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

[NeilD]

Hi,

I am looking forward to my first stay at the Dolpin in August. I have booked an Epcot fireworks view room but I am now second guessing myself. I wonder if a resort view witha balcony would be just as nice. I think I may like to have the option of sitting out on a balcony in the am/pm. Anybody have an opinion between the two. I don't want to pay additional to get the Epcot fireworks w/balcony so my options are either Epcot fireworks view or Resort view with balcony.

We stayed in room 9087 which is a resort view room. I don't know what they call these rooms. It was located in one of the towers of the Dolphin. The tower on the right closest to the lobby as your facing the Dolphin. It had TWO balconies. One on the side and one on the tower itself. Corner room. Great view of most of the fireworks. We also looked right down at the boat dock.
Just booked again for next February. Requested the same room.

 

[Phlip]

Hello! Just back from our 7night stay at my new favorite hotel the Dolphin.
I posted earlier about how much we liked the hotel and that I thought I could see the MK from our room-we could and watched Wishes every night we were in the room. I had booked a standard, asked for an upgrade since we have the SPG gold card, and mentioned that it was my birthday and wedding anniversary. The nice lady at the Starwood Preferred check in line said that they didn't have any suites but she could put us in a resort view room on the 16th or the 2nd floor. We ended up being on the 16th floor, in the black box of the pyramid, facing the parking lot and the MK. We took the central elevators to the room, which are located in the same bay as the west elevators. Great location! We were given a hundred dollar resort credit, and were comp'd the $10 resort fee. I think they must've comp'd the parking as it didn't show up on my bill. So, yeah, I love this hotel. We ate at Picabu, got refill mugs. I must say the coffee is starbucks and is yucky (but I don't like Starbucks!). We ate a couple of times at Fountain, and the kids got ice cream there. We shopped at the gift store-Disney and staffed by Disney cast members. There were several conferences while we were there-didn't bother us at all. The lobby bar would get loud, and one day right at lunch the line for
Picabu was backed up around the corner out into the hall. Half hour later no line at all. We only used the bus for MK-it was Dolphin only one day and Boardwalk, YC, BC, and Dolphin another. Bus from MK after Wishes was a long wait-we ended up getting off at Swan and walking the short distance to the Dolphin. I think I would either use a car-or get in the BW or YC/BC line instead. We heard comments from other guests that 'Disney doesn't like to stop at the S/D. Oh well, we only went to MK twice.
Speaking of MK-it was a nightmare-crowded, crowded,crowded. I've never come across more rude folks in all our visits...if this is your first time going I would wait till FL is complete or just avoid the MK.
Boats to HS and EPCOT were great-just really hot. It was super hot last week-it felt like we were walking on the surface of the sun when we walked back from EPCOT. So you either sweat to death on the boat (ran about every 10-15 min) or roasted on the boardwalk.
I did return/exchange my rental car and was upgraded to a van than didn't smell bad. All I kept thinking about was that Seinfeld
episode.....
Oh, I can tell you that an iPad fits in the safe (with a kindle, wallet, iPod etc.). My DH surprised me with one for my birthday.
So.....if you are debating staying at the S/D, do it! You can't beat the value. My friends couldn't believe what we were paying compared to the YC/BC etc.
Thanks again for all the help on the thread! When I can figure out how to post photos I'll add some.

 

[P13]

