mag_nate

Swan reserve is now only bookable beginning October 13 (see screenshot in spoiler below), which is the same date I am supposed to check in for a two night stay... I figured I'd be fine with a mid-October stay but it's looking especially iffy.

If they aren't open on the 13th, I really hope they are able to just move my reservation to the Swan or Dolphin because I have a 50k certificate applied that I have little use for elsewhere. Time will tell I guess.

mag_nate

Update to the above:

I had a reservation October 13-15 and I just received an email that they are no longer able to honor it due to construction delays. The email told me that I was free to cancel my reservation (yeah... thanks) on the Marriott site, but that I could also call to see what alternatives may be available.

Just as a quick breakdown, we had redeemed 40k points for the 13th and a Marriott free night certificate for the 14th at the Swan Reserve, so total out of pocket was to be [40k points + free night cert + all fees]. The following is a quick breakdown of this lovely 45 minute call (seriously the reservations agent was really nice and as helpful as she could be but they have some weird management issues over there):

• Their first offer was to move us over to the Dolphin but it would be 50k points for one night plus my certificate for the second night, which would mean I would pay 10k more points to move to the Dolphin. That would be really stupid, so I told the agent the agent as much, asked if they could just credit me 10k points as "compensation" or something (which anyone familiar with Marriott knows management absolutely has the power to do) or waive the resort fee, and she said she would talk to management.
• Their second offer after speaking with management was to just waive the resort fee, but I would have to pay the 10k point difference... it's like negotiating with a brick wall. This probably wasn't that bad of an offer, but ehhhhhh... I told the reservation agent that I wasn't upset at her, but asking me to move to another hotel and pay them more when they cancelled my reservation is bordering on psychotic, and she went to speak to management again.
• The final offer was to charge 50k points plus the resort fee for the first night, but comp the second night (I assume, but didn't confirm that I'd pay the resort fee) and let me keep my free night certificate. I gladly accepted this.

Turns out their system is screwed up, though, and when they made my reservation, the first night was showing 60k points. When I pointed this out to the reservation agent, she put me on hold for a while and came back to tell me that they "need to let the reservations system freshen up a little bit," and to call back tomorrow. They promised that they'd honor the 50k for the first night plus the second night comped, and I really do understand that this is a good deal and they could have just told me to screw off if they really felt like it.

Still, basically the only reason we're staying here is to check out the new Swan Reserve (fail), and get rid of my Marriott free night cert that's expiring (fail), so I am just a little let down by the whole thing.

jsteele212

Thanks for posting the update! I have stay scheduled at the Swan Reserve from 10/21-10/26. Booked a backup reservation a few weeks ago to take advantage of the Hotel Collection credit, half expecting the Swan Reserve reservation to be cancelled. About a week ago all the other room options for our stay were removed, so it seems like another delay is coming.

CommentatusMaximus

Really wish the property management would offer up some clarity on when they are actually going to open considering alternative equivalent properties are extremely difficult to book right now, let alone after they cancel reservations at the last minute. Just took a look and now they are taking reservations starting 11/4 with the week before Thanksgiving completely sold out. Will be a huge miss to disrupt Thanksgiving plans for people so they better get their act together!

dvsflyer

Worried because we have reservations for a full week (booked with a travel package bought specifically for this property) the week before Thanksgiving, what is going on with this property, are we going to get screwed and at the last minute get cancelled or moved over to the way less desirable properties next-door? If I wanted to stay there I would’ve booked with cash originally because the rate was about half.

jimrpa

So, I have a cash reservation (made a long time ago at a great rate) at the Swan Reserve for the Disney Wine and Dine Half Marathon Weekend. So far, my reservation looks solid. If they end up moving me, it had better be to Swan/Dolphin or to a hotel with Disney Race transportation, or else I will be … unhappy

jsteele212

Update on my upcoming reservation...Received an email from the Swan/Dolphin yesterday indicating that my reservation at the Swan Reserve from 10/21-10/26 had been cancelled due to construction delays. The team automatically re-booked my stay for the Swan at $249/night (same category). I emailed back asking if they was any additional benefits available if I kept my reservation at the Swan and was offered a category upgrade.

