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

[shoreward]

For those thinking of booking two rooms, there is a promotion available:

Stay Connected! Now is the perfect time for you and your family to stay with us at the Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin hotels. Book any rate plan listed below, then call us at 888-828-8850 to reserve a second guest room starting as low as $145*. Be sure to ask for "Stay Connected" when you call!

Terms & Conditions

Offer is valid at the Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin for stays January 1 - December 23, 2018.

• Rates are per room, per night, based on single/double occupancy and subject to availability at time of booking.
• A limited number of rooms may be available at these rates and additional restrictions and blackout dates apply.
• Offer is for individual leisure travel and not valid for guests staying on a negotiated group rate.
• Second room reservation must be under the same name as the first room and must have the same arrival and departure date.
• If one room is cancelled, the lower rated CONNECT room must be cancelled. The hotel reserves the right to correct any errors made by guest on cancelling the higher rated room.
• Basic room rates do not include additional per room per night charges that may be imposed or state/local taxes. The Resort Service Package is charged per room, per night. Please view all details here.
• Not responsible for typographical errors or omissions.
• Void where prohibited by law.
• Starwood reserves the right to discontinue this offer at any time.

Of course, it's also a good idea to see if other promotional rates offer a better deal.

 

[JerseyJanice]

@CarolinaBlue99

My answers to your questions:

1. You should certainly try catching the bus to MK. It’s about a 20 minute ride door to door, so if it looks like the bus isn’t running, you are within steps of a taxi. Mears taxis and towncars will be waiting for fares adjacent to the bus stop.

2. If you are at the Swan and wanting to walk to Epcot, stay to the right and go past the Boardwalk and over the bridge to get to the park. If you are at the Dolphin, then go left past the Yacht and Beach Clubs to get to the International Gateway.

 

[chris benton]

We are 38 days out from our first trip to the Swan (hooray!). You all have been so helpful over the past few months as I've navigated booking - thanks!

Now that we are so close, I have a few questions about transportation ...

1. We are doing Early Morning Magic at MK on Sunday and want to use the most efficient transportation to MK. Is that the buses (which supposedly start at 6:30 a.m., right?) since I think they drop off near the gates? Or should we plan on an Uber or Taxi even though I think they drop off at TTC?

I would hope you entertain the thought of using a taxi of some sort to the Contemp as well. From the Contemp, you could just walk to MK. The bus would be the BEST option, but if you wait for a bus, and it comes when it comes, and you are late to emm, don't be looking for some kind of reimbursement. I would take no chance on being late for emm. The price of a taxi or uber would be well worth the piece of mind, imo. I would not take any chance on being late for emm. Swolphin might still not have bus arrival boards for you, either, so you won't have any bus eta except for: "they usually come every 15 minutes, or so." Emm is an hour and 15 minutes of awesome, plus a few more minutes of awesome before the crowds start filtering in. I would not take any chance of being late.

 

[CyndiLouWho]

We are 38 days out from our first trip to the Swan (hooray!). You all have been so helpful over the past few months as I've navigated booking - thanks!

Now that we are so close, I have a few questions about transportation ...

1. We are doing Early Morning Magic at MK on Sunday and want to use the most efficient transportation to MK. Is that the buses (which supposedly start at 6:30 a.m., right?) since I think they drop off near the gates? Or should we plan on an Uber or Taxi even though I think they drop off at TTC?

2. Which is the most efficient route walking to Epcot - path along Beach Club or Boardwalk? (I've been studying Robo's very helpful maps).

I'm also sorting out grocery delivery, but seem to remember reading a post about that a few months ago and will try to find that before asking again. But I might be back for clarification on the options there ...

Thanks in advance!

36 days for us!
Buses may be running but I'd not be up for waiting for a bus that early. If you do use Uber/Lyft, they can drop you at the Contemporary Resort which is a quick walk if you want to avoid TTC.

 

[RLGNC]

We booked the dolphin for mid-June with our 17,14,6 year old and it never dawned on me to get two rooms :-/ do you mind me asking how much two rooms were and for how long? I’m a little worried about all 5 of us in one room . I wonder if I could change it with Costco.

Sure! Two resort-view rooms at the Dolphin was around $4300 for 6 nights. That includes 5 day tickets with park hopper. Is your original reservation with Costco? Hope this helps!

 

[Jen cook]

Sure! Two resort-view rooms at the Dolphin was around $4300 for 6 nights. That includes 5 day tickets with park hopper. Is your original reservation with Costco? Hope this helps!

Yes, thank you!!!

