Category: Travel Tips

Today I bring you a review of the Swan and Dolphin Resort. I was able to stay there this past June, while my husband had a local conference to go to.  We have never stayed here before, since we usually prefer to stay in a Disney owned hotel to get the magical Disney touch during our trips.  Needless to say we had high expectations to be met for a hotel so close to WDW.

Upon arrival at the Swan we were impressed by the lovely landscaping they had. We were met at the front door by the valet who told us we could go see if our room was ready and they would keep an eye on the car for us.. My first impression of the lobby was great. It was modern and airy, with the classic Florida colors of peach and green. We had no wait at the front desk, but were told that our room was not ready yet. They took our cell number and said they would text us when it was ready. In the meantime we could store our baggage with bell services and park our car.

We went back to the valet desk and asked to store our luggage and our bag of cold items we had stopped and picked up at a local Publix. They said they had a fridge for our cold items, which was a great bonus.  They also unloaded all of our luggage from our car and asked if we wanted to self-park or valet parking. Since we were on a company trip for my husband we decided to utilize the valet parking, it costs about $20 a day to get this service. We definitely loved being able to have our car parked at the front door everyday, but I am not sure we would have gotten it if we had had to pay for it ourselves. Even the self-parking cost $15 a day, so if you are looking to save money then having a car at the Swan and Dolphin is not the way to go.  On a side note there is National and Alamo car rental desk at the Dolphin so you can rent a car for the day if you need to get around somewhere and then just return it later. This can be a real plus if you just want to rent a car at the airport to get to the Swan and Dolphin, since you can’t use Disney’s Magical express to get there.  You can also make stops on the way there, like we did, to pick up a few groceries.

Once we finished up with the valet services, we headed over to the boat ramp between the Swan and Dolphin to go to Hollywood Studios, while we waited for our room to be ready.  The boats come every 10-15 minutes, and the ride to Epcot is longer that the ride to the Studios, since the boat has to make stops at the Boardwalk and, the Yacht and Beach Club before it gets to Epcot. The Studios are the next stop after the Swan and Dolphin, so it is a nice short ride. You can also walk from the resort to either park. Its great to have this flexibility, and to be so close to two different parks.

We had to wait about 2-3 hours at the studios, enjoying Star Wars Weekends, before we got notice that our room was ready. We took the boat back to the resort and informed valet services of our room number and went up to the room. The room was bright, clean and very roomy.  We had a king bed , a couch and a combo Desk/Media  cabinet. The only thing we were wanting for was a small table and 2 chairs so we could sit together to eat our breakfast in the mornings.  Inside the media console was a few drawers and a mini-fridge. The bathroom was about what we expected in a resort. Sink outside and a door to close off the second sink, tub and toilet. It was all clean and tidy. Across form the sink there was a nice closet space with plenty of hanging space, a shelf, a safe, luggage valets,  hair dryer, extra pillows and an ironing board and iron. In all I was very impressed with this space. The sink had a make-up mirror and a small coffee dispenser with real Starbucks coffee. My husband thought it was pretty good coffee. One thing to note about the coffee is that you really need to hit up the housekeepers for more coffee packets since they don’t seem to really replace them unless asked, and when they did replace them they usually only put decaf in the room. They were friendly and accommodated us very easily though.  After our quick look through of the room, valet services came up with our luggage and cold items. Our cold items that were supposedly stored in a fridge were not very cold however. I put them in the fridge in the hopes that they were still ok. Mostly we just had yogurt and fruit for breakfast, and cream for coffee and tea in the mornings. We will come back to that later.

After unpacking a few things and taking a bit of a break form the heat we headed back to the Studios to see more of the Star Wars festivities and to get to our dinner reservation. While we were at dinner a huge storm rolled in with a lot of wind, thunder and lighting. After a while and reports that the storm was not going to let up anytime soon, we decided to book it over to the boats to try and get back to our room. We had ponchos, but they were not much protection with the wind and driving rain. When we got to the boat dock we had to wait a bit for a boat to come in and when it did they told us that they were not going to run again until the lightning had stopped for a while.  After waiting for a bit for the rain to ever so slightly lighten up we finally made a dash for the bus area in hopes we would be able to find a bus stop for our resort. We did find one quickly but so many people were lined up there and the bus covers are so small at the studios that we just got rained on and drenched. We ended up waiting for 30 min for a bus that we could take back to the resort. I wasn’t too happy about this since it was pouring and there was still thunder and lightning going on. When we finally got back to the resort we were so ready for a hot shower and dry clothes.

After cleaning up we went to the fridge to get a water and yogurt and found that it wasn’t working. Everything inside was warm. We called house keeping and asked for a new one. They came up right away and replaced it. The replacement was also broken and after an hour we realized it wasn’t keeping things cold either as well as being extremely loud. At this point is was close to midnight and we were really tired, but we gave one more call to housekeeping and they said they didn’t have any more available, could we possibly wait until morning to get one.  We said we could and went to bed.

