NEW...DOLPHIN/SWAN..."questions and answers"...tips and hints!

[Mouseteacher]

Jesse ~ So many choices in restauarants in the resorts and in the near vicinity. Prices range from $ - $$$. Beaches and Cream at the BC for a more casual dinner / Tubbi's in the Dolphin for a buffeteria style dining / Coral Cafe in the Dolphin / ESPN Club - Casual dining /to the high end restaurants such as Shula's (Dolphin), Palio's (Swan), Yachtsman Steak House (Yacht Club), Flying Fish and Spoodles on the Boardwalk.

What particular type of dining are you looking for?

 

[Pocah]

What cable channels do you get at the Swan and Dolphin? Are they the same ones as you get in a regular Disney hotel? I'm thinking of the Disney Channel plus all the other channels Disney owns - Lifetime, Soapnet, etc. Or do they just have HBO plus maybe CNN? What about those channels that show what's going on around WDW? Thanks in advance!

 

[Mouseteacher]

Pocah ~ Yes, S/D gets the Disney info channel.

To my knowledge, there is no shuttle offered by the resorts to and from the airport. We reserved Tiffany Towncar Service. they were excellent. There is a car rental desk in the lobby of the Dolphin - National, I believe.

 

[JessetheCowgirl]

mouseteacher--

I guess I'm leaning towards of fun "We are at Disney!!" dinner; this will be my parents' first time at Disney, so I'm mostly concerned about the "atmosphere", as long as the food is decent.

My two boys will be bouncing off the walls with excitement, well, okay, so will I

So, I don't think a quiet, "fine dining" experience would be a good choice.

Thanks!!

 

[Mouseteacher]

A character meal sounds like just the thing to get in the Disney mood.

 

[goofy about mickey]

Hello,

I've read through this post as well as some relevant others, but I'm still confused and hoping that somebody can answer my questions.

Here's my situation: I recently booked a "standard" room for four nights at the Swan for January 2004 at either the Entertainment or AAA. (I'm not sure which rate my reservation is listed under, since the CM said that both rates were the same price). By July, I should have enough points to upgrade to CL. (Alternatively, I could exchange my AMEX membership rewards points and have the required number of SW points quicker.) I would like to upgrade to CL using SPG points.

Can I upgrade to CL even though I booked my room at a "promotional rate"? If so, is the rate still 750 points/night? Do I have to wait until a certain number of days prior to check-in to try to upgrade my room or can try as soon as I have the points? Do I need to call Swan/Dolphin to process my upgrade (since I reserved the room directly through them) or do I call SPG.

I know this is a lot of questions but, as I said, I'm perplexed about this whole process. Thank you very much!!

 

[Mouseteacher]

Goofy about Mickey ~ Yes, you can upgrade on a promotional rate (I did on the teacher rate - got a comp upgrade to CL).

There is some confusion on the S/D and spg on just how many points are needed to upgrade to CL. It was 750 points a while ago - presently it is either 1000, 1250 or 1500 depending on which CM you get.

I would do the following:
-e mail the swan about the upgrade - use their website www.swandolphin.com. There is a place that you can click on to e mail requests.

-call spg and give them your reservation # that you received from the Swan. They may give you another reservation number. This is to insure that spg has your reservation since you booked directly with the Swan. I did this when I booked directly with the Dolphin b/c I wanted my spg # and gold status attached to my reservation.

-Call the swan about week before arrival,

-Continually check the spg website to see your reservation description - you may see a change in status if they give you the upgrade before check-in.

 

[dreamflight99]

Originally posted by Braque
Dreamflight -

Thanks for the tip - my concern, of course, with going back into the MK entrance after the 4th fireworks would be kind of like going into the 'eye of the storm' with everyone piling out. I'm afraid I'll lose my little ones. Go back to MK, really? You know I trust you guys . . .

Yes...you would not be going back into the MK, persay. Since, you only depart at the Monorail depot...head down the hill and "directly" to the Bus depot! You will bypass the largest of crowds...those TAKING the monorails, and those taking the Ferry to the T&TC, etc.! Absolutely, the fastest way to go. Traveling BACK into Epcot AFTER a fireworks extravaganza (like the 4th), would be akin to my earlier comment (salmon swimming upstream). Floods of people SURGE out of the park for nearly an hour, sometimes more. The boats would be packed, and the line would be too long by the time you finally arrived. The bus at the MK will be the BEST way to go. OR...you may take the Bus from the GF to the DTD area, and then board the Swan/Dolphin bus there. I would opt for the MK route.

#1hockeymom & kmr...There is no free shuttle service to/from the Dolphin/Swan to the AP. Yet, there is a town car service, (call the Hotel directly for pricing), as well as a National Car Rental counter off the main Lobby.

goofy about mickey...yes, using the discounts you listed, you may upgrade to CL using pts. With some discounts (very few), there is no upgrade available, and points are not accumulated during the stay.

 

[disnurse]

ok mouseteacher this is a start, i'll keep looking.

