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

[Donald - my hero]

Just got back from our 1 week sanity break at the Dolphin, Jan 2- 9th and thought I'd let you know how it went. We weren't expecting anything other than a basic room since I'd booked it through Travelocity (.CA so i didn't need to worry about the exchange rate) but ended up being thrilled with what we actually got. A corner room at the very end of the hall on the 8th floor and we didn't notice until the 2nd night that we had a BALCONY! Our room had the best view even before we opened that weird lock but once we did <jaw drop> we were able to watch the fireworks from EPCOT as well as the special show from the Studios. We were in one of the rooms that had one of the semi-circular thingees (if that makes any sense) We rarely heard any other guests, in fact the only noise that did intrude was the horn from the water taxis (oh i must say the surprise extra show of the fireworks on Friday night did wake hubby up!!) We had no trouble with transportation to any of the parks and used the studios as a transportation hub to get to other resorts BUT ... when we headed to Disney Springs at an off-time (hubby slept a LOT so we rarely got moving before noon) it took an hour because the bus went to every one of the boardwalk resorts ... you know and picked up one other family.. 1st world problem i know but worth noting if you are in a hurry. LOVED getting the food voucher for declining housekeeping and found the Java spot in the Swan would give us the best bang if we went at weird times ... snagged 2 ham & cheese croissants a coffee and hot chocolate one day cause "you look tired and hungry" Used my CAA card at the Fountain and Picabu several times no prob. Did laundry one day and was happy to notice that while the machines are fitted with credit card readers they would still take tokens the change machine provided .. OOPS nope, not tokens, quarters URGH so now i have a ton of US quarters. The staff was wonderful from the moment we showed up needing to drop off our luggage before we turned in the rental car (our flight was extremely late and at 1:30 am couldn't convince the poor kid at MCO why we needed a trunk to keep hubby's work laptop safe) through to the very last moment when we couldn't figure out how to actually start the fancy-smanchy rental car! The weather -- not so nice .... poured rain our first day BUT that did lead to crowd levels i have never seen at EPCOT and getting a prime spot to see Illuminations 5 minutes before it started. That however was NOT the case on the day we went to MK --- the line for FP+ for HM was 15 minutes before we reached the scanners and the people mover had a line... we had to wait for 2 "cycles" to get into Carousel of Progress. OH might be worth mentioning that when we entered EPCOT thru International Gateway they were filtering everyone through the one metal detector and it took a LONG TIME.

Now the 2 things that irked me? The bed ... LOUSY! Not comfortable at all.. 1st night the fitted sheet, well, it didn't fit .. i didn't notice until i climbed in that it wasn't even close to a king-sized sheet and i spent the night on the mattress pad -- hubby was already sleeping or i would have changed it. When i stripped the bed the next day i noticed that uhm, the pillow top ... not so pillowy anymore and a LOT of people preferred sleeping on "my side" Oh well, we were unpacked and didn't want to move so i sucked it up. The WiFi ... abysmal. Slow to load, constantly dropping connection very frustrating. The one time that hubby needed to deal with a client he wanted to use the wired connection due to the nature of her problem and the wire was broken. Stopped to ask at the front desk if this was the service we *should* get without paying to upgrade and it was suggested we call IT -- that went NOWHERE.
So long story short (i know that ship long since sailed) other than 2 first-world problems it was a perfect break in a wonderful resort. Thanks for the help in planning this sanity break.

 

[hsmamato2]

does the swan have views as good as the dolphin? b/c it's smaller, are there less 'good view' rooms?

 

[Lupeix]

Does anyone know of transportation options to get from the Swan/Dolphin to Sea World with 2 kids under 5 if you don't rent a car? DS is begging to see Shamu

 

[BlueFairy]

Progress!!!! We have 8 nights in March (we are right at 60 days! Ugh!) reserved at the Dolphin at a convention rate of $218 in DH's name. I called today and Guest Services listed 3 Disney adults (1 child is 10) and 1 child on the reservation. She assures me that we don't need to list names, and that S/D will not charge me for an extra "adult" in the room.

So, on to MDE - I used the number she provided to link my reservation to the MDE account in my name. It comes up, but lists only 1 adult (DH) on the ressie. So I assume I should wait 24 hours for the system to update? Or will I need to call back and get a new number? Is is really ok to leave off the names here? Times-a-wastin!!! I just don't want to leave well enough alone if we are missing something. Better to get it straight before we attempt FP.

