Category — d. Where to Stay at Walt Disney World

I just updated my review of Disney’s Port Orleans Riverside Resort, based on my September stay (my ninth at Riverside since I started this site.)

The full review begins here, but most of the updates are in the amenities page, pools page, and especially in the review of the Alligator Bayou rooms.

The Alligator Bayou review has all new photos, many in focus!

The update review begins here,

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THE PIRATE ROOM REFURB AT CARIBBEAN BEACH

I had the chance to stay in the newly-refurbed Pirate rooms at Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort in mid-October–my third stay in a Pirate room, and eighth overall stay at Caribbean Beach, since I started this site.

There’s a complete photo tour of one of these refurbed Pirate rooms here, and I’ve also here and there updated the full review of Caribbean Beach that starts here.

This post is just mean to highlight some of what’s new in these Pirate rooms—and what’s not.

Caribbean Beach is a great resort, especially for families with kids. There are some issues, though. The overall design of the resort yields too many bus stops, and a couple of the villages—specifically Barbados and Trinidad South, where the Pirate rooms are located—are a bit far from the central services, dining and main pool.

Caribbean Beach also was the last of the Disney World moderates to have full sized beds in its standard rooms. But after its recent refurb, standard rooms now have queens, and many of them have a fifth sleeping spot from a Murphy bed as well.

The Pirate rooms, however, kept their full sized beds and four person capacity. Refurbs here focused on new mattresses and new surfaces.

A lot of this refurb was quite successful. For example, pre-refurb the rooms had a heavy nautical theme but a light Pirate theme.

The refurb did not add a ton of pirate stuff, but in fact the simple addition of skull and crossbones pillows to the beds successfully amps up the overall pirate feel.

In the prior version of the room, the carpet was themed as ship planks. This never made much sense, as the bed-ships thus had the appearance of sailing on a ship’s deck.

The new carpet is more abstract, and works much better as a place for the bed-ships. Combined with the (sort of) sky blue of the new wall color (see the images at the top of the post), the overall sense of seafaring is heightened.

The bath shifted from a tiled floor…

…to a plank floor, and nautical detailing—posts, deck beams and their knee supports—was added to the closet.

Also worth noting was the addition of more power points to both the bedside and mini-fridge “barrels.” The net increase is seven more traditional power outlets and four USB charging outlets.

Overall, this is a minor but successful refurb.

However, the Pirate rooms are still distant and inconvenient, still have full beds, still sleep four rather than five, and are still a fair bit more expensive than more convenient standard Caribbean Beach rooms. (Most 2016 price seasons they are $50-$85 more per night than standard rooms.) So it’s pretty hard for me to recommend them for first time family visitors.

In addition to the room refurb, I saw another new thing at Trinidad South—a food truck.

The food truck menu (as always on this site, click it to enlarge it).

This food truck—if it sticks around—would go a long way to moderating one of the issues with the Pirate rooms—their distance from the dining venues at Old Port Royale.

The ESPN theming of the truck doesn’t help the overall piratical ambiance (unless it makes you think of the piratical price of your cable bill), and you won’t want to take every meal here—but having an option that doesn’t require a walk or bus or car ride does really increase the livability of Trinidad South.

For more on the Pirate rooms, see this.

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For the first page of this review of the Disney World Swan and Dolphin, see this.

STANDARD ROOMS AT THE SWAN

The Disney World Swan completed a room refurbishment in 2016. This photo tour is of one of these refurbed rooms.

Some Swan rooms have balconies, but most don’t.  The floor plan and tour is of a room without balconies. It happens to be of a corner room, so has two windows. Most have just one window, at the end.

Most hotel rooms have at the entry a closet on one side and the bath on the other.  Swan rooms have everything on one side of the entry.

Thus, outside of the full bath there’s a sink on one side…

…and a closet on the other. Although there’s not a lot of width to this closet, the extra hanging rods on the right make great use of the available space.

Beyond these is a full bath, with another sink on one side…

…and the tub/shower combo on the other.

Deeper in the room on one side you’ll find two queen beds.

The bed side from the back of the room.

A closer shot of a bed.

Between them is a bedside table with some storage shelves…

…and next to them, a little cramped, is an easy chair.

The TV side of the room has a dresser/mini-fridge thingy, and a table that can serve as a desk and chair towards the back..

The TV side from the back of the room.

A closer view of the dresser thingy.

Part of the dresser thingy holds the mini-fridge…

…the rest is four large drawers.

With the four good-sized drawers and the well-structured closet, there’s plenty of storage here for the four people these rooms will hold.

Here’s a closer view of the desk/table and its chair.  Note that the table is on wheels.

As noted earlier in this review, most Swan rooms do not have have balconies, and very few have the two windows my room had.  Most rather have just large one large window and no balcony.

As we’ll see in a minute, the core differences between Swan and Dolphin standard rooms are:

• Swan: queen beds. Dolphin: full beds
• Swan: two sinks. Dolphin: one sink

The two sinks and queen beds make the Swan rooms a better choice for almost all.

PHOTO TOUR OF A STANDARD ROOM AT THE DISNEY WORLD DOLPHIN

This review continues here. 

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PIRATE ROOM REFURB UPDATE

I’ll have more to say next month, after my stay then in one of the refurbed Pirate rooms in Trinidad South at Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort, but here’s what I know–or think I know–now, after a walk-around yesterday and some chats with cast members today.

Buildings 38 and 39 are under construction now.  This I saw with my own eyes.

From my walk-about, buildings 34 to 37 seemed to me to have completed their refurbs, other than some exterior touch up painting. This was confirmed by a cast member at the Customs House this morning.

