Resort Thread Walt Disney World SWAN, DOLPHIN & SWAN RESERVE Resorts

[ImprovGal]

I was hoping to get a survey, luvmary, so I could rave about how wonderful the staff was during our stay, but no dice.

The one improvement I would suggest is to add a recycling receptacle in the room. The two waste cans in the room were rather small, plus I felt guilty putting empty water and beer bottles in the trash. I'm used to recycling them at home.

In the closet, there is a clip hanger that holds a folded plastic bag and a paper bag that you can use for recyclables. I put the empty bottles in the plastic bag and leave it on the counter when I check out.

 

[luvmarypoppins]

Has anyone booked a room with the SANTA discount code?

I guess I will have dh call and find out what is the cheapest rate if they have it, SANTA or the book one room get the next night 40% off. I just have to watch if its a non refundable rate.

The one time I had dh call and remember they didnt even know about the 40% off rate, not to say its offered all the time. But our goal is to get the lowest standard rate of course.

 

[woodynjessiesmomma]

We stayed at the Swan 10/18-10/22 and had mixed feelings. Most of the negative comes from the large GARTNER conference. The night of 10/19 they were very loud with some farewell event. We had been upgraded to balcony rooms overlooking the center area so I felt like I was part of the farewell event. Not Swan's fault but not pleasant. When the convention was happening there were so many people in suits staring at their phones walking in the halls/lobby to the point I felt like my family was intruding especially walking through those crowds in our swimsuits going back and forth to the pool, again not Swan's fault. We did meet a few friendly convention goes waiting for the elevators as well. Once the convention was over the hotel had many more families and had a more Disney feel.
My only issues with the hotel itself was the staff didn't seem as friendly overall and we got mixed info about getting connecting rooms. When we checked in there were not connecting rooms available, which I understand, so we were told to check in Thusday morning to possibly switch rooms. My mom stopped by Wednesday night and the front desk told her to check back early in the morning but it looked like there should be plenty of availibility. Mom went down 6:30 am again was told should be no problem but come back after 7am. We went back again shortly after 7 and spoke to Kate who checked us in in the first place. This time she told us nothing was available... Ok, we only had 2 more nights so we went on to the parks and had a fine trip, the mixed info we received was the strange part. We also had mixed results with housekeeping and one day they skipped Mom's room completely one day and she didn't put out the Do Not Disturb sign out. Housekeeping brought up clean towels and all was fine.
We enjoyed the pool. The location was great and the cost was nice too. The buses to MK and AK worked well for us and we enjoyed walking to HS and EPCOT. We never did eat at the Swan so no comment there. We did stop by the Disney desk a couple of times those people were helpful.
Overall, we would stay here again for an EPCOT focused trip, but otherwise I want to continue trying various Disney properties.
Thanks for the guidance on this trip!

 

[alimerola99]

Anyone have experience with the the rollaway beds at either Dolphin or Swan? Wondering if they are comfortable?

 

[JerseyJanice]

In the closet, there is a clip hanger that holds a folded plastic bag and a paper bag that you can use for recyclables. I put the empty bottles in the plastic bag and leave it on the counter when I check out.

Thanks for the tip! I will do that the next time we stay there.

And there will be a next time. We stayed in the Dolphin in 2008 for four nights. It was a good stay, but I wasn't blown away by it like I was at the Swan this past trip.

My next several trips were Free Dining or using other dining plans which you can't get at the Swan or Dolphin. But I feel like I'm over Disney Dining after going to so many Disney restaurants. And I always found ADRs to be a pain. It's worse now with the $10 per person cancellation policy.

Next trip, we'll be at the Swan and I'll make 2 ADRs tops. One for Ohana and the other at Be Our Guest lunch. We'll eat at counter service and do walk-ups. One of those will be for dinner at the Garden Grove on Friday or Saturday. Right after a hurricane, it was fabulous. They told us they were improvising a bit due to the storm so I can only imagine how great it is under normal operating conditions.

 

[Violet Parr]

Questions! Tried to get FP+ for our split stay today and ran into complications. First, we are staying at BC followed by Dolphin. MDE would only let me make FP+ for our Beach Club days. I realized I hadn't linked our Dolphin reservation to our MDE account. Tried that, but realized our reservation only showed 2 kids, not 3. So called Starwood and added the third kid. Dolphin reservation shows up now as 2 adults, 3 kids, but when I pull it up on MDE, it still only shows 2 adults 2 kids, so I can't link and get fastpasses for all of us.

I'm hoping it will just take some time to update, but I am wondering if we'd be eligible to book FP+ NOW if it were showing up correctly, or if we'd have to wait until 60 days from our Dolphin check-in, even though our park tickets are 10 days and overlap our stays. Today is our 60 day window for check in at Beach Club.


Confused!

