Tell me about the Swan and Dolphin

singingpixie

<font color=deeppink>Baby Donor<br><font color=blu
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Feb 26, 2004
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With the new changes in the dining plan, I'm not as married as I was to staying in a disney-owned resort. My mom and I are planning a trip for about a year from now, and since she's a teacher, we would likely be able to get a really good rate at the Swan or Dolphin. What have been your experiences there? The other resort we were strongly considering was the AKL, for a point of reference.
 
We just got back from 6 nights at the Dolphin and we loved ALMOST everything. They are not disney themed, Your room key and park tickets are seperate, and you can not charge to your room in the parks. There is a disney counter that is seperate from the main counter. The pool area is wonderful and did not seemed crowded, even though both hotels share the pool area. We had a conference at the time, but we never noticed them expect in the huge lobby area.

The almost comes from the problems we had with the boat transportation to EPCOT and MGM. In the past, we loved the boats. However, this year it was VERY slow because two of the boats kept breaking down. The A/C was not working on any of the boats and the windows would not open. On a good note, the buses to AK and MK were efficient and timely (and I hated the buses in the past). I was wishing for buses to the other parks!
 
We've stayed at the Dolphin many times and stayed there in May of this year. This last time we found our room (East Wing overlooking Boardwalk) VERY, VERY damp! Extremely damp! Never experienced that with our previous visits. I think I'd try the Swan next time. Enjoy your stay !
 
Keep in mind that the Swolphin is not Disney owned/operated so there are real differences in the experience.
For example:
You can't charge to your room (except when actually in the hotel).
You can't use ME from the airport so you'll have to pay extra to get to the hotel.
If you have a car, you'll be charged extra to park at the hotel.
 

We just spent July 26-29 at the Dolphin, then switched over to BCV for 6 more nights.

The Dolphin was ok, but no one in my family got that "Disney" feel....and we've tried it once & probably won't go back.
**And to the previous poster...our room (Room 15109) was also very damp thruout our stay!!...so much so that our park maps were even damp.

We decided that for next summer, we'll just spend all 10 nights at BCV instead.
 
We've stayed at the Dolphin many times and stayed there in May of this year. This last time we found our room (East Wing overlooking Boardwalk) VERY, VERY damp! Extremely damp! Never experienced that with our previous visits. I think I'd try the Swan next time. Enjoy your stay !


We noticed that as well! We thought it had to do with the A/C powering down when people left the room. Do you think the Swan would have the same problem?
 
Keep in mind that the Swolphin is not Disney owned/operated so there are real differences in the experience.
For example:
You can't charge to your room (except when actually in the hotel).
You can't use ME from the airport so you'll have to pay extra to get to the hotel.
If you have a car, you'll be charged extra to park at the hotel.

It was 9 dollars a day for the car. That does give your car access to the parking lots at each park.
 
I had never stayed in the Swan/Dolphin before either and was leery of doing so as I am a real disney hotel lover. Well, after spending 8days at the Dolphin I truly fell in love with the place!! I don't think I will stay anywhere else! First of all with the nurses discount the rate for a deluxe was better than I could get a disney moderate. The staff at the Dolphin were excellent. They went way beyond in helping us out several times. I even got some disney magic...I booked a standard room and got a beautiful room upgrade to Epcot view! There is nothing better than laying in bed at night seeing the lights of boardwalk and Epcot. It is like you are right there in the heart of disneyworld! The room itself was very big, bright and airy. After having stayed in AKL where the rooms seemed darker the Dolphin room just seemed so much brighter. The beds were truly what people say about them "heavenly". The resturants I felt were much better than staying at the disney hotel strictly because you had such diverse choices. When you come home late from the parks there is even Pickabu's that stays open 24hrs!! There is high scale resturants to pool side resturants all who have excellent food choices. Now for transportation...you can walk easily to epcot/mgm if you want. You can also ride the boat which are right outside the hotel. The bus service is pretty fast too. A whole lot more quicker and efficient than I ever had staying at the mods. We did have a rental car and yes they do charge you at the end of your stay but it isn't that big a deal. You can come and go as much as you want. Overall, give Dolphin/Swan a try you really won't be sorry! :banana:
 
