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

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http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1715731&page=26

see if that works for a link to the 2BR Executive Suite pics

That definitely helped. Thanks! We are getting a 1BR, and they said the 1br will have two queens/fulls. I'm assuming the only difference is we won't have the king bedroom like you did in your pictures. How was the view? We are staying there for a super short stay to mourn the end of summer. Wish we could be there longer!
 
That definitely helped. Thanks! We are getting a 1BR, and they said the 1br will have two queens/fulls. I'm assuming the only difference is we won't have the king bedroom like you did in your pictures. How was the view? We are staying there for a super short stay to mourn the end of summer. Wish we could be there longer!

You are correct, same as what we had, minus the attached king room. The view was good, nothing spectacular, but not bad. We had 3 balconies, one in each room. We were in a corner of the building facing the waterway between Swan & Boardwalk. Here are some view pics:

View from the parlor room balcony & the 2 double bed room balcony:
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View from the king room balcony:
162.jpg
 
Hi everyone! I'll be checking in to the Dolphin Tomorrow night and I just wanted to thank everyone who has made this thread so informative. I can't wait to get there and between reading this thread and looking at the photos I'm even more excited...if that's possible:rotfl:
 
Hi everyone! I'll be checking in to the Dolphin Tomorrow night and I just wanted to thank everyone who has made this thread so informative. I can't wait to get there and between reading this thread and looking at the photos I'm even more excited...if that's possible:rotfl:

:woohoo::yay: Excited for you!!! Have a wonderful, magical time!! :goodvibes
 

How do they charge you for parking? Is it by the day or by night? (example, if we check in on monday at 8am and check out on wednesday at 5pm, will we be charge 2 X $15 for 2 nights OR 3 X $15 for 3 days because it was more then 48 hours) Thanks
 
How do they charge you for parking? Is it by the day or by night? (example, if we check in on monday at 8am and check out on wednesday at 5pm, will we be charge 2 X $15 for 2 nights OR 3 X $15 for 3 days because it was more then 48 hours) Thanks

From my understanding it is per night.
 
Hi all! This is such an amazing thread, but I have to admit my head is spinning.

Can anyone share any historical background on AP discounts for S&D?

I'm considering staying here during the Princess half marathon in Feb, and would love to know how the AP discounts work. When I called, the woman I spoke to said it could be anything- they weren't listed for that time frame yet.

My question- do you know if the S&D tends to follow the same AP discounts that Disney does? If 30% for a deluxe is offered, is it likely I'd see the same rate at S&D? Or do they choose their own AP discounts independently?

Also, what seems to be the best discount offered? I'm considering signing up for AAA, it looks like they give decent deals consistently if nothing else was being offered at that time. Anyone on AAA have feedback on using it primarily for discounts?

the resort looks lovely- and I love the Heavenly beds! It would be a lovely way to relax after a long day of running and park exploring after the half marathon!

Thanks for any help you can provide.
 
Hi everyone! I'll be checking in to the Dolphin Tomorrow night and I just wanted to thank everyone who has made this thread so informative. I can't wait to get there and between reading this thread and looking at the photos I'm even more excited...if that's possible:rotfl:
Have a wonderful trip. :cool1:

From my understanding it is per night.
Yes, it is per night.
 
We just came back from 10 nights at the Dolphin.
We had a resort view and are Starwood & AAA members.
No upgrades since the resort was filled with conventions the whole time we were in WDW.

Our view was of the Swan, the boat dock and the Dolphin fountain.
5th floor with a balcony.
If you were at the S/D when we were, our balcony had a red/white/blue flag bunting hanging on the railing facing the boat dock. We hung it for the 4th of July.

We were able to get a cot for our DS for free, since we were Starwood members and did not get an upgrade.
Our DS & DD do not sleep together.

The refrigerator worked great. We just left one door open for better air circulation. We bought milk in Picabu's to use for breakfast in the AM.

The flat screen TV was a great plus. We used two of our AA batteries for the remote when it started to die.

