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

[SteveH]

For what it's worth another S/D group is sharing that several have been told the Swan Reserve will open October 28.

 

[magickingdomprincess]

@CBMom01 you wont' find the "Disney" buttons at SwanDolphin front desk since it's not a Disney resort, but you can check with the Disney Gift shop at the Dolphin or in the parks.

Here's what the S/D birthday button looks like (my uncle loves his birthday button!). Not sure about anniversary but it wouldn't hurt to ask!

 

[SteveH]

@magickingdomprincess that's awesome I don't think I knew that S/D had their own! Thanks for sharing

 

[kingslyyy]

We have stayed at the both the Swan and Dolphin in last few months, and we enjoyed it, rooms were fantastic.
But both times it was total mess getting our rooms, and they were not available till well after 4:00. Tried checking in around 3:00 didnt get the room till about 5:00.

 

[jmcross]

For what it's worth another S/D group is sharing that several have been told the Swan Reserve will open October 28.

Hooray!! I hope it’s true!

 

[CBMom01]

I'm almost regretting cancelling our SR reservation and moving to the Dolphin. When I spoke with on site reservations they first said that the 1 bedroom suites have 2 bathrooms. Then they said the 1 bedroom suites have 1 bathroom. Between that and the uncertainty on dates I got nervous and wanted to lock down connecting rooms at Dolphin, but I'll be interested to learn the truth of the great bathroom mystery!

 

[mag_nate]

Yup! It looks like that is their plan for me but they "need to let the reservations system freshen up a little bit" because it isn't working at the moment LOL

Just as a quick breakdown, we had redeemed 40k points for the 13th and a Marriott free night certificate for the 14th at the Swan Reserve, so total out of pocket was to be [40k points + free night cert + all fees]. The following is a quick breakdown of this lovely 45 minute call (seriously the reservations agent was really nice and as helpful as she could be but they have some weird management issues over there):

1. Their first offer was to move us over to the Dolphin but it would be 50k points for one night plus my certificate for the second night, which would mean I would pay 10k more points to move to the Dolphin. That would be really stupid, so I told the agent the agent as much, asked if they could just credit me 10k points as "compensation" or something (which anyone familiar with Marriott knows management absolutely has the power to do) or waive the resort fee, and she said she would talk to management.
2. Their second offer after speaking with management was to just waive the resort fee, but I would have to pay the 10k point difference... it's like negotiating with a brick wall. This probably wasn't that bad of an offer, but ehhhhhh... I told the reservation agent that I wasn't upset at her, but asking me to move to another hotel and pay them more when they cancelled my reservation is bordering on psychotic, and she went to speak to management again.
3. The final offer was to charge 50k points plus the resort fee for the first night, but comp the second night (I assume, but didn't confirm that I'd pay the resort fee) and let me keep my free night certificate. I gladly accepted this.

Turns out their system is screwed up, though, and when they made my reservation, the first night was showing 60k points. When I pointed this out to the reservation agent, she put me on hold for a while and came back to tell me that "need to let the reservations system freshen up a little bit," and to call back tomorrow. They promised that they'd honor the 50k for the first night plus the second night comped, and I really do understand that this is a good deal and they could have just told me to screw off if they really felt like it.

Still, basically the only reason we're staying here is to check out the new Swan Reserve (fail), and get rid of my Marriott free night cert that's expiring (fail), so I am just a little let down by the whole thing.

We just finished this two-night stay at the Dolphin, and they ended up just straight up comping the whole stay (parking, resort fee, room rate all zeroed out) and upgrading us to a gorgeous balcony room with a resort view. We sat outside and watched the Epcot fireworks with our bottle of publix champagne ... huge props to Swan/Dolphin staff for making things work after their first reservation agent made a mess of things!

FYI, I don't know if this affected things at all, but we have stayed at the Dolphin in the past on cash while Starwood (RIP) Platinum and I am currently Marriott Gold.

 

[Chisoxcollector]

For what it's worth another S/D group is sharing that several have been told the Swan Reserve will open October 28.

