Swan or AKL?

[Poohlovr]

I, too, vote for the Swan. (or, heck--try the Dolphin!)

When we stayed at AKL, I loved sitting on the balcony seeing the animals...sometimes. A lot of times, there were only the birds and the jacks. But, we could onlt do that during the mornings, because we spent most of our day at the parks.

I felt the room was extremely small for a deluxe. With two kids, DH and me, we were crowded. And it was always dark. WIth the dark colors and dark wood and energy lighting, I honestly could not lie in bed and read at night.

Transportation was not a problem for us.

However, the resort was beautiful.

At the Swan, the rooms are larger (and larger yet at the Dolphin)and certainly brighter than at AKL. As others have mentioned, the location cannot be beat. The park transportion was excellent. (We enjoy the Friendship boats).

There are more places to eat at the SD, including Tubbis's, which is open 24 hr a day.

I don't know how you feel about bed size, but we need the larger beds at the Swan.

Finally, the Grotto pool is so much better than the pool at AKL. I have never been there when it was crowded, and I have been in every season.

On a last note--my kids were so very excited to be staying at AKL...I thought, After all, I booked it because that was all they had talked about since before it opened. Then, one day, on the way to the park, we passed the Swan and one of them said, "I wish we were staying there again". and the other said "Me, too".

Yep--my vote goes to the Swan.

 

[dianeh41]

We just got back from the swan last week. We stayed 2 weeks and enjoyed all 2 weeks. It is a wonderful hotel. The pool huge. You have a quiet pool and then if you continue past that you have sand beaches, a playground then the momma of all the pools. It has a waterfall in it, slide , tunnels and all the way at the end you can play volley ball, out of the pool there is 2 basket ball courts , across the street is mini golf. On the weekends at the pool (thursday-sunday) They have a live DJ and hair wrapper who does twist and braids , they play games for free with the kids at the pool on the weekends. The beds are the most comfortable I've ever slept in. The rooms are clean, everyone is very friendly too. We had a great view of the boardwalk, the lake and fireworks. We will be returning. It was fabulous!!!!!! Walk to the board walk and take a stroll all the way around you can walk past the y/b club and espn zone is fun to eat at too.

 

[kathy387]

I'm begining to think that the Swan is one of the best kept secrets at WDW! Can someone tell me if the $10 resort fee is per person per day or per room per day. It's not something we'd get otherwise but I guess that it's mandatory now? Also, we have a standard but with the 1 room free upgrade, we'll probably end up with a lake view...what can I expect? Do the lakeview rooms all look towards the BW direction? One more question, they have refillable mugs now but they can only be filled at Tubbies so is it worth it for the people staying at the Swan to have to run over there all the time or is it more hassle than what it's worth?

 

[las3888]

The $10 charge is per room per day. I believe in the past you used to be able to say I don't want the newspaper etc. and they would remove it, but I haven't heard of any reports of anybody managing that anymore. I would just factor it into the cost of the room.

I am not real positive on the room categories, but last year we booked the lowest room category and just stated that we wanted best view possible as well as a balcony (balconies are scattered throughout the resort - many (most?) rooms do not have a balcony). We were delighted to get a balcony as well as a nice enough view overlooking the Dolphin, and the sidewalk that runs between them...we had alot of nice landscaping and courtyard to look at and could see portions the Y&BC. We have stayed before at the Dolphin several times for DH's conventions and have had the dumpster view a few too many times. We were happy to have a balcony because at least at that time, balcony rooms were not part of the lowest room categories. I think the worst rooms at the Swan overlook the roof of the convention center.

Good luck and have a great time!!!

 

[dianeh41]

the 10.00 fee is mandatory.It is per room per day.If you decline the paper daily they will credit you .50. We just kept the paper. If you get turn down service nightly not only do you get that but they refresh your towels and coffee, and also if you need any more soaps and stuff. We had a great view of the lake and the boardwalk pool. We got to see the boats all day and evening. It was very nice. The cups we did not get cause we were not in our room much. You can get a drink at Tubbies for 1.99 from a plastic glass and if your going to the pool you can refill it all day for free. That was nice. So thats what we did. It is a nice hotel and the convienance is great. I would recommend it. We were there 2 weeks and loved it. We will be going back......We had a blast.

 

[swilphil]

We found the Tubbi's refillable mug to be worth it even though we were staying at the Swan. I would go over every morning and fill it with Starbucks coffee for my husband. I used the room coffee maker for my hot tea. I didn't think the walk to Tubbi's was any farther from the Swan than when we stayed in the East wing of the Dolphin. The Starbucks coffee is much superior to the coffee served anywhere else in WDW. We also used the mug for soda refills later in the day.

 

[Tigger Woods]

You'll love the Swan. Plenty of Disney Magic and atmosphere. Have dinner and drinks on the Boardwalk, then walk (or take a Friendship Boat) over to Epcot to watch Illuminations. It doesn't get any better than that.