TravisMT81

Is it still waived for Platinum at least?

Sam P. Goodman

It was at the Swan as recently as 1 month ago so I would assume so.

Anaom

I was there this week and confirm it was waived as a platinum.

-A

Rene23

I have a 3 night (Fri-Mon) stay coming up this month at the Dolphin on P&C. While I am looking forward to our stay, after reading several reviews, I decided I'd rather stay at the Swan. The bigger beds (there are 3 adults in our party), and the fact that it's done, or mostly done, with refurbishing made it sound more appealing at this time.

So, of course, the first night of our stay isn't available for P&C, or cash only, at the Swan. Disappointing but not a huge deal. I'm sure the Dolphin will be fine but I'm wondering if anyone knows how far along the refurbishing is in the Dolphin? Also, is requesting a refurbished room a reasonable thing if I only have Gold status?

Anaom

You can ask but it'll be a crap shoot. They housekeeping is horrible at the swan and dolphin. Our last stay our room wasn't cleaned until after 5PM twice at the swan. So if you wait for a refurbished room at the dolphin, it could be a while. Just better off to grab the first avail since you are only there for one night.


I have been in your situation three times and they have moved us to the swan for our entire stay twice. YMMV depending on availability. Make sure you ask though when you check in.

-A

cdancer20

Can someone who stayed here recently tell me the exact amount they paid for parking? Trying to budget and $18+taxes doesn't help. I called and the person on the phone didn't know the exact amount. TIA

Anaom

I recently stayed over the Christmas holiday and self parking was 18 + 1.17 in tax for 19.17 total.

- A

cdancer20

Thanks you so much! The person on the phone said $19 something but she didn't know for sure. This answers that.

controller1

And I thought I prepared tight budgets!!

cdancer20

LOL. I am trying to determine how much it would cost to MS the entire trip.

sam_goh

Better not worry about $1. It just cost us $881 for 2 days of admission tickets to Disney Magic Kingdom for this coming weekend

cdancer20

LOL. That sucks for you. I'm a Florida resident so get to take advantage of those discounts. I've never paid that much for Disney tickets and that includes getting a resident season pass. Note there are only 2 of us.

cdancer20

Honestly, it was because I thought it was $20 after taxes. The resort fee and room rate have two taxes that get set which would make parking $20. But the agent didn't sound convinced enough of the price. I told a couple of friends that I would pay rooms for them on points and that the final price would be about $160/night. I was using the parking fee to determine how much I could charge them to get right to $160. $109 vs $110/night is worth it for my efforts.

cdancer20

Another parking question - How do they keep track of if you are parking in the lot as a hotel resident or a guest? Is there something that you display in your window that lets you come/go? Or do you insert your room key to get out of the gate? Is there an attendant working the kiosk?

sam_goh

Quick review of the Dolphin from our stay over President's day weekend. We had two back-to-back reservations - one cash and points and one full points stay.

Checkin:
Reservations weren't linked, the second night was upgraded to a junior suite (SPG Gold) the first was not. The check-in staff told us that to avoid moving, taking a "downgrade" to a regular room was our best option. Sad to do so, but we did.

Paid for self-parking, key card kept giving a "room not found" error message. Eventually had to user the buzzer, and they said take a ticket and fix at front desk. Went to front desk, and same check-in staff said "oh yeah it happens all the time, just use the buzzer and valet will let you in and out".

Room was somewhat dated, sink drained really slow, and for a family of 4 only 1 bottle conditioner and shampoo. But we slept well even though we had to rig the blinds the first night. Second night however was a complete fiasco. We stayed 13 hours at Disney and got back around midnight. After kids got ready and went to bed, my wife took a hot shower. The fire alarm went off at 1 a.m waking everybody. We didn't know what to do or if it was the whole hotel, so we stood out in the hall in our pjs while I called the front desk.

Front desk sent security up an after about 10 minutes in the hallway he peaks in and says oh this is expected - smoke detector in wrong place and hot shower sets it off. You're not the first even tonight. Of course now the kids are all riled up after being woken up like that and we don't get much rest. The next day, I mentioned the issue at the front desk, and apparently it's "very common". I'm sorry but smoke detectors going off after a shower being "common enough" that it gets ignored will get somebody killed one day.

Anyways - location wise the Disney buses were fine. Didn't explore many of the amenities but the food onsite was decent (though expensive as expected). I don't mind the value, but the indifference of the security staff and front desk really blew my mind. Not sure we'd pick this hotel again.