Walt Disney World Swan
1200 Epcot Blvd
Lake Buena Vista
Disney Florida
Hotel & Area
Description & Accessibility
The Disney swan hotel was accessible.
I had asked for an accessible room with shower and that is what the desk said I had, when we got to the room the only snag was it had a bathtub not a shower, something the desk was likely not aware of for that room, I could have gone back and ask to change rooms but since my wife was with me I did not do that.
There was solid bars on the back wall of the bathtub as well as on the back and side of the toilet.
The one thing that was unite that I never saw at any of the other hotels I have been in was a large handicap door button inside that would open the door into the outside hallway, this was a nice touch and and made it easy to get out while in the scooter. When entering the room once the door card was swiped, you just had to open the door a little then it would automatically open fully. Only thing with this type of system is that make sure you lock the additional locks after everyone is in the room so an accidental push of the door button does not open the door.
We where also very close to Disney’s boardwalk, around a 5 minute walk from the hotel
The only complaint is the banking machine in the hotel was between two posts and with a scooter you could not go sideways to it and you had the scooter steering tiller in front of you when approaching it straight on. Wheelchairs may not have the same issue.
Epcot was around a 20 minute walk from the hotel.
Disney transportation was right at the hotel, at the back of the hotel was ferry boats that could take you to Hollywood studios or to Epcot (although Epcot would be almost as fast walking) and was completely roll on accessible, the captain of the boat would drop a portable ramp to bridge the gap between the shore dock and boat and the accessible entrance was at the back entrance to the boat.
At the front of the hotel there was Disney bus transportation to Animal Kingdom, Magic Kingdom, Disney downtown as well as some other locations such as water parks. The Disney buses where completely accessible. The driver would lock your wheelchair and scooter down so it cannot move during the trip. They also would prefer scooter users particularly 3 wheel ones to transfer to a seat for safety, some drivers where more insistent of that than others. So sometimes I would transfer to a seat, other times I remained in the scooter seat.
All Disney transportation boats, mono rail and buses are completely free.
To Magic Kingdom from this hotel you could take the Disney bus or go just outside Epcot and take the monorail. The mono rail from Epcot will take you to the mono rail terminal just outside of Magic Kingdom where you can transfer to another mono rail line which will take you to the entrance of Magic Kingdom.
There is a specific entrance for wheelchairs / scooters so watch for signs that will direct you to the correct mono rail car where someone will drop a ramp for roll on or off of the mono rail car.
Long ramps will lead you to and from the boarding platform.
We found the restaurants inside the hotel to be expensive to what we felt was reasonable but Disney tends to be that way in some places. If you are into Chinese food, go to the Chinese display at Epcot a short distance away (assuming you have tickets to Epcot), ordering delivery a pizza outlet to us was very reasonably priced and they offered a variety of items such as chicken wings and offered very good value for the price.
Staying at a Disney resort provided additional hours on certain days at the parks, but once you are inside the park you are in as long as the park is open even during extended hours even if you are not staying at a Disney resort hotel.
If you are looking for a cheaper hotel than a Disney resort hotel would be, then look at the Kissimmee area which is not far from the Disney parks, some have shuttle / bus services to the parks, I am not sure if any of the Disney transportation has service to Kissimmee.
By: Donald Kerr