Swan/Dolphin Dining

[kiminal]

Was just wondering for those that stay at Swan/Dolphin, do find you spend alot more on dining since you are not able to participate on DDP? We have always stayed at Contemporary or POFQ and used plan but we are SPG members and love staying at Westins when we travel and very interested in trying the Swan. Any info or tips you can give on dining when staying there would be greatly appreciated. It will be myself, DH and my 17yr old nephew.. How much estimated do you budget for each person per day for dining??

Thank you much for help and have a wonderful day

 

[Ramsfan28]

I typically stay at the S&D once a year while spending another trip or two at BLT that same year.

I really like the dining options at the S&D and typically go to a couple of the restaraunts while staying there. To me, the food options are better than many of the signature dining that you find at ther other Disney resorts. For example, I think Shula's has the best steak at the World and Il Mulino is the best option for Italian food. Also, BlueZoo is a wonderful dining experience.

I will also tell you, that when I stay at BLT I typically wont head over to the S&D for dinner - the simple reason they aren't a convenient option from BLT.

Hope that helps.

 

[TaraPA]

Don't forget if you're a AAA member you get 20% off at S/D non-signature restaurants - that 20% can really be a huge savings!

 

[TDC Nala]

I never use the dining plan whether I stay at a Disney resort or not. I don't eat the way it's set up. I usually eat an appetizer or two instead of an entree anyway, and I rarely order desserts. So it's not necessarily true that parties not on the dining plan spend more.

To formulate a budget, use the menus on the unofficial sites and you can get ballpark (but possibly not exact) prices for the places you want to eat and the menu items you might want to order.

The Swan/Dolphin restaurants are actually better in quality than many Disney restaurants are now. Is that because they don't take the dining plan? No way to actually know. But you can take the opportunity to visit some restaurants you wouldn't have tried if you'd been on the dining plan.

 

[lovingmy2boys]

We have never used the dining plan whether we stay at a Disney Resort or the Swan/Dolphin. We are currently booked at the Swan for our stay in September.

A good option also is that Restuaraunts.com offers gift certificates that you can use there! I just got a $25 GC for $2 to use at Il Mulino's. Plus having AAA is great as well.

 

[RIDisney179]

This will be our first stay at the Swan/Dolphin. We've eaten there in the past but did not know about the AAA discount. Where is this valid?

 

[rie'smom]

We probably spend less or about the same amount on meals. If you look at http://allears.net/din/dining.htm you pretty much have to order the most expensive items on the menu for the DDP to be worth it. I might only feel like eating a salad instead of a steak or seafood dinner but if I'm on the DDP I'll feel obligated to get the more expensive choice to make the DDP worth it. We do not eat snacks and bring water into the parks so that part of the DDP is a waste for us. Some days we might eat a more expensive meal so as I posted in the first sentence, it's usually either a wash or we save $$$. I will still from time to time get the DDP if my daughter has invited friends on our trip because I don't have to keep pulling out my wallet to pay for meals. They just use their room card however they can do that at the S/D as well. In fact, they all LOVE the Picabu restaurant at the Dolphin.

 

[Pakey]

We don't do the dining plan either. One of the reasons is because we enjoy the Swan/Dolphin restaurants so much and we would hate to have to skip them in order to use those meal credits.

 

[Missytara]

Now, the bar bill; a different story.

I don't know why, but their glasses of wine were sooooo steep. And sooooooo small. 3 oz. pour for 9.00; I ran up quite a bar bill that one year.

 

[TaraPA]

This will be our first stay at the Swan/Dolphin. We've eaten there in the past but did not know about the AAA discount. Where is this valid?

Siganture are Blue Zoo, Shula's, Il Mulino & possibly Kimono's - not positive but there's a list on the S/D thread. I've used the AAA discount at Picabu & The Fountain -both very good food. We love the Picabu food court - it's open 24/7 & has a wide variety of items priced the same or better than Disney CS. The Fountain has great made-to-order burgers, shakes & ice cream for less than a Disney TS.

You can get a bargain on gift certs from restaurant.com for the signature places at S/D also for Garden Grove at The Swan. Just watch the fine print - I think they are all dinner only, with a $100 check minimum. You cannot used the Garden Grove one for the character breakfast there. We used one last week, not at S/D, but at DTD. $50 House of Blues cert for $6 - not bad!

We did DDP once & never again. We spend far less eating on our own, and like someone else said, we felt obligated to order app, dessert, etc when on DDP (we paid for DDP, it wasn't part of free dining) and we wasted a lot of food which I hate doing. Add to that the fact that we felt tied down to our ADR's every day, and sometimes I just like to wing it - we couldn't do that on DDP.