Hello! Just back from our 7night stay at my new favorite hotel the Dolphin.
I posted earlier about how much we liked the hotel and that I thought I could see the MK from our room-we could and watched Wishes every night we were in the room. I had booked a standard, asked for an upgrade since we have the SPG gold card, and mentioned that it was my birthday and wedding anniversary. The nice lady at the Starwood Preferred check in line said that they didn't have any suites but she could put us in a resort view room on the 16th or the 2nd floor. We ended up being on the 16th floor, in the black box of the pyramid, facing the parking lot and the MK. We took the central elevators to the room, which are located in the same bay as the west elevators. Great location! We were given a hundred dollar resort credit, and were comp'd the $10 resort fee. I think they must've comp'd the parking as it didn't show up on my bill. So, yeah, I love this hotel. We ate at Picabu, got refill mugs. I must say the coffee is starbucks and is yucky (but I don't like Starbucks!). We ate a couple of times at Fountain, and the kids got ice cream there. We shopped at the gift store-Disney and staffed by Disney cast members. There were several conferences while we were there-didn't bother us at all. The lobby bar would get loud, and one day right at lunch the line for
Picabu was backed up around the corner out into the hall. Half hour later no line at all. We only used the bus for MK-it was Dolphin only one day and Boardwalk, YC, BC, and Dolphin another. Bus from MK after Wishes was a long wait-we ended up getting off at Swan and walking the short distance to the Dolphin. I think I would either use a car-or get in the BW or YC/BC line instead. We heard comments from other guests that 'Disney doesn't like to stop at the S/D. Oh well, we only went to MK twice.
Speaking of MK-it was a nightmare-crowded, crowded,crowded. I've never come across more rude folks in all our visits...if this is your first time going I would wait till FL is complete or just avoid the MK.
Boats to HS and EPCOT were great-just really hot. It was super hot last week-it felt like we were walking on the surface of the sun when we walked back from EPCOT. So you either sweat to death on the boat (ran about every 10-15 min) or roasted on the boardwalk.
I did return/exchange my rental car and was upgraded to a van than didn't smell bad. All I kept thinking about was that Seinfeld
episode.....
Oh, I can tell you that an iPad fits in the safe (with a kindle, wallet, iPod etc.). My DH surprised me with one for my birthday.
So.....if you are debating staying at the S/D, do it! You can't beat the value. My friends couldn't believe what we were paying compared to the YC/BC etc.
Thanks again for all the help on the thread! When I can figure out how to post photos I'll add some.

Did you know you were getting the resort credit for the $100?? We are booked in a month & I was told it wasn't avaliable, innless I paid $294.00 for it Just curious...TIA.

 

[Disney grandma]

I'm wondering about the boats, are they no longer air conditioned? That always made my day to step in and be cooled off on the way back to the resort from HS.

 

[kentburns]

Hello! Just back from our 7night stay at my new favorite hotel the Dolphin.
I posted earlier about how much we liked the hotel and that I thought I could see the MK from our room-we could and watched Wishes every night we were in the room. I had booked a standard, asked for an upgrade since we have the SPG gold card, and mentioned that it was my birthday and wedding anniversary. The nice lady at the Starwood Preferred check in line said that they didn't have any suites but she could put us in a resort view room on the 16th or the 2nd floor. We ended up being on the 16th floor, in the black box of the pyramid, facing the parking lot and the MK. We took the central elevators to the room, which are located in the same bay as the west elevators. Great location! We were given a hundred dollar resort credit, and were comp'd the $10 resort fee. I think they must've comp'd the parking as it didn't show up on my bill. So, yeah, I love this hotel. We ate at Picabu, got refill mugs. I must say the coffee is starbucks and is yucky (but I don't like Starbucks!). We ate a couple of times at Fountain, and the kids got ice cream there. We shopped at the gift store-Disney and staffed by Disney cast members. There were several conferences while we were there-didn't bother us at all. The lobby bar would get loud, and one day right at lunch the line for
Picabu was backed up around the corner out into the hall. Half hour later no line at all. We only used the bus for MK-it was Dolphin only one day and Boardwalk, YC, BC, and Dolphin another. Bus from MK after Wishes was a long wait-we ended up getting off at Swan and walking the short distance to the Dolphin. I think I would either use a car-or get in the BW or YC/BC line instead. We heard comments from other guests that 'Disney doesn't like to stop at the S/D. Oh well, we only went to MK twice.
Speaking of MK-it was a nightmare-crowded, crowded,crowded. I've never come across more rude folks in all our visits...if this is your first time going I would wait till FL is complete or just avoid the MK.
Boats to HS and EPCOT were great-just really hot. It was super hot last week-it felt like we were walking on the surface of the sun when we walked back from EPCOT. So you either sweat to death on the boat (ran about every 10-15 min) or roasted on the boardwalk.
I did return/exchange my rental car and was upgraded to a van than didn't smell bad. All I kept thinking about was that Seinfeld
episode.....
Oh, I can tell you that an iPad fits in the safe (with a kindle, wallet, iPod etc.). My DH surprised me with one for my birthday.
So.....if you are debating staying at the S/D, do it! You can't beat the value. My friends couldn't believe what we were paying compared to the YC/BC etc.
Thanks again for all the help on the thread! When I can figure out how to post photos I'll add some.

