One of the things that we’re quickly learning as we go from being a couple of Childless Disney Adults to parents of a toddler is that room size matters at Walt Disney World. There was a time when we appreciated a bit of breathing room, but it was a non-essential luxury.
We could easily do stays in smaller rooms without feeling cramped. There were plenty of times when we booked two queen rooms because it was (frustratingly) cheaper than a king room, and the second bed just became a hanger-less closet or “desk” for me. We stayed in the tiny Tower Studios at Disney’s Riviera Resort without feeling the squeeze, and countless smaller Value and Moderate Resorts.
When you have kids–or even child, singular–the game changes. This became abundantly clear to us when visiting Walt Disney World for the first time as a family of 3, staying in the Royal Rooms at Port Orleans Riverside and trying to cram a crib in there. That was our first, what have we gotten ourselves into?! moment. Suffice to say, that whole trip was a massive learning experience, and taught us a lot of lessons that we’ve put to use.
One such lesson is that we need more floor space. Larger Deluxe Resort rooms are good for that. You can absolutely feel the size difference between Riverside and the Contemporary when doing back to back stays. It is a night and day difference.
It isn’t just Deluxe or bust, thankfully! We’ve also found that the pulldown Murphy beds that are couch and sofa combos are incredible. We loved that space-saving design before, but it’s truly a lifesaver now. You can find that at almost all Disney Vacation Club resorts as well as in the Little Mermaid rooms at Caribbean Beach. None of those are inexpensive, though. Even though renting DVC points will save you a ton of money, you’re still looking at Moderate-plus pricing.
The truly cheap option is the Value Resorts. This blog has become a bona fide champion of the budget-tier on-site accommodations over the last few years, between naming Pop Century as the #1 hotel in our list of All Walt Disney World Resort Hotels Ranked From Worst to Best.
If anything, we’d double-down on that when traveling with a toddler. Those convertible table beds are a game-changer. As far as standard rooms go, they’re right up there with DVC studios in terms of space-saving design, but Value Resorts still cost less most of the time.
Suffice to say, space is of paramount importance when traveling with a toddler. Today, we’re going to take a look at a new-to-us room type at the Walt Disney World Swan Resort: the Larger Alcove Family Room. Let’s start with some photos:
In terms of basics, the Alcove Family Room at the Swan can sleep 4 guests via one king bed and one sofa bed. The room is 500 square feet in size, with two televisions, a desk, and incredibly plush bedding. The rooms have separate living and sleeping spaces, and ours had a balcony (not all do).
Thanks to the quirky layout of the Swan & Dolphin, these Alcove Rooms are located throughout both the Swan & Dolphin. we’ve only stayed in the Swan version, but it’s my understanding that the Dolphin version actually has a wall separating the living and sleeping areas in at least some of its family rooms. That’d be huge. Maybe we’ll “need” to stay in that room type next if there’s overwhelming demand in response to this review. For research, of course!
For the most part, the Alcove Room is similar to the regular rooms at the Swan & Dolphin, but with the addition of the alcove that offers a family room, and sofa sleeper.
I’m not going to fixate on the strengths and weaknesses of these rooms, in general, as we’ve covered that ground in our full Swan & Dolphin Resort Review. One thing I will say, since this is our first time covering hotel post-refurbishment, is that the new rooms are disappointingly bland.
Perhaps it’s a matter of the target audience being convention clientele, but even so, the redone rooms are exceedingly generic. Everything from the stock art to the rugs to the mirror is just so dull and phoned in. This is particularly disappointing on the heels of the Swan Reserve, which has its own distinct style and better attention to detail. This is now the second consecutive room refresh of the main Swolphin that has been underwhelming and felt phoned in.
It’s also a sharp contrast to the hotels as a whole. The Swan & Dolphin were designed by ‘starchitect’ Michael Graves, who worked with former Disney CEO Michael Eisner on many projects. Graves’ design is distinct and iconic, but also looks dated to many guests.
