Checking out this morning on what has been an excellent 9/10 nights at the Dolphin.
Loved our premium deluxe king room. It looked straight out into the Swan, and it was nice to have three big windows to watch all the crazy weather during our stay. Last night there was an impressive lightning show that went for a good hour or so. Only complaint i have is there is one lonely towel hook in the bathroom. For a room that could hold four or more, it was odd there weren't more. But with the little closet right outside the bathroom, we just hung excess towels on coat hangers.
The food here is excellent. Shula's, of course, but also The Fountain, Fuel, Picabu (actually good scrambled eggs at a buffet!).
Housekeeping came twice during our stay, and we could have asked for more, but we had so much space it was pretty easy to keep the room tidy. Oh one weird thing was the various brands of toiletries we were receiving. I think i counted six different brands, and it kinda felt like we were getting what other guests left behind
Transportation is... So so. HS and EPCOT are a breeze when the boats are running, but Disney seems pretty quick to shut them down in bad weather. One day it had just started raining when we got in line and they called off the boats. They're... Boats... Pretty sure they can deal with a little water
we did get caught at epcot in that big storm last Monday night and had to wade through almost knee deep water on the walk back to the hotel - between epcot and the boardwalk there was a section that dips and it was all backed up. So gross. We were soaked by the time we got back, but Dolphin handled it well with slip resistant mats at the back entrance and a desk with someone handing out towels for those returning and umbrellas for those brave enough to go out. They even took our $12 a piece ponchos because they were trashed by the time we got back.
Magic Kingdom transportation is a pain, but manageable. It is annoying that it feels like taking a gamble... Do we walk or boat to BW or BC? And when we get there, is it going to be another half hour wait until a bus shows up? Coming back is fine, but getting there, i think we'll stick to lyft.
Disney Springs transportation feels like a punishment for S&D not paying for Disney buses. It drops off on the west side, and you have to walk all along the back side of Cirque du Soleil and AMC, then through the parking lot, up to the second floor and across. One of the security guys that was directing people where to go mentioned taking the bus from the boardwalk, not only to avoid being dropped in this area, but that they run every half hour rather than every hour at the S&D. Not sure how accurate that is.
And speaking of transportation, the boats are not requiring masks at all, even though there are signs everywhere saying they do. The buses are strict on this fact, and the Disney buses we caught had a box of masks for those who forgot or lost theirs, but that wasn't the case for the S&D buses. I saw them turn people away, which is a bit mean. Having to trudge back to the hotel room or try and find a store to buy one from...
After all this, we've booked in to stay at the Swan for December and are really looking forward to coming back. One thing i really hope they bring back before then is shipping purchases back to the hotel. Carrying around bags of goodies on a hot day is no fun, and we probably would have bought more if this was available.
Thanks, Tess.
