Going first week in June to WDW. Narrowed it down to the Swan or Port Orleans River. Cost is about the same. Herd they are remodeling rooms at the swan. Two kids ages 6 and 10. Any information or advice is welcomed.
Where do you plan to spend most of your time? (At the resort, at a certain theme park–and if so, which one?)
Also, did you include the price of parking and “resort fees” when pricing the Swan?
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We have never stayed at Swan, but we LOVE POR! The theming is wonderful, plus you also have the boat to DTD and Yehaa Bob (your kiddos are a great age to really enjoy his show!) The pool at POR is also very nice.
We have never stayed at Swan either, but just had our first stay at POR in August. Loved it! My kids are teens, but the main pool looked like lots of fun for your age kids. I enjoyed the hot tub. Food court is big & lots of variety. River in the middle of the resort is cool. Really liked the overall theming, much more than I thought I would. Carriage rides & surrey bikes. Boat to DTD. www.portorleans.org has lots of good info on activities & amenities. We had only stayed deluxe before, and I enjoyed POR just as much. We did rent a car, so buses were not an issue for us.
Just came back from our 4th stay at The Swan. We have stayed at The Polynesian, Caribbean Beach, and Wilderness Lodge. If you are a Starwood member, you can sometimes get a fantastic rate. We returned 10 days ago. We were given an upgrade to a refurbished room without asking. Service was excellent starting with the town car service arranges by the concierge desk . The location to HS and Epcot as well as the Epcot area resorts can’t be beat. Very convenient WDW bus service to MK and AK. Great place for a sit down breakfast at 6:30 a.m. that still allows you to make 8 a.m. rope drop and still be in the front of the pack.
Can you book FastPasses 60 days out at the Swan? Looking into bumping up my Starwood points to get a good deal here.
30 days
great advice and sincerely appreciated. Just got dinner reservations to Be Our Guest this morning. My daughters only request. We are almost there.
FastPasses at 60 days at The Swan. I was able to do all 8 days at 60 days out, which I wasn’t expecting to be able to do. Happy surprise.
I have stayed at both Swan and POR. The location at the Swan is amazing. We love walking to EP and taking the boat to HS. The rooms are bigger at the Swan but the last time we stayed the room was really musty smelling. This was in January 2014. They provided us with a dehumidifier and it was okay. I have never had that problem at a Disney hotel. If you got a refurbished room, that would probably be better. The beds there are really comfortable. I’m not sure how much sense this will make, but it doesn’t feel as much like Disney to me. It feels more relaxed to me. It is not bad, it just doesn’t have the same energy. POR is a beautiful but huge resort. I like being within walking distance to a park so that is a downside. The rooms are smaller. YeeHaw Bob is great. Good luck with your decision. We will be there the first week of June too staying at BLT!
I was able by obsessively checking the dining site to have 2 dinner reservations for BoG. I was so worried that I would be disappointed and not even want to go the second night. Nothing could be further from how I felt. Loved the outside of the Beast’s Castle, loved the inside, loved both rooms we were able to dine in, loved everything that we had from the menu. Loved the overall quiet feeling at The Swan even though the hotel was completely full.
I made reservations for dinner for more than one night as well just in case. Didn’t have a problem. Going to try to get fast pass for lunch then decide.
Unless Disney’s testing for FP for lunch changes for BoG, if you stay at The Swan or Dolphin, you won’t be eligible for a FP for lunch.
Good to know about fast pass for BoG. Then I’ll keep the dinner reservation I have. Thanks for the heads up.