Originally, the land the Art of Animation Resort occupies was formerly home to the
Epcot Center Ultralight Flightpark and was planned to be the second phase of
Disney's Pop Century Resort. As originally designed, the resort would have two sections, the "Legendary Years" section with theming from the decades 1900 through 1940 and the "Classic Years" section with theming from the decades 1950 through 1990. In the middle of the two sections would be Hourglass Lake, with a connection across the narrow, center part of the lake called the Generation Gap Bridge. Each section would have one main hall building and ten guest room buildings, with 2,880 rooms, giving the resort a grand total of 5,760 rooms. Construction on both phases started in 1999, and by 2002, construction had been started on the second phase, the "Legendary Years," with three buildings (the main hall, along with guest room buildings 7 and 8) at least partially completed. However, tourism suffered after the
September 11 attacks, and Disney decided to halt further construction of the second phase. The first phase, the "Classic Years" section, was completed and opened in 2003. The Art of Animation began its phased opening on May 31, 2012, and continued through September 15, 2012. A station for the
Disney Skyliner, a
gondola lift system, was built on the Generation Gap Bridge between the Art of Animation and Pop Century resorts and opened on September 29, 2019. The Skyliner offers hotel guests access to the
Epcot and
Hollywood Studios theme parks and the
BoardWalk shopping district. == Theming ==