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

[dmp609]

How is the soap, shampoo, and conditioner with regards to quality and size? I assume we can request more when we need it? Also, does anyone have success with the search feature in the forums? It seemed simple enough. I chose keyword shampoo and chose "This Thread" and the it said No results found. Same with searching on soap. Is there a trick to this? Thanks!

 

[mickey916]

How is the soap, shampoo, and conditioner with regards to quality and size? I assume we can request more when we need it? Also, does anyone have success with the search feature in the forums? It seemed simple enough. I chose keyword shampoo and chose "This Thread" and the it said No results found. Same with searching on soap. Is there a trick to this? Thanks!

I don't have an answer for you but I find the search pretty limited too. I end up usually just asking the question anyhow since the search doesn't seem to help...

 

[KMarston]

Can someone tell me what the closet and drawer situation is at Dolphin? We have both a double and a king. Trying to figure out whether we should pack hanging sweater racks like we bring at the Poly studios.

 

[AUDramaQueen]

How is the soap, shampoo, and conditioner with regards to quality and size? I assume we can request more when we need it? Also, does anyone have success with the search feature in the forums? It seemed simple enough. I chose keyword shampoo and chose "This Thread" and the it said No results found. Same with searching on soap. Is there a trick to this? Thanks!

We're at the Swan and it's tiny bottles of shampoo and conditioner with bar soap. Then a body lotion as well. White tea aloe with hotel branding.

Can't speak to the quality as I have naturally curly hair so I bring my own stuff. Smells fine though.

I would ask my teenage boys, but they'd just say "it's alright" whether it's the best shampoo they've ever used or the worst.

 

[raytheyounger]

How is the soap, shampoo, and conditioner with regards to quality and size? I assume we can request more when we need it? Also, does anyone have success with the search feature in the forums? It seemed simple enough. I chose keyword shampoo and chose "This Thread" and the it said No results found. Same with searching on soap. Is there a trick to this? Thanks!

I was curious and tried the search. I had success finding both shampoo and soap. However, the only results were your post and the replies to it.

 

[William B]

How is the soap, shampoo, and conditioner with regards to quality and size? I assume we can request more when we need it? Also, does anyone have success with the search feature in the forums? It seemed simple enough. I chose keyword shampoo and chose "This Thread" and the it said No results found. Same with searching on soap. Is there a trick to this? Thanks!

My wife and I both used the shampoo and conditioner at the Swan. As mentioned above it is a white tea aloe. Neither of us had any complaints. Honestly, all hotel shampoo seems about the same to me though. We had 2 bottles of each upon arrival (along with 2 bars of soap and 2 body lotions). We were able to get more just by asking.

 

[SteveH]

That's very odd, I am assuming that the forum software is having issues with it's search, this topic has come up within the past few years. Back in 2018 Marriott announced it was going to ditch the small shampoo bottles due to the massive amounts of landfill waste, most other hotels took the same stance. However, with COVID I'm not sure how many continued the transition. Thanks @William B for the update from your experience.

 

[snow_white725]

We were just there last month - requested housekeeping 4 different times. 2 times no one came, the third time they knocked on our door at 10:00pm even though we have requested a 7:00am appointment. We said no and complained. 4th time we actually got a note under our door saying they would not clean our room since we were checking out "soon" - my guess is because there was a convention group arriving. We did complain again after that, though we never actually got our room cleaned during the entire 8 day stay. Just an FYI for the people asking a couple pages ago. We found the shampoo/conditioners/soaps/lotions to be fine. We were able to get more of those (and towels/waters/cups/etc) by asking the housekeeping carts down the halls. We also were able to get new pillows when we requested. That was a fast delivery to our room. We did enjoy our stay overall though, just wish the housekeeping and front desk service was better.

 

[dmp609]

If someone is trying to decide whether to pack shampoo and conditioner (and having to deal with the 3.4oz TSA requirements) versus relying on what is at the hotel, I think it is a very apropos question for this forum.

Thank you! This is exactly the reason I was asking. And thanks to everyone else who provided me assistance with my question. I felt really badly when I saw tigertides response, but the rest of you made me feel better by saying this was a reasonable question.

 

[samara]

Yes - two bathrooms - two hotel rooms that can be locked apart or opened up for one huge space. (via a normal adjoining door)

The alcove is a slightly bigger room than the standard room- I want to say it’s ~500 sq ft instead of 360 or 375 ish(?) if you call their ph num you can get in house (not central Marriott) reservations who know all the rooms quite well and can do a better job than I would. I will say I’ve stayed in an alcove with adjoining room. It was amazing - cost about the same as 1 GF/Poly/CR room. Also of note they only charge you one dreaded resort fee as opposed to two if you just booked two rooms. Another good option if you call them is to ask about parlor rooms. Those are 2 or 3 adjoining rooms. The center room is a huge living room with a bath and the attached one or two bedrooms each lock off and have their own baths. Sometimes the price is fairly similar. Oh- and a premium studio + connecting room is yet another good option to ask about.

