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

[SteveH]

For those who've been recently, what's the status of the Alamo Car Rental Desk at the Dolphin? There is no mention of it on their new website. Does it look like it's just temporarily closed or does it look like it's gone for good?

 

[Stewa646]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1416045110417035267

Looks like the early AND late magic hours are now confirmed. Great news and makes me happy I don't have to bother staying anywhere else now!

 

[SteveH]

This is great, sounds like from another S/D group that the official announcement will come out tonight. I'm not reallly sure if Brooke Geiger McDonald is affilated with S/D or has a friend of a friend.

 

[Stewa646]

This is great, sounds like from another S/D group that the official announcement will come out tonight. I'm not reallly sure if Brooke Geiger McDonald is affilated with S/D or has a friend of a friend.

I suppose I should have prefaced it with not officially official, but basically official she's a magazine/newspaper writer that focuses on theme parks that I follow on Twitter(yes that's how I use Twitter, to follow theme park news writers lol) and saw it shared by a few other ones as well so figured that means it's as good as real as they usually don't post a confirmation without knowing it 100%

 

[scottishgirl1]

Do we think this includes Swan Reserve?

 

[Jhoyer5150]

Great development and the After Hours inclusion - should it be confirmed - would be a very nice additional perk. The Early Entry was the baseline expectation so the lack of inclusion on the initial Disney list was pretty shocking, and not in a good way. Perhaps some strong arm tactics on the part of Disney to release a partial list? Who knows, but glad Marriott appears to have sorted it out favorably for Swan/Dolphin guests.

 

[amalone1013]

VERY much an underrated factor in the decision

We bought a house last fall and we bought a Heavenly bed

 

[Turk February]

This is great news, especially the extended evening hours.

 

[Gitelfor]

Someone with inside knowledge advised that Swan & Dolphin and SoG have always had to go through extra negotiations to their contracts with Disney in situations like the current early/late park hours perks.

 

[AUDramaQueen]

I suppose I should have prefaced it with not officially official, but basically official she's a magazine/newspaper writer that focuses on theme parks that I follow on Twitter(yes that's how I use Twitter, to follow theme park news writers lol) and saw it shared by a few other ones as well so figured that means it's as good as real as they usually don't post a confirmation without knowing it 100%

The Swan and Dolphin Facebook page just confirmed!
"Starting in October, as part of “The World’s Most Magical Celebration,” guests of the Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin will be able to enjoy extra time to play every day in the Walt Disney World theme parks with early theme park entry and extended evening theme park hours. "

ETA link:

https://www.facebook.com/swananddolphin/posts/10158631620900749

 

[Turk February]

I’m curious to see how long the extended hours are. I’m assuming it’ll be more than 30 minutes since this is limited to deluxe resorts it’s marketed as a reason to pay more and stay deluxe.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Ok - this feels better than the random reports before!! This is very good, early entry was a must for us

 

[AUDramaQueen]

Do we think this includes Swan Reserve?

Swan Reserve confirmed too

https://www.facebook.com/swananddolphin/posts/10158631707605749

 

[onelove8187]

The extended hours certainly changes the calculus for swan & dolphin... I wonder if rates will reflect this added benefit of exclusivity... If only they were still SPG properties requiring 40k starpoints for 5 nights and a low $25 nightly resort fee.

 

[palmettostatemom]

This is awesome news for us as Husband & I are possibly going to a conference for his work 9/26-9/29 & were trying to decide if we'd stay extra days & do more park time. Never stayed at the Swan & Dolphin so are even more excited about the possible trip with this news!

 

[Stewa646]

The extended hours certainly changes the calculus for swan & dolphin... I wonder if rates will reflect this added benefit of exclusivity... If only they were still SPG properties requiring 40k starpoints for 5 nights and a low $25 nightly resort fee.

I'm curious too. Precovid even with the extra magic hours perks and fast passes selection etc the rates were usually quite a bit better then Disney deluxe. However I wonder if they will use the bringing back of these perks as a sneaky way to have rates more in line with those other hotels because people are just excited they came back at all

 

[loves to dive]

The 1/2 hour early morning wasn't a big deal for us, we aren't morning people, never do rope drop if we can avoid it. We do enjoy going in the late afternoon and into evenings. We used to take advantage of those late hours to knock out all our must dos then the days were just for going slow. I will say now that I'm older I'm more of an early morning person and don't stay up past 10. Still usually didn't do rope drop as I spend those early mornings being lazy. We will now have an infant included in our mix so I'm guessing we will be early morning, spend a few hours then back to the Dolphin, then a few hours early evening. The heat and the age of the baby (she will be 5 months old for our Sept. trip) are really going to make a difference. We have never been ride centric but also didn't mind spending the heat of the afternoon in the parks but with the little one, we will have to be more cautious with the heat. I'm guessing grandma is going to be doing a lot of babysitting (me).

 

[Gitelfor]

A potential guest posted that they booked at another resort, last week, after the "front desk" at the Swan or Dolphin advised that they will not be participating in the early/late park hours for guests of Disney and other 'select' resorts. There was the following reply, this morning, from a representative of the resorts:

Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin
The decision from Disney was made last night. We are sorry to hear that and hope to see you on your next visit.

 

[The13thLetter]

i wonder how are they going to handle this for the late night hours? how are they going to kick out the people not staying at participating resorts? i guess they had the same situation with kicking out non-resort guests, but this seems like even a bigger hassle.

 

[SteveH]

@The13thLetter my assumption is that they will do it just like after hours events, while they won't kick the others out they won't be able to ride the rides. You'll have your phone, key card or Magic Band scanned and that will allow or deny you entry to the ride.