TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

There is a lot of info out there comparing the benefits of staying at Disney's hotels vs. Marriott's Swan and Dolphin. We've stayed at Disney's villas, and deluxe and moderate hotels. After one stay at Marriott's Dolphin, Disney is the clear winner. Dolphin pros: Walking distance to EPCOT International Gate and Hollywood Studios main gate or take the water taxi. There is a variety of table service restaurants, specialty restaurants, a couple of counter service restaurants, lobby bars and pool bars. The pool complex is large, looks to be well maintained and attractive. We were comp'd breakfast at Rosa Mexicano and it was very good. Housekeeping was very good. Room was attended to every morning before noon. Please remember to tip your housekeeper. Your housekeeper has the most difficult and challenging job of all hotel employees. Cost: We used our Marriott Bonvoy points for a 5-night stay. We still paid Marriott's $50/night resort fee + tax. If you drive, you'll pay $40 - $60/night for parking + tax. Disney does not charge their hotel guests resort or parking fees, and Disney's hotel guests park for free at the theme parks and water parks. Marriott guests that drive to Disney's parks pay $35/day to park. Add a minimum of $150/night to the Marriott's nightly rate if you're going to drive or rent a car. Marriott Dolphin guests get some of the same perks as Disney's hotel guests, with major exceptions being Marriott hotel guests cannot purchase dining plans and resort refillable mugs. For longer stays, like ours, the $23 refillable mug will save a lot of money over buying soft drinks/coffee/tea at your resort. Marriott charges almost $6/per bottle of coke. Do the math before booking with Marriott. Cons: 1. Restaurants are overpriced. Hotel is overwhelmed by loud, obnoxious and at night, drunken conventioneers. 2. Counter service restaurant Fuel was a rip off with unpleasant employees. 3. We couldn't/didn't use Marriott's bus transportation. We attempted twice to catch a bus that the hotel's app estimated to arrive in 5 minutes. We arrived at the station 10 minutes early to see the bus pulling away. The monitor at the bus station that should have given bus schedules didn't work the 2 times we that we attempted to use Marriott's transportation. 4. Instead of depending on Marriott's undependable bus schedule, we took a short walk to Disney's Yacht Club (we've stayed at the Yacht Club) and took Disney's bus transportation. Never waited more than 5 minutes and Disney's monitors with bus schedules worked perfectly. In addition, Marriott's Magic Kingdom bus drops you off at the TTC, which is across 7 Seas Lagoon, requiring you to line up to catch a ferry or monorail to Magic Kingdom's main gate. This will add at least 30 minutes to your commute time in the morning and probably waste your 30-minute early entry benefit. Taking Disney's bus from the Yacht Club drops you off a short 5-minute walk to the main gate. Skip Marriott's transportation and save yourself hours of waiting and frustration. 5. If there is something that needs Marriott's attention in your room, like our refrigerator, you'll be forced into an AI chat session and wasting a lot of your time before being connected to a chat session with some Marriott human being in an unknown location. It took almost 24 hours, a lot of frustration, and being insulted by a Marriott maintenance guy just to get a working refrigerator. 6. The room refurbishment that was recently completed was done on the cheap, with no attention given to fixing the sad bathroom and tiny shower/toilet closet. Closing the door to the shower/toilet closet is like auditioning to be a Cirque Du Soliel contortionist. I failed my audition repeatedly. In summary: What looks good on a website will disappoint you as soon as you arrive at the Dolphin. And when you check out, even on a "free" points stay, you'll be sent a folio of charges with line after line of daily fees and taxes. Our fees totaled more than the price of a one-night stay. Marriott's Dolphin is a generic, bland, corporate hotel that happens to be in a prime location at Walt Disney World. If not for the location, you could walk into the hotel and not have any idea that you are in the middle of Walt Disney World. From Marriott's product to their employees, the Dolphin is really nothing special. We are Marriott Bonvoy Platinum members. Marriott has been declining since the pandemic. This is the end of our loyalty to Marriott. We have downgraded our AMEX Marriott Bonvoy card and we will transfer our remaining Marriott Bonvoy points to United Airlines. Marriott used to be a company that acknowledged and honored they loyal guests in a manner that was unmatched by any other hotelier. That era of Marriott hospitality has met a sad death in favor of squeezing every dime out of anyone who passes through their doors. How very unfortunate.

