Category — d. Where to Stay at Walt Disney World

Earlier this month–I was on vacation, so got behind–the latest edition of WDW Magazine came out.

This month, the mag focuses on the Magic Kingdom area resorts–the monorail resorts

• Polynesian Village and its Villas and Bungalows
• Contemporary and Bay Lake Tower, and
• Grand Floridian and Villas at the Grand Floridian

and also the Wilderness Lodge and its Villas (soon undergoing refurb, see this), and the Cabins and Campsites at Fort Wilderness.

Editor Carl Trent has this to say about this month’s edition:

“I don’t think there is a more diverse group of hotels anywhere than you’ll find around the Magic Kingdom. You have everything from a luxurious Spa and Resort to camping in tents, all within a short boat ride to the Most Magical Place on Earth.

I think you’re going to love our tour of the Magic Kingdom Area Hotels.”

The magazine is available on iTunes, for Android, and on the web.

I’ve got a couple of things in this month’s magazine.

• I write the “Helping Hands” column for first timers, and this month’s column focuses on comparing the Magic Kingdom area resorts on various key features–themes, pools, room quality, dining, etc. I’ve stayed in each–and each major room option within them–multiple times, with more than 30 rooms stays across these five resorts and their villas. So you can trust this overview…
• I also did the article on the Polynesian, which is my top-recommended resort for first timers, despite some continuing construction. As a bonus, this article is based on the review of the Poly in the Disney World guide book that Josh of easyWDW and I co-wrote, so you can use it as a test of whether or not you’d find the book helpful!

Curious?  Of course you are! Check WDW Magazine out.

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Construction is expected to kick off at the Wilderness Lodge and Villas in late October of this year and extend (at least) through next year.

The largest impact will be on the Villas, but around 20% of rooms at the Wilderness Lodge itself may see diminished views, and noise from construction might affect all rooms at both.

Wilderness Lodge guests who book courtyard-view rooms should largely be isolated from view issues. Villa guests who avoid Bay Lake views will be better off than those who don’t–but since these rooms are not directly bookable as such, Villas guests will be facing more of a challenge.

CONSTRUCTION AT THE WILDERNESS LODGE

Most construction is between the southeast edge of the Wilderness Lodge and the northwest side of the Villas, with another smaller area affected at the northwest side of the Lodge.

See the map (click it to enlarge it), where using my sophisticated image skills I’ve put blue boxes in the affected areas.

On the map, the Lodge has the green roof, and the Villas the red roof.

Major construction will include (it seems) removing and re-doing the smaller pool outside of the Villas (the main pool in the middle of the Lodge wings was updated in 2014 and will remain open), adding a restaurant between the Villas and the beach, and adding bungalows along the shores.

As a result, the small pool, beach, boat rentals and playground on this side will be closed.

Main Lodge guests who book courtyard views will largely escape the construction.  It will be a lot harder for Villas guests to avoid, as while one can request a “woods” view at the Villas that might avoid the construction, this is not a separately bookable category.

So despite the panic out there on the internet, any first-time visitors who can afford the upcharges of the Courtyard views (about $100/night, depending on the year and season) should not much worry about this construction.

Villas guest will have a harder time.

About half of rooms will have views dominated by construction, so it will be much harder to avoid.

I’d advise avoiding the Villas at the Wilderness Lodge at least until we all have a better sense of how these rooms feel.

Many Villas guests are already re-booking, some with some pretty nice arrangements–see this thread on co-author Josh‘s site.

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

STANDARD ROOMS AT THE DOLPHIN

Standard rooms at the Dolphin sleep four in two full beds. At the Dolphin (but not at the Swan), you can book 5 and get (for $25 a night more) a roll-away bed for the fifth. I haven’t done this, but think with the rollaway set up the room would be mighty cramped.

These rooms are being refurbed, but will still have full beds after the refurb. This photo tour is of an un-refurbed room. A photo tour of a refurbed Dolphin room is here.

The room layout is traditional with a bath on one side of the entry and a closet on the other.

The closet is large but not as engineered for capacity as are those in Swan rooms.

Next to the closet is a small station with a coffee service on top…

…and a mini-fridge below.

Next to the mini-fridge are storage shelves.

The divided bath has an angled sink and vanity area…

…then in their own space a toilet and tub/shower combo.

Deeper in the room the bed side offers two full beds.

Here’s the beds from the back.

A closer view of one of the full beds.

Between them is a small bedside table.

Also on this side is an easy chair and small table.

