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

[teacher31]

@butternut @Dan Murphy do we know if anyone has gotten a good discount through either the Teachers or Nurses discounts? I remember it used to be pretty good but that was all before the merger with Marriott. Just curious.

I called for the teacher rate and it is nowhere near as good as it once was. The AAA rate is much better, if you have that card. Long gone are the $129 days!

 

[SteveH]

@teacher31 Thanks! That's what I had in my head too, thanks for verifying it.

 

[shoreward]

I called for the teacher rate and it is nowhere near as good as it once was. The AAA rate is much better, if you have that card. Long gone are the $129 days!

I think I recall that the nurse/teacher discount was changed to 5% off of rack rate.

The Bonvoy member rate is sometimes the lowest, followed by Senior, then AAA. I believe that a 5% AP rate also is available, upon request. Unfortunately, since Marriott came into the picture, these special rates seem to be capacity-controlled, just like the award nights.

 

[SteveH]

@MarBee thanks, I appreciate the input. Hopefully this helps others out as they search for the nurse/teacher "deals" in the future. I think it was one of the many casulties of the Marriott buyout of Starwood. I miss Starwood's focus on customer service on so many levels.

 

[SteveH]

@shoreward Completely agree with the "since Marriott came into the picture" as well as how they devalued not only their own points but compared to SPG it was a huge hit.

 

[tano]

I called for the teacher rate and it is nowhere near as good as it once was. The AAA rate is much better, if you have that card. Long gone are the $129 days!

I stayed 6 nights at the Swan (2 queen beds) this past August using AAA rate for 118$ p/n plus tax/resort fee. Just shows that the low rates do happen -- just haven't figured out a consistent pattern. It was my 3rd stay in 2019 but the best rate out of the three.

Was upgraded to a balcony room facing the canal and had a great time. Can't imagine paying the inflated amount thats becoming the norm for most days.

 

[tano]

@shoreward Completely agree with the "since Marriott came into the picture" as well as how they devalued not only their own points but compared to SPG it was a huge hit.

Completely agree. I got the SPG card back in 2013 just for the Swan/Dolphin and in those days both were 10k SPG points (equal to 30k Marriott) a night. The new price bracket of 50k/60k Marriott just doesn't make sense for anything outside super peak days (like Christmas week) since thats roughly "worth" 400 dollars and you still have to pay the resort fee.

The Swan/Dolphin are great to build brand loyalty. Who doesn't want to give their family an affordable magical vacation... i loved telling my family how our stay was "free".

 

[Matty123]

A couple of notes about my upcoming stay at the Dolphin in case they're useful to others:

Teacher's discount -- I saw this mentioned here (thanks Dis posters!) and called the front desk. The very helpful staff member confirmed that teachers' discounts do exist. For my upcoming stay, I'll save (drumroll . . . ) about $5 a night. Well, as the staffer said, every little bit helps. (She also checked to see if my rate had gone down and saved me a couple more dollars that way.) I'm staying on an expensive holiday weekend, so it may well be possible that discounts are larger at less popular times. It's worth asking, at any rate. If only it were possible for us teachers to travel at times that aren't so hard on our salaries!

Linking to MDE - I added a night to the end of my reservation (over the phone w/Dolphin) after booking 60-day FPs. Reservation number stayed the same, but the next day it disappeared from my MDE altogether. I got an email from Disney saying my FPs would be cancelled in 24 hours, and then my one ADR did disappear. I was nervous about re-entering the reservation myself, so I spent 40 minutes on hold with Disney to get it all sorted out and all is now well. (All this happened after my tickets had previously disappeared after I'd booked my FPs. I see from these boards that these issues with MDE are pretty common, but they're nervewracking.)

Fee for kids - I booked Dolphin over the phone after getting irritated with the Marriott site insisting on charging for kids in the room. No problem there, and Dolphin didn't charge me for the first night, either.

I'll add that the Dolphin reservation staff has been extremely pleasant and helpful each time I've called. I haven't gotten a name, but I believe I may have spoken to the same woman each time. If managers read these threads, please thank your staff!

 

[SteveH]

@Matty123 thanks for sharing your information, I'm sure that will be helpful.

I'm guessing that the system changes for charging kids were not fully implemented, it was supposed to have been fixed last fall, but like you reports keep popping up that it's not.

Have a great trip!

 

[Dan Murphy]

Thanks for the helpful information, Matty. Enjoy your trip.

 

[texasgingerbread]

Question - I wont' get tickets until I check in? So is all well to do FP at 60 days out without tickets? How can I doublecheck this?

And if I land at 10pm - at hotel about 11pm - then going to parks at 6am - will I be able to pickup my tickets?

