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

[jbaysingar]

I'm usually a big Swalphin cheerleader, but today I need to vent a little.

We're preparing for our upcoming trip, and since it will be our first stay at Swalphin since they added the ability to unlock your room with your phone, I did some research and saw that it's done via the Bonvoy app and requires linking your reservation to your Bonvoy account. I tried linking our reservation in the app, and it found the reservation, but won't let us link it to our Bonvoy account because we booked through Disney Travel.

I understand not giving us loyalty points if we book a discount TA rate, but to restrict app features like unlocking your room to only those guests that booked directly through Marriott seems very odd and a bit customer unfriendly. This would be like Disney restricting MDE app room unlocking to just the guests who booked through Disney Travel.

 

[Christmas54]

My family of four is going over our school spring break from 3/12 to 3/20 (8 nights). Have been booked in a Port Orleans Riverside with an annual pass holder discount for 4 of those nights for a grand total of $2900. I've been looking at the Swan for the last few months for vacancies during this time but never saw anything for the whole week. Well, this week when I checked, I found rooms available. With the pass holder discount (code QWH), I was able to get a "no view" room for $2889.01. Less than Port Orleans Riverside. NUTS, right?!?!? Deluxe after hours access, proximity to Boardwalk and Epcot, bigger room, for less money! Heck, I'm thinking about going for a Resort View room for $3115.14.

I recently found a similar deal thanks to this thread. I was booked at POFQ for Run Disney princess weekend. It was a little over $1800 for 5 nights. Randomly started reading this thread and learned that the Swan and Dolphin offer an AP discount. I never knew!!! Was able to book the Dolphin for about $1300 total. We were floored and so excited! We used to always stay Epcot area but the prices are just outrageous for that weekend. Thank you to all on this thread for the expertise!!! Never would have switched otherwise.

 

[Dan Murphy]

Do the on site casual restaurants that do not take reservations.. is there usually a wait or fairly straightforward to get a seat. Specifically for breakfast at Garden Grove and lunch or dinner at the Fountain.

In the past (4 years ago and back), I never had a problem with the casuals. Always seats available. I can't speak for now but would not expect it to be different.

 

[SteveH]

@Luisfba I agree with Dan 100% and right now during Covid I've near read about anyone having major issues getting into the casual restaurants. Even Fresh Med was mostly available, just maybe not at peak times. But now I wouldn't worry about it.

@jbaysingar I think you may find that once you check-in it could work, I'll be curious to know if that is the case though. This does seem very strange to limit it in that way.

 

[jbaysingar]

@jbaysingar I think you may find that once you check-in it could work, I'll be curious to know if that is the case though. This does seem very strange to limit it in that way.

I definitely plan to ask about it we check in. I'm not getting my hopes up, though, since the official Bonvoy help page for Mobile Key explicitly states, "The Reservation must have been booked directly through an Official Marriott Channel."

 

[SteveH]

Thanks @jbaysingar seems like an odd item to use for "loyalty"

 

[TexanInTheMidwest]

Do the on site casual restaurants that do not take reservations.. is there usually a wait or fairly straightforward to get a seat. Specifically for breakfast at Garden Grove and lunch or dinner at the Fountain.

I only ate at the Fountain in October (besides Shulas) and it was fairly easy to get a seat. Back in May, I did Picabu in the morning and it was fairly easy too

 

[Meglen]

I'm usually a big Swalphin cheerleader, but today I need to vent a little.

We're preparing for our upcoming trip, and since it will be our first stay at Swalphin since they added the ability to unlock your room with your phone, I did some research and saw that it's done via the Bonvoy app and requires linking your reservation to your Bonvoy account. I tried linking our reservation in the app, and it found the reservation, but won't let us link it to our Bonvoy account because we booked through Disney Travel.

I understand not giving us loyalty points if we book a discount TA rate, but to restrict app features like unlocking your room to only those guests that booked directly through Marriott seems very odd and a bit customer unfriendly. This would be like Disney restricting MDE app room unlocking to just the guests who booked through Disney Travel.

If it makes you feel any better.. all my stuff was linked and the unlock door feature never worked.

 

[fredandkell]

I know! It's crazy how the S/D are CHEAPER than most moderates, even when including the infamous resort fee. For our July trip, I had originally planned a split stay between POFQ and Dolphin but when I compared prices, it was actually cheaper to only stay at the Dolphin. My DH prefers not to change hotel while we are at WDW so the choice to switch to the Dolphin was very easy, especially since we will have access tot he Deluxe Extra Evening Hours. I would prefer the Swan but it's too expensive right now (100$ extra per night) so I'm waiting to see if prices go down.

Question - why do you prefer the Swan? I was there last week and I walked through both properties’ lobbies and to me the Dolphin looked a bit nicer. Now to be fair I have never stayed at either before nor seen a room so just curious why you prefer the Swan over the Dolphin. I do see on the Marriott website that the Swan is consistently more expensive than the Dolphin and I was wondering why.