I really hope that's true! We have a one night stay booked (using points) on October 29th for the Food & Wine Classic. I've been getting really nervous about the stay being canceled, since the Swan and Dolphin are both full already. It'd be kind of cool (and kind of scary lol) for that to be opening weekend for the resort!

 

[Chisoxcollector]

Double post, sorry!

 

[cgattis]

So I could have a package and/or a non-perishable grocery order delivered the day or two before the way I have at WDW resorts?

IIRC, if you have it shipped ahead, it goes to their package handling folks and you have to pay their fee to pick it up (or to have it brought to your room).

 

[Gitelfor]

Four new restaurants to open at the new Swan Reserve.

Swan Reserve dining

 

[GillianP1301]

I'm hoping somebody can help me out with this question because I'm super frustrated with Disney IT at the moment... I recently changed my upcoming December trip from AKL to Dolphin. I booked a package with 10 day park hopper tickets. It took several days and a few calls to get my confirmation number to link and when it finally did, there are no tickets. I only have the temporary park planning passes. Do they not link tickets for S&D stays? I want to be able to pre-purchase the genie+ add on for the duration of my ticket and I also want 7am access on my arrival day, so having to wait until check-in to get my tickets to link the is not great. I have read other people have no issues having their tickets link. Am I missing something?

 

[Gitelfor]

It’s probably time to modify this thread’s title to:

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

 

[SteveH]

@GillianP1301 hard to say which end this is on Disney or S/D, but I'd call Swan Dolphin between 8-5 (i say 8:30-4:30) since you want to talk to the local people not the Marriott call center, when you call ask for in-house reservations and see if they can assist you. My gut says they'll send you back to Disney IT but maybe they can do some behinds the scenes magic for you.

 

[CBMom01]

I'm hoping somebody can help me out with this question because I'm super frustrated with Disney IT at the moment... I recently changed my upcoming December trip from AKL to Dolphin. I booked a package with 10 day park hopper tickets. It took several days and a few calls to get my confirmation number to link and when it finally did, there are no tickets. I only have the temporary park planning passes. Do they not link tickets for S&D stays? I want to be able to pre-purchase the genie+ add on for the duration of my ticket and I also want 7am access on my arrival day, so having to wait until check-in to get my tickets to link the is not great. I have read other people have no issues having their tickets link. Am I missing something?

Did you book Dolphin through Disney Travel and modify from AK to Dolphin?

 

[Dan Murphy]

It’s probably time to modify this thread’s title to:

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

Done. I'll have to add info to the OP.

Just wish they allowed more than 35 pictures per post.

Do you see ANY pictures there in the OP? I don't see any now.

 

[Gitelfor]

For what it's worth another S/D group is sharing that several have been told the Swan Reserve will open October 28.

I understand that the Swan Front Desk is quoting the Reserve’s opening date as October 28. You would think they would not advise that date, which is only ten days away, unless there were a good degree of certainty.

 

[SteveH]

@Gitelfor I agree, I can't see several people being told the 28th if it's not accurate at this point. Could be a partial opening too, hard to say just happy they are getting close to it.

 

[Dan Murphy]

Done. I'll have to add info to the OP.

Just wish they allowed more than 35 pictures per post.

Do you see ANY pictures there in the OP? I don't see any now.

I think the pictures are gone because they were linked from the S/D's website and they have changed their site around with many updates.

 

[Dan Murphy]

With the addition of the Reserve and with all the picture links (and most of the web links themselves) broken because of the new S/D/R website, what are your opinions on my starting a new S/D and now also R thread? This one is over 7 years old, almost 800 pages long. This thread, as are the several past threads, would be linked in the new one. I could not do it all at one time. I would do most of it in Word and then copy/paste. Also, I would use 3-5 initial posts/replies so as to be able to add pictures in the future. A post here is limited to 35 pictures. I had that many when I started this one 7 years ago. If I ever wanted to add a picture, I had to delete one.

Your thoughts?