I agree the food choices & quality are much better at S/D then in WDW as a whole.

 

[kiminal]

Thanks for alll the feedback so far. We are AAA members so to get the 2o% do we just show card at restaraunt at the time of paying bill?

Thanks again
Kim

 

[princesscharming]

Just watch the fine print - I think they are all dinner only, with a $100 check minimum. You cannot used the Garden Grove one for the character breakfast there. We used one last week, not at S/D, but at DTD. $50 House of Blues cert for $6 - not bad! QUOTE]

Ok, so let's say I get four $25 restaurant.com certs for $2 a piece. Now I go to one of the S/D restaurants, and there is a stipulation that the check needs to be $100. Is it the origianl bill that needs to be $100? So I can hand them my four certs and be OK? (And in reality, I would have only spent $8, not including tax, tip, and whatever alcohol we might have ordered.)

 

[TaraPA]

Thanks for alll the feedback so far. We are AAA members so to get the 2o% do we just show card at restaraunt at the time of paying bill?

Thanks again
Kim

Yep that's all you do! At Picabu just hand them the card at the cashier & she will take the 20% off. Sometimes they write my AAA number down on their copy of the receipt, sometimes not. Even on a $20 meal that saves you $4 - a free beverage!

 

[rlovew]

Just watch the fine print - I think they are all dinner only, with a $100 check minimum. You cannot used the Garden Grove one for the character breakfast there. We used one last week, not at S/D, but at DTD. $50 House of Blues cert for $6 - not bad! QUOTE]

Ok, so let's say I get four $25 restaurant.com certs for $2 a piece. Now I go to one of the S/D restaurants, and there is a stipulation that the check needs to be $100. Is it the origianl bill that needs to be $100? So I can hand them my four certs and be OK? (And in reality, I would have only spent $8, not including tax, tip, and whatever alcohol we might have ordered.)

I beliueve they stipulate you can only use 1 certificate a month so you would not be able to use more than 1 on a bill or even within the same week at the same place (unless the months changed during the week).

 

[TaraPA]

Just watch the fine print - I think they are all dinner only, with a $100 check minimum. You cannot used the Garden Grove one for the character breakfast there. We used one last week, not at S/D, but at DTD. $50 House of Blues cert for $6 - not bad! QUOTE]

Ok, so let's say I get four $25 restaurant.com certs for $2 a piece. Now I go to one of the S/D restaurants, and there is a stipulation that the check needs to be $100. Is it the origianl bill that needs to be $100? So I can hand them my four certs and be OK? (And in reality, I would have only spent $8, not including tax, tip, and whatever alcohol we might have ordered.)

You can only use one cert per meal, and even within a certain time period too.

 

[tobikaye]

Ok, so let's say I get four $25 restaurant.com certs for $2 a piece. Now I go to one of the S/D restaurants, and there is a stipulation that the check needs to be $100. Is it the origianl bill that needs to be $100? So I can hand them my four certs and be OK? (And in reality, I would have only spent $8, not including tax, tip, and whatever alcohol we might have ordered.)

Basically think of the restaurant.com certificates more as coupons for money off instead of as gift certificates. A coupon usually has some type of restrictions. Below are some examples from restaurant.com that I found today. I did not search using one of the codes to get the certificates for $2, so below are listed as what the site shows. Also, right now on the site the type of certificates is limited as it is the last day of the month. Tomorrow there could be more types.

Examples:

Shula's Steak House - Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin Resort
$25 Gift Certificate | Your Price $10
Restrictions: Minimum 2 entrees. 18% Gratuity added prior to discount. Not valid during Special Events. One certificate per table.

Kimonos - Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin
$25 Gift Certificate | Your Price $10
Restrictions: Minimum purchase of $35. 18% Gratuity added prior to discount. Valid for Food ONLY. Not valid during Special Events. One certificate per table.

 

[TDC Nala]

You can only use one restaurant.com certificate per table, per meal. You can't combine 4 of them at $25 to get a free $100 meal. Best you can do is get $25 off your bill, whatever it turns out to be.

 

[Ramsfan28]

You can also use the Tables in Wonderland card at some of the S&D restaraunts now.

 

[jgates]

We did only Fountain & Tubbi's Buffeteria (is that Picabo's now?) & enjoyed them both. Other than that we ate in the parks & at DTD.

One trip my aunt took us to Blue Zoo - 2 adults & one 11 year old that only had soda & fries & we somehow dumped $150. So maybe avoid the signature rest's LOL.

 

[Swan4Me]

We had wine and Pizza in Il Mulino a couple times (in the bar)-really good pizza

Liked Picabo for breakfast and dinner
Also FResh at night for salads and sandwhiches

The 2 above were resonably priced