Walt Disney World SWAN, DOLPHIN & SWAN RESERVE RESORTS Information & Questions

[Turk February]

Wouldn't it matter for booking ADR's all at once at 60 days out?

Yes but that's basically the only real reason to link.

 

[mdmost]

Here at the Swan since Thursday. Love it. Pools are great. Java helps me get through the mornings. We even had house keeping come by even though the front desk said they wouldn’t come till we checked out. Picked up our room, changed our sheets, and gave us new towels. The walk to HS made it easy to rope drop for both days. Got on Slinky Dog at 8:45 this morning and rode Millennium Falcon twice before 9. Getting to MK via the Boardwalk bus is a breeze. We may do the normal shuttle tonight so we can ride the monorail in. The boats have been wonderful after a long, hot day of walking around HS.

 

[SteveH]

@mdmost got to love the calm before the 50th Storm sounds like a great trip!

 

[pasta]

I am about to book Dolphin for 9-21 - 9-26.
Was thinking about the resort view balcony upgrade.
The cost of the upgrade is about $250 for the 5 nights.
My package price is about 1550 with airfare, resort fees, taxes.

It will be just myself and probably my daughter, so 2 doubles would be fine.

Have stayed at the Swan 2x, loved it, but wanted to try Dolphin.

Any ideas what to expect with the upgrade room? I would like to be higher up in the pyramid thingy with the balcony.

Also, when booking through priceline, it gives me the option for $99 charge for round trip ground transportation.
I am not sure about the transportation option of who it is through. I was debating on uber,lyft, but not sure about those options these days.
I would obviously want to get to the hotel asap once I get to MCO and then get back to the airport at the right time on the way back.

Lastly, how is the internet in the room? It is super important that I have a good internet connection, I will need to WFHotel for a few days when I
am there.

I’ve stayed at both the Swan and Dolphin. IMO the Swan is smaller, has a quieter pool, and queen beds. Dolphin is bigger, double beds, louder in the lobby, and has the grotto pool a bit closer. The laundry is also in the Dolphin with Fuel, and An ice cream shop. I usually stay where it’s cheaper with the family, and the Swan if it’s adults only.

I Uber or Lyft from MCO, and I love it.

 

[sghokie]

I’ve stayed at both the Swan and Dolphin. IMO the Swan is smaller, has a quieter pool, and queen beds. Dolphin is bigger, double beds, louder in the lobby, and has the grotto pool a bit closer. The laundry is also in the Dolphin with Fuel, and An ice cream shop. I usually stay where it’s cheaper with the family, and the Swan if it’s adults only.

I Uber or Lyft from MCO, and I love it.

I had to cancel my Sept trip, I am now looking for Oct or Nov.

 

[Lowfalutin]

Stayed at the Dolphin for the first time back in May to take advantage of a package deal via Kayak.com. Did 7 nights for $849 which included the room at the Dolphin plus roundtrip airfare from Boston. After fees it ended up being around $125 per night with free airfare. I see today that a similar package is now up to $1,375, so I definitely struck at the right time. The room was very good. Nice lobby, though breakfast from Fuel on day 1 was the last day I opted for breakfast in the hotel. Otherwise, though, the location can't be beat if you're opting to stay at a hotel that isn't a Disney property - walks to Epcot and DHS, minutes from the Boardwalk. Woke up early each day to do a 2 mile walk up to DHS and back then around the Boardwalk/BC/YC loop. We opted to Uber everywhere else that we couldn't get to via Skyliner so that added a few bucks to the total costs, but otherwise it really made for a great trip. Definitely recommend the Dolphin if you are looking to save some $ and can find a good deal.

 

[sghokie]

Stayed at the Dolphin for the first time back in May to take advantage of a package deal via Kayak.com. Did 7 nights for $849 which included the room at the Dolphin plus roundtrip airfare from Boston. After fees it ended up being around $125 per night with free airfare. I see today that a similar package is now up to $1,375.

@Lowfalutin
Where do you book packages from?

 

[SteveH]

... Did 7 nights for $849 which included the room at the Dolphin ...

That's an amazing deal. Prices seem to be normalizing, but even the new rate is pretty darn good.

I'd love to know what impact this wave of COVID is having on cancellations and if that is a driving factor for some of the deals.

 

[Lowfalutin]

@Lowfalutin
Where do you book packages from?

I run a search for hotel/flight packages on Kayak.com - it brings up the options to look for non-stop vs. 1 or 2 stops, price ranges, etc. The deal I got back in March when I booked for May was that deal I mentioned which was through eDreams.com. Kayak basically scours the net for deals from all of the deal sites like Expedia, etc.

