Sitting at the airport with a delayed flight, so thought I'd share our thoughts on our first stay at Swan.
First, just for some background; we've been going to Disney annually with a larger extended family with smaller ones in between for 15+ years, however this is the first time we've stayed at Swan. We've stayed at all levels of Disney resorts and Shades of Green once.
On this trip we had 3 rooms, with ages 7-68. We ended up getting the Swan for about the same as we could've gotten a Disney moderate. We are Marriot Elite members.
First off I cannot say enough good things about the staff at Swan. From the moment we checked in, until we retrieved our luggage to go home a few hrs. everyone we encountered (checkin, bell services, housekeeping, employees of Java) were awesome. It was how we feel "Disney" employees reputation is. Honestly I would say for the most part the employees at the Swan were better than most of the actual Disney employees we encountered. There was nothing wrong with the DIS employees, but the Swan staff was just awesome. I had put in a request about our rooms (asking ours to be connected to my moms) and my sisters to be close by. I also put in a request for a box fan. We arrived a day earlier than the rest of our group and when I checked in I inquired about the requests. They were great and told me everything was set and it was...box fan even already in the room. Daily housekeeping was wonderful. Unlike our experience at Disney ever...Swan seems to keep checking back and will automatically service your room without an additional requests even if you don't take the do not disturb sign doen until early evening. That was wonderful. Some days they lefy water, other days they did not, so I'm not sure what the actual policy is. Because we're members we got a voucher each day for breakfast, which was nice. Another example of their awesome employees... they were quick and efficient and would wrap our fruit cups in a separate bag to insert into our main bag in case it spilled etc. Such a small thing, but really helpful and even better that they just automatically did it every day without me having to ask. Beds were also very comfortable. We had a balcony, but I don't think we'd pay for it again. It's not covered and while I knew that, it just didn't register until we got there that we much prefer a covered balcony (Disney's are covered).
Cons: Food options were a bit limited, redundant and just not that great. We are usually only at our resort for quick meals, so we didn't try any of the sit downs (Garden Grove one morning, but we didn't really like the food there either.)
Biggest con though was the pool. The set up for us wasn't great and I don't feel there's enough seating for all 3 resorts t the main pool. - Not as much of an issue at the quiet one, but still not enough in our opinion. There are NO lifeguards which caught me by surprise. I think I just missed the "rules" lol and comfort of knowing there were ppl. actively looking for struggling ppl. Our first night I watched a dad jump in the pool fully clothed because one of his kids had drifted towards the middle which was deeper. I know there will be tons of ppl. saying it's their own fault etc and I get it and am myself not one to let my kids just go off on their own, but regardless I as a bystander don't want that added stress and anxiety. It's just something I never feel at a Disney resort because they have such conscientious lifeguards on duty.
The towels...omg for goodness sake grotto pool, no one wants to "sneak" into your crappy pool and if you're that concerned about it, build a gate with key card entry needed. This was the only place we ran into rude employees. The first couple times we used the main pool towels were just out (yes there are signs indicating you needed to show your room key - still ridiculous in our opinion,however our first 3 times at the pool there was no ome to show your room key to.) First time we went in the morning I go to grab towels after trying to secure somewhat decent seats fory kids and I and the lady says we have to show a room key. I told her I had it over with my stroller, but that the last few times I had been there towels were just out. She explained that if they happen to be "open" they require gueststo show their key. So I went back to the stroller to get my key in order to obtain towels.
Next day I make sure to have my key and ask the guy for 6 towels...he stops me and says, "so you have 6 ppl. in your party?" I said no, I have 3 with me today, but we'd like 2 towels each. He gave them to me, but my gosh why does it matter, just give me the stinking towels. All the while at the quiet pools they have larger unmanned towels for the taking. It's just a pet peeve of mine when ppl or a business is difficult only for the sake of being difficult. It was such an opposite experience from the staff inside the Swan building. I will say being able to order drinks/food from your seat was great though, although it wasn't working our last day.
Yesterday they had a DJ and wow was the music loud. We could not have a conversation. I'm not that old and generally appreciate some background music, but this was just sooo loud.
I know I sound like a grumpy old lady about the pool situation, but the rest of our stay was such great service and this was just not.
Transportation...being the last stop to and first stop off from DHS was great. Buses were ok...we mainly walked over and used Yacht Clubs. which for a large group was a parade/circus lol at times, but we knew this going in. We did miss the movies at night that Disney does (wr actually walked over to YC one night to watch part of theirs).
We also missed the pool activities.
Swan has smart tvs so if you're Disney bubble obsessed like me, you can easily stream the live youtube Disney resort tv in your room.
We were a little concerned about elevators as they've at times been slow and an issue at some of the Disney resorts we've stayed at, but we had no issues and they seemed to have the right amount for the number of rooms.
If I think of anything else I'll ome back, but it looks like we may finally be boarding