Our two nights at the Dolphin

[dandave]

This was our 10th anniversary, and I had the $99 teacher rate. I am a Starwoods member, and I had requested a balcony room if one was available. We had a pleasant check-in with a lovely young lady, and bell services escorted us to our room. It was a smoking room on the 8th floor. We only occasionally will have a cigarette on the balcony or outdoors at home, but never indoors. This room smelled highly of disinfectant or deoderizer or something. It was so strong! We left the balcony door open for a few hours and finally managed to weaken the smell. It wasn't a smoke smell, but a very strong cleaning smell. This gave me quite a headache.
We went to the parks and did find the Dolphin very convenient to Epcot and MGM. In fact, after arriving around 11am we were able to hit MGM and MK. To get the boys out of MK, I had really hyped up the grotto pool. We took the bus back from MK and cut through to look at the pool on our way to the room. There seemed to be a private party going on. Come to find out, there was a private party and the pool was closed. I was told that the pool at the Swan was open, however. My children were so disappointed in the Swan pool after all I had told them about the grotto. The pool had lots of little things floating in it, and a few ducks landed in it and swam around while we were there. The water was cold! We were the only ones there, and I was not surprised. Luckily on our second and final night at the Dolphin the grotto was open. The kids had a blast, but the lifeguards were slack. With his life jacket on, my 4 year old kept getting dragged into the rope at the bottom of the slide by the water current. This is right under the lifeguard stand. It is very dangerous for a small child to be caught on a rope with a swift current going by. Luckily I was watching the kids the whole time. At one point, after my son was stuck on the rope for what seemed like forever, I yelled to the lifeguard right above him and asked her to please help him. She didn't seem concerned and hadn't noticed him, apparently. He was almost in tears, and we left the pool soon after.
Tubbies. Want a canned soda? $2. Want an imported beer? $4. I think domestics were around $3.50 a can. That's rediculous. One night when my son and I went in after a late night at the parks, I attempted to charge the snacks to my room with the key card. Well, there's no swipe and go here like at the other Disney Resorts. The owner/cashier wanted to know my room number. It was late, and I was tired. I confused 9125 with 1925. Call the gestapo! I swear I was sweating by the time I left. This man got angry with me and insinuated that I was a crook because I was trying to get a Krispy Kreme doughnut and a salad without knowing my room number. After I suggested I just leave the tray there, he said he would just trust me but that next time I better know my room number.
Well, I don't think there will be a next time. Thank you SD for the fantastic rate, but I just can't handle the stress.

 

[pixie dust gal!]

I am so very sorry to hear of such mishaps during your stay. I know how incidents like this can ruin some people's vacation! Your 10th Anniversary no less! As you have read, most of the guests that have stayed at the S/D are repeat guests and have found their stays to be nothing less than great! But, I did say MOST. Some of us at one time or another, during our stays at WDW resorts, have experienced unpleasantries during our stays too. ( for me, believe it or not, it was at the POLY concierge - twice.)

I wish you would have addressed mgmt. upon check-out as I am sure they would have accomodated you in some fashion that would have been acceptable to you and your family.

I would highly recommend that you send Mgmt. a letter conveying all your unpleasantries, as you have so carefully stated here on this post; you will most likely receive a response that will include some restitution and an opportunity to give this resort another try!

Please post again and let us know how things turned out. I am sure many future guests will be interested to hear!

 

[dandave]

Hi! After only paying $99 a night and getting an upgrade to a balcony room, I couldn't imagine complaining to management. I am happy to have had the opportunuty to try the Dolphin at such a rate. The Dolphin simply isn't for me, but then I really didn't care for the Poly, either. We had a wonderful, wonderful vacation. Tiffany picked us up in a limo as a surprise and we adored the AKL. I simply did not care for the Dolphin, but that does not mean that others should not try it for themselves. That's part of the fun of WDW, in my opinion- trying new things.

 

[pixie dust gal!]

Dandave,

I applaud you for handling all this with so much 'class' and to appreciate the special rate you received and put all the rest into perspective - I don't know how many others would have done the same given the situation!

I am so pleased to hear that you continued on to the AKL and enjoyed the rest of you Anniversary with your family!

I sincerely hope we do not run into any of these types of probelms on our upcoming 'first-time' stay at the Dolphin.

 

[tampafan]

We stayed at the Swan for the first time a couple of weekends ago, also on the teacher rate of $129. We had a nice time, but were also dissapointed to find the grotto pool closed for a private party. We did get to swim in it during the day on Saturday. It is a great pool, but is a little too cold for my thin Florida blood (what a wimp I have become in 6 short years). I also did not have my room key with me when I wanted a drink at the pool, but I did remember my room number. The bartender was really nice and gave me a drink and charged it to my room. The only issue we had was that it was after 2pm before our room was cleaned on Saturday, which isn't really a big deal. Like dandave, I am certainly not going to mention such a minor thing to management when they are giving us such a great deal on a nice hotel. I am not sure, however, that we will stay at the Swan again. The rate was nice, but we can almost always get a less expensive rate at the All Stars or at a moderate. The main reason is charging within the parks on a room key. Rather than take cash, we normally just each (my wife and I) take a key. I knew from this board that the room key would not let us charge in the parks so we came prepared with extra cash. Of course I only took part of it into the park with me and left the rest of my cash in my room safe because I am uncomfortable carrying cash around. I ended up having a more expensive dinner than we had planned and was unable to purchase popcorn and soda for the parade (let the violins begin). I know I could carry my credit card with me into the park, but I am such a worry wort about losing it and having untold amounts of items chaged from the Emporium to World of Disney that I don't take it in with me - blah blah blah. I just enjoy the convience of paying for items in the park with my room key. I would encourage everyone to try the Swan or Dolphin, however. As dandave said, a lot of the fun is trying new things.