I opted to cancel the reservation and hold on the HC reservation I made at the Dolphin a few weeks ago. Pricing is comparable, but had a few credits still remaining on my Platinum card.

CommentatusMaximus

They are doing media tours now and my understanding is they are actively planning a ribbon cutting targeting opening on 11/4. So it looks like they are finally on time.

https://www.disneytouristblog.com/in...-opening-soon/

jimrpa

this is good to hear!

PJLukasik

It looks like according to a few reports the Swan Reserve soft opened today:

https://www.wdwmagic.com/resorts/the...l-now-open.htm

https://www.clickorlando.com/news/20...ens-to-guests/

jimrpa

I’m at the SR. Soft opening was actually yesterday. I haven’t explored the property yet. My signature suite is on floor 5. Supposedly the highest floor with suites (I let it go). The person at the desk assured me I had a view of studios. I have a nice view of the grotto pool. There’s a “slit window” in the bedroom where you can barely see the grand destino tower. I waited 15 minutes for bell services to deliver my baggage then gave up - I had to get to the expo. I took the breakfast option instead of points because I wanted to check out the restaurant. Signature suites are very nice - separate bedroom. Bath with the toilet in a separate room. The living and dining areas are separate. The dining area has a large 4 person table. 3 TVs - one in the bedroom, one in the living area and one in the dining area. One thing that really annoys me (since this is a Disney board, I’ll say annoys, not the much stronger word I want to use) is that there are exactly 2 bottles of Dasani water (swan/dolphin provide 4). That’s not the worst of it. There is a hang tag on them stating that they are complimentary and will be replenished each day and that if you would like more, you can purchase additional bottles for $3! Housekeepers over at Swan/Dolphin never minded giving me a couple extra bottles of water. This is just chintzy for the highest end of the three hotels.
the Sofa in the living area appears to be a queen sized fold out.

CD747

I haven’t stayed there but I had a good look around and, while it’s nice inside and the roof area has a great view, I found it quite disappointing.

Aside from the design, which is a matter of taste (some may prefer a more modern unthemed design), it’s a good 5 minutes’ additional walk to the Boardwalk / boat transportation, and involves crossing a road. The roadside frontage makes the property feel less like a resort and more like an upscale city destination. In return for this, it is currently commanding similar or higher nightly rates and the same category level.

It’s also not clear why it’s called the Swan Reserve as it doesn’t have any greater link to the Swan than the Dolphin.

I can’t speak to the rooms, but regardless of how they are, it’s a no-brainer to stick to the Swan + Dolphin, for me.

rhg247

Just got back from 5 nights at the swan reserve. 180k points + SNA award cleared into a Signature Suite 2 Queen Epcot View. This booked into a Hollywood Studios view suite, but was upgraded to the Epcot view sometime before check in. This property is about half suites of some flavor so there might be good chances of SNA actually working here.

I got there about 1730 and the room wasn't ready so the front desk offered $50 credit at their Stir bar and would text me when it was ready. So I helped myself to some charcuterie and wine.

Swan Reserve Stir bar in the lobby area








It wound up being about 90 minutes before the room was ready so we also had some Souvlaki too. Everything seemed fresh and tasty enough for hotel bar food. The couple sitting beside me was also waiting on their room. So I'm not sure if this is growing pains or par for the course at this hotel.

Room was 12308 with a separate living room, sleep sofa, dining table, and two tvs (which was a little annoying when the 1 remote turns on both TVs and you get two different shows going at once...but that's def a 1st world problem)



Bedroom was advertised as a two queens, but these felt a lot like two double beds to me




One thing that was a little disappointing was just how firm these mattresses are. Maybe the pillow toppers are still lost in the supply chain, but they definitely felt like orthopedic mattresses to me. And if you want more than 4 hangars for the closet, be ready to call down and ask for them. I didn't get a picture but the room does come with two robes too.

