Dolphin and Swan??? Owned by Disney?

[lillygator]

I thought the Dolphin and Swan were not owned by Disney? If they aren't how come they are listed on the WDW website under deluxe resorts?

 

[Grumpy92]

The S/D are owned by Starwood. They lease the property from Disney and are there due to a little squabble that occurred in the 80s. Needless to say because of this they often receive special benefits like being on the website.

 

[Kapp]

to the rumor that they will revert to Disney ownership after 25 years? I have heard this before and know that kind of arrangement has been used for resorts other places. Just curious!

 

[swilphil]

Swan/Dolphin is very much on Disney property although they are Westin and Sheraton hotels, and VERY Deluxe. They have all the perks of the other Disney hotels except for being able to charge to your room key from the parks.

 

[dreamflight99]

But, rather..."Managed by Starwood." These properties are "OWNED" by Tishman (Epcot design company) & Metlife cooperatively. Here's the LOW-DOWN on these two FABULOUS resorts:

A big chunk of the $75 plus million upgrade at the Walt Disney World Dolphin and Swan hotels is being spent where guests will appreciate it most: the hotel's 2,267 rooms.


Architect Michael Graves has been commissioned by the hotel's owners to redo the room designs with more of an emphasis on comfort and functionality than the original decor, which the designers called whimsical — but many guests simply labeled ugly.

The two hotels always have been Disney's red-headed stepchildren. (LOL)

Located in the middle of the Epcot Resort area, the pair of properties appear to be part of the Disney family to the casual eye. Their colorful designs include giant namesake cartoon-like figures atop the buildings.

But these are NOT Disney hotels. They are operated/managed by Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. under the Sheraton (Dolphin) and Westin (Swan) brands. They are not OWNED by Disney, either. The owners include a partnership between MetLife Inc. and the Tishman Hotel & Realty Corp., a subsidiary of Tishman Realty & Construction Inc., the business that managed the original Epcot construction project.

How did they get inside the Disney gates when all the competition — Marriott, Hilton and Hyatt — have to settle for more remote locations?

When the giant Tishman hotel complex was conceived in the early '80s, it was located elsewhere: the Lake Buena Vista area.

Alan Lapidus, son of the flamboyant Morris Lapidus, who designed the Fontainebleau and Eden Roc hotels in Miami Beach, designed a 2,000-room convention-oriented hotel to handle the ever increasing convention business at Disney without the Mouse having to spend a dime of capital.

Enter Michael Eisner and Frank Wells with their rapid realization that Disney should be in the hotel business.

Disney quickly drew plans for a Florida-themed hotel with 150,000 square feet of convention space. A furious John Tishman threatened to sue. His deal with Disney guaranteed Tishman's would be the ONLY convention hotel at Disney.

Eleven months of behind-the-scenes negotiations between the tough-as-nails Tishman and Disney ensued. The upshot: Tishman got hotels located inside Disney, as well as upgraded designs and architectural embellishments to Lapidus' original design, all paid for by DISNEY — not to mention the use of the DISNEY name in their hotels.


The three-month-long, sequential renovation of 758 rooms at the Swan will be completed in early 2003 and both hotels by the end of 2004. This time around, whimsy is taking a back seat to comfort. Graves calls it "an intriguing transformation from whimsical to modern luxury ... accented by a contemporary approach." Or as we might put it: Say so-long to monkey chandeliers, pineapple lamps and sandy beach carpet. They are being replaced by sleek maple bureaus, frosted-glass accents, and a slate foyer.

Look for the hotels to adopt one of Westin's success stories: the "heavenly bed," (Sweet sleeper for the Sheraton, also made exclusively for them by Serta) a trademark ultra-comfy fixture with extremely high thread-count cotton sheets, luxurious rich down comforters and expensive duvets. The bed, to be installed in both hotels, is actually the focus of the room redesign, which uses softer tones of blue and beige than the original peach and teal combination. Also being added are high-speed Internet connections and a larger, state-of-the-art 27-inch TV.

Both are fabulous properties...and after nearly a $100 million-dollar renovation (they well-exceeded the projected $75), they will not be going ANYWHERE (especially into the hands of DISNEY) ANYTIME SOON!!

DF99