We chose Dolphin for two reasons: price and location. Because Fort Wilderness is an MK resort we decided to do MK and AK from there. And then wanted an Epcot/DHS resort for our second half of the trip. However Disney Epcot resorts are cost prohibitive. And believe me you, Suzy and I have researched all about DVC rental of points. But for 11 people, it's still nuts cost wise.
So Suzy had read about a teacher discount at the Dolphin. Milo, as a professor, would qualify, we assumed. So I called and got my all options. True confessions, I may have called 3 times in a row as we kept thinking of more things to ask. After a fairly quick conference we opted to rent the last Dolphin 2 bedroom executive suite available.
Here is how the costs broke down in our decision, it was a peak week so we knew we'd have sticker shock:
These are the internet prices we started with:
The Dolphin reg. room $262.00 per night.
The Yacht Club for $326.25
Renting DVC points 2 bedroom villa: 1 bedroom studio & 1 bedroom room $329.00
DTD resort Lake Buena Vista $158.86
Bonnet Creek share 2 bedroom $120.99
Port Orleans $180.00
ASM Suite $225.00
ASM $127.00
After my three phone Dolphin phone calls I had the following choices:
Dolphin discount choices:
Dolphin Executive Suite 2 bedroom, 3 bath: $618.00 per night +$10.00 resort fee.
AAA percentage off would be $506.00
Teacher rate: $169.00 (plus $10.00)
Alcove: $244.00/regular (plus $10.00)
The teacher rate was the same as AAA for our dates.
The allure of having 3 bathrooms and a kitchen area made us pick the $506.00 suite and split it.
With our camping savings we felt we could swing the $250.00 per family for three nights to have our dream location and extra space.
Here is the central room:
When we walked in the door, which is right out of sight there next to the kitchen. Also right there is a big bathroom and a giant closet. This whole floor area was big tiles.
The kitchen was a college size fridge and a microwave and a bar sink. But the extra space of having a "real" kitchen was quite useful.
Then you see the dining room. This was a great table and and office area. And with this and the living room area we had plenty of space for all 11 of us to eat breakfast, pizza, and hang out all together.
And here is the dining table (pizza review later
) which was everything you need in a dining table and more.
And this is standing facing Suzy and Milo's bedroom, which was a two queen bed room. The dining room is directly to my left and the living room to the right.
This is directly to the left of the dining table. We squeezed a cot in here and this was Mulan and Boo's bed. It gave them a little piece of privacy and Mulan Loved it.
Here is Suzy and Milo's room.
Sorry these pictures are so lame but I never did take photos just of the room for the TR. Sorry.
My review of the actual bedrooms is thus: They are pretty roomy. We had an extra cot squished into ours so that made it not as roomy but even still we were able totally walk around so that tells you how nicely sized they were.
Not so for my bathroom. I did not think the getting ready area was roomy nor nicely laid out. There is a toilet/bath area with a door. Then there is a sink area. The sink, however, was in the corner of this area and I thought it was awkward. And there is only one sink.
There was, though, a bar area that also had a mirror outside of the bathroom area altogether and this is where I did the girl's hair.
The beds were just as amazing as you hear they are.
This could be you:
I give this 2 bedroom executive suite 8 out of 10 stars. It was worth my $250.00 per night. The kitchen could have been better. The sink area could have been better. And it was luxurious but so understated, nothing WOWED me. So it lost 2 stars for that.
Now for the pool:
There was plenty of seating. And I found the seating comfortable.
And the beach area was cool. We didn't spend any time at all on this beach but we could have. We just didn't really have buckets and sand toys and only had limited pool time at the Dolphin.
They had these cool floaties they provided for kids at the towel handing out area.
This picture of the kiddie pool is really nice. But when I was actually there I felt like this area was lame. To be fair, I have no reason for this. It was just my feeling. It's in the shade, so that's nice, but where is the fun here? It's just so boring.