We chose the 'Green' option for our room. No housekeeping in our room. We earned an extra 3000 Starwood points by selecting this option. I had to call 5678 every night to opt in to the Green program.
We did ask Guest Services for a set of 4 clean towels everyday, and they delivered them to our room within 30 minutes of our phone call. We gave the towel delivery person our old towels when the new ones arrived.

Wake up phone call also gave us the days weather for Orlando. Nice perk.

The Heaven bed mattresses were a bit soft for us. They seemed a but worn.
No signs of bed bugs - until we got a towel delivery. There was one on the towel, so we flushed it down the toilet.

The safe was great to use. We kept our car keys in it so we would not lose them. The safe also held our gift cards and traveler checks.
To size the safe - I placed 4 16oz water bottles in it, and they fit very easily across with about 2 more inches to spare. Height would be about an additional 6 or 8 inches above the water bottles. Approximate guess, I did not have a ruler.
I could create our own code for use. 4 numbers. I used the last 4 digits of our home phone #. The only phone # in the room is on our luggage tags, which is our cell #'s. You follow the directions to set your code. Then to open just type in your code and the safe says OPEN on the display. To close you type in your code and then the *. The safe then displays CLOSED. If there is a problem with your entry, the safe says ERROR.

We also brought a 12 shoe closet hanger, which we hung in the closet, to kept all our toiletries. It helped save space with us, DH, DW, teen DS & teen DD.

We used one suitcase on the luggage rack in the room for a laundry basket. One suitcase was stored on the shelf in the closet and our other 2 suitcases were stored on the side of the bed closest to the wall.

The boats and buses came in 20 minutes or less.
There were taxi's in front of the Dolphin to use if we were in a rush.
Only one was a problem. We had to get to the CR for our Cali Grill ADR - the taxi driver asked if we knew how to spell Contemporary. I asked the taxi driver if he knew the way to the CR. He said he did not. :( We got out of the taxi and took another taxi to the CR. :)

Any questions, feel free to ask.

By the way - we survived 4 days of Tropical Storm Debby. I wish Debby did Dallas, not Orlando.
 
pooh2001: Did you pay extra for the balcony on the resort view? When we stayed there last time our resort view didn't have a balcony?
 
We just came back from 10 nights at the Dolphin.
We had a resort view and are Starwood & AAA members.
No upgrades since the resort was filled with conventions the whole time we were in WDW.

Our view was of the Swan, the boat dock and the Dolphin fountain.
5th floor with a balcony.
If you were at the S/D when we were, our balcony had a red/white/blue flag bunting hanging on the railing facing the boat dock. We hung it for the 4th of July.

We were able to get a cot for our DS for free, since we were Starwood members and did not get an upgrade.
Our DS & DD do not sleep together.

The refrigerator worked great. We just left one door open for better air circulation. We bought milk in Picabu's to use for breakfast in the AM.

The flat screen TV was a great plus. We used two of our AA batteries for the remote when it started to die.

We chose the 'Green' option for our room. No housekeeping in our room. We earned an extra 3000 Starwood points by selecting this option. I had to call 5678 every night to opt in to the Green program.
We did ask Guest Services for a set of 4 clean towels everyday, and they delivered them to our room within 30 minutes of our phone call. We gave the towel delivery person our old towels when the new ones arrived
.

Wake up phone call also gave us the days weather for Orlando. Nice perk.

The Heaven bed mattresses were a bit soft for us. They seemed a but worn.
No signs of bed bugs - until we got a towel delivery. There was one on the towel, so we flushed it down the toilet.

The safe was great to use. We kept our car keys in it so we would not lose them. The safe also held our gift cards and traveler checks.
To size the safe - I placed 4 16oz water bottles in it, and they fit very easily across with about 2 more inches to spare. Height would be about an additional 6 or 8 inches above the water bottles. Approximate guess, I did not have a ruler.
I could create our own code for use. 4 numbers. I used the last 4 digits of our home phone #. The only phone # in the room is on our luggage tags, which is our cell #'s. You follow the directions to set your code. Then to open just type in your code and the safe says OPEN on the display. To close you type in your code and then the *. The safe then displays CLOSED. If there is a problem with your entry, the safe says ERROR.