Meanwhile, the S/D Group Reservations site gives me a link to buy convention tickets. When I buy through that link, will I get a ticket number to link in MDE as well? I REALLY don't want to wait on something to show up in the mail. We need to work on FP+.

P.S. We listed our SPG number, early checkin, high quiet floor, foam pillows, and I politely asked for theme park view if available. Fingers crossed!

Looking forward to being back!

 

[Tess]

Progress!!!! We have 8 nights in March (we are right at 60 days! Ugh!) reserved at the Dolphin at a convention rate of $218 in DH's name. I called today and Guest Services listed 3 Disney adults (1 child is 10) and 1 child on the reservation. She assures me that we don't need to list names, and that S/D will not charge me for an extra "adult" in the room.

So, on to MDE - I used the number she provided to link my reservation to the MDE account in my name. It comes up, but lists only 1 adult (DH) on the ressie. So I assume I should wait 24 hours for the system to update? Or will I need to call back and get a new number? Is is really ok to leave off the names here? Times-a-wastin!!! I just don't want to leave well enough alone if we are missing something. Better to get it straight before we attempt FP.

Meanwhile, the S/D Group Reservations site gives me a link to buy convention tickets. When I buy through that link, will I get a ticket number to link in MDE as well? I REALLY don't want to wait on something to show up in the mail. We need to work on FP+.

P.S. We listed our SPG number, early checkin, high quiet floor, foam pillows, and I politely asked for theme park view if available. Fingers crossed!

Looking forward to being back!

That should work and yes, you will probably need to wait between 24-48 hours after the addition of the other "placeholders". Once you are able to access your Dolphin reservation in MDE, you will be able to select the children and you from your family list to update the reservation and include them by name within MDE. This will then allow you to create FP+ for all. If for some reason you have difficulty (and I have had problems in the past) contact Dolphin directly and let them know you are unable to link. I should note that when we had problems it was just after FP+ was rolled out AND we had six adults in three separate rooms. All was well in the end though.

 

[Disbug]

Does anyone know of transportation options to get from the Swan/Dolphin to Sea World with 2 kids under 5 if you don't rent a car? DS is begging to see Shamu

You can rent a car at the Dolphin. National and Alamo, I believe are available. Or you can take a taxi.

 

[BumbleB]

Does anyone know of transportation options to get from the Swan/Dolphin to Sea World with 2 kids under 5 if you don't rent a car? DS is begging to see Shamu

You can take a taxi or Uber, or rent a car for just that day. The one year we did this, I rented a car for two days.

 

[Lupeix]

You can take a taxi or Uber, or rent a car for just that day. The one year we did this, I rented a car for two days.

Can you get car seats with Uber or Taxi?

I rather not drive myself, any limo services that can provide car seats and take you there?

 

[Tess]

You can rent a car at the Dolphin. National and Alamo, I believe are available. Or you can take a taxi.

You can take a taxi or Uber, or rent a car for just that day. The one year we did this, I rented a car for two days.

The only downside to renting a car is paying for parking if you are renting for more than one day. Dolphin has a fee for parking. Then there would be any fees for parking at the other venue(s). Something to think about with a rental. There are a large number of private car services to choose from as well. Do a Google search of limousine services in Orlando and you will find many other than Meers.

 

[Tess]

Can you get car seats with Uber or Taxi?

I rather not drive myself, any limo services that can provide car seats and take you there?

Most limo services will have car seats if requested when booked.

 

[BumbleB]

The only downside to renting a car is paying for parking if you are renting for more than one day. Dolphin has a fee for parking. Then there would be any fees for parking at the other venue(s). Something to think about with a rental. There are a large number of private car services to choose from as well. Do a Google search of limousine services in Orlando and you will find many other than Meers.

If I were doing this now, I would call MH Transportation and get a quote from them. We use them for the trip from MCO to our hotel and have a great experience every single time.

 

[rteetz]

Ok just gonna throw this RUMOR out there. I have heard that the Swan and Dolphin Complex may be looking to expand. This new height balloon test is supposedly part of that to see how it would affect the area.

http://www.wdwmagic.com/recreation/...ns-over-fantasia-gardens-parking-lot-area.htm

 

[Dan Murphy]

Overall it was a good experience.

