Is a Balcony Room at Walt Disney World’s Swan and Dolphin Worth It?

I hate spoilers, but this might be one upgrade you don’t regret. If I were to guess, I’ve stayed at Disney’s Swan and Dolphin Hotels at least 20 or so times in the past two decades. We were originally introduced to this hotel through a conference a family member attended. Needless to say, we loved it and have returned many times since. But, for whatever reason, I had never booked a room with a balcony.

On this last visit, I was traveling with my friend Kristen, who owns and operates Firefly Travels. Due to an unexpected gap in our travel plans, we were between hotels until we met up with her family the next day. So she booked a last-minute room, treating us to a balcony upgrade. The pictures speak for themselves.

Now, I didn’t photograph our room because I had just stayed in one of the recently updated rooms at the Swan just a month or so earlier. While that stay wasn’t in a balcony room, it was identical. If you decide to book a standard room at the Swan or Dolphin, you’ll have two options: a traditional room or a deluxe room. The traditional room does not have a balcony and comes with an option of no view, or you can upgrade to a resort view for an additional charge. The deluxe room works the same way, except it comes with a balcony. Per the hotel’s website, both rooms have the same view options:

• Swan – No View or Resort View (additional charge)
• Dolphin – No View or Resort View (additional charge)

(I’m not entirely certain, but as far as I can tell, most of the balcony rooms have a resort view. When checking rates on the hotel’s website, I didn’t see any deluxe rooms with a no-view option.)

As you can see from the photos, we had a beautiful view from our balcony. We were on the Swan side of the resort, and our room faced the Dolphin and the causeway that connects them. At night, the hotel offers a charming dancing light show along the causeway. It might be a little hard to see, but the FriendShip boats dock at the center of the causeway. If the weather is agreeable, you could sit on your balcony as much as you like, watching the boats come and go between the hotels and the theme parks.

Here is the view from our room’s balcony looking back toward the Swan.

Now you might be wondering if the balcony upgrade is worth the extra cost. A quick check of rates shows us the price difference for a random date. Note that hotel rates vary. We’re only looking at these to compare the difference between the view and balcony options, which should be pretty standard. For our example:

• Traditional Room with No View $370.00
• Traditional Room with a Resort View $397.00
• Deluxe Room with a Resort View $415.00

To have a balcony, our example shows that you’ll pay about $45.00 more per night than the basic rate. For a resort view (no balcony), you’ll pay abou $27.00 more per night. Is it worth it? If someone in your party plans to spend a decent amount of time in the room, I believe that a room with a balcony is worth it. Of course, that’s always subject to your budget.

For me, time spent in the room has to be your biggest consideration. You might also multiply the difference by how many nights you’re staying. I would ask myself–what else would we do with this extra money? If it meant another night at the resort, an extra day in the parks, or a ticket to some sort of special event, I might choose the latter. Of course, if your dates are restricted to a work schedule, you might not be privy to a longer stay.

Overall, if you do decide to upgrade to a room with a balcony, I think you’ll be pleased. We for sure had no regrets, and I’ll be eyeing this option a little more the next time I stay.

In the Comments

What do you think? Would you pay to upgrade to a room with a balcony or feel the money might be better spent on something else? How would you handle this choice? Let us know in the comments below.