Sheri Summy
The hotel is beautiful. The pool with the waterfall and slide, just makes you so relaxed. The bar and food amazing. Rooms where great and the bed was comfy and the had great pillows very clean and spacious. The parking lot kinda of a walk to the doors of the hotel. Not a big deal I guess but trying to find a cart not easy. Since people stay there for like a week because of the parks. The shuttles are easy to find to get to the parks. You can set up your magic band there which is nice.
Reviews by Pablo
To start, bring a jacket when visiting this hotel—it is extremely cold throughout the property. The rooms are outdated and in need of renovation. They are also on the smaller side, and if you’re around 6 feet tall, you may feel like the ceilings are almost touching your head.
The restaurants and shops on-site are very expensive for what you get. You can find much better value at the BoardWalk, where, for example, you can grab a large slice of pizza for around $10 instead of paying premium prices for very average restaurant food.
The TV service in the rooms is disappointing, with very few channels available and not much to watch. Overall, the room experience feels average and does not justify the price.
One additional note: if you wear XXL-sized clothing or are a larger person, you may find the bathroom quite uncomfortable. The shower and overall bathroom layout are very tight and can feel cramped.
There are some positives. The walking paths around the hotel are pleasant, the pools are well maintained, and the fitness center is good enough to keep up with your workout routine. The complimentary bus service to Disney Springs is convenient, and the water taxis are a nice touch as well.
That said, the price per night simply does not match the overall experience. Between the freezing temperatures inside the hotel, the small and outdated rooms, the cramped bathrooms, and the expensive dining options, I believe many families would be better off staying at a nearby Hilton or similar hotel, where breakfast is included and you can easily drive or take an Uber to the parks while having more dining and entertainment options available.
Bottom line: cold hotel, average rooms, small bathrooms, overpriced food, and not enough value for the cost.
david hargrave
The location is perfect, essentially on the boardwalk with a pleasent 20min stroll to either Hollywood Studios or EPCOT which you can also catch the " friendship" boats to and from.
The Swan is far more intimate than the Dolphin giving an overall "nicer" feel.
Complex wise the outside facilities are excellent with the fitness center being well equipped, the beach is nice and the pools varied and uncrowded.
The rooms are large bright and airy with comfortable beds, they are spotlessly clean.
Due to the location there is a massive choice of good restaurants within 5 minutes walk.
All in all its a great place to have a more adult Disney break.
Autumn Whittle
The rooms are nice but pretty standard, nothing super fancy but they’re clean and the beds and pillows are very soft. The staff that assist with luggage are so polite and extremely helpful! My only complaint is that they didn’t charge for my entire stay upon check in and I ended up being charged multiple times and more than I should have for parking and they had to issue a refund. The valet office staff were pretty rude when I tried to bring this to their attention that they had overcharged me. Self Parking is extremely limited so prepare to pay outrageous valet parking prices! The walking distance from the Dolphin to the boardwalk is pretty far too so be prepared.
Kristin
We recently stayed at the Swan, standard room, king bed, no view.
The Good: The location and the Disney hotel perks.
The Bad: The dated room, the limited room amenities INCLUDING TOWELS, the dated and limited baby gear, the lack of sound proofing between rooms, very uncomfortable beds, and it’s not as good of a deal as they lead you to believe at booking
We didn’t plan on being in the room much and were traveling with our 1.5 year old who would (hopefully) be asleep long before the fireworks, so a view wasn’t a must, but if you want one, you can get one if one is available. The Swan (and Dolphin) are considered to be in the deluxe tier of Disney hotels and you get the same perks (early entry, after hours when they have that, you can buy your lightening lanes a week prior, and there are buses to the parks and Disney Springs as well as a boat) but … it’s really not that great of a hotel. Maybe we’re not social media influencers, so we didn’t get the towel art or one of the renovated rooms as I’ve seen online in reviews. The overall experience was often frustrating and very meh. And I don’t mean that there was no Disney theming. There’s not, and that’s fine, I knew that. But.
We were hoping for a good spot to rest and be close to the parks. We got one of those things.
The location is great, but I seriously do not get the luxury hotel tag. It’s just not. It’s a basic Westin that happens to be in a good location. Also, be aware that you will be charged a $50 “resort fee” per night of your stay, so what you thought was a much cheaper option compared with an actual Disney hotel starts to whittle away. If you think you prepaid for your room and knew all the costs ahead of time, you didn’t and you didn’t. You could refuse upon check in and leave but … are you going to?
We would not stay here again. This is not a nice hotel even though you’re paying for one. Was I expecting the Four Seasons? Definitely not. Was I even expecting something like the Boardwalk? Honestly, no. The Swan was (kind of) cheaper than other Disney deluxe resorts, but it was not better than a mid-level Disney hotel but-for the location and you don’t have the theming of a Disney hotel.
Now we know.
