🎨 Disney's Art Of Animation Used To Be Abandoned 🎨

...once upon a time, and for a decade too... so, here's the legend of the Legendary Years Resort:

Back in 1999, construction started on Disney's Pop Century Resort.

And you know how the Port Orleans Resort comprises of two, French Quarter and Riverside?

Pop Century Resort was meant to be the same way, Classic Years and Legendary Years. Both sister resorts were separated by Hourglass Lake but connected by Generation Gap Bridge.

Classic Years would be themed to the 1950s-1990s while Legendary Years would be themed to 1900s-1940s.

Construction was underway on both, but delays pushed the opening back from 2001 to 2003. During which delays tourism declined in 2001, causing construction to focus in on one resort at a time.

At this point, the lobby building (Legendary Hall) had been built and partially decorated. Two of the 1940s buildings were built but not decorated. The foundations of the third 1940s building and a 1930s building were set. The parking lots had also been paved.

All of this was left as the Classic Years was chosen to complete construction for the 2003 opening while Legendary Years would open at a later date once tourism increased again.

So, people who booked a waterfront view at the new Pop (half) Century Classic Years Resort got waterfront views of the abandoned Legendary Years Resort.

And this went on for years until Disney announced that they would resume construction in 2010, but with a new theme.

The decorations for Legendary Hall were removed and replaced as it became Animation Hall. And the abandoned 1940s buildings were decorated to become The Little Mermaid section of Art Of Animation Resort.

Legendary Years opened as Disney's Art of Animation Resort in 2012, leaving Pop Century incomplete but yielding an interesting origin story for the new resort.

So if you ever wondered why The Little Mermaid rooms at Art Of Animation are regular studio rooms and not suites like the other sections, it's because they're the formerly abandoned buildings that were already configured that way.

Disney kept the already constructed buildings as they were originally designed, but constructed the new buildings to have family suites.

Art Of Animation is the same setup as Legendary Years--building placements, pool placements, parking lots setup, etc--just with different theming.

There are videos of Legendary Years if you're curious about what Art Of Animation used to look like.

It's an interesting bit of Disney history that most people staying in the AOA Little Mermaid rooms have no idea about.

Did you know about Art's origins as Legendary Years? 💖

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