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

[FredtheDuck]

Trying to look at Swolphin for a post-Thanksgiving stay next year. When I look at 11/26-12/2 (or even 11/27), I see availability at Reserve but neither Swan nor Dolphin come up. Surely those properties can’t be sold out for that week already? I think 12/2 only came online today or yesterday…? I’m Titanium so I’ll call the elite line in the morning and share whatever I hear if no one here has already done so.

 

[Meglen]

Trying to look at Swolphin for a post-Thanksgiving stay next year. When I look at 11/26-12/2 (or even 11/27), I see availability at Reserve but neither Swan nor Dolphin come up. Surely those properties can’t be sold out for that week already? I think 12/2 only came online today or yesterday…? I’m Titanium so I’ll call the elite line in the morning and share whatever I hear if no one here has already done so.

I was looking for Dec 1st and same they both say sold out.. would really like to know if that's true.

 

[SteveH]

@FredtheDuck and @Meglen I'm pretty sure that Marriott is still only booking 50 weeks ahead. So today, 12/13/2021 would let you book the week of 11/26/2022 if my memory and math add up correctly. I think it opens up week by week not day by day.

 

[CalifornianOrangeBird]

Booked my trip for a 3-night stay at the Swan Reserve! My friend and I will be staying from 4/29-5/1 after a four night cruise on the Disney Dream, then on 5/2 we'll be going to Universal Studios for the first time for a 3-night stay at Portofino Bay. So excited!

The parks we want to visit at WDW for this trip are Epcot and Hollywood Studios, so after looking at prices and location, the Swan Reserve just seemed unbeatable. Yes, I did read a lot of the reviews here and do have some reservations about the hotel, but a lot of it is stuff I'm sure they'll be able to fix over the next few months, and what remains hopefully won't be dealbreakers. And here's the real kicker... the Swan Reserve is the only main "Disney" hotel (aside from the Four Seasons) that shows up in the Chase Ultimate Rewards travel portal, meaning I could use my UR points there, which got me a much better deal than it would have been transferring points over to Marriott. Just a heads-up to anyone with credit card rewards points.

So excited for this trip, and I want to thank everyone in this thread for providing such helpful information!

 

[happ]

Booked my trip for a 3-night stay at the Swan Reserve! My friend and I will be staying from 4/29-5/1 after a four night cruise on the Disney Dream, then on 5/2 we'll be going to Universal Studios for the first time for a 3-night stay at Portofino Bay. So excited!

The parks we want to visit at WDW for this trip are Epcot and Hollywood Studios, so after looking at prices and location, the Swan Reserve just seemed unbeatable. Yes, I did read a lot of the reviews here and do have some reservations about the hotel, but a lot of it is stuff I'm sure they'll be able to fix over the next few months, and what remains hopefully won't be dealbreakers. And here's the real kicker... the Swan Reserve is the only main "Disney" hotel (aside from the Four Seasons) that shows up in the Chase Ultimate Rewards travel portal, meaning I could use my UR points there, which got me a much better deal than it would have been transferring points over to Marriott. Just a heads-up to anyone with credit card rewards points.

So excited for this trip, and I want to thank everyone in this thread for providing such helpful information!

Unfortunately, the Reserve is not bookable on the Chase portal for everyone. I have a CSP and it doesn't show for me. Do you have a CSR?

 

[CalifornianOrangeBird]

Unfortunately, the Reserve is not bookable on the Chase portal for everyone. I have a CSP and it doesn't show for me. Do you have a CSR?

Yes, I have a CSR. Interesting that it doesn't show for different cardmembers, I had no idea!

 

[IndianaJ]

Who here has gotten memory maker with your WDW Swan resort ressie? Were you able to use your magic bands or did you have to always use a card?

 

[IndianaJ]

One more question. I booked with a WDW travel agent. Did you have to add your tickets to your MDE at check in? I have a package booked and it shows it is in MDE, but I guess that may not be enough?

 

[melking23]

Who here has gotten memory maker with your WDW Swan resort ressie? Were you able to use your magic bands or did you have to always use a card?

Yes, you should be able to use Magic Bands for Memory Maker, park tickets/entry, and tapping in for Genie+/ILL$.

One more question. I booked with a WDW travel agent. Did you have to add your tickets to your MDE at check in? I have a package booked and it shows it is in MDE, but I guess that may not be enough?

Do you know if your package was booked through Disney, a 3rd party, or separately (ie tickets through WDW, resort stay directly with Marriott)? How it’s booked makes a difference. I booked a package through Costco but I still had to link the resort stay and tickets in MDE separately.

