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

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My husband's schedule has forced us to cancel our WDW 2012 spring break plans. Because I teach, our travel times are locked into certain times of the year. I had the teacher discount for the Dolphin booked for Easter week and when I called to cancel, I found out it was available for the last week of July/first week of Aug. 2012. I went ahead and just transferred my reservation to give me time to assess the plans.
We love WDW in April and have no problems dealing with the crowds. We have done it over Easter week before and have become masters at avoiding the crowds with rope drops, etc.. I am not concerned about the crowd as much as the heat. We have never done Disney in the summer, but really want to take a 2 week trip for our 10 year anniversary.
So, fellow teachers (or anyone else) who have done WDW in the summer.... I would love to hear your thoughts on traveling there at this time of year. We are a family of 4 (me, DH, DS 5, DD 8--at the time of travel). We have never stayed at the Dolphin before and would also like to hear about the pool and ways to stay cool at theesort because we will be there in the afternoons to avoid the heat of the parks.

Hi :yay: Fellow teacher here!
As you can see by my signature, we are frequent summer travelers. Normally on this day every year I'm very close to our trip, but this year we got an email PIN and will be traveling in December instead. We live in SC, so the heat isn't that crazy to us, but we're near the coast, so it's definitely more humid in Orlando! Most people say get up early, rope drop, etc... but that's just not our style. What we normally do is get up around 8 or 9 and get to the parks around 10. We tour from 10-2 and then go back to the resort to rest/shower/swim. Then we normally will go back and hit PM EMH. I know this puts us in the parks during the hottest part of the day, but I get up at 5am all school year and I really don't want to do it on vacation ;) It works for us, and we LOVE PM EMH! Be sure you take 2 outfits per day because when you get back for your afternoon rest, you are going to be soaked from sweat and will want to definitely shower and change and never look at those super yucky clothes again :rotfl:
 
Has anyone used the Stay Connected promotion? We are currently booked at POFQ for December, but we might have family joining us and thought multiple rooms at the Swan or Dolphin would be a great switch :) :) The website mentions that the second room starts at $109 per night. Can I book one room with the teacher rate and then get the Stay Connected rate on the second room? (Meaning, does the first room have to be a full price room?) Has anyone had experience booking it? I'm wondering what price it would end up being around since it just says "starting" at $109. Thanks so much!!!
 
Has anyone used the Stay Connected promotion? We are currently booked at POFQ for December, but we might have family joining us and thought multiple rooms at the Swan or Dolphin would be a great switch :) :) The website mentions that the second room starts at $109 per night. Can I book one room with the teacher rate and then get the Stay Connected rate on the second room? (Meaning, does the first room have to be a full price room?) Has anyone had experience booking it? I'm wondering what price it would end up being around since it just says "starting" at $109. Thanks so much!!!

I just booked one of these "stay connected" rooms and my original room rate was a special rate - not a problem.

It does say starting at $109 but our 2nd room ended up being $129/nite which is still a really incredible rate so we booked ASAP.

Good luck with your decision - we're really excited about our "deal" especially since it means a semi-family reunion for us!

:)
 
I just booked one of these "stay connected" rooms and my original room rate was a special rate - not a problem.

It does say starting at $109 but our 2nd room ended up being $129/nite which is still a really incredible rate so we booked ASAP.

Good luck with your decision - we're really excited about our "deal" especially since it means a semi-family reunion for us!

:)

Thanks!! I'm assuming that's $129 before all the resort fees and taxes, right? That IS still a really good deal :) Thanks so much for the info!!
 

I'm sorry you had a bad experience with someone hitting your car in the lot, but that could've happened at ANY WDW resort.

**By the way, I would've reported the cigarette smoke to the front desk, as they ought to do something about it...like FINE the people smoking!

Yes - we know it could have happened anywhere but the BAD SERVICE only happened at Dolphin. Thanks for your sympathy. Unfortunately, there is no way of knowing who is smoking in the bathroom without knocking on everyone's door. The HVAC is shared throughout the entire hotel. Still, it's something I could have reported.

Terri
 
Just got back, and generally the Dolphin is very nice just avoid room 9169! It smells very moldy because of the water above the ceiling. Right by the window where the TV is water has come through the ceiling and has damaged the area. While I was told they fixed the problem after I made the staff aware of it the, mold smell is still exists. The room did have 2 balconies and a fantastic view though!
 
