The newest addition to the Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin Resort has reached a key construction milestone with the topping off of the project’s top floor. The achievement was honored with the installation of a steel beam on the 14th story. As the beam was raised, it carried a tree and an American flag, as is construction industry tradition.
The new tower is scheduled to open summer 2021 as a 349-room hotel to complement the iconic Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin’s two original hotels. The occasion also marks a change to the project’s name. The new tower will now be called The Walt Disney World Swan Reserve.
“As we advanced with the project on construction, marketing and operations, we decided The Walt Disney World Swan Reserve was a better fit,” said the newly appointed area general manager for the Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin, Sean Verney. “We feel this name represents the boutique, sophisticated and relaxing ambiance the hotel will provide guests.”
Once completed, The Walt Disney World Swan Reserve will offer two presidential suites and 149 spacious suites, all with floor-to-ceiling windows and perfect for families of 6-8. Situated in the heart of the Walt Disney World Resort, the hotel will offer its own signature restaurant and bar, lobby lounge, grab-and-go market, health club and pool. Guests of The Walt Disney World Swan Reserve will also have full access to the rest of the Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin’s amenities, including 18 restaurants and lounges, four signature restaurants, Mandara Spa, five pools as well as other special Disney benefits.
The Walt Disney World Swan Reserve is also designed to cater to meetings and events with a luxurious yet tranquil design offering an invitation for inspiration. With over 22,000 square feet of function space, it is an ideal option for small to mid-size groups.
The 149 spacious suites provide a great collaboration space for executives and groups of up to 20 with access to two 65-inch monitors, comfortable conference style seating, built-in break area and a private bathroom.
A glamorous top-floor event space with floor-to-ceiling windows provides an experience like no other. Boasting breathtaking views of two incredible Walt Disney World theme parks, Epcot and Disney’s Hollywood Studios, the space is ideal for weddings and gala events.
Larger groups can use The Walt Disney World Swan Reserve for an executive meeting track as part of the full offerings of the Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin Resort, which will provide a combined 2,600 rooms and 355,000 square feet of meeting space upon completion of the project.
“The Walt Disney World Swan Reserve will be a great fit with our existing resort,” said Verney. “The additional suites, intimate environment and absolutely unforgettable magical views are sure to resonate with our guests.”
The project, which broke ground in fall 2018, has remained on schedule as crews have been able to maintain the construction activity while following all mandated safety protocols.
It’s been a crazy rollercoaster of a ride for Disneyland these last few months. Every time it looks like the Anaheim parks may be able to reopen, there’s a sudden change that pushes that…
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Celebrate 65 years of Disney theme parks with this new boxed pin set featuring six favorite park icons, created exclusively for D23 by artist Rickey De Los Angeles. The set features pins themed to Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at Disneyland Resort and Walt Disney World Resort, Sleeping Beauty Castle at Disneyland Resort, Matterhorn Bobsleds at Disneyland Resort, Ratatouille: The Adventure at Disneyland Paris, Spaceship Earth at Walt Disney World Resort, and Mystic Manor at Hong Kong Disneyland Resort. These D23 Gold and Gold Family Member-exclusive pins span the globe to commemorate a magical milestone. To purchase, log in to shopDisney.com with the Disney account […]
Welcome to the latest edition of The Magic, The Memories, and Merch!, the longest-running monthly look at the still closed Disney Outlet Stores in Orlando. However this month, for the first time in a long time, we have some really good news! So let’s get right to it with…
THE GOOD: The Disney Outlet Store closest to Disneyland IS FINALLY OPEN!
While we in Florida have been outside of the Disney Outlet Stores looking in, not unlike the kids looking into the toy shop window in A Christmas Story, Christela McC was able to finally get back into the Disney Outlet Store that is located closest to Disneyland. Not only did the store re-open, it came back with deals even crazier than usual. For the first several weeks, the outlet offered an additional 40% off the already discounted ticketed price. Later in the month the additional discount dropped down to “just” 25%, but keep in mind this is a discount on items already massively reduced in price. The amount of times we in Florida have got an “additional discount” remains at ZERO.
Also, keep in mind that out in California those paying with a Disney Chase Visa card get an additional 10% taken off after all the other discounts have been applied. BE FAIR TO FLORIDA!!!!! Before I have an aneurysm, let’s see what items Christela saw at the store. First up is this solid Disneyland Resort attractions T-shirt. Love the concept of this shirt, but the thing keeping it from “great” status is the fact that some of the attractions are – for whatever reason – upside down. Just BONKERS. Originally $24.99, marked down to $14.99.
How great is it that the back of the shirt featured the dates in which each attraction made its debut?
Kid’s size Black Spire Outpost shirt. Originally $24.99, marked down to $8.99. For me personally, this is the type of merchandise I like in Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge. I love that minimalist style, but I can also see why others don’t, especially kids.
Kid’s Radiator Springs Racers shirt. Original price $17.99, marked down to $7.99.
Rescue Rangers button up shirt. Originally $59.99, marked down to $16.99. This one I really like and would buy in a second down here in Florida. I’d wear it in the parks and approach older guests to talk about reverse mortgages.
Retro Mickey jacket. Originally $59.99, marked down to $21.99. This one I actually bought in Florida as it arrived at our Outlets shortly before the world went to crap. I absolutely adore it, and maybe I’ll get to wear it that one night a year in Southern Florida when the weather isn’t 90 degrees with 100% humidity.
I mean look at the back of this jacket!!!!
Here’s three shirts that are labeled Made in the 70s, 80s, and 90s. However, only the 70s one features the Disneyland Resort logo on the front. This makes NO SENSE as Disneyland was “made” in the 1950s. If anything Walt Disney World could have the “Made in the 70s” gimmick as it opened in 1971. Anyway, each of these three shirts were originally $24.99, marked down to $12.99. This concept seems like a no-brainer to just change the logo at the bottom and port on over to Disney’s Pop Century Resort.
Both the 80s and 90s shirts would have benefited from adding a bunch of more characters on the shirts, especially with the library they can pull from.
Disneyland Resort zip-up hoodie. Original price $54.99, down to $19.99.
The Orange Bird Adventureland shirt. Original price was removed, marked down to $11.99.
Class of 2019 graduation ears. Originally $24.99, marked down to 99 cents. Imagine that. Under a dollar and at some point in the month could have gotten 40% off of that and then another 10% off that. I was told there would be