Walt Disney World SWAN, DOLPHIN & SWAN RESERVE RESORTS Information & Questions

Some Swan and Dolphin questions:

Do they have rooms to accommodate 5 (2 adults/3 kids)? I know Disney hotels are strict about only having the number of people in a room that it says you can have. We usually can stay in a room for 4 with no problem at a Marriott/Starwood hotel and no one bothers us.

If we are staying at S/D and friends who are connected to our MDE are staying off site, will they be able to schedule FP's at 60 days because we are connected?

Has anyone been able to use points at a room larger than the standard room. I am only seeing points on the smallest rooms. Anyone ever use extra points for an upgrade?
 
Some Swan and Dolphin questions:

Do they have rooms to accommodate 5 (2 adults/3 kids)? I know Disney hotels are strict about only having the number of people in a room that it says you can have. We usually can stay in a room for 4 with no problem at a Marriott/Starwood hotel and no one bothers us.

If we are staying at S/D and friends who are connected to our MDE are staying off site, will they be able to schedule FP's at 60 days because we are connected?

Has anyone been able to use points at a room larger than the standard room. I am only seeing points on the smallest rooms. Anyone ever use extra points for an upgrade?

Swan standard rooms have a 4 person limit. You can have 5 in the Dolphin. I got some options for points upgrades for our stay, but when I called back they were unavailable.

You will not be able to book your friends' fastpassed 60 days out. You need to tie each member to a room- I had to call the Swan as a room I booked over the phone was missing one of my children and I wasn't going to be able to book their fastpasses.
 
BTW, the Speedway gas station that is walkable (it's a good walk but totally doable) has a ton of stuff - they also sell hot breakfast sandwiches (that were on sale for $1 while we were there) and all of the usual convenience store type of things. We bought a sandwich (hoagie/sub depending on where you're from ;)), drinks (water, beer, wine, etc), snacks, etc. Worked out great. A great tip someone once shared with me: Empty a suitcase and wheel it over so you're not carrying back a case of water.

Any idea if it's 24 hrs?

If we happen to get in very late (again,) this sounds like a perfect stop to make. We stopped at the 24 hr Walgreens on the way last time, but this Speedway might be the same-ish stuff we'd need. Not much, but I like to get our stuff before we settle in to the hotel, and a 1.5 mile walk is NOT happening during our stay.
 


Hi all-

For those of you who are past guests, any advice on driving vs bus to the Magic Kingdom in terms of time saving?
 
Bus!!!

Animal Kingdom may be debatable (I would still bus to there also), but not Magic Kingdom...bus.
 


Hi all-

For those of you who are past guests, any advice on driving vs bus to the Magic Kingdom in terms of time saving?

Yes DEFINITELY bus to MK. Driving to the MK you have to park at the TTC and then take a monorail or ferry which can be very time consuming.

Generally for our recent 10 day stay the buses came reliably quickly. I timed them all and the longest I had to wait was 22 minutes for the MK (we walked out just as the previous bus was pulling away). Most were much shorter. On a similar note, I would NOT take the bus to Blizzard Beach. We used Uber to get there and it took less than 10 minutes but then coming back I decided to take the bus since I didn't have a cell phone to hail an Uber. You have to first catch a bus to Animal Kingdom and then transfer - took a long time and definitely not worth it.

Also on a side note, if you're curious about walking versus boat to EPCOT and the Studios, here's my experience. From EPCOT one night, we just missed a boat leaving and walked straight back to the Swan, and the same boat we missed got there just about the same time as us (maybe a minute later) This was at a pretty brisk 8 year old pace. To the Studios I speed-walked by myself one time and clocked it at 15 minutes - with kids it was more like 25. If the boat comes every 20 minutes like it's supposed to, then I'd imagine it makes sense in most cases to take the boat to save your feet since it goes straight there and probably takes about 5 minutes.
 
Yes DEFINITELY bus to MK. Driving to the MK you have to park at the TTC and then take a monorail or ferry which can be very time consuming.

Generally for our recent 10 day stay the buses came reliably quickly. I timed them all and the longest I had to wait was 22 minutes for the MK (we walked out just as the previous bus was pulling away). Most were much shorter. On a similar note, I would NOT take the bus to Blizzard Beach. We used Uber to get there and it took less than 10 minutes but then coming back I decided to take the bus since I didn't have a cell phone to hail an Uber. You have to first catch a bus to Animal Kingdom and then transfer - took a long time and definitely not worth it.

