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

[Wood Nymph]

What kind of coffee makers do they have in the Dolphin rooms?

 

[Dan Murphy]

What kind of coffee makers do they have in the Dolphin rooms?

 

[Wood Nymph]

What kind of coffee packets do you use in that coffee maker?

 

[TexanInTheMidwest]

What kind of coffee packets do you use in that coffee maker?

I'm checking in this afternoon and will take a photo and post it tonight for you.

 

[SteveH]

When staying at Disney resorts, I typically use Garden Grocer for delivery as they will deliver beer/wine in addition to food items. They do not appear to deliver to the Swan or Dolphin. Is there another option for delivery of these items at the Dolphin (I don't care if it isn't refrigerated upon delivery).

With the recent changes to delivery (not requiring you to be present) GG might start delivering again. But I think InstaCart will delivery alcohol too.

What kind of coffee packets do you use in that coffee maker?

This is an older post from 2012 but gives good info. S/D will bring you more if you want any, if you want to bring your own you want to look for the Senseo Coffee Pods.

 

[Dan Murphy]

This is an older post from 2012 but gives good info. S/D will bring you more if you want any, if you want to bring your own you want to look for the Senseo Coffee Pods.

Great find, Steve.

 

[SteveH]

Great find, Steve.

Blast from the past

 

[DisneyJohnson]

Hello everyone! Just got done with my stay at the Dolphin (10/10 - 10/15) and wanted to share my experience.

Prior to arriving, I was moved to the Dolphin from the Swan Reserve. The move cost me an additional 30k points per room because I was promised two upgraded rooms with Epcot Fireworks view. Moving my reservation was a hassle, as I had to call S&D myself and wait to see “what they could do for me”. I have a more detailed post within this thread if you would like more info.

I arrived on 10/10 at around 9AM and immediately went to the check in counter in hopes of getting to my room early. After discussing with the CSR, I was notified that I only had one Epcot Fireworks room, and the other was a resort view room. The emails I had specifically called out Epcot Firework views for both rooms. I was beyond frustrated but I didn’t want to push anything at the moment. I had to come back anyway for rooms keys, and I had booked an all day cabana for my family to relax as we had done the competitors Halloween celebration two days in a row prior to our arrival and our feet hurt! We got to the cabana and everything was perfect. From location, to service, to food and drink. If you have room in the budget, I highly recommend taking advantage of this. We did it on a Sunday so we got to watch football in the cabana when we were not in the pool!

I came back to front desk to get my keys and check if I really did not receive the correct rooms and I was told they had nothing available to accommodate my reservation, regardless of what they had sent me previously. Just to be clear, the room type is not a big deal. We did rope drop to close everyday we were at Disney and were not in the rooms very much. The frustrating part was how the treated us with the move, to making me pay more points for an “upgrade”, to now not honoring the upgrade.

So we ended up with one Epcot Firework View, and one Resort View. The rooms themselves were great. My family had issues with getting the rooms cleaned and extra towel request. That’s seems to be a common theme in thread as well. I’ll admit I went full “Karen” in an email about my experience and I quickly got a reply. I ended up receiving the point value for two nights per room due to all of the issues. I think I made out like a bandit here, because my original reservation was taking advantage of booking 5 nights with points, so I received one for free. They way they refunded me I received points back for that 5th night. In summary, I paid for 3 nights in points, and received a refund for 2 nights in points.

The only other thing to highlight is bus system is not great. We walked down to take it to Disney springs the first day we were there and waited 25 minutes, and nothing came. Ended up giving up and called a $10 Lyft. I had done research previously about not taking them to Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom, so for those parks we walked to the boardwalk and yacht club. I felt like yacht club was a closer walk, but I never did a distance comparison. The boats were always timely and great to use after a long day. We chose to walk the majority of the time to Epcot and Hollywood Studious.

Overall, I think I will consider coming back in a few years once they figure out all of their issues. It’s not a bad hotel, especially for the price and location, but the headaches it caused me left a bad taste in my mouth. I think this is a perfect hotel if you are doing what I did; leave at 6AM to get to the parks and get home after 10PM. If you are looking for anything more than that then I would consider anywhere else.

More than happy to answer any questions!

 

[Wood Nymph]

Do you remember what kind of coffee pods the coffee maker used? Was it K-cups?

 

[Dan Murphy]

Do you remember what kind of coffee pods the coffee maker used? Was it K-cups?

See Steve's post above

 

[Wood Nymph]

See Steve's post above

The picture was from 2012 and I just wanted to make sure that they haven't updated it since then.

 

[DisneyJohnson]

Do you remember what kind of coffee pods the coffee maker used? Was it K-cups?

Those were the same coffee machines I used every morning. It used these weird circle bags of coffee. When you Google Mr. Coffee circle bags they should come up.

 

[Wood Nymph]

Those were the same coffee machines I used every morning. It used these weird circle bags of coffee. When you Google Mr. Coffee circle bags they should come up.

Great - thanks for letting me know.

 

[magickingdomprincess]

You check the AP rates using the AP corporate discount code at the Marriott website or in the Bonvoy app. You can have multiple corporate codes so, if your company has an agreement with Marriott, be sure to enter that code too. If you have AAA and/or are over 62 check those applicable rates as well. The Marriott website/Bonvoy app will conveniently display the least expensive rates. One very annoying thing about swan/dolphin/swan reserve is that, unlike every other Marriott property I’ve stayed at in the world, they require prepayment for your entire stay, even on fully refundable rates. So, if you’re using a fully refundable corporate rate and booking months in advance, you may still have a couple thousand dollars tied up with them. I’d prefer that money to be in my hands, not theirs - especially with the pathetic housekeeping situation

Hello everyone! Just got done with my stay at the Dolphin (10/10 - 10/15) and wanted to share my experience.

