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

[letsgobirds]

A comment on ADRs for Swan Reserve guests. I was told today (via MDE chat) that the + part of 60+ ADRs for Swan Reserve must be made by telephone and can't be done on-line.

Yes, it's a flaw on the back end of Disney's IT systems. Their IT support claims that since the hotel isn't open yet, it isn't properly integrated with MDE. You can see that you should be able to book 60+ ADRs , bit anything beyond 60 days errors out or shows no availability for any restaurant. It's a huge inconvenience right now since the hold times are brutal to call for reservations.

 

[Gitelfor]

The Food & Wine Classic menus are making me hungry!

 

[BayGirl22]

We arrived at Dolphin on Sunday 9/5 and are departing on 9/10. We are DVC, and this was an extra trip we threw together since our points are tied up in other trips.

This being a hotel that hosts conventions, we can tell. We are in a king room (booked no view but are overlooking BoardWalk and can see Epcot fireworks). I have traveled a lot for work, and this feels like a business hotel. I’m not saying it’s a bad thing; I am level-setting expectations.

Mask required signs are everywhere, yet I would say around 50% are compliant. We’ve let elevators go if the other occupants are unmasked.

We’ve eaten at Fountain, which was good, especially after an exhausting day of travel. We’ve also purchased hot sandwiches and coffee from Fuel. A bit pricey but convenient.

I ran a load of wash on Tuesday morning. Laundry room is huge. We are in the East wing so I had to take the elevator to the lobby and then the escalator to level 1 from Central. It’s in the vicinity of Picabu, right past the arcade. I used my credit card to pay, but there is a change machine. It looks like at least the washers take quarters (didn’t look to see if the dryer had a coin slot. Washer was $3, and I believe the dryer was $2.75.

We used the bus from BoardWalk to Magic Kingdom. We did not go at rope drop so no worries about a crowded bus. Mask compliance on transportation was around 95%. We did use the Dolphin-Disney Springs bus and opted to use the bus to BoardWalk for our return. The Dolphin bus drops you off past Cirque du Soleil, but the entrance to Disney Springs is closed at that end. Instead, we had to cross the road to the parking garage, walk up to level 2, and go to the second entrance in the parking garage where security is set up. We normally have a rental car so we park in the garage. We didn’t want to pay $29 per night to self-park a rental (parking is included with DVC reservations).

Overall, it’s nice but doubt we would stay here again.

I'm here right now too, arrived the day after you and departing a day later too. My first two nights were at the Swan and last 4 at the Dolphin (booked separately because I changed my dates but couldn't edit my Dolphin res so decided to try both). I booked through the Amex portal and still got my Marriott and Amex Hotel Collection benefits - in case anyone else is trying to do that.

I travel a lot for business too and agree they are typical Westin/Sheraton hotels, but nice enough and great location. If you want Disney deluxe location for lower price its not a bad tradeoff. I liked Swan a bit better for a few reasons: Its smaller in general, smaller lobby, less of a line at the take out breakfast place, and I had a balcony there. (Upgraded to an Epcot view at Dolphin too but no balcony, I'm in Central so nice high view of the fireworks.)

Dolphin is much bigger and the lobby is full of maskless people. I was fairly annoyed by it when I had to kill a few hours between check out/check in. Its blatant, people in line at the front desk, standing next to a "masks required" sign, and staff doesn't seem to be enforcing it at all. I really did not see that anywhere else on Disney property - cast members are turning people away from rides if they don't put on a mask. I would not have chosen to stay at a mask-optional hotel this week had I known. There seems to be a big dance conference going on so that's why it was fairly crowded that day.

I've been taking the Swolphin bus to leave then returning on the Boardwalk bus too. Not sure why they can't just go straight to MK, but at the end of the night I don't really want to have to transfer at the TTC - and after Boo Bash at midnight I was not sure there would even be a bus there. Last night I was at HS and it started lightning so the boats stopped. Had to walk back in a downpour - if they added a bus to replace the boats it was unclear, there was no signage and the boat cast member pointed us to the pathway. Complete downpour - not fun. I generally prefer to take Disney transportation as much as possible but that was the first time I reconsidered for my next trip to Boardwalk.