 

[shoreward]

Swolphin might still not have bus arrival boards for you, either

There are monitors mounted at the bus stops, which show continuously updated info on arrival times of the buses from each resort to the parks and Disney Springs. The monitors are not obvious; all I can say is look up.

 

[pepperandchips]

We are 38 days out from our first trip to the Swan (hooray!). You all have been so helpful over the past few months as I've navigated booking - thanks!

Now that we are so close, I have a few questions about transportation ...

1. We are doing Early Morning Magic at MK on Sunday and want to use the most efficient transportation to MK. Is that the buses (which supposedly start at 6:30 a.m., right?) since I think they drop off near the gates? Or should we plan on an Uber or Taxi even though I think they drop off at TTC?

2. Which is the most efficient route walking to Epcot - path along Beach Club or Boardwalk? (I've been studying Robo's very helpful maps).

I'm also sorting out grocery delivery, but seem to remember reading a post about that a few months ago and will try to find that before asking again. But I might be back for clarification on the options there ...

Thanks in advance!

I would hope you entertain the thought of using a taxi of some sort to the Contemp as well. From the Contemp, you could just walk to MK. The bus would be the BEST option, but if you wait for a bus, and it comes when it comes, and you are late to emm, don't be looking for some kind of reimbursement. I would take no chance on being late for emm. The price of a taxi or uber would be well worth the piece of mind, imo. I would not take any chance on being late for emm. Swolphin might still not have bus arrival boards for you, either, so you won't have any bus eta except for: "they usually come every 15 minutes, or so." Emm is an hour and 15 minutes of awesome, plus a few more minutes of awesome before the crowds start filtering in. I would not take any chance of being late.

@CarolinaBlue99 you've gotten some great advice, but just wanted to mention that when we were there two weekends ago, there was not a bus arrival time screen at the Swan. If we had somewhere to be I would say something like "Okay if the bus isn't here by 8:15 (or whatever time, obviously you'll be going super early), we're getting an Uber." The bus always beat my "ultimatum time" but at least at the Swan the bus stop is right by regular guest pick-up/drop-off so you have an easy alternative if you need to get there on time. And, as others have mentioned, I'd ask taxi or Uber/Lyft to drop me off at the Contemporary Resort, not the magic kingdom. You'll end up much closer to the gates walking from the contemporary.

 

[pepperandchips]

[QUOTE="chris benton, post: 58725381, member: 588411"Swolphin might still not have bus arrival boards for you, either, so you won't have any bus eta

There are monitors mounted at the bus stops, which show continuously updated info on arrival times of the buses from each resort to the parks and Disney Springs. The monitors are not obvious; all I can say is look up.[/QUOTE]

There was a mounted screen that was not functioning (off entirely) over MLK weekend at the Swan

 

[patty57]

There are monitors mounted at the bus stops, which show continuously updated info on arrival times of the buses from each resort to the parks and Disney Springs. The monitors are not obvious; all I can say is look up.

There was a mounted screen that was not functioning (off entirely) over MLK weekend at the Swan [/QUOTE]

It was definitely functioning when I was there Dec. 6-9. Maybe in need of some kind of repair?

 

[vicb]

Sure! Two resort-view rooms at the Dolphin was around $4300 for 6 nights. That includes 5 day tickets with park hopper. Is your original reservation with Costco? Hope this helps!

Yes, thank you!!!

Just to add my two cents... my family booked through Costco a five night stay at Dolphin, 2 resort view rooms with 5 day park hoppers for $3900. Definitely a big savings on the room rates over what we could get from Dolphin's website AND two of our nights were listed as sold out.

 

[Jen cook]

Just to add my two cents... my family booked through Costco a five night stay at Dolphin, 2 resort view rooms with 5 day park hoppers for $3900. Definitely a big savings on the room rates over what we could get from Dolphin's website AND two of our nights were listed as sold out.

Yeah, we are coming from the west coast and Husband wants to stay 10 Nights with 8 day one park passes. We paid for the 5 of us $4500. I’d rather stay less and have two rooms, but I don’t anticipate we will be in the room much. Thank you for sharing!!!!

 

[vicb]

Yeah, we are coming from the west coast and Husband wants to stay 10 Nights with 8 day one park passes. We paid for the 5 of us $4500. I’d rather stay less and have two rooms, but I don’t anticipate we will be in the room much. Thank you for sharing!!!!

We are a family of 4, my "kids" are a boy and girl who have been happy to share a room together when we family travel since they were high school age but not share with us since then! They are both in their early 20's now and still happy to travel as a family but readily say the key to that is having their own space.

