Swan and Dolphin

[bbogz]

I have been to wdw a good many times--have stayed at PO and last year spoiled ourselves with BW. I loved staying so close to Epcot. I work at a teacher store and heard from a customer that the Swan and Dolphin offer specials for teachers. If so what kind of specials have you used and do the same apply for retired teachers. DH and self are retired and a friend I plan to go with is also a retired teacher. Any thoughts or comments will be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[jwfla422]

The special offer is a rate of $129 a night for teachers. I believe this is also available to retired teachers. You can find out everything you wanted to know about the S/D on the New S/D FAQ 2002...thread by "glo" on the top of the resort board.

We stayed at the Dolphin our last trip and LOVED it! We stayed at the Swan 4x before that and love it as well.

 

[Ityldu]

The teacher rate was $129, but was increased to $149 a few months ago. Even at that rate, it's just amazing. When you call for ressies, ask for the Teach/nurse rate. They might ask for ID upon check-in. Anything from School ID to a paystub will be sufficient. We just returned from 5 nights at the Swan and it was fanatastic. The Epcot area is our fav. also.

Some people have mentioned they were concerned they wouldn't get as good treatment if they have the discounted rate and we found that is definitely not true. Our two previous trips we were upgraded free to fabulous waterviews with views of Epcot and MGM. On this trip, there were some minor problems and we were upgraded to balcony and conceirge services. I just can't say enough about their service.

 

[bbogz]

Thank you for the info.. I just love the BW area. I just hope that the rates include retirees also. I think I will just call for information on that. Has anyone noticed any differences in staying at the Swan or Dolphin as compared to the Disney resorts? Thanks.

 

[Uncle Mikey]

We recently stayed at the Swan utilizing the teacher discount. My cousin presented her Standard Teaching Credential (State of California) which states it is valid for life. If your says the same you might present that. Also we previously have stayed at 3 of the Disney moderates and found the Swan to be superior in every way. I would choose the Swan everytime.

 

[BriarfoxinWA]

What about the Government rate? My DH works for the "county" government and also is a part time Sheriff. I checked out the Swan - Dolphin site but it doesn't give any details on what constitues being a Government employee - is it only federal government?

 

[Ityldu]

Federal, state and county gov't employees are eligible as are retirees.

As far as comparisons to Disney resorts, the only extra's you don't receive that you would get at a Disney resort are the Mickey soaps (The S/D oatmeal soap is far superior, so no lose) and Mickey wake up calls. When we were at Poly last week, Stitch (Lilo & Stitch) woke us up and it was very annoying, so no lose there either.

As far as services/location/amenities compared to Disney resorts. In our opinion, S/D far exceedes the mods (we've stayed at mods and love them, but much prefer Dolphin, especially when the price is so comparable. Compared to Disney deluxes, we find S/D either just as great or better. We split our last visit b/w Poly and Swan and the CM's at Swan were far more friendly.

 

[bbogz]

Again thanks for all the information. Anything else I should know?

 

[NancyIL]

The government/teacher/nurse rate went back down to $129.

 

[PADVCmember@OKW]

Just called Swan/Dolphin yesterday to make reservation. Teacher discount was $129 as of yesterday's pjone call. (Spoke with John in Reservations at the Dolphin)

I would suggest you call S/D before you make your reservations. John informed me that the teacher discount is not available 365 d/y.

I could get the discount for January 19, 20, 21 but couldn't get it for the January 18.

 

[BriarfoxinWA]

I just called in and got a government rate of $129 for 3/26-29/03!!!!

 

[bbogz]

Has anyone gotten these rates for October?

 

[Jen80370]

If the discount "isn't available" call back (on Fridays). This is when the unblock more rooms at the lower rates throughout the year. They also have a DC/Entertainment Card rate of 50% off rack rate so be sure to try that if the Teacher/Nurse/Gov't rate isn't available that day.

Be sure to check the two major SD threads around here. There is plenty of great info to be had. I warn you though, there is A LOT. I learned alot though...and saved $$$ like you wouldn't believe!

Good luck!

 

[WolfpackFan]

About the Gov't rates at the S/D - are they available at all times, for instance would they be available June 2003? Also, I think I read that there are only a certain number of rooms with these rates. How early do you have to make your ressie to get the rates?

 

[BriarfoxinWA]

I made my reservation with the gov. rate yesterday for the end of March 2003. When I tried to do the online reservation all I got was that it wasn't available for that time. So I called the Swan/Dolphin reservation number instead. Had no problems booking with that $129 rate. Much better than the $299 rack rate I was quoted!

 

[Ityldu]

The discounted rates are not available for all dates. They aren't available for peak times like Christmas and Easter. There are also other dates that are unavailable. Check Glo's post, she lists all the available dates.

The nice thing about these discounts compared to Disney discounts is there's no waiting game. The dates for 2003 are already in the system for S/D, where as Disney often puts the codes out as late as 2-3 months prior to your trip and this year, the Jan. AP discounts came out only 2 weeks prior.

 

[bbogz]

When you book these rooms thru SD directly, do also get your park hopper passes, etc as a package or do you find doing everything individually saves more. I have never booked everything individually-- always have used AAA or a travel agent. Doing it on my own kind of scares me. I'm afraid I would forget something important.

 

[NancyIL]

I'm not sure about Easter, but the discounts are available during Christmas week! Rates at the Swan/Dolphin are more affected by convention traffic than by holidays.