Just asking....why did they comp your resort fee, and give you $100 vouchers? I called last week about my ressie, and told them this was my 19th anniversary we were celebrating, and the front desk said they were blocking out a King double balcony turret room us.....Sweet....just wanted to see if you were comped because it was your anniverary. Thanks for the report.

 

[mikegood2]

Hello! Just back from our 7night stay at my new favorite hotel the Dolphin.

Congrats on the room upgrade, sounds like you had a great view. Our first floor room view was less than desirable, but the room more than made up for it.

We ate at Picabu, got refill mugs. I must say the coffee is starbucks and is yucky (but I don't like Starbucks!). We ate a couple of times at Fountain, and the kids got ice cream there. We shopped at the gift store-Disney and staffed by Disney cast members. There were several conferences while we were there-didn't bother us at all. The lobby bar would get loud.

We ate at Picabu our first night and were not impressed by it. We also tried to get it the Fountain 2 or 3 times but it was full and service appeared to be slow. We were very happy with the s/d gift store though. We purchased a decoration from the Christmas store in Downtown Disney and it arrived with a decapitated Goofy . Even though the store (and the Swans) did not have it in stock, they took care of it for us and we received a new one the next day.

Bus from MK after Wishes was a long wait-we ended up getting off at Swan and walking the short distance to the Dolphin. I think I would either use a car-or get in the BW or YC/BC line instead. We heard comments from other guests that 'Disney doesn't like to stop at the S/D. Oh well, we only went to MK twice.

Sorry about the long wait after wishes, I must admit that it is a pain trying to get out of the park after it, but once we got out, a bus was waiting for us and we got going fairly quickly (although it was full). We also learned the trick about getting off at the Swan towards the end of our trip. Overall, except for the transportation to Downtown Disney, we were quite happy with the transportation. I think we waited over 25 minutes waiting for a bus at DTD, and probably took an hour before we got back to the Dolphin.

Speaking of MK-it was a nightmare-crowded, crowded,crowded. I've never come across more rude folks in all our visits...if this is your first time going I would wait till FL is complete or just avoid the MK.

For us the people were not bad but our first EMH morning at MK (Thursday) was very crowded, and the fact that it was our first EMH of the trip did not help. We tried to get Fastpasses for the Princes, but the machine was closed so our schedule was thrown off 45 minutes to an hour in the morning. Worked out fine though, because when we got the Princess fastpasses the person working the machine also let us get passes for Mickey and Minnie at the same time. After that they were not to bad. We opened the park on Sunday, my sister-in-law messed up trying to do a child-swap on Space Mountain. Still not sure what she was doing, but after a little bit of playing dumb on her part we ended up getting on it through the fastpass line even though we never got fastpasses. We also were on the first ride of the day for Dumbo on Tuesday.

Boats to HS and EPCOT were great-just really hot. It was super hot last week-it felt like we were walking on the surface of the sun when we walked back from EPCOT. So you either sweat to death on the boat (ran about every 10-15 min) or roasted on the boardwalk.

Weather was definitely extremely hot for the week. I think the highs every day were 96-98 and the feels like temps were in the low 100's. We also took the boats once of twice too/from Epcot, but we didn't find the walk that bad.

 

[gm]

When we were there June 7-21, It was extremely hot and the boats were not air conditioned. Even the drivers were sweating. We sat outside just to catch the wind.

The one thing that was really frustrating was that the bus was always shared with s/d,y/b,boardwalk so you can imagine the long haul Dolphin being the last stop so we usually got off at the Swan and walked to Dolphin. I would have been happy if they shared with s/d and boardwalk but when you add y/b it a long trek.

Other than that we had a great time.

