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

[huey578]

What is a No View Room? Does anyone have a pic of what you see out the window?

 

[MB_Ellie]

Does anyone know if there is still transportation back to the Swan/Dolphin for After Hours events like Disney's Very Merriest?

 

[empedocles]

A question for those who've stayed at these hotels recently. When was your card charged? Disney does a one night deposit and then final payment due at check in if I remember correctly. But I booked the Swan a week ago for 11/25-12/3 and I've not even seen any kind of charge yet, even though the booking page said a deposit would be charged at the time of reservation.

Thanks

I have 2 Dolphin reservations for Xmas week. One made in April, one in August. I have not seen a deposit for either one. (Both made thru Marriott).

 

[TEAMJACOB]

Have you tried Chat on MDE?

Yes twice. First time got an immediate generic response stating that they were busy dealing with everyone's excitement about Genie +. They closed the ticket immediately. 2nd time, several days later, got the same response, but said someone would reply. After 5 hours, they closed the ticket and no one ever replied.

 

[TEAMJACOB]

You’ve probably tried these things:
-shut phone off/restart
- uninstall/reinstall MDE
- clear cache/cookies

Hope it sorts out. The good news is that you can see it on PC so that’s a great sign that everything is linked to your acct, there’s just an app issue.

Sunday I added more park reservations for the February trip. That must have triggered something because it asked me to update the app. But I had just updated the app a few days prior. Once, I updated again, I could see everything. It was a Christmas miracle. LoL. This is why I keep a detailed spreadsheet of all plans, reservations numbers..... Leave this Thursday, can't wait.

 

[MsVanderquack]

I'm trying to book a couple of room for late February. There is a Wednesday that is causing an issue, I can book leading up to it or after it. Does anyone know what is happening there?
Also DH has status there so we are able to get one room no matter what, but it can't be used to get a second room which we would need - it's a family trip, hence the last minute (by my standards ) booking, Lol

 

[trompettecon]

Appologies if I’ve asked this before. My short term memory is disappearing very quickly as I age . Will the Swan’s bell services accept grocery deliveries if I am not there to receive them? I tried contacting the Swan directly to no avail…

 

[Dan Murphy]

What is a No View Room? Does anyone have a pic of what you see out the window?

This is from TaraPA from about 11 years ago. We've referred to it as the 'dumpster view'. Not sure if that would be the same as a No View today.

 

[Dan Murphy]

Does anyone know if there is still transportation back to the Swan/Dolphin for After Hours events like Disney's Very Merriest?

There will always be transportation from the parks to your resort, they will never leave anybody behind or stranded.

 

[Jillfo]

A question for those who've stayed at these hotels recently. When was your card charged? Disney does a one night deposit and then final payment due at check in if I remember correctly. But I booked the Swan a week ago for 11/25-12/3 and I've not even seen any kind of charge yet, even though the booking page said a deposit would be charged at the time of reservation.

Thanks

Sometimes it's within a day or two of making the reservation. Sometimes it's within a week of arrival.

 

[staceychev]

We had a lovely first stay at the Swan last weekend. We enjoyed a late dinner at The Fountain the first night we arrived - DH loved the burger he got. One night, we ended up eating at Il Mulino because we were exhausted and just wanted to sit and have a good dinner. We also got take-out from the pizza window at Boardwalk one night - it was surprisingly good, and if you order at the counter and not mobile, they'll do a half-and-half pizza (jn our case, half plain and half pepperoni). We had a drink at Abracada Bar while we waited.

Housekeeping was super-responsive through the Bonvoy app, bringing things (water, TP) a couple of times when I requested them, and made up the bed when they came. I also requested and received a late checkout through the app.

Only complaint (not Swan, really) was the one evening we decided to take the bus from Boardwalk to MK, instead of the Swan bus. Huge mistake. We waited for 45 minutes and barely made it for the fireworks, and missed our LL reservation for Jungle Cruise. Luckily, we just walked onto Jungle Cruise after the fireworks, and ran into my cousin and her family in the queue!

Oh, and ETA: we were disappointed in the hours for the Garden Grove. My 11 year old really wanted to eat there, and we saved it for our last day, not realizing it wouldn't be open.

 

[Dan Murphy]

We had a lovely first stay at the Swan last weekend. We enjoyed a late dinner at The Fountain the first night we arrived - DH loved the burger he got. One night, we ended up eating at Il Mulino because we were exhausted and just wanted to sit and have a good dinner. We also got take-out from the pizza window at Boardwalk one night - it was surprisingly good, and if you order at the counter and not mobile, they'll do a half-and-half pizza (jn our case, half plain and half pepperoni). We had a drink at Abracada Bar while we waited.

Housekeeping was super-responsive through the Bonvoy app, bringing things (water, TP) a couple of times when I requested them, and made up the bed when they came. I also requested and received a late checkout through the app.

Only complaint (not Swan, really) was the one evening we decided to take the bus from Boardwalk to MK, instead of the Swan bus. Huge mistake. We waited for 45 minutes and barely made it for the fireworks, and missed our LL reservation for Jungle Cruise. Luckily, we just walked onto Jungle Cruise after the fireworks, and ran into my cousin and her family in the queue!

