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

[NancyIL]

The rooms at the Swan have a vanity inside the bathroom as well as one outside. I LOVE the Swan!

 

[mrsdaly]

I popped in here to say (because I couldn't find anyone else mentioning it yet), that as of today, the Dolphin is now a category 5 (previously category 4), which means it costs more points per night to stay (now it is equivalent to the Swan @ 12,000 -16,000 SPG points per night). I'm bummed because I didn't have enough points yet to secure my November reservation (still working on a spend on a card) and I'll have to use even more points now. Still a much better deal than cash, but another 10,000 points over 6 nights.

 

[ckelly14]

Did the bathrooms at the Dolphin get smaller post-renovation? I like the walk in showers but I don't remember it being so cramped..

ETA: referring to the King rooms. The double rooms still have the tub/shower combo and are much larger...

 

[RachelTori]

Just an FYI - if you have an SPG number you can “buy” up to 30,000 SPG points per calendar year. They are currently on sale, through March 16, for 35% off (for purchases of 5,000 points and up). 5,000 points normally costs $175, but are currently $113.75. You can buy points in an increment of 500.

 

[Dan Murphy]

The rooms at the Swan have a vanity inside the bathroom as well as one outside. I LOVE the Swan!

Look who's here!!!!

 

[Dan Murphy]

And remember, if you have Marriott points, you can transfer those to SPG, and the reverse if you want.

 

[Dan Murphy]

While stopped behind a vehicle at a stoplight this morning, my mind was elsewhere......

 

[Waca waca]

Does anyone know what the current package delivery handling fees are at the Swan? I want to have a few items delivered by Amazon at the start of our vacation. Thanks

 

[pepperandchips]

While stopped behind a vehicle at a stoplight this morning, my mind was elsewhere......

Today at work I got a phantom whiff of Westin's white tea fragrance. I could clearly use some full service Swan care! Exactly 4 weeks from now I will be at the Dolphin. But who's counting?

 

[Shore Tiki]

Hi everyone - first post but I have been studying the information on the boards for awhile and they have been very helpful! Just wanted to share some information about our recent stay (on points) at the Dolphin. Overall, we really enjoyed the hotel, amenities and location. We usually stay at POR with Orbucks and discounts and stayed the first few days at All Star Music this trip, just because we had enough Orbucks to stay there. So it's a little fancier than we're used to! We got back yesterday.

We had two standard rooms for 5 nights on SPG points. We got a king room on the 4th floor at the corner behind the bus stop - it was an odd shape with plenty of room and a nice palm tree view. My mother got an upgrade to a 10th floor balcony room facing the boardwalk near the elevator (she uses a scooter) - also an odd shaped room (double) with some extra space. Overall, we were pretty happy with our "free" rooms. We did not try to get connecting rooms so that was not an issue.

It gets a little hectic with the convention crowds occasionally and with the points being the same now, we may try the Swan next time, but we'll see.

We were given the AAA discount at Fuel every time we went in there. I also used it at Picabo, Fresh Mediterranean Market and Garden Grove.

Access to Epcot and Hollywood Studios was very convenient. Sometimes we walked and other times we used the boat. If you have an ECV/wheelchair, they can only take two at a time on the boat, so walking may be the easiest at the busy times.

Also nice is the option to forego housekeeping and get SPG points for most of the nights (500 per night). They will come in once every 3 or 4 days, I think. If you don't have housekeeping, they leave coffee and 2 bottles of water on your door, which is great.

I know a lot of this information is already out there, just wanted to add my recent experience. Hope this helps with planning!

 

[Dan Murphy]

Does anyone know what the current package delivery handling fees are at the Swan? I want to have a few items delivered by Amazon at the start of our vacation. Thanks

I would suggest calling to verify this is current.

https://www.shepardes.com/ShowForms/2015_April/NASS/swan.pdf

 

[Dan Murphy]

Welcome to the dis and this S/D thread, Shore Tiki. And thanks for the mini review. Sounds like a good trip. Welcome home.

Hi everyone - first post but I have been studying the information on the boards for awhile and they have been very helpful! Just wanted to share some information about our recent stay (on points) at the Dolphin. Overall, we really enjoyed the hotel, amenities and location. We usually stay at POR with Orbucks and discounts and stayed the first few days at All Star Music this trip, just because we had enough Orbucks to stay there. So it's a little fancier than we're used to! We got back yesterday.

We had two standard rooms for 5 nights on SPG points. We got a king room on the 4th floor at the corner behind the bus stop - it was an odd shape with plenty of room and a nice palm tree view. My mother got an upgrade to a 10th floor balcony room facing the boardwalk near the elevator (she uses a scooter) - also an odd shaped room (double) with some extra space. Overall, we were pretty happy with our "free" rooms. We did not try to get connecting rooms so that was not an issue.

It gets a little hectic with the convention crowds occasionally and with the points being the same now, we may try the Swan next time, but we'll see.

We were given the AAA discount at Fuel every time we went in there. I also used it at Picabo, Fresh Mediterranean Market and Garden Grove.

Access to Epcot and Hollywood Studios was very convenient. Sometimes we walked and other times we used the boat. If you have an ECV/wheelchair, they can only take two at a time on the boat, so walking may be the easiest at the busy times.

