Stay for Free at Disney
Free and Disney – two words you don’t frequently hear together. I stayed for almost free at Walt Disney World and HAD to share how you can do that too! As you know – staying for free at Disney is unheard of!
Did you know both The Swan and Dolphin Hotels take points/miles from various programs. I had Avios points on my British Airways account that I was never going to use. For $300 and my Avios miles, I booked 8 nights at the Dolphin Hotel, every other expense included! You can also use Starwood points, a new credit card that my spouse and I just signed up for, and expect to have over 60,000 points for our next trip!
These hotels are located on the lake that connects Hollywood Studios and Epcot. We stayed at a property on the lake during our first family trip to Walt Disney World and have tried to come back since that time. This is my #1 location for staying at WDW! We were able to walk to and from both parks. No waiting for buses!
As a frequent visitor of Disney – I have some insider secrets, but please do not tell the world!
1. Bottled water is free. They leave you two a day, and you can request more. I did not take several of these with me into the parks every day to save money. And you can’t prove it!
2. They have a room service department called the marketplace. Soda is delivered for $1 a can. At a Walt Disney World hotel! I felt bad so I always ordered the package for $9 that had six cans of soda and two Kit Kat bars. And no delivery fee.
3. Ice cream shoppe on property.
4. Full laundry room on property – this is our third trip where we stayed away for over a week and laundry was a necessity. It was just as easy as using my laundry room at home, and we did not smell during the second half of our vacation. Well, at least our clothes did not smell!
5. All the Starbucks coffee you can drink. There is a one cup coffee maker in the room. And a small fridge! I made 2 cups every night and left it in the fridge so I could have my iced coffee ready for myself in the morning. If I needed more, I just called the front desk and they brought it.
And from some of the rooms, you can see the Illuminations fireworks show from EPCOT:
I recommend this hotel and would stay here again. While I would pay to stay at the hotels again, I have started collecting miles!
Disclosure: I received a room upgrade for the below amazing view to see the fireworks show from my room. No other compensation was received. All opinions are always 100% honest and our own.
Our fav too!
Love the location, easy walking and just a saunter over to The Boardwalk ie. best sundaes evah!
We stayed at the Treehouse Villas this spring and loved it. I would love to try the Dolphin and Swan sometime too.
We’re going this week and this was one of the locations I’m considering. Mitch for the win! (As long as I can use my points there too. I’m Starwood.)
Have stayed at the Swan and Dolphin many of times and you cannot beat the price for the location. I will say I have always preferred the Beach Club but once the holidays roll around it is nearly impossible to get a decent room there at a decent price. My favorite perk too is just as you mentioned, the ease and convenience of being able to walk to and from Epcot and MGM without a bus!!