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

[Hasil72]

We will be staying at the Swan for the first time next month. How much will they place "on hold" on my credit card upon check in for incidentals? I find this varies greatly by hotel chain. Disney charges nothing but we've had some hold up to $75/day.

 

[loves to dive]

Was a Swan last week, loved it and thank you to everyone on the boards for all the info. I felt like a pro and since Patty57 kept telling me about lowered prices and I had to change my reservation 4 times, I felt like I got way more than I paid for. So, since we've sort of fallen in love with the place I have a what if kind of question. I know Marriott is buying one of them and the other is staying Starwood. Since they are sister hotels and share facilities, wonder if that would change with two different parent companies? Wonder if it would negate any agreement they have with Disney, since they obviously do have one or they would be able to use the buses and you wouldn't be able to send your packages back. Just curious.

 

[kayteekt]

This may sound like common sense but I will say it anyway. When it does come time to try and rebook make sure you call SPG directly. 1-888-625-4988 You don't have to cancel outright this way because they adjust it in their system. It is sometimes amazing what can happen when talking to an agent directly when the websites say there are no rooms available. Getting the right agent on the phone, being polite and chatty, some magical keystrokes and a lot of the times I get sold out rooms for points. I am a gold SPG member but it is worth a try nevertheless.

Thanks for sharing, since i just signed up and got my card, haven't figured out how it all works yet, that is great advice, thank you!

 

[BlueFairy]

What kind of coffee system is in the new Swan rooms now? Plan to take some extra for our upcoming trip. Thanks!

It was a Mr Coffee drip pod maker. It holds 1 single serving pod provided with Starbucks Pike. I could not find pod/senseo coffee in a brand that we like, so I took a travel press pot with me and just used the machine to heat the water. We had 2 paper starbucks cups, 2 plastic water cups, and 4 drinking glasses as well. Also, 2 bottles of Dasani water every day.

We will be staying at the Swan for the first time next month. How much will they place "on hold" on my credit card upon check in for incidentals? I find this varies greatly by hotel chain. Disney charges nothing but we've had some hold up to $75/day.

I am almost positive they did an approval at Dolphin for our entire lodging amount at checkin. I think so because DH asked me about the amount that Amex sent him in an e-mail. That was a lot since DH is there 9 days. But he is still there and I am currently checking our cards. I don't see a current hold or that any charges related to the room have been made. Be prepared with the cost of the stay available to be safe.

Was a Swan last week, loved it and thank you to everyone on the boards for all the info. I felt like a pro and since Patty57 kept telling me about lowered prices and I had to change my reservation 4 times, I felt like I got way more than I paid for. So, since we've sort of fallen in love with the place I have a what if kind of question. I know Marriott is buying one of them and the other is staying Starwood. Since they are sister hotels and share facilities, wonder if that would change with two different parent companies? Wonder if it would negate any agreement they have with Disney, since they obviously do have one or they would be able to use the buses and you wouldn't be able to send your packages back. Just curious.

I don't know if I can answer your questions. Marriott and Starwood are now owned by the same parent company (Marriott bought Starwood?). Sheraton and Westin were both Starwood brands. S/D - one is Westin, one is Sheraton. I don't know how the branding will change. The rewards program has already started to morph for Starwood (Westin/Sheraton). I'm sure it will for Marriott as well. Speculation is that everything is moving to Marriott. But many large hotel chains maintain different brand identities within the larger company. SoI would think you will see S/D remain Westin and Sheraton unless there is a world-wide change to the entire brand for on of those. Bottom line - they are BOTH already owned by Marriott. It's too early to tell how Marriott will manage the Starwood properties, but there's no reason to think that Swan or Dolphin would change in some negative way independent of the other.

 

[Ellwood970]

Marriott did not buy starwood. A Chinese insurance company bought starwood. (Marriott can counter that offer but it is doubtful they will.) China now has its foot in the door at the WDW resort.

 

[bobob1916]

Marriott did not buy starwood. A Chinese insurance company bought starwood. (Marriott can counter that offer but it is doubtful they will.) China now has its foot in the door at the WDW resort.

Chinese insurer Anbang is set to acquire hotel operator Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide for about $13.2 billion, the firm's biggest push yet into the global real estate market.