Also nice is the option to forego housekeeping and get SPG points for most of the nights (500 per night). They will come in once every 3 or 4 days, I think. If you don't have housekeeping, they leave coffee and 2 bottles of water on your door, which is great.

I know a lot of this information is already out there, just wanted to add my recent experience. Hope this helps with planning!

 

[SteveH]

It gets a little hectic with the convention crowds occasionally and with the points being the same now, we may try the Swan next time, but we'll see.

Keep in mind that the Swan has conventions too. Swan's large room only holds about 2,000 while Dolphin is more 6,000 plus a whole bunch of other meeting spaces.

The only "issue" I had was some of the banners and signs being posted in the hallways on the floor we stayed at, really didn't upset me just found it a bit annoying. But we were off at the parks so I really didn't care, they were stuck in meetings

Only time I really ran into the conventioneers was at night when the congregated in the bar, saw a few getting on the buses going to Disney Springs too. But that's about all. Picabu's was nearly empty when we'd go in there, usually after 9AM.

 

[USER1456]

Hi Everyone! I've been absorbing all the information in this thread and am getting really excited about our stay! The question I have is that we are taking an early flight and will be arriving at the hotel at around 10 am. We are taking a car service to the hotel so will have all our large suitcases and luggage with us. Is there somewhere in the hotel to securely store our suitcases while we wait for check-in?

 

[SteveH]

Yes! The bell hop or bellstand will take care of holding your bags. Actually when you arrive and are getting out of the car they can take the bags right then too. It's worth downloading the SPG app and getting an account too, but you can also contact them and let them know of your arrival time. It could be that a room is available, but don't count on it. But I am in the habit of always letting my vacation hotel know when I plan on checking in.

 

[loves to dive]

Hi Everyone! I've been absorbing all the information in this thread and am getting really excited about our stay! The question I have is that we are taking an early flight and will be arriving at the hotel at around 10 am. We are taking a car service to the hotel so will have all our large suitcases and luggage with us. Is there somewhere in the hotel to securely store our suitcases while we wait for check-in?

Yes, right next to the check in desk is the luggage storage area.

 

[vicb]

Yes! The bell hop or bellstand will take care of holding your bags. Actually when you arrive and are getting out of the car they can take the bags right then too. It's worth downloading the SPG app and getting an account too, but you can also contact them and let them know of your arrival time. It could be that a room is available, but don't count on it. But I am in the habit of always letting my vacation hotel know when I plan on checking in.

I have a question about the spg app. I downloaded it but it does not show my upcoming Dolphin stay. Is that because I booked through Costco Travel? Is there a way to link this stay? I don't think I would get any point because I did not book directly through spg but wondering if there is a convenience factor to using this app? Thank you.

 

[Lpamama]

Hi everyone - first post but I have been studying the information on the boards for awhile and they have been very helpful! Just wanted to share some information about our recent stay (on points) at the Dolphin. Overall, we really enjoyed the hotel, amenities and location. We usually stay at POR with Orbucks and discounts and stayed the first few days at All Star Music this trip, just because we had enough Orbucks to stay there. So it's a little fancier than we're used to! We got back yesterday.

We had two standard rooms for 5 nights on SPG points. We got a king room on the 4th floor at the corner behind the bus stop - it was an odd shape with plenty of room and a nice palm tree view. My mother got an upgrade to a 10th floor balcony room facing the boardwalk near the elevator (she uses a scooter) - also an odd shaped room (double) with some extra space. Overall, we were pretty happy with our "free" rooms. We did not try to get connecting rooms so that was not an issue.

It gets a little hectic with the convention crowds occasionally and with the points being the same now, we may try the Swan next time, but we'll see.

We were given the AAA discount at Fuel every time we went in there. I also used it at Picabo, Fresh Mediterranean Market and Garden Grove.

Access to Epcot and Hollywood Studios was very convenient. Sometimes we walked and other times we used the boat. If you have an ECV/wheelchair, they can only take two at a time on the boat, so walking may be the easiest at the busy times.

Also nice is the option to forego housekeeping and get SPG points for most of the nights (500 per night). They will come in once every 3 or 4 days, I think. If you don't have housekeeping, they leave coffee and 2 bottles of water on your door, which is great.

I know a lot of this information is already out there, just wanted to add my recent experience. Hope this helps with planning!

Thanks so much for this post, especially the AAA discount info! Less than a month to go for our first time!

 

[SwanVT2]

At our recent dolphin stay I discovered the path by the bus stop that leads to the pool. This made our walk to room from.pool much faster (go through Fuel to get to bus stop and path). I also noticed not until the day we checked out (darn!) that there are complimentary USA Today's and NY Times by check in. These would have been nice to have at the pool!

 

[RachelTori]

I have a question about the spg app. I downloaded it but it does not show my upcoming Dolphin stay. Is that because I booked through Costco Travel? Is there a way to link this stay? I don't think I would get any point because I did not book directly through spg but wondering if there is a convenience factor to using this app? Thank you.

Your reservation will not show up on the SPG website nor will you earn points. Any reservation booked through a third party (such as Costco, Priceline, Expedia, etc) will not show up on the app. The convenience of the app is that you get room notifications, earn points, and your stays count toward gold and platinum status.