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

[Dan Murphy]

.....They do charge you a service fee at the quick service food area on everything you buy........
The Disney owned store....You get your AP discount there; even on the food items and toiletries they have with no service fee.......

Sounds like good trips, Ohio and Lissies and Beach, thanks for the feedback.

Ohio, what service fee are you speaking of? Never heard of that in my many trips there.

 

[mikegood2]

Thanks to everyone who have posted reviews of their current visits. I always prefer reviews that point out the positives and negatives of a visit. Much more informative than the more common review that only point out the negatives or the positives of a trip.

Ohiotinkfan, thanks for posting all the photos form you stay at the Dolphin, I greatly appreciate it. Also, if you don't mind, you may want to post your photos on the Swan and Dolphin Picture thread. It is a very useful thread to get a good idea of what the s/d offers visually. I plan on using it to get some ideas of shots I want to take (or don't want to miss) before I leave in June. I'm not a big list guy, but I'm planning on putting a list of photos to get together before I leave. I still may not get all the shots I want, but I am less likely to forget one.


Just a few questions and comments:

Check-in was fine and the lobby had a wonderful aroma!!!

I have read about the aroma, and how wonderful it is. Is it an overly strong aroma? Certain smells, like heavy perfumes/ can really mess with my sinus.

The S/D refillable mug is insulated and, I think, is a bit bigger than the Disney mug…cost 12.99. You can refill it 24 hrs a day. They do charge you a service fee at the quick service food area on everything you buy. No AAA discount on the mug, boxed snacks/chips, grocery food items, or toiletries. AAA only applies to the actual food and drinks.

To bad that they don't offer the AAA discount on everything, but it's nice to know that they do offer some grocery items there. Do you happen to know if they offer milk in half-gallon or quart sizes there? My nieces love their milk and would like to find options for my brother. I know they offer $3 quart sized milk with the personal pantry service, but I'd like to find other option.

Our experience with Tiffany Towncar was wonderful. Our driver was waiting for us at the baggage claim area and was very patient when our luggage was delayed for over a half hour. We were upgraded to a Lincoln Navigator SUV type of vehicle and our grocery stop was just what we needed. He handed us a card when we arrived at the airport with all of the return info we needed and we were on our way to find out where our room was!

Glad to hear that your Tiffany Towncar experience was great. We have a van booked with then in June.

Drinks were a bit pricey (13.00 mojitos and 9.00 draft domestic beers) by the pool but we saw a number of people bringing their own coolers and they did not seem to have a problem.

I've noticed that a lot of drinks at the s/d and WDW in general are quite expensive, although I did see that the personal pantry offers a six pack of beer for $6. If people were bringing down their own coolers I may need to do the same thing.

I also do not care for them closing the doors to the rooms completely when they are in the room. Had not seen this before at other properties.

Interesting, I have never really thought about it, but all maid services i have noticed do keep the door open. If the s/d does close the door when they clean the rooms I think I like that. I know that anytime I pass a room that is open when someone is cleaning it, I unintentionally tend to take a quick peak in when I pass by. It has alway concerned me, although very unlikely, that someone may sneak into my room and still some item in quick sight, when it was being cleaned. That is why I rarely keep any items of any value in sight of anyone when I'm not in the room.

The pool seemed chilly to me for being heated and my biggest complaint of them all was the fact that you could come down early morning and "save" chairs without a problem. Completely the opposite of true Disney policy. On Easter morning we went down to the pool at 9am and there were not any chairs left around the middle pool (not the lap one and not the grotto) However - there were only 3 people in the pool! When I asked the pool attendant if he could move some of the magazines and newspapers on the chairs he said they were NOT allowed to ever touch personal property. Some of that stuff sat untouched until noon when people came back.

Sound like more of an issue with the people leaving items on seats to "reserve" them. I can understand why it would be frustrating, but I can also understand why the pool attendants are not allowed to move items. If, after a reasonable amount of time, no one claimed one of those chairs, I think i would have moved the items myself, especially, after I would ask the 3 people in the pool if it was there stuff. While moving the items may step over the line, I find leaving items on a chair to "reserve" a spot, for a much later time much more bothersome. Besides you can always apologize to someone and tell them that you thought someone left the paper behind.

 

[Dan Murphy]

Almost forgot...thanks, Mike, for the good wishes, I'll be there Monday.

 

[Music City Mama]

Thanks for all of the recent reviews and photos! Only 41 more days to go . . .

 

[Swan4Me]

So now that I'm back and already planning for our next vacation (which is half the fun!), I'm trying to figure out if we should try the Swan or not. My DD would be tickled if our room faced the Tower of Terror and she could see it every day! Would we have a better chance of this view staying at the Swan or Dolphin? :

Early March-We had a room on 11th floor -Swan-facing the entrance of the hotel-had a great view of TOT that was entirely scaffolled for cleaning-I guess?

If I looked to the left could see the edge of Epcot fireworks-to the right just a brief glimpse of Fantasmic fireworks(they are short lived)

 

[lissiesmum]

Early March-We had a room on 11th floor -Swan-facing the entrance of the hotel-had a great view of TOT that was entirely scaffolled for cleaning-I guess?

If I looked to the left could see the edge of Epcot fireworks-to the right just a brief glimpse of Fantasmic fireworks(they are short lived)

Thanks Swan4me! Sounds like a nice view...what category was this?

