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

[Dan Murphy]

What a great review, sharona. Sounds like you guys had a super trip! Thanks for sharing.

 

[Donald - my hero]

Thank you so MUCH Sharona! Your comment about the rental car sent my head spinning and I've just finished booking a car thru Airmiles for both directions. Cost me 18.70 US, 775 AM and 22.60 CDN loyalty fee. SOO much better than what Mears was gonna run us and since i have US cash i won't get hit with the exchange rate.

THANK YOU!!!

 

[ymn]

Great tip! Just set up a rental for my arrival and it was only $20!

 

[luvmarypoppins]

Us either Dan .. open to other suggestions for cash! Other trips we've been able to charge everything *extra* and then paid it off in one shot the night before checking out. Since this isn't an option this time I'm trying to figure out my best bet. We have a US savings account that we normally add to whenever the exchange rate is good but since this is a very spur of the moment trip and we spent our 30th in Disney last year there's maybe 200.00 in there. That ain't gonna cut it for a full week :O

I know they do have an onsite atm at the Swan if you need cash

 

[luvmarypoppins]

Well here is our little update as we just returned from our trip to the Swan 12/13-19

The great - Our room. Dh asked for a room near an elevator because of my mobility issues. I swear I didnt tell him to ask for this. He said I did, But the great, more than good part was we had a view of the Tower of Terror. At first I was hating the room as the bus stop was to the left and We just saw the front of the hotel entrance etc.

But then for the last 2 nights we booked with dh ff airline miles. We asked if we would be getting a better view etc. but they said no due to the room category we booked - Swan Wing whatever that means. So we just stayed in our room. The last night I was not feeling well so we just stayed in the room. We were originally planning to go to HS to see the star Wars opening fireworks.

Well....We had an AMAZING view of the fireworks from our room and I mean Amazing!!!!!! It was awesome. Dh enjoyed it for sure.

More greatness...got to meet in the lobby several times with snappy from the Breast Cancer thread. She is awesome as always!! Shouting out to you!!

Not much in the way of decorations inside the lobby.

Happy we didnt have to pay the resort fee with dh ff miles. We used to have to do that in the past.

Big hit was the cookie making activitiy for the kids in the lobby. Everyone was having fun from what we observed.

The bad - No Mickey waffles at the Garden Grove buffet. My ds was really looking forward to them. What happened to them??? I didn't ask.

The ugly and do I mean ugly - a few of the days they were resurfacing the Swan and Dolphin parking lots. One day we had to walk over to the Dolphin to catch the bus. This is not easy when you are hauling a wheelchair, not familiar with the resort and also this applies to those with young kids and strollers etc. No one was none too happy about this and we were not informed ahead of time with a notice etc. I chose the Swan also due to the fact they are the first bus stop. The next day everyone came to the Swan from the Dolphin, more unhappiness from everyone. And then there was the bus driver confusion and more unhappiness from those with young kids and strollers not knowing where to get off etc. I think one bus driver was misinformed and said he was not going to the Dolphin but at that time I think they did reopen the parking lot there for the bus stop.

I might think of more, but all and all it was a great stay

 

[TISHLOVESDISNEY]

We will be at the Dolphin mid March. Wondering if we will be able to see SW fireworks at DHS from or near the hotel?
TIA

 

[KStarfish82]

First time staying at the Dolphin....we are checking in on Thursday and checking out on Saturday.

A few questions....

Do we get free parking at the parks with our room key?

I am thinking of getting a scooter, because of medical issues, can I have it delivered to the resort and they can keep it for me until I arrive (if I am at dinner or something)?


Thanks!

 

[Dan Murphy]

Well here is our little update as we just returned from our trip to the Swan 12/13-19

Welcome back home, Mary. Sounds like another great trip. That parking lot resurfacing sure sounds like it was a pain, but all else sounded super.

We will be at the Dolphin mid March. Wondering if we will be able to see SW fireworks at DHS from or near the hotel?
TIA

Yes, you should be able to. Not like being at the park for sure, but the higher in the air effects can be seen.

First time staying at the Dolphin....we are checking in on Thursday and checking out on Saturday.

A few questions....

Do we get free parking at the parks with our room key?

I am thinking of getting a scooter, because of medical issues, can I have it delivered to the resort and they can keep it for me until I arrive (if I am at dinner or something)?


Thanks!

Yes, free parking in the park parking lots. And yes, scooter can be delivered and it will be held at concierge.

 

[Sully1978]

We are staying at the Swan for the first time in two weeks. Are there any rooms on the ground floor? We will have a double stroller and prefer to not deal with elevators.

