Am I better off with this dolphin teacher discount than this discount at a moderate?

[KIS]

With the current rates out through 4/17 via mousesavers, I'm thinking I'm better off still at the Dolphin at the teacher rate. The moderates are $114 and for only $15 more per person each night, I'm closer to two parks and in a luxury type hotel. Is there anyone who sees that differently? Or is there something I'm missing.

Also, the rates only go through 4/17. We are traveling 4/24. I called to ask "Is that it for the season?" And my particular rep at WDW thought it was until new rates come out later in April. Does that sound about right? Is there hope for those lower rates to extend beyond that? How likely? Anyway, in my case, it may well be a moot point.

I'd be interested to hear out some other people on this topic.

KIS

 

[littlestar]

I'd stick with the Dolphin. You can't beat the location - you can walk to two parks, take a stroll on the boardwalk, etc. Hands down the Dolphin.

 

[tjmw2727]

I have stayed at all three value and all of the moderates as well as many of the deluxe wdw resorts (including Poly, BC and CR) and for the price the Dolphin wins hand's down. I like the CBR and loved the CSR but for the money and convenience I LOVE the Dolphin. We like the indoor hallways, great rooms and room service, we love the pool and tubbies as well as the atmosphere. Walking or boat service to MGM and Epcot is IMHO Invaluable. We often do MK in the am, and then take the monorail to Epcot for lunch, walk slowly around ws and back to the Dolphin for a pool break. Then its back to Epcot, MGM or the Boardwalk for the evening. If the boats are crowded or the line is long walking the walkway back from either is wonderful.

The only resorts I prefer are the Poly for atmosphere and proximity to mk with kids and the AKL which is - just plain wonderful!

TJ

 

[Mouseteacher]

*raising hand to vote*....

for the Dolphin! for all the reasons already stated.

 

[KIS]

Thanks for confirming everyone.

Since I'm a novice at WDW. This will be our first time. And since I've been exploring these boards since August, I thought I'd ask. I appreciate all the help I've received on these boards.

tj, I liked how you reported on organizing your days. I've been planning and even allotting for downtime and extra time to go back to things towards the end doesn't sound as leisurely as what you described. Do you have kids? If so, how does that schedule work with them? May be I could share my schedule with you and see if it takes advantage of location....

KIS

 

["thegirls"]

KIS ~

I am writing my opinion to your delemia on the same day I've just finished my first stay at the Dolpin. I am QUITE nervous to post my feelings because of all the Outpouring of love and admiration of the Dolphin on this site.

Unfortunetly it is my humble opinion that a moderate is by far a better choice for the $. The atmosphere of the Dolphin is BUSINESS/CORPORATE friendly. The rooms are larger than a moderate and do offer indoor hallways but the advantages stop here for me and my family. The "old" rooms are Quite old! (I fell off the bed in the middle of the 1st night~ a feat not accomplished since keg party's at the frat's in college). I did inquire about a room change and after a struggle, I was moved to a new room and found the tile floors, new wallpaper and the Heavenly beds an improvement. But I still faced disappointment in the location of the pool to the resort(across a lake and at one end of the whole complex), the food offerings for a quick inexpensive meal and the lack(TOTAL) of any disney themeing whatsoever! It was so depressing to my kids that we left our pal mickey on the desk/bureau 24/7 so we could at least see mickey when we arrived home! My personal feeling is that while this hotel is rated a four star hotel it resembles a good quality Holiday inn that I would stay in locally.

The advantages of close proximity to the parks only benefitted us for Epcot. We always have a car and find MGM very easy in and out of with a car.

We ARE big Epcot fans (at least 3 visits to the park on a 6 day trip) but even with this avantage I prefer the Monirail resorts hands down.

The $ savings was not really a savings ,even with the teachers rate...The breakdown as I see it is 129.00 base +tax + resort fee =$153.00/night. I could have booked a moderate with an AP discount for the same time frame and paid less! Even the Poly was only around $180.00 for that time frame (of course with an AP discount)

I TRUELY do not want to discount the ENORMOUS amount of good and POSITIVE information the wonderful "Sorority sisters" give out freely and lovingly, but I was searching , while on vacation to find a way to express my opinion about my impressions and I think I found it in this nice little short tread!

