Advice for 30yr old couple w/ no kids?

[Shastapop]

My husband and I are planning a trip for May 08. After reading tons of threads on this site we've narrowed the lodging options to two places: Swan or BWI. Our criteria boiled down to 1) wanting the Epcot area, and 2) not too crowded with children.

We're considering reservations with the Swan (with a balcony Epcot view). I'm sure we'll be happy there, but we're wondering if maybe we should go with the BWI consierge level. I know there are some cons to not going with the official Disney Resort (no dining plan, no magic express, no key card, no club/consierge level, etc.), but some perks are still available to us (transportation to parks, early/late park hours, etc.). Plus the Swan has the heavenly beds.

It'll cost roughly $320 per night for the swan (with govt. employee discount), and based on 2007 rates for BWI, the BWI will cost about $450/night (assuming a 10% AAA discount).

So I'm wondering, is there any possible way that the BWI could be worth an extra $130/night? Or put another way, is the Swan $130/night inferrior to the BWI? Is there something else that I'm not considering in this?

Thanks for the help!!! This will be our 9th year anniversary!

 

[pershing]

I've stayed at the Swan with kids and you are right that there is less kids there than in the other Disney Hotels. The beds are indeed heavenly, but I found the hallways a little rundown. We loved the pool area with the grotto, but it was a walk to get there.

Both of these hotels are so close, it really isn't a matter of distance.

But there is a way to reduce the amount per night at the Boardwalk. If you rent points from a DVC member Monday thru Thursday, you can stay at the Boardwalk Villas for half the price. And no state taxes added on like staying at the hotel itself.

It's worth going over to the DVC rent forum and reading the FAQs and using the DVC Calculator to see the cost.

If you've already taken this into consideration and discounted it-my apologies.

I can tell you my 80 year old parents stayed at the Boardwalk this past March and loved it.

 

[Shastapop]

About the DVC, I had not even looked into that possibility! I'll check into to it. Although if its only possible to do that M - Th, that would be prohibitive. We're looking at a 10-day trip. Thanks for the tip!!

 

[Golden Rose]

I used to really love the Epcot view rooms at the Swan - do they gaurantee them now? When we did them years ago, the best chance of getting them was renting a particular type of suite and putting in a request for the view. (It worked for us almost every time.) We used to love sitting on our balcony and watching the Illuninations Fireworks almost nightly.

Anyway, I used to be a fan of the Swan... and then I stayed at the Beach Club and I've never looked back. We'll be at the BWI for our next trip.
(FYI, this will be our first trip with a child; before it was always adults only.)

The Swan is a conference hotel. It sort of... feels like a very nice, playfully themed conference hotel. I stayed there many times for conferences, which probably colors my view of it a bit. It doesn't generally have quite as many kids as the other hotels, but honestly, it is WDW and there are kids everywhere. The restaurants in the Swan and Dolphin used to be excellent and many seemed to be populated with a higher percentage of adults patrons. (I don't mean to say that they are no longer excellent, merely that I haven't been there in a long time.)

For me/us, both the BC and the BWI seem a little more magical. I like having the really short walk into Epcot. We always eat the bulk of our meals in Epcot now, which has some of the best food in WDW. Concierge level is really quite nice. I like having the snacks and drinks available pretty much all day. DH particularly enjoyed having a drink to unwind after a long day in the park. Plus, since we had breakfast in the lounge almost every morning and didn't order much alcohol at dinner since we knew drinks would be waiting for us back in the lounge, it didn't end up costing us that much extra a day. And we were glad we had access to the IPO; it made arranging all our ADRs, and updating them with quick emails really easy.

Anyway, there is nothing wrong with the Swan. You will certainly enjoy it (and yes, you'll have a better bed.) But it has been worth it to us to stay at the BC and BWI (Concierge level.) Would I stay at the Swan (or Dolphin) again? Only if for some reason we got a particularly good deal...

 

[Shastapop]

We were told there were some Epoct views still available for when we wanted to go - I guess i don't know if they gaurantee them or not.

We had discounted the Beach Club just because we read the Consierge service was not all that great and that is more family oriented than the BWI.

You know, I've read other places where people describe things as "magical." We've both been to WDW about 20 years ago as children and haven't been back until now. Its not real clear to me what the term "magical" means. That's probably a whole other thread though!!

Thanks a lot for the good response!!!

 

[spiceycat]

DVC except the new one,AKV, do not have concierge.

If you take the concierge off your room rate - it will be much closer to Swan.

the reason you only rent for 5 days is the cost.
example a standard view studio BWV is 9 points a night Sun-thur (Jan, Sept, Oct) but Fri and Sat are 21 points a night.

that is how the entire plan handles weekend (fri and sat are consider weekends)

May is slightly higher.

if you ten day plans includes 2 weekends days or more - I won't consider DVC. Unless you don't mind moving. stay the weekdays at BWV and then move to the Swan for the weekends.

