Which hotels do you guys prefer : Monorail resorts or the swan and dolphin?

[Daisy'sbaby909]

I used to stay the the Contemporary, until I tried the Dolphin. I think that the beds are so much more comfortable at the swan and dolphin. What do you guys think?

 

[bballmom56]

When my kids were young (3 yo and 7 yo) we stayed at the Poly and the GF. That was perfect since they really only wanted to be in the MK. Now that they are older (16 and 21) we stayed at the Swan last year and abolutely loved it! They are much more interested in Epcot and MGM now. We're headed back to the Swan next month!

 

[Laurajean1014]

I like to stay where the hotel has the best pool, restaurants and attractions. If your kids are small, opt for Monorail. If they are older, any resort near Epcot would be great. AKL is also a wonderful hotel.

 

[vickyBaby]

I love the location of the Swan/Dolphin. I love the whimsical theming of the resort, the heavenly beds, the restaurants. I'm in heaven when I'm there.

 

[tinkerbellmagic]

I agree with those who said if there are small children in your party, go with the monorail resort. For older kids and adults only, the Epcot area is great. We've stayed at Poly and the Yacht Club. Never stayed at Swan/Dolphin, though I thought about it. Too bad you can't use Magical Express at Swan Dolphin. What are the advantages, I wonder, to staying at the Swan/Dolphin as opposed to BC, YC, or BW? Must be the price, huh? Thanks, Tink

 

[DonaldsGrl103]

Yes it is defiantly the price as the swan and dolphin always seem to give a better rate than the epcot resorts so we get the best of both worlds.

 

[jgates]

I like the deals better at S/D too - plus I just love the beds & the entire resort set-up. I would be tickled to stay at Y/B someday too - but not in my budget!!! My favorite park other than MK is MGM then very closely followed by Epcot so I love the location - we are close to where we are going 2/3 of the time. Plus fantastic bus service to anywhere else such as DTD etc.

 

[Bracho]

I like to stay where the hotel has the best pool, restaurants and attractions. If your kids are small, opt for Monorail. If they are older, any resort near Epcot would be great. AKL is also a wonderful hotel.

Best advice!!! Young---monorail resort... older---Epcot resort

 

[luvmarypoppins]

We love both resorts. In APril we stayed at the Polynesian, in Nov/Dec we stayed at the Swan and now for this upcoming April I am deciding between the two of them. Money might be a factor this time since one ds will be heading off to college in the fall. We have 3 teen ds and they are happy with both resorts. They do miss their charging cards from the Poly which they cant do at the Swan and a few other things but for the money we would save the swan is a good second choice.

 

[Tikiman]

If you are basing part of your decision on bed comfort than the beds that have replaced the old beds at the Polynesian, Contemporary (new rooms) and I believe the GF are in my opinion even more comfortable than the Heavenly beds. We stay at Westin resorts all the time and until I felt the new bed at the Polynesian I use to think there was nothing better than the Heavenly Bed at the Westin but I have a new favorite.

Location wise I don’t think I would prefer any location over the monorail resorts but the YC/ BC are a close second. Getting to MGM is a bus ride away from the monorail resorts but getting to Epcot is faster than walking from the Swan or Dolphin or at least it was much faster from the Polynesian.

If you got with the Swan or Dolphin I suggest the Swan.

Just my opinion.

 

[LJP]

DH and i split our recent stay between AKL, Poly and Dolphin for last night. Our absolute favourite is the AKL despite the remote location. This was our 1st time at the other two and we did enjoy them both. The view from our Samoa room at the Poly was just amazing looking out over the lagoon and pool towards GF and wedding pavilion and using the monorail and walking to the TCC was a real bonus. On the other hand, our night at the Dolphin was great too - loved the boat trip to MGM and enjoyed our stroll back. Great being in the Epcot area and looking up from the pool towards the Epcot globe. In our opinion we would go back to the Dolphin as a couple, but if we're lucky enough to have a family, then it would have to be AKL and the Poly.

 

[swilphil]

I've stayed at the S/D with my kids when they were between the ages of 1 and 4 years old. I've also stayed at the Contemporary. I think the S/D is better in terms of the beds, room and resort layout. S/D has great bus service to MK, but it was nice staying at the CR during Easter Week when the crowds were huge. CR also has bigger rooms. My familyliked the pool at S/D much better than the one at CR.

Unlike Tikiman, I found it much quicker to get to Epcot from the Swan than from the Contemporary. From the Swan, it was about a 10 minute walk across the Boardwalk. From the CR, you had to wait for the monorail, then switch monorails, then walk down the big ramps and wait in line at the Epcot front gates. We found the wait at International Gateway to always be so much shorter.