Honestly, it’s taken me a while to appreciate Graves’ postmodern twist on “entertainment architecture.” Once I warmed to it, I loved it. But this was a multi-year process, and the average guest isn’t going to keep revisiting a hotel that they find weird or dated. There’s no great way to deal with that–modernization means losing some of what makes these hotels unique, but it’s what contemporary guests desire.
Point being, I wonder if one of the ways the hotel has dealt with this tension is retaining the quirkiness in the common areas but making the guest rooms more muted. I don’t know how else to explain the last two rounds of room refurbishments being so boring, paired with the thematically-respectful common areas updates and lovely new rooms at the Swan Reserve (which has more mainstream common areas).
The biggest strength of the Alcove Room is the obvious one: more space!
These rooms are 500 square feet, versus the 340 square feet of the standard rooms at the Swan. That’s not a massive difference, but it’s one that you can absolutely feel with the separate sitting area. It’s also nice to have the desk be “around the corner” from the sofa and seating area.
Between this and noise cancelling headphones, it’s like being in my own little world when trying to get work done–especially when it’s too hot to use the balcony (which is often in Central Florida).
Another upside is that these rooms are more fun than the standard Swolphin rooms.
I can’t say I’m a huge fan of the recently-redone rooms, as they’re definitely lacking in personality. These definitely do better in that regard, between the angular design of the corner room, circular window, balcony, and view outside of the rest of the resort (below is the view from our balcony).
Letting the exterior inside, for lack of a better term, is something that I really liked about the Alcove Room. It’s hard to convey this in words or photos, but it was definitely noticeable during our stay. And it helped mask the bland and basic character (or lack thereof) of the room itself.
The downside is the lack of a wall and door.
I don’t know how much you know about toddlers, but they’re famously bad about boundaries. “Dad is working” only works some of the time. Especially after dad has made the mistake of showing said toddler photos of Goofy on his laptop, and said toddler comes to understand “working” to be shorthand for “looking at photos of Goofy.”
At which point toddler decides she would like to have that job, which looks very easy, volunteers to help dad “work” and won’t take no for an answer. Perhaps my circumstances are unique in this very specific example, but I doubt the value of fully-separated sleeping and living areas is.
On the other hand, there’s definitely something to be said for the lack of a door in other circumstances.
It’s nice to have separate space during naptime, without being completely isolated. Or immediately thereafter when it’s “Hot Dog Song” o’clock and an adorable-but-distracting dance party breaks out.
For us, travel is for family time first and foremost, and having a shared space that offers a degree of demarcation but isn’t completely cordoned off can be a good thing. It’s nice to be able to work without missing the action, and if I’m really in the zone looking at Goofy pictures, nothing’s gonna distract me from that important task.
When it comes to comparisons, the most obvious one is the Swan Reserve Junior Suites (up to 590 square feet) and Signature Suites (610 square feet). The Junior Suites similarly have a separate seating area like this, with a variety of different arrangements.
The Signature Suite is essentially the traditional room plus a living room. Assuming my math is correct (never a safe assumption), that living area is about 290 square feet.
That is my favorite family room type at the Swolphin properties; that living area feels larger than 290 square feet, and is separated by a door. Huge win. It’s also typically more expensive than the Alcove Room. It also doesn’t have a balcony.
Another mainstream option is the Art of Animation Family Suites.
Not exactly apples to apples in terms of vibe and amenities, but those rooms are 565 square feet and also have a wall and door separating the living room and main bedroom. I’m actually a big fan of the Art of Animation Family Suite layout. It’s my favorite larger, budget-friendly room option. (Cars Suites are the best.)
Prices for Art of Animation Family Suites are all over the place, but they’re typically more expensive than the Swolphin rooms. They sometimes are deeply discounted, though, in which case they can be surprisingly affordable (and cheaper than the Swolphin).
Although the Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin Resort hotels are not owned by Disney, they are very much on-site hotels. Located on Crescent Lake alongside BoardWalk Inn and Yacht & Beach Club, the Swan & Dolphin are within walking distance of both EPCOT and Disney’s Hollywood Studios.
