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



Curious for those who stayed at swan/dolphin - did you use a magic band? Wish you did/didn’t? Wondering if it’s worth getting new ones or digging up old ones, or just not bothering at all :scratchin
 
Curious for those who stayed at swan/dolphin - did you use a magic band? Wish you did/didn’t? Wondering if it’s worth getting new ones or digging up old ones, or just not bothering at all :scratchin
We've used the MB's on several trips. Thought they were good.
 


Curious for those who stayed at swan/dolphin - did you use a magic band? Wish you did/didn’t? Wondering if it’s worth getting new ones or digging up old ones, or just not bothering at all :scratchin

Don’t have much opportunity to use it except admission and FP. Maybe memory maker. I would dig up an old one.
 
Curious for those who stayed at swan/dolphin - did you use a magic band? Wish you did/didn’t? Wondering if it’s worth getting new ones or digging up old ones, or just not bothering at all :scratchin
We use old ones for entry and FPs (and memory maker as we've had APs). I like them even if you can't use them for charging/room entry. I've actually got one of the keychain holders and I use that. The only time I wore a magic band besides our first trip was last Labor Day when we did mainly waterparks and stayed at Pop. Then we did charge things to the room. But I usually keep a stash of free/discounted Disney GCs that we pay most charges with anyways, so that was mostly to charge at waterparks, even other stays at Disney resorts we don't usually magicband charge.
 
Hi All!

First time staying at the Dolphin and hoping you can help with a few questions. Usually stay at the Boardwalk with my parents on DVC - however a good friend is coming and we’ve agreed we can finally be adults and get our own room (plus they’ll have my brother, his wife and 4yr old.....physical and mental space will be needed).

We have 3 reservations - 1 on my points, 1 on my friends points and 1 on my cash. Can I call and link them all so we don’t have to change rooms? Also, do we have to link these reservations to MDE? There’s room on my parents at Boardwalk so we can link there for FastPass, Magical Express and billing purposes so just want to make sure it doesn’t cause confusion in the system.

Thanks for any help - pretty excited about staying a new place!
 
We'll be at the swan in two weeks. Normally we have two rooms, so when the concierge contacts us the only request we put in is connecting rooms. This time we only have one room (2Q on pts). Is there anything else I should request? It's the week after Easter and I don't want to be a pain. OTOH, we're lifetime titanium and it would nice to get something for our status. Any suggestions?

Also, will we still get the breakfast vouchers? We used to when we were lifetime platinum. This is our first trip after the merger and the new tiers.
 
Hi All!

First time staying at the Dolphin and hoping you can help with a few questions. Usually stay at the Boardwalk with my parents on DVC - however a good friend is coming and we’ve agreed we can finally be adults and get our own room (plus they’ll have my brother, his wife and 4yr old.....physical and mental space will be needed).

We have 3 reservations - 1 on my points, 1 on my friends points and 1 on my cash. Can I call and link them all so we don’t have to change rooms? Also, do we have to link these reservations to MDE? There’s room on my parents at Boardwalk so we can link there for FastPass, Magical Express and billing purposes so just want to make sure it doesn’t cause confusion in the system.

Thanks for any help - pretty excited about staying a new place!

Hopefully I can help--good luck on linking. We went a few years back with our daughter/SIL and friends--3 rooms and we asked to be located in close proximity. We were spread out from the central tower to the east and west. No amount of pleading could get our rooms located near one another. It didn't matter--we made plans to meet at a given space, i.e., bus stop, walkway to DHS, etc. and all was well.

With regard to MDE, make sure that all of the parties in each room are listed as guests, e.g., 2 adults, one child, 2 adults, etc.--before you attempt to link. Oftentimes with Dolphin and/or Swan reservations they only have the named guest--the one who booked, listed. If after they add the other guests you can't link, be sure to contact guest services at Dolphin or Swan to be sure that all parties are listed and they resend the information to Disney. This will take a day or two, maybe three to finally hit the Disney system.

Swan and Dolphin have the same FP+ booking policy 60 days. It is best if one in the party books all FP+ provided they are all in MDE and sharing the experience.

Dining is another story altogether. I have successfully booked dining at 180 + 10, but that isn't always the case with folks at Swan/Dolphin. I would suggest that parents at BWI, book all dining for everyone--guaranteed 180 days + 10. I know you didn't ask about this factor, just a heads up.

