Swan Reserve with two 17-year-olds ... what are the cons?

[DLgal]

Is 2 rooms at the YC completely off the table? You'd get a bigger dining credit that way, so it might offset some of the cost. My kids, at 16 and 18, now get their own room when we travel. Everyone sleeps better and having 2 bathrooms is such a great thing. We try and book connecting rooms, but it doesn't always work out. But as long as they are just down the hall, it's no big deal.

 

[We'reGoingToDisney]

For a whole week I’d rather 2 rooms at Dolphin or Swan even if they aren’t a proper suite (ages 17, is a connected suite even necessary?).

Thanks for this suggestion. I have priced out 2 rooms at Dolphin, they have a 25% off second room offer, and it comes in just a little more than the price for the one bedroom signature suite at the Swan Reserve. Having a 2nd bathroom could be really handy! Definitely no need to have connecting rooms at their age.

The Dolphin seems to be more centrally located than the Swan Reserve, too, but it won't have that shiny new hotel feel. I'm torn!

 

[We'reGoingToDisney]

We've stayed at both YC and SR (though not a suite at YC). We like both, but really enjoyed the suite at SR.

1. IMO, the walk to Swan is shorter than 5 minutes. There's a crosswalk, but we never waited more than 1 minute for crosswalk light.
2. Yes, you can use grotto pool. The Swan reserve pool is more a quiet pool.
3. We had a car, so didn't use bus.
4. Non-issue for us
5. No. We did use our bands. In fact, we used the new plus bands. Room had plenty of available places to plug-in electronics! That was a real plus of the room.
6. This is matter of opinion, but we loved the hotel decor.
7. I'm pretty sure yes. It was not a factor for us. We had many dining options without booking 60 days out. You also get the Extra PM hours.
8. Another plus is that the SR has room service. We don't normally do room service, but a big drawback of WDW hotels is that breakfast doesn't start until 7am. That doesn't mesh well with trying to book G+, get a Boarding Group, or booking ILL's. At SR, we were able to get breakfast delivered. We also got some pastries from the boardwalk Deli. They were excellent.

9. We liked the toiletries. They were better than WDW's H2O (though H2O is being phased out.)

Thanks for your super helpful reply! I had wondered about breakfast, seeing most of the quick service restaurants in the resorts didn't open earlier than 7 am but yet as you say it seems like 7 am will be super busy if we're using G+.

 

[We'reGoingToDisney]

Is 2 rooms at the YC completely off the table? You'd get a bigger dining credit that way, so it might offset some of the cost. My kids, at 16 and 18, now get their own room when we travel. Everyone sleeps better and having 2 bathrooms is such a great thing. We try and book connecting rooms, but it doesn't always work out. But as long as they are just down the hall, it's no big deal.

Yeah, 2 rooms at YC would not be feasible at all. We're also doing 5 nights/4 days at Universal, and 2 nights at St Augustine (although one night there will be at a friend's house), so it's all adding up! 2 rooms at Dolphin is more affordable, though, so I'm exploring that option.

 

[DLgal]

Yeah, 2 rooms at YC would not be feasible at all. We're also doing 5 nights/4 days at Universal, and 2 nights at St Augustine (although one night there will be at a friend's house), so it's all adding up! 2 rooms at Dolphin is more affordable, though, so I'm exploring that option.

Dolphin is great! I really like that hotel, but I would be sure to book a "resort view" or higher room category.

 

[We'reGoingToDisney]

Have you considered getting 2 rooms at a mod? We love having 4 beds, 2 bathrooms (this is HUGE), 2 TVs, 2 mini-fridges, etc. It makes the whole vacation more relaxed and everyone is less crabby having their own bed and the convenience of two bathrooms. For our trip this past Jan/Feb, it was cheaper to get 2 rooms at POFQ than one room at YC.

We love staying at POFQ as it is small and quaint. The food at Sassagoula's is great and the boat to DS adds so much more dining and shopping convenience. The bus service is wonderful as well. If you don't mind a large resort with extra walking, you could do two rooms at CBR to have skyliner access.

We used to be a rope drop family but with Genie+, it's almost easier to just sleep in and start stacking LLs for a later day arrival and staying in the park until close. We didn't do any early morning hours on our trip and it was not missed! As long as someone gets up to book the 7am LLs/VQ you are golden.

So I actually was torn between booking YC and POFQ! I think POFQ looks like a beautiful resort, and if I knew for sure that I could get some paid After Hours events for my dates, I think I'd go for it. As it is, I'm leaning towards booking a deluxe, for those extended hours.

2 rooms at POFQ is pretty comparable in price to our 1 room at YC, although right now with the dining credit offered we'd end up with slightly more dining credit with the 2 rooms at POFQ. Pretty interesting to consider!

