Swan / Dolphin transportation?

[Jackie H.]

Can someone educate me on what is going on with the transportation at Swan and Dolphin?

I believe I read that when WDW reopened, they lost their Disney bus service, but now Mears has started. Is that the case? If so, how often do they run? Where do they drop guests off at each park? Could we walk over to Boardwalk and get on their buses? If so, how long a walk is that anyway?

Do the boats still stop there and take guests to Epcot and DHS?

 

[Dave006]

Do the boats still stop there and take guests to Epcot and DHS?

Easy part as the Friendships still stop at the Swan & Dolphin going both directions.

Where do they drop guests off at each park?

Different places than the Disney Resort buses. Do you need the specific lanes, AK - spaces 3 and 4. MK - spaces C3 and C4 at the TTC Commercial bus section.

It is worst at MK as they have to stop at TTC so you will need to switch to a Monorail or Ferry boat.

ETA: added bus lane numbers.

Dave

 

[closetmickey]

Can someone educate me on what is going on with the transportation at Swan and Dolphin?

I believe I read that when WDW reopened, they lost their Disney bus service, but now Mears has started. Is that the case? If so, how often do they run? Where do they drop guests off at each park? Could we walk over to Boardwalk and get on their buses? If so, how long a walk is that anyway?

Do the boats still stop there and take guests to Epcot and DHS?

Yes - you may walk over to the Boardwalk- lots of reports of people doing that. 'Im guessing it's about a 5 minute walk.

 

[Jackie H.]

Thanks! Even better information than I hoped for!

 

[AliceIn]

Roll Tide!

 

[WEDWDW]

And I would suggest if not in a hurry,to walk over to the IG and use Skyliner as Transport to DHS just for the fun of it.

Very cool mode of transport.

 

[cvjw]

Please use your own transportation. The wait times at the boardwalk for buses are long enough as is without adding in all the swan and dolphin guests.

 

[maxiesmom]

Easy part as the Friendships still stop at the Swan & Dolphin going both directions.

Different places than the Disney Resort buses. Do you need the specific lanes, AK - spaces 3 and 4. MK - spaces C3 and C4 at the TTC Commercial bus section.

It is worst at MK as they have to stop at TTC so you will need to switch to a Monorail or Ferry boat.

ETA: added bus lane numbers.

Dave

Do you know of a good place to look at where those locations are exactly? We are staying at the Dolphin in October, and I would like to see how far a walk those spots are. I've been having walking issues for going on 5 months now, so debating driving vs taxi vs walking to the Boardwalk/Yacht Club.

 

[Best Aunt]

Do you know of a good place to look at where those locations are exactly? We are staying at the Dolphin in October, and I would like to see how far a walk those spots are. I've been having walking issues for going on 5 months now, so debating driving vs taxi vs walking to the Boardwalk/Yacht Club.

I'm not positive, but I believe the parking lot trams have been discontinued during the pandemic. If I'm right, that means if you drive your own car, you will have to walk from where you park your car to the theme park entrance. I assume there are handicapped parking spots - I'm not sure what is required in order to use one.

Driving or Uber/Lyft/taxi to Magic Kingdom would mean going to Transportation & Ticket Center, not at Magic Kingdom. You would have to take the ferry or monorail to Magic Kingdom from there. Only Disney buses can go directly to the Magic Kingdom. This does not include buses from Swan/Dolphin.

If you are contemplating Uber/Lyft/taxi pickup at the theme parks: I don't know where the pick-up spot at each park is these days. Years back we did this at one of the parks, and the pick-up spot seemed like a very long walk from the park exit. So that is something for you to contemplate.

To get from Dolphin to DHS, typical advice is to walk. To get from Dolphin to MK, some people do a mobile restaurant order at Contemporary, so they can Uber/Lyft/Taxi to that hotel and walk to Magic Kingdom from there. If you have walking issues, however, you might find those walks to be too long for you. I don't have walking issues, and I always feel like I'm walking much longer than I had anticipated on these routes.

As for walking from Dolphin to Boardwalk or Yacht Club, if you want to take the bus from there -- without being rude, I worry that if this distance is too far for you to walk, then you will have problems at the theme parks (which require a ton of walking). Perhaps you are planning to get a scooter or wheelchair when you arrive at the theme park, and didn't mention it because it was not relevant to your question.

 

[heresabe]

I haven't stayed at Swan/Dolphin but I have walked the grounds. The walking time between the Resorts and the Boardwalk is 5-10 minutes. According to https://www.swandolphin.com/feedback/transportation.html , transportation is provided to all Parks....I can't verify whether the link is up-to-date.

 

[bakerworld]

We love the Dolphin and manage to fit in a long weekend there about every other year. We not only don't use their bus system (even pre-CV19) we don't use their QS (Pikachu) either because the added service charge. We fly so the parking fee doesn't impact us but I always have to remember the $30 per day room fee. We still enjoy the Dolphin - it's a splurge but I think it's worth it. Room service can be refused which puts $5/day room credit .

 

[virk4]

anything new or different w/Mears from the Swan? With Uber is it any easier to get dropped off at the GF or Contemporary to walk to the MK?

 

[TheSouthernBelle]

Can someone educate me on what is going on with the transportation at Swan and Dolphin?

I believe I read that when WDW reopened, they lost their Disney bus service, but now Mears has started. Is that the case? If so, how often do they run? Where do they drop guests off at each park? Could we walk over to Boardwalk and get on their buses? If so, how long a walk is that anyway?

Do the boats still stop there and take guests to Epcot and DHS?

We last stayed at Swan this past April. The mears buses appear to arrive about as frequently as when they were disney buses which essentially means there is no predicting them LOL.

The now major drawback is that the bus to MK will drop you at the TTC instead of at the MK bus depot. So on your MK day, you'll need to build in more travel time or find an early breakfast reservation on the monorail line and uber over in advance of breakfast. When it comes to DHS and Epcot, walking/boats are your best bet. The walk from the Swan to both parks is about 10 min at a leisurely/not speed walking pace.

Boats can be hit or miss if you have to wait and with added stops at BC/YC and BW, it usually ends up taking longer to boat over to the parks. As a PP mentioned, you are strongly discouraged from using Disney buses at YC/BC/BW when not staying there however, I've never seen anyone enforce that rule.