PS - I'm at Swan but night 1 I'll be at Pop since there are no rooms available. Ug!

UPDATE: **I called and the disney desk at swan is only open 7am-10pm. The front desk said anyone can pick up their tickets at the park or the Disney desk and it didn't matter. Does anyone have experience with this and was it the case?**

 

[dansdad]

Question - I wont' get tickets until I check in?

I strongly suggest buying tickets at least 60 days before you check in.

So is all well to do FP at 60 days out without tickets?

No, you need tickets linked to your MDE account in order to make FP+ reservations.

How can I doublecheck this?

Not sure what you are asking about double checking?

And if I land at 10pm - at hotel about 11pm - then going to parks at 6am - will I be able to pickup my tickets?

If you buy and link your tickets to your MDE account before you arrive, there's no need to pick anything up.

PS - I'm at Swan but night 1 I'll be at Pop since there are no rooms available. Ug!

UPDATE: **I called and the disney desk at swan is only open 7am-10pm. The front desk said anyone can pick up their tickets at the park or the Disney desk and it didn't matter. Does anyone have experience with this and was it the case?**

If you buy and link your tickets to your MDE account before you arrive you will be able to use the Magic Bands you receive with your Pop stay for park entry. No need to pick anything up.

 

[texasgingerbread]

I strongly suggest buying tickets at least 60 days before you check in.



No, you need tickets linked to your MDE account in order to make FP+ reservations.




Not sure what you are asking about double checking?



If you buy and link your tickets to your MDE account before you arrive, there's no need to pick anything up.



If you buy and link your tickets to your MDE account before you arrive you will be able to use the Magic Bands you receive with your Pop stay for park entry. No need to pick anything up.

So I booked a package (tickets and hotel) at Swan. My TA is saying I need to get my tickets upon checkin.

 

[dansdad]

So I booked a package (tickets and hotel) at Swan. My TA is saying I need to get my tickets upon checkin.

I would get the ticket numbers and hotel confirmation number from your TA so you can link them to your MDE account before the 60 day mark. Otherwise you won't be able to make FP's at the 60 day mark.

 

[SMRT-1]

So I booked a package (tickets and hotel) at Swan. My TA is saying I need to get my tickets upon checkin.

When I booked through a TA (Costco Travel), they emailed me a code within a day of booking to link my tickets in MDE account. The ticket pick-up at check-in should only be for the physical ticket cards.

If you have magic bands linked to your MDE account, then you don't really even need to pick up the ticket cards (although it's probably good to do so anyway, and have them as a backup in case anything goes wrong with the magic bands).

If you don't have the code, and the tickets aren't linked to your MDE account, I would contact your TA, as you do need to have both tickets and hotel linked in MDE in order to make 60-day FP+ selections.

 

[SteveH]

@texasgingerbread some TAs will make your FP for you, is that something your TA is doing? If not your TA should have you #'s well before your FP dates and they should update your MDE or give you the ticket numbers. Are you working with a knowledaglbe Disney Travel Advisor or an actual Disney employee, or just a local community TA?

 

[texasgingerbread]

@texasgingerbread some TAs will make your FP for you, is that something your TA is doing? If not your TA should have you #'s well before your FP dates and they should update your MDE or give you the ticket numbers. Are you working with a knowledaglbe Disney Travel Advisor or an actual Disney employee, or just a local community TA?

My TA is a new DTA. She's never booked Swan before. She just called and rebooked reservation all together. Now tickets are linked to Pop on first night and then staying at Swan for 8 nights. My FP date is Jan 3 and I'm getting nervous this isn't going to show up in MDE correctly in time. Ug. Right now new Swan reservation email hasn't even come thru for her. That was hours ago. Fingers crossed. At least Pop is there but will my FP window know I'm staying onsite after the 1 night at Pop? Yikes.

PS - I prefer to book my own FP

 

[JJ2017]

Anyone know why Dolphin is only showing Alcove Suites and Premium Suites only for December 1 - 4, 2020? And no point bookings available? Is it too early?

 

[SteveH]

They are booking through 12/18 as of today. But looks like the 1st and 2nd have reached their max for points or they have a high percentage of reservations. Swan is same for the 2nd too.

 

[JJ2017]

They are booking through 12/18 as of today. But looks like the 1st and 2nd have reached their max for points or they have a high percentage of reservations. Swan is same for the 2nd too.
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We are looking to book the Alcove Room or Premium room but usually we book on points and pay the upgrade fee. We do this to take advantage of the CL FP program (who even knows if it will still be around December 2020) I don't even know what is more economical at this point anymore. It's roughly the same price as CL at Coronado....but we just love the Dolphin location so much!