The other side of the room is dominated by a dresser/desk thingy.

The thingy from the other side.

Note at the bottom right of the photo an unusual but quite sensible fix to the common problem today of not enough power power points to charge all the things we carry…

…a power strip!

Here’s three of the eight drawers you will find in the thingy.

Dolphin rooms have a variety of views, and most don’t have balconies.

Our room overlooked the Swan and the walkway between the Swan and Dolphin, and while we couldn’t see Illuminations, we did note that the walkway had a color light show going on during Illuminations—see the next three photos!

PHOTO TOUR OF A REFURBED ROOM AT THE DISNEY WORLD DOLPHIN

This review continues here.

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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

Rooms at the Disney World Swan are being refurbed, and this photo tour is of one of the non-refurbed rooms. Refurbed rooms have a similar layout, except for having a separate dresser and desk table, and have different colors and soft goods.

Some Swan rooms have balconies, but most don’t.  The floor plan and tour is of a room without balconies.

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 (note the one-cup coffeemaker at the left edge)…

…and a closet on the other. Although there’s not a lot of width to this closet, the extra hanging rods on the left make great use of the available space, unless you really have a lot of ball gowns.

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…

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

The TV side of the room is dominated by a long dresser/desk/mini-fridge thingy.

The thingy from the back of the room.

Part of the thingy holds the mini-fridge.

The rest is mostly drawers–two units like the one shown above, with a total of four drawers…

…but also a bit of shelves.

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

As noted earlier in this review, most Swan rooms do not have have balconies, rather having just large windows.

Our view in this room was of the BoardWalk Villas.

I could see a bit of IllumiNations at night, although the absence of a balcony made this a bit of a strain.

Refurbed rooms have almost all of the positives of the un-refurbed rooms, but are less garish and have a more flexible desk/table arrangement.

PHOTO TOUR OF A REFURBED STANDARD ROOM AT THE DISNEY WORLD SWAN

This review continues here. 

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OVERVIEW: THE DISNEY WORLD SWAN AND DOLPHIN FOR FIRST TIME VISITORS

Note: guests staying at the Swan, Dolphin, and Swan Reserve are eligible for Disney World’s Early Entry program and for its Extended Evening Hours. They are also eligible for early access to Disney’s paid system for individual access to certain rides.

The Disney World Swan and Disney World Dolphin, like Shades of Green and the Four Seasons, are non-Disney hotels located in the heart of Disney World.

These two adjacent Epcot resorts, connected by a covered walkway, were intended for the convention business, built by Tishman after a billion-dollar lawsuit, and designed by Michael Graves among toaster dreams.

Currently managed by sister Starwood flags Westin and Sheraton respectively, but after the Starwood merger Marriott properties, the 758 room Swan and 1,509 room Dolphin feature a great location for an Epcot-centered trip, great dining for adults and so-so dining for kids, a strong pool complex, adequate rooms, so-so convenience, interesting interior spaces, garish exteriors, and weak kid appeal.

Compared to the other Epcot resorts–the Beach Club and Villas, the Yacht Club, and the BoardWalk Inn and Villas–prices are usually quite nice, even after you pay for a resort fee–which the Disney resorts do not charge.

The Swan and Dolphin share more Disney hotel perks than the Four Seasons, most importantly eligibility for Disney World’s Early Entry program and for its Extended Evening Hours.  They are excluded from the Disney Dining Plan and have converted to their own transport system–Disney buses used to serve them.

I rank resorts on this site for first time family visitors who may never return first based on visual kid appeal, and second on convenience for a trip focused primarily on the Magic Kingdom and secondarily on Epcot. My views on the Swan and Dolphin come from my four stays here, most recently in January 2017.

None of the Epcot resorts have strong visual kid appeal compared to the best alternatives, and none is particularly convenient to the Magic Kingdom. Among the Epcot resorts, the Swan and Dolphin are particularly weak on visual kid appeal, and no more (or less) convenient to the Magic Kingdom.

Standard rooms are in general weaker than those at the Disney Epcot resorts, particularly at the Dolphin, which offers full beds.

However, for a trip more focused on Epcot–or one aimed at deluxe-ish accommodations at lower prices–the Swan and Dolphin, and particularly the Swan with its queen beds, are well worth considering.  Having  access to Early Entry and Extended Evening Hours makes them distinctive among the non-Disney resorts, and while they are less convenient to Epcot than the Disney Epcot resorts, the difference is not huge.