Anbang's approach to Starwood first became public earlier this week, and Starwood said Friday it had determined Anbang's offer was superior to a deal struck last year with Marriott.

The Chinese firm, whose offer for Starwood is already fully financed, has been an aggressive buyer of U.S. hotel properties of late. It already owns New York's iconic Waldorf Astoria. The current $78-per-share cash offer includes J.C. Flowers & Co. and Primavera Capital as partners.

Starwood's original suitor, Marriott, now has five days to respond. It struck a $12.2 billion deal to buy Starwood in November. Mariott said in a statement that it continues to believe it is a better merger partner and that it is considering its options.

Sources told CNBC that Marriott is expected to make a counter-bid.

With a bidding war on the cards, shares quickly passed the Anbang offer price. Starwood's stock rose 4.7 percent to $80 in early trading.

 

[BlueFairy]

Sorry folks! I was in WDW and missed the memo. Glad to have updated info.

I'd prefer a firm other than Marriot. We are not happy with their rewards program.

Interestingly, isn't there a Waldorf on or adjacent to property now as well?

 

[mousegear]

Just checked-in to Swan. The resort is fully booked and bursting with people. The bellman unloaded our car and said that as soon as we are unloaded, the car need to be parked before we could do registration since there are so many people coming in/out. We did get an upgraded room to resort view on 10th floor. Obviously, the room is not ready, so we are chilling in the lobby. The front desk said that the resort is 100% booked.

We arrived yesterday afternoon at Pop Century stayed our one night (Swan didn't have any availability). It was our first time at POP, it was ok for one night but for longer stays, I would have not like to stay there. The room was tiny and we are only family of two and cannot imagine being crammed there as a bigger family. We went to Epcot last night and utilized our FP+ (TT, Character Meet, Spaceship Earth) and rode Figment and Grande Fiesta without any wait. We didn't stay for Illumination since it was our traveling day and we were tired. This morning, We went to morning EMH at Animal Kingdom. There are lots of people but if you utilize those early morning or late night EMH, it's totally doable. We rode Expedition Everest twice, Primeval Whirl, Dinosaur and Safari all before nine and walked around Pangani Exploration Trail. We exited the park by 10am. IT was really bad trying to get out of the park at that time since were the fish swimming upstream. We are returning to AK tomorrow with FP+ and shows but it was nice to utilize morning EMH.

 

[Dan Murphy]

Just checked-in to Swan............We are returning to AK tomorrow with FP+ and shows but it was nice to utilize morning EMH.

Sure all sounds good to me, mousegear. Enjoy the rest of your stay and trip!!!

 

[BlueFairy]

Just checked-in to Swan. The resort is fully booked and bursting with people. The bellman unloaded our car and said that as soon as we are unloaded, the car need to be parked before we could do registration since there are so many people coming in/out. We did get an upgraded room to resort view on 10th floor. Obviously, the room is not ready, so we are chilling in the lobby. The front desk said that the resort is 100% booked.

We arrived yesterday afternoon at Pop Century stayed our one night (Swan didn't have any availability). It was our first time at POP, it was ok for one night but for longer stays, I would have not like to stay there. The room was tiny and we are only family of two and cannot imagine being crammed there as a bigger family. We went to Epcot last night and utilized our FP+ (TT, Character Meet, Spaceship Earth) and rode Figment and Grande Fiesta without any wait. We didn't stay for Illumination since it was our traveling day and we were tired. This morning, We went to morning EMH at Animal Kingdom. There are lots of people but if you utilize those early morning or late night EMH, it's totally doable. We rode Expedition Everest twice, Primeval Whirl, Dinosaur and Safari all before nine and walked around Pangani Exploration Trail. We exited the park by 10am. IT was really bad trying to get out of the park at that time since were the fish swimming upstream. We are returning to AK tomorrow with FP+ and shows but it was nice to utilize morning EMH.

The SANS convention just started checking out today. Classes actually ran through this afternoon. I'm sure they have another group coming in, but SANS is huge. Things should settle down tomorrow. My husband was working and he said lunch time was 12:30 and everything was slammed. Otherwise, all of the resort amenities felt very uncrowded because those guests were all working. Enjoy!

 

[NancyIL]

Chinese insurer Anbang is set to acquire hotel operator Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide for about $13.2 billion, the firm's biggest push yet into the global real estate market.

