Swan Reserve with two 17-year-olds ... what are the cons?

[We'reGoingToDisney]

I am contemplating booking Swan Reserve, specifically a 1 bedroom signature suite (2 queen beds in bedroom + pull-out sofa bed in sitting room), for our late August 2023 trip. It would be myself, DH, and twins DS17 and DD17. We have only been to WDW once before, in Aug 2019, and this is likely going to be our last trip to WDW as the kids graduate from high school in 2024 and will be getting busy with university or whatever comes next for them. So I am willing to spend a bit more to have a good experience on this trip, within reason.

A few weeks ago I booked us a package staying at YC, with the current dining credit offer - 7 nights at YC should give us 7 x $150 = $1050 dining credit.

But I am now seriously considering moving us to Swan Reserve, solely for better sleeping arrangements. We did a split stay between Poly and BC on our last visit, and even then, at 13, our DD found both the pull-down single bed at Poly and the day-bed at BC to be pretty uncomfortable. She is not tall, only 5'1", and was even shorter then, but still didn't find it a comfortable option. My kids won't share a bed with each other, so in a 2-queen bed situation we end up sharing beds me + DD and DH + DS. We can do this for a night or two, but for a 7 night stay I am worried we will all get a bit cranky at the sleeping situation. DS is nearly 5'11", so could easily hog a whole bed to himself. So the extra sofa bed in the signature suite at Swan Reserve is pretty appealing, along with having some extra space in general (610 sq ft vs 380 sq ft at YC).

We'd have to give up the dining credit offer, and so we'd come out with the Swan Reserve option being about $400 more once you take that into account. I think I'm ok with that.

But are there hidden pitfalls to staying at Swan Reserve? This is what I can think of, but am I missing something else:

• across the road from Swan, so an extra 5-7 minutes walking time to Epcot and Hollywood Studio, or to the boats to Hollywood Studio
• pool at Swan Reserve looks pretty dull, but we could use the grotto pool at Swan/Dolphin. We will also visit the water parks.
• bus to MK only drops you at TTC not right at front entrance.
• no ability to charge back to room on Magic Bands. I think that's not an issue for us, our kids have our credit card linked to Apple Pay on their phones.
• would we need Magic Bands at all, if staying here?
• not very Disney-feeling. Not sure how important that is for us with 17-year-olds?
• do we get 60+length of stay dining reservations? or would I have to book each day at 60 days out?

On the plus side, it looks like a nice new hotel, will surely have lots of charging outlets for all of the kids devices, has a nice looking coffee shop in the lobby for mornings. I am not sure how much dining we'd actually do at the resort other than grabbing a quick breakfast. We would probably come back for mid-afternoon pool or A/C breaks, but then get dinner at a park (or we can easily walk over to other options on the Boardwalk, right?)

Anything else I should be aware of staying at Swan Reserve that would make me regret moving from YC?

 

[Skippyboo]

Have you looked at renting DVC so you could get a larger room?

 

[We'reGoingToDisney]

Have you looked at renting DVC so you could get a larger room?

I really need to stick with fully refundable options right now, because one of the kids’ summer plans is a little up in the air and there’s a chance the trip will fall through.

 

[ubarpants]

I think someone said that the SR is actually the closest hotel to the grotto pool. You do get length of stay for the dining reservations but some people report that their reservation comes unlinked from time to time. I'd recommend checking it the night before your ADR date to make sure everything is still synced appropriately.

 

[Marthasor]

The Swan Reserve is very nice, but it does feel quite removed from the Boardwalk/EP area. Have you priced out two rooms at Swan/Dolphin? Or even a 2-bedroom at Swan/Dolphin. The prices of those 3 hotels fluctuates so much, it might be worth pricing out all 3. We usually end up with 2-bedroom suites at Swan.

We also really like the Gran Destino Tower at Coronado. You do lose some transportation advantages, but it's a lovely resort and you may be able to get two rooms there and keep your dining promo.

 

[Wood Nymph]

I would stick with the YC in a room with 2 queen beds and a sofa bed. It will give each of the teens their own sleeping space. The Swan Reserve is across the road from the Dolphin and not as close and convenient to transportation to the parks as the Swan and Dolphin are. And the family will love spending time at SAB.

 

[RoseGold]

Maybe a little outside the box, but I'd price out and Art of Animation suite. That's three queen beds, I thought they were all decent. And I think the over the top theming is fun for a last Disney trip. It's on the Skyliner for Epcot and HS, which is pretty excellent transportation.