Mike, to answer your question about the aroma....no, it was not overly powerful. Just a nice clean scent that you notice when you walk in, similar to the flowery scent if you've ever been to the Poly.

Also, some of you have asked in the past about the pools and if they were cold. I did not find the grotto pool cold at all. My DD and I are used to warm pool water where she takes lessons and we had no trepidation getting into the grotto pool at all. We found it warm and refreshing. The warmest pool out of all of them was the lap pool by the Swan for some reason though. It felt at least five degrees warmer than the other ones. I'm going to attempt to upload some pictures here in a minute if I can figure out my login info on photobucket!

 

[lissiesmum]

Okay, here goes my first attempt at posting pictures in a long time:

I'll start with the view from our balcony:

and nighttime:

 

[lissiesmum]

and some random shots:

one of my favorite views around the Dolphin!

taken from the beach towards the Swan side:

I love this picture of the beach:

The Swan taken while walking back from Epcot:

Taken from the Boardwalk while walking home:

Taken somewhere along the bridge between the Boardwalk and International Gateway area:

 

[lissiesmum]

Now that I've stayed here, I was amazed at how many different places around the world you can spot the Dolphin: here's a few pics I happened to get!

On the monorail to the Magic Kingdom (look above the Tahiti longhouse):

On top of Expedition Everest while waiting to plummet backwards:

I wish I had thought to take more of these!

 

[ohiotinkfan]

The service fee was at Picabu (sp??). We bought a regular size box of Cheese Nips (6.00..yikes), a 20 oz (I think) bottle of Lemonade, and the mug after we checked in and the receipt said service fee. I asked the cashier what that was and she said they always charge the service fee. They charged it at the spa too, but they told me it was considered a tip. So I am thinking that the service fee is actually a tip, not sure though. At Fresh they didn’t charge the service fee but it is a sit down restaurant and you tip anyway.

Good idea about posting pics on the pic board..I forgot about that!

The aroma was not too strong, it didn’t bother me and I have sinus issues. I loved the smell but DD liked the Swan’s smell better.

I didn’t notice any larger sized milk cartons at all. They do have milk but no half gallons; they also do not have any 2-liter pop either. The personal pantry slip didn’t look to be that high to me, but I agree with another post about the refrigerator not being cold. We just used it for water or lemonade so that was fine, but for milk or something that would spoil I would worry.

 

[ClareH37]

Long story short, I still have a booking for my last 2 nights this November at the Swan.

I've noticed though that there is no availability for my dates (14-16 November), after a little bit of 'googling' it appears there is a large convention at the resort (no surprise, it is afterall a convention resort lol).

However, it's got me thinking - has anyone ever been, or heard of non convention guests, arriving to check into the resort and being 'walked' to another resort?

 

[Belle83]

I made a reservation at Shula's for my SO's birthday. It will be so nice to have dinner and be able to have drinks without worrying about transportation. I've heard great things about Shula's.

I'm so excited for our trip. Less than 3 weeks!

 

[Swan4Me]

Thanks Swan4me! Sounds like a nice view...what category was this?

\!

Not sure-it was an UPGRADE to preferred floor-but the front view- because i requested a King and none was available when I made the ressie

 

[rh3772]

I think of the Dolphin every time I smell Coconut Lime Verbena lotion from Bath and Body Works! Thats what the Dolphin lobby smells like to me!

 

[Swan4Me]

Lissiesmum-look at the signature pic of the poster above me-our room was second window to the right of the "black" area-2nd to top floor(11th) of the Swan

 

[SRUAlmn]

I'm hoping someone can help me, please We're looking at July 25-30 and it will be myself, my mom, and my sister (all adults.) Therefore, we'd need a room that had 3 'beds.' I see that the Premium Studio has 2 queens and a sofa bed, but I can't seem to get it to come up as an option with any of the rates I've tried booking (including just booking regularly with no special discount or package.) We'd be ok with the Swan or Dolphin, but slightly prefer the Swan. Are there any other options (other than a huge grand or executive suite) that would have 3 beds? We're trying to keep our nightly rate around or below $250. We have AAA, we're all teachers, and I'm a SPG member, but don't have any points to use. Thanks

 

[lissiesmum]

Lissiesmum-look at the signature pic of the poster above me-our room was second window to the right of the "black" area-2nd to top floor(11th) of the Swan

I would love to be that high! I'm glad to know there is something called a "preferred" floor. I'll be sure to request that when I call

Silly question, but, do the doors at the Swan slam shut like the doors at the Dolphin? And I'm curious, I've been looking at the rates for next year and the Swan is $30 more a night than the Dolphin...aren't they basically the same, except the Swan has bigger beds?

 

[teacher31]

Does anybody know anything else about the service charge at Picabu? I don't remember this from previous stays. Is it a flat fee or a percentage?

 

[Swan4Me]

I'm hoping someone can help me, please We're looking at July 25-30 and it will be myself, my mom, and my sister (all adults.) Therefore, we'd need a room that had 3 'beds.'

How about 2 queens and a roll-away at the Swan?

 

[SRUAlmn]

How about 2 queens and a roll-away at the Swan?

Thanks for the suggestion! We are all really tall (5'8", 5'10", and 6') so I don't know if a rollaway would be very comfortable, but thanks again



ETA: I noticed the first post says the Dolphin has an occupancy of 5. Anyone know why it's 5 and not 4 if standard rooms have a king or 2 doubles?