Anbang's approach to Starwood first became public earlier this week, and Starwood said Friday it had determined Anbang's offer was superior to a deal struck last year with Marriott.

The Chinese firm, whose offer for Starwood is already fully financed, has been an aggressive buyer of U.S. hotel properties of late. It already owns New York's iconic Waldorf Astoria. The current $78-per-share cash offer includes J.C. Flowers & Co. and Primavera Capital as partners.

Starwood's original suitor, Marriott, now has five days to respond. It struck a $12.2 billion deal to buy Starwood in November. Mariott said in a statement that it continues to believe it is a better merger partner and that it is considering its options.

Sources told CNBC that Marriott is expected to make a counter-bid.

With a bidding war on the cards, shares quickly passed the Anbang offer price. Starwood's stock rose 4.7 percent to $80 in early trading.

I hope Marriott wins this one!

 

[BlueFairy]

Time for a room report.

We woke at an ungodly hour and arrived at the Dolphin in our rental car at 9am last Sat. The valet took the car, no problem. She also handled getting our luggage to the bell stand. Both she and the bellhop gave me a standard line about our groceries. I asked if the 1 bag could be kept cold and they said the probably didn't have room. It was 1/2 gallon of milk and a few yogurts. When we finally found that our room wasn't ready and they moved to store the bags, they actually checked. Poof - there was plenty of space. I know they can't make promises, but I thought it wasn't handled very well. I was sort of made to feel that I was asking too much. Not the best welcome. The guy that found room in the fridge was more than accommodating and made up for it.

Meanwhile, DH went to checkin. There was a good checkout line (turns out the hotel was full and there were only 6 rooms clean). The clerks were very nice and patient with his request. We asked for a renovated room with a theme park view even though we booked standard view. We are SPG. Of course, they asked that we be on our way and not expect a text until check-in time.

Sometime late afternoon we did get a text, but we were waiting on a FP at Epcot. We returned sometime around 7:30. DH was nervous that if we had a nice room assignment they might give it away. But nothing to fear- we got Room 11097. Facing the rear of the hotel, it is just above and to the right of the fountains, 1 level higher than the tallest wing. No balcony. But we could see all of Epcot and DHS. Amazing fireworks view!! And, the room was updated. Same as the Swan photos on the website. The new finishes are pretty and clean and fresh. A few things seem cheap and may wear out, but for the most part very nice. Too bad they still had double beds. The mattress did NOT feel new. Both DH and I were unhappy with the sleep quality. Quite a change from the king we had in 2006. But, my bones are older and creakier and we don't sleep as soundly as we used to.

A note on the room location - very convenient between east and west elevators. Use west elevators to reach ground floor (Pool, boats, laundry, restaurants, kids club, Picabu) without going through the lobby. However, something about the restaurant exhaust and the hallway made floor 11 seem like there was someone always cooking. Also, this particular room seemed to really channel the low hum of the giant elevator shafts. If this matters to you, ask to be far from the elevators. The noise was random, but noticeable, and did disturb our sleep at first.

Housekeeping was excellent. We never returned to find a dirty room. On Wed, we were out of the room only from 10am - 11am and they made up the room while we were gone. We didn't have washclothes the first night, but otherwise everything was replenished completely. Would be nice for the sheets to be totally replaced more often. I'm not sure we got a new set at all in the whole week.

Interestingly, we received 2 notices in our room. Saturday night we got a detailed letter reminding us of daylight savings time. On Thursday afternoon DH also received a letter explaining that Reedy Creek Fire District was doing a safety inspection. The hotel was without power from after midnight until midmorning. The hotel didn't offer compensation, and he didn't request anything.

Nothing major to report about service, pools or food. Thanks to everyone for such an informative thread! We look forward to our next stay!

Here are some photos of our view:

 

[DJFan88]

Fellow Coffee drinkers: what is my best coffee drinking plan? I have no interest in making it in my room, and love doing my morning stroll to get coffee and then walk around outside a little. Is this Java bar mug thing worth it, how does it work, cost? Or do I just get it at the Picabu. Both my husband and I drink 1 , 2 if not doing anything, and/or sometimes 1 or both of us may want 1 in afternoon.