In short I’d say call and ask them to price out and describe the differences.

Thank you! It sounds like plenty of space in either scenario. Just wanted to make sure I wasn’t going to have to share a bathroom with two teenage boys!

 

[stitchfan18]

What size are the pull outs in king rooms at the Dolphin?
If I am trying to book connecting rooms on points, is it best to book both rooms on the Marriott website and call to have the reservations linked? Is a King room connected to another King room an option ever, or just a King connected with a 2 Double?

 

[jimrpa]

The swan uses the standard Westin white tea products, just private labeled for them. They are the only Westin I’ve ever seen that private labels the products. They’re very good products though and housekeeping is happy to give you more if you’d like. I think Marriott gave up on getting rid of the individual containers (for now anyway) because of covid and the backlash because of perceived sanitary/potential tampering issues.
the closets in both Swan and Dolphin don’t have a lot of hanging space, but they do have several small square shelves (I believe the hairdryer is on one, and I think there may be something else on another). There are also a few reasonably-sized drawers in the dresser.
Post-Covid housekeeping has been iffy. On some stays, despite repeated requests at the front desk for daily housekeeping, it never happened(hey, their loss on tips!) On other stays, housekeeping did happen, although I might have had to remind the front desk once or twice. I guess in the post-Covid (and I’m using that term very loosely - I realize covid is still very much a serious thing) era, lots of people really don’t want “others” in their room.

 

[jimrpa]

What size are the pull outs in king rooms at the Dolphin?
If I am trying to book connecting rooms on points, is it best to book both rooms on the Marriott website and call to have the reservations linked? Is a King room connected to another King room an option ever, or just a King connected with a 2 Double?

Full-size. Think a couch that seats two people.

 

[Dan Murphy]

the closets in both Swan and Dolphin don’t have a lot of hanging space,

One of the first things I do after arrival is to take the ironing board out of the closet and park it in a cornier of the room somewhere. Helps to free up some closet space.

 

[dmp609]

One of the first things I do after arrival is to take the ironing board out of the closet and park it in a cornier of the room somewhere. Helps to free up some closet space.

My friend just told me her family uses the ironing board to wrangle some of their bath towels so they don't mix up whose is whose. I might try that trick since I won't be getting fresh towels every day like we're used to.

 

[Dan Murphy]

My friend just told me her family uses the ironing board to wrangle some of their bath towels so they don't mix up whose is whose. I might try that trick since I won't be getting fresh towels every day like we're used to.

Remember, you can always call or text for as many towels as you want.

 

[Best Aunt]

Thank you! This is exactly the reason I was asking. And thanks to everyone else who provided me assistance with my question. I felt really badly when I saw tigertides response, but the rest of you made me feel better by saying this was a reasonable question.

Your question was perfectly appropriate, and I'm sorry that someone made you feel badly for asking.

(I typed a response to that person's comment, but decided to delete it before posting.)

 

[SteveH]

@snow_white725 - thanks for the report on your experience, its helpful to know where they are missing the mark. I wonder if they are so understaffed in the housekeeping area they have taken that stance - 8 days and no house keeping is just unacceptable. But by coming so late it makes me wonder if they are horrible understaffed in that area.

@dmp609 - don't ever hesitate to ask something here. We all just fans of S/D trying to lend a hand and your question was 100% what this forum is all about. I am still wondering what's going on with the search function and that topic.

 

[ww52]

Regarding alcove with adjoining room -
when we were there in 2018 we had a configuration that was perfect. At the end of the hall, there was a door that was perpendicular to the hall (sorry - yes there IS math in this response - see my avatar and you'll know I'm a geek)

That opened to a small hall with a room to the left and another to the right. These rooms did not connect in the normal way - except that closing that perpendicular door created a foyer like feeling with a room to either side (one with two double beds and a sofa sleeper and a smaller room with a king). Both room keys worked on the perpendicular door too - which created a private space.

We had one such configuration on one side of the all and another on the other side. so four rooms total for the 8 of us (two kids). That "foyer" was great for my son's family because they used it to keep the stroller.

We asked specifically for that same configuration for our July trip and will be disappointed if we don't get that - much preferred to the typical "connecting room" concept.

These rooms were in the "triangle" part of the Dolphin.

 

[VeronicaZS]

What is the difference between the:

• Dolphin Alcove, Larger Guest room, 1 King, Sofa bed, and the
• Dolphin 1 King Premium Deluxe, sofa bed

and which would be better for a family of 5 (me, DH, sons 12, 10, 10)?

It seems like the King premium has more privacy between the king bed and the sofa bed, is this true? When the sofa bed is pulled out is there enough room on the rest of the sofa sectional for the 3rd boy to sleep? Is a rollaway necessary or has anyone made a 3rd bed from the sofa cushions? (My boys aren't picky sleepers).

Just bumping this post to see if anyone has insight on these room types.