My mom and I are going to WDW for the Princess Half Marathon at the end of Feb. 2012. On the swandolphin website there are some promotions going on for that time period but there is no availibility right now. How far in advance do they release discounted rooms? Also what is the discount for an AP? Is it available all year or only at certain times?
 
I would say both are are a rather constant renovation schedule. I don;t think I have ever been there (usually twice a year) when there has not been renovation going on somewhere in each of them

Dolphin is larger, so more guests go there. I think both are generally about 95-100% occupancy of their respective room loads.
 
Swan vs Dolphin

Which one was recently renovated?
Which is the most popular

Swan is a Westin Resort, and the Dolphin is a Sheraton Resort (parent company of both is Starwood). Both have the heavenly beds, some say the Swan is a little more intimate and quieter and the Dolphin is more active. They essentially function as one resort - sharing pools, restaurants, etc.
 
Just a quick post now that we are back from 7 nights/8 days at the Dolphin. It was just my daughter and I staying with another mother and her daughters and we were in a suite (didn't take pictures but the rooms were exactly like the ones posted a few pages ago by Mike, except we did not have a walk in closet. The suite part of the room was HUGE. Everything was clean and functioning and the only so called problem I can think of is the water in the shower is extremely hot and it's difficult to get it cooler without turning it off. The other not so great thing about our rooms (5126 and 28, west wing) was the view. Or lack thereof - it was the roof of a lower part of the building and some angles in the decor of the exterior. A nice view would have been nice but it was no big deal to us, we all just laughed at it. If you want a suite with a view, make sure you don't get those rooms.

Other observations and opinions:

It's a gorgeous hotel, the staff is friendly and helpful and we loved, loved, loved the epcot resort area location :love:

The pool is beautiful and well maintained. It was crowded as we were there over the 4th but we always found loungers on the beach when we wanted them. Even though there were many people in the pool, it's so large that it never felt like people were right on top of you when you swam.

I wasn't overly impressed with Picabu but we only ate out of there twice. Too many choices in Disney to just eat at the food court.

The resort is confusing but we finally figured it all out with no mistakes by our last day :rotfl: There are just a variety of ways to get to the same place and we almost always started out going the l o n g way.

Bus transportation was hit or miss but again, it was a busy holiday week. At one point we had 3 DTD buses come in less than 8 minutes while the entire crowd was waiting for an MK bus. When that 3rd DTD bus opened it's doors I hopped on and asked the bus driver to let someone know the situation and we had an MK bus in the next 5-7 minutes. With the Dolphin buses you never knew if you'd go directly to your destination, stop at one more resort or 3. That was very confusing and sometimes very, very crowded when they'd stop at another resort when we were already standing room only.

All in all we really enjoyed our stay. That being said, I'm not sure we'd choose to stay again only because it just didn't feel 100% Disney to us. I can't know if that's because of some subconscious thing in my mind KNOWING that it's not all Disney or if the Magic really isn't completely there. I know that for whatever reason as soon as my feet hit the Boardwalk or a bus, I felt DISNEYFIED and as soon as we got back to the Dolphin a little something was missing :confused3 It could very well be psychological.
 
All in all we really enjoyed our stay. That being said, I'm not sure we'd choose to stay again only because it just didn't feel 100% Disney to us. I can't know if that's because of some subconscious thing in my mind KNOWING that it's not all Disney or if the Magic really isn't completely there. I know that for whatever reason as soon as my feet hit the Boardwalk or a bus, I felt DISNEYFIED and as soon as we got back to the Dolphin a little something was missing :confused3 It could very well be psychological.

I feel the same way when I stay somewhere other than the Swan or Dolphin. I usually stay at the Swan, but I gave AKL and WL a try in Dec. 2009. Both resorts were beautiful, but I really missed staying at an Epcot resort. I especially disliked not being able to walk back to my room after leaving Epcot or the Studios. The Swan + Epcot = my happy place. :)
 
That being said, I'm not sure we'd choose to stay again only because it just didn't feel 100% Disney to us. I can't know if that's because of some subconscious thing in my mind KNOWING that it's not all Disney or if the Magic really isn't completely there. I know that for whatever reason as soon as my feet hit the Boardwalk or a bus, I felt DISNEYFIED and as soon as we got back to the Dolphin a little something was missing :confused3 It could very well be psychological.

