So new to this - how can I check for Swan/Dolphin deals in early December??? Thanks!
Swan is one of the easiest to spot... For Disney (and Swolphin) resorts limit your PE search to the areas Bonnet Creek and Disney Springs. I like to sort results price low to high to see things in an order that generally will show you Values first them Mods and Deluxe.
Swan is the only 4.5* 8-guest rated resort in Bonnet Creek right now. (The other 4.5* resorts are AKL Jambo and Grand Floridian, but both are 9-guest rated.)
It will look like this in results.
Right now Swan has 469 actual reviews on Priceline, but on hidden deals they round down to the nearest hundred (or ten resorts with less than 100 reviews, or 0 for resorts with less than 10 reviews.)
If you click Choose to go to the booking page, you should see a $30 mandatory (aka resort) fee added to the price above. (They do not mention parking, which will be charged on site I believe.)
Sometimes Priceline randomizes those mandatory fees to confuse people, so you might also see $33.75 or even NO fee - but you will be liable for it even if it is not listed. They have done the randomize thing a lot less lately, though.
The Dolphin is a 4* 7-rated resort in Bonnet Creek and has 758 reviews right now. While there are a bunch of Dolphin deals out there, they aren't appearing in search results unless you click a different 4* resort in results - then Dolphin pops up as an additional deal. There's more to it, but
I wrote a post on it earlier this month if you'd like to check it out for screen caps and other tricks you'll need to see them.
All said and done: be sure to check the Swolphin's own site for deals using AAA or other discounts - sometimes they get close to hidden deal prices when you factor in Priceline's fee. That will be the case with some deals coming up - except oddly many of the Swolphin site's deals are also non-refundable, so be sure to check policies if you have a chance of cancelling.