Please remember I am only one voice in your opinion gathering but I hope you consider my information helpfull...not dicouraging , but insightful.

OK enough rambling for one night..KIS good luck with your decision and I must be off to go take advantage of the new codes for a spring respite before the snows come!!

~Debbie


P>S> My past experiences(resort background) with disney properties are: All Stars-2x, Carribean Beach 1x, Coronado 1x, Contemporary 4x's, Poly 3x's-2 conciere, Animal Kingdom Lodge 3x's-2conciere.

 

[KIS]

"the girls"

I appreciate your honesty in expressing your opinion.

Being a newcomer to WDW, I can't tell how I will feel about any of this. It's good to hear an alternative opinion so that either way, I know what to expect so some degree.

It's too bad that you feel that you didn't feel you could express your opinion on the S/D. I've read some similar comments here and there.

Personally, I wonder about having mickey around 24/7. That might be too stimulating for my child. My daughter having any large dose of excitment where she sleeps can make it hard for her to relax and unwind.

The thought of mattresses which are uncomfortable and a corporate atmosphere are not too appealing to me either. Still, we won't have a car, so having Epcot and MGM nearby as well as the Boardwalk sounds appealing to me.

As far as the cost goes, I imagine there will be tax on the Moderate hotel. I do not need an AP, so the deluxe rates are out. Deluxe at $50 more per person than the Dolphin is $65 per person over what I can afford (moderate). For me, that's pushing it just a little too much. I'd do that if I were staying for a weekend or something to make it extra special, but not for a week's stay. Truthfully, were it not for the teacher's discount, we could not afford a luxury hotel for a week. We'd be going all out for a moderate. We tend to go Days Inn. Holiday Inn is too rich for our pocketbook. I know the type of hotel you are referring to because of conventions I've gone to. They are not warm, personal rooms, to be sure. I guess there's the plus and minus for everything. I'm leaning, as you can see, with the Dolphin. I may well end up seeing it your way after this first trip.

Still, I honestly appreciated hearing you out because your comments offered so much to think about. I hope you will feel freer to express your opinions even if it's a different drummer, so to speak.

I hope also that others are equally accepting of you or anyone expressing a minority opinion.

Thanks. Really.

KIS

 

[Donald23]

Thanks to this WONDERFUL place we discovered the teacher discount about three years ago. We were a little nervous staying there our first time so we only booked it for one night to try it out. We LOVED it.

After our one night we transfered to the Grand Floridian. What a disappointment!!!!!! We were paying at least $300.00 a night or more for this place and we were in a room that was in a bad location. All we could see were the golf carts coming in and out. At one time, I looked out my room and there were three carts just parked there for the day. Needless to say, I complained. I was nice and simply told them that I had stayed at the Dolphin for $129.00 a night and was able to watch fireworks from my bed and now I am paying double that to see golf carts. There is something wrong with that. They said they would check into it.

Nothing happened. Finally after three hours had gone by and not even a call. I marched right back to the front desk and finally was able to talk to someone that could help me. I got moved to a room that they called preferred view. I could now see a palm tree. WOW!!! I was not going to complain. Palm trees are much better than golf carts, but to call that a preferred room. They are CRAZY.

All that being said. We will not return to the special GRAND Floridian. The Grand Floridian was not so grand for us.

We now book all of our trip at the Swan or Dolphin is at all possible.

We have a March trip coming up and we were not able to get the Dolphin for our whole trip so we are going to stay at
CBR for the first four nights and then transfer to Dolphin.

We always book our travel through Our Laughing Place. Josephine is the BEST!!!! We booked it over two months ago.
4 nights were supposed to $753.76.
We now have PAP(Premium Annual Pass) and will be paying
$463.84.

I will take that $300.00 to spend on souveniers over paying it for a resort anyday.

I hope this information is helpful.

 

[KIS]

Dear Donald23,

Thanks. What you wrote was very helpful.

The AP is worthwhile, as I recall, only if you plan to go more than once a year. Is that right?

