Dolphin

[Terk-1]

I am looking at possibly staying at either the Dolphin or the Swan in June using SPG points, but I have never stayed here before. How is this resort? How big are the rooms? I know they share boats to EPCOT & Hollywood Studios with the YC/BC & BW, but what about buses to Animal Kingdom & the Magic Kingdom? Can you do EMH staying at the Dolphin? How is the pool? I noticed a $10 a day fee for phone use, internet access, health club, etc. Since we have cell phones, we won't be using any of that. Can we get that waived? Is there a charge to park your rental car? Not valet, but just park it yourself? Is this included in the $10 a day or is it extra? What if you are using points? Do you have to pay the $10 fee & parking each day separately or is it included? Also, I have allergies. Can I get the bedding without feathers? If the beds at the Swan are queen sized and the beds at the Dolphin doubles, is the room at the Swan smaller in size?

 

[ilovecoasters]

I am looking at possibly staying at either the Dolphin or the Swan in June using SPG points, but I have never stayed here before. How is this resort? How big are the rooms? I know they share boats to EPCOT & Hollywood Studios with the YC/BC & BW, but what about buses to Animal Kingdom & the Magic Kingdom? Can you do EMH staying at the Dolphin? How is the pool? I noticed a $10 a day fee for phone use, internet access, health club, etc. Since we have cell phones, we won't be using any of that. Can we get that waived? Is there a charge to park your rental car? Not valet, but just park it yourself? Is this included in the $10 a day or is it extra? What if you are using points? Do you have to pay the $10 fee & parking each day separately or is it included? Also, I have allergies. Can I get the bedding without feathers? If the beds at the Swan are queen sized and the beds at the Dolphin doubles, is the room at the Swan smaller in size?

Prior to DVC, the Swolphin was our favorite place to stay. Great teacher discount and super Starwood point upgrades. We always paid for just a standard room w/o balcony and were usually upgraded to junior suites with balconies everytime. You also get the perk of late check out. The last time we were there we didn't pay a phone or health club fee, but did pay $10 a day for self parking. It's automatically added to the bill. I have serious allergies myself and never had an issue with their bedding. We preferred Swan over Dolphin, found it quieter. Most of the restaurants are over at Dolphin. Yes, both hotels run the standard disney transportation buses to all of the parks. The pool area is gorgeous. On weekends they have a DJ and yummy frozen drinks poolside. If it wasn't for DVC, Swolphin and Port Orleans would be the only hotels I'd stay at.

 

[Terk-1]

Thank you for your comments.

Anyone else???

 

[goofy4tink]

We actually preferred the Dolphin over the Swan. But, I think that could have been that I was upgraded to a nicer room at the Dolphin. Our room at the Swan was tiny, housekeeping never made up the beds the one full day we were there, and the computer system crashed just as we checked in, late at night, so we couldn't get room keys.
But, many people prefer the Swan over the Dolphin. I love the restaurant choices at the Dolphin..Picabu is one of my favorites. The pool area is wonderful. And you pretty much get all the perks of a WDW owned resort...EMH's, packages delivered back to the room, transportation to the parks.
You can't charge back to your room while in the parks, you can't use DME. There is a charge for parking.

 

[MrsSilvaStrat]

We are heading down there for Easter. I just booked the Dolphin yesterday based on great reviews here on the boards. We are very excited.

The parking fee to self park is $9-$10. You do get EMH, however there are no EMH's offered on the day we are doing the parks. They also have a Character Breakfast on site if you are interested.

I am an SPG member and am going to ask for an upgrade at check-in. Look for my completed trip report next month!

 

[pooh2001]

We love the Dolphin !

The Swan has double sinks. The Dolphin has one.
The double beds at the Dolphin are larger, more like queens and are Heavenly beds.
The Dolphin has the laundry room, fitness area, closer to the Grotto & lap pools, and Picabu the 24 hour open snack/meal/sundries place where you can use/buy the refillable mugs.

Location is wonderful. Walk to EPCOT in 15 to 20 minutes, depending on where in EPCOT you are headed to. Boat to EPCOT & DHS. Boat goes from EPCOT to Y/BC to BW to S/D to DHS and then back in the reverse order.
Very nice boat ride. Takes about 30 minutes with stops to go from EPCOT to DHS.
Bus to MK & AK. MK is about a 30-40 minute ride. AK is about a 15-20 minute ride. Bus is shared between the S/D with first stop both ways at the Swan. Sometime the bus goes to BW & Y/BC.
There are always cabs available to take you anywhere (for a price).

You can empty the refrigerator for about $30 one time fee. It is not as cold as a refrigerator and is the size of a small dorm room box, not the taller rectangular (and cooler) refrigerators in the WDWE resorts. But it is good to cool off water bottles the night before.

Reinstated resort fee. Not sure if it can be waved.

Views - not sure of my E-W-N-S, but if you want a good view while staying at the Dolphin, ask for an upper room on an outside wing.
You can ask for an EPCOT fireworks view wing on the Y/BC side or a view of DHS TT and AK Everest and Grotto pool wing.

S/D do qualify for extra magic hours. No Mickey soaps or phone calls.

If you have AAA membership, you can get 20% off the S/D owned restauarants and snack bars.
Starwood membership can get you a room upgrade.

The BW is also very close for night life, pizza, bakery, bike rentals,.....

PM me for a specific question - we are happy to answer.

ENJOY !

 

[Terk-1]

Thank you for your answers to my questions.