 

[champagne&disney]

I booked through the Amex portal and still got my Marriott and Amex Hotel Collection benefits - in case anyone else is trying to do that.

Thanks for this tip! What extra benefits do you get through Amex? I have a Platinum card so that would be really clutch for the future and I’ve not looked to see if the hotel is part of those perks. The Swolphin is now my go-to on property since I can use points, pay less than most Disney hotels and earn elite nights … especially now that there are no unique perks to a Disney-owned hotel minus the non-TTC bus stop.

Thanks in advance for any additional info!

 

[Dan Murphy]

Its blatant, people in line at the front desk, standing next to a "masks required" sign, and staff doesn't seem to be enforcing it at all. I really did not see that anywhere else on Disney property - cast members are turning people away from rides if they don't put on a mask. I would not have chosen to stay at a mask-optional hotel this week had I known.

Last night I was at HS and it started lightning so the boats stopped. Had to walk back in a downpour - if they added a bus to replace the boats it was unclear, there was no signage and the boat cast member pointed us to the pathway. Complete downpour - not fun. I generally prefer to take Disney transportation as much as possible but that was the first time I reconsidered for my next trip to Boardwalk.

A real bummer for both, BG.

 

[SteveH]

Last night I was at HS and it started lightning so the boats stopped. Had to walk back in a downpour - if they added a bus to replace the boats it was unclear, there was no signage and the boat cast member pointed us to the pathway. Complete downpour - not fun. I generally prefer to take Disney transportation as much as possible but that was the first time I reconsidered for my next trip to Boardwalk.

This was discussed a few days ago on this forum, same complaint complete lack of communication when the boats go down. Sounds like there is nobody higher up that is calling to activate the buses its up to the CMs on the ground to begin to route them, but no signs just *poof* boats disappear and leave people stranded. Very unprofessional on Disney's part.

 

[Chirple]

The top photo is the sign you pass as you enter the hotel at every entrance, head towards the elevators, wait in line at the front desk, and outside of Fuel. The other photos are of the laundry room. Detergent is Tide, and dryer sheets are Bounce. Washers and dryers are each $3.00.

 

[Jross34]

Thanks for this tip! What extra benefits do you get through Amex? I have a Platinum card so that would be really clutch for the future and I’ve not looked to see if the hotel is part of those perks. The Swolphin is now my go-to on property since I can use points, pay less than most Disney hotels and earn elite nights … especially now that there are no unique perks to a Disney-owned hotel minus the non-TTC bus stop.

Thanks in advance for any additional info!

I used Amex gold for my dolphin trip, they give a $100 resort credit and a free room upgrade. It said the $100 doesn’t go towards the room, but for whatever reason on my final bill it showed a $100 discount on the room price, so I guess it does.

 

[BayGirl22]

This was discussed a few days ago on this forum, same complaint complete lack of communication when the boats go down. Sounds like there is nobody higher up that is calling to activate the buses its up to the CMs on the ground to begin to route them, but no signs just *poof* boats disappear and leave people stranded. Very unprofessional on Disney's part.

Yeah, it was not good.
We were on the dock when the boat came to pick us up and one CM got off and said they aren't running. We asked about a bus and she said "there are always busses to all hotels" and we were like "no there aren't"! I walked around to the bus area looking for a CM to ask, since there's no sign for any Epcot resorts but there were no CMs in sight. In retrospect, I should have gone back to Guest Relations, I had just upgraded to an AP, and let them know what's going on. At a minimum they should give some clear instructions.
I have an injury right now and have powered through, but really the extra walk while soaking wet was just miserable.

