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

[jsmla]

Thanks, that’s great news!

 

[jsmla]

Me again! Will the Dolphin accept deliveries from Garden Grocer?

Thanks!

 

[lynzi2004]

I'm helping a friend figure out transportation to and from the Dolphin. They will have a car, but I'm thinking walking to HS and Epcot will be easier. They have parkhoppers so if they drive to one park, I hate to have them have to figure out how to get back to their car vs. just taking skyliner, bus, etc to the next park. What is the best way to tell them to make rope drop for EP/HS? Walk or boat? And then MK/AK are there direct buses to those places, should they walk to Boardwalk/Beach Club and hop a bus there? I've never even been in the Swan/Dolphin complex so any help you all can give me would be great! They will have a car so if driving to some of those places would be best, thats fine too, just remember they have the hoppers and are planning to use them, so that complicates the driving situation!

 

[samara]

First platinum stay coming up in a week - so, are you saying the slips can be redeemed for food at any time, not just breakfast? Wonder if they’d let me use them to buy some fruit and a bottle of wine at Java?!

We didn’t try them for wine, so I can’t be sure about that. But yes, you should be able to use them at non-breakfast times. We bought afternoon cookies with ours on a day when we didn’t want to take time for breakfast!

 

[samara]

I'm helping a friend figure out transportation to and from the Dolphin. They will have a car, but I'm thinking walking to HS and Epcot will be easier. They have parkhoppers so if they drive to one park, I hate to have them have to figure out how to get back to their car vs. just taking skyliner, bus, etc to the next park. What is the best way to tell them to make rope drop for EP/HS? Walk or boat? And then MK/AK are there direct buses to those places, should they walk to Boardwalk/Beach Club and hop a bus there? I've never even been in the Swan/Dolphin complex so any help you all can give me would be great! They will have a car so if driving to some of those places would be best, thats fine too, just remember they have the hoppers and are planning to use them, so that complicates the driving situation!

This is a complicated question as of late! I would say definitely walk to Epcot/DHS in the mornings, and if they want to hop between those two, we found the Skyliner to be a really nice ride as an alternative to the boats. It was never busy mid-day. The most direct way to MK would be to use a bus from the Boardwalk or Beach/Yacht Club, because those don’t have to stop at the TTC, like the Swan/Dolphin ones now do. I would just drive to AK, there’s no real advantage to taking the bus there. The only way to park hop at MK or AK is the buses or Uber. We didn’t have a car, so used Uber a lot. From MK, you can walk to the Contemporary and call an Uber from there to skip the TTC on the return trip.

 

[Gitelfor]

For those who are searching the Marriott site for room rates, using the AAA discount, try logging into your AAA account to search for the same stay. There are instances where the AAA search engine comes up with a better rate; I noticed it for the Swan, in particular, with the refundable rate.

 

[cgattis]

We didn’t try them for wine, so I can’t be sure about that. But yes, you should be able to use them at non-breakfast times. We bought afternoon cookies with ours on a day when we didn’t want to take time for breakfast!

I’m nearly sure I remember a poster a couple of weeks back saying they used it for wine. She said basically they treated them as $20 bills.

 

[armerida]

I’m nearly sure I remember a poster a couple of weeks back saying they used it for wine. She said basically they treated them as $20 bills.

Woo hoo!

 

[Gitelfor]

The onsite reservations department is saying they are still planning on the Reserve opening on September 1, but that the first couple of weeks in September are sold out.

 

[georgina]

Yikes.. I hope its open by october atleast.

As someone with reservations at the Swan Reserve from Sept 26-Oct 1, I hope it's ready! Wonder what they will do if not? We used 5 free 50,000 night Marriott certs for it.

 

[diskids2]

It's been about 10 years since I have stayed at the Dolphin and am considering a stay for our next summer trip. If I purchase tickets when I arrive, can I still get them somewhere in the hotels and will they either load them onto a magic band or give me a (what used to be) a KTTW card?

My stays were pre-MDE, so is it easy to load everything onto the app, so that you can still make ADR's (at least for now) 60 days out?

Should I just print 30 pages back and read instead of asking questions.....so sorry!