 

[mdmost]

Wife and I agree that the Swan & Dolphin are a great experience if you're looking to save a little money and walk to HS and Epcot. We looked longingly at the Boardwalk Villas when we walked by them but I was okay with saving about $1,000 for the stay. Disney theming can't be beat but those Heavenly beds give that a run for its money. I think if we went back for a HS experience, we'd do the S&D again. If we are wanting a more MK/Epcot experience, we'll look at the Poly or Wilderness Lodge. We loved limiting our bus transportation to only buses for MK and AK. The boats worked well for leaving HS and Epcot. We rode the Skyliner to Riviera and back. I don't think I'd want to bother with that to get to the parks every day. One drawback I saw was the limited food options during the lunch hour at S&D. We could only get Picabu if we wanted to not eat at the pools. If we had an extra day and more time, we'd eat the pools. DD11 loved the pools a lot. Those are a big criteria for her to have a great stay and the S&D pools delivered.

 

[CBMom01]

Do we know if the Dolphin will be considered “on site” for Genie + and LL reservation?

 

[CBMom01]

I just reserved a family room and am trying to decide what to do. We have. FtW cabin reserved but the family room + connector seems like it might be a better option. Anyone have experience with the Dolphin family rooms? There are 6 of us

 

[mdmost]

Do we know if the Dolphin will be considered “on site” for Genie + and LL reservation?

Yes, Swan and Dolphin are onsite according to Allears and others. Also, S&D will be on the extended evening hours hotels list.

https://allears.net/2021/08/18/how-disney-genie-will-benefit-disney-world-hotel-guests/

 

[AaronRif]

Do we know if the Dolphin will be considered “on site” for Genie + and LL reservation?

I don’t know for certain, but given that the hotels are providing Extended Evening Theme Park Hours and provided 60 days to reserve FP+ when it was a thing, my assumption is that they’ll be considered “on site” and will also provide the 7:00 am “premium” for Genie+ and LL.

 

[phoenixconfidential]

Fresh Market Breakfast - has anyone eaten here recently for the breakfast buffet? Feedback? I didn't see recent reviews and the restaurant review board mentioned to ask here.

I was thinking of booking us(2 adults) a breakfast at Chef Mickey's but it seems the breakfast buffet as similar items between both restaurants, but this is cheaper without the character appearance. With covid restrictions, I'm not sure if the character breakfast is really worth it since the food is rated as average at Chef Mickey's from everything I've been reading.

I just want to have a hot breakfast with Mickey waffles!!! LOL Its the one thing I didn't get on our last trip in 2018.

 

[mdmost]

Java over in the Swan has Mickey Waffles in a to-go format. I'd imagine Fuel might as well.

 

[Brewerfan101]

We booked a vacation Pkg via Costco Travel at the Swan (10/25 - 10/29) including 3 Day Hopper passes.

From an e-mail from Costco (which included our Disney Reservation Number for the Tickets, CEUx########), I was able to Link our Tickets to MDE.

My question is: Will we have physical Tickets sent to us, or will they be at the Desk when we Check In? OR?

I assume since I won't have "Magic Bands", I will have to "Tap In' with my physical Ticket.

Thank you

 

[mdmost]

The front desk should have your tickets in the form of cards that can be scanned at the "Tap In". We received ours when we arrived at the Swan last Thursday. I booked our package through the Disney site. I would call the resort just to be sure.

I did have an issue with linking my card to the existing pass in the MDE app. It caused a minor hold up at the tap in but I was able to get it fixed at Guest Relations. They said the front desk at the Swan did something wrong with my pass card.

 

[champagne&disney]

We booked a vacation Pkg via Costco Travel at the Swan (10/25 - 10/29) including 3 Day Hopper passes.

From an e-mail from Costco (which included our Disney Reservation Number for the Tickets, CEUx########), I was able to Link our Tickets to MDE.

My question is: Will we have physical Tickets sent to us, or will they be at the Desk when we Check In? OR?

I assume since I won't have "Magic Bands", I will have to "Tap In' with my physical Ticket.

Thank you

Don't forget now with Magic Mobile, your iPhone or Android phone (and Apple Watch!) can be your ticket! It's really handy.

 

[Dan Murphy]

Fresh Market Breakfast - has anyone eaten here recently for the breakfast buffet? Feedback? I didn't see recent reviews and the restaurant review board mentioned to ask here.

I was thinking of booking us(2 adults) a breakfast at Chef Mickey's but it seems the breakfast buffet as similar items between both restaurants, but this is cheaper without the character appearance. With covid restrictions, I'm not sure if the character breakfast is really worth it since the food is rated as average at Chef Mickey's from everything I've been reading.

I just want to have a hot breakfast with Mickey waffles!!! LOL Its the one thing I didn't get on our last trip in 2018.

I haven't been to either real recently, but I have been to both. I would say Fresh is way better Chef Mickey's, with no characters,. And I am pretty sure they have Mickey waffles