KIS

 

[Divamomto3]

Originally posted by KIS
Dear Donald23,

Thanks. What you wrote was very helpful.

The AP is worthwhile, as I recall, only if you plan to go more than once a year. Is that right?

KIS

Not if you consider that the AP is only costing me around $80 more than a 6 day Park hopper plus pass would and I am saving a total of $60 per night on my 2 rooms at Pop Century for a week for a total savings of $420. Minus the cost of my AP (remember, only one adult in your party needs to have an AP to qualify for the rates) and I'm saving $340 that I can use on meals or souveniers. I too was booked at the Swan (actually, I haven't cancelled my reservation yet) but between the resort fee, tax, and the extra bucks for the balcony and "preferred resort view" I was paying over $229 per night. For much less, I have 2 rooms at PC...which means 2 bathrooms PLUS privacy for me and dh!

 

[KIS]

I guess everyone's different and works it out differently. I finally get the math. Even for one trip, you will be coming out ahead. You did your homework.

Your priorities seem different than mine. My guess is that you have older children who can take care of themselves and you can relish some privacy. We have a five year old. So we cannot even consider two rooms. All a lower cost room gets us is more bus rides.

Having that lump sum is nice though, isn't it? Have a great trip.


KIS

 

[swilphil]

"Am I better off with this dolphin teacher discount than this discount at a moderate?"

YES!

 

[onceuponadream]

Hi KIS! We've stayed at the Swan, CBR and POR. We have 4 children ages 4-12. We have never had a bad resort experience. All of the resorts have "pro" and "cons" to us but we've always had a fabulous time. At the Swan we LOVED the pool...huge and fun. We loved the beds (we had a refurbed room)! We loved the boat transportation and close proximity to the Boardwalk. ESPN is a fun place to eat if you have sports fans in the family as we do. The ice cream shop at the Dolphin is also fabulous. The only "cons" we experienced we knew about ahead of time. The "convention/business" atmosphere...I found myself shushing (is that a word?) the kids a little more than I normally would (and they are usually very well behaved). It did feel a little weird walking back through the hotel in flip flops and a cover up after swimming past well dressed folks but no one seemed to mind. Also, we missed the food court at the moderates. Tubbies was nice but we really liked the food court at CBR and POR better. Lastly, sharing bus service was a little crowded at times but all of the Boardwalk resort experience that problem and it's not really that big of an issue if you are patient. The Swan is usually the first on if I remember correctly so we always had a seat. We like trying different resorts so will probably try CSR or AKL in a standard room (as we need two rooms) next time. However, I would recommend the Dolphin as we had a wonderful time and no suprises at the Swan! By the way..you can see Tower of Terror from the Swan bus stop...it made a great picture and we felt very close to the parks. Good luck!

 

[MAGICinMYHEART]

Originally posted by KIS
Also, the rates only go through 4/17. We are traveling 4/24. I called to ask "Is that it for the season?" And my particular rep at WDW thought it was until new rates come out later in April. Does that sound about right? Is there hope for those lower rates to extend beyond that? How likely? Anyway, in my case, it may well be a moot point.

I'd be interested to hear out some other people on this topic.

KIS

The current discounts end April 17 (Peak Season ends)
Regular Season Starts April 18th so if offered the discounts would be much better...So WDW Resorts still would be a better offer some deluxes for $109.00 a night possable.

 

[KIS]

Dear Once upon a Dream, What time of year did you go that the buses were so crowded? I'm wondering how crowded they are likely to be 4/24-5/1 of this year?

Dear Magic, When do you think they'd come out with a discount rate? Are you basing this on previous years and discount patterns or is this conjecture?

KIS

 

[Grumpy92]

Kis

It sounds like on the $$ side you have already convinced yourself that the S/D would work best for you. Both are nice hotels owned by Starwood (Sheraton & Westin). They do offer a wonderful teacher rate which the Disney owned resorts do not and the location cannot be beat. Having worked for both the mouse and these resorts I can tell you most of the clientele at S/D is conventioneers. But for the most part you probably only be there to sleep. Most of the rooms at the Dolphin have been refurbished, they are your typical Sheraton/Westin grade. The employees here are not CMs so do not expect them to be at the same high standard but most are friendly and glad to help. It does lack a food court which many of the Disney moderate resorts have.

