Dolphin or POR for a 3 night stay?

Sparrow624

"I wash my hands of this weirdness"
Joined
Jun 1, 2011
Need some help here. My wife and I are considering taking a short 3 night/4 day trip to Disney World in Late June. We only have a $1400 budget in total. My wife and I are both teachers, so with the teacher discount, we could stay at the Dolphin for 3 nights, 2 days of base tickets, and have some spending money for food.

We could also stay at the POR with 3 nights, 2 days of base tickets, and a dining plan.

The trip would be the two of us and our 15 month old daughter.

What would you choose?
 
I've asked this too...and been advised that Dolphin is a good choice....I think with a baby in a stroller it might be nice to walk from your hotel to Epcot or Studios....
 
I'd go Dolphin as well though I do LOVE POR and POFQ. The location of Dolphin is fantastic when you have a little one in tow. As the PP mentioned, you could walk to both Epcot and DHS. It's also convenient having the WS in, essentially, your backyard as I find it fun to snack around the world for a meal (or five!).
 
Assuming you are visiting Epcot and Hollywood Studios, then I would definitely go for the Dolphin. I haven't been yet, but I am booked for a three night trip there in December.
 


Need some help here. My wife and I are considering taking a short 3 night/4 day trip to Disney World in Late June. We only have a $1400 budget in total. My wife and I are both teachers, so with the teacher discount, we could stay at the Dolphin for 3 nights, 2 days of base tickets, and have some spending money for food.

We could also stay at the POR with 3 nights, 2 days of base tickets, and a dining plan.

The trip would be the two of us and our 15 month old daughter.

What would you choose?

POR was one of the worst hotel experiences I ever had. I teach as well and to this day am upset with myself that I didn't go to Dolphin. We dealt with cockroaches having their own Electric Light Parade each night in our tub, a refrig that needed someone to come out to fix EVERY DAY, wasted food, keeping ice in tub to keep things, long walks to restaurants and refill station, an average pool unless you go to the main one, desk people who were beyond rude, and my personal favorite...a lying manager. People rave about POR. To each his own. To me, it is a dump. Please go to Dolphin!
 
Dolphin hands down. Nicer rooms, interior hallways, better beds, far superior location, better restaurant options... the list goes on.

Have a great trip!
 
I would choose the Dolphin for the prime location between Epcot and The Studios. Plus you get deluxe amenities.
 


I really like POR/POFQ also...a LOT:thumbsup2 but we're trying Dolphin this upcoming trip....it's gonna be fun walking to Epcot!
 
Doesn't the Swan and Dolphin charge like $15 a day for parking, per time you leave and return to the lot? Do they charge guests who are staying at the hotel too?

If you stay at POR, you would get free parking and your parking pass would get you free parking at the theme parks as well (@ $14 a day).

I don't think I could make a decision between the two unless I knew how much parking would cost at the S/D first, if it ended up being an extra out of pocket expense that would factor into my decision.

If you don't have to park a car, then I'd lean towards the Dolphin, because of the restaurants and location.
 
Staying at dolphin can also be helpful if using disney internal transport to get to parks, if toddler falls asleep if we went to epcot, our son would fall asleep in stroller after lunch and we would walk back to boardwalk and walk around or get back to hotel and rest there. But even when he fell asleep in stroller at mk, we were able to keep him in stroller and asleep - monorail to ttc, monorail from ttc to epcot, then leisurely stroll through epcot back to hotel, all while our guy stayed asleep in stroller. Picabu was also very convenient for breakfasts, and also open 24 nours which was convenient
 
Doesn't the Swan and Dolphin charge like $15 a day for parking, per time you leave and return to the lot? Do they charge guests who are staying at the hotel too?.

The parking fee is added to your hotel per night -- you are definitely allowed in and out privileges. Yes, you will be charged for parking at Disney, but you can walk to 2 parks and bus to the others. The major transportation problem is not parking -- it's not having Magical Express if you don't have a rental.

We stayed at the Swan and loved it -- loved the location, and preferred the quiet, non-Disney rooms. We would only choose to stay "on site" if free dining was an option ... And that's because my two DDs are Disney "adults". ;)
 
I thought I read somewhere that you get free parking at Disney Parks by staying at Swan or Dolphin. Did I dream that?!
 
While I am sorry that one person had a truly awful experience at POR, that does not make the hotel a dump. We have logged something like 30 nights over three stays at POR and it was fabulous each time. No doubt there are some bad reviews of the Swan Dolphin as well and regardless, when it happens to be "you" that endures it, yeah that hotel is off the list forever as it should be!

If you plan to spend the majority of your time at Epcot and DHS, Swan or Dolphin is hard to beat. However, to MK and AK as well as DTD, you will be on busses.

If you have a car you need to figure in parking.

If you are flying and don't have a rental car, the cost of getting to and from MCO to the Swan will be very expensive.

POR has more in the way of counter serve options since it has a food court. Swan will have its own options, plus Beach Club, Yacht Club and Boardwalk not to mention Epcot in a close walk for a variety of sit down options, however off the DDP that will add up very quickly.

I don't think you can make a bad choice. To me the big swing factors are if you want to have more splurges via the DDP, your car and possible airport transportation issues and what parks you plan to do the most.
 
Need some help here. My wife and I are considering taking a short 3 night/4 day trip to Disney World in Late June. We only have a $1400 budget in total. My wife and I are both teachers, so with the teacher discount, we could stay at the Dolphin for 3 nights, 2 days of base tickets, and have some spending money for food.

We could also stay at the POR with 3 nights, 2 days of base tickets, and a dining plan.

The trip would be the two of us and our 15 month old daughter.

What would you choose?

I know this isn't exactly what you asked but I would stay POFQ standard room and request building 4, ground floor. Quick walk to the bus stop, food court. If the resorts are sharing buses POFQ is first on and first off. That's a blessing when you have a baby, stroller etc.
 

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