 

[2002Disneybride]

We are roughly 2 weeks away from our Swan trip...
we are on the club level.
I am wondering what room I can request?

 

[jgates]

yes - DF's transportation method sounds good. Taking the Monorail to Epcot and then strolling thru is wonderful but NOT when it is overrun with people!

Well...... I'm not too sure about that WonderWoman photo......but when I lose a few more pounds at Curves I will try to post a b4 & after photo. It may be awhile..............7 pounds & 14.75 inches down. Too many more to count to go yet..............I miss my old metabolism! At least some of the lumps are disappearing!

Our choice for supper the first night was the ESPN Club. It was such a nice night to walk along the Boardwalk, eat there and wander back to the Swan later on.

PS guys - how do I get the font color to change in my signature saying below?

 

[luckytso]

Hi everyone, it is amazing this is already up to 7 pages long



I need serious help in getting information so that I can send in the room request for our upcoming trip in less than 3 weeks:

I am a gold spg member. We are currently having a club level king room at Swan, can some tell me what type of room should we request? I know the room on the club level does not have balcony. Is it very incovenient to be at a different floor for the view/balcony and use the elevator for the CL? Or should we just stay at the club level? Which wing is better? Where are these corner King rooms in Swan?



Also, what are the hours for the club level? Does it mean you can go there anytime during those hours to get water/soda? Are they just sitting around or if you have to ask someone?

Sorry for all the questions, and thanks in advance for any information you can provide.

 

[Mouseteacher]

disnurse ~ Thanks!

 

[jaygatz]

Does anyone know how far in advance the S/D entertains email requests? That is, do you think emailing 30 days out would be intrusive? Thanks.

Also, we experienced our first earthquake this morning...don't know whether to woo hoo or do my best chicken little imitation...Earthquakes in Georgia, what's the world coming to?

 

[madge]

If we use disney tranportation (bus to MK, monorail to Contemporary), do we really need to allow an hour's travel time?? (as per the Unoffical Guide)

well, I would allow that much, just because you don't know how long the wait for the bus is. It's about 15 minutes (give or take a few) to drive to the Contemporary from the S/D. If you arrive early, you can check in (they give you a pager) and look around. The CR is a lot of fun--the elevators, the grounds, there is a lot to do if you arrive early.

re: monorail--we love to ride the resort loop, then get off at the TTC and do the Epcot loop. We always ask to ride in the front, too.

 

[Athena]

luckytso: To the best of my knowledge, the Club Lounge is only open for specific hours. Maybe you can find more info on this FAQ?

http://disboards.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=265057

Hope that helps a little!

 

[laurieny]

The Club lounge at the Dolphin was open 7-10 in the morning and 5-7 in the evening. And they closed the doors right at those hours. They did not kick you out if you were there but the doors were closed and the sign was placed to blocked the doors.
We found the club lounge really convienient. Great for breakfast and if we were around we had our little snack at 5 and then ate a later dinner. We got back last week and the kids and I are really missing the cookies!!
We did not stay on the club floor but on the 8th floor with a balcony overlooking the pools and MGM-WONDERFUL!!

 

[Mouseteacher]

jaygatz ~ I e mailed my comp upgrade request about 3 weeks before arrival. You will get the standard /canned response from the S/D. However, keep checking your reservation on the spg site to see if there is a change. That's how I discovered we were granted our request. If that doesn't happen, I would call about 5 days before check-in as "just a little reminder".

 

[Gilligan]

Hi Everyone,
Arrived back to the UK on Sunday (the tan's fading already!) I just had to tell you of our first night's Dolphin experience (Disnurse - were you there?) Anyway - Mon 14th, up at 6am BST (1am in Florida), arrive at the Dolphin 10pm (it was a looooong day). Yep, nice hotel; where's the bed? At 5.20am our clock alarm goes off. It was a LOUD beep. DH is cursing me for having set it so early; I'm cursing him 'cause he can't turn the $**@# thing off. Now I can't turn it off either. There we are, bashing at the clock, turning it over trying to find the 'off' switch. We can't believe how loud the clock is. Gradually it dawns on us that we can't turn the alarm off because...it's not the clock, it's the fire alarm!! So down we traipse to join the others on the lawn, trying to calm the children down because they're a little scared. Thank goodness this was in Florida - at least it was warm out there in my shorties! And it was rather pleasant to see the sun rise! And we did get to MGM early that day, as there was no point going back to bed. But it made for a memorable start!

#1HockeyMum - just to add, at the Dolphin, we had a character breakfast on the Sunday. We saw Goofy, Pluto and Chip 'n' Dale. I think they do this every Sunday at the Coral Cafe.

Our children really loved 1)Coral Cafe for the pancakes at breakfast, 2) the children's swimming pool and 3) the room key! We had to come up with a rota as to whose turn it was to use it - ah the simple things in life are the best!

 

[Mouseteacher]

gilligan ~ Welcome back and, yes, the tan does fade fast. Children do like the simple things - my kids when they were younger just liked being at the pool. Did you ever find out why the fire alarm went off?