With this prime piece of real estate, the Swan & Dolphin and Swan Reserve actually have a better location than most Disney-owned hotels. Crescent Lake is right up there with the Magic Kingdom monorail loop, perhaps even above it since this resort area has the ability to take the FriendShips or walk to two parks, and also take the Skyliner to one park and several hotels (and their restaurants).
This biggest downside from the Swan & Dolphin is bus transportation, and that’s really only an issue for Magic Kingdom. And there’s an easy-enough workaround for that. Aside from that asterisk and no eligibility for the Disney Dining Plan, the Swan & Dolphin are essentially Disney Deluxe Resorts.
In addition to Early Entry, Swan & Dolphin guests are also eligible for Extended Evening Hours, which is huge. Not even Value and Moderate Resort guests staying at Disney-owned hotels get ExEH. We love Extended Evening Hours, especially in the hotter months when it’s a near necessity (except at Animal Kingdom).
Swolphin guests also have the pre-arrival window for booking Lightning Lane Multi Pass, Single Pass, and Premier Pass. Guests of the Swan & Dolphin are able to purchase these line-skipping services up to 7 days in advance of their stay, just like other on-site Deluxe Resort guests.
Only a handful of third party hotels at Walt Disney World offer the 7+ day booking window, which is incredibly advantageous if you want to book Soarin’ Across America, Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring the Muppets, Slinky Dog Dash, Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin or other high-demand Lightning Lanes. Read our Guide to Lightning Lane Multi-Pass and Single Pass at Walt Disney World for everything you need to know about these line-skipping options.
In addition to enjoying standard on-site Walt Disney World benefits and guest perks, Marriott Bonvoy Rewards members can take advantage of program benefits, including earning Marriott Bonvoy points with each stay. (Or redeeming them!)
Unlike other third party hotels that are technically on-site, the Walt Disney World Swan & Dolphin truly offer the best of both worlds. All of the benefits of staying in a Disney-owned hotel, plus a rewards program, better management, and more competitive prices.
About the only thing you’re compromising is Disney IP infused into the hotel. And thematically weaker rooms, albeit ones that are often substantively nicer. (Although after staying at the redone rooms at nearby Yacht Club, I’d say those offer the best of both worlds.)
Ultimately, if you have kids and want a ‘second space’ or more area to spread out, the Alcove Rooms are an excellent option. Aside from DVC units, there are a couple of quirky or unique room styles in Crescent Lake (e.g. Garden Cottages at BoardWalk), but all are significantly more expensive.
Even as a couple, we would’ve appreciated the Alcove option to give us a bit more breathing room and a separate workspace from the rest of the room (although back then, that would’ve been the couch as opposed to the desk, since it’s in a separate area from the bed).
The other upside to these essentially being larger corner rooms as opposed to fully-fledged family suites with doors and separate living and sleeping areas is that they are priced accordingly. On many dates, there’s only a slight surcharge (+$40 to $50) per night over the standard rooms. That might seem like a lot if you don’t need more space, but for us, that’s starting to feel like a small price to pay.
If it came down to paying extra for a fireworks view standard room or the larger Alcove Family Room, I’m picking this every single time–and that’d be true even if traveling solo! Even with the extra space and after discounts, the Alcove Room still comes out cheaper than BoardWalk or Yacht & Beach Club for many upcoming dates we’re eyeing this summer. Too bad I don’t need to review it again.
Planning a Walt Disney World trip? Learn about hotels on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page. For where to eat, read our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. To save money on tickets or determine which type to buy, read our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips post takes a unique look at clever items to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will help. For comprehensive advice, the best place to start is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for everything you need to know!
YOUR THOUGHTS
What do you think of these Alcove Family Rooms at the Walt Disney World Swan & Dolphin Hotels? Have you ever booked this room category? Would you rather pay a bit less for this room at the Swolphin or a bit more for standard rooms at Yacht & Beach Club or BoardWalk Inn? Do you agree or disagree with our assessments? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