I had never stayed in the Swan/Dolphin before either and was leery of doing so as I am a real disney hotel lover. Well, after spending 8days at the Dolphin I truly fell in love with the place!! I don't think I will stay anywhere else! First of all with the nurses discount the rate for a deluxe was better than I could get a disney moderate. The staff at the Dolphin were excellent. They went way beyond in helping us out several times. I even got some disney magic...I booked a standard room and got a beautiful room upgrade to Epcot view! There is nothing better than laying in bed at night seeing the lights of boardwalk and Epcot. It is like you are right there in the heart of disneyworld! The room itself was very big, bright and airy. After having stayed in AKL where the rooms seemed darker the Dolphin room just seemed so much brighter. The beds were truly what people say about them "heavenly". The resturants I felt were much better than staying at the disney hotel strictly because you had such diverse choices. When you come home late from the parks there is even Pickabu's that stays open 24hrs!! There is high scale resturants to pool side resturants all who have excellent food choices. Now for transportation...you can walk easily to epcot/mgm if you want. You can also ride the boat which are right outside the hotel. The bus service is pretty fast too. A whole lot more quicker and efficient than I ever had staying at the mods. We did have a rental car and yes they do charge you at the end of your stay but it isn't that big a deal. You can come and go as much as you want. Overall, give Dolphin/Swan a try you really won't be sorry! :banana:

Thank you! You answered my questions I have had about Swan/Dolphin dead on. I'm a little irked by the pricing at Disney nowdays. I can get Dolphin for $100 more than POR. Seems like a no-brainer to me.

Does anyone know if I can do the 180 +10 for dining for Dolphin?
 
It was 9 dollars a day for the car. That does give your car access to the parking lots at each park.

so the parking you pay at the swan and dolphin gives you access to park in the lots at the park? how does that work? im confused.
 
What have been your experiences there?
We first stayed in 04 over Christmas using my wifes teacher discount. We really enjoyed our stay and the location. Most of all due to the price we're able to stay longer and enjoy the parks. A nice hotel is great but I go for the parks. The Christmas decor was great, room was wonderful and the staff were all very helpful. When we started thinking about going again we went right back to the S/D. Now since our last trip we've started using our American Express Starwood card for everything and just pay it off - the result is our entire hotel stay will be paid for by points! Can't complain about free, and we're in a wonderful location. We often walked over to the Boardwalk and ate and enjoyed seeing the other nearby resorts.


Does anyone know if I can do the 180 +10 for dining for Dolphin?
Sorry, only 180. The +10 is for disney owned hotels only. We had to call at each for each of reservations at 180 days.
 
so the parking you pay at the swan and dolphin gives you access to park in the lots at the park? how does that work? im confused.

Yes! when you drive to the park, you simply show your room key to the gate attendant and he will let you in. Your Swan or Dolphin parking fee is added to your final room bill.
 
Thanks for the info about the parking, it will be a big help when making a final decision on where to stay. Right now I have booked a 2bed/2bath villa at the Marriott Grande Vista from dec 9-19th. I am a rewards member with them so i was able to get a great rate at 35% off. I am still in the process of making the decision to stay on property for a few nights. There are a few deluxe hotels on property that have caught my eye, but when it come to the beds, the pics of the swan/dolphin take the cake! I have been crunching numbers between staying on property the whole time, staying off the whole time, and splitting it on and off. With the rates that the swan/dolphin is giving at that time, they actually seem to even out for the most part. So I guess it boils down to space in the room that we would have off property. It is hard to say how quickly we may get "Disney'ed out"staying on property.(and when i say we, i mean my fiance. I dont think it is possible for me.)We both haven't been there since we were really young and it will also be our honeymoon, so we dont really know what to expect. 10 days may be a bit long for him to have "its a small world" stuck in his head! Any thoughts on this?
 
I have read many posts about damp rooms at the Dolphin. Did you notice it right away? I would think it would make the room uncomfortable. How do your bathing suites dry?

Did anyone ask for another room?

Thanks, we are trying the Dolphin for the 1st time next week.
 
I have read many posts about damp rooms at the Dolphin. Did you notice it right away? I would think it would make the room uncomfortable. How do your bathing suites dry?

Did anyone ask for another room?

Thanks, we are trying the Dolphin for the 1st time next week.

About the dampness...when we got in our room, I noticed that it was quite chilly in there. Later in the day I realized it was the dampness.

Our bathing suits never really did dry.
We just wore a different one each day (lucky for us we each brought 3-4 suits).

We didn't ask for another room...we were only staying 3 nights before checking in to BCV.
 


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