There’s no great source of price info for rooms at these, but prices–traditionally quite low compared to the nearby Disney deluxes–seem to have gone up since the Marriott merger, but are still below Disney levels. There’s a broader range of discounts possibly available (e.g. for teachers) than you’ll find at the Disney-owned resorts.

This page presents an overview of the Swan and Dolphin.  The full review contains the following pages:

• Overview of the Swan and Dolphin (this page)
• Photo Tour of an Swan Room
• Photo Tour of a Dolphin Room
• Amenities and Dining at the Swan and Dolphin
• The Pools at the Swan and Dolphin

OVERALL LOOK AND FEEL OF THE SWAN AND DOLPHIN

The Swan and Dolphin were designed to serve massive conventions while at the same time to look very distinctive and entertaining.

Here’s what Jim Korkis says in our book, The easy Guide to Your First Walt Disney World Visit:

There’s more from Jim on Graves and the Swan and Dolphin here.

The hotels certainly ended up looking quite different.

The Swan has the proportions of a stretched toaster, with swans on top…

…and the Dolphin has odd-looking dolphins on the sides, peaking to a pyramid. (The highest floors of the pyramid are just for show–they are shelled, and don’t have rooms.)

The public spaces inside are much more broadly appealing.  The Swan has a number of warmly-detailed and inviting spaces, including some nice private-feeling exterior courtyards that I failed to photograph adequately even by my low standards.

Here’s some other shots of the interior of the Swan:

Note the starry sky in the second shot.

The Dolphin public spaces are larger, grander, and frankly, a little harder to navigate, spread as they are over the first and third floors.

In sum, there’s a lot of exterior design that will strike adults as either playful or silly, but that comes across to kids as monumental rather than welcoming. The interior spaces have their charms, but there’s nothing about them that shouts “Disney World.”  You could be anywhere.

ACCOMMODATIONS AT THE DISNEY WORLD SWAN AND DOLPHIN

Standard rooms at the Swan and Dolphin are similarly-sized (the bedroom area dimensions are almost identical) but have key amenity differences that in almost every case will push family visitors towards the Swan.

Dolphin rooms, at ~360 square feet, are about 20 square feet larger than Swan rooms. Most of the difference comes from 8 inches of extra width, which is not material to the livability of the space. Dolphin rooms completed a refurb in 2017.

The bedroom space at both the Dolphin and the Swan is comparable to that at the smallest Disney deluxe resort rooms–the Wilderness and Animal Kingdom Lodges–and is smaller than that at the Disney moderates.

Like the Disney values, the Dolphin rooms have just one sink, and like most of the Disney values, Dolphin rooms have full beds.

Swan rooms completed a refurb in 2016, and are better than Dolphin rooms for most families, as they have two sinks instead of one, and queen beds instead of full beds.

Refurbed Swan rooms (above) have the same basic amenities as before the refurb–the main difference is look and feel, and the separation of the long desk/dresser/mini fridge thingy into a separate desk/table and mini-fridge/dresser thingy.

Most rooms at the Swan and Dolphin don’t have balconies.

Each hotel is designed with a predominant long wing and some shorter wings off of it. Long wing rooms don’t have balconies, but most short wing rooms do.

The upshot is a cleaner facade for such key elements as painted waves, but diminished livability for those without balconies.

In addition to the plethora of suites you’d expect at a convention hotel, there’s a bewildering variety of room classes you can buy, all with the same basic layout as the other standard rooms in the respective hotel.

The basic Swan room, refurbed:

The basic refurbed Dolphin room:

The whole view thing is pretty complicated. Moreover, the absence of balconies from so many rooms at both the Swan and Dolphin makes some views frankly worth a lot less.  If you have your heart set on optimizing a particular view, go ask on Dan Murphy’s Swan and Dolphin thread on disboards.com.

There’s detailed photo tours of Swan rooms and of Dolphin rooms later in this review.

THE POOLS AT THE DISNEY WORLD SWAN AND DOLPHIN

There’s more on the pools later in this review, but the key point is that the Swan and Dolphin share the third best pool complex at Walt Disney World (the best is the pools at Four Seasons, and second the pools shared by the Yacht and Beach Club).

What makes this pool complex special is not so much the merits of the individual pools–though the Grotto pool, artsy evening shot above, is pretty cool–but rather the sweep of pool after pool after pool. As Hegel or Marx or Lenin or Stalin or somebody once said, quantity has a quality all its own.

See the map, where the pools and beaches available to Swan and Dolphin guests are in the left center (as always on this site, click it to enlarge it).

