there are signs posted that say "No Climbing" and there are no slides or other play features. It is good for running through the cave a few times but it honestly doesn't hold Alyssa's interest for very long. 

Alyssa enjoyed some of the other statues in this section more than she enjoyed the "playground." 

The Nemo section is the next one after Lion King. This is the main section of the resort and the one that has the main playground. The playground is located right behind the awesome splash pad but unlike the splash pad, which is fenced in and only accessible by room key, the playground is accessible to everyone.

The playground is very small and says it is for children up to age 12. In reality it is geared more towards children from about ages 2-5. It is themed to finding Nemo and consists of one really big piece of coral with a few slides coming out of it. There are also a few tunnels to crawl through and areas to climb on.

Benches surround the area for parents to sit on. The surface underneath the playground is a soft, spongy material, which is great during cooler weather and prevents things like mulch, sand, and pebbles from getting into the nearby pool and splash pad but in the summer the surface and the playground itself can get really hot.

The smallest of the three slides is off to the slide and perfect for very young toddlers. It is very low to the ground and easy to climb up on. Alyssa enjoys climbing on the coral and anemone behind it but the slide itself really is too small to hold a three year old's interest.

The other two slides you have to climb up stairs to get to. The first one is just your typical traditional slide but you can also continue climbing the stairs to the second slide, which is an enclosed circular one. Alyssa really enjoyed playing on both of them but I think she liked the enclosed slide more. Neither slide us really high and the stairs to both are wide and easy to navigate so they are perfect for young children.

This playground is so small I thought Alyssa would quickly get bored with it. I couldn't have been more wrong. What it lacked in things to play on was made up for by her big use of imagination. Nemo's reef somehow became pixie hollow in her eyes and she spent almost two hours playing on the structure, gathering up "pixie dust" in the little coral "bowls" and running and hiding from trolls and other scary creatures. Playtime was even more fun when numerous kids stopped by to play for a little while on their way to the pool or back to their hotel rooms. Most of the kids playing were between 2-6 but a few 7-9 year olds joined their younger siblings as they played and using their imaginations seemed to have just as much fun.

Alyssa played on the park until the sun started to set and I told her it was time to go. She reluctantly left and we walked through the final section of the resort, the Cars section, where she had fun running around the statues.

We grabbed a quick snack in the reasonably priced food court before heading into the nearby arcade to use up our points. 

I was pleasantly surprised by how much fun Alyssa had on such a small playground. Although this playground doesn't really look like much if you have a young child with a big imagination you will probably have a hard time dragging them away!