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

[ginny65]

Hmmm... both of our rooms 1171 and 1173 Dolphin had two mirrors... one was over the sink which was out side the shower/toilet room and one over the coffee bar area which was where I ended up blowing drying my hair.

I'm sure we could have moved to a room with two mirrors but we just wanted to be settled. With the amount of rain we had last week, there really was no need to spend a long time fixing hairdos anyway lol

 

[loves to dive]

I will be down next week and it sounds like I just miss the whole no EC boat thing. That would really not work well for us if it was down so I feel your pain albeit from afar.

We were there week before last and it really wasn't a problem. To be fair, 99% of the time we walk from HS to the resort or Epcot anyway, so for us it was no big deal. I will say there were more people than usual on the walking path though.

 

[hsmamato2]

They don't seem to release all of the rooms this far out. We found the same situation before and then when it got closer rooms opened up for the week. I don't remember how close though. Probably 4 months or so. We generally don't book very far in advance. I just like to look and plan fantasy vacations haha.

No it's odd..... I was able to book one of these dates bout a week ago,now BOTH hotels show sold out 100%...is that even possible? I thought there was somewhere to look at convention plans etc online to see who's filling it up? or did they just remove these dates for a while? very strange

 

[vicb]

No it's odd..... I was able to book one of these dates bout a week ago,now BOTH hotels show sold out 100%...is that even possible? I thought there was somewhere to look at convention plans etc online to see who's filling it up? or did they just remove these dates for a while? very strange

I had to book my recent trip through Costco travel as two of the nights during my stay dates were "sold out". Costco buys rooms in blocks so they frequently have availability when the hotel appears sold out. Unfortunately you can't get points for a Costco stay but our stay went very smoothly and the package included "resort view" rooms and resort fees included.

This is not conventions but does list big events at the hotel: https://www.swandolphin.com/social/events.html

 

[DSLRuser]

I have a single night coming up @ the Dolphin. I will arrive Monday Memorial day @ 9am for a single nights stay. Any chance my room will be ready?

 

[shoreward]

For anyone who wants to plan a visit on short notice, the Dolphin has Senior rate available at $133 and Swan at $140 for select nights, booked on Starwood/SPG site. The AAA rate is slightly more. It's an unknown how many rooms are available at this low rate.

The following message is prominently displayed on booking page for Swan and Dolphin:

SPECIAL CONDITIONS

Beginning May 7, 2018 until May 14, 2018, Disney's Friendship Boat service is only available to Epcot, Disney's Boardwalk, and Disney's Yacht & Beach Club resorts. Bus service will be provided to Disney's Hollywood Studios during this time.

Beginning May 14, 2018 Disney's Friendship Boat service will be temporarily suspended and not operational until May 25, 2018. Bus service will be provided to Disney's Hollywood Studios and Epcot.

Beginning May 26, 2018 until approximately June 21, 2018 Disney's Friendship Boat service is only available to Epcot, Disney's Boardwalk, and Disney's Yacht & Beach Club resorts. Bus service will be provided to Disney's Hollywood Studios during this time.

 

[eeyoresmom]

I am considering the dolphin for this Friday night. Two questions, we have other family members staying at the Boardwalk. Would they be able to join us at the pool or are guests given bracelets like at the Beach Club. Also, we plan on Epcot for Saturday. Will we be able to leave our car at the dolphin through Saturday until 10 pm or will we get charged an extra day parking?

 

[chris benton]

We just returned from a split stay (Dolphin and Sheraton Vistana Villages) and really love both resorts. My only complaint was that our Dolphin room seemed smaller than what I remember. It only had one mirror outside the bathroom. I thought all rooms had the other counter area with a mirror. We made it work, but our kids are getting older, and we really needed more room. We had a lovely resort view with balcony overlooking the walkway to the Swan and the boat dock. It was 9th floor (top floor of west wing protruding out towards Swan) and the room was very quiet. We had two full-sized beds. We also received a comped rollaway. At first, they brought us the regular rollaway but I know they have the really nice mattresses like they have on the beds so I requested if they could please bring us one of those. It was actually more comfortable than the bed! lol

Sigh - trying to figure out the big differences between these two resorts (costco has a decently priced special for Shertaon Vistana right now)
Location - of course Swan wins for EP and DHS

The Costco deal includes a car, and is a decent amt cheaper. I am a Swolphin fan, never even seen Sheraton Vistana.
You mind sharing any pros/cons of both if you know of any? The location is probably the biggest, but what else?

 

[pepperandchips]

I am considering the dolphin for this Friday night. Two questions, we have other family members staying at the Boardwalk. Would they be able to join us at the pool or are guests given bracelets like at the Beach Club. Also, we plan on Epcot for Saturday. Will we be able to leave our car at the dolphin through Saturday until 10 pm or will we get charged an extra day parking?

There are not bracelets like at the Beach Club at either Boardwalk or the Swan/Dolphin pools.

The parking charge is per night, not per day, as far as I'm aware. You should be able to use your key to exit the Dolphin lot any time on Saturday.

 

[pepperandchips]

Sigh - trying to figure out the big differences between these two resorts (costco has a decently priced special for Shertaon Vistana right now)
Location - of course Swan wins for EP and DHS

The Costco deal includes a car, and is a decent amt cheaper. I am a Swolphin fan, never even seen Sheraton Vistana.
You mind sharing any pros/cons of both if you know of any? The location is probably the biggest, but what else?