 

[Grace&Carolinesmom]

So I actually was torn between booking YC and POFQ! I think POFQ looks like a beautiful resort, and if I knew for sure that I could get some paid After Hours events for my dates, I think I'd go for it. As it is, I'm leaning towards booking a deluxe, for those extended hours.

2 rooms at POFQ is pretty comparable in price to our 1 room at YC, although right now with the dining credit offered we'd end up with slightly more dining credit with the 2 rooms at POFQ. Pretty interesting to consider!

We too enjoyed attending an After Hours event several years ago at AK. It was fun having little to no waits on rides, the snacks and of course the cooler nighttime weather! We honestly would have bought a few AH events had they been offered on our recent trip but there were none scheduled during our 10 day trip.

We considered all staying in one Deluxe room at YC for the extra evening hours but decided daily sanity was more important having the extra bathroom, beds, and space in general. We are glad we made the choice for 2 rooms. Honestly, if you are buying Genie+, the extra hours at night for MK and EP aren't as important. If DHS was also added for deluxe EEH, it might be more of a consideration. For a 7 night stay, you will only have one MK and one EP EEH so the other 5 nights have no deluxe benefit. If you use Genie+ to your advantage and/or maybe one or 2 early morning hours at MK and EP, you wouldn't miss the Deluxe EEH, especially if you have an evening at MK where it's open until 11pm. Most families with smaller children leave after fireworks and waits are much less in the last 2 hours or so. We often utilize fireworks and parade times to ride many attractions with little wait.

 

[mickeyluv'r]

Thanks for your super helpful reply! I had wondered about breakfast, seeing most of the quick service restaurants in the resorts didn't open earlier than 7 am but yet as you say it seems like 7 am will be super busy if we're using G+.

The suite we had at SR was NOT two connecting rooms. It was a suite, and it is bookable online.

Actually, we stayed there twice. One suite had a view towards Epcot (Signature Epcot Suite, 2 queens, sofa bed). The other had a view of HS. The configuration is that there is a full bath and a half bath. Both were beautiful rooms. If you look on the outside of the building, some room slightly pop out of the side of the building. One of those was our suite. The bump out = a better view out the window. The room has 2 queens plus a sofa bed that can sleep 2, but max room occupancy is 5.

The rooms had very nice, large windows. We did not try to see fireworks from our room, but we would have had a view of them. At the time HS was not running any fireworks.

We had breakfast promptly delivered at 6:30am. We did a split stay trip, and that was by far the most relaxing morning. If you are not seeing it, try playing with your dates. It doesn't show up under every discount, so maybe look at rack rates. If it isn't listed under rack rates, then they are probably all booked.

 

[Karebear]

Just a comment on the YC extra bed. We were there last year and DS 17 was on the extra bed, my daughter and I in one of the queens, and my mom in the other queen. We were there for 9 nights and DS said the extra bed was comfortable. For reference he is 5"8' and about 145 pounds. Hope this helps with your decision. I would go with the YC!

 

[buzz1fan]

I would go with YC- we’ve stayed at dolphin a couple years ago- it was nice but we didn’t like transportation at all to MK and kids missed charging to room. I also prefer the pool at BC/YC.

 

[champagne&disney]

Thanks for this suggestion. I have priced out 2 rooms at Dolphin, they have a 25% off second room offer, and it comes in just a little more than the price for the one bedroom signature suite at the Swan Reserve. Having a 2nd bathroom could be really handy! Definitely no need to have connecting rooms at their age.

The Dolphin seems to be more centrally located than the Swan Reserve, too, but it won't have that shiny new hotel feel. I'm torn!

I've stayed at all 3 "Swolphin" properties and they are all great in their own right. I just got back last night from a 5-day stay at the Swan Reserve in a Suite. It is a great hotel and not much further away from the boats to EP/HS esp if you are down a long hallway at the Dolphin! And you can easily access the Grotto pool. It's a 3-minute walk at best.

I enjoyed the Suite a lot and it was very spacious! Having 2 bathrooms would be a game changer though. In the Suite, you have a sink and a toilet in a small space with doors and then a sink and the shower in the main bathroom. There are 2 closets in the bedroom and 4 drawers for storage.

 

[GoldeneyezCA]

We stayed at the SR in December with our 10 and 14 go’s, and it was wonderful! The hotel is gorgeous, bright, and modern. We had ample storage space, room service delivered on time every morning before we hit the parks, and all the outlets we needed for our various devices, Magic Bands, etc.

To be clear, we had an Epcot view signature suite and a connecting double queen room because we have Bonvoy status and were seriously upgraded. It was like having an apartment for the week, especially with that big table that seats 4 for meals - so convenient. But even with the signature suite, you’ll have plenty of room. Our alternative was 2 rooms at the Dolphin for the extra bathroom, but they were sold out.