 

[twocat]

It's been about 10 years since I have stayed at the Dolphin and am considering a stay for our next summer trip. If I purchase tickets when I arrive, can I still get them somewhere in the hotels and will they either load them onto a magic band or give me a (what used to be) a KTTW card?

My stays were pre-MDE, so is it easy to load everything onto the app, so that you can still make ADR's (at least for now) 60 days out?

Should I just print 30 pages back and read instead of asking questions.....so sorry!

You won't be able to make park reservations until you have tickets so you'll want to buy those well before you arrive. You'll be able to link your Dolphin reservation in MDE. Your tickets will also link.

Now this is assuming that the current park reservation system is still in place next summer. And tight now, there are no Fastpasses but that may change in the future, too.

 

[Meglen]

It's been about 10 years since I have stayed at the Dolphin and am considering a stay for our next summer trip. If I purchase tickets when I arrive, can I still get them somewhere in the hotels and will they either load them onto a magic band or give me a (what used to be) a KTTW card?

My stays were pre-MDE, so is it easy to load everything onto the app, so that you can still make ADR's (at least for now) 60 days out?

Should I just print 30 pages back and read instead of asking questions.....so sorry!

would be taking a huge gamble with not pre buying tickets with todays way of getting into the park

 

[Best Aunt]

would be taking a huge gamble with not pre buying tickets with todays way of getting into the park

I have read tweets from bloggers reporting that Bob Chapek has said that the park reservation system will remain in place for the foreseeable future. You can't make park reservations until you have purchased tickets. We don't know what will happen as Disney increases park capacity - maybe it will be easier to make a park reservation at the last minute. But if members of your group want to go to Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge and can't because you didn't buy tickets early enough to make a park reservation at DHS, then they might be annoyed with you.

 

[lauritagoddess]

I'm helping a friend figure out transportation to and from the Dolphin. They will have a car, but I'm thinking walking to HS and Epcot will be easier. They have parkhoppers so if they drive to one park, I hate to have them have to figure out how to get back to their car vs. just taking skyliner, bus, etc to the next park. What is the best way to tell them to make rope drop for EP/HS? Walk or boat? And then MK/AK are there direct buses to those places, should they walk to Boardwalk/Beach Club and hop a bus there? I've never even been in the Swan/Dolphin complex so any help you all can give me would be great! They will have a car so if driving to some of those places would be best, thats fine too, just remember they have the hoppers and are planning to use them, so that complicates the driving situation!

We took the boat to both Epcot and Hollywood Studios this past week and easily made rope drop. We walked onto MMRR at HS with maybe a 10 minute wait and the same with Soarin’ at Epcot.

 

[wp4lf189]

Anyone know if/what the AP discount currently is for swan & Dolphin?

 

[CJK]

Anyone know if/what the AP discount currently is for swan & Dolphin?

I'm interested in this too. I keep hearing people mention the AP discount, but when I go to the Swan/Dolphin website and click on special offers, it says the AP discount has expired.

 

[cgattis]

As someone with reservations at the Swan Reserve from Sept 26-Oct 1, I hope it's ready! Wonder what they will do if not? We used 5 free 50,000 night Marriott certs for it.

I feel confident they’d put you at the Swan or Dolphin instead, likely in a nicer room for your troubles. I’ve always had excellent service with Marriott.

 

[CJN]

I'm interested in this too. I keep hearing people mention the AP discount, but when I go to the Swan/Dolphin website and click on special offers, it says the AP discount has expired.

Checking through Marriott’s site is what works best for me. The discount is up to 30% off. Put in your dates and under “special rates” select “corporate/promo” and type in the code QWH.

 

[TexanInTheMidwest]

Anyone know if/what the AP discount currently is for swan & Dolphin?

I just booked for some dates in August (at the Dolphin) and it was an average of $204 a night (not counting resort fees and taxes) and broke down to this (exact dates removed)

• Saturday - 172.00
• Sunday - 172.00
• Monday - 194.00
• Tuesday - 224.00
• Wednesday - 244.00

I really seems to vary based on the date (and I am guessing overall occupancy) because I stayed in May and some nights were as low as $157.

The code is QWH - just plug it in and play with your dates.

(Edited to add: that I stayed at the Dolphin - and that it always seems to be $10 to $20 a night less than the Swan)