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

[mom2febgirls]

Quick re-cap of my 5th stay at Dolphin. This was a stay specifically for runDisney weekend.

Marriott Bonvoy Platinum Elite - booked a standard double room with AAA rate - was automatically (well, I sent a request via email) upgraded to a Deluxe Resort View Balcony room.

How do you request an upgrade via email? I'm only Gold but I'm checking in for my birthday and I would love an upgrade.

 

[amw]

We learned that locals have Spring Break coming up this week. Some schools had a teacher in-service day Friday, so many Floridian's poured into the parks Friday because the week coming up is excluded from the AP pass.

It‘s March Break for Ontario starting tomorrow which is always a really busy week traditionally cus we are still stuck in snowy winter … but this year is the first year many families are allowed to travel after restrictions so it is the busiest “international” travel week for us in the past 2 years.

 

[Dan Murphy]

How do you request an upgrade via email? I'm only Gold but I'm checking in for my birthday and I would love an upgrade.

You could try here

 

[JoJoGirl]

Update on luggage transfer from Disney resorts:

Yes, they are doing it now, and it worked great for me! On Friday, French Quarter bell services was happy to transfer my luggage to the Dolphin. I dropped my bags off just after 7:00 am. They told me that the transfers went out at about 11:00 am and it could take as long as 5:00 pm for them to show up at the destination. I checked into the Dolphin just after 5:00, then stepped over to bell services and showed my claim ticket. They said, “Oh yes, we got two in from French Quarter today.” Literally within less than a minute they brought out my bags. Easy peasy!

 

[Lisa75]

What will be charged/held at check in? Used to DVC staying here during spring break due to a point spendy trip in august.

My hotel stay is $1699 total including taxes and resort fee. They never charged a one night deposit.

I also know I will be charged $29 per night for parking so $145.

Is there also a set amount charged as an incidental hold? Like how Disney does the $100.

Thank you!

 

[Threehearts]

Well even when you tip at a resturant it goes to the kitchen and other staff.

Tips are not always pooled in restaurants so you may want to inquire.

 

[DonTheDuck]

I had this exact thing happen. Posted on restaurant board. My stay is linked properly. There is a problem with the Marriott reservations Swan/Dolphin/reserve not dealing with dining properly. It shows our plus 10 dates in black, but no ability to book. Solution is you have to call in your reservations - and have to go through guest services rather than dining. Not IT problem. If Cm says that - call and get someone else. My person knew exactly the problem. Was able to book my reservations. But I can’t modify them or book new ones for my dates (May 9-18) without calling them in — Until 60 day window opens for each specific date. I’ll try to link the thread. I don’t know how long this has been a problem for Marriott but it was extremely frustrating. I got up early to book at 6am and had to wait til 7am to try the phone lines. By then, availability was already extremely limited.

https://www.disboards.com/threads/cant-make-60-dining-ressies-online-phone-is-2-hour-wait.3874984/

This is how it was for swan reserve as well. Really unfair handicap - they need to get this resolved .

 

[jbaysingar]

I had this exact thing happen. Posted on restaurant board. My stay is linked properly. There is a problem with the Marriott reservations Swan/Dolphin/reserve not dealing with dining properly. It shows our plus 10 dates in black, but no ability to book. Solution is you have to call in your reservations - and have to go through guest services rather than dining. Not IT problem. If Cm says that - call and get someone else. My person knew exactly the problem. Was able to book my reservations. But I can’t modify them or book new ones for my dates (May 9-18) without calling them in — Until 60 day window opens for each specific date. I’ll try to link the thread. I don’t know how long this has been a problem for Marriott but it was extremely frustrating. I got up early to book at 6am and had to wait til 7am to try the phone lines. By then, availability was already extremely limited.

https://www.disboards.com/threads/cant-make-60-dining-ressies-online-phone-is-2-hour-wait.3874984/

This is how it was for swan reserve as well. Really unfair handicap - they need to get this resolved .

That's not good. Marriott needs to get that sorted out. We booked our upcoming Swan stay through Disney Travel and had no trouble booking dining for all 10 days of our stay.