But Swolphin (or Yacht Club) have a very important perk of the extra late hours. These are AMAZING, especially with teenagers who could hack the late hours. I plan my whole trip around them.

 

[Skippyboo]

Maybe a little outside the box, but I'd price out and Art of Animation suite. That's three queen beds, I thought they were all decent. And I think the over the top theming is fun for a last Disney trip. It's on the Skyliner for Epcot and HS, which is pretty excellent transportation.

But Swolphin (or Yacht Club) have a very important perk of the extra late hours. These are AMAZING, especially with teenagers who could hack the late hours. I plan my whole trip around them.

The dining discount promo drops down to $50 per night at AoA. What about the Deluxe Villas on cash instead of renting points? Would still have flexibility and keep promo card. OP did you figure in the resort fee and parking fee (if you have a car) in your cost for Swan Reserve?

 

[We'reGoingToDisney]

Maybe a little outside the box, but I'd price out and Art of Animation suite. That's three queen beds, I thought they were all decent. And I think the over the top theming is fun for a last Disney trip. It's on the Skyliner for Epcot and HS, which is pretty excellent transportation.

But Swolphin (or Yacht Club) have a very important perk of the extra late hours. These are AMAZING, especially with teenagers who could hack the late hours. I plan my whole trip around them.

I think I will price this out, thanks for the suggestion! Last visit, we did the paid After Hours events at MK and AK, and loved them so much my husband half-jokingly said if we ever came back we should just do those, not bother with daytime visits So we do want to do them again, if they’re offered. As of now, nothing on the calendar during our trip for MK or HS, just Epcot. I am hopeful they will announce dates for After Hours during our trip, in which case I’d buy those tickets and be happy to stay in a moderate (we’d be more interested in late night at HS and MK than Epcot). But the timing of it is hard, since there won’t be dates announced until well after I’ve booked everything! I think I’d go for deluxe if the Extended Evening Hours end up being the only way to stay in the parks late.

 

[Skippyboo]

Deluxe Extra Hours are normally Monday-Epcot and Wednesday-MK. They added more After Hours days for HS into June. Doubt they extend those further into summer with the Halloween parties starting up in MK in August

 

[We'reGoingToDisney]

The dining discount promo drops down to $50 per night at AoA. What about the Deluxe Villas on cash instead of renting points? Would still have flexibility and keep promo card. OP did you figure in the resort fee and parking fee (if you have a car) in your cost for Swan Reserve?

When I looked at deluxe villas, it seems like either I could get a studio, which really wouldn’t have better sleeping arrangements than the YC with its day-bed option, or else have to pay a whole lot more before I ended up with anything like 3 full sized beds (even allowing for one sofa bed, like at SR).

Maybe I will just need to try harder to convince my DD that the day-bed can work for her (she’s the smallest of us), or plan to make the kids rotate who gets the queen bed and who gets the day-bed, and then we can stick with YC!

 

[We'reGoingToDisney]

Deluxe Extra Hours are normally Monday-Epcot and Wednesday-MK. They added more After Hours days for HS into June. Doubt they extend those further into summer with the Halloween parties starting up in MK in August

Yeah, I get this. In 2019 they did run DAH at MK in the same week as MNSSHP when we were there, but things are different now post-Covid. My family are not into Halloween in August at all. I think hey’d be happier doing the deluxe extended hours at MK than the Halloween party, if it came to a choice between those.

 

[We'reGoingToDisney]

The Swan Reserve is very nice, but it does feel quite removed from the Boardwalk/EP area. Have you priced out two rooms at Swan/Dolphin? Or even a 2-bedroom at Swan/Dolphin. The prices of those 3 hotels fluctuates so much, it might be worth pricing out all 3. We usually end up with 2-bedroom suites at Swan.

We also really like the Gran Destino Tower at Coronado. You do lose some transportation advantages, but it's a lovely resort and you may be able to get two rooms there and keep your dining promo.

I didn’t know either of those hotels had 2-bedroom options. Possibly all sold out for my dates already, if I’m not seeing them? I will do more digging, thanks for the suggestion!

 

[We'reGoingToDisney]

The dining discount promo drops down to $50 per night at AoA. What about the Deluxe Villas on cash instead of renting points? Would still have flexibility and keep promo card. OP did you figure in the resort fee and parking fee (if you have a car) in your cost for Swan Reserve?