I haven't seen the Costco deal but there is a resort near Disney Springs called the sheraton vistana resort and another resort farther up I-4 on I drive called the sheraton vistana villages. Just be aware of which one you are looking at as the proximity is different. There is a thread in the Orlando forum on Sheraton Vistana Resort (the one near Disney Springs) and people love it. It looks very nice.

 

[eeyoresmom]

There are not bracelets like at the Beach Club at either Boardwalk or the Swan/Dolphin pools.

The parking charge is per night, not per day, as far as I'm aware. You should be able to use your key to exit the Dolphin lot any time on Saturday.

Thank you. I dont think we will have time to swim anyway. The parking is my biggest concern but if we have to pay its not a deal breaker.

 

[ww52]

Anyone go to the Magic Kingdom from the Swan/Dolphin via the monorail at Epcot?

Here's our (very tentative) reasoning. Our July trip will include 2 of my 3 grandchildren.

(The 3rd and her parents won't be coming because grandchild number FOUR will have arrived right before then! Bittersweet for sure - would love to have them but so happy for the new addition! All girls BTW. But I digress... as I often do.)

Anyway - we want our last day to include MK - after naps. We'll get there via car to the TTC the other 2 times we're going since they will be in the morning. (note - not doing the busses and the Minnie Van is a bit too pricey since we'll need two of them for all of us in the group)

But this last time, we wanted to end the trip with a fireworks show.

HOWEVER... Everything I've read about the crowds at HEA has convinced us to not do that with small children. So - why not Illuminations? It's earlier and close by the hotel.

OK - so we'd drive to MK parking lot , get to the monorail or ferry, go to MK for a couple hours, drive back to the Dolphin, walk over to Epcot.

Or - how about walking through to the monorail station at Epcot, taking it TTC, transfer, go to MK for a while (we might just walk around and not even go on anything - just say goodbye for this trip - see you again in a couple years) - then reverse that back to Epcot for Illuminations?

Has anyone done that? At a somewhat leisurely pace (kids will be in strollers) - about how long from the Dolphin to the Epcot monorail station?

If we could get from the Dolphin to the Epcot station in no more than say 45 minutes, I think it's preferable than the driving option.

Thoughts?

 

[Dan Murphy]

Has anyone done that? At a somewhat leisurely pace (kids will be in strollers) - about how long from the Dolphin to the Epcot monorail station?

If we could get from the Dolphin to the Epcot station in no more than say 45 minutes,

I haven't done it recently, but have done it. The actual walking distance from the Dolphin front doors, via the Boardwalk, through the UK and Canada and on out to the monorail station, is just a bit over 1 1/3 miles. You judge the time for that.

 

[ww52]

So it's actually faster to go through the Boardwalk then Y&BC? Never realized that. We've stayed at the Swan several time and always walked via Y&BC to Epcot.

Maybe it was because we stayed at Beach Club a couple times and it felt right.

Or maybe I just like walking past Beaches and Cream!

Thanks Dan! 1.33 miles seems very doable.

 

[Dan Murphy]

Almost the same, but BW is just a bit shorter walk

https://www.wdwmagic.com/walking-distances.htm

So it's actually faster to go through the Boardwalk then Y&BC? Never realized that. We've stayed at the Swan several time and always walked via Y&BC to Epcot.

Maybe it was because we stayed at Beach Club a couple times and it felt right.

Or maybe I just like walking past Beaches and Cream!

Thanks Dan! 1.33 miles seems very doable.

 

[luvallprincesses]

The following message is prominently displayed on booking page for Swan and Dolphin:

Thanks for posting the boat plans. Of course, we were planning on a leisurely Friendship boat ride on June 20 from an 8:30 am ADR at Hollywood Studios to a 10-11 am Fastpass in Norway, and its *scheduled* to be done on June 21. I’m assuming bus service from HS to Epcot will only go to the front of the park and we’d rather deal with the shorter security/lines at IG entrance. Maybe we’ll bus from HS to Boardwalk and catch a boat from there. Or bus to BC/YC and walk. (I don’t think my parents can walk the whole way from HS to Epcot.) I hope people will post how frequently the busses are running from HS to those resorts.

 

[puffkins]

Anyone go to the Magic Kingdom from the Swan/Dolphin via the monorail at Epcot?

Thoughts?

I have never taken the monorail from the Dolphin to MK (always the bus since the Dolphin is the last resort stop on that route...making the bus to MK an express service.) My wife and I normally take the monorail back to EPCOT and then walk to the Intl. gate.

 

[Bobb_o]

Has anyone booked the Swolphin through the Chase Ultimate Rewards portal? I'm probably going to do that for my next trip and wanted to know how annoying it is linking to MDE.

 

[pepperandchips]

Has anyone booked the Swolphin through the Chase Ultimate Rewards portal? I'm probably going to do that for my next trip and wanted to know how annoying it is linking to MDE.

No, but Swolphin was really helpful giving me their confirmation number when I booked through Hotwire. I suspect you'd get the help you might need!

 

[ClapYourHands]

Question about the Dolphin King bed rooms. The diagram seems to indicate there's a loveseat that opens into a bed, allowing for additional guests. But sleeper sofa is not listed on the amenities. Does anyone know if standard King bed rooms have sleeper sofas in them?