And, BTW, you and anyone in your party staying at Dolphin/Swan, are not entitled to Magical Express.
 
Thanks - it’s only 1 room per night, just want to link so we don’t have to move for the 3 nights.

And not concerned about this reservation being on MDE, actually don’t want it to be. I’m flying in, staying in my parents room at BWV for a portion of the stay, so my name is linked there and I can do ME, FastPass and charging for the length of their reservation. Just wanted to make sure it wouldn’t cause confusion in the system with multiple reservations at Dolphin but sounds like it won’t as you have to put effort into pulling it into the app.

Thanks for your help!
 
We'll be at the swan in two weeks. Normally we have two rooms, so when the concierge contacts us the only request we put in is connecting rooms. This time we only have one room (2Q on pts). Is there anything else I should request? It's the week after Easter and I don't want to be a pain. OTOH, we're lifetime titanium and it would nice to get something for our status. Any suggestions?

Also, will we still get the breakfast vouchers? We used to when we were lifetime platinum. This is our first trip after the merger and the new tiers.

Remind them you are eligible for a view upgrade. They’ll give it if available. We checked in yesterday and were given a choice. DH status also got us choice of points or breakfast coupons in lieu of concierge lounge.
 
Hi All!

First time staying at the Dolphin and hoping you can help with a few questions. Usually stay at the Boardwalk with my parents on DVC - however a good friend is coming and we’ve agreed we can finally be adults and get our own room (plus they’ll have my brother, his wife and 4yr old.....physical and mental space will be needed).

We have 3 reservations - 1 on my points, 1 on my friends points and 1 on my cash. Can I call and link them all so we don’t have to change rooms? Also, do we have to link these reservations to MDE? There’s room on my parents at Boardwalk so we can link there for FastPass, Magical Express and billing purposes so just want to make sure it doesn’t cause confusion in the system.

Thanks for any help - pretty excited about staying a new place!

Yes I have 2 reservations and just called to do this last week. I asked for a note in the reservations but the agent said she could link them instead.
She said we would checked out and back in automatically. Not sure if we’ll need to get new keys or not.
 
Hello Everyone! I just wanted to thank this wonderful group for all the helpful information. We had a wonderful first stay at the Swan. I was worried my kids would miss the Disney theming because this is the first time we stayed at a " non-Disney " hotel, but they loved it! They said that the Swan and Polynesian are their top two hotels.
The room was a great size and the beds were so comfy. We loved watching the boats come and go from our balcony. Housekeeping was great and left us with plenty of extra water when I left a note with our daily tip. Also loved the complimentary lemonade and fruit water in the lobby. The gift shop was closed and when I asked, I believe they said it was reopening in the summer and they were adding a coffee bar. Transportation was great also, had to wait a little longer than 20 minutes twice, otherwise it was fine. Kids loved the burritos at Picabu and I appreciated the fact that they were open 24 hours. They wanted to wait and eat there after the parks closed so we had more time in the parks. Picabu and the Fountain took the AAA discount, but note that Picabu charges a 13% service charge.
Thanks again!!

Thanks for the trip report. What was the 13% charge at Picabu for?
 
What transportation does everyone use from the airport? We had a wonderful stay at the Dolphin a couple of years ago (split stay from Disney), but we had a uncomfortable ride back to airport per uber. We planning a short trip for Villains night and want to return to Swan/Dolphin, but these transfers are making me hesitant! Help I am spoiled to Magical Express .... thanks in advance
 
What transportation does everyone use from the airport? We had a wonderful stay at the Dolphin a couple of years ago (split stay from Disney), but we had a uncomfortable ride back to airport per uber. We planning a short trip for Villains night and want to return to Swan/Dolphin, but these transfers are making me hesitant! Help I am spoiled to Magical Express .... thanks in advance
I have used Mears shared shuttle, mostly from MCO to the Swan. Due to split stays, I use ME to MCO. The one time I used Mears back to the airport was just fine. There is a discount when booking a roundtrip on Mears vs. booking one-way trips.
 
I have used Mears shared shuttle, mostly from MCO to the Swan. Due to split stays, I use ME to MCO. The one time I used Mears back to the airport was just fine. There is a discount when booking a roundtrip on Mears vs. booking one-way trips.
I didn't know about Mears, Is there usually much of a wait to leave? And how long does the trip usually take? Is there stops that are not close to Disney? Sorry for all of the questions!
 

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