 

[BayGirl22]

Thanks for this tip! What extra benefits do you get through Amex? I have a Platinum card so that would be really clutch for the future and I’ve not looked to see if the hotel is part of those perks. The Swolphin is now my go-to on property since I can use points, pay less than most Disney hotels and earn elite nights … especially now that there are no unique perks to a Disney-owned hotel minus the non-TTC bus stop.

Thanks in advance for any additional info!

I booked through the Amex Portal using my Platinum card, the specific benefits for The Hotels Collection is a $100 resort credit and upgraded room. (There are more benefits for the Amex Fine Hotels and Resorts, some nearby resorts fall into that group.)

There is some online debate as to whether you get your Marriott benefits/points/stays and also Amex benefits. As far as I can tell so far I got both. It says the credit is for meals, spa, etc. and not the resort fees, but at the Swan they just applied $100 to the bill so it cancelled out breakfast and some of the fees.

If you book through Amex always check the rates through Marriott and Disney too, I saw them vary. When I booked a week ago the Swan was $220/night through Amex - but crowds here are really low.

 

[ulcards99]

For the last 3 days, I've had to re-enter my confirmation number on MDE. The Swan just keeps disappearing from my profile. Is anyone else experiencing this? I don't want my park pass reservations to cancel.

 

[DisneyMomx7]

Just booked our first ever Dolphin stay.

We've always stayed at Disney deluxe resorts - with BC/YC and GF being our favorites.

With the new Genie+ and the pay per ride prices something had to give. We used a senior discount and were able to get a resort
view room for $322 plus tax. That's basically the same as a Disney moderate. Now that ME is gone and S&D are getting all the extras
associated with a Disney deluxe it was the perfect time to try it!

We will be there August 1-11!

 

[BayGirl22]

For the last 3 days, I've had to re-enter my confirmation number on MDE. The Swan just keeps disappearing from my profile. Is anyone else experiencing this? I don't want my park pass reservations to cancel.

Mine was too, but it didn't affect any of my park reservations. In fact when I upgraded and went to schedule an AP+resort reservation it showed up to connect to.

 

[Turksmom]

For the last 3 days, I've had to re-enter my confirmation number on MDE. The Swan just keeps disappearing from my profile. Is anyone else experiencing this? I don't want my park pass reservations to cancel.

Dolphin, but yes, it has happened to me twice, also. It happened 24 hours after I linked and again on the same day that the room deposit was submitted to my bank. It's been 2 days since that and it seems to be holding now

 

[phoenixconfidential]

The top photo is the sign you pass as you enter the hotel at every entrance, head towards the elevators, wait in line at the front desk, and outside of Fuel. The other photos are of the laundry room. Detergent is Tide, and dryer sheets are Bounce. Washers and dryers are each $3.00.

MVP! Thanks I appreciate the follow up

 

[ulcards99]

Dolphin, but yes, it has happened to me twice, also. It happened 24 hours after I linked and again on the same day that the room deposit was submitted to my bank. It's been 2 days since that and it seems to be holding now

I booked on Tuesday and they still haven’t submitted the deposit yet. So I’m anticipating it’ll go away again once they do that now lol

 

[MagicMoon]

Whoah! I have been stalking for lower rates at Dolphin in November, thanksgiving week and noticed the rate is actually higher, quite higher…
$345 to 818 for the room I am looking at

 

[phoenixconfidential]

Whoah! I have been stalking for lower rates at Dolphin in November, thanksgiving week and noticed the rate is actually higher, quite higher…
$345 to 818 for the room I am looking at

Yes! I saw rates go up last night as I'm stalking to see for openings in other resorts or lower pricing at Dolphin.

 

[Gitelfor]

Whoah! I have been stalking for lower rates at Dolphin in November, thanksgiving week and noticed the rate is actually higher, quite higher…
$345 to 818 for the room I am looking at

It’s due to supply and demand. As room availability goes down, the rates go up. When it gets to the point where only a few rooms are available, those room rates can triple from the rates you found.

 

[Meglen]

Any news on the swan reserve opening date? I'm booked Oct 9-11 and haven't gotten a relocation email as of yet.