Bathroom was nice with walk in shower and handheld wand. Toilet is in its own little WC. Toiletries were some generic brand.






Despite the questionable bedding the room and view was pretty nice.


Short walk to Swan/Dolphin/Epcot

Epcot fireworks

They did offer certs for complimentary elite breakfast for two per day. Nothing to get excited about. Coffee/Tea/Juice, Bagel/Muffin/Danish, Fruit salad/Oatmeal/Cereal. The first day it took an hour to be delivered. The last two it took about 30 min. I didn't really use any other amenities at this hotel like the pool or the restaurants. Had too many other plans and not enough time for a hotel spa day. But everything here looked nice and shiny like it should for a brand new hotel.

Bus service was reliable. The hotel shares the bus loop with the swan and dolphin. They seem to come every 20-30 minutes to Magic Kingdon, Animal Kingdom, and Disney Springs. There is a hotel van too that proactively offered to take us to Epcot to pickup the skyliner when I told him we were headed to Hollywood Studios. They drop you off at the Yacht and Beach Club and let you walk through the lobby. That seemed excessive and probably only saved 5 minutes, but it was nice of them to offer and it definitely would've been nice if it were raining.

All in all, I'd stay here again just for the likelihood of the SNA clearing. But I've never been to the Swan or Dolphin so I can't really compare the properties.

ploo

We are thinking of staying at the Swan Reserve, but there is no availability on the Marriott.com website. Interestingly, there is plenty of availability at the Disney.com website. Does anyone know if you get Marriott points and Plat perks if you reserve at Disney.com. It defiantly isn’t a “cheaper” option like costco.com

Zone1

My family and I just finished up a 4 day stay at the Swan Reserve. Overall, it is a very nice hotel and a great, low key way to do Disney.

Booking
Originally, we were going to stay at the Marriott Orlando World Resort. There was no availability at the Swan, Dolphin, or Swan Reserve when I booked the Marriott, but I kept on checking prices and availability on Marriott's website for a few weeks. I cancelled and rebooked the Marriott reservation 3 times as the price kept on going lower. Eventually availability showed up at the Swan Reserve with pricing not much more than the Dolphin (the Swan stayed unavailable), and cheaper than what I originally booked the Marriott for in November. We paid $10 extra/night to confirm an Epcot facing room vs a no view room. After booking it took about 36 hrs for us to be able to tie the reservation to the My Disney Experience app. After this time, the app was able to find our reservation using the Marriott confirmation number. Have check in help you do this if you haven't gotten it done by then. You will need this to be able to use the park benefits associated with staying at an on park hotel.

Check In
We checked in at about 4:30pm without any issues. Check in is on the 3rd floor lobby and can be reached by elevators on the first floor (the elevators go to every floor) or the escalator. There was no wait at check in.




Room
We were just in an Epcot facing double queen. We had plenty of room to set up our pack and play for the baby. Everything was very clean upon arrival. I did notice some construction flaws like the shower door was not aligned correctly, so it would not close completely at the seam, but nothing significant. They used matte paint in the room, that will probably get fairly scuffed up quickly. Toiletries were Swan Reserve branded but were freshly scented. There was a Keurig in the room. K-cups were from a veteran owned coffee company and were pretty good.






Pool
The pool is smaller than what is at the Dolphin, which makes sense for the amount of rooms. It did get crowded, but not overly crowded. The cabanas were first come first serve, but I did see signage that indicates that may change in the future.

Dining
We did not do any indoor eating on this trip because my 18 month old is still not vaccinated but did order room service breakfast and ate pool side multiple times. You can order room service directly using the Swan and Dolphin app. The app has all the restaurant menus, also. Breakfast came +/- 10 min from the time we requested, so keep that in mind. It looked like the main restaurant, Amare, was not too busy for breakfast but you would want reservations for dinner. It seemed like people ate dinner poolside quite a bit because Amare filled up. You can charge any dining at the Dolphin or Swan to your room at the Reserve. We did this a couple of times without any issue. The soft serve ice cream at The Foutain in the Dolphin was probably the best soft serve I've ever had!