The **New** Swan and Dolphin Resort thread ~ April 2012 ~ Please read post #1

[SingingMom]

Just found out today that we get to tag along on DH's Swan business trip. We've only stayed at the Values before, so this will be a new experience for us! I'm on page 19 of the thread and hope to glean as much as I can, since we go in about 5 weeks!

You will LOVE it!

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[Mouseteacher]

returning to my beloved Swan in September ... it's been too long since we've stayed there. can't wait to get caught up on this thread and see what's new!

Hi, madge...thrilled that a sorority sister is heading back to our beloved resorts.

 

[madge]

Hi, madge...thrilled that a sorority sister is heading back to our beloved resorts.

I cannot wait! I'm actually shooting for 2 nights ... but my second night has been sold out for months I suspect it's sold out for the same reason I want to book, the Tower of Terror 10-miler. I'll keep trying and have a plan B.

anyone been to the Garden Grove weekend buffet lately? reviews?

 

[Beka]

Hi, madge...thrilled that a sorority sister is heading back to our beloved resorts.

How does one join Sigma Delta?

I'm typing this from the 9th floor of the Dolphin, snuggled up in my Heavenly Bed watching the rain outside. We have a double balcony room, kind bed, and can see SE, ToT, and many of the tops of th buildings in WS!

 

[NBCGal]

How does one join Sigma Delta?

I'm typing this from the 9th floor of the Dolphin, snuggled up in my Heavenly Bed watching the rain outside. We have a double balcony room, kind bed, and can see SE, ToT, and many of the tops of th buildings in WS!

I'm so envious! We'll be at the Swan in October - can't wait! One of our favorite views from the Swan is of the Dolphin.

 

[mollygirl13]

We will be at The Dolphin in 27 days. Cannot wait to swim in the Grotto pool and eat my Golden Fries from The Fountain!

We LOVE the Swan/Dolphin and cannot wait for our trip.

We can stay anywhere when we go to Disney and we always choose Swan/Dolphin.

 

[Mouseteacher]

How does one join Sigma Delta?

I'm typing this from the 9th floor of the Dolphin, snuggled up in my Heavenly Bed watching the rain outside. We have a double balcony room, kind bed, and can see SE, ToT, and many of the tops of th buildings in WS!

Hi, Beka,

Waaayyy back in 2002, a small group of us DISers came together because of our love of WDW and the Swan/Dolphin. We started a thread to keep in touch with one another. A just for fun thread called the Sigma (for the Swan) Delta for the Dolphin Sorority. It was here that I learned so much about the S/D before my first stay from the other ladies. I discovered the teacher rate back then and it was $99 a night and about spg and the AMEX spg card.

Some of us had a meet in WDW a few years ago and had tea at the GF. Our thread is not as busy as it once was. I guess real life takes over. But every now and then we do reconnect. Search for us on the Community Board and join in!

Enjoy your stay --- would rather be at the S/D in the rain than at home in the sun!

 

[Zooteach1@yahoo.com]

We have a standard room booked in late November at the Dolphin. An upgrade to a fireworks view room would be wonderful, but assuming that doesn't happen, where's the best spot to be around the property in order to have a good view of fireworks from Epcot, HS or any others that might be visible? Is the Boardwalk a better viewing spot than SD itself? If so, where's the best place to stand?

Thanks!!

 

[Dan Murphy]

We have a standard room booked in late November at the Dolphin. An upgrade to a fireworks view room would be wonderful, but assuming that doesn't happen, where's the best spot to be around the property in order to have a good view of fireworks from Epcot, HS or any others that might be visible? Is the Boardwalk a better viewing spot than SD itself? If so, where's the best place to stand?

Thanks!!

Best place would be from the Boardwalk for Illuminations, or the bridge between the BW area and Y&BC area. You would be able to see the high up fireworks from the program, but not any of the lower aspects of it.

 

[kpadalik]

So we will be at the Dolphin in 39 days for 2 nights pre-cruise...so excited! We have stayed at the Dolphin before, but it was 3 years ago and are so happy to be going back.

I do have a couple of questions that I'm hoping somebody can answer:

1) Do they still have S'mores on the beach? We had them when we were there last time and it was one of our favorite memories...making s'mores with our kiddos, swinging in the hammock, and letting them play on the playground.

2) We went to Shula's a couple months ago for our anniversary and loved it! While we loved the entire meal, we were hoping that we could just get the tomato/mozz salad and the french onion soup to go? Does anyone know if we can do that? If we could get that while the kiddos ate burgers from The Fountain, all would be good in the world. LOL

3) If #2 is not possible, I know that Camp Dolphin for the kids is always available. Do they give a discount if you are eating at one of the signature restaurants, like Shula's?