We have never stayed in Bay Lake and weren’t interested in pools (December) or walking to the parks. We wanted a comfortable space to relax, and we were thrilled with the accommodations. For our MK day, we just planned for the cost of a Minnie Van and were delivered right to the gate. And the walk to the Friendship Boats was nowhere near as far as people make it out to be, like maybe 2-3 min. Our kids were laughing at me because I was so worried about that extra walk, and it ended up being a total non-issue, especially when returning to our gorgeous view room every night. Go for it!

 

[kiford]

across the road from Swan, so an extra 5-7 minutes walking time to Epcot and Hollywood Studio, or to the boats to Hollywood Studio

But from the YC, you have about 5-7 minutes to get to the S&D so I think that the walking time probably is a wash regardless of which option. Probably only a couple of minutes at most to get to the boats at S&D.

bus to MK only drops you at TTC not right at front entrance.

I'd walk over to the YC to catch the bus. A few extra minutes to walk there but much less time overall because you'd be dropped at MK bus terminal rather than TTC which would definitely take more time than walking to YC.

Personally, I love staying at Disney resorts and we really like YC and BC but there's only two of us. I remember travelling with my parents and sister and after a certain age, we always got two rooms so that we wouldn't have to share a bed or all share one room. So although it's not quite as magical, and a bit more expensive, I'd opt for the larger space with more room to spread out and more sleeping options and just deal with the minor inconveniences and reduced "magic". It's not magical at all when you're forced to share a small space with a sibling and parents when you're a teen (I remember that all too well).

 

[We'reGoingToDisney]

Thank you to all you helpful people for the replies! I went into a bit of a tailspin of "analysis paralysis" for a while and considered all sorts of options, and watched *lots* of YouTube resort tours. Being made to consider lots of other options led me away from my mindset that I *had* to book that dining credit offer. I've ended up getting tickets from a 3rd party provider for a very good price. Decoupling the tickets from the hotel rooms then freed me up to consider a split-stay between an Epcot area resort and a resort closer to the MK.

I considered the more "affordable" deluxes, too - I'd love to stay at either AKL or WL, they both look gorgeous, but I just couldn't get over them only having 2 beds, no day-bed options. (if either AKL or WL still had the bunk-bed rooms I would've booked in a heartbeat!) Even considering staying on the DVC side of either of those, the bed arrangements didn't really seem to be any better until you were spending a whole lot more. So I will have to be content with trying to visit those resorts for a meal, if we can squeeze that in!

In the end, I'm going with 3 nights at YC, where we'll have a bit of a resort day with an evening at Epcot, a full day at AK, and a HS day. Then we'll move to CR (garden wing) for 4 nights, with 2 days at MK, a full day at Epcot and then probably a rest day/HS evening. I love the look of the rooms at CR, the theming in the lobby/public areas really appeals to me, as does the convenience of walking to MK. What doesn't excite me about the CR is the pool area and the grounds in general. But given that we'll have had some time at YC plus have access to the water parks, I think I can overlook that in terms of convenience. We'll be at CR for the Epcot and MK deluxe extended evening hours, if they continue to fall on a Monday and Wednesday.

Both the YC and CR have the day-bed, and my kids will just have to make that work as a sleeping option. And there are at least double sinks in the bathrooms, too. I'm pretty sure we will be ok with one bathroom since we have one kid who prefers an evening shower vs one who prefers a morning shower ... but ask me after the trip if I want to eat those words!

 

[kiford]

What doesn't excite me about the CR is the pool area and the grounds in general.

We weren't terribly keen on the pool area either, especially given that there is absolutely no shade while in the pool. So we ended up going one night as the sun was setting so that it wasn't so blazing hot. The bonus we discovered for that was that you could see the fireworks from MK while in the pool. No music or projections, obviously, but a different perspective and it was really nice to just loll against the side of the pool and watch the fireworks with practically no one else in the pool.

 

[MMSM]

I've stayed at all 3 "Swolphin" properties and they are all great in their own right. I just got back last night from a 5-day stay at the Swan Reserve in a Suite. It is a great hotel and not much further away from the boats to EP/HS esp if you are down a long hallway at the Dolphin! And you can easily access the Grotto pool. It's a 3-minute walk at best.

I enjoyed the Suite a lot and it was very spacious! Having 2 bathrooms would be a game changer though. In the Suite, you have a sink and a toilet in a small space with doors and then a sink and the shower in the main bathroom. There are 2 closets in the bedroom and 4 drawers for storage.

Is the grotto and pool all open at Dolphin. Someone said it was being worked on.

 

[jmjwdw]

DVC rental or Swan / Dolphin )or stick with original arrangements). We had two 20 year olds at Swan/Dolphin April 2021. They navigated boats, skyliner, monorail, and buses not problem without us. Good luck and have fun!

 

[champagne&disney]

Is the grotto and pool all open at Dolphin. Someone said it was being worked on.

I can't really say as I didn't go to the pool this trip as I was volunteering at Give Kids the World & riding GOTG as much as possible (7x!).