We split our stay between the Dolphin & Animal Kingdom Lodge. Both were wonderful in their own ways. But, I do have to admit, I think the Dolphin has catapulted into my Favorite place to stay in WDW - surpassing both The Beach Club & Grand Floridian for me.
The Dolphin:
I don't know if words can express how much I love this resort.We have stayed here before for a short trip where we were hardly at the resort & never got to experience it to it's fullest potential. This trip due to crowds & DH's illness, we spent alot of time enjoying all it has to offer.
The location can not be beat. We love Epcot & spend alot of time there, more than the Magic Kingdom at this point. (DS is 16 yo / DH & I are food lovers) We love walking in & out of the IG, strolling around the Boardwalk & also to MGM. It's just a very lovely place to walk & we like that more than the launches.
All the rooms have been renovated. They are light & clean & airy. Check in was a breeze & once again, the service was top-notch. IMHO, it is a cut above Disney service, which I always thought was superb. Every request I made was met & exceeded promptly. The Heavenly Beds are truly divine. Our room was spacious & the views over the Beach & out over MGM were Magical. Although we didn't make use of it this time, one of the things we like about the Swan/Dolphin is the ability to rent movies or video games. The other option we like about them is the weather channel on the TV which shows current conditions all day long. I wish Disney resorts offered that.
The choice of restaurants between the Swan & Dolphin is varied & delicious. To add to that, you have all of the Boardwalk & World Showcase restaurants to choose from. We enjoyed ice cream at the Dolphin Fountain at the end of a long day - much easier to get into than Beaches & Cream! Fresh is the best breakfast on property, IMHO. The fact that they serve Starbucks Coffee rather than that Nescafe swill cannot be discounted.
The Grotto is second only to SAB, IMHO. It is a wonderful pool complex. We found that one of the hot tubs was almost always empty, which made for a quiet place to sit & work the kinks out. We ate at the Cabana Bar & Grill one afternoon. Nothing better for Northeasteners such as us than to be sitting in the sun, poolside in April! The Mango Smoothie is to die for!
We are so looking forawrd to our August trip to the Dolphin. I had originally thought about splitting the say (even tho it's rather short) between the Dolphin & The Contemporary, but DS & I both agree the Dolphin is THE place for us.
Animal Kingdom Lodge
I'm soooo glad we tried this resort! It was very special. I think the Savannah view room is really the only way to go tho. I don't think we would have felt it worth it any other way.
Check in took FOREVER. The line was huge & it was midway thru the week. Once I made it thru the 40 minute line to check in, the process went smoothly. I made mention of my Birthday & asked to be given the best Savannah view they had available. They asked if I minded a walk & said if I didn't, the view would be worth it. We didn't mind the walk so we were given a room at the far end of Kudu trail, overlooking both the Sunset & Arusha Savannahs. It was the PERFECT room for us. It was quiet & secluded & offered the best of both Savannahs. It turned out that it was directly over the pen for the Red River Hogs. Sounds like that wouldn't necessarily be a good thing, but for us it was. We loved these little guys. They were so full of personality, we were completely enthralled by them & their antics. There wasn't a whiff of smell from their pen.
The other great thing about our room was that there were 3 females giraffes on the Arusha Savannah, one of which was in heat. There were 3 males on the Sunset Savannah who spend hours gazing longingly over the fence & trying to impress her with their actions. It was pretty amusing.
The rooms are gorgeous, but a bit dark for my tastes. They seem nice & cool after the sun tho. They are small & after the Heavenly Beds at the Dolphin, the beds were small & hard. My back was a bit stiff by the last day.
The resort itself has so much to do, we never even scratched the surface. We did walk around & view all the art & cultural exhibits. But we never made it away from the Savannah & our animal friends to take any of the tours. The pool was very nice, but very crowded (Spring Break week for the NE, everything was crowded) It was warmer than the Grotto, which was nice. But, there was a serious shortage of pool chairs, which was incovienent. The hot tub was glorious. It was in it's own little shaded oasis & had plenty of jets & power.
DH & DS ordered me Birthday Cake & goodies. They chose an Animal Kingdom sculpture with Zebra striped chocolate covered strawberries. These were positioned in front of a fence made of chocolate covered pretzels, watched over by a pair of white chcolate giraffes. Also included was a giant chocolate bar with the AKL logo on it. We had hats & a candle on the cake, which was also zebra-striped & delicious.
Boma was good, as usual. Mara was ok. We didn't eat much there, but did look around.
Service wasn't top notch at AKL. Yes, the room was clean, check-in was good after the line, but if you needed anything extra, forget it. It took me 4 hours & several phone calls to get some extra towels & a set of plates & forks to replace the ones taken by housekeeping from our cake platter. Not what I have come to expect from a Disney Resort & certainly more glaring of a deficiencey after the fantastic service at the Dolphin.
Transportation was also a bit slow at AKL. Not what we expected from a deluxe resort. Even the transporatation to & from AK was slow. We waited one day at AK for almost 40 minutes for a bus. AKL is 5 minutes away. In the time we waited for our bus, we saw 2 buses for Pop, Fort Wilderness & the Boardwalk resorts pick up! To be fair, tho, I did sense an all over reduction in transportation effieciency.
The million dollar question: Would we stay there again? Yes, we would if we got another AP rate & Savannah room, preferably the same room we had this time. We would like to take our grandsons to AKL for part of their stay in Dec, if their Mom & Dad are willing to give up the kitchen & extra room convienence of FW cabins for a couple nights.