VP

 

[lizabu]

Questions! Tried to get FP+ for our split stay today and ran into complications. First, we are staying at BC followed by Dolphin. MDE would only let me make FP+ for our Beach Club days. I realized I hadn't linked our Dolphin reservation to our MDE account. Tried that, but realized our reservation only showed 2 kids, not 3. So called Starwood and added the third kid. Dolphin reservation shows up now as 2 adults, 3 kids, but when I pull it up on MDE, it still only shows 2 adults 2 kids, so I can't link and get fastpasses for all of us.

I'm hoping it will just take some time to update, but I am wondering if we'd be eligible to book FP+ NOW if it were showing up correctly, or if we'd have to wait until 60 days from our Dolphin check-in, even though our park tickets are 10 days and overlap our stays. Today is our 60 day window for check in at Beach Club.


Confused!

VP

When I added a child to my reservation I was told it can take 24 hours to reflect in MDE. Once your reservation is reflecting correctly in MDE you can make FP+ 60 days out. I just did mine this week. The day before the 60 day mark I could only see 30 days out. The next day at 7am like magic it opened up and I could book my Fastpasses for my entire stay.

 

[JerseyJanice]

Violet, I would call Disney and ask for help. I ran into a few technical issues when I was doing mine so I called, and the tech person went ahead and just made them for me.

 

[Violet Parr]

Thanks! I did that and it turns out even though the 3rd child doesn't show up on the ressie, I could still make FP+ reservations for him. So we're all set!

 

[SA mom]

Anyone have experience with the the rollaway beds at either Dolphin or Swan? Wondering if they are comfortable?

Yes, it is the same mattress as the regular beds, the Heavenly Bed. It is really comfortable.

 

[Violet Parr]

How much is a rollaway per night? Any sort of discount for SPG members?

VP

 

[Dan Murphy]

How much is a rollaway per night? Any sort of discount for SPG members?

VP

Occupancy Limits for the Swan and Dolphin.

The Swan has an occupancy limit of 4 per room. The Dolphin has an occupancy limit of 5 per room. A rollaway bed can be obtained for a fee by calling housekeeping. The fee for a rollaway bed is currently $25.00 per night.

http://www.disboards.com/threads/wa...olphin-resorts-information-questions.3264274/

No discount that I am aware of.

 

[Violet Parr]

Another question from me! I just learned that Dolphin no longer accepts deliveries. We could really stand to have a case of beer and some light grocery items (organic yogurt, cucumbers for snacking, lunchmeat, etc) in our room. Does anyone have experience with the cost of an uber or cab to the nearest grocery store and back to the Dolphin? We will have an overlap with Beach Club/Dolphin (we check in at Dolphin the day before we check out of Beach Club) so we could conceivably get a delivery via Garden Grocer on our last night at Beach and then walk that stuff over to Dolphin. We were going to cancel the double reservation for that night, but my daughter and I have to get up in the 2am hour to get to the starting line for the Half-Marathon. How much of a pain would it be to walk a few bags of groceries over from Beach Club to Dolphin?

Thanks!

 

[Violet Parr]

Nevermind! Got it figured out!

 

[Dan Murphy]

How much of a pain would it be to walk a few bags of groceries over from Beach Club to Dolphin?

The distance from Y&BC lighthouse is about 2 blocks. So a little less than that.

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

 

[lizabu]

Another question from me! I just learned that Dolphin no longer accepts deliveries. We could really stand to have a case of beer and some light grocery items (organic yogurt, cucumbers for snacking, lunchmeat, etc) in our room. Does anyone have experience with the cost of an uber or cab to the nearest grocery store and back to the Dolphin? We will have an overlap with Beach Club/Dolphin (we check in at Dolphin the day before we check out of Beach Club) so we could conceivably get a delivery via Garden Grocer on our last night at Beach and then walk that stuff over to Dolphin. We were going to cancel the double reservation for that night, but my daughter and I have to get up in the 2am hour to get to the starting line for the Half-Marathon. How much of a pain would it be to walk a few bags of groceries over from Beach Club to Dolphin?

Thanks!

We've bought groceries from Boardwalk, Hess (I think they're called something else now) and Picabu. It's not so bad unless you buy a case of water or something.

 

[Babsy]

Anyone stay at the Dolphin lately? Wondering how bad the construction is? Planning on staying there soon and a teeny bit worried. (Room rates are
super low even for Thanksgiving week! $211/per night for resort view and Balcony!)

Thanks!

 

[alimerola99]

Yes, it is the same mattress as the regular beds, the Heavenly Bed. It is really comfortable.

Thank You!!!

 

[BlueFairy]

Anyone stay at the Dolphin lately? Wondering how bad the construction is? Planning on staying there soon and a teeny bit worried. (Room rates are
super low even for Thanksgiving week! $211/per night for resort view and Balcony!)

Thanks!

They were working on lots of rooms in March when we were there. I never saw or heard ANYTHING. They block off halls and floors while they work on them so they don't disturb guests.

 

[Babsy]

They were working on lots of rooms in March when we were there. I never saw or heard ANYTHING. They block off halls and floors while they work on them so they don't disturb guests.

Thank you! That is a relief to hear!