The waterfall was neat and the bathroom was over there. In the heat of summer it would be nice to have such deep shade to retreat to:
I give the pool 8 out of 10. There was nothing spectacular but it was huge and very nice. The beach behind was alluring. My negatives were that I found it hard to find the towels, there was no sign and they aren't for the taking, you have to ask where they are. Also, like everywhere at the Dolphin (I'll talk about this later) there were people in business suits about. I found this awkward. Finally, I may have given it 9 out of 10 but there were mean people in this pool that kind of ruined the peaceful nature for the kids and I'm thinking that isn't a rarity. I think when business suit people go swimming, kids annoy them. And that is disconcerting at Disney World.
The boat dock was between the Dolphin and Swan. It was convenient and wonderful. Easy and relaxing to DHS or Epcot. 10 of 10.
As you well know, we walk. And for some totally unknown reason they had square water cut outs around the wings of the Dolphin. This meant that to walk to the Boardwalk we had to do a stupid square walk. This was stupid. 5 of 10 to whomever decided guests would enjoy walking in a square.
See? You have to walk around this rectangle of water to get from our room to the Boardwalk. The end of this was a service entrance so you couldn't just walk through the building. Who thought this was smart?
I have no idea what the point of the balloons in the lobby were. Are they sails? Hmmm... Honestly, I never really figured out the theme of the decor at the Dolphin at all. But it was wowing. Definitely wowing.
And this was a very nice touch:
I give the lobby and the staff 9 out of 10. I've heard people say they don't feel like they are at Disney when they are at the Dolphin. I think the staff here was every bit as good as any true Disney resort. They were exceptional. And compared to non-Disney resorts/hotels I've stayed at it was very, very nice. But the theme was ambiguous and that is a not-Disney thing. So only in comparison to cruise ships and Disney does it lose a star.
The best part of the Dolphin? Location.
10 of 10 stars for location.
Now to talk about things I don't have pictures of.
People in suits:
EVERYWHERE at the Dolphin there are business people attending business stuff. They have absolutely no interest in Disney World and may not even know that the Dolphin is on Disney property. They are truly interested in whatever they are learning at whatever conference they are attending. I realize this is shocking. But it is true.
Being that I am a business person and spend a fair portion of life dressed up, I wasn't too bothered. But be warned.
The layout is slightly confusing. And once in one wing you cannot switch to another. The elevators are individual to each wing and not interchangable. You have to learn landmarks to get to your room. Much more like a cruise ship than a Disney resort layout. So had we been there a week and utilized all the Dolphin had to offer this would have been fine. But in just 3 days, it was a tiny bit hard to take because any time I wanted to go to an area I hadn't been before I had to try and find my way and signage and maps were not available.
Overall, I give the Dolphin 8 of 10 stars. I have a feeling Donald would rate it lower as the business people bothered him more than me. He didn't like being reminded of home on vacation. But the beds, the luxury, the LOCATION, the price for the location, the wonderful staff, the more than adequate pool makes me say, for $169.00 for a regular room at peak week prices, BARGAIN!!!! If it's $169.00 for this or $169.00 for POR, I would pick the Dolphin.
But be aware, you can't buy a package, no
DDP. In the future that will be the fight, I'm sure.
All in all, I would definitely stay here again. And if you've already booked it, you know who you are,
I'll be jealous of you in a week!!! Have fun!
) and I'm a hard worker and fairly organized. 
And I'm a little busy already!
And I did. I got an Italian tutor and everything. That way I could figure out EXACTLY what we were doing before we ever got there.
) vacations go MUCH smoother for my family when one person (well, ok, ME) plans out every single thing. For example I had learned in my reading that two things stressed people more than others: 1) getting lost in Venice. 2) wandering around museums having no idea the significance of what you are looking at and being bored to death. I dealt with these by 1) memorizing the Venice map by looking at it every night before bed for 6 months (we never got lost, not once) and 2) buying a Rick Steves book called Mona Lisa Winks and reading it as the official tour guide outloud to my family as we walked around the museums.
Great pics of the Pixar parade. I'm sad that we won't get to see that when we go in June. Not sure we will still be in any of the parks for the early afternoon parades though. But I am looking forward to Spectro at MK.