This is our fear. We felt this way when we stayed at the Contemporary (and it was for our wedding/honeymoon trip so you can't get more magical than that) and the CR is fully owned/run by Disney. I think it has to do with it being a convention hotel maybe? It's hard to feel on vacation when you're passing people constantly wearing business suits and carrying briefcases. It pulled me back into reality too much :rotfl:
 
It's hard to feel on vacation when you're passing people constantly wearing business suits and carrying briefcases. It pulled me back into reality too much :rotfl:

This was my concern as well. However I have stayed at the Swan and visited the area multiple times and this has not been my experience. The YC also has convention facilities and again we've never experienced this issue.

We have booked the Dolphin for our Aug vacation with no fear :goodvibes
 
This is our fear. We felt this way when we stayed at the Contemporary (and it was for our wedding/honeymoon trip so you can't get more magical than that) and the CR is fully owned/run by Disney. I think it has to do with it being a convention hotel maybe? It's hard to feel on vacation when you're passing people constantly wearing business suits and carrying briefcases. It pulled me back into reality too much :rotfl:
When I am at the Swan, I KNOW I am at Disney.
 
I feel the same way when I stay somewhere other than the Swan or Dolphin. I usually stay at the Swan, but I gave AKL and WL a try in Dec. 2009. Both resorts were beautiful, but I really missed staying at an Epcot resort. I especially disliked not being able to walk back to my room after leaving Epcot or the Studios. The Swan + Epcot = my happy place. :)
Make that the Dolphin and I could not agree more :thumbsup2
 
Bus transportation was hit or miss but again, it was a busy holiday week. At one point we had 3 DTD buses come in less than 8 minutes while the entire crowd was waiting for an MK bus. When that 3rd DTD bus opened it's doors I hopped on and asked the bus driver to let someone know the situation and we had an MK bus in the next 5-7 minutes. With the Dolphin buses you never knew if you'd go directly to your destination, stop at one more resort or 3. That was very confusing and sometimes very, very crowded when they'd stop at another resort when we were already standing room only.

We stayed at the Swan 2yrs ago the night before our cruise...we went to DTD..never had to stop for other hotels. This time we are staying at the Dolphin, would it be better to walk over to the Swan & get on the bus there??
TIA!
 
After 27 trips (WDW, DCL, & DLP), we feared the non-Disney feel to S/D as well. (Plus, I think they are horribly ugly & should have never been permitted to be built!)

However, BFF has a conference there. While we tried to get points to BCV or BWV, there was no availability. We knew we could have gotten into DVC elsewhere, a mod, or off-site, the location couldn't be argued - especially during Food & Wine Fest.

I figure anywhere on-property, especially close to EPCOT, will be better than the best of any other options! We walked through S/D last month just to get a feel and I left thinking, "Yeh, I can stay here!" Plus all I have to do if look outside or take a few steps to the Boardwalk to know I am in Disney. We'll be there Nov. 8-14.

But oh how we will miss Magical Express!

Gayle
 
.....We stayed at the Swan 2yrs ago the night before our cruise...we went to DTD..never had to stop for other hotels. This time we are staying at the Dolphin, would it be better to walk over to the Swan & get on the bus there??
TIA!
You never really know. As with the buses throughout Disney World, at all the resorts, bus schedules fluctuate based on the seasons, holidays, times of the day, guest loads. I have been on the Swan bus and only the Swan, other times, the Swan and Dolphin, other times, both those plus Y&BC plus BW. In any case, even with the full loop, S/D, Y&BC, and BW, it is never more than 10-15 minutes, tops.
 
This was my concern as well. However I have stayed at the Swan and visited the area multiple times and this has not been my experience. The YC also has convention facilities and again we've never experienced this issue.

We have booked the Dolphin for our Aug vacation with no fear :goodvibes

When I am at the Swan, I KNOW I am at Disney.

Make that the Dolphin and I could not agree more :thumbsup2

:banana::banana: So glad to hear! Thank you all so much because this was my biggest fear :thumbsup2
 
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