4) We have family cruising with us that will be staying at an off-property hotel and they thought it would be nice to come and hang out Friday night at the hotel with us. Would they have to pay the full $15 for self-parking?

5) Is there a place IN the hotel (besides a room) where you can view Illuminations? I know you can see it from The Boardwalk area. What about if you walk to the back entrance of Epcot by the turnstiles, but don't enter the park? Is that a good view? Or are we just better off viewing it from The Boardwalk?

6) My DH wants to know if there are really rooms at the top of the "triangle"? I told him probably, but I'd ask here...someone is bound to know. What kind of room is up there?

7) We are bringing cereal and bananas for breakfast. I know that there is a sundries shop, but do they have a 1/2 gallon of milk that we could buy and put in the fridge in our room? And is the fridge cold enough to keep it cold?

 

[Beka]

Best place would be from the Boardwalk for Illuminations, or the bridge between the BW area and Y&BC area. You would be able to see the high up fireworks from the program, but not any of the lower aspects of it.

This was taken from the walkway between the Swan & Dolphin. The view isn't much different from the Boardwalk, just the foreground changes.

Obviously, the view is a little better if you're higher up, but nothing substitutes being right there in EPCOT watching them!

 

[elainyaeq]

we will be checking in at the Dolphin today! 8 hours and counting! Praying for good weather for the drive over and fun by the pool =)

We had a wonderful time at the Dolphin this past weekend. We needed at least one more day to just hang out by the pool(s) and take in the sun and play at the beach.

When we arrived Friday afternoon, they gave us a Resort view room, so to my surprise we received an upgrade from a limited view room without even asking! I'm guessing because the hotel was not fully booked at the time?
Also, we took advantage of the Valet service $20 plus tax, this was a huge convenience especially since grandma and grandpa were with us so we didn't have to worry about parking or lugging our bags up to the room. It's only $5 more a day and well worth it!

We stayed in 2053, although it's a lower floor room the view was great. It's in the East side, so very close to the shuttle boat to Epcot, Hollywood studios and the Boardwalk, but it is a good walk to the pool. Next time i'll be sure to ask for West wing room if it's available. Check in was a breeze, the room was clean and ready when we arrived.

We walked over the bridge to the Boardwalk, rather than by boat and had dinner at the ESPN restaurant where we watched the Bucs Pre-season and Rays games, Both our teams won! The food at ESPN was good and prices were decent. after dinner, our DD8 wanted her hair wrapped, we stopped at the Arcade and bought some ice cream. There were Epcot fireworks behind the ESPN and back buildings so we couldn't see those, they could be better seen from the Dance Hall -front entrance area of the Boardwalk.

We decided to take the shuttle boat back to the Dolphin and then went looking for the pool and found three different jacuzzi's. There was practically no one at the pool after 9:00. the pool technically closes at 9:00pm, slide closes and lifeguards are no longer on duty, but you can still swim just remember to bring your own towels if going after 9:00pm. There was also a movie scheduled by the beach/pool area, 'Madagascar' started at 8:30. i didn't see where a movie was scheduled on Saturday, so it may be selected nights for movies by the pool.

Saturday we took advantage of the free Shuttle buses to MK, the shuttle stop out front makes transportation so easy and convenient for Magic Kingdom. We also saw buses for Animal Kingdom and Blizzard Beach. The wait was not very long and we were dropped off right at the front of the MK park. Same goes when we came back around 4:00. It's nice to not have to worry about driving to and from or the parking.

It rained late afternoon when we got back from MK, so we opted to check out the Arcade then went out to dinner, The restaurants are probably good at the Hotel, but we were up for something else. When we came back from dinner the rain stopped and we headed to the Pool again. It was so nice to relax in the jacuzzi after a long day of walking at the park. We also could see the Epcot fireworks from the Grotto pool on Saturday night around 9.

Sunday morning DD8 was ready for more fun by the pool before check out and the Swan paddle boats! The slide opened at 10:00am and paddle boats at 11:00am. We headed over to the pool around 9:30am, and hung out until the paddle boats opened. i have to say during each of our visits to the pool(s)/beach area there was tons of lounge chairs available, and that was refreshing because some hotels in the area have limited outdoor seating and it can be hard to find a single chair without a towel on it. Not the case here, it was a relaxing fun time and we'll go back to the Dolphin again =)

hopefully this link works, here's some pictures
http://share.shutterfly.com/share/received/welcome.sfly?fid=e9df5765e506d89c6cdd16a80fdf8c46&sid=0IcOHDFo4aMWQN

Oh and the starbucks coffee was sooo good, i have a new favorite coffee now, better than DD!

 

[diskids2]

So we will be at the Dolphin in 39 days for 2 nights pre-cruise...so excited! We have stayed at the Dolphin before, but it was 3 years ago and are so happy to be going back.

