#worth peeping the video this is just a smattering

[askpinkietai]

Hey, peeps! You might've noticed it was my birthday a couple days ago! Today is when we actually went out to celebrate that. One reason for which is that my sister, who lives out of state, was also vacationing with her family at this time. She and they are staying at the new Cartoon Network Hotel, and since Cartoon Network and its programming are something near and dear to my heart (much like my sister), I decided to document a few bits of it that I could~

Now, if you've seen the Defunctland episode on the Nick Hotel, this is pretty similar to that in concept. (And if you haven't seen it, it's worth a watch!) Though technically this one is in reverse: It was a freestanding motel and building that got refurbished to add the Cartoon Network branding, while the Nick Hotel eventually un-branded and de-furbished down into a generic hotel. Still, kind of a ful place to stay! Here's the front entrance, with a cool Finn and Jake sculpture outside, along with the iconic CN logo~

Here's a couple of freebie items they had available. The main motel rooms are a separate building, with the exception of the main luxury suites, which are upstairs in the main building. Even with just a cartoony layout rather than an actual map, this is roughly how the main building was laid out. I also picked up that business card because Finn was on it~

Big lobby with blocky furniture, including that exact couch with the one stripey seat. To the left is the elevator that goes up to the second level, which has a big video display that shows various characters getting on and off the elevator. Past that is a We Bare Bears themed cafe, while all the way to the back (not depicted) is a larger cafeteria. On the right there's the store, which has some merch available (but not much). The Toon Room is basically a wide hallway with big artwork of various shows, and to the back right is a small Ben 10 themed arcade with some basic games and claw machines.

Places like this, though, it's all about the theming!

Outside the cafe, there's some framed art pieces from various shows. Naturally, I had to take a couple pics of those~

Here's the cafe's signage, as well as a couple of the retro-style games they had in here instead of the more modern ones they had in the Ben 10 area. I have a friend who'd really appreciate these, so I had to get a pic. On the left is Frogger, then a Pac-Man thing, and lastly a Scooby-Doo pinball table. You can also see some of the wall art that appears throughout the building.

There's the store. (There were some customers inside, so I didn't get any interior shots.) Mostly it's a lot of shirts and hats with various character logos (none in my size, either), some water bottles, magnets, and other stuff with the Cartoon Network Hotel logo, some plushies (mostly picked clean by the time I got there), and a smattering of Funko Pops. It was a little disappointing. They don't even have any DVDs or books from their various franchises for sale, which I think is a huge missed opportunity.

I also got a shot of one of the walls in the Toon Room, which I think is where the meet-and-greets happen as well. Since this was about the only Gumball thing I saw, I had to give it the respect it was due.

It is a luxury hotel, though, so there's a pool! There's two pools, in fact, an outdoor and an indoor one. Similar to the statuary out front, the kidie pool also has some cool sculptures of the Powerpuff Girls (in their 2016 reboot designs, but we'll forgive that). I couldn't not get a pic of them~

Lastly, this is an art piece inside my sister's actual room. Each room is themed for a different show, and naturally she went for an Adventure Time room. The rooms are pretty small, but each one has a twin bed for adults and a set of bunk beds for the kids. The bunk beds each even have their own TVs mounted at the ends, to facilitate more cartoon-watching. Pretty nice setup!

Now we're at the end! So here's the main complaint I have. Obviously, as someone who just turned 38, I may be out of the target demographic for this particular resort. But still! I think the hotel theming is great. Everything's in bold colours with a lot of character artwork. And naturally, they're going to want to promote their most popular franchises! Makes sense! The suites (both the luxury suites and the smaller ones) are all themed around either Adventure Time, Powerpuff GIrls 2016, Ben 10 (the reboot version), and Steven Universe. We Bare Bears also gets some rep here and there.

Like, this might shock you (and possibly relieve you), but there is scarcely anything related to Teen Titans Go (other than wall art, there was a single Robin plush left in the store). Craig of the Creek is basically represented just through that map I showed earlier. Summer Camp Island has a VR game. OK KO, Mao Mao, and Gumball basically just appear on the wall art. Gumball, Darwin, Jake, and Ben 10 are the only costumed walk-around characters I was able to confirm exist (they basically told my niece she probably wouldn't get to meet the Powerpuff Girls).

And that's about it! It's very specifically the most popular stuff from the last decade or so. Which, again, given the demographic, makes sense. I just think they coulda put in for the nostalgia crowd as well. At least, like, a big timeline showing some of the older stuff. Some art of Dexter's Lab or Johnny Bravo somewhere. The Toon Room also does screenings of cartoons and movie nights and stuff, and my sister reported they showed the 2002 Powerpuff Girls movie the previous night. So maybe there is some hope! I just didn't see anything. If they sold some DVDs of their shows or even, like, just a sticker pack of OK KO characters, I woulda been all over that~