Oh, and ETA: we were disappointed in the hours for the Garden Grove. My 11 year old really wanted to eat there, and we saved it for our last day, not realizing it wouldn't be open.

Thanks for the review, Stacey. Sounds mostly good except that bus situation and the hours at GG. Thanks again.

 

[tinkychloe]

We just got back from the Dolphin. I was traveling with my two college age daughters, so we were looking for a little bit of extra space. I booked the "1 king bed, sofabed, premium deluxe suite, limited view" which ended up having an incredible view of Tower of Terror. There was plenty of space to spread out. In addition to the separate bedroom with a king size bed and desk, there was a large living area with a queen sofabed, chair, and dining table and chairs for 4. It was a beautiful room.

Video of the room:

I did the online check in through Marriott, but never got a text/key/alert, so I checked in through the regular line.

We walked to both Epcot and Hollywood Studios and park hopped to the Magic Kingdom. Returning from the MK, we took the bus to the Boardwalk and walked to the Dolphin. Since we had a car, we drove to Animal Kingdom to get there early. We did use Dolphin transportation to get to Disney Springs and it was a Mears bus that had seating like the Magical Express...very nice.

There was NO housekeeping service at all, but we asked for water bottles every day. I mean, if we're paying the resort fee, the least we can get was some water, right?

The night before we checked out, a very large group of teens, probably high school age, checked into the resort and made their presence known. I'm a high school teacher and have a very high tolerance to teenagers and children, in general, but this group was the most ill-behaved group I've ever experienced. (I've been at Disney/Dolphin with cheerleaders, dancers, band kids, and Brazilian chanting 15 year olds and they are angels compared to this brood.) The group was noisy, slamming doors and running up and down the hallways. Bless any regular guests in the hotel right now.

At 11:15, the fire alarm was pulled and an announcement was going off in the hotel about having to evacuate the building. The evacuation process was not good and the stairwells were full, complicated by the large number of children who thought the fire alarm was fun. I wonder how someone with mobility issues would leave the building in a fire emergency. We were on the west side, but walked around to the front of the building, thinking that it would be a better place to get information about when it was safe to re-enter the building. We were not outside for long, but no information was provided about the alarm, whether it was a false alarm, fire in a kitchen, etc...I really think that a mass text message or sign should have been posted to notify people about the situation.

In all, I love the Dolphin, but am looking forward to the return of housekeeping, especially for longer stays and am disappointed by the lack of communication during and after the building had to be evacuated.

I booked this room for New Year's week. Did you have anyone sleep on the pullout? If so, how was it? We are 4 adults and will bring a blowup mattress for the 4th adult and will bring a second one if the pullout is awful. Thanks.

 

[Marthasor]

Does anyone know if there is still transportation back to the Swan/Dolphin for After Hours events like Disney's Very Merriest?

We plan on taking the bus to either BWI or YC after the event as I know they will be running. I"m a little hesitant to take the monorail back to TTC and wait for a Swan/Dolphin bus.

 

[tinkychloe]

Can you still reserve pool chairs?

 

[scottishgirl1]

We plan on taking the bus to either BWI or YC after the event as I know they will be running. I"m a little hesitant to take the monorail back to TTC and wait for a Swan/Dolphin bus.

I think this as well, if you end up at the ttc and no bus appears you would feel a bit stranded

 

[CBMom01]

I booked this room for New Year's week. Did you have anyone sleep on the pullout? If so, how was it? We are 4 adults and will bring a blowup mattress for the 4th adult and will bring a second one if the pullout is awful. Thanks.

Curious about this at the Dolphin. I thought I saw somewhere that they are new-ish.

 

[SteveH]

What is a No View Room? Does anyone have a pic of what you see out the window?

I think it's them trying to be totally honest, these will be rooms that will not have fireworks views, Epcot or DHS views, pool view or balconys. I think you may have a resort view, over looking either the Swan or Dolphin and the walkway, perhaps a parking area, rooftops or the dreaded dumpster view.

Appologies if I’ve asked this before. My short term memory is disappearing very quickly as I age . Will the Swan’s bell services accept grocery deliveries if I am not there to receive them? I tried contacting the Swan directly to no avail…

From the S/D FAQ pages
Please note the Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin accepts packages for our guests, however we are unable to accommodate any deliveries that require refrigeration of any kind.

From the Package & Delivery link in the PDF
GROCERY DELIVERIES (Amazon, Instacart, Shipt, etc.):
Guests are encouraged to schedule grocery deliveries when they will be available to receive items from the delivery driver. When guests are not present to receive deliveries from the delivery driver, grocery items will be held at Bell Services until picked up or delivery is requested by the guest. Refrigeration is not provided. The Resort is not responsible for damaged or unusable perishable items.

On the topic of contacting them I've had good luck using the Text Us! option on the S/D Mobile App

 

[SteveH]

We had a lovely first stay at the Swan last weekend....

Great comments, thanks for sharing. I think it's good the S/D bus situation might be better then Disney for S/D guests. How was it other times? Hard to keep track of what's open and closed at S/D and manage their app, seems like they need better way to let people know.

Can you still reserve pool chairs?

I don't see it listed anymore on the Activities page and as I recall they stopped that service early June. You can rent cabana's only.

 

[CBMom01]

Does a balcony guarantee a no dumpster rule?