Caribbean Beach or Swan/Dolphin?

[Rayhawk]

Which hotel do you guys prefer? Caribbean Beach Resort or the Swan and Dolphin?

Guidelines are as far as room size, surroundings, views, and general fun! We're looking to have a good time, so we want as much bang for our buck.

We LOVE to explore everything so keep that in mind.

[Micoofy Duck]

Caribbean, Carribean, man I can never spell it right but I love to misspell it for some reason.

Look at the resorts this way. The CBR gives you this engulfed feeling of a carribean resort, full of pathways, "beach" sights, tropical plants, colorful visual structures. When I stayed there I felt like I wasn't at WDW but somewhere tropical and out of the country.

The Swan/Dolphin will basically be less Mickey and more very nice buisness hotel. The ideal insight for this hotel is location, location, location.

You've got boat and bus transportations at these hotels. You've got walking distances to the Boardwalk and Yacht/Beach club resorts as well as Epcot and Hollywood Studios. The boardwalk has a mini store where you can load up on food for your hotel room. There's loads of outdoor activities at the yacht/beach club resorts, movie nights and it's just plain romantic or family fun to walk the boardwalk at night and even stroll around and dine at the y/b club resorts as you rest during the 2nd half of a busy theme park day.

Carribean gives you an isolated resort feeling, still full of fun, family late night activites yet the Swan/Dolphin gives you location, location, location to wonderful Disney close fun. I personally love the Boardwalk, Y/B club resorts at night.

Hope this helps.

[lily23]

Hmm...I was going to say Caribbean because the atmosphere is better...The Dolphin/Swan seems a bit sterile and less festive to me...but the above poster raises some very good points.

If you don't have a car, then transportation is an issue at the Caribbean...there are bus stations spread throughout but they can be kind of a "hike" from your room sometimes, as is the food court, pool, etc., depending on where your room is. The resort is huge, rooms spread out all over, and depending on where your room is, things can be impossibly far. Dolphin/Swan is a hotel, a single building, so everything is right there.

Don't know what your budget is but i can't recommend the beach club/yacht club enough!

[Rayhawk]

The Beach and Yacht Club are REALLY nice, I've eaten there, but way out of our budget. I have a question though, does the Swan/Dolphin have transportation to the parks? Like buses that go to Magic Kingdom?

[lily23]

The Beach and Yacht Club are REALLY nice, I've eaten there, but way out of our budget. I have a question though, does the Swan/Dolphin have transportation to the parks? Like buses that go to Magic Kingdom?

Hmm... I'm sure they have some kind of transportation to the parks...every hotel, motel, and rat-trap in Orlando does... and they are on Walt Disney World grounds, but they are not technically a "disney" hotel so not sure if the Disney buses go there or if they have their own shuttle or what...

I'm assuming this means you will be depending on the available transportation and will not have a car... in this case I would state more strongly that Caribbean Beach may not be for you, for reasons I explained above about intolerable walking distances to food court, pool, bus, etc... And the other poster is right, there is plenty to walk to from the Swan/Dolphin (I think one of them is closer to the boardwalk but I forget which...)

Again, I don't know what exactly the swan/dolphin deal is for transporation, but I bet it's something decent...

Anyone know??

[Rachael]

The Disney buses do go there, except for Magical Express.

[Yackerz]

Yes, I second Rachael's comment. You can get direct bus to all the parks just like if you were at another Disney resort. I can also, add Dolphin/Swan is the most convenient park for DHS. Hop board the water taxi (runs approx. every 20 minutes) and its a direct trip to DHS. Also, you can walk to Epcot in about 20 min down the nice Disney boardwalk or get another water taxi which may take longer since it stops at a couple other resorts.

[sleepyjeff]

Caribbean Resort = Inside the Magic

Swan/Dolphin = Closer to Epcot and Disney Studios

[Yackerz]

I don't know if you would actually feel any more magic at the Caribbean Resort.
I looked at all the Moderates and none of them seemed to have that "resort" feel to it. Sure some pretty scenery, but the rooms at best seemed like glamarous motel type.

Dolphin/Swan is a hotel that is not disney but should be still clean and super close to epcot / dhs. I was leaning towards the dolphin.

Then I saw the Wilderness Lodge and really love the look / feel of it. It really isn't a ton more than the Dolphin and with the right discount it could be actually less. Not sure which moderate I'd actually pick if I had to choose... tough call.