In the morning I left early for the Animal Kingdom. There is a really nice bus stop area out in front of the Swan resort with plenty of seating. Busses came about every 5-10 minutes and at the swan we never stopped anywhere else before we went over to the parks.You can also get a great view of the Tower of Terror from here!

My husband put in a call to the front desk before he left. They were very apologetic for our inconvenience, and said they would take care of it right away. He left for his conference, and when I got back to the room mid-day it had been replaced with a shiny new one. We also got an apology card from the manager, a box of handmade chocolates from the hotel Dessert Chef and a $50 credit on our bill so that we could go to the hotel store to replace our lost food. I was very impressed with their service and their sincere apology that we had an issue.  The hotel store had most of everything we needed replaced. Even though the hotel is not Disney owned, the hotel store had Disney employees and a great array of Disney souvenirs. They were even great pin traders.

On our 3rd morning, I took some time to go do laundry since we had some clothes that were still damp form the rain, and see some of the rest of the resort. The laundry is over on the Dolphin side of the resort and was a bit of a walk from the swan. It costs $2 for the washer and $2 for the dryers. I brought my own soap and dryer sheets, but there was a vending machine in the laundry room that was stocked with all of your laundry needs.  The machines also only take tokens and not real money. There is a change machine in there though that will convert your money. It takes up to $20 bills, but I suggest going in with nothing bigger than a $5 if you don’t want to be left with a stack of tokens. The laundry was done fairly fast and the room was kept really clean.

I went back over to the Swan to get a cup of tea at the Java Bar and sit and relax in one of the little outdoor seating areas. Some of the seating areas are designated smoking areas, so if you don’t smoke just be careful of the ones you sit in.  They all have little fountains and lots of plantings, so it’s a great place to relax for a bit. The Java Bar is great. They have a nice variety of Starbucks coffee and tea as well as pastries, sandwiches and yogurt parfaits. We went here just about every day to get coffee and tea and even sampled a couple of the pastries one morning. They were delicious!

We only ate at one of the restaurants in the hotels during our stay here, but there are 10 different places to choose from. We ate at the Mediterranean Market over at the Dolphin on our last morning at the resort before leaving for the airport. It is a nice Breakfast buffet. The buffet costs $17.95 per person. You get juice and coffee and tea brought to your table. They have so many choices and many extremely healthy options too like the wheat grass smoothies. We opted for the omelets, and mickey waffles. They are both made to order. For the omelets you go over to a fixings bars and put in a bowl everything you want to have in your omelet and then bring it over to the chef who adds the eggs, egg whites, or egg substitute and cooks it right in front of you. It was really good and a great end to our trip.

Overall our stay at the Swan and Dolphin was great. Despite our mini-fridge problem, which they took care of well above and beyond what they had to, we would definitely stay there again. While it is lacking in the Disney magic, they do have some magical touches of their own, like free grapefruit juice in the lobby for parts of the day, and their exemplary service. My husband enjoyed the ability to get real Starbucks coffee on site, and we both loved the boat transportation to two parks. Just don’t count on it if you have lighting!  Our AAA rate was $175 a night and it is definitely worth looking at if you want to stay in the Epcot resort area without paying the higher rates that are found at the surrounding Disney owned hotels.

 

My family stayed in Kidani Village at the Animal Kingdom Lodge this summer from July 7-14th.  This is our second time staying at Kidani Village, one of the Disney Vacation Club properties.  We’ve stayed at many other hotels in Walt Disney World over the years (10 different ones) and Kidani is one of our favorites.

Pulling up to the resort, the theme is evident right away, with the thatched roof and the drums welcoming you “home”.    The lobby is impressive but not as big or as bustling as Jambo House at the Animal Kingdom Lodge.  We love to look out onto the Savannah, through the two story windows, as we enter the building for a first peek at what animals are out and about.

Once we’ve checked in, it’s off to our room.  The way Kidani is laid out it can be a long walk to your room from the lobby.  Both times we’ve stayed we ended up with rooms fairly close to the lobby but I can see that the distance to your room could be a problem for some people.  We’ve stayed both in a Savannah view and a Standard view.  Of course the Savannah view was amazing.  What fun to step outside and see the animals of an African Safari right outside your living room.  But I was surprised that our Standard View was very green.   Of course to see animals we just had to go down the hall to look out the windows or down to the lobby where the lounge is as well as the entrance to the Savannah.  We stayed in a one bedroom which has plenty of room for our family of 5, including 2 adults and an 18 yr old son, 16 yr old daughter and a 14 yr old daughter.  You can imagine with 3 teens, we loved that our room had 2 full bathrooms and a full kitchen!  I don’t even want to think how long it would take for us all to get ready if we didn’t have that second bathroom.

