Our family loves travelling and exploring new areas. While Orlando is not new to us, the Disney World’s Dolphin Resort is. I’m sharing all about our stay there over the summer. It’s not sponsored – only a review of our personal experience.
Every now and then I’d see a post about or hear families talk about vacationing in Orlando and staying at a Disney Resort. I figured it sounded like fun but I don’t think I ever imagined us doing that. But my husband had a business trip at the Disney’s Dolphin resort and we were invited to go along with him. First off, let me clarify that his job does not cover the trip cost for us. Usually my husband only desires that we come along with him when he goes to places that have activities that the family can do while he is in business meetings and such. That means he’ll invite us to places like Orlando (tons of things) or Washington DC (very historical) and other places with additional activities. He does not have us go to places where he knows we probably wouldn’t be close to known places of family activities (famous parks, aquariums, etc). Otherwise we’d just be sitting in the hotel not doing exploring or doing any kind of activities.
Disney Dolphin Resort
Disney has many resorts on their property, the Dolphin Resort being one of them. Apparently, it’s Disney’s oldest and most notable resort. It’s a beautiful resort but it might be helpful to know that it is by no means Disney Themed (not decorated with all things Disney). Before we left for the trip, I imagined that the resorts would be a lot Disney themed on the inside – quite the contrary. I imagined the walls of the rooms and bathrooms, the bedding, and everything else would have photos of Disney events and characters. Quite the contrary! The surrounds with it’s beautiful tall palm trees that grace the sky by day and lights up by night, a gorgeous water fountain that changes color at nights, and two large dolphin sculptures at the top of the building are all a site to see. But the overall look inside the hotel is very much similar to a regular high class hotel. There is a lovely fountain in the lobby and the resort has a lot to offer.
But if you are picturing the overall look as “all things Disney”, then that is something to note. I have to admit the kids were a little disappointed that the rooms were not decorated Disney but the overall experience was very pleasing. There are a ton of stuff to do right there on the resort. And if you are heading to Disney World during your stay, you wouldn’t have to drive far. There are even Disney buses that take you to and from Disney World there at the resort.
The resort is adjacent to the Disney Swan Resort. I’ve seen it referred to as the SwanDolphin or #swandolphin because they are right next to each other. Funny story: My husband went out one night and stopped to get some take-out dinner downstairs there at the Disney Resort. As he was waiting, one of our friends family friends from our hometown area and previous church came up to him. They both were surprised to see each other there!! Haha! The family were on a vacation trip to Disney World and were staying at the Disney Swan Resort for the week. They’d come over to Dolphin to get some food since it has more food/restaurant options (that’s what they said).
View from the 17th floor of the resort!! Isn’t it gorgeous? When we got there, they upgraded my husband with no additional costs.
We even got to see some of the late evening fireworks at Disney World right from our room. It was beautiful and unexpected! This fireworks from Disney World can also be seen from outside and around the resort.
Other pretty things to see around the resort…
Fun things to do at Disney Dolphin Resort
- Enjoy the scenery (as mentioned earlier – palm trees, water fountain, sunshine
Fountain color changes at nights. . . . It was so beautiful to watch.
These tall palm trees grace the resort area so beautifully. They are next to the fountain and light up at nights too. I believe there are some kind of color-changing light in the background that reflects the fountain and the palm trees to give everything around the illusion of colorful lights.
- There are about 6 pools on the property to swim around all day including a little pool for babies and smaller kids. There’s one that looks like the background pool from the Disney movie, “High School Musical”!
- Poolside Rental Rooms – Rent your own poolside room and enjoy the convenience of jumping in the pool whenever you feel like it. After all it’s right there!
- Cruise Rides to and from the resorts to Disney Parks
- Paddle Boats on the resort site
- Bean Bag Toss
- Daily activities by the pool side such as Tie-dye-ing shirts, smores’ night, etc.
- Playground – Because no matter where you take kids, as long as there is a playground they are going to go play! Forget about all the other fancy stuff – just give them the playground and they are happy.
- Ping Pong Table
- Kids Playroom (The playroom for smaller kids usually opens when it’s raining plenty and the kids cannot go outside).
- Arcade – Kids Game room (with game machines so be sure to have enough money for the machines).
- A Board Walk (Walk the path to buildings and stores around).
- Bus to Disney Springs (catch the Disney bus to Disney shopping area)
- Restaurants (One has the opportunity to dine at the resort if they don’t feel like going out)
- Dine with the Princesses (we didn’t do this but there are nightly dinners with different Disney characters, I think there is breakfast too.)
There are just so many things to do on the resort itself but one can always feel free to explore other ideas right there in the Disney area, too! I think I only barely scratched the surface with this this review since we only stayed for one week. We only did so much especially since my husband had business meetings during the day (they had a large conference week at the resort). Nonetheless, I hope this quick review would be of help to you if you are planning to stay at this resort.
Have you been stayed at any one of Disney’s resorts? I’d love to know what you think of it and some of what you did while you were there!