Prior to arriving, I was moved to the Dolphin from the Swan Reserve. The move cost me an additional 30k points per room because I was promised two upgraded rooms with Epcot Fireworks view. Moving my reservation was a hassle, as I had to call S&D myself and wait to see “what they could do for me”. I have a more detailed post within this thread if you would like more info.

I arrived on 10/10 at around 9AM and immediately went to the check in counter in hopes of getting to my room early. After discussing with the CSR, I was notified that I only had one Epcot Fireworks room, and the other was a resort view room. The emails I had specifically called out Epcot Firework views for both rooms. I was beyond frustrated but I didn’t want to push anything at the moment. I had to come back anyway for rooms keys, and I had booked an all day cabana for my family to relax as we had done the competitors Halloween celebration two days in a row prior to our arrival and our feet hurt! We got to the cabana and everything was perfect. From location, to service, to food and drink. If you have room in the budget, I highly recommend taking advantage of this. We did it on a Sunday so we got to watch football in the cabana when we were not in the pool!

I came back to front desk to get my keys and check if I really did not receive the correct rooms and I was told they had nothing available to accommodate my reservation, regardless of what they had sent me previously. Just to be clear, the room type is not a big deal. We did rope drop to close everyday we were at Disney and were not in the rooms very much. The frustrating part was how the treated us with the move, to making me pay more points for an “upgrade”, to now not honoring the upgrade.

So we ended up with one Epcot Firework View, and one Resort View. The rooms themselves were great. My family had issues with getting the rooms cleaned and extra towel request. That’s seems to be a common theme in thread as well. I’ll admit I went full “Karen” in an email about my experience and I quickly got a reply. I ended up receiving the point value for two nights per room due to all of the issues. I think I made out like a bandit here, because my original reservation was taking advantage of booking 5 nights with points, so I received one for free. They way they refunded me I received points back for that 5th night. In summary, I paid for 3 nights in points, and received a refund for 2 nights in points.

The only other thing to highlight is bus system is not great. We walked down to take it to Disney springs the first day we were there and waited 25 minutes, and nothing came. Ended up giving up and called a $10 Lyft. I had done research previously about not taking them to Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom, so for those parks we walked to the boardwalk and yacht club. I felt like yacht club was a closer walk, but I never did a distance comparison. The boats were always timely and great to use after a long day. We chose to walk the majority of the time to Epcot and Hollywood Studious.

Overall, I think I will consider coming back in a few years once they figure out all of their issues. It’s not a bad hotel, especially for the price and location, but the headaches it caused me left a bad taste in my mouth. I think this is a perfect hotel if you are doing what I did; leave at 6AM to get to the parks and get home after 10PM. If you are looking for anything more than that then I would consider anywhere else.

More than happy to answer any questions!

Glad you had a (mostly) good stay! Just curious about one part of your post - what's the reasoning for not taking the bus to AK? We took it on Thurs and had a great experience. We didn't wait long for the bus either way and it picked up right by rideshares so about the same distance as Disney buses. We did walk to BW for the MK bus to avoid the TTC extra step.

 

[TexanInTheMidwest]

Glad you had a (mostly) good stay! Just curious about one part of your post - what's the reasoning for not taking the bus to AK? We took it on Thurs and had a great experience. We didn't wait long for the bus either way and it picked up right by rideshares so about the same distance as Disney buses. We did walk to BW for the MK bus to avoid the TTC extra step.

Were you here with early entry when it comes to AK? If so, what time did the bus leave The Dolphin? 6:30 or 7?

 

[magickingdomprincess]

Were you here with early entry when it comes to AK? If so, what time did the bus leave The Dolphin? 6:30 or 7?

Sorry, we didn't make it to the bus stop until around 8 or so, so not sure. My crew isn't as much of an early riser as I am unfortunately

 

[maxiesmom]

I want to add taking the bus from the Swan to the Animal Kingdom is more than fine. It drops you off just as close as the Disney buses, just on the other side of the parking lot. And a huge plus is that that stop has cover AND benches. So waiting for the bus to go back to the resort you have someplace to sit.

Our dealing with houskeeping at the Swan were hit and miss. We had 2 connecting rooms. Asked for them both to be serviced about 5 nights in. They did one room, but not the other. We would ask for more towels, sometimes we would get them. My brother in law started taking supplies from the housekeeping carts.

 

[TexanInTheMidwest]

Sorry, we didn't make it to the bus stop until around 8 or so, so not sure. My crew isn't as much of an early riser as I am unfortunately

I was at the bus stop about 6:20 this morning at the Dolphin - the bus arrived at 6:30 and then at 6:40 a the Swan.

A family was already waiting for a MK bus - he told them the 1st bus would be 7:30 at the Dolphin, 7:40 at the Swan.

 

[CBMom01]

Is it possible to get celebration buttons if we're staying at Dolphin? Come to think of it - we're celebrating an engagement. Do they have buttons for that?

 

[SteveH]

@CBMom01 you wont' find the "Disney" buttons at SwanDolphin front desk since it's not a Disney resort, but you can check with the Disney Gift shop at the Dolphin or in the parks.