The **New** Swan and Dolphin Resort thread ~ September 2010 ~ Please read post #1

[ClareH37]

I've now read this thread all the way through, thank you so much

After years of staying at the 'official' Disney resorts, particularly club level, I've come to the realisation that I just cannot justify the rack rates any more - I'm from the UK so don't get a 'pin' that a lot of people seem to get, I'm one of the 'mugs' that pays full price (unless a general public discount comes out) so I've booked the Swan for the first time, I love the look of those beds and as I feel (obviously just my opinion) that the official Disney restaurants have come way down hill re. quality, it makes sense to stay at a resort where I've eaten at before and loved the restaurants.

I cannot believe the Yacht Club for a standard room is double the price of the Swan having stayed at the Yacht Club before it's very nice but come on, double??!!

Anyway, moaning aside, I'm looking forward to my stay but I do have a little hesitation and would really appreciate honest opinions please from those who have stayed at the Swan - I'm not really concerned about the 'Disney feel', sometimes it's like banging your head against a brick wall with all that sugar coated customer service, but my tiny little concern is just re. customer service at the Swan, if there's any issues were they quickly resolved? Also, housekeeping - how is it?

Thanks

 

[RachelTori]

I've now read this thread all the way through, thank you so much

After years of staying at the 'official' Disney resorts, particularly club level, I've come to the realisation that I just cannot justify the rack rates any more - I'm from the UK so don't get a 'pin' that a lot of people seem to get, I'm one of the 'mugs' that pays full price (unless a general public discount comes out) so I've booked the Swan for the first time, I love the look of those beds and as I feel (obviously just my opinion) that the official Disney restaurants have come way down hill re. quality, it makes sense to stay at a resort where I've eaten at before and loved the restaurants.

I cannot believe the Yacht Club for a standard room is double the price of the Swan having stayed at the Yacht Club before it's very nice but come on, double??!!

Anyway, moaning aside, I'm looking forward to my stay but I do have a little hesitation and would really appreciate honest opinions please from those who have stayed at the Swan - I'm not really concerned about the 'Disney feel', sometimes it's like banging your head against a brick wall with all that sugar coated customer service, but my tiny little concern is just re. customer service at the Swan, if there's any issues were they quickly resolved? Also, housekeeping - how is it?

Thanks

Clare - ITA with you re the ridiculous prices for the Disney resorts!!

I have stayed at Swan & Dolphin many times and I can assure you, you have nothing to worry about! I love the rooms at both, Swan is just a little bit nicer (). As far as the "Disney feel", all you have to do is look out your window (or go out on your balcony) and you'll know you are in the heart of Disney!

The CM's at Swan & Dolphin? Wonderful, fantastic, exceptional, always go the extra mile! Not taking anything away from Disney CMs, but as a group, I have always found the Swan/Dolphin CMs to be just a little more wonderful!

Housekeeping has always been great. Need anything, whether it be a bandaid (or even something more personal), dial the Customer Service extension from your room and it is done! They even call to follow up that you received what they promised!

My fear? That the Swan & Dolphin are going to realize what wonderful resorts they are and start charging 'Epcot Resort' prices.

 

[TaraPA]

Ditto RachelTori!

We've always had top notch service at S/D - superior to even the great Disney CMs.

 

[ImprovGal]

The resort looks beautiful for the holidays! There is a sort of sugar cookie or perhaps snickerdoodle scent piped into the lobby that I hope is just there as a holiday touch. It's a bit too artificially sweet-smelling for me.
Service has been excellent so far. I had booked the Santa rate with the "Trick or Treat" special and gotten the milk & cookies turndown as my bonus perk. I arrived at the resort Thursday evening around 7:30pm and the milk & cookies were delivered as I was settling into my room. It was a glorious tray with 2 8-oz carafes of milk -- one chocolate, one plain (lowfat, I think) -- and too many chocolate chip cookies for one person to handle. The milk and most of the cookies became dinner that night. I had the last cookie this morning.

 

[WUVmyDISNEY]

Improvgal, glad to hear your have received good service. We can't wait to get there! I am nervous about the weather where we are fying from. Snow is supposed to start in about an hour :-(

Right now we are at an airport hotel because it's supposed to be extremely windy with white out conditions at times. Not much accumulation, maybe 3 inches but 35 mph winds etc with higher gusts. Our flight is supposed to be at 8am but snow isn't supposed to wind down until noon. I need pixie dust because I need to get to Disney tomorrow!

