In the 1990s, my parents took me on a long-awaited vacation to Walt Disney World. They weren’t exactly thrilled with the idea, but ultimately fell head over heels for Mickey & Co (“So brilliantly done! So polished!”). In the meantime I had developed another fixation.
Eleven-year-old me was just as excited about what lay outside the gates of the Florida amusement park as what lay inside. There was something intriguingly different in the energetic commercials on the car radio, the porridge-like grains at the breakfast buffet and even the universal beige of our hotel room. The contrast between the sugary schmaltz of the Magic Kingdom and the damp reality of Kissimmee made Disney more special to me – like switching between a low-budget TV series and a no-budget big-screen extravaganza.
When Walt Disney World first opened in 1971, its on-site hotels also contrasted with the attractions and parades. Contemporary Resort was a glimpse into an imaginary utopia where a monorail plowed through the sky and an incredible Grand Canyon-themed Mary Blair mural dominated the lobby. Meanwhile, Polynesian Village featured a Tiki motif, a palm-lined pool and a surfing lake. There wasn’t a cartoon character in sight.
However, nowadays things have changed. Licensing started in the 1980s and has exploded since then. It’s almost impossible to buy a kids’ T-shirt without a superhero or cartoon character on the front (and you can get toothbrushes, duvet covers, and pretty much any other accessories to match).
To keep up, the Contemporary (doubles from £297) has installed a neon Mickey wall, giant Mickey ears and a few Mickey sculptures. In 2021, Moana rooms were introduced to Polynesian Village (doubled from £408). More complete transformations are underway elsewhere. After a lengthy renovation, the Disneyland Hotel at Disneyland Paris will offer prince and princess-themed public areas and a Royal Banquet-themed restaurant, where you can dine under portraits of royals when it reopens in 2024.
Hotel New York in Disneyland Paris has already been turned into Hotel New York – The Art of Marvel (Disney bought Marvel in 2009 and the hotel got a makeover in 2021). And in 2024, Paradise Pier at California’s Disneyland will reopen as Pixar Place, “evoking the inspiration and humor found in every Pixar film,” according to the brand.
With carefully designed interiors and soothing color palettes, these are not your average themed hotels – and they are destinations in their own right, not just a place to stay while visiting a theme park. While some of Disney’s older offerings (like Florida’s Art of Animation, with its Nemo-centric bedrooms and a giant poolside Ariel) are cartoony, cute, and clearly designed with kids in mind, Hotel New York – Art of Marvel has a different vibe absolutely. The brand describes it as “a stylish modern art gallery in Manhattan”.
The decor is a moody take on industrial chic and there is little lighting. There’s a superhero selfie station where you can pose for social media photos in an Avengers-themed staging, and guests can purchase pricey art prints at the lobby boutique. Meanwhile, at Pixar Place, visitors can expect themed fire pits, a Monsters University-inspired gym, and Pixar ball pillows on the beds.
In short, these hotels seem to be designed for adult children rather than actual children. And there’s a reason for that. A 2022 Ofcom report found that “children are drawn to dramatic, short videos on social media” – their heroes more likely to be Mr Beast and Unspeakable than Captain America or Cinderella. My own 11 year old is baffled by anyone with a Disney fixation. “What adult would wear Lilo and Stitch pajamas?” she asked in bewilderment during a trip to Primark.
An older audience, however, clings to their childhood dreams of princesses and superheroes. A 2022 report from market research firm NPD Group found that while sales of toys to European children declined, business for “children” (children aged 12 or older) boomed.
Meanwhile, Marvel Cinematic Universe films are the highest grossers of all time at the box office, grossing almost $30 billion (£24 billion). And during the recent opening weekend of The Marvels, 30 percent of the moviegoing audience was between the ages of 25 and 34 — old enough to be parents themselves. Younger kids can’t even officially watch these movies: The Marvels is rated 12A.
With all this in mind, it’s easy to see why Disney hopes to attract a more mature audience to its hotels (at least in terms of age), but whether the strategy works remains to be seen. The brand thought it had hit on a winning formula when it created Galactic Star Cruiser, a Star Wars-themed experiential hotel, in 2021.
Guests embarked on a two-night journey of discovery, choosing their own adventure on a simulated cruise into space. The interiors were like stepping onto a set, an AI droid acted as a concierge and the consensus was that Galactic Star Cruiser offered an incredible experience. But with a starting price of $4,800 (£3,845) for a two-night stay for two people, the hotel was out of reach for most die-hard Star Wars fans who are still in love with 30-year-old Princess Leah.
Less than two years after the resort launched, it closed. “We will use what we learn to create future experiences that can reach more of our guests and fans,” a spokesperson said at the time.
Cheaper rooms and subtler themes seem to have been the lesson learned. But things are also changing outside the theme parks. In Florida, Kissimmee’s beige hotels are slowly being converted into chic boutique B&Bs. The Golden Link Motel has become The Vietta and offers white-on-white rooms, a cute swimming pool and a location near the renovated city center with its vintage shops, farmers market and restaurant terraces.
Meanwhile, in Anaheim, home to Disneyland, a citywide revitalization project is underway that converts old motels into public art spaces. With so much to see outside the gates, I know where I’d rather stay – and perhaps even the most die-hard Marvel and Disney fans will be tempted to step into the real world for a while.