Disney resorts are very different though you will find hidden mickeys in some location it is a theming that they have mastered. All the deluxe & moderates are very nice hotels as well and some have better locations. Gst Svcs & Fd handle all inquiries, tiks, & PSs.

You will receive complimentary transporation from all the resorts both Disney and non-Disney that are on property. You might consider visiting some of the moderates and deluxes on your visit so you can think about a future visit and what works best for your family.

As for the AP it depends on how many days you will be visiting the park. Not how many trips you will make to wdw. Figure $50 a day as that is what a one day pass cost.

I know wherever you end up you will have a wonderful time. And please do a trip report so we know how it went.

 

[onceuponadream]

KIS

About the busses:

We visited the first 2 weeks of June last year. The crowds were about the same as we experienced during the second week of March on our 2 Spring Break trips previously.

The Swan, Dolphin, Beach Club Yacht Club and Boardwalk Inn share busses (at least they did in June). We (Swan) were always the first stop on the way to the parks. After loading we stopped at the other 4 resorts. This made the ride a little long especially if there were wheelchairs to load. Not a problem...just be prepared for the stops.

On the way back from the parks we would sometimes have our own bus stop and other times share with the Baordwalk reosrts. One particular evening after the MK closed we were all sharing the same bus stop. The line to board was VERY long and lots of folks lost patience. We probably ended up waiting only 30 minutes total but with tired kids it seemed longer. That was the only night we stayed for fireworks and only experienced that long of a wait once in 10 days at the parks. the boat service was impeccable and very fast...even in the rain.


It wouldn't stop me from staying at the Swan but it is always nice to be prepared...

Sandy

 

[disyidkid]

I'm not sure if anyone mentioned this, but if you are planning on staying at the Dolphin be sure to join the Starwood preferred guest program. Go to spg.com and join. It's free, there is a special Starwood check in desk and I've always had my room upgraded.

With the exception of one rather unpleasant employee, everyone I have dealt with at the Swan and Dolphin were extremely nice. One thing to point out though, there is a $10 automatic resort fee per room, but I've always asked if they could take it off and they have. You can get all of your park tickets right at guest services at the Dolphin, same as any Disney Resort and you can do early entry in the parks too.

Wherever you stay I'm sure you'll have a great time. We just got back. It was crowded, but still wonderful.

Sharon

 

[KIS]

Thanks everybody.

I guess we'll just have to see how it goes with the buses.

I also am a SPG member. We'll see how that goes, too, as I understand it, there is no guarantee that the room preferences will be honored.

I wonder about when discount codes beyond 4/17 will be out for the WDW resorts. I'm not experienced with the timeline for that sort of thing nor am I clear on if there is/can be something of equal or better worth through the WDW resorts.

KIS

 

[jgates]

I wouldn't worry too much about the conventioneers. They are jealous of you I am sure. I spent an evening at the ESPN Zone in Atlanta with our convention - give those people free drink tickets and a 5 hour play pass for the game zone and they go wild! I did miss the dancing on the bar though!

However, at the Swan I thought it was very amusing to see the convention guys come back from the Boardwalk with an arm full of stuffed animals (?for their kids) that they had won playing the games over there!

If you want a little more relaxed atmosphere I felt that at the Swan. Everyone was so polite and respectful of my kids. I felt my DD might be a little out of place but she was treated just wonderfully.

I don't consider the rooms to be convention rooms mostly because of the design. (go to www.swandolphin.com to see photos - only photos of the dolphin are the old rooms but the new Swan ones are there). No rooms at the Hyatt in Atlanta or Chicago looked like that! The waterway beside the hotels, the back of the Boardwalk, the view of the MGM ToT, Epcot ball, etc from different areas (possibly from your room) all enhance the experience.

I will have to honestly say that some character was my wake-up call at the Royal Pacific and I hated it. Others love it - so it is just a matter of personal taste.

The sharing of buses I believe is based on traffic patterns at that time which is why sometimes you share and sometimes you don't.