 

[Phlip]

Did you know you were getting the resort credit for the $100?? We are booked in a month & I was told it wasn't avaliable, innless I paid $294.00 for it Just curious...TIA.

No, had no idea we were getting any sort of comp-I was sort of expecting a 'one category upgrade if available' due to our SPG status. I booked the room last October? using the AAA rate of $152 a night (plus taxes) and a stay connected rate of $119 for the second room. The nice lady ( my new BFF) said that she would give us the 100 credit because we had to wait so long at check in. Same for the resort fee.

 

[Phlip]

Just asking....why did they comp your resort fee, and give you $100 vouchers? I called last week about my ressie, and told them this was my 19th anniversary we were celebrating, and the front desk said they were blocking out a King double balcony turret room us.....Sweet....just wanted to see if you were comped because it was your anniverary. Thanks for the report.

Oops meant to quote you in the previous reply-I did put and say every time I talked to someone about our ressie that it was my birthday and anniversary and our friends first trip. I guess we just got whacked with a great big bag of pixie dust.
Score for you on the room

 

[P13]

No, had no idea we were getting any sort of comp-I was sort of expecting a 'one category upgrade if available' due to our SPG status. I booked the room last October? using the AAA rate of $152 a night (plus taxes) and a stay connected rate of $119 for the second room. The nice lady ( my new BFF) said that she would give us the 100 credit because we had to wait so long at check in. Same for the resort fee.

That is great!! It is our anniversary (19th) while we will be, we did email them...guess I'll mention while cking in,too....hopefully we will receive some 'magic',too!!
Thanks for the info

 

[Dominus]

Hey, does anyone know if you can buy your park tickets through disney and have them added to your room key at the dolphin? We did that at coronado springs one year, I just don't know if you can with the dolphin.

 

[NancyIL]

Hey, does anyone know if you can buy your park tickets through disney and have them added to your room key at the dolphin? We did that at coronado springs one year, I just don't know if you can with the dolphin.

No - you can't add them to your Swan or Dolphin room key.

 

[mahannie]

Hi all!

I will be staying at the Swan for the first time in December. After reading this thread, I know I have made the right decision to stay here. It will be so nice to walk back here after Illuminations and sleep in those heavenly beds !

Has anyone used the Personal Pantry service? I was thinking of using it to have some goodies ready for my parents room when we arrive. Any information would be greatly appreciated!

 

[tinkerbell_mom]

Any recommendations for the best lounge/restaurant to watch a college football game at the resort? Florida vs. Alabama will be on during our visit, and this is a must see for a Bama fan.

Thanks!

 

[bumble]

Could someone please tell me what is allowed in the refillable mug from Picabu?

I know it sounds like an odd question but is it just soft drinks and coffee or is there orange juice or apple juice that can be consumed as well?

TIA!

 

[NancyIL]

Any recommendations for the best lounge/restaurant to watch a college football game at the resort? Florida vs. Alabama will be on during our visit, and this is a must see for a Bama fan.

Thanks!

I think ESPN Club on the Boardwalk would be the logical choice.

 

[mommytoxzande]

Question for you guys. We are thinking about staying at the Dolphin for are next trip in April. When I called about rates the lady told me there was a basic, a resort view and room with a balcony. What are the differences? Is it worth the extra money to get a resort view or room with a balcony? Thanks for the help.

 

[Beka]

Any recommendations for the best lounge/restaurant to watch a college football game at the resort? Florida vs. Alabama will be on during our visit, and this is a must see for a Bama fan.

Thanks!

DH walked over to ESPN to watch UK play, then staggered back when the game was over.

 

[ImprovGal]

Could someone please tell me what is allowed in the refillable mug from Picabu?

I know it sounds like an odd question but is it just soft drinks and coffee or is there orange juice or apple juice that can be consumed as well?

TIA!

It's just soft drinks, coffee, and tea for the mugs. I can't remember if there are hot chocolate packets available as well. They can be refilled at any of the restaurants listed on the cup, but Picabu is the only self-serve dispenser.

 

[bumble]

Thanks so much for your help. My family and I will be there from the 7/5-11 and I've learned quite a bit from this thread.