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

[Jedimike]

Thank you all for your quick responses.

Is the only issue matching the room party to your MDE party? We are a family of 4 (2 adults, 2 kids or 4 Disney adults as the kids are over 12). My one son will be turning 18 during the trip, will this effect anything?

We usually use the digital key but like to request one key card “just in case”. Do we need 4 key cards for extended evening hours?

My daughter is turning 18 during our trip too!! I don't think it is an issue, she is listed as a 17 year old on our MDE. Regarding extra evening hours, it is hit or miss. MOST of the time the CM's ask for one card/band to scan and ask "how many in your party?", but a few times we all had to scan. That information was on our magic band, we didn't use room key cards.

 

[tomeaine]

Maybe all the rest of you already knew this, but if you are planning to get a reservation for Dolphin (or Swan, I assume) through a third party, like Sam's Club or Costco, be VERY careful that you avoid the NON-REFUNDABLE room, unless you really want that one.

Same goes with booking directly with swan/dolphin. It auto defaults to best pricing which are non refundable rooms. I was originally planning to bookw with them to take advantage of the 2nd room discount with extra refundable fee, each time I backed out to check total price of another room it would automatically go back to the non refundable section.

 

[TheSouthernBelle]

Same goes with booking directly with swan/dolphin. It auto defaults to best pricing which are non refundable rooms. I was originally planning to bookw with them to take advantage of the 2nd room discount with extra refundable fee, each time I backed out to check total price of another room it would automatically go back to the non refundable section.

yes to this! The searches always defaulted to the NF rate, hate that. they’re tricky luring us in with a low rate lol. We also decided against most of the snaptravel or hotels.com deals since most were all non-refundable. We got a decent rate for flexible but def not the best discount ever.

 

[Aela]

Same goes with booking directly with swan/dolphin. It auto defaults to best pricing which are non refundable rooms. I was originally planning to bookw with them to take advantage of the 2nd room discount with extra refundable fee, each time I backed out to check total price of another room it would automatically go back to the non refundable section.

Luckily you have 24 hours to cancel when you accidentally click book that way!

 

[jlundeen]

Luckily you have 24 hours to cancel when you accidentally click book that way!

I wish Sam's club offered the 24 hours. They said they could do nothing. I called immediately after I realized my mistake.

 

[FireflyFi]

Checking in on Sunday night / Monday morning and received the email about double checking that the reservation has the correct number of guests so that MDE works correctly. They're referring to this, right?



The Guest Information section only lists me and doesn't have any space to add anyone else.

 

[BillFromCT]

Transferred bags from Dolphin to Pop Century this morning through Dolphin bell services. No problems. He said they would be there between 11am and 7pm, though he said Pop was one of the first stops. Bags were at Pop when my room was ready this afternoon.

 

[desl10]

Transferred bags from Dolphin to Pop Century this morning through Dolphin bell services. No problems. He said they would be there between 11am and 7pm, though he said Pop was one of the first stops. Bags were at Pop when my room was ready this afternoon.

Will they transfer from dolphin to Waldorf Astoria? Or do you know if both hotels need to be on site?

 

[Kjdisney]

What did you think of SR? We are doing a split stay over Spring Break. We have WL and then have both SR and Swan booked for our second half of the trip. I have never stayed at any Swolphin resorts, so I have no idea which we should pick. The SR is $15 more per night, so almost no difference in cost. We have standard non-view rooms booked.

We were just at the Swan Reserve in January and had a wonderful stay. I would definitely stay there again, but I wouldn’t pay more to stay there. The rooms at the Swan are a little larger and closer (not by much) to the parks and boat launch.
I did love the shower at the Reserve, but like the extra room at the Swan more.

 

[Kjdisney]

Checking in on Sunday night / Monday morning and received the email about double checking that the reservation has the correct number of guests so that MDE works correctly. They're referring to this, right?

View attachment 651272

The Guest Information section only lists me and doesn't have any space to add anyone else.

Yes, you don’t have have to list names, just make sure the guest number is right. You can check and make sure everyone on your MDE is showing they have a resort reservation.