We also brought a 12 shoe closet hanger, which we hung in the closet, to kept all our toiletries. It helped save space with us, DH, DW, teen DS & teen DD.

We used one suitcase on the luggage rack in the room for a laundry basket. One suitcase was stored on the shelf in the closet and our other 2 suitcases were stored on the side of the bed closest to the wall.

The boats and buses came in 20 minutes or less.
There were taxi's in front of the Dolphin to use if we were in a rush.
Only one was a problem. We had to get to the CR for our Cali Grill ADR - the taxi driver asked if we knew how to spell Contemporary. I asked the taxi driver if he knew the way to the CR. He said he did not. :( We got out of the taxi and took another taxi to the CR. :)

Any questions, feel free to ask.

By the way - we survived 4 days of Tropical Storm Debby. I wish Debby did Dallas, not Orlando.

When I stayed at the Swan in April - one phone call at the beginning of my stay started the "green option" for the length of my stay. You don't have to call every night, but there's a 3-days-in-a-row maximum before you'll have housekeeping. I stayed alone, so the 4 sets of towels in my room were plenty until housekeeping came every 4th day.
 
yes we paid for a resort view with balcony - teacher rate plus and extra $25 for our DS - over the age of 18

Green option - housekeeping never came - plus we are neat people. We make our beds, collect all our garbage in a white Glad kitchen bag and place it outside our room every AM, clean up the sink and bathtub, do our own 'housekeeping', so housekeeping did not come into our room.
 
yes we paid for a resort view with balcony - teacher rate plus and extra $25 for our DS - over the age of 18

Green option - housekeeping never came - plus we are neat people. We make our beds, collect all our garbage in a white Glad kitchen bag and place it outside our room every AM, clean up the sink and bathtub, do our own 'housekeeping', so housekeeping did not come into our room.

You were credited with 3,000 Starwood points for your stay - so that's 6 days of the green option at 500 points per day. Even though you never had housekeeping - you didn't get points for the days when housekeeping normally would've cleaned.
 
You were credited with 3,000 Starwood points for your stay - so that's 6 days of the green option at 500 points per day. Even though you never had housekeeping - you didn't get points for the days when housekeeping normally would've cleaned.

Yes - Green points plus our 10 night stay we earned 11,470 STG points :cool1:
 
To anyone who has just stayed at the dolphin. What type of coffee is in the rooms for self-service. I also, drink decaf, is that available as well? Thanks
 
Hi all! :thumbsup2

We just returned from our two weeks at the Dolphin and Cocoa Beach. We had an amazing time! I will post the two bedroom grand suite pics on Monday after my family leaves :)

As I posted before, we had an issue with our check in. Our suite was technically considered to be 3 rooms. When we checked in they said one of the three rooms was ready (the room with 2 doubles,) so we could go ahead up with bell services and wait in that room and housekeeping would open the connecting doors to the other two when they were ready. Well, we went up, and walked in on two maintenance workers who said the room was out of order :confused3 Luckily, our bell services guy walked up right then and went in to talk to them. He then said one of the other rooms was ready (the living room one,) so he took us to that door, and when he walked in they weren't ready. We stood in the hall with all of our luggage for about 20 minutes while he actually went inside to try to help housekeeping hurry up and get ready. After 20 minutes, he said the third room (the king room) was ready, so he unloaded all of our bags into that room, and said housekeeping would open the connectors when they were ready. We sat in the room for about 10 minutes and then decided to go eat at Picabu while we waited. Just as we were about to leave we got a call that the maintenance issue in the double room couldn't be resolved, and that our same bell services guy was on his way back up to move us to a different suite that was definitely ready. This whole process took about 45 minutes, and the new suite's view wasn't as good as the first one, so we were a little bummed, but we were glad to have had a bell services person so dedicated to helping figure everything out, and we were glad to not have had to worry about the maintenance issue. The only weird thing was that we tipped bell services (pretty well) when they dropped off the bags the first time, and then he sort of lingered after the second drop off, and we didn't really feel like we should tip again (I hope that's not rude!) It was a little awkward.

