Swan & Dolphin. Thoughts?

[Mickey76]

Hi, everyone!

I haven't been on here since 2007, so if I'm breaking some protocol because there are hundreds of other Swan & Dolphin posts, forgive me.

I'll be staying at the Swan & Dolphin for 5 days this summer with my wife and son, who's 3. I was just wondering what all of you thought and if you have any tips that you'd care to share.

Many thanks!

 

[aimeeinohio]

My thoughts- I REALLY want to stay at one of them one day!!!

 

[DizneyLizzy]

I just got back from a couple nights at the Swan and Dolphin! It was great. Here are some things I noticed.

1. There is a somewhat hefty "resort free" charged upon check in for each night of your stay. It covers parking (even if you don't have a car), wifi, use of the fitness center, and 2 bottles of water per day. It is NOT optional and I think it was about $17 per day. The wifi was pretty good BTW...I found it to be slightly faster than at the other Disney resorts. I also got better cell phone coverage than I do at the Disney value and moderate resorts.

2. The beds are fantastic.

3. The shower was fantastic.

4. If you are impatient on buses (like I am...) and hate making extra stops on your way to the theme parks, stay at the Dolphin - the bus to the MK picked up the Boardwalk and Swan first and picked up at the Dolphin last. This also meant, however, that the Dolphin was the last to get dropped off coming home, but that doesn't bother me as much. If you plan on walking to Epcot and the Studios instead of taking the boats, I think the Swan might be a few paces closer.

5. Speaking of buses, if the line for the S/D/Boardwalk bus at the MK (where they share) is very long, you can always hop on the bus going to Yacht and Beach, and get off at the Yacht Club to save some waiting around time.

That's all I can think of...I enjoyed staying at the Dolphin and wouldn't hesitate to do it again if I got a really good rate. Have a great trip!

 

[mollygirl13]

Dh and I always stay at either the Swan or Dolphin.

Here is why:

1) Within walking distance to EPCOT and DHS. The Friendship boats are great and will also take you to EPCOT and DHS.

2)Heavenly beds. Enough said.

3)Grotto Pool. IMHO, the BEST pool on property.

4)Restaurants. DH and I love all of the restaurants at The Dolphin. The Fountain, Picabu, Fresh and Shula's. Have not eaten at Swan restaurants. We love ice cream and The Fountain has an ice-cream take out counter. We get ice cream and then walk around.

4) Resort pricing. We can't beat the resort rates for Swan/Dolphin. Dh is a Nurse and we can always get an AMAZINg rate w/ the Nurses' discount. We are also Starwood Members and we always get a great room view.

5) So close to Boardwalk, Y & B Club, EPCOT and DHS. Also within walking distance to Fantasia Gardens Mini-Golf. We usually spend our evenings at Jellyrolls or just walking around the Boardwalk watching the entertainment.

6) We have found the busses to be very efficient. Never had a problem.

Hope this helps! As you can see, there are many reasons as to why we love the Swan/Dolphin. My 40th b-day is in February '14 and I have chosen to stay at Swan/Dolphin over any other resort! I am a WDW veteran, having stayed at every resort from Grand Floridian to All-Stars and my favorite by far is S/D!

 

[cleophus12]

Love the dolphin for all the reasons above poster mentioned. Let me say again: heavenly beds.

 

[patty57]

There is a somewhat hefty "resort free" charged upon check in for each night of your stay. It covers parking (even if you don't have a car), wifi, use of the fitness center, and 2 bottles of water per day. It is NOT optional and I think it was about $17 per day.

The $17 resort fee does not include parking. If you have a car, parking is $15 per day to self park, and $20 per day to valet.

I am staying at the Dolphin next month after our first stay at the Swan last June. I never expected to like these resorts so much, and thought I would go right back to BC & BW. I'm saving a very significant amount of money by staying at the Dolphin, which I will have a lot of fun with during my trip.

There are lots of restaurants onsite, Picabu is a cafeteria style which would probably work well for your family. There is both a character breakfast and dinner buffet at Garden Grove for considerably less than any of the WDW character meals. Both of these places also give a AAA discount if you have it. Last June, the playground at the Swan was demolished. I believe a new one was built, but maybe someone else can confirm that. There is a large beach area to play on, and a really beautiful shared pool, plus pools at each resort. You can get a room with a king bed, and pull-out sofa which might work well for you.

To me, you can't beat the Epcot location. If I had a young child, I might prefer a Magic Kingdom location if that was where we were going to spend most of our time, but you are on WDW transportation, so you can bus there and AK.

 

[DizneyLizzy]

The $17 resort fee does not include parking. If you have a car, parking is $15 per day to self park, and $20 per day to valet.

OMG I can't believe I didn't notice that!! Ha. I'll have to check my receipts more carefully...so essentially for parking + the resort fee I paid an extra $32 per night? Yikes...that changes things...

Thanks for pointing that out! It was kind of hectic at check in (spring break...) so I just wanted to get to my room and wasn't paying close attention to the fine print.