Also on a side note, if you're curious about walking versus boat to EPCOT and the Studios, here's my experience. From EPCOT one night, we just missed a boat leaving and walked straight back to the Swan, and the same boat we missed got there just about the same time as us (maybe a minute later) This was at a pretty brisk 8 year old pace. To the Studios I speed-walked by myself one time and clocked it at 15 minutes - with kids it was more like 25. If the boat comes every 20 minutes like it's supposed to, then I'd imagine it makes sense in most cases to take the boat to save your feet since it goes straight there and probably takes about 5 minutes.
This is super helpful Wendy darling!
 
So, in taking the bus to MK, will it come early enough to get us there for EMM on time? The event starts at 7:45am but I'd like to be there by 7:15. Is the bus still the best choice? Plus we'll have an ECV to worry about loading.
 
So, in taking the bus to MK, will it come early enough to get us there for EMM on time? The event starts at 7:45am but I'd like to be there by 7:15. Is the bus still the best choice? Plus we'll have an ECV to worry about loading.

Busses start rolling at 6:30AM every day. They'll start at 6:00AM when MK opens at 7AM.
 
  • Like
Reactions: CJN
So, in taking the bus to MK, will it come early enough to get us there for EMM on time? The event starts at 7:45am but I'd like to be there by 7:15. Is the bus still the best choice? Plus we'll have an ECV to worry about loading.


If you are paying for emm, I would suggest checking your options for a taxi or uber to the contemp. If you go with the Disney bus, I hope it works out!
 
  • Like
Reactions: CJN
Some Swan and Dolphin questions:

Do they have rooms to accommodate 5 (2 adults/3 kids)? I know Disney hotels are strict about only having the number of people in a room that it says you can have. We usually can stay in a room for 4 with no problem at a Marriott/Starwood hotel and no one bothers us.

If we are staying at S/D and friends who are connected to our MDE are staying off site, will they be able to schedule FP's at 60 days because we are connected?

Has anyone been able to use points at a room larger than the standard room. I am only seeing points on the smallest rooms. Anyone ever use extra points for an upgrade?
You can use points for a room other than standard but you have to call SPG directly.
 
Plus we'll have an ECV to worry about loading.
I have used an ECV for several trips at the Swan. Very easy to roll up the ramp, roll down the ramp. I would think much easier than dismantling it and reassembling it at the MK parking lot and then navigating to either the ferry or monorail.

As said above, the buses and other transportation all start running early enough to enable all guests to get to early morning activities at the various parks. You just have to be there at the bus stop for the early ones.
 
  • Like
Reactions: CJN
Busses start rolling at 6:30AM every day. They'll start at 6:00AM when MK opens at 7AM.
I have used an ECV for several trips at the Swan. Very easy to roll up the ramp, roll down the ramp. I would think much easier than dismantling it and reassembling it at the MK parking lot and then navigating to either the ferry or monorail.

As said above, the buses and other transportation all start running early enough to enable all guests to get to early morning activities at the various parks. You just have to be there at the bus stop for the early ones.

Thanks for the input. My traveling companion loves to drive (and claims to not mind at all disassembling/assembling the ECV :)) so we haven't used a bus in a long time. But that sure sounds like the reasonable way to do MK, especially since I'd planned to leave the Swan parking lot by 6:15-ish anyway. Thanks again.
 
The bus to MK has taken almost an hour (waiting for the bus and trip duration) the past few times we've stayed at the Swan/Dolphin. Has anyone else experienced this? And this was not even at park closing when everyone is leaving...
 
The bus to MK has taken almost an hour (waiting for the bus and trip duration) the past few times we've stayed at the Swan/Dolphin. Has anyone else experienced this? And this was not even at park closing when everyone is leaving...

I went during Christmas this year and waited no more than 20 minutes for a MK bus. Not sure about the ride length but expecting 1 hour to get anywhere by Disney transportation seems like a reasonable expectation.
 
The bus to MK has taken almost an hour (waiting for the bus and trip duration) the past few times we've stayed at the Swan/Dolphin. Has anyone else experienced this? And this was not even at park closing when everyone is leaving...
As said above, I like to always give myself upwards of an hour to go from one place to another at WDW. But it has never taken me an hour to go from S/D to MK. Pretty much same as above, maybe a max of 20 minutes wait for a bus, (usual max is about 10 minutes) and then a max of maybe 15 minutes (probably less) time from S/D to MK.
 
I apologize if this has been covered on this board. I'm working on reading through it, but it's 174 pages! Question: My flight lands at 11:15, and check in is at 3:00. Does the swan have any service for storing luggage between these times like the "onsite" resorts do? Also, we are staying until supper time on our departure day (then staying at a hotel near the airport our last night), so the same question applies. What have you done if this ever applied to your trip?
 

GET A DISNEY VACATION QUOTE

Dreams Unlimited Travel is committed to providing you with the very best vacation planning experience possible. Our Vacation Planners are experts and will share their honest advice to help you have a magical vacation.

Let us help you with your next Disney Vacation!





Top