DINING AT THE DISNEY WORLD SWAN AND DOLPHIN

Perhaps because of the expense account crowd at conventions, you’ll find a wider variety of strong dining options–especially for adults–at the Swan and Dolphin than at any single other area at Walt Disney World except among the Magic Kingdom resorts and at Disney Springs.

Highlights for adults include Todd English’s bluezoo, Shula’s Steak House, and Kimonos.

While kid-appealing dining is rarer and weaker, there is (in Garden Grove) a character meal (characters only at dinner, except Saturday/Sunday where they also appear at breakfast), and, rare at Disney World, there’s a counter service offering open 24 hours, Picabu in the Dolphin.

There’s more on dining at the Swan and Dolphin later in this review.

PARK TRANSPORTATION FROM THE DISNEY WORLD SWAN AND DOLPHIN

The Swan and Dolphin used to be fully integrated into the Epcot resorts’ bus transportation system, but now have their own transportation. I have not yet tried the new bus system here since the changeover.

Epcot and Disney’s Hollywood Studios are served both by boat and by walking paths.

The boat dock is between the two resorts, and the route is Studios->Swan and Dolphin->Yacht and Beach Club->BoardWalk Inn->Epcot and then back again in reverse. The walking path is over the bridge to the BoardWalk.

Whether walking or taking the boat, it takes longer to get to Epcot than from Disney’s own Epcot resorts.

The Studios are closer by boat than that park is from Disney’s own resorts, and a shorter walk than from any Disney Epcot resort except the Boardwalk Villas.

Buses serve other Disney World destinations–the Animal Kingdom, Magic Kingdom, the water parks, and Downtown Disney. There’s a bus stop at each of the Swan and Dolphin.

OVERALL TAKE ON THE DISNEY WORLD SWAN AND DOLPHIN

For an Epcot-centered trip where Disney theming, Disney’s Magical Express, and balconies don’t matter as much as the lower prices here do, the Swan can be a great choice. The Dolphin, with its full beds and only one sink, will be a less good choice for most families.

However, for first timers on a Magic Kingdom-centered trip looking for deluxe accommodations, I can’t recommend either.  Too little kid appeal, and too little convenience.  If you need a deluxe for such a trip but don’t want to pay the premium for a monorail resort, pick the Wilderness Lodge instead.

PHOTO TOUR OF A STANDARD ROOM AT THE DISNEY WORLD SWAN

This review continues here.

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For the  first page of this review of Disney’s All-Star Sports Resort, click here.

THE POOLS AT DISNEY’S ALL-STAR SPORTS RESORT

Each of Disney’s All-Star Resorts has two pools. There’s a larger one between two accommodations buildings just outside of the central lobby/dining/shops area, and a smaller one back in a different area.

At All-Star Sports, the larger main pool is between the Surf’s Up buildings. Here you’ll also find pool games played with Disney cast members, and evening movies.

The smaller one–but not that small–is over between the Homerun Hotel buildings, and is themed as a baseball infield, with  Goofy on the pitcher’s mound.

The larger Surfboard Bay pool:

From another angle:

Movies show here many nights. Each of the All-Stars has a different movie schedule, so also check out what is playing at All-Star Music–a short walk away.

Nearby is a kid’s play pool.

The play pool at night.

There’s also pool-side ping pong tables. A little away from the pool is a playground.

Between the pool area and the food court (and serving both) you’ll find this bar.

Deeper in the resort in the Homerun Hotel area is the Grand Slam pool, themed as a baseball infield with Goofy on the pitcher’s mound.

Another view of the Grand Slam pool. The “bases” are raised to just a few inches below the water level. This makes them one of the best places to sunbathe in all of Walt Disney World!

The Grand Slam pool at night

None of the pools at Disney’s value resorts have slides, and they also sometimes don’t provide towels–you are to bring your towels from your room. (Call housekeeping if you need more.)

MATERIAL IN THIS REVIEW OF DISNEY’S ALL-STAR SPORTS RESORT

• Disney’s All-Star Sports Resort overview and summary
• Accommodations and theming at All-Star Sports
• A photo tour of a standard room at All-Star Sports
• Amenities at All-Star Sports
• The pools at All-Star Sports

OTHER KEY PAGES FOR WHERE TO STAY AT DISNEY WORLD

• Where to stay–the Basics
• Where first-timers should stay
• Reviews of all the Disney World resorts, based on my 150+ stays in them

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