 

[Golden Rose]

You know, I've read other places where people describe things as "magical." We've both been to WDW about 20 years ago as children and haven't been back until now. Its not real clear to me what the term "magical" means. That's probably a whole other thread though!!

I know the term may seem overused on these boards, but I guess many of us refer to the "magic" because there are things about WDW that really are special, but it can be a little hard to figure out precisely why they are so special. It can just be tiny details that you may not even consciously notice that just make you smile, and it may be different things making different people smile... but there are lot of people smiling.

And as silly as that sounds, that may be one of the main differences... people in a conference hotel may not be there because they want to be there, they may be there because they really have to be there. Sure, they are likely to try to have fun while they are there, but relaxing and enjoying the resort or the parks may not be the primary goal. It just makes for a slightly different atmosphere around the hotel.

If you don't do Concierge level, the Swan is probably about the same price as the Boardwalk Inn. Concierge level seems to add about $100 a night to your price. We keep going back and forth on whether it is worth it. (We had it last trip and we'll have it next trip, but we're not sure what we're going to do about the following trip...) We love the planning office that is shared by BC/YC/BWI. Honestly, I think they are the best. They get back to you so fast when you contact them and tell them you want to make your ADRs, and they let you make any changes you want by email. I booked my ADRs a little late (I hadn't booked the trip at 180 days out), and they got us every meal we wanted roughly when we wanted.

If you want the DDP, then obviously, you want to go with BWI. Figure out if it will match your eating habits, because if it does, it can be a real money saver. (We really love having the breaks that the nice TS restaurants give you... and you'll be there long enough that you can take the time and not feel like you have to rush. There are some great (and some very romantic) restaurants in WDW.)

Anyway, good luck with your decision! I, personally, would choose BWI in your shoes. (We like BC, too, and we were travelling without kids.) That said, I know you really can't go wrong, since there are advantages to each.

 

[hmp2z]

We've stayed at both the Swan and the BWI concierge level. If you're looking for a more adult experience, either of these is probably a good choice: the Swan, because it's focused more on convention traffic, and the BWI concierge because concierge prices tend to screen out many of the families with children. There will still be kids staying BWI concierge level, but for the most part, the families tend to congregate at the cheaper resorts or at the DVC resorts or even across the pond at the BC/YC for the big pool.

We've done BC concierge level and would not recommend it to adult travelers. The lounge is tiny, and the food offerings are focused much more on children than are the offerings at the BWI.

I think that, as far as the price difference, it probably comes down to the difference between having concierge service or not. I'm sure you can get a garden view room at the BWI for $320/night, especially if you're a AAA member. For us, the concierge service is worth it, because we like having that lounge & the constant snacks. $130/night buys you a heck of a lot of snacks, though, and at the BWI your fireworks view isn't guaranteed.

Cheers!
Heather W

 

[Shastapop]

Thanks for the advice. We have gone ahead and booked the Swan. I've been spending a little time looking at planning out our dining and I think that not using the DDP and not having a consierge service is the right choice for us. We're kinda-sorta what one might refer to as "foodies". There are some places that we'll want to eat at that are not on the DDP, or take two table service credits, etc. If we want to eat at a TS place for lunch and dinner on a few days we may be just out of luck on the DPP. Sure we may be paying more doing it this way (although that is debateable), but at the same time we're going keep our options a little more free. I think we'll get along just fine without a consierge service on this trip. We'll probably not know if we like it or not until we actually try it, so we'll just have give it a go next time.

 

[Golden Rose]

Funny that you're worried about the DDP since you're foodies... That's why we're worried about it, too. We never bothered with it before because most trips we do two TS restaurants a day... (Our last trip, we had precisely one CS meal the whole time, and we both complained about it for days.) We're getting the DDP free in September, which is why we're trying it out. Most of our restaurants booked are 2 TS credits, plus Vic & Al's which isn't on the DDP at all. We're just planning to do a lot of paying OOP. We're still, obviously, going to save money since it was free, but we're going to be keeping receipts to see if it would have been worth it if we had paid for it since we aren't likely to use all our CS credits. We know it won't be worth is for my mom, who is traveling with us and a light eater, so she is generally going to pay OOP and let us use her TS credits.

Anyway, have a great trip! I'm sure you'll love it, and that view from the Swan really is wonderful.

 

[Two4Disney]

We did the concierge at the Boardwalk and loved it! And while there are fewer kids at the Swan, it doesn't quite have the same atmosphere - we thought. But our favorite Epcot adult resort is the Yacht Club.

 

[zima-cheryl]

We were told there were some Epoct views still available for when we wanted to go - I guess i don't know if they gaurantee them or not.

I don't think you can gaurantee the rooms, but what you should do is a couple days before you go down call the resort's front desk directly to request it.

About 1 week before your arrival date the reservation kicks over from the main system to the specific resort's computers. So at that point if you call the resort directly and make the request the odds are more in your favor of getting your request.