Swan and Dolphin....yay or nay?

AliceInJerseyLand

Earning My Ears
Joined
Feb 19, 2018
I am considering trying some restaurants here for a less crowded and possibly more relaxing meal for our December 2018 trip with our 2 year old and 6 year old. Anything I should know first? Would you recommend these, or is it a waste of time? Are they decorated for the holidays at all?
 
The character breakfast buffet at the garden grove was good. If you want a fancy dinner you can also try Shulas.
 
For a nicer dinner , we've always enjoyed bluezoo and thought it was one of the more consistently good dining experiences on property. Shula's is also fantastic re: food and service, and beats the Yachtsman IMHO (Yachtsman does get the edge on atmosphere.)

Garden Grove was just ok, the kind of place you go if you just HAVE to do a character meal but forgot to make ADRs months in advance. Any of the other counter/quick service places were very ordinary and not memorable, but also not terrible.

The biggest letdown at Swan/Dolphin for me was Il Mulino - while the atmosphere is great, I can get better and much cheaper Italian at my neighborhood place (La Luce at Hilton Bonnet Creek is much better.)
 


I am considering trying some restaurants here for a less crowded and possibly more relaxing meal for our December 2018 trip with our 2 year old and 6 year old. Anything I should know first? Would you recommend these, or is it a waste of time? Are they decorated for the holidays at all?

bluezoo is, arguably, one of the best restaurants in WDW. Kimono's is also great if you like sushi. Il Mulino is very good. We haven't been to Shula's so I can't comment on that. Garden Grove is ok and is certainly the most affordable character meal (even better if you have a AAA card as you'll get a 20% discount), but you'll only see some combination of Goofy, Pluto and Chip and Dale there. The Swan and Dolphin will both be decorated for the holidays. I would recommend all of the restaurants, but, personally, I wouldn't go out of my way to go there. If you are staying at one of the EP resorts, yes, give them a try. If not, it wouldn't be worth the hassle, IMHO.

Does it feel like Disney, or is it missing a little something?

IMHO, the Swan/Dolphin restaurants are very much out of the Disney "bubble".
 
Yes, they are decorated for the holidays. The restaurants are great. Does it feel like Disney? They don't have the in-you-face decor of the value resorts, but when you are staying in the Epcot area...that totally says Disney to me.
 
They are great resorts, I stay at the Dolphin more often than not now days. Yes, they are decorated for the holidays and while not in your face Disney there are little touches.
Dolphin lobby
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Chocolate display
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They are great resorts, I stay at the Dolphin more often than not now days. Yes, they are decorated for the holidays and while not in your face Disney there are little touches.
Dolphin lobby
JL4wegUHqZ4Y_EgxGIXdCaAj0iS1G42V8bHFkrcfQgG-r6Z4p0iRIDZZ2KRcF1CWy57dcNs7I9Hp1kdardT0hxrxRUL82Vwv6neC4t2JKlKp5dFjNQe-VfmB60rr6IOk1TXz7PCzPgXmhW7PzXO5pVCahvi44MRMGTb_pm-rqKE-I-Mq8P7Qn2KBKNAYUtVk0KQ1Ujg4TWwcebzxJJ4pvd1N7IPmqzxyNIN-dovBlIPdIThdBYWpYeS-VNJstjvNF68961J0aPFXEd-g-nSBRv96bd0L9avg_JTC3-Z2hICD0WvxM7JvRWx5T9gnOg6m8llHSe_SP3M-RRg9yR41y-jL9KNgukoxkFPMLS-xVvwHJb7WM2ipvDcOwif-axRR5xj97EOV_l8EnbWlXQekbKmK9c3Y9u2PEzhmB9z7q0zz8fsvCZ9WqWFalRbq6GoW1VuwjOPZazMn7Y_amBlZP3I72rJ_RDL0JBPFCPyAqyPPrO_rwduijg-sqpxG85JL3y1IPREMeN1rpZEbe5j5KD6VEOXBRbsVPsej142KmqcWSHbovu8SsoGgNn9GWYy2T8wXOKlvNZKFBENkgKgYHPgz-862S_4OX2uYXYc=w478-h637-no


Chocolate display
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Don't know if it's just me, but I can't see the pictures. Just a symbol that looks like a Do Not Enter sign.
 
Don't know if it's just me, but I can't see the pictures. Just a symbol that looks like a Do Not Enter sign.

some people can see them and some can't. I've not been able to figure out the reason. I simply cut and paste from google photos.
 
I love the Dolphin. The resorts are Disney lite, rather than the in-your-face Disney of the company-owned resorts. I highly recommend the resort as a place to stay. However, if I understand the OP, you are asking specifically about the restaurants rather than the resort itself. The restaurants will be infinitely less crowded that the Disney restaurants, in park or in resort. It depends on what you are wanting...there is only one character dining restaurant, over in the Swan. All of the others have decent to good food but many would not be enjoyable with small children as they are bars/fine dining. That cuts the variety of restaurants for you at the Swan and Dolphin. Mediterranean is a nice brunch, Picabu is a decent cafeteria-style...I'm not sure they are worth taking the water taxi to just for a meal, although it would give you an opportunity to get away from the crowds and check out how lovely the resort complex is, maybe for a future stay there.
 

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