 

[fredandkell]

If it makes you feel any better.. all my stuff was linked and the unlock door feature never worked.

It’s been my personal experience that the Marriott digital key sucks in general. We are diamond Hilton members and platinum Marriott members and Hilton has the digital key thing down waaaaaayyyyy better.

 

[SteveH]

Question - why do you prefer the Swan?

My reasons...
Queen beds at Swan vs Doubles at Dolphin
Two sinks at the Swan vs one sink at the Dolphin
Swan is smaller of the two, to me it just seemed quieter and less confusing to get around.

 

[marsh0013]

Has anyone combined breakfast vouchers with AAA discount esp for buffet up charge or at Java? What did you end up ordering? Thanks!!

Not sure if you got an answer. We were able to combine our DVC discount with the breakfast vouchers at Java. I would guess AAA discount would work the same. We never did any buffets so can’t comment on that.

As to what we ordered, some days my husband would get a breakfast sandwich and I’d get a yogurt parfait and we’d throw in some sort of pastry to get as close to $20 total as we could. Other days, we’d both get iced caramel machiattos and add something else to get to $20. But we also used the vouchers for lunch or dinner (sandwiches) some days instead. This was back in May 2021.

 

[HerRoyalHighness]

My reasons...
Queen beds at Swan vs Doubles at Dolphin
Two sinks at the Swan vs one sink at the Dolphin
Swan is smaller of the two, to me it just seemed quieter and less confusing to get around.

At home, my husband and I share a king, and our kids each have their own full....I avoid full/double size beds at all costs.

 

[Jedimike]

My reasons...
Queen beds at Swan vs Doubles at Dolphin
Two sinks at the Swan vs one sink at the Dolphin
Swan is smaller of the two, to me it just seemed quieter and less confusing to get around.

THIS EXACTLY. Bigger beds being the main reason for us, smaller hotel (less people) being secondary.

 

[isabellea]

Question - why do you prefer the Swan? I was there last week and I walked through both properties’ lobbies and to me the Dolphin looked a bit nicer. Now to be fair I have never stayed at either before nor seen a room so just curious why you prefer the Swan over the Dolphin. I do see on the Marriott website that the Swan is consistently more expensive than the Dolphin and I was wondering why.

I would prefer queen beds but bigger beds are not worth 100$/night extra for us. Maybe 10-20$ extra but not 100$.

 

[Meglen]

I would prefer queen beds but bigger beds are not worth 100$/night extra for us. Maybe 10-20$ extra but not 100$.

The swan can sometimes be cheaper than dolphin and not also 100$ more a night.

 

[Saad]

For those who are platinum and elite level bonvoy members. Does dolphin offer breakfast as your welcome gift? If so where?

 

[hedberg1661]

Meant to post this earlier but here we are...stayed at the Dolphin a few weeks ago and had a great time despite the weather not being the greatest. It was very cold and being from PA that's saying something. We had one nice day at the pool and otherwise it was jeans and a hoodie after that. Ate at Shula's, Il Mulino, Cabana Bar, Picabu (breakfast), and Fuel and all were pretty darn good. I always find the F&B at the Swalphin to be fantastic.

I also stopped over at the Reserve for the first time to try the lobby bar (Tangerine) and I have to say I was not only impressed with the bar but also the whole resort overall. If the price is right, I would say you should give the reserve a try. My room was fantastic and was ready upon arrival (around 9am).

With all of the negative (IMO) things happening in the Parks of late, it was refreshing to see that the Swalphin still kept the magic alive for me.

 

[disneyfan150]

Oh my goodness! After holding for over two hours, I am wondering if I should cancel my Disney Travel Company reservation and rebook with Marriott directly.

We just wanted to book a quick end of summer WDW get away. We had never stayed at Swan/Dolphin before. After eating there and passing through on the way to the mini golf course last summer, we thought we might want to give it a try. I did a mock booking with Marriott and was going to be charged for the whole stay up front - and that was the flexible rate.

So, I called Disney direct and booked a room only for our August stay. She said the charge was $895 and I my credit card would not be charged. I knew that I was not getting correct information. The resort fee did not seem to be included and I knew that a deposit was needed for room only. I just decided to wait and check out the booking info on MDE or my email confirmation. Never got an email and never showed on my MDE. My credit card has a pending charge from Dolphin for $338.

I called today to inquire and started with reservations. She said she would resend the email and it would take 24 hours. I was transferred to another department. After another long hold, I was told I need to wait another few days for Marriott to respond in regard to the reservation not showing on MDE. Disney always says emails will take 24 hours and they usually take 24 seconds.

Do you think I should just book directly through Marriott? I was trying to avoid paying the entire balance up front.

 

[OScheermom]

We will be staying at the Dolphin next weekend. We are big Joe burrow fans so we will want to try and catch the Superbowl somewhere. Is there anywhere on property or close by that we could watch it? I've already tried making reservations at city works in DS and it's booked.