 

[hsmamato2]

FYI- for the buyout... Both hotels are owned by Starwood, and operated by Sheraton and Westin. Unsure but I think they will both be 'sold' to whomever wins the bidding, last I heard it's the chinese insurer and Marriott bidding, and Marriott has outbid. No one really knows yet what any of this will mean for SPG membership etc. We probably won't know till next year,(I am guessing) The current change in free nights points has less to do with the buyout and more to do with the way they change those things all the time (Swan now requires more points) I have LOVED being an SPG member, and having the co branded credit cards. We will see what happens in the future.

 

[ckelly14]

Pleased to report something positive! I was able to land a 1 bdr executive suite at the Dolphin on points. For the last 3 years, I was told that only regular rooms were available on Starpoints, and I would have to pay a $200 per night fee to add the "parlor" potion of the suite. Last week, I was able to snag a 2 room 1 bdr suite for 20K points per night with 5th night free. I like the Dolphin 1bdr suite as they have a pull down murphy bed instead of just a sofa bed in the parlor (in the Swan). Great for our family.

I have never had a particularly good view or balcony with the executive suite at the Dolphin. Anyone have good room requests for an executive suite they would like to share?

For accuracy, the Swan and Dolphin are not owned by Starwood. They are owned by Tishman Hotel Corporation and MetLife, with land leased from Disney for 99 years, and run by Starwood. It's unclear to me what will happen with these properties after Starwood is sold.

 

[mousegear]

Fellow Coffee drinkers: what is my best coffee drinking plan? I have no interest in making it in my room, and love doing my morning stroll to get coffee and then walk around outside a little. Is this Java bar mug thing worth it, how does it work, cost? Or do I just get it at the Picabu. Both my husband and I drink 1 , 2 if not doing anything, and/or sometimes 1 or both of us may want 1 in afternoon.

The Java bar mug is I think $16 or $16.99. I asked because I thought about getting one. It's good for a length of stay and I think if you have AAA, you get %20 as well. I asked at Picabu and they are good at all the locations that is printed on the mug. They also include the free-style soda machine at Picabu as well. Hope it helps.

 

[BlueFairy]

Fellow Coffee drinkers: what is my best coffee drinking plan? I have no interest in making it in my room, and love doing my morning stroll to get coffee and then walk around outside a little. Is this Java bar mug thing worth it, how does it work, cost? Or do I just get it at the Picabu. Both my husband and I drink 1 , 2 if not doing anything, and/or sometimes 1 or both of us may want 1 in afternoon.

The Java bar mug is I think $16 or $16.99. I asked because I thought about getting one. It's good for a length of stay and I think if you have AAA, you get %20 as well. I asked at Picabu and they are good at all the locations that is printed on the mug. They also include the free-style soda machine at Picabu as well. Hope it helps.

By comparison, last week a small coffee at the Java Bar was close to $4, and a freestyle soda (regular size) was $4. The soda shocked me. If you aren't going to make your own coffee and plan a longer stay, get the mug. However, I am a coffee snob and did not enjoy the Java Bar coffee. It was strong, though.

 

[DJFan88]

By comparison, last week a small coffee at the Java Bar was close to $4, and a freestyle soda (regular size) was $4. The soda shocked me. If you aren't going to make your own coffee and plan a longer stay, get the mug. However, I am a coffee snob and did not enjoy the Java Bar coffee. It was strong, though.

So they have strong coffee there only? I am more of a milder breakfast blend type. The mug in Picabu you can buy, is it a different one, or the same you use at both places? And if there is this, is Picabu coffee included?

 

[BlueFairy]

So they have strong coffee there only? I am more of a milder breakfast blend type. The mug in Picabu you can buy, is it a different one, or the same you use at both places? And if there is this, is Picabu coffee included?

I'm sorry I don't have answers for you. I just ordered a coffee on checkin because I had a killer headache. I took what he offered and didn't look at the roasts available. We had sodas and coffee in the room, so I did not investigate the mug or pricing. I DID notice the outrageous pricing for individual drinks.

I'm sure someone else can help.

 

[mousegear]

So they have strong coffee there only? I am more of a milder breakfast blend type. The mug in Picabu you can buy, is it a different one, or the same you use at both places? And if there is this, is Picabu coffee included?

It's exactly the same mug at both Swan and Dolphin. Let me look at coffee types tomorrow morning when I pass Java Bar tomorrow and let you know.