 

[Donald - my hero]

I know they do have an onsite atm at the Swan if you need cash

Thanks for this bit of information but we actually came across some US cash we had forgotten about! WOOT We'll be there in 12 days I'm so excited

 

[OKW Lover]

We are staying at the Swan for the first time in two weeks. Are there any rooms on the ground floor? We will have a double stroller and prefer to not deal with elevators.

I don't believe there are any ground floor rooms at the Swan. If so, they are very, very few in number.

 

[Tess]

I don't believe there are any ground floor rooms at the Swan. If so, they are very, very few in number.

You are, I believe, correct--no ground floor at Swan. The ground floor is dedicated to the business functions/restaurants, etc. If there are any ground floor rooms--I have never seen them.

 

[Sully1978]

You are, I believe, correct--no ground floor at Swan. The ground floor is dedicated to the business functions/restaurants, etc. If there are any ground floor rooms--I have never seen them.

Thanks. If there are no ground floor rooms, any suggestions on which rooms to request for the best views? We are staying on SPG points if that matters.

 

[hsmamato2]

Well when you check in, you can ask (very,very politely) for a room that faces whatever view you're interested in, if it's available you may just get it (in the past, I have always gotten a nice view even using points) but keep in mind it may or may not work....Once we got a view of the trash loading ramps,and we just decided 'oh well, we'll keep the gauze curtains closed,no worries...it turned out that we could see a (distant) but perfect view of wishes at MK from our room! so cool-so you never know.....

 

[Dan Murphy]

I always try for an east looking view (Boardwalk/Epcot), the higher up the better.

And yes, no ground floors at the Swan, only at the Dolphin.

 

[jessily]

We were at the Swan from 12/12-12/19 and had a fantastic stay. I came home from our last stay at the Swan reporting that the rooms were becoming overly dated and dirty (the kind of old dirt that can't be cleaned). As a result, we stayed elsewhere on our last few trips. Well, with the recent updates that issue has been completely resolved and I don't think there's anywhere else we'd rather stay. The refurbished rooms are beautiful and very clean. I can't believe that for the price we paid we were able to stay in such a nice room within walking distance of Epcot/DHS. Especially compared to the cost of the Disney resorts in that area.

We were in a room on the 10th floor directly over the main entrance of the Swan... great view considering we booked a standard room! I'm assuming we got a free upgrade since we're SPG members. We could see all of DHS (including the top of the Osbourne Lights) and it would have been a great view of the Star Wars fireworks had we been in the room that last night.

They did seem to clean the rooms very late in the afternoon. A couple times we were in the room cleaning up for dinner around 4:30 and the room was still left untouched when we returned later that night. In retrospect we should have called the front desk when we left the room for dinner to ask to have the room made up. They always left us plenty of towels though and were quick to bring whatever we needed (water bottles, extra towels, etc.) so it wasn't really an issue. Just a tip, if you leave the room for dinner and your room still isn't made up, it may be worth a call.

The parking lot resurfacing the previous poster mentioned was an inconvenience but seems to be over now. We never did figure out the bus loop/sharing. Sometimes the bus would go to all 5 resorts before heading out, sometimes just Swan/Dolphin, and sometimes just Swan. It took a long time to get to Downtown Disney and Typhoon Lagoon as a result. I can't recommend UberX enough. The morning we had a pre-park opening reservation at Be Our Guest we took Uber to The Contemporary for around $8. They picked us up in 2 minutes and we got there in ~10 minutes and then walked over to MK. We found the bus routes too unpredictable for a morning like that (allowed us to sleep in for an extra 30 minutes). The buses were great when we weren't in a hurry, but Uber came in very handy a few times during the week. No experience with the boats, being able to walk to Epcot/DHS is a huge perk of these resorts!

Such a wonderful resort, can't wait to return. Thanks for all the helpful info in this thread!

 

[pkdof]

We leave in 5 days! Booked our rooms with points and the SPG app is showing we have Crescent lake view and balcony rooms.

 

[Music City Mama]

Does anyone know how likely it would be to call and have a room available even though the website (both S&D and Starwood) show both the Swan and the Dolphin as unavailable during 2 days of my trip?

 

[OKW Lover]

Does anyone know how likely it would be to call and have a room available even though the website (both S&D and Starwood) show both the Swan and the Dolphin as unavailable during 2 days of my trip?

No way for any of us to know. I'd give them a call anyway.

 

[Dan Murphy]

We were at the Swan from 12/12-12/19 and had a fantastic stay........Such a wonderful resort, can't wait to return. Thanks for all the helpful info in this thread!

Sounds like a great trip, thanks for the review and feedback.

We leave in 5 days! Booked our rooms with points and the SPG app is showing we have Crescent lake view and balcony rooms.

Enjoy your trip!!!