why can you not get magical express service at swan and dolphin

Somebody correct me if I'm wrong - the Swan & Dolphin hotels are not Disney owned - they're just situated on Disney Property

CAPTAIN HOOK said:

Somebody correct me if I'm wrong - the Swan & Dolphin hotels are not Disney owned - they're just situated on Disney Property

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Thats what I always thought :veryconfu

CAPTAIN HOOK said:

Somebody correct me if I'm wrong - the Swan & Dolphin hotels are not Disney owned - they're just situated on Disney Property

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Correct. They are on disney prop, but NOT disney resorts. I believe that they weren't making enough money so Disney sold them. However I could be wrong on that fact however.

stof911 said:

i was doing mock serches on what resorts to stay at, and how much it would be and stuff like that. well i was looking on swan and dolphins offering and with every other resort it offered magical express, except for swan and dolphin. can anyone explain this to me

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Because they are owned by Sheraton and Westin respectively...

However, if you stay there, you do get most of the other standard disney park perks (complimentary transportation, early entry, free parking at the theme parks, etc.)

wdwprincess03 said:

Correct. They are on disney prop, but NOT disney resorts. I believe that they weren't making enough money so Disney sold them. However I could be wrong on that fact however.

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I don't think they've ever been owned by Disney. Anyone know for sure?

Timothy Q Mouse said:

I don't think they've ever been owned by Disney. Anyone know for sure?

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I belive this is the story...

They were built when Disney was trying a new idea about building resorts and leasing them to hotel companies. The resorts will eventually revert back to Disney but I think the lease runs out in 2099. The idea obviously didn't go as well as Disney had wanted and that is why they decided to continue to build and operate their own resorts.

To clarify...

The Walt Disney World Swan and the Walt Disney World Dolphin are owned by Starwood Hotels and Resorts with the Swan operated as a Westin Hotels & Resorts property and the Dolphin operated as a Sheraton Hotels & Resorts property. These two Resorts like the seven Downtown Disney Resort Area Hotels (Best Western Lake Buena Vista Resort Hotel, Doubletree Guest Suites, Grosvenor Resort, Holiday Inn in the Walt Disney World Resort, Hotel Royal Plaza, The Buena Vista Palace, The Hilton) and Shades of Green are Official Hotels of Walt Disney World.

The Swan and Dolphin were designed and build by Disney and leased to Starwood as a means to entice Business Travelers, Convention Groups and International Guests who wished to stay only at a worldly recognized hotel chain. These two resorts were never operated by Walt Disney World.

The 10 official hotels of the Walt Disney World Resort are located inside the Walt Disney Resort area and are required to maintain all Disney Standards in service and accommodations.

Disney's Magical Express and Resort Airline Check-in Service are an exclusive benefit of Guests staying at one of Disney's 22 owned and operated Resorts. As are the Magic Your Way Vacation Packages (MYW Package, MYW plus Dining, MYW Premium, and MYW Platinum.)

The Official Hotels however do have the option to offer their Guests (by means of a fee paid to WDW) select WDW benefits. Booking by means of the Disney Reservation Center is currently available to Guests at 8 of the Official Hotels (Grosvenor Resort and Shades of Green excluded.) The Extra Magic Hour Benefit is available to Guests of the Swan, Dolphin, Shades of Green Resort and at The Hilton. Disney provided Transportation Services are available at the Swan and Dolphin Hotels.

JP got it on the head.

We are a Westin here at the Swan, and a Sheraton at the Dolphin. One thing you will get here that you won't get anywhere else on Disney property is the Westin Heavenly Bed.

We do still however get all the benefits of any other Disney hotel in regards to EMH at the parks, complimentary transportation (and probably THE best location on Disney property).

I believe if I remember my reading of "Disney War" accurately, Disney was originally planning on working with existing hotel chains to expand their hotel offerings, which was when the Swan and Dolphin deal was worked out, but then shortly after signing that deal they realized they were throwing away a gold mine by not keeping it to themselves and didn't do any further deals. Plus they wanted the greater control over the theming of the hotels that doing it themselves would bring.

The reason the Swan and Dolphin are here at WDW is the same reason that most of Epcot and MGM are here. The owners of the Swan and Dolphin (Tishman Hotel Co) built this hotel along with building most of Epcot and MGM. In doing the construction for the parks, Disney in turn said they would allow them to build the two hotels.

Now, it was good for Disney in the fact that they are getting millions of dollars in rent revenue from the hotel, and it's also bringing in some EXCELLENT business for Disney as well.

As noted in a Disney Institute book "Be Our Guest," the Swan and the Dolphin have the highest occupancy rate in the world. Since they opened in 1990, they have maintained an average of 99% occupancy. (Not bad, eh?) So it turns out that it works great for both companies.

WDWScottieBoy said:

The reason the Swan and Dolphin are here at WDW is the same reason that most of Epcot and MGM are here. The owners of the Swan and Dolphin (Tishman Hotel Co) built this hotel along with building most of Epcot and MGM. In doing the construction for the parks, Disney in turn said they would allow them to build the two hotels.

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Tishman Construction Corporation and Tishman Hotel Corporation. Two seperate subsidiarys of the Tishman Company.

Another tidbit, Tishman also built:

• the twin towers of the World Trade Center,
• the John Hancock Center in Chicago,
• Boston's Convention and Exhibition Center
• Animal Kingdom.

unkadug said:

Tishman Construction Corporation and Tishman Hotel Corporation. Two seperate subsidiarys of the Tishman Company.

Another tidbit, Tishman also built:

• the twin towers of the World Trade Center,
• the John Hancock Center in Chicago,
• Boston's Convention and Exhibition Center
• Animal Kingdom.

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You are correct that they are two within the company, but either way, it was in agreement that if they build the parks, they get to build the hotel.

(And Mr. Tishman does come visit the hotel and check on the place along with checking the parks. He was actually just here recently as well looking at everything.)

WDWScottieBoy said:

As noted in a Disney Institute book "Be Our Guest," the Swan and the Dolphin have the highest occupancy rate in the world. Since they opened in 1990, they have maintained an average of 99% occupancy. (Not bad, eh?) So it turns out that it works great for both companies.

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That is really impressive. I had always been curious about that, because it seemed that they are always offering huge discounts from their rack rate. I had wondered if it was because they were lacking in people staying there. Maybe they are always so booked up because of these discounts:lol:

Thanks for the info!

72 days!