We will not have a car, so parking isn’t an issue. I looked at a package through the Disney World website, which I’m pretty sure includes resort fee plus allows for cancellation in line with their vacation packages at other hotels. When priced out separately (e.g. booking hotel directly or through other hotel booking sites) it’s substantially more expensive, especially if I don’t want a non-refundable rate.

 

[ericaseiler]

We are just back from YC and my tiny 11 year old stayed on the sofa bed (like yours, my kids don't do well sleeping together). I cannot see that option being comfortable for someone who is 5'11 (maybe for a night or two but not for 7 nights). I think the Swan Reserve is a good choice as is seeing if you can get a deal on two rooms at the Swan or Dolphin. Sometimes they offer deals when booking two adjoining rooms. You'll be in the same area as the Yacht Club and can take advantage of the Deluxe late magic hours there (and save some money on paying for the after hour events)

 

[mickeyluv'r]

Anything else I should be aware of staying at Swan Reserve that would make me regret moving from YC?

We've stayed at both YC and SR (though not a suite at YC). We like both, but really enjoyed the suite at SR.

1. IMO, the walk to Swan is shorter than 5 minutes. There's a crosswalk, but we never waited more than 1 minute for crosswalk light.
2. Yes, you can use grotto pool. The Swan reserve pool is more a quiet pool.
3. We had a car, so didn't use bus.
4. Non-issue for us
5. No. We did use our bands. In fact, we used the new plus bands. Room had plenty of available places to plug-in electronics! That was a real plus of the room.
6. This is matter of opinion, but we loved the hotel decor.
7. I'm pretty sure yes. It was not a factor for us. We had many dining options without booking 60 days out. You also get the Extra PM hours.
8. Another plus is that the SR has room service. We don't normally do room service, but a big drawback of WDW hotels is that breakfast doesn't start until 7am. That doesn't mesh well with trying to book G+, get a Boarding Group, or booking ILL's. At SR, we were able to get breakfast delivered. We also got some pastries from the boardwalk Deli. They were excellent.

9. We liked the toiletries. They were better than WDW's H2O (though H2O is being phased out.)

 

[RoseGold]

Maybe I will just need to try harder to convince my DD that the day-bed can work for her (she’s the smallest of us), or plan to make the kids rotate who gets the queen bed and who gets the day-bed, and then we can stick with YC!

Since Covid, many of the Disney/DVC rooms have updated the day bed, and they are MUCH improved. But I'm not sure about YC. It might be the only one that isn't updated? I'd try to find some recent walkthroughs.

I slept on the new Poly one, and I thought it was great, I'm an average sized adult female. It's a little narrower than a normal twin bed.

 

[Marthasor]

I didn’t know either of those hotels had 2-bedroom options. Possibly all sold out for my dates already, if I’m not seeing them? I will do more digging, thanks for the suggestion!

You need to call Swan/Dolphin directly to book suites. They are basically two regular rooms with connecting living/dining rooms in between so they need to do the booking manually on their end. You could also ask about 1-bedroom suites with 2 queens and a pull-out sofa (though they aren't as comfortable)

 

[gottalovepluto]

The SR suites are nice for the space, like double a YC hotel room. They also feel much newer than YC. But a whole week at SR? I couldn’t because my “hidden issue” with SR is the beds. So. Hard. Like stupid hard to me.

For a whole week I’d rather 2 rooms at Dolphin or Swan even if they aren’t a proper suite (ages 17, is a connected suite even necessary?). If you’re interested in a Disney mod my personal favorite for my fam (all adults, but they do have connecting rooms on request) is 2 rooms at Gran Destino (it’s like a mod+ to me). No deluxe benefits but the rooms are very nice. Also, 2 rooms anywhere = 2 bathrooms

 

[Grace&Carolinesmom]

Have you considered getting 2 rooms at a mod? We love having 4 beds, 2 bathrooms (this is HUGE), 2 TVs, 2 mini-fridges, etc. It makes the whole vacation more relaxed and everyone is less crabby having their own bed and the convenience of two bathrooms. For our trip this past Jan/Feb, it was cheaper to get 2 rooms at POFQ than one room at YC.

We love staying at POFQ as it is small and quaint. The food at Sassagoula's is great and the boat to DS adds so much more dining and shopping convenience. The bus service is wonderful as well. If you don't mind a large resort with extra walking, you could do two rooms at CBR to have skyliner access.

We used to be a rope drop family but with Genie+, it's almost easier to just sleep in and start stacking LLs for a later day arrival and staying in the park until close. We didn't do any early morning hours on our trip and it was not missed! As long as someone gets up to book the 7am LLs/VQ you are golden.