Hôtel Walt Disney World Swan

The Walt Disney World Swan stands on the shore of Crescent Lake, on Walt Disney World Resort property in Florida, about a ten-minute walk from EPCOT’s International Gateway entrance. Two forty-seven-foot swans have watched over its roof since 1990. It is a Marriott hotel, and that distinction governs everything that follows.

A Marriott hotel sitting on Disney land

Disney owns the land. The building belongs to Tishman Hotel & Realty and MetLife, and Marriott operates it under the Westin brand. Disney files it in a category of its own, “Other Select Hotels,” which receive part of the Disney Resorts Collection benefits without belonging to it. Hold on to that distinction: it explains both what you gain here and what you give up.

Michael Graves designed the complex in the early 1990s, with its shell fountains, its palms and its coral palette. The hotel has 756 rooms, 55 of them suites, and every one was renovated in work completed in March 2025.

Ten minutes on foot to EPCOT, ten by boat to Hollywood Studios

The path follows the lake, then the BoardWalk, to EPCOT’s International Gateway entrance. Figure roughly 750 metres and ten to fifteen minutes, flat and shaded in places. Walking to Disney’s Hollywood Studios takes closer to fifteen or twenty minutes.

Friendship boats are the other option. One route reaches EPCOT with stops at the BoardWalk, the Yacht Club and the Beach Club, in about twenty minutes. A second runs straight to Disney’s Hollywood Studios in about ten. Service starts roughly an hour before the parks open, which leaves time to use early entry.

For Magic Kingdom Park and Disney’s Animal Kingdom Theme Park, the bus is the way, every twenty to thirty minutes. Those buses are run by Mears rather than by Disney transportation, so stops and frequency differ from what a guest expects at a Disney hotel. The Disney Skyliner does not serve the hotel, though nothing stops you walking to the International Gateway and boarding there.

Extended evening hours, the benefit half the web will tell you that you do not have

Swan guests do get Extended Evening Theme Park Hours. Disney’s own page devoted to the benefit names the Swan, the Dolphin, the Swan Reserve and Shades of Green among eligible hotels. Access dates back to October 2021 and has never been withdrawn.

In practice, the designated park stays open about two hours past regular closing, for guests of those hotels only. In 2026, EPCOT takes Mondays and Magic Kingdom Park takes Wednesdays, and the rotation has widened: Disney’s Hollywood Studios has joined it and Disney’s Animal Kingdom Theme Park has a fuller calendar. Disney confirms the benefit through 2027.

So why do so many sites say otherwise? Because Disney’s general benefits page mentions only Disney Deluxe Resorts and Disney Deluxe Villa Resorts, leaving out the select hotels. The dedicated page names them. Two pages on the same site, two answers. Have your advisor confirm the calendar for your dates before you build your evenings around it.

Early entry and the seven-day window

Thirty minutes before official opening, at all four theme parks, every day of the stay, arrival and departure days included. You need valid admission and a MagicBand, a Disney MagicMobile pass or a Key to the World Card.

The other benefit goes largely unnoticed, and it shapes a day better than an early alarm: Swan guests buy their Lightning Lane passes seven days before arrival, for the length of the stay, while the general public waits until three. Sales open at seven in the morning, Eastern time. On the busiest attractions, four extra days change the shape of a trip.

Rooms, tables and the shared complex

The Swan shares everything with the Dolphin across the water and with the Swan Reserve opposite. Six pools for the whole complex, including a grotto pool with a waterfall and a slide. A white sand beach lines Crescent Lake, a place to settle rather than swim, since swimming in the lake is not allowed. Mandara Spa covers about 975 square metres, and Camp Dolphin takes the children.

The complex counts twenty-three restaurants and lounges. Inside the Swan itself: Il Mulino New York Trattoria for Italian, Kimonos for sushi, Garden Grove for breakfast, Java for the morning coffee and the Splash Pool Bar and Grill by the water. The Dolphin’s tables are a few minutes away on foot, among them Todd English’s Bluezoo and Michael Mina’s Bourbon Steak, which opened in April 2025 in place of Shula’s.

What is worth knowing before you book

MagicBands are sold here rather than provided, and they will not let you charge a meal or a park purchase to your room. These hotels live outside Disney’s billing system. That is the most common disappointment among guests who arrive believing they are staying with Disney.

The Disney Dining Plan does not apply either. A daily resort fee is added to the bill and hotel parking is charged, while theme park parking is included on presentation of the room key. In exchange, nights count toward Marriott Bonvoy and points can be redeemed for stays here, which no Disney hotel allows.

To find out whether the Swan suits your group better than the Dolphin or the Swan Reserve, and to have the extended evening calendar checked for your dates, speak with an advisor at 1-866-628-6241.