Just got back from a week at "the World," and stayed at the Swan for the first time. This was our 9th visit to WDW, and we've stayed at all of the Values, along with Caribbean Beach and Coronado Springs Resorts. We've always wanted to stay at an Epcot Resort, but just can't afford the $400 per night price tag. Then we found the Swan, and it was great! I got a AAA rate of $161 per night, and couldn't have been happier.
The Swan and Dolphin are both huge, but the Swan felt very comfortable and never crowded. The Grotto pool area was simply amazing. It's got to be one of the largest pools in all of Disney World, and with the 3 sections and 2 bridges, each area felt secluded from the others. The slide was fun, and the waterfall helped to keep the pool cool enough, despite the high temps. They also have 3 other pools, along with several hot tubs, so you can always find a place that isn't crowded.
The pool/ beach area was fun. On Saturday night, they had an outdoor movie at the pool. During the day, they had a DJ playing music, they had supervised volleyball games both in the pool and on the beach, and many more activities. It was hard to leave the pool area each day to head back to the parks!!!
We only ate twice at the Swan, and both were poolside lunches. We had lunch at the Splash Grille, and it was very good and affordable. But the best was our "picnic" lunch at the pool with food from Picabu in the Dolphin. I had a chicken salad sandwich and my wife had a tuna wrap with a salad. Our kids had burgers and hotdogs. All were good, and very affordable.
Dinners each night were either at a Boardwalk restaurant, or at Epcot. And that's the great advantage of staying at an Epcot resort. You can walk to some great restaurants!
Transportation is fair. Walking to Epcot (our favorite park) was easy, and the boat to DHS was quick enough. We had to take a bus to the MK and the AK. The busses were a little more crowded, though, because we shared with the Boardwalk Resort, the Dolphin, the Yacht Club, and the Beach Club Resorts. Our bus stop was at the entrance to the Swan, and it was fine, but the bus sharing was confusing. Some days we would share a bus only with the Boardwalk and the Dolphin. Other days, all 5 resorts would share, and it was standing-room only.
Other than the crowded busses (which we were able to manage), everything else was just about perfect. Check in and check out each only took 5 minutes. The Swan and Dolphin charge a resort fee of $10 per night, but you get a newspaper each day, 2 bottles of water, spa access, and internet access for that $10. I didn't like the idea at first, but after being there for a week, I really appreciated all of those amenities and feel that we certainly got our monies worth.
By staying at the Swan, we were also able to walk over to Fantasia Gardens for miniature golf. It was fun and challenging. We were able to see the tip of Everest at the AK from our room, and we were able to see the entire fireworks show from the MK. We could not see Illuminations from Epcot from our room, or Fantasmic at the DHS. But, we were able to see Illuminations each night from the Boardwalk.
The store at the Swan was classy, and had the same great Disney clothes, toys, food, and souvenirs as all of the other shops we went to. Both the Swan and Dolphin have arcades. The Dolphin has some other shops, but we didn't get a chance to go through them.
To sum it up, the Swan was by far the best Disney Resort we've stayed in, and we will certainly stay there again. The grounds are beautiful (just like at every Disney Resort), the staff was wonderful, the price was great, the Heavenly Beds were very comfortable, the room was nice, the pool was amazing, and being able to walk to Epcot was just tremendous.
If anyone is considering staying at the Dolphin or Swan, please feel free to ask me any questions.
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