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

[SteveH]

Sorry for the rambling, but this Costo deal appears to be getting snapped up.

Ha! You know I think by adding the upgrade to the Fireworks room the deal is really one of the best out there, when you compare the SPG prices for those rooms the deal is great. Now maybe not a good as getting a room for $150/night but compared to the rack rates or the Disney rates it's a deal.

My guess is based on the # of rooms that it won't last to long, but I'll be curious how the non-firework view rooms would be priced.

 

[BrownHP800]

So is holding the SPG biz card the same 'perk' (maybe) as gold status? i.e. upgrade room if available?

Not quite all of the same perks as gold, but room upgrades if available is one. Also free upgrade to club level if available is another perk of the SPG business card.

 

[RachelTori]

Not quite all of the same perks as gold, but room upgrades if available is one. Also free upgrade to club level if available is another perk of the SPG business card.

Just to make sure there's no confusion when someone reads your post, there is no Club Level at either Swan or Dolphin. Sadly, it's been gone for years.

 

[chris benton]

Ha! You know I think by adding the upgrade to the Fireworks room the deal is really one of the best out there, when you compare the SPG prices for those rooms the deal is great. Now maybe not a good as getting a room for $150/night but compared to the rack rates or the Disney rates it's a deal.

My guess is based on the # of rooms that it won't last to long, but I'll be curious how the non-firework view rooms would be priced.

Well, it's also a 100.00 dollar "resort credit" instead of the regular spa restricted one,
Park Hopper PLUS
The Kids eat free promotion (which is a tad misleading, in that it's only two places, and one of those places doesn't serve dinner)
AND the Fireworks room upgrade.
And the dates I looked at were NOT expensive

BY contrast, the normal deal iirc:
Regular hopper tix
Daily Spa credit - forgot the amount, but I think it was X off of y minimum.
Kids eat free promotion (which will not be avail for my trip...grrr - but, we only used it once last time. It was worth it tho)
Resort View Room

 

[JerseyJanice]

Resort credit = food and drink at the resort’s casual dining places.

Silly story—I travel often with a major germaphobia, AKA my oldest brother. He so doesn’t want housekeeping in his room—thinks vacuum cleaners spew germs all over his stuff.

He requests no housekeeping and gets resort credits for his room. We go eat and drink at Cabanas near the pool and charge it back to his room (his wife is with us) and they deduct the resort credits off our bill.

 

[JJ2017]

So we are staying Friday - Sunday night. We would get $15 in a resort credit if we decline housekeeping? Is anything different since we booked on points?

 

[RachelTori]

So we are staying Friday - Sunday night. We would get $15 in a resort credit if we decline housekeeping? Is anything different since we booked on points?

You still get the $5 credit (or 500 SPG points) whether you paid cash or booked on points, however, you will not get $15 for a 3 night stay; only $10. Your check-in date, I believe, is the date that is exempt. A 2-night stay would only get $5. I guess the easy way to figure it is take the number of nights you've booked and subtract one!

I hope I'm making sense!!!

Just be sure to tell the front desk at check-in that you want to "make a Green Choice".

 

[KenHutch]

I would like to thank the many posters on this thread. After posting several times on the Parking Fees thread a couple of the regular posters here recommended this site because I stated that while I can afford the parking fees (and thanks to the Marines I have one of those little your broken license plates) they have finally driven me off site. I will be staying at AKL in June only because I promised the girls AKL but after that off site. I won't stop going to Disney but I after looking at the rates charged by Dolphin/Swan I am seriously considering making this our resort. I built a spreadsheet and compared prices. I will save a small fortune and be within walking distance of my favorite park Hollywood Studios. I just wanted to thank everyone because between information and the occasional informational link I have about decided on this hotel. I will miss note meal plan not because it saves money (we about break even) but because I just like paying for things in advance. But when I do make this change I am making a special point of dropping our normal 12-14 days at Disney to 8 and spending the rest of the time at other parks. When I emailed my displeasure with the parking to Disney I made a point of telling them that not only would they be losing my hotel money (10-12K a trip) but 4 days of my money in general.