The bus stop is located just to the right of the main entrance.  There is a covered walkway to get there, and benches and covers while waiting for the bus.  Since our last visit they added TV’s that show Disney infomercials.  The buses arrived in 20 min. or less.  After picking up at Kidani the bus heads over to Jambo House before heading to the parks, which means we always had a seat (until we gave it up for people who needed it more).  The only bus that goes to Jambo House first is the one to Downtown Disney.  Keep this in mind if you want to take buses between Kidani Village and Jambo Hosue.  Even though it’s only a 5-10 min. walk, you can hop on a bus if you want to.

On a hot day it’s nice to cool off in the pool and Kidani has a great one, Samawati Springs.  It can get a bit crowded at midday and when they show movies on the outdoor screen.  In the afternoon, cast members host various games for the kids and they can win small prizes.  There is a zero entry area, hot tubs, a little slide, a really cool big slide and Camp Uwanja kids water play area.  We think the slide is the best one other than the big one at the Beach Club.   And the play area is so much fun with  kid-size water slides, water cannons, water jets, wading pools, and  snakes that shoot water!   Maji Pool Bar serves alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks and a very limited selection of food.  There is also a cup refill station to the right of the bar.   Just above the slide is the fitness center.  I haven’t used this but my son has.  While we relax at the pool he is up there working out.  He thought it was great.

Our one complaint at Kidani Village is the lack of a quick service restaurant.  The only restaurant is Sanaa, an Indian- and African-inspired table service restaurant with a view of the savanna.  Sometimes we are in a rush and would love to be able to quickly buy and eat a meal and this really isn’t possible.  In the mornings, we solve this by eating breakfast in the room of food we bought at the gift shop in the lobby.  There is a section with food, only slightly higher than a grocery store, and a drink refill station.  At Jambo House there is a quick service restaurant, Mara.  We have walked over for lunch once and breakfast once.  It’s just a little inconvenient and at lunch time very crowded.   We did eat at Boma, at Jambo House and my kids didn’t like it, the food was too differently spiced for them.   I must point out, they are not the most adventurous eaters, and while I thought the food was good, but not good enough to pay adult prices for my teens not to eat.  Jiko is a signature restaurant also at Jambo House which we have not eaten.

Overall, we love staying at Kidani Village and if you’re looking for a little more room, an extra bath, a kitchen and animals outside your window I think you will too!

 

This review is based on a visit by my family to Disneyland Paris in December 2010. The Newport bay club is a mid range hotel. It has a nautical theme and is thought by some to be similarly themed to Disney’s Yacht club. The Hotel overlooks lake Disney and is within 10 minutes walk to the Disneyland Parks.

 

The first thing to mention is that this hotel is huge! With over 1000 rooms it is one of the largest hotels in Europe. This means that reception can be extremely busy. When we arrived it was approximately 6pm and it still took some time to check in. However the lobby is beautiful and was very elegantly decorated for Christmas at the time. As I said before the hotel is very large and those who have rooms at the farthest ends of the wings will have a considerable walk to their rooms. We were lucky enough to get a room that was fairly central, one floor below the lobby.

Our room was spotlessly clean and decorated in a nautical colour scheme . The room was of an adequate size for the four of us with two double beds. We felt that the hotel was beginning to show it’s age. There were chips in some of the furniture, and a cracked tile in the bathroom   Obviously Disney agreed with us as it has just been announced that the Hotel is to undergo refurbishment.

The hotel has a large gift shop with a great range of Disney merchandise but unlike the hotel shops in Florida it does not stock basics, we asked for headache tablets and were directed to an offsite pharmacy.  There are also occasional character meet and greets in the hotel lobby.

Off the lobby is a restaurant and a very pleasant bar with a view over the lake. It has an extensive cocktail menu and I can personally recommend the Mojitos.

The hotel does have a swimming pool and a games room but i cant comment on these as we didn’t use them. December in Paris is not peak swimming season.

All the Disneyland Paris hotels operate on a bed and breakfast basis. We had been warned to expect long queues for the restaurant but didn’t find this to be a problem. In peak season i imagine this would be different. There was a good selection of cereals, croissants, yoghurt, cold meats and cheeses. There was tea, coffee, hot chocolate and assorted fruit juices. All of these were serve yourself and we saw several people taking extras for lunch.

 

There was a regular bus service from outside the hotel to the bus station outside the parks, it is also possible to walk to the parks.  On the way to the park you pass this lighthouse,

 

It’s a fun landmark but again could do with renovation.

Overall we loved staying in this hotel, the staff  were helpful and we had a great time.

If you have persevered this far  thank you for putting up with my ramblings.