 

[Leota]

You can catch the Epcot monorail from the TTC, which is a short walk from the Polynesian. I think that's the route Tikiman was referring to. Although even that seems longer to me than the walk from the Epcot area resorts.....

Our family prefers the Epcot resorts, namely the Swan/Dolphin. I love the location, I love the Beds, I love the Grotto, I LOVE the service, I love the amenities, I love the price. It's just more suited to us now. When DS was younger, we stayed mostly at the MK area resorts tho.

 

[Tikiman]

Yes Leota that is what I was referring to. It is always a debate so one year I timed the walks from different locations. I always knew that we got to Epcot fast from the Polynesian but I never had numbers to back it up.

Well the walk from our room in Hawaii to the middle of Epcot and from our room at the YC to the same midpoint were exactly the same (17 minutes)

To go from the room in Hawaii longhouse (middle of the Polynesian) to the monorail was 5 minutes. To go on the monorail and get to the main gate was another 8 minutes (most of which is not walking).

It took 10 minutes to walk from the room at the YC to the gateway at Epcot. Add on at least 5 minutes if not more coming from the Dolphin.

If you are going in the early morning that you need to walk all the way up to Future World to get to anything that is open so in the morning it would be faster to get to the attractions from the Polynesian.

There is no major difference which proves that the Polynesian can be as easy to get to Epcot as the Epcot resorts. Now the Epcot resorts have easier access to MGM but than the monorail resorts have easier access to MK. I think the big difference is that we have been caught in rain storms coming from both areas and getting back to the Polynesian is much dryer aboard a monorail than spending that time running in the rain all the way back to the Epcot resorts.

Anyway do what you will with this info.

Aloha

Steve

 

[CamColt]

I have always been a huge fan of the Poly, and honestly still am (even after a somewhat disappointing stay there). However, after 3 stays at the Swan and 1 at the Dolphin over the past 2 years, I'm really starting to appreciate the whole Epcot area a lot more. IMO, the S/D give you easy access to 2 parks where the monorail resorts only have MK. For a solo trip or adult only trip, I definitely think the Epcot area resorts are best.

 

[LukenDC]

I prefer the GF and Poly to the Dolphin and Swan. When I visited the Dolphin and Swan in September, the hotels were hosting a large convention and the advertising for the convention really detracted from the Disney magic. The GF and Poly are gorgeous and I speak from experience when I say that the Poly has some of the most comfortable beds I have ever slept in.

Now if the choice were between Contemporary and Dolphin/Swan, that would be a more difficult choice since I do not care for the Contemporary.

 

[Tiffany]

I used to stay the the Contemporary, until I tried the Dolphin. I think that the beds are so much more comfortable at the swan and dolphin. What do you guys think?

I would take the S/D over the CR any day for location and the beds at the
S/D are great.

 

[CarolA]

I used to stay the the Contemporary, until I tried the Dolphin. I think that the beds are so much more comfortable at the swan and dolphin. What do you guys think?

IMHO the Monorail is WAY over hyped. Lets see to get to Epcot you get on the monorail which depending on your hotel may stop up two more times before you get to the TTC to change monorails. That does not include any waiting for the gates to open, breaking system tests etc... That thing spends more time stopped then the buses!

To get to the other parks you get the same buses the rest of us do.

At the end of the day the line for the monorail will be HUNDREDS of folks deep...

And of course, my one stay at the GF I was treated to customer sevice that would have been below par at the All Stars!!!! For that I also got sub par transport. (And you can't walk to ANYPLACE from the GF)


Pesonally I would take any of the Epcot resorts any day.

 

[Tikiman]

Those might be your experiences but that is not the case for us when we stay at the Polynesian. You walk right to the TTC and get on the Epcot monorail. We go during the summer and hardly ever wait for long to get on the monorail, never had it stop for anything or break checks. Also we can walk to the TTC for the busses that go directly to the locations and not the busses that have to stop at other resorts. The times I posted before from room to Epcot are taken from the clock on my camera so it is the exact time it took to get from the room to the park. I ran the tape the whole time including waiting for the monorail. Now coming from the GF you would have to ride the monorail around to get to the TTC (unless you walked through the Polynesian) but the point is that it does not take a long time to get to Epcot from the Polynesian and in some cases is faster.

 

[DonaldsGrl103]

I Know for me the epcot resorts are much better since I go right downstairs and there is a complete nightlife and also a place where we can go to do other things. I personally love staying at the dolphin with my epcot fireworks view!! I also have tried the MK resorts and there great but what do I do at nighttime? I dunno both are great