Just got back from our 1 week sanity break at the Dolphin, Jan 2- 9th and thought I'd let you know how it went.

Sounds like several good trips there. Thanks for the feedback.

Fingers crossed!

Good luck!!

 

[Savanna]

We are booked for our first stay at the Swan and Dolphin 03/26-04/01! We decided last night to plan a trip over our kids spring break. We can't wait!

 

[j37o]

Sorry if this question has been asked before, but I have searched and searched for an answer on these boards and haven't found it. We will be staying at Swan in April due to my hubby's convention being there. I am running into a problem I have not encountered before with true Disney resorts. I can't link my Swan reservation to MDE. I have spent more than an hour on the phone with Disney and Swan at this point through several phone calls. I've been given two different reservation numbers. The latest call with Swan tells me I can link my reservation to MDE until 60 days out, the same time I can start booking my FPs. Is this correct? I was hoping to have it linked beforehand so I can have reservations and MBs linked to start booking my FPs right at day 60. Thanks for any help.

 

[ymn]

I used the reservation number that showed in my Starwood app. I don't remember if the reservation linked immediately. It may have taken a few hours to show up. Every now and then at the parks the app would say I didn't have any reservations or fast passes booked, but if I kept trying, they would show up.

 

[TISHLOVESDISNEY]

We are driving down mid March, staying off-site arrival night. Can we check in around 10am, knowing room won't be ready, but park our car there and head over to HS? Not sure what the rule is since they have a parking fee.
TIA!

 

[OKW Lover]

We are driving down mid March, staying off-site arrival night. Can we check in around 10am, knowing room won't be ready, but park our car there and head over to HS? Not sure what the rule is since they have a parking fee.
TIA!

Yes, you can do this without any problem.

 

[BlueFairy]

Sorry if this question has been asked before, but I have searched and searched for an answer on these boards and haven't found it. We will be staying at Swan in April due to my hubby's convention being there. I am running into a problem I have not encountered before with true Disney resorts. I can't link my Swan reservation to MDE. I have spent more than an hour on the phone with Disney and Swan at this point through several phone calls. I've been given two different reservation numbers. The latest call with Swan tells me I can link my reservation to MDE until 60 days out, the same time I can start booking my FPs. Is this correct? I was hoping to have it linked beforehand so I can have reservations and MBs linked to start booking my FPs right at day 60. Thanks for any help.

I just did this. Did you book through a group reservation link? That reservation number is not the number Disney needs.
1) call Swan and press 0 to get Guest Services at the hotel. Do not call Reservations as that is a call center.
2) Have all ages of guests listed in Swan's computer.
3) they will give you a NEW reservation number specific to Disney.
4) Wait 24 hours for Disneys MDE database to update.
5) login to MDE and link the reservation with the NEW number they gave you. Be sure all guests are listed.
6) if you want convention tickets, DO NOT select the mail options if you are getting this close to your FP window. Mailed tickets can't be linked to FP until you have the actual ticket in hand. Instead, call the group tickets number in the web link and ask for will call tickets. You can then link that confirmation number in MDE to get FP. Your dates won't show as eligible until you reach 60 days. I know all of this because I selected tickets by mail and had to get it straightened out.

Good luck!!!

 

[j37o]

I just did this. Did you book through a group reservation link? That reservation number is not the number Disney needs.
1) call Swan and press 0 to get Guest Services at the hotel. Do not call Reservations as that is a call center.
2) Have all ages of guests listed in Swan's computer.
3) they will give you a NEW reservation number specific to Disney.
4) Wait 24 hours for Disneys MDE database to update.
5) login to MDE and link the reservation with the NEW number they gave you. Be sure all guests are listed.
6) if you want convention tickets, DO NOT select the mail options if you are getting this close to your FP window. Mailed tickets can't be linked to FP until you have the actual ticket in hand. Instead, call the group tickets number in the web link and ask for will call tickets. You can then link that confirmation number in MDE to get FP. Your dates won't show as eligible until you reach 60 days. I know all of this because I selected tickets by mail and had to get it straightened out.

Good luck!!!

Thank you. I had tried this to an extent with no luck, but I'm going to try it again and follow your instructions exactly and see if it works. Did you have luck with this more than 60 days out on your reservation? Thanks again!