I do have a couple of questions that I'm hoping somebody can answer:

1) Do they still have S'mores on the beach? We had them when we were there last time and it was one of our favorite memories...making s'mores with our kiddos, swinging in the hammock, and letting them play on the playground.

2) We went to Shula's a couple months ago for our anniversary and loved it! While we loved the entire meal, we were hoping that we could just get the tomato/mozz salad and the french onion soup to go? Does anyone know if we can do that? If we could get that while the kiddos ate burgers from The Fountain, all would be good in the world. LOL

3) If #2 is not possible, I know that Camp Dolphin for the kids is always available. Do they give a discount if you are eating at one of the signature restaurants, like Shula's?

4) We have family cruising with us that will be staying at an off-property hotel and they thought it would be nice to come and hang out Friday night at the hotel with us. Would they have to pay the full $15 for self-parking?

5) Is there a place IN the hotel (besides a room) where you can view Illuminations? I know you can see it from The Boardwalk area. What about if you walk to the back entrance of Epcot by the turnstiles, but don't enter the park? Is that a good view? Or are we just better off viewing it from The Boardwalk?

6) My DH wants to know if there are really rooms at the top of the "triangle"? I told him probably, but I'd ask here...someone is bound to know. What kind of room is up there?

7) We are bringing cereal and bananas for breakfast. I know that there is a sundries shop, but do they have a 1/2 gallon of milk that we could buy and put in the fridge in our room? And is the fridge cold enough to keep it cold?

I'll reply to number 6. We stayed up in the triangle in 2010, we had a deluxe alcove room. There were rooms on either side of the hall, but the hall was (as expected) very short. Left and right off the elevator with rooms on each side.

 

[NancyIL]

Welcome back, elainyeaq, and thanks for your great review and photos! I have stayed at the Swan and Dolphin quite a few times, but I have never spent a day just enjoying the resort. Maybe I'll make time for that in December - after my annual pass expires and I have a non-park day here and there!

 

[SingingMom]

Welcome back, elainyeaq, and thanks for your great review and photos! I have stayed at the Swan and Dolphin quite a few times, but I have never spent a day just enjoying the resort. Maybe I'll make time for that in December - after my annual pass expires and I have a non-park day here and there!

We try to take one "resort day" in the middle of our stay to sleep in, have breakfast at Fresh, and enjoy the Grotto Pool area and Cabana Bar. It really is a great break when the crowds are a little hectic or the weather is very warm. This next trip will be in January, so I'm not sure if we will build in a day like our usual June trips.

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

 

[ahutton]

I'm so excited that DH and I will be back at Dolphin soon to celebrate our sweet 16th anniversary! I have read many pages, but still have a question that a DISfriend might be able to answer. I saw that there are two types of refillable mugs, one for cold and a different one for hot. In the first post it indicates the one for cold can't be used for coffee.

If you buy the one that is ok for hot, can it also be used for cold? I don't know that I can drink enough of one to justify a cup, but if I can use it for hot and cold it might make sense.


Also - has anyone ordered a cake or something for an anniversary? I would like to surprise DH but am not sure what options we might have at the resort.

 

[onlyafigment]

Can someone explain how the "green" $5 food and beverage voucher works?
When can you collect it, daily? And where from?
And if housekeeping comes automatically every 4th day, do you skip getting a voucher that day?

 

[NancyIL]

Can someone explain how the "green" $5 food and beverage voucher works?
When can you collect it, daily? And where from?
And if housekeeping comes automatically every 4th day, do you skip getting a voucher that day?

You are supposed to get a card every day you don't have housekeeping, and it will be slipped under your door. I redeem mine at checkout for 500 Starwood points per card.

 

[bas71873]

Can someone give me a little info about Christmas-time (first week of December) at the Dolphin. Planning a trip for December 2013 and really, REALLY considering the Dolphin because it's a heck of lot cheaper than BC. Does the Dophin decorate and are there any other activities or things holiday related not to miss at the S&D? Thanks.

 

[tuckerkeys]

I'm so excited that DH and I will be back at Dolphin soon to celebrate our sweet 16th anniversary! I have read many pages, but still have a question that a DISfriend might be able to answer. I saw that there are two types of refillable mugs, one for cold and a different one for hot. In the first post it indicates the one for cold can't be used for coffee.

If you buy the one that is ok for hot, can it also be used for cold? I don't know that I can drink enough of one to justify a cup, but if I can use it for hot and cold it might make sense.


The refillable mugs for hot are somewhat new. You CAN use the plastic one for coffee at picabo for filling up coffee. BUT if in the mornings you want to use the java bar and not do it yourself, then the metal coffee cup is for coffee here