 

[JJ2017]

How do you request an upgrade via email? I'm only Gold but I'm checking in for my birthday and I would love an upgrade.

I always email info@swandolphin.com and resinfo@swandolphin.com

 

[mickey916]

That's not good. Marriott needs to get that sorted out. We booked our upcoming Swan stay through Disney Travel and had no trouble booking dining for all 10 days of our stay.

It's not specific to Marriott....had the same problem trying to book ADRs with reservations for my POP stay and I know of others who had the problem staying at Movies.

 

[jbaysingar]

It's not specific to Marriott....had the same problem trying to book ADRs with reservations for my POP stay and I know of others who had the problem staying at Movies.

Ah. So it's a Disney issue (not surprising), and we just got lucky that everything worked okay for us.

 

[SteveH]

@JoJoGirl thanks for the info on your luggage transfer good to hear it was taken care of as expected!

 

[amw]

It's not specific to Marriott....had the same problem trying to book ADRs with reservations for my POP stay and I know of others who had the problem staying at Movies.

Yes, but those have been solved by using Chrome or firefox or refreshing or changing app vs desktop … not ideal at all for Disney. But the Cm mentioned there was no work-around for the Marriott-booked stays. It’s phone call-in only. She helped me get my ADRs but I couldn’t help feeling I would have had better options online at 6 am. And I would love to play around with my times but can’t until the 60 day comes around. Not good for this a-type.

They also need to work on the problem of swan/reserve/Dolphin room reservations constantly dropping off of MDE!!

 

[Goofy4]

Tips are not always pooled in restaurants so you may want to inquire.

Sign of the times: I called Room Service twice while there to ask them about tips (by pressing the button on the phone). Both times I was sent to voice mail with no ability to leave a message due to a full inbox.

 

[behomelikeme]

Swan Reserve late night food…arriving on a late evening flight this week…do any of the walk up restaurants at Swan Reserve stay open until 11pm?

 

[Tess]

Well, I know Picabu is on the same level as the back entrance/exit that leads out to the boat dock/walkway. And the escalators take you up to the lobby level where the front door is. I have no idea if there is a floor between the lobby and the ground floor. I'm mostly a Swan guy and mostly use that ground floor at the Dolphin.

As far as I know there are no rooms on the ground floor, an elevator would be needed for a scooter to get to the ground floor. I have used a scooter and have taken the elevator which is down the hall from Picabu and taken it to the lobby floor. I don't even know if there are rooms off of the lobby floor. I know the Swan has no rooms on ground floor, which there is also the lobby level. Dolphin is too complicated for me, LOL.

There are rooms on the lobby floor in both the west and east wings. In those wings, there are two floors of rooms below the lobby level. Dolphin is definitely huge and sprawling.

 

[Goofy4]

They also need to work on the problem of swan/reserve/Dolphin room reservations constantly dropping off of MDE!!

So that's what happened? I was burned a couple times with my 7AM LL reservations. It said I wasn't a resort guest, only to let me make a LL reservation a few minutes later.

I should have complained at a "guest experience" stand. I missed out on Rise of the Resistance because of it. Perhaps they would have done something for me.

 

[Dan Murphy]

Dolphin is definitely huge and sprawling.

For sure, Tess. Makes me appreciate the Swan even more.

 

[Tess]

There is a glitch going on right now regardless of which property you're staying at that doesn't show beyond 60 days. Try using the app and the other work around may be to go to "make reservations" under "things to do" on the website to check availability instead of going directly to the restaurant you want to book. I've seen it open up for future days there when it's not showing on individual restaurants.

My ADR day was 3/12/22 and I had the same issue. The bolded work around was how I got in to reservations for the length of my stay. This is not just a Dolphin/Swan/SR issue--we are staying at BWV. I could not search by restaurant and if I tried to do it that way--only one day was available to me. When I searched the main restaurant page and used the calendar at the top of the page--all dates were then available.

 

[Tess]

Is this true even for Disney owned properties?

Man, what a mess things are. . .

Indeed AND the App wouldn't work for me either--told me to "try again later".