 

[CBMom01]

How far in advance should I be able to do remote check-in on my Bonvoy app? I don't see the option

 

[tano]

I'm sure it's been asked before but I went through quite a few pages of this thread and didn't find a suitable comparison.

We often stay at the Swan (love it btw!). Prices for reserve are comparable. Any recommendations where to book upcoming visit? I'm a Bonvoy Platinum so chances of upgrade with SNAs seems higher at reserve with the suites .. but it looks like a glass box...I'm sure I'll miss the theaming at Swan-Dolphin area and also sitting at the Swan balcony in the evenings seeing the lights and music.

Can someone help me decide where to book? If it was a short stay I'd try out the reserve but this next stay is 5 days...

 

[columbusdizfan]

How far in advance should I be able to do remote check-in on my Bonvoy app? I don't see the option

I found something that said remote check in is “up to 2 days in advance”.
https://mobile-app.marriott.com/en-usDoes anyone have a different experience?

 

[k5xs]

I remember that wonderful express bus thing where you could hop back and forth from the inside of one park to another totally bypassing the front entrances....best trip EVER!!!

We remember it fondly as well.

But I would add that with the new security scanners, the park entrances move MUCH faster.

 

[Meglen]

We remember it fondly as well.

But I would add that with the new security scanners, the park entrances move MUCH faster.

Yup just pull out the umbrellas and phone chargers and walk on in. Was super easy this past trip.

 

[Dan Murphy]

I'm sure it's been asked before but I went through quite a few pages of this thread and didn't find a suitable comparison.

We often stay at the Swan (love it btw!). Prices for reserve are comparable. Any recommendations where to book upcoming visit? I'm a Bonvoy Platinum so chances of upgrade with SNAs seems higher at reserve with the suites .. but it looks like a glass box...I'm sure I'll miss the theaming at Swan-Dolphin area and also sitting at the Swan balcony in the evenings seeing the lights and music.

Can someone help me decide where to book? If it was a short stay I'd try out the reserve but this next stay is 5 days...

I doubt I would do the Reserve. For me, the Swan.

 

[SteveH]

@tano I agree with @Dan Murphy! I'd go with the Swan. New is nice, but one of the biggest selling points for me is the location - I do enough walking at Disney that I really don't want to add more steps in if I can help it. The closeness of the boat dock is one reason. My other concern is the backside facing the two busy double lane roads isn't really appealing. Our last stay at the Swan we saw backside of BW but the trees and river is what mattered, it was very relaxing for us. I'd be inclined to stay at Swan, and go check out SR and get a better perspective for a future stay. But that's just me.

 

[CJN]

I'm sure it's been asked before but I went through quite a few pages of this thread and didn't find a suitable comparison.

We often stay at the Swan (love it btw!). Prices for reserve are comparable. Any recommendations where to book upcoming visit? I'm a Bonvoy Platinum so chances of upgrade with SNAs seems higher at reserve with the suites .. but it looks like a glass box...I'm sure I'll miss the theaming at Swan-Dolphin area and also sitting at the Swan balcony in the evenings seeing the lights and music.

Can someone help me decide where to book? If it was a short stay I'd try out the reserve but this next stay is 5 days...

I say this as a Swan lover and having never stayed at Reserve so my favoritism will be showing…
Twice we caught the park bus at Swan and ended up taking the loop around to the Reserve pick-up area. From ground level we thought the Reserve looked like a cement box, or at least on two sides of the building. We were very glad to have decided to stick with Swan (and our lovely balcony).

 

[Scalemaster34]

I found something that said remote check in is “up to 2 days in advance”.
https://mobile-app.marriott.com/en-usDoes anyone have a different experience?

That's the way it worked last week for me. Did the online check-in, they sent a few text about what they could do to make my stay magical and I told them (didn't help). Had requested early check-in at 1PM, but room wasn't ready so went to a park and around 4PM got a notification the room was ready, but needed to come to the front desk for "security reasons" - not sure why, but they did try to up sale me...

 

[gottalovepluto]

…around 4PM got a notification the room was ready, but needed to come to the front desk for "security reasons" - not sure why, but they did try to up sale me...

For their financial security

 

[mindgame]

I say this as a Swan lover and having never stayed at Reserve so my favoritism will be showing…
Twice we caught the park bus at Swan and ended up taking the loop around to the Reserve pick-up area. From ground level we thought the Reserve looked like a cement box, or at least on two sides of the building. We were very glad to have decided to stick with Swan (and our lovely balcony).

We had similar question and thoughts. I’m a platinum and have upcoming 4 night stay. We decided to do Swan. Probably won’t get a suite - SNAs don’t even show it as an option!! But SR doesn’t look like the way to go