 

[Dan Murphy]

Will they transfer from dolphin to Waldorf Astoria? Or do you know if both hotels need to be on site?

I've never heard of off-site transfers.

 

[Dan Murphy]

What coffee makers are in rooms at Swan? I need my morning coffee

Here also from a couple weeks ago.

 

[hedberg1661]

Transferred bags from Dolphin to Pop Century this morning through Dolphin bell services. No problems. He said they would be there between 11am and 7pm, though he said Pop was one of the first stops. Bags were at Pop when my room was ready this afternoon.

Glad to hear this is going smoothly. Another step in the right direction towards 'normal'.

 

[ultimatefans]

Has anyone booked a Swan Reserve package through Disney? Did linking work? I've had a terrible time trying to link my package, I would have guessed a package made through Disney directly would be linked smoothly. After 72 hours I was still receiving the error message. (I did try calling but the phone lines through Disney were constantly busy and the Marriott rep was not able link since the reservation was made through Disney.) Finally after 5 days I was able to link the package but only the resort reservation showed up, the tickets did not. I'll try calling again although I'm not looking forward to a 3 hour hold once I actually get through.

 

[ultimatefans]

Has anyone booked a Swan Reserve package through Disney? Did linking work? I've had a terrible time trying to link my package, I would have guessed a package made through Disney directly would be linked smoothly. After 72 hours I was still receiving the error message. (I did try calling but the phone lines through Disney were constantly busy and the Marriott rep was not able link since the reservation was made through Disney.) Finally after 5 days I was able to link the package but only the resort reservation showed up, the tickets did not. I'll try calling again although I'm not looking forward to a 3 hour hold once I actually get through.

Here's an update in case it helps anyone: I did finally get through, the hold was almost exactly 3 hours. I was told that my tickets will be waiting for me at the front desk when I check in so she created a temporary "Park Planning Pass" that allowed me to make park reservations now. I was surprised that had to be done manually, but I'm very glad everything's finally set.

 

[jbaysingar]

Here's an update in case it helps anyone: I did finally get through, the hold was almost exactly 3 hours. I was told that my tickets will be waiting for me at the front desk when I check in so she created a temporary "Park Planning Pass" that allowed me to make park reservations now. I was surprised that had to be done manually, but I'm very glad everything's finally set.

That's odd. We booked our upcoming Swan stay through Disney, and the Park Planning Passes were automatically added when we linked our reservation. Glad you were able to get it sorted out eventually.

Your post does answer the question I had about why there were "Planning Passes" and not tickets in my MDE account. Good to know it's not an issue and that we just need to link the tickets after picking them up at check-in.

 

[JulieODC]

I just booked the dolphin (we are switching from the Hilton Signia bonnet creek) in order to take advantage of the perks of extra hours and location. This will be a first time at Dolphin for my family. I had mixed feelings about things I have read about the cleanliness of the rooms at dolphin. What was your stay like? We booked a standard 2 double no view room for 5 nights. Beds comfortable? Pool area? Any comments would love to hear from a recent returnee. We are going the last week in May.

we had a great visit. Some wear and tear in the room, but clean - and the beds were very comfortable!!

the pool area is amazing - I actually prefer it over some of the WDW resort pool areas, including Stormalong bay.

we wished the lines for coffee at Fuel were a little shorter, but overall the food and drink offerings were great too.

I always shop around when we visit WDW and have stayed many place, but since we discovered S/D, we haven’t looked back.

 

[SteveH]

@JulieODC - if you like the pool now prepare to be blown away when they complete the pool expansion including a couple of new water slides.

 

[travellovingirl]

Does anyone know if there is an event at Swan/Dolphin the weekend of October 21-23rd? The Dolphin rooms appear to be booked up/booking fast for points. I'm not sure if there is a site to reference regarding conventions?

Or is this just going to be a busy weekend at WDW? Thank you!

 

[SteveH]

@travellovingirl there is a conference there Oct 17-20 and another conference the 24-26. Both are put on by Gartner. Since its the weekend between they could have a number of rooms on hold that is impacting the points availability, they might be released but that doesn't mean points will be available for booking. Plus with the new changing points its hard to say what it could look like.