The Dolphin:
I don't know if words can express how much I love this resort.We have stayed here before for a short trip where we were hardly at the resort & never got to experience it to it's fullest potential. This trip due to crowds & DH's illness, we spent alot of time enjoying all it has to offer.
The location can not be beat. We love Epcot & spend alot of time there, more than the Magic Kingdom at this point. (DS is 16 yo / DH & I are food lovers) We love walking in & out of the IG, strolling around the Boardwalk & also to MGM. It's just a very lovely place to walk & we like that more than the launches.
All the rooms have been renovated. They are light & clean & airy. Check in was a breeze & once again, the service was top-notch. IMHO, it is a cut above Disney service, which I always thought was superb. Every request I made was met & exceeded promptly. The Heavenly Beds are truly divine. Our room was spacious & the views over the Beach & out over MGM were Magical. Although we didn't make use of it this time, one of the things we like about the Swan/Dolphin is the ability to rent movies or video games. The other option we like about them is the weather channel on the TV which shows current conditions all day long. I wish Disney resorts offered that.
The choice of restaurants between the Swan & Dolphin is varied & delicious. To add to that, you have all of the Boardwalk & World Showcase restaurants to choose from. We enjoyed ice cream at the Dolphin Fountain at the end of a long day - much easier to get into than Beaches & Cream! Fresh is the best breakfast on property, IMHO. The fact that they serve Starbucks Coffee rather than that Nescafe swill cannot be discounted.
The Grotto is second only to SAB, IMHO. It is a wonderful pool complex. We found that one of the hot tubs was almost always empty, which made for a quiet place to sit & work the kinks out. We ate at the Cabana Bar & Grill one afternoon. Nothing better for Northeasteners such as us than to be sitting in the sun, poolside in April! The Mango Smoothie is to die for!
We are so looking forawrd to our August trip to the Dolphin. I had originally thought about splitting the say (even tho it's rather short) between the Dolphin & The Contemporary, but DS & I both agree the Dolphin is THE place for us.
Animal Kingdom Lodge
I'm soooo glad we tried this resort! It was very special. I think the Savannah view room is really the only way to go tho. I don't think we would have felt it worth it any other way.
Check in took FOREVER. The line was huge & it was midway thru the week. Once I made it thru the 40 minute line to check in, the process went smoothly. I made mention of my Birthday & asked to be given the best Savannah view they had available. They asked if I minded a walk & said if I didn't, the view would be worth it. We didn't mind the walk so we were given a room at the far end of Kudu trail, overlooking both the Sunset & Arusha Savannahs. It was the PERFECT room for us. It was quiet & secluded & offered the best of both Savannahs. It turned out that it was directly over the pen for the Red River Hogs. Sounds like that wouldn't necessarily be a good thing, but for us it was. We loved these little guys. They were so full of personality, we were completely enthralled by them & their antics. There wasn't a whiff of smell from their pen.
The other great thing about our room was that there were 3 females giraffes on the Arusha Savannah, one of which was in heat. There were 3 males on the Sunset Savannah who spend hours gazing longingly over the fence & trying to impress her with their actions. It was pretty amusing.
The rooms are gorgeous, but a bit dark for my tastes. They seem nice & cool after the sun tho. They are small & after the Heavenly Beds at the Dolphin, the beds were small & hard. My back was a bit stiff by the last day.
The resort itself has so much to do, we never even scratched the surface. We did walk around & view all the art & cultural exhibits. But we never made it away from the Savannah & our animal friends to take any of the tours. The pool was very nice, but very crowded (Spring Break week for the NE, everything was crowded) It was warmer than the Grotto, which was nice. But, there was a serious shortage of pool chairs, which was incovienent. The hot tub was glorious. It was in it's own little shaded oasis & had plenty of jets & power.
DH & DS ordered me Birthday Cake & goodies. They chose an Animal Kingdom sculpture with Zebra striped chocolate covered strawberries. These were positioned in front of a fence made of chocolate covered pretzels, watched over by a pair of white chcolate giraffes. Also included was a giant chocolate bar with the AKL logo on it. We had hats & a candle on the cake, which was also zebra-striped & delicious.
Boma was good, as usual. Mara was ok. We didn't eat much there, but did look around.
Service wasn't top notch at AKL. Yes, the room was clean, check-in was good after the line, but if you needed anything extra, forget it. It took me 4 hours & several phone calls to get some extra towels & a set of plates & forks to replace the ones taken by housekeeping from our cake platter. Not what I have come to expect from a Disney Resort & certainly more glaring of a deficiencey after the fantastic service at the Dolphin.
Transportation was also a bit slow at AKL. Not what we expected from a deluxe resort. Even the transporatation to & from AK was slow. We waited one day at AK for almost 40 minutes for a bus. AKL is 5 minutes away. In the time we waited for our bus, we saw 2 buses for Pop, Fort Wilderness & the Boardwalk resorts pick up! To be fair, tho, I did sense an all over reduction in transportation effieciency.
The million dollar question: Would we stay there again? Yes, we would if we got another AP rate & Savannah room, preferably the same room we had this time. We would like to take our grandsons to AKL for part of their stay in Dec, if their Mom & Dad are willing to give up the kitchen & extra room convienence of FW cabins for a couple nights.
Glad you had such a great time. 