When younger we would only get one room, we always stayed Poly, BC, or BWI but the first time we went with 2 rooms we downgraded to a mod resort (CSR). It is a nice resort but we really missed the Epcot area location. That is how we started staying at the Dolphin. And yes we do a shorter trip to save some on cost but also we find it is about what we all enjoy togetherness wise. The 2 rooms is so nice for having an extra bathroom too for getting ready in the morning or evening! In general the prices are so high now at Disney deluxe resorts I doubt we will stay there again, even if it was only one room! Even the prices at S/D are much higher now that when we first started staying there 6 years ago. Thus why we explored the Costco option.

If I were coming for 10 nights I might consider a split stay with part of the stay being at a mod or value resort to save $, but do that first then transfer to Dolphin. Anyway if you've already booked through Costco you are subject to their change/cancellation policy. I would call and inquire what your options might be. Good luck.

 

[Jen cook]

We are a family of 4, my "kids" are a boy and girl who have been happy to share a room together when we family travel since they were high school age but not share with us since then! They are both in their early 20's now and still happy to travel as a family but readily say the key to that is having their own space.

When younger we would only get one room, we always stayed Poly, BC, or BWI but the first time we went with 2 rooms we downgraded to a mod resort (CSR). It is a nice resort but we really missed the Epcot area location. That is how we started staying at the Dolphin. And yes we do a shorter trip to save some on cost but also we find it is about what we all enjoy togetherness wise. The 2 rooms is so nice for having an extra bathroom too for getting ready in the morning or evening! In general the prices are so high now at Disney deluxe resorts I doubt we will stay there again, even if it was only one room! Even the prices at S/D are much higher now that when we first started staying there 6 years ago. Thus why we explored the Costco option.

If I were coming for 10 nights I might consider a split stay with part of the stay being at a mod or value resort to save $, but do that first then transfer to Dolphin. Anyway if you've already booked through Costco you are subject to their change/cancellation policy. I would call and inquire what your options might be. Good luck.

Thanks for that advice. Unfortunately it’s a non refundable deal through Costco. We will make it work. The reason we decided on this vs. the value resort is i believe it was still cheaper to stay at the Dolphin than a “Disney” resort. When we cruise, we ALWAYS get two rooms so not sure why it wasn’t on my radar lol. I was surprised to see the WDW hours are 9-9 ish without magic morning/evening. Disneyland is 8-midnight in the summer. So I do t think there will be a reason to leave to “rest” we will see though!!!

 

[Dan Murphy]

I was surprised to see the WDW hours are 9-9 ish without magic morning/evening

Those hours will be changed as the months get closer to your time. They will be 'normal' by then. That's just the way they do them at WDW, release hours early and then change them.

 

[Jen cook]

Those hours will be changed as the months get closer to your time. They will be 'normal' by then. That's just the way they do them at WDW, release hours early and then change them.

Lol. Weird! Thanks for letting me know!!!

 

[Dan Murphy]

Lol. Weird! Thanks for letting me know!!!

Here are pretty much the final hours from last year, June, 2017. This source is from Disney travel agent site.

https://media.disneywebcontent.com/StaticFiles/ParkHours/WDW_TAC_2017Jun.pdf

 

[RLGNC]

Just to add my two cents... my family booked through Costco a five night stay at Dolphin, 2 resort view rooms with 5 day park hoppers for $3900. Definitely a big savings on the room rates over what we could get from Dolphin's website AND two of our nights were listed as sold out.

Yes we were able to get dates that were listed as unavailable as well!

 

[RLGNC]

Yeah, we are coming from the west coast and Husband wants to stay 10 Nights with 8 day one park passes. We paid for the 5 of us $4500. I’d rather stay less and have two rooms, but I don’t anticipate we will be in the room much. Thank you for sharing!!!!

10 nights sounds awesome! Have a great trip!

 

[RLGNC]

When younger we would only get one room, we always stayed Poly, BC, or BWI but the first time we went with 2 rooms we downgraded to a mod resort (CSR). It is a nice resort but we really missed the Epcot area location. That is how we started staying at the Dolphin. And yes we do a shorter trip to save some on cost but also we find it is about what we all enjoy togetherness wise. The 2 rooms is so nice for having an extra bathroom too for getting ready in the morning or evening! In general the prices are so high now at Disney deluxe resorts I doubt we will stay there again, even if it was only one room! Even the prices at S/D are much higher now that when we first started staying there 6 years ago. Thus why we explored the Costco option.

This will be our first trip with 2 rooms and I am eager to see how it goes. Our kids will be 18 and 14. Really looking forward to the 2 bathrooms!