 

[joepic]

We've stayed at both, and my personal favorite was the Swan. In my opinion, and through my experiences, it's a lot more relaxed and calm.

I think more kids tend to stay in the Dolphin with their families. There seemed like a lot more there.

It's a fantastic resort with so many amenities - many don't realize it. One is their Spa. It's incredible. They also have, I believe 2 workout studios, one with complimentary coffee/tea.

You have a choice between MGM and Epcot right from the resort, either side.
The Boardwalk is awesome to be right next to it.

These little things will make your stay so much more rewarding. If you grow tired of the resort restaurants, (I prefer the Garden Grove, I think that's the name - the last time I was there it used to be Gullivers - but It changed names in the AM/PM...)

Back on track now, if you ever want to venture outside of the hotel's dining options, (there's many) you can just walk right to the boardwalk, right to MGM, and take a boat right to Epcot, for an endless opportunity of dining options. You can even take advangtage of the Y&B club's restaurants!

In most rooms, you can even watch parts of Illuminations during the night.

A lot of people overlook this beautiful resort, mainly because it's not owned by Disney. For me, it really doesn't affect my views of the resort at all. We always have an enjoyable stay.

The pools never seem to get too crowded, and if they ever do, you have a lot more to choose from. There's 5 pools. And I forget how many hot tubs, I think theres 4. Not to mention a kiddie pool.

You can even rent swan boats and ride around the water with them. I never got to do that, it was always something I've wanted to do.

I think you'd be very, very satisfied if you ever choose to book your stay here. It's a fantastic place to stay, and you're likely to choose it again.

Also, they have a lot of discounts available as well. Both my parents are teachers, so they've always had some generous discounts when booking. The staff is very nice, and will go above and beyond in assisting your accomodation requests.

Good luck!

 

[Terk-1]

Thank you for your information. I have enough points for a free room for 5 nights. I will have about 1,000-2,000 points left to either use towards 50% off rack rate or I can keep those and see if the nurse's discount is better.

What is the code for the Nurse's discount?

 

[nurse.darcy]

Don't need a code for nurses discount, just call and say you are a nurse. . .it is automatically put on your ressie. . .

 

[Terk-1]

Can I look for nurse's discounts online or is it just over the phone?

 

[Connears]

I am also spg member and have stayed in both. Prefer Swan , but Dolphin is very nice also, just larger. We love the location and I think Swan room service is the best on property. We are dvc members and I opted to stay at Swan one year during NYE week to have the location advantage..well worth it! Love the Dolphin fountain for ice cream and good burgers and really like Fresh for brunch so we really use both resorts and all the BC/YC and BW area stuff..love the boats to dhs and epcot. Have fun

Connears

 

[NancyIL]

I love the Swan/Dolphin, with my preference being for the Swan. As was mentioned, the $10/day + tax resort fee is back, and you can't waive it unless your reservation was made before Feb. 16th. Self-parking is $9/day + tax for in and out.

I don't care for the food or prices at Picabu. For the same money I'd rather eat breakfast at Spoodles. I like the ice cream at The Fountain and breakfast at Fresh - and those are the only places I've eaten at the S/D.

The buses to the MK and AK are usually shared only with the Boardwalk. The boats to Epcot and Hollywood Studios are convenient, but I can usually walk to Epcot faster.

 

[poffles]

You can't charge back to your room while in the parks, you can't use DME. There is a charge for parking.

What is DME?

 

[poffles]

Can I look for nurse's discounts online or is it just over the phone?

You can check the discount online ...

https://www.dreamsunlimitedtravel.com/dreamsres/sd.cfm#sd-info-res

... put in your date and select Nurse from the discount pull down menu. If the date is too far out there may not be a discount yet but the online price should be the same as what you would get quoted from a phone call.

I did this online and got the price then called them and was quoted the same price, I booked on the phone (don't trust online booking, I like to talk to someone personally.)

 

[Crazy Kanga]

What is DME?

Disney's Magical Express. It's the free bus ride to your resort from the airport that is only offered to Disney owned resort guests.

 

[poffles]

Thanks Crazy Kanga ... that one escaped me.

 

[PamNC]

We've stayed at the Swan once and the Dolphin twice and we'll be going back in June because we snagged a great AP rate of $194.50. The Swolphin isn't our favorite resort (that is a tie between the Poly and Beach Club) but it is the #2 choice for us. The rooms are a good size - I think bigger than MOST of the deluxe resorts at Disney with the exception of the Poly and CR. They have been updated recently although we haven't stayed there since the renovation. The location, as you know, is fantastic! The grotto pool is in my opinion the second best on property (#1 is of course Stormalong Bay). The restaurants are fabulous. You have Blue Zoo, Fresh, Il Mulino, Kimonos (great sushi), Garden Grove (good breakfast!), and the Splash Grill - great choices for dining plus you have all the other choices in the Epcot Resort area.

The $10 includes everything if I'm not mistaken - even valet parking and yes that includes rental cars. We don't do valet, we just park it ourselves. One time, my DH lightly complained about the parking fee and they waived it. He didn't even complain that loudly - just sort of asked about it nicely and they simply waived it with no questions asked. That may have been a one-time fluke, but I thought it was nice. A little pixie dust from a non-Disney owned resort!

The staff is just as friendly as the CM's at the Disney owned resorts, the rooms are immaculate...we love it. And, I absolutely love not having to pay the "code game" - waiting around for an AP code is torture! The AP rates for the Swolphin are pretty much available throughout the year. I think...don't quote me. Anyway, I got the June discount and I booked in early January.

PamNC