We are splitting CR and then Dolphin and I am sooooooo looking forward to and needing this trip!

 

[jlcd]

Can you request turn down service at the Dolphin? TIA!

 

[ClareH37]

Clare - ITA with you re the ridiculous prices for the Disney resorts!!

I have stayed at Swan & Dolphin many times and I can assure you, you have nothing to worry about! I love the rooms at both, Swan is just a little bit nicer (). As far as the "Disney feel", all you have to do is look out your window (or go out on your balcony) and you'll know you are in the heart of Disney!

The CM's at Swan & Dolphin? Wonderful, fantastic, exceptional, always go the extra mile! Not taking anything away from Disney CMs, but as a group, I have always found the Swan/Dolphin CMs to be just a little more wonderful!

Housekeeping has always been great. Need anything, whether it be a bandaid (or even something more personal), dial the Customer Service extension from your room and it is done! They even call to follow up that you received what they promised!

My fear? That the Swan & Dolphin are going to realize what wonderful resorts they are and start charging 'Epcot Resort' prices.

Ditto RachelTori!

We've always had top notch service at S/D - superior to even the great Disney CMs.

Fantastic, thank you

 

[Dan Murphy]

Can you request turn down service at the Dolphin? TIA!

Yes


http://allears.net/acc/faq_swan.htm

What is turndown service?

Upon request, a member of the housekeeping department comes to your room and turns down the bedspread and corner of the sheets in preparation for your nightly retirement. They also close your window drapes and turn on several lights in your absence so you can come back to a brightly lit room rather than total darkness. They leave two chocolates on your pillow. Additionally, the housekeeper will replace any bathroom items used since the day housekeeper cleaned your room; towels, soaps, shampoos, glasses, etc.

 

[Pooh&OurHunny]

we stayed for 2 nights at the Swan and we had a wonderful stay. We checked in at 12 and our rooms were ready (others around us checking in said the rooms are not ready and when we went to The Fountian for lunch over heard people saying that the rooms would not be ready until 4 and one family said there are no rooms available at either hotels). We used points to stay and we were on 7th floor looking at HS and located in a nice quite end of hall. We had a wonderful dinner at Kimonos (I had the discount $2 for $25 cert but I forgot but husband said its ok but it was worth every penny). Our 5yr old son loved it so much, he asked to go back the next night to eat california roll, miso soup and edameme.

 

[SingingMom]

Do they serve Mickey waffles at the S/D? I think I read that you could get them at Fresh, but considering that's a buffet, I really don't feel like spending $60 (2 AD/2 CH) for us to eat breakfast (even if they give the AAA discount there, that's still more than I want to spend on breakfast). I was hoping they had them at Picabu, but I'm guessing that's just wishful thinking. Anyone know? Thanks!

Don't remember ever seeing Mickey waffles at Picabu...

Just a quick note - "Fresh" is so much more than a "buffet". I really wouldn't even consider it as such, since your eggs, pancakes, waffles, omelets are all "made to order". The only buffet items are the potatoes, meats, fruit, and pasteries. We really enjoy it, although it isn't for a morning that you want to get out quickly. We usually plan it for our "stay by the pool" day!

 

[lovingthemouse]

Louis makes the best Mickey pancakes/waffles at Fresh!!!!! He has been there for years, always serves with a smile. Ask him about his speciality - chocolate chip pancakes - incredible.
If you should be fortunate to have Debra as your server, you are most lucky! A winning combination.

 

[jlcd]

Yes


http://allears.net/acc/faq_swan.htm

Thanks for the info!!

 

[ImprovGal]

WUVmyDISNEY: I hope you were able to get here! I had my room change yesterday and the excellent service continued to ensure it went smoothly. I'm now on a renovated floor and I love the new decor in the hallway!

 

[TinkOhio]

Major lesson learned--always double check reservations placed through SPG for stays at the S/D!

We placed reservations through SPG for a stay involving several nights paid with a credit card and one night secured through points for a stay over Christmas. We arrive on Christmas Eve. When calling to confirm the stay today, we found out that SPG totally botched things! Thanks goodness for Barbara at S/D reservations! After lots of shuffling, she worked things out. Kudos to Barbara and the friendly S/D staff!

One question, though. Can anyone explain how I can view the details of our reservations online? I can't find a link on our reservations.

Thanks!