Stayed here for 3 nights during our 10 night trip to Orlando. The hotel is ideally located nest the Boardwalk, Epcot and Hollywood Studios. Epcot is about a 10 minute walk, similar for Hollywood studios. Check in was straight forward and our room was ready before the usual time, it was very spacious and well appointed, only issue was the air conditioning wasn't working but it was quickly rectified. Beds were very comfortable, had no trouble sleeping. If you're lucky your room will provide you views of the nightly fireworks at Epcot. There are a number of restaurants at the hotel, we only tried the Mexican, however we dined too late to appreciate it, so unable to review it properly, however the food was very good. As a Disney partner hotel the early entry to the theme parks is well worth the stay, as we managed tp get a number of major rides done at the theme parks during our stay. The only downside is this hotel charges a resort fee of $50 + tax per night of your visit, which "official" Disney hotels don't. To be honest I don't understand what you actually get for this charge. We were aware of the charge before we made the booking but probably wouldn't stay here again, because of this.

Absolutely an amazing experience. All staff are wonderful and the proximity to Boardwalk and Epcot is a great perk. Highly recommend for future stays. Rooms are a bit dated but we are only in them to sleep.

Unfortunately, the most important thing I have to say about our stay at the Dolphin is that I had a significant amount of cash disappear from inside my luggage in our hotel room. On the fifth day of our stay, I discovered that the money was gone. We immediately reported it to hotel security, who said they would investigate. Although the staff was courteous and attentive, the investigation ultimately led nowhere, the money was never recovered, and we were left without any real resolution. I still need to file a police report regarding the incident. To be fair, the hotel waived some of our charges at the end of our stay, which I appreciated. However, even after that, our financial loss was still close to $2,000. More than anything, it was extremely upsetting to realize that our belongings were not safe inside our hotel room, especially at a resort of this level. As for the hotel itself, I also struggle to understand why the Dolphin is considered a deluxe resort. The rooms are not particularly spacious, storage is limited, and the bathroom felt dated, with an older bathtub and shower curtain instead of a modern shower. We stayed at Universal’s Cabana Bay during the same trip, and I honestly did not feel that the Dolphin room offered a noticeably more luxurious experience. The resort itself is nice, with good common areas and several restaurants, although prices are high. But ultimately, having a large amount of money disappear from our belongings inside our room completely overshadowed the rest of our stay. It was stressful, disappointing, and not something I ever expected to experience during a Disney vacation. Unfortunately, I would not stay at the Dolphin again.

My husband and I just returned from the Dolphin. I appreciate that our requests for an early check-in and King bed were granted, however, it was extremely disappointed that not a single person acknowledged that we were there on our honeymoon, despite my having called the resort at least three times before our arrival and confirming. Well, the exterior of the building, location, and the lobby/common areas were breathtaking, the rooms are dated. We were never able to get our TV to connect to any streaming apps, even after 3 separate visits from Engineering. Our AC also stopped working the second night of our stay. Although they did eventually get it back working again, it took three consecutive visits from engineering in the same night. The bed was comfortable and our room was clean overall, but it was extremely dated. I didn't even know they still make coffee makers like the one in our room. My husband has a disability and was unable to get on/off the theme park buses, using the accessible ramp, but had no issues whatsoever when using the official Disney bus from the neighboring yacht and beach club resort. Thankfully management did reimburse us for our $50 resort fee per night, but this experience in my opinion, was unacceptable. Next time I will spend the additional $100 per night to stay at an official Disney resort, which is what it would've ended up costing us when you factor out the nightly self parking fee of $40 plus tax per night and the $50 plus tax nightly resort fee.