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

[Dan Murphy]

So front entrance would be called the 3rd floor. But there is an escalator that goes down to boat level. Or elevator. Not sure why at that part it appears as 1 floor down, but i know that there was 2 floors of rooms below it and if I remember correctly Pikabu may have actually been down that additional level. Does that sound right?
Unless your going out the front door I don’t see how with a scooter you can avoid an elevator based on the fact that they appear to funnel everyone through elevators on that 3rd floor.
Does this sound right to Dan Murphy?

Well, I know Picabu is on the same level as the back entrance/exit that leads out to the boat dock/walkway. And the escalators take you up to the lobby level where the front door is. I have no idea if there is a floor between the lobby and the ground floor. I'm mostly a Swan guy and mostly use that ground floor at the Dolphin.

As far as I know there are no rooms on the ground floor, an elevator would be needed for a scooter to get to the ground floor. I have used a scooter and have taken the elevator which is down the hall from Picabu and taken it to the lobby floor. I don't even know if there are rooms off of the lobby floor. I know the Swan has no rooms on ground floor, which there is also the lobby level. Dolphin is too complicated for me, LOL.

 

[Nabas]

The nighttime view from a Swan balcony room, with Epcot's Spaceship Earth glowing in the distance:

 

[Nabas]

A Swan king balcony room. The sofa folds out enough to sleep 2 small children.

 

[Dan Murphy]

Dolphin escalator

Looking here, there is no room for a floor between the lower, ground level and the second floor, lobby level.

 

[Dan Murphy]

The nighttime view from a Swan balcony room, with Epcot's Spaceship Earth glowing in the distance:

View attachment 653593

I like that view, east wing, Boardwalk/Epcot view.

 

[Nabas]

I like that view, east wing, Boardwalk/Epcot view.

Here's some more from the Swan during the day:

 

[DJFan88]

Well, I know Picabu is on the same level as the back entrance/exit that leads out to the boat dock/walkway. And the escalators take you up to the lobby level where the front door is. I have no idea if there is a floor between the lobby and the ground floor. I'm mostly a Swan guy and mostly use that ground floor at the Dolphin.

As far as I know there are no rooms on the ground floor, an elevator would be needed for a scooter to get to the ground floor. I have used a scooter and have taken the elevator which is down the hall from Picabu and taken it to the lobby floor. I don't even know if there are rooms off of the lobby floor. I know the Swan has no rooms on ground floor, which there is also the lobby level. Dolphin is too complicated for me, LOL.

Thanks, yes it was weird, lol. So there are rooms off the lobby like to the left of the staircase that goes up to the 4th floor there is a hall. That’s where we stayed. But initially we had to take an elevator down to a lower floor 2. But you could not just skate out the back door since that we had to take an elevator down 1 more for. This was the wing on the right if your looking from Swan who’s rooms are facing the boat launch.

 

[Dan Murphy]

Thanks, yes it was weird, lol. So there are rooms off the lobby like to the left of the staircase that goes up to the 4th floor there is a hall. That’s where we stayed. But initially we had to take an elevator down to a lower floor 2. But you could not just skate out the back door since that we had to take an elevator down 1 more for. This was the wing on the right if your looking from Swan who’s rooms are facing the boat launch.

You are saying there are guest rooms on the lobby level?

 

[DJFan88]

You are saying there are guest rooms on the lobby level?

Yes

 

[Terp03]

What’s the best family breakfast option between the three?

Fresh Mediterranean at Swan
Garden Grove at Dolphin
Amare at Swan Reserve

 

[Poohlovr]

Yes

Unless there have been changes and/ or my memory''s failing, these are the rooms that have patios and they look out at the lake with the lap pool and playground across the lake. Is that correct?

 

[DJFan88]

Unless there have been changes and/ or my memory''s failing, these are the rooms that have patios and they look out at the lake with the lap pool and playground across the lake. Is that correct?

