The Walt Disney World Dolphin Resort is an on-site WDW hotel that is run by Marriott Bonvoy. The Dolphin is across a walkway from the Swan Hotel and they are often paired together when talked about. There’s also the newer Swan Reserve that is just around the corner and in the same complex. All three of these hotels are in the Crescent Lake area of Disney World, close to Epcot and within walking distance to Hollywood Studios. While this is not technically a Disney run hotel, it does receive most of the on-site perks. In this post, we’ll review the Dolphin including our thoughts on the room, location, amenities and value.

The Swan and Dolphin Hotels opened in 1990 and were designed by acclaimed architect and designer Michael Graves. That the outlandish facades still standout among Walt Disney World’s many hotels is a testament to the creativity of that design. Not to say that the colors and loud sculptures are for everyone, they’re not. But the Swan and Dolphin have become a staple of the Crescent Lake area.

We stayed at the Swan about 7 years ago. That’s long enough for me to not link the review as it’s out of date. We did enjoy our stay though, the location was fantastic and the rooms were very nice for being a standard hotel room. Honestly, it was a surprise we hadn’t been back to one of the hotels before now given that this is the cheapest place to stay that’s within walking distance of a theme park.

Both the Swan and Dolphin are about a 15 minute walk to Epcot’s International Gateway entrance. It doesn’t feel that long. Guests will pass the Boardwalk and have a scenic walk to the gates. Walking to Hollywood Studios takes just slightly longer, with the pathway running alongside the water. There’s also boat transportation to both parks that will take roughly the same amount of time as the walk. The Skyliner is another option to get to Hollywood Studios but is more for the views and ride than it is a timesaver.

Bus transportation is provided for the other theme parks and Disney Springs, although they don’t get you quite as close as the on-site hotel busses do. Swan & Dolphin busses will pick guests up in front of the hotel every 20-30 minutes. Catching a bus to or from the Boardwalk or Yacht & Beach Club can save a little bit of time. All this to say, the location here is fantastic especially if your trip is Epcot and/or Hollywood Studios driven.

Moving to the rooms, here is a look at the two beds. The standard rooms have 2 double beds or 1 king bed. It’s very strange that they’ve stuck with a double bed layout over the years instead of switching to 2 queens. At 360 square feet, there is plenty of room for bigger beds.

Instead, the space is used for this chair and table. I’ve got nothing against either piece of furniture, they’re fairly interesting for being hotel pieces, but there’s just a loss of space here unless you’re planning to do a lot of work in the hotel.

That complaint aside, the design is modern and aesthetically pleasing. This is a fairly generic hotel room but the pops of color from the carpet and chair are nice and I like the gray accent wall behind the bed. That color tone pops up again.

This is my reflection along with the room’s closet, amenities and a lamp. Again, plenty of space in this room for being a standard option.

My reflection is a little harder to spot here! The sink is outside of the toilet and bath/shower. The backsplash pattern is a good touch, keeping the room away from being overly boring.

The bathroom felt dated compared to the rest of the room. The shower/bath combo was on the smaller side and there wasn’t much room to operate in there. If and when these room receive a makeover, I’d expect the bathroom to be a top priority.

As a whole, the rooms were fine but we found the Swan’s to be much nicer and that was 7 years ago. The Dolphin’s rooms have some strange layout choices, including smaller beds, along with being a very normal hotel room. There’s nothing wrong with normal, especially when it’s clean, but these rooms don’t exactly fit the eccentric outside of the Dolphin.

The Dolphin’s amenities do make up for the lackluster rooms, at least somewhat. Standout among the amenities is the pool complex, shared with the Swan and Swan Reserve. There’s a great waterfall feature as well as a waterslide. This whole pool area also has several restaurants and quieter pools.

Sticking outside, the Swan and Dolphin have a number of beach spots to relax at. There’s a playground near the water as well as beach volleyball mixed in with the lounge chairs. If you want to be out on the lake, there are some watercraft rentals available.

Inside of the Dolphin, there’s an arcade with a mini bowling alley. I don’t know why but I was fascinated that there’s a mini bowling alley in here. Are arcades back? Do they all have bowling alleys? What’s with the screen above the pins and what 60’s rock band is that? Anyway, seemed like this place was my 9 year-old self’s dream.

The exercise room is larger than many Walt Disney World hotel options. Just in case the 20,000 steps a day isn’t enough for you, then this place should do the trick. I prefer mini bowling.

My current dream is less arcade-y and more about good food and the Dolphin has some well thought of restaurants. There’s also a few grab and go or quick spots. Todd English’s Bluezoo comes highly recommended but we haven’t had a chance to eat there.

Outside of the rooms, I find the Dolphin to be a really enjoyable atmospheric hotel. The lobby is beautiful, replicating the fish (dolphin?) fountain that’s out front. There’s color and some wonderful light fixtures throughout. There’s also enough in the hotel that you could have a great resort day in the middle of a trip filled with theme parks.

The Swan and Dolphin remind me of the 3rd party hotels along the Tokyo Disney Resort monorail line. That’s a high compliment! The prices are cheaper, the location is still great and the amenities are top tier for being ordinary hotels. It almost feels like cheating to get a deluxe style Disney World resort without paying the deluxe prices.

Commonly, the Dolphin is between $200 to $300 per room. Generally, it’s closer to $300. That’s still quite a bit of money but much cheaper than many Walt Disney World deluxe resorts. If you can find the Dolphin for close to $200/night then it’s a great deal. You can also use Marriott Bonvoy points here to book, which is a great way to go if applicable.

All that said, we do prefer the Swan over the Dolphin by a wide margin. That’s largely thanks to the rooms, as they were just more comfortable. For what it’s worth, I like the fish on top of the Dolphin more than I like the giant swan. There’s a handful (maybe a few more than one handful) of on-site hotels that we’d take over both of these but staying at the Swan or Dolphin, when the price is right, makes for an excellent trip to Walt Disney World.

If the Dolphin receives a room remodel then it will become one of our favorite hotels at Walt Disney World. The value and amenities are already there. The location is great! But the rooms do bog our thoughts of the hotel down a bit. Still, it’s a really nice hotel to stay in and not much beats only having to walk a few minutes to Epcot!

Overall Rating – 8/10

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