Busses and boats were pretty good. We never had to wait more than 10 minutes for either, except for our last night going to MK PM EMH. We walked up and there was one other family there waiting. Our two families waited for about 15 minutes, and then a whole HUGE group from the dance competition came up. We all waited about 30 more minutes and then a bus pulled up (that was already almost full. I know busses are supposed to come every 20 minutes, but this wait was a total of about 45 minutes :confused3) The dance group started to push to get on first, and my sister said that the family that was there before us was there first. One of the dance teenagers got really mouthy and said they had a dinner reservation and they were going to be late, and the mom said if they were late they'd get charged and they'd been waiting for the bus for an hour and a half (???) and then they proceeded to all push on the bus. Obviously, there were quite a few people who were left standing, and some had some choice words for the driver. It was a mess and not a good situation, but it was the only transportation issue we encountered our whole time. (BTW, when we got to MK the dance group ran over to the boat dock to get the boat to their dinner reservation just as the boat was pulling away. Karma anyone? ;) )

**Also ETA: I don't know if this was right or not, but because our suite was technically 3 rooms, we got 6 bottles of water each day with our resort package and 3 newspapers? I know they knew it was a suite because all the connecting doors were open, and we called to double check and they said it was right. I felt guilty because we only paid one resort fee, but it was VERY nice to have all that water after the hot days in the parks!

Any questions, just ask!
 
To anyone who has just stayed at the dolphin. What type of coffee is in the rooms for self-service. I also, drink decaf, is that available as well? Thanks

The coffee is Starbucks :goodvibes and there is plenty of decaf available. Actually, we had more decaf than regular, but asked housekeeping if we could have more regular. They were actually really good at monitoring our usage and refilling as we needed. There's also Tazo tea (FYI, the black tea is amazing at soothing sunburn!)
 
If you don't mind me asking, how much does a 3 room suite run? Is it usually double or triple a regular room? How many does it sleep? Thanks for the info.

PS LOVE the story about the dance group missing the boat. Yes, I believe in karma as well. How dare they try to push themselves onto the bus. Like the rest of you weren't waiting also. Some friggin nerve.
 
If you don't mind me asking, how much does a 3 room suite run? Is it usually double or triple a regular room? How many does it sleep? Thanks for the info.

PS LOVE the story about the dance group missing the boat. Yes, I believe in karma as well. How dare they try to push themselves onto the bus. Like the rest of you weren't waiting also. Some friggin nerve.

The 2BR Executive Suite sleeps 12+ (ther are 6 double/queen/king beds and you can put a rollaway in there too, I asked).

We had a great AAA discount & I think we paid around $700/nt for it, but not positive.

The rates for suites aren't posted online, you have to call the suites phone number for that.
 
The 2BR Executive Suite sleeps 12+ (ther are 6 double/queen/king beds and you can put a rollaway in there too, I asked).

We had a great AAA discount & I think we paid around $700/nt for it, but not positive.

The rates for suites aren't posted online, you have to call the suites phone number for that.

Our suite was a 2 bedroom grand and it only slept a max of 8. Strange that the executive sleeps more people (I guess because it has a murphy and a sleeper?) Our room had 2 doubles in one bedroom, a sleeper sofa in the living room, and then a King in the other bedroom. We used a teacher rate for a one bedroom grand suite and then added another bedroom with a stay connected rate, so maybe our configuration was different than a typical 2 bedroom grand suite. Our rate was AMAZING (about $540 per night total.) We booked about 5.5 months in advance.
 
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