Epcot Area Resorts Question

[Winnie Pooh Fan]

We are considering a quick weekend trip to WDW in December. We are trying to find the most convenient resort for our puposes.

Our plans are to go to DTD, Boardwalk, AKL, and WL. Probably the most time will be spent at DTD for the shopping and then quick stops at the others.

The Dolphin/Swan look centrally located. Here are a couple questions:

Is it possible to access the Boardwalk by walking or do you have to take bus/boat??

How is the bus service? I have heard they share busses with BC,YC is this true???

Do any/all rooms have balconies?? We loved our balcony in the evenings and early am at the WL.

We have ressies at the Pop because it looks the most centrally located to where we are going, but I want a nice place to relax after "hoofing it" all day. The other problem is the Pop doesn't have a hot tub and the one at WL was awesome!!

 

[NMAmy]

We stayed at the Dolphin in March and just loved it! We're hoping to stay there for our next trip.

It's just a quick walk across the bridge to the Boardwalk. No bus necessary although DD did make us take the boat over one time because...well, she just couldn't get enough of that boat!

Busses are shared with all the Epcot resorts unless it was busy...then we had our own bus for the Swan/Dolphin. We never waited more than 10-15 minutes for a bus. It did take a while to get to DTD but it was not a big issue for us.

Not all the rooms have balconies. If you're going to stay at the Dolphin, I'd recommend getting a Starwood Preferred Guest card before you go. It's free. You can enroll at www.spg.com. I firmly believe that this is what got us our balcony/Epcot view room. I really didn't have that many points but we were still treated like royalty.

We loved everything about the place and I highly recommend it. We got a great discount because DH is a gov't employee. Hope you have a great time!

 

[disneydiz]

You can easily walk over to the Boardwalk. In fact, when the resorts (BW, BC, YC, Swan, and Dolphin) share one bus, we often get off at the Swan and walk over to the Boardwalk -- rather than waiting for it to drop off passengers at YC and BC. Depending on the time of year, the bus service does share with all five resorts listed above -- but Swan/Dolphin are always picked-up first, and dropped off first.

We stayed at Pop this past April, and did not enjoy. It was too much like a motel/concrete city. Walls were paper thin -- never again. The Epcot hotels are all beautiful.

 

[RebelHawk]

Disney did just open up the Saragota Springs hotel right there at DTD that you might want to check out. The buses run from there to any of the other parks.

 

[swilphil]

We stayed at the Dolphin July 2003 and the Swan July 2004. The bus service has greatly improved (though it wasn't that bad). The bus always went directly to MK after it picked up at the Dolphin. From the Swan, the boardwalk is about a 3 minute walk--much shorter than walking from most rooms to the main building at POP.

On most wings of the hotel, every other room has a balcony. Some rooms have a view of Epcot, which is a super close walk also.