 

[TaraPA]

Sorry you had some errors on your ressie TinkOhio. So glad ot hear S/D fixed it for you. They have always bent over backwards to make things right for us.

If you booked thorugh SPG, once you log in there is box on the left hand side that says "My SPG." There you can link to "Upcoming Stays" and your ressie & details will be there (if you gave them your SPG # when booking.) If you didn't give them your SPG number when booking I'm not sure how to view it.

Have a wonderful stay!

 

[WUVmyDISNEY]

We made it and checked into the Dolphin today! We love it!!! Our service has been great thus far and I love our room view! I requested an early check in and they were able to honor it and we got our "halloween" resort view upgrade. And yes...the bed is so comfy! So happy we decided to give the Dolphin a try!

We also placed an order from the pantry and it was delivered promptly. We did transfer from CR and they offered to transfer our luggage and we had it within an hour of check in so I was very pleased with that. Looking forward to the weather warming up later this week!

 

[jnfr2424]

Major lesson learned--always double check reservations placed through SPG for stays at the S/D!

We placed reservations through SPG for a stay involving several nights paid with a credit card and one night secured through points for a stay over Christmas. We arrive on Christmas Eve. When calling to confirm the stay today, we found out that SPG totally botched things! Thanks goodness for Barbara at S/D reservations! After lots of shuffling, she worked things out. Kudos to Barbara and the friendly S/D staff!

One question, though. Can anyone explain how I can view the details of our reservations online? I can't find a link on our reservations.

Thanks!

You probably won't since they had to internally fix everything. Had the same situation happen to me when my Thanksgiving reservations were accidentally cancelled a few years ago and after everything got straighten out, I could not view online - call back and ask for an email or a fax of your reservation

 

[WUVmyDISNEY]

Just returned today from our stay which included 6 nights at the Dolphin. It was our first stay there and we LOVED it!!!

We had a great view--they honored my low floor request, we had one of the port hole rooms. We faced the boat dock and I totally loved our view. That is what I was hoping for.

We used the pantry service and it was good, delivery was quick and I have nothing bad to say about the resort. We ate at the Fountain, had something quick from Picabu and had the Southern BBQ buffet at the Garden Grove Swan and also had some food and drinks from the Cabana on the only day it was warm enough to get to the pool. The only thing - we bought a box of snackwells from Picabu and OMG, it was $8.00!!! I bought some other items and didn't really pay attention to what each thing was until I looked at the receipt but that was ridiculous!

Loved the Christmas tree and the holiday entertainment at both resorts. Each night there were either brownies, cookies or cupcakes to decorate for anyone who wanted to and it was just a really festive atmosphere. I will absolutely stay here again. The tree lighting with Mrs Santa and Santa in the tiki hut were such extra special touches that added to the stay.

The beds were great and I also loved the Shine shampoo and conditioner! I meant to ask if I could buy some before I checked out but forgot.

If anyone is on the fence about the Dolphin, don't be! 7 minutes on the boat to HS and just a great area!

 

[mapmakerj]

Just had to share my excitement. We were booked to stay at FW (DS's idea) in June on a premium site, which was perfectly fine with me. Well, I was playing around on the DIS yesterday and for the heck of it I checked rates at the Dolphin for our stay. It turns out with the AAA discount, it would only be $200 more to switch over from the campground (it was the darn gas mileage towing a trailer that made the difference). I told DH what I found and he immediately told me to book the Dolphin! He told DS that he would have to deal with the switch 'cause Daddy wants to be able to walk to EPCOT! We stayed at the Swan in June of 09 and DH and I fell in love with the location. The only complaint I had was that we had to walk over to the Dolphin for a quick bite to eat, to do laundry, etc. Now that we are trying the Dolphin, those problems are solved!

 

[Julylady]

Just back from a great stay at the Swan last week after a 4-day cruise. Had a strange encounter on our last night. Didn't think much of it at the time but since I have been home it has bugged me. Thought I would share and see what you all thought.

We returned to our room from the parks about 11:15pm. About 15 minutes later there was a knock on the door. When I asked who it was she said, "Housekeeping." I opened the door to a uniformed young lady who said she needed to check something in the bathroom. I followed her to the bathroom and she said she wanted to make sure we had a shower curtain. We did. She thanked us and left.

We checked out the next morning and upon reflection I think this whole situation was mightly strange. 11:30pm is too late to be knocking on a guest's door. And since when does Mousekeeping work such late hours? And since when do they need to check that you have a shower curtain?

Any thoughts?