The refurb is pretty light. What I saw was new paint and a new rug. (And yes, I do feel a little bad for being such a snoop.  The room is in building 34.  I’ll have full photos from my own room after the October visit.)

The rooms seem to have retained their full beds.  A cast member from this morning: “We replaced the mattresses, with new, softer ones. But they are still full beds.”

OK, that’s it for now.  More in October!!

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For the first page of this review of the Disney World Swan and Dolphin, see this.

REVIEW: THE POOLS AT THE DISNEY WORLD SWAN AND DOLPHIN

The sister resorts Swan and Dolphin share all amenities, including a band of pools that sweep along a beach and connect the two resorts.

While no single pool in this collection is stellar, as a suite they offer pretty much anything any guest would want of a pool.

Moreover, the sweep of pool after pool after pool after beach after pool is quite compelling–making this overall the third best pool complex at Walt Disney World (Four Seasons is first, then the pools shared by the Yacht Club and Beach Club).

There’s five pools here and a beach with an extensive play area. On the map below, they are not all labeled, but are at center right, connecting the two resorts in a curve around a small lake.

Starting with the pool closest to the Swan, and working our way around…

The lap pool nearest the Swan has no particular kid appeal, but is a fine spot for adults to sunbathe.

It has a small bar with seasonal hours…

…and a hot tub.

At one side is the Swan gym, which is also where you will find towels.

Next begins a beach that stretches all the way to the Dolphin.

It includes a playground (note at the right edge the hammocks)…

…volleyball net…

…and rentable Swan boats.

In the evening you can make s’mores here.

Night at the beach.

Next is the Grotto pool.  This serves as the main family pool, and bridges divide it into three visually distinct areas.

The area closest to the Swan…

…the middle, with a “grotto” and waterfall…

…and water slide.

And the end closest to the Dolphin.

The Grotto pool at night.

There’s several hot tubs near the Grotto pool–images of two of them are below:

At the Dolphin side of the Grotto pool is a small gift and pool toy shop, where you’ll also find the pool towels.

Beyond the Grotto pool is the semi-circular Spring pool.

The Spring pool at night.

Near it there’s a splash pool for little ones.

Finally, there’s another lap-style pool close to the Dolphin.

Here you’ll also find a substantial pool bar and grille, the Cabana Bar and Beach Club.

A closer shot of the bar.

No individual pool here except the Grotto pool is spectacular…but the sweep of pool, beach, pool, pool, pool, pool, along with all the other amenities, is really something!!

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For the first page of this review of the Disney World Swan and Dolphin, see this.

The Disney World Swan and Dolphin share all amenities except parking lots (vast, a hike), lobby check in (each has its own lobby), and bus stops (in each case, outside the lobby to the left).

The Swan lobby, on its first floor, is small and decorous.

The third floor Dolphin lobby is more grand.

Each lobby floor has gift shops–one good-sized one at the Swan (above) and several varied shops at the Dolphin (below).

There’s also a lot of snack-type items available in Picabu, the 24-hour quick service located on the first floor of the Dolphin, by the registers.

Some of the Picabu stock.

Each also has a lobby coffee bar…

…and a gym–the one at the Dolphin is above. Both are by the pools.

The Dolphin offers the well-regarded Mandara Spa…

…and also child care in Camp Dolphin.

There’s a boat dock between the two main buildings with boats that go to Disney’s Hollywood Studios, Epcot, and the Disney-owned Epcot resorts.

You can also walk to either park. To get to the paths, head toward the BoardWalk. (You should also check out the BoardWalk itself, which can be fun.)

Buses serve Disney Springs, the water parks, and the Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom theme parks. The bus stops are outside the lobbies on the left.

These hotels are the only ones at Disney World within walking distance of a mini-golf offering.

DINING AT THE SWAN AND DOLPHIN

Counting some seasonal and pool offerings, there’s a dozen dining venues at the Swan and Dolphin.  Leading the pack for adults are three fine dining experiences, each overpriced and aimed a little too sharply (in expense-account pricing and ambiance) at conventioneers.

Because the walkway between the Swan and Dolphin is just 600 feet, I group them here by type, rather than by hotel.

Unless you are committed to steak or sushi, Todd English’s bluezoo (Dolphin) will likely be the best choice.  Seafood-focused but also with fine beef, bluezoo has a great setting but is quite expensive, and is the place you’re most likely to find a tech conventioneer.

Kimonos (Swan) is a gentle and delightful sushi venue until 9p, when the conventioneers begin belting out karaoke, and is where you’re most likely to find a a pharmaceutical sales rep from a sales meeting.

Shula’s Steakhouse (Dolphin), menu above, entry below, is one of the three or four best steakhouses on property, and is where you’re most likely to find a UAW conventioneer.

Two more table-service restaurants are more family friendly:

Garden Grove (Swan) serves traditional family foods for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and has Disney characters at dinner and at weekend breakfasts. Not worth a special trip, but its dinners are worth a visit if your family is staying here

Il Mulino New York Trattoria (Swan) offers upscale causal Italian cuisine.

More casual options, all at the Dolphin, include the Fountain (above) (salads/ burgers/ sandwiches/ ice cream), Fresh Mediterranean Market (seasonal hours; more healthy options) and Picabu (below), a 24-hour counter-service offering.

There’s even more offerings (some with seasonal hours) near the marvelous Swan and Dolphin pools.

THE POOLS AT THE DISNEY WORLD SWAN AND DOLPHIN

This review continues here!

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