TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

I will never stay here again, I would give this hotel one star if I could. The room smelled like mold and we had the worst balcony overlooking basically a giant roof with loud hvac, why even have a balcony at all? They asked us if we wanted our room serviced every day, I said every day because I have three little kids, and they never came. Two nights in a row, we came back late from the parks, exhausted, and I didn’t have towels to bathe the kids and get them to bed, nobody refilled the body wash, by the third day, the mountain of wet towels on the floor was absolutely disgusting and taking over the entire bathroom. The pool was nice, but none of the amenities for kids like the other Disney hotels like water slides or splash pads. $40 parking, $50 resort fee, for what? What do you get for $50? Nothing that isn’t just included in a Disney hotel rate. Also everything is at the Dolphin, there was nothing open to get the kids food at 9:30 unless you wanted to walk all the way to the dolphin, the laundry room is there, arcade, you’re paying $50 a day for amenities that aren’t even at your hotel! They charged me $25 for “handling” Amazon packages that I had delivered to the hotel. They literally just accepted the package and waited until I came to get it, and again, both times the packages were at the dolphin. This trip has been a nightmare. Never again!

Have stayed here many times, often while visiting for runDisney events. This is a solid hotel with great amenities, an excellent location close to EPCOT and Hollywood Studios, and convenient transportation options throughout Disney. The rooms and service have typically been on point, which is why my most recent stay was disappointing. Room Service: Our room was not serviced at all during our stay, despite requesting service at check-in. We had to call the AI guest services line to request fresh towels. Java Staff: The service at Java was underwhelming. The staff seemed less than enthusiastic, and at times, it felt as though we were bothering them simply by placing an order. Front Desk: Although the front desk staff were courteous, I was told I would be contacted regarding an adding another night to our reservation. Unfortunately, no one followed up, leaving us to find alternative accommodations elsewhere. All in all, I’ve generally had positive experiences here, and the location and amenities remain excellent.

This will be our first and last stay at this hotel. Let’s start with check-in. I booked our stay through Amex Travel and was advised that early check-in and late checkout were included as benefits, subject to availability. I completely understand the “subject to availability” portion. Before arriving, I reached out through the hotel’s app to ask about early check-in and was told that I would be notified when our room was ready. That notification never came. Around 3:30 PM, I checked the app myself and noticed that a room had been assigned. I had specifically requested a quiet room on a higher floor. We were assigned a room on the 6th floor, roughly in the middle of the building and only four rooms down from the elevator. Not exactly what I would consider a higher-floor, quiet-room request being accommodated. Then came the parking experience. We had a car, and I was astonished by the complete lack of signage explaining how hotel guests are supposed to access self-parking. We followed a sign marked “Self Park,” which led us to a gated lot. There were no instructions at the gate explaining how hotel guests were supposed to enter. Although we had already been assigned a room, my digital key had not been activated. I later learned that this wouldn’t have mattered anyway because, according to the front desk, the digital key does not open the parking gate—you need a physical room key. How exactly is a newly arriving guest supposed to know this? I had to drive around the block, return to the hotel and try to find somewhere to temporarily park so I could go inside and ask how to access the parking lot. There was nowhere available in front of the hotel, so I ultimately had to pull into the valet area and have my adult daughter remain in the car while I went inside to check in and ask how we were supposed to park? That should not be be happening. This entire process took approximately 15 minutes and could have been avoided with one simple sign explaining the parking procedure. Then there is the $40-per-day self-parking charge. After finally gaining access to the lot, we had to park toward the back because it was so full. Even my daughter looked at the distance to the hotel and said, “This can’t be right—they expect us to drag our luggage a block down the street?” Apparently, they do. On top of the parking charge, there is a $50-per-night “resort fee.” For what, exactly? I genuinely cannot identify $50 worth of daily resort amenities or benefits that we received. Yes, there is a pool, but plenty of hotels have pools without charging guests an additional $50 per night to use them. I also went to use the fitness center and found it surprisingly small and dated. Even worse, two of the six treadmills were not functional. If a property is going to charge guests a $50-per-night resort fee, I would expect its amenities to be exceptionally well maintained and equipped. When I asked about the fitness center, I was told that I could walk over and use the larger fitness center at the Dolphin. So, just to clarify: the Swan costs more, but guests should walk to the Dolphin if they want the better fitness center? Okay. Because we did not receive early check-in, I asked about late checkout. We were staying for a runDisney race and had to catch a bus at 3:30 AM, so having additional time after the race would have been particularly helpful. Amex Travel had advised me that late checkout could be as late as 4:00 PM, subject to availability. The latest the hotel would offer us was 1:00 PM. There was also very little about this property that felt “Disney” in any meaningful way. I am a Disney Annual Passholder and expected at least some of the whimsical touches that make staying on Disney property special. They simply weren’t there. The most noticeable Disney touch we encountered was the opportunity to purchase $12 Mickey waffles at breakfast. Oh don't worry though, they were three teeny tiny waffles so there's that Disney magic at work! Transportation was another disappointment. We discovered that there is no direct bus transportation from Magic Kingdom back to the Swan. Instead, signage directs guests to travel to the Transportation and Ticket Center and catch a bus from there. We ultimately took a bus to the Yacht & Beach Club area and walked back to the Swan instead. So, to recap: approximately $450 per night for the room, another $50 per night in “resort fees,” and another $40 per day to park our own car. That puts the effective cost at nearly $550 per night—and I am still trying to figure out what experience justified that price. For that amount of money, there are simply much better options. The Swan did not feel like a Disney resort to us. It felt much more like a corporate conference hotel that happens to be located on Disney property and can therefore command Disney-level pricing. The overall experience—from the confusing arrival and parking process, to the additional fees, underwhelming amenities, limited transportation and lack of Disney atmosphere—made it feel as though the property is primarily designed for conference attendees whose companies are paying the bill rather than leisure guests paying these rates themselves. Unfortunately, we will not be returning.

We spent 5 nights to do 4 days at the Disney parks. This hotel is beautiful, it feels like a resort. Getting to and back to each park was very easy with the bus and boat service available all day. The bus service I think was a lot faster than other Disney hotels, never had to wait a long time. Bus service & boat was just for Swan and Dolphin. It has a pretty lakeview with pools and easy and close to walk to the boardwalk. Brick oven pizza was excellent and the coffee shop easy to get coffee or a sandwich. Hero sandwiches on the boardwalk were excellent also. I had requested a special room area and was available upon arrival with no problem.

We had a great stay at the Swan. We’ve stayed many times before. Our accessible room was very clean and in a great location. The bed wasn’t quite as comfortable as I recall them being. I was surprised that the automatic door didn’t open. It wasn’t a huge deal for us but it may be for someone traveling solo. Housekeeping was excellent. We were sad Garden Grove was closed. It’s one of our favorite places for breakfast. Enjoyed the Fountain, Rosas’s and Il Mulino.