 

[NoriKL]

Wanted to say a quick thank you for all the advice I have gotten from this thread...we’re making our first trip to Swan Resort this June (our 3rd Disney trip). Also wanted to add my 2 cents in regards to linking Costco Travel reservations...after reading some of the posts, I was fully prepared to have to call Swan for a separate confirmation number to enter for My Disney Experience, but before I did that I decided to try just using the original number from Costco and it worked. Now, I did wait close to 2 weeks from making the reservation before trying, so that may have helped, but I’m all linked and didn’t have to deal with calling anyone.
~Now I just have to wait for our 60 day FP+ window to open in April!

 

[vicb]

Okay, everyone. I should have called Disney before I posted again. I called the Disney web support number which shoreward was so kind to post. I got in touch with a very helpful person who checked my reservation in the Disney system for me. She said it was normal that the guests came in as SD_GUEST_2, etc. and that I did the right thing to just change them to my family members as I linked it. She also said that the "additional details" are never available for Swan and Dolphin reservations. She said there should be no problem making fastpasses.

So, I am trusting her and am going to try to relax about the whole thing. Hopefully this info will help someone else who is new to staying at Swan or Dolphin.

Thanks again, everyone!
Mary

I was also told this about the "additional details" and I was able to book my FP once I got everything linked and all my party selected and linked together in MDX.

 

[vicb]

Now, for a 6 night stay during that timeframe:
Included Extras

• Two-category upgrade to a newly renovated Fireworks-View Room (reflected in price)
• $100 resort credit (per room, per stay)
• Complimentary upgrade to a Park Hopper® Plus Ticket provides access to Disney's Water Parks

That's a nice deal. Doesn't really help me either, booked a 5 night stay for early May but with the reg. park hoppers and resort view room. Still I'm pretty happy with what I got since Dolphin was sold out two of my nights on their website so Costco not only saved me $$ over POFQ it got me into Dolphin resort view room on two sold out nights.

 

[MarBee]

Hello! Two questions:
1) has anyone done Instacart at Dolphin? Just wondering if/how it worked.
2) when does Swan decorate for Christmas usually? I am thinking about booking for the week of November 10th but really want to be in a hotel that’s decorated for Christmas.

 

[Dan Murphy]

when does Swan decorate for Christmas usually? I am thinking about booking for the week of November 10th but really want to be in a hotel that’s decorated for Christmas.

Here is the schedule for last year. Pretty much the same as other Disney resorts, officially the day after Thanksgiving. Decorations up most likely a few days, to maybe a week earlier.

http://santasfavoriteresort.com/

 

[chris benton]

That's a nice deal. Doesn't really help me either, booked a 5 night stay for early May but with the reg. park hoppers and resort view room. Still I'm pretty happy with what I got since Dolphin was sold out two of my nights on their website so Costco not only saved me $$ over POFQ it got me into Dolphin resort view room on two sold out nights.

If I was you, just for schitzengigglez, I'd check if the 6 day deal beats your 5 day - never know. Include the extras in pricing - maybe the room upgrade has value as well? Nobody says you HAVE to stay the extra night, I don't think.

 

[chris benton]

Post Deleted

 

[hsmamato2]

So we are staying Friday - Sunday night. We would get $15 in a resort credit if we decline housekeeping? Is anything different since we booked on points?

i *think* it's only one night,since the date of checkin has had housekeeping,and date of checkout has to be cleaned(for next guest) so just the one night credit. I love the credit system!

 

[MarBee]

Here is the schedule for last year. Pretty much the same as other Disney resorts, officially the day after Thanksgiving. Decorations up most likely a few days, to maybe a week earlier.

http://santasfavoriteresort.com/

Thanks Dan! So is it just the Dolphin that decorates?

 

[SteveH]

They decorate too, here is a video showing their big chocolate sculpture and more.

 

[bluejasmine]

We are thinking breakfast one morning at Boardwalk bakery and the next morning at Picabu can anyone recommend something good you had for breakfast at either while staying at The Dolphin/Swan

 

[SteveH]

...Picabu can anyone recommend something good you had for breakfast...

We really enjoyed the make your own omelettes, we got these just about every morning during our last stay, they have a good variety of things you can put in them.