Still, for the nights I stayed at the Dolphin (during Easter week) I paid $240 per night, whereas the Y/B Clubs would have been over $500 per night.

 

[patty57]

Still, for the nights I stayed at the Dolphin (during Easter week) I paid $240 per night, whereas the Y/B Clubs would have been over $500 per night.

I know...even with all the fees, the price still ends up being quite a bit less. Some people are bothered by the fees, but to me...it's all about the bottom line and the location.

 

[goofy4tink]

If I can get a good enough rate, I don't mind the addlt charges. But...here's my big issue. If I stay at the S/D, I either have to rent a car to get there, and back to MCO, and then pay for parking every day. Or, I have to take the Mears shuttle, with bags in hand. Yes, it's only about $35 r/t, but it can take 90+ mins. Or, I have to book a car service, and that's going to be $130 or so. So, no matter what, you are going to be paying extra to stay there.
But I do love the Dolphin!!!

 

[patty57]

If I can get a good enough rate, I don't mind the addlt charges. But...here's my big issue. If I stay at the S/D, I either have to rent a car to get there, and back to MCO, and then pay for parking every day. Or, I have to take the Mears shuttle, with bags in hand. Yes, it's only about $35 r/t, but it can take 90+ mins. Or, I have to book a car service, and that's going to be $130 or so. So, no matter what, you are going to be paying extra to stay there.
But I do love the Dolphin!!!

True. I'm taking a town car, which will be $120 round trip...including tip. Still even with transportation costs, fees, taxes etc., I'm saving well over $600 at the Dolphin with the AAA discount and get an additional $50 resort credit to use. I did the calculations at one point, and think the savings are actually over $700, but I'm just too lazy to go to the WDW site and price it out. I could have paid a little less to rent from Alamo to and from the airport and drop it at the Dolphin, but it wasn't enough to make me cancel the town car.

 

[jiminyfan]

The S&D is our top place to stay at WDW. The price for what you get is excellent. The pool is wonderful, plus the poolside service is very good and has excellent food. We will always recommend it to our friends. The restaurants are amazing Shulas has the best steak on property. You will not be disappointed.

 

[amberpi]

If I can get a good enough rate, I don't mind the addlt charges. But...here's my big issue. If I stay at the S/D, I either have to rent a car to get there, and back to MCO, and then pay for parking every day. Or, I have to take the Mears shuttle, with bags in hand. Yes, it's only about $35 r/t, but it can take 90+ mins. Or, I have to book a car service, and that's going to be $130 or so. So, no matter what, you are going to be paying extra to stay there.
But I do love the Dolphin!!!

A cab runs you about $75 with tip and is direct, walk straight out the lowest level, there is never a que at the taxi stand - love it!

 

[amberpi]

Swolphin is our first choice for all WDW trips. We also enjoy the YC/CR and GF in that order as we do get booked out of the S/D a lot. We love the 24 hour room service, that its a bit more adult and relaxing and far prefer the restaurants there (BlueZoo, Il Muliano, Kimono's, Shula's). We also enjoy the lounge in the lobby of the Dolphin and the bars at BlueZoo and Il Muliano. Nothing like stopping for a nightcap right last thing before retiring at night. Also, the lounge bar in the Dolphin will let you take your glasses (not plastic!) with you. My DH will sometimes get us a cocktail to enjoy while getting ready for the evening. The pool is great too. I can't say 1 negative thing about the S/D and the most unexpected "magic" has always happened for me at S/D. I'll be there in exactly 2 weeks!

 

[DizneyLizzy]

I thought of another positive to the S/D!

It's easy to "hotel hop" for dinners because you can easily walk or take the boat to the Studios and then transfer to any resort bus. Wanna have dinner at the AKL, Contemporary, etc? No problem. Take a leisurely stroll or boat ride to the Studios and simply hop a bus. It'll save you some cab fare and/or time busing around to various locations.

 

[mickeygirl14]

We stayed for the first time last year at the Swan and my whole family LOVED it. You get the convenient transportation/walking at a moderate level price. I will say, I had better luck booking directly with them than trying to do it through Disney. Disney was showing no availability - my AAA TA couldn't even find availability on her own, but I got it online via westin.com at the AAA rate and bought our tix through UT. Worked great for us!

 

[Schmoodle]

I stayed at the Dolphin in the summer of 2011 with my kids, at the time 13 & 14 YO. It was fine, and I'd stay there again particularly with a good deal.
The pool is great. We liked the quick service place (Picabu), and the hamburger joint (Fountain) - I think my son hit this place every day. The room was spacious and comfortable beds. We loved being in the Epcot resort area. I don't remember any complaints about the busses.

On the negative side, we were all the way on the lagoon end, and it was a very long walk to the pool, to Picabo, and even from the elevators to our room seemed really long at the end of the night. I remember this vividly because after a long park day, with aching feet, our key wouldn't work and I had to trek back to the lobby. Also, there was some kind of dampness problem - there was a day of very heavy rain while we were there, and afterwards, the carpet in the hallway was squishy wet. Undoubtedly, they've fixed that, but there was a weird musty smell in that hallway during our whole stay.