Ours was just a regular room. It had a great view of the boat launch. Basically they ended up giving us the same room they had originally given us, except up 1 floor.

 

[Goofy4]

I previously mentioned that transportation had been great... Well, they let us down last night at MK park closing. On the whole, still a good grade. They may have only been running one bus last night.

Also of note... Sometimes they run busses that aren't branded S/D, and they say "Chartered" or "Out of Service" in the window. You then have to ask or hear through the grapevine where they are headed. There must be a rule there about running non-branded buses.

And as mentioned, they drop at the TTC when going to MK. I believe Disney buses used to drop at the entrance.

 

[Meglen]

I previously mentioned that transportation had been great... Well, they let us down last night at MK park closing. On the whole, still a good grade. They may have only been running one bus last night.

Also of note... Sometimes they run busses that aren't branded S/D, and they say "Chartered" or "Out of Service" in the window. You then have to ask or hear through the grapevine where they are headed. There must be a rule there about running non-branded buses.

And as mentioned, they drop at the TTC when going to MK. I believe Disney buses used to drop at the entrance.

From mk, cant you just look for the lane that has a bus? Boardwalk,beachclub,yacht club. Rather than ttc > sd.

 

[maxiesmom]

One stay at the Dolphin we had a room that was on the main level. It was great! You could just walk out to the bus, no messing around with the elevator. If we stay at the Dolphin again (prefer the Swan) I would request that room location.

 

[AussieFan8]

You will have a view of swan or dolphin.

What do you need to book to get a view of Epcot or DHS? When I booked, there was not any type of theme park view option, only resort view.

 

[sghokie]

What do you need to book to get a view of Epcot or DHS? When I booked, there was not any type of theme park view option, only resort view.

If you book a resort view in the dolphin, it should face the lake, it may or may not be facing towards epcot. In the swan if you don't have a resort view, its likely to face Hollywood studios. You can ask when you check in what's available.

 

[Dan Murphy]

Yes

Unless there have been changes and/ or my memory''s failing, these are the rooms that have patios and they look out at the lake with the lap pool and playground across the lake. Is that correct?

One stay at the Dolphin we had a room that was on the main level. It was great! You could just walk out to the bus, no messing around with the elevator. If we stay at the Dolphin again (prefer the Swan) I would request that room location.

Is it possible that the first floor and lobby floor rooms are just in the four wings?



See Google Maps look here

 

[wishinon3stars]

Just got back last night from our week-long stay at the Dolphin. We had a great time. Very very busy.
We had added on a night at the beginning of our stay to make airline reservations work. When I had
added the night on, the same room category wasn't available so I had two reservations.
When we checked in, they were able to keep us in the same room for both reservations, which was a
king room with deluxe resort view.
We were in the east wing at the end of the hall with two balconies. It was a great room with wonderful views.

Room was clean with no issues.

They had asked us at check in if we wanted housekeeping every day. I declined it because it's just
two of us. We got housekeeping every day regardless, which was fine too. One day she was just
about to start our room when we got back mid-day so I just asked for towels and water. She took
our used towels and replenished with new and asked us how many bottles of water we would like and
gave us 4.

We walked to HS and Epcot. We took the bus to Animal Kingdom. Didn't have to wait going either way.
I think the drop off location at AK is better than the Disney busses.
We took the Disney bus to MK from the Boardwalk one morning for early hours. Line was long but they
had 4 busses all lined up going to MK. We also took the Disney bus back from MK to the Yacht/Beach Club.

One evening we took the S/D bus to the TTC as we were going to Citricos for dinner (delicious) and didn't have to wait then either. I will say when we rode the S/D busses they were not crowded. Only one other
family each time we rode them. Much more comfortable than the packed Disney busses.

Had a great time but glad to be home ❤

 

[jlundeen]

Do they have the same procedure for loading scooters on the S/D busses that they have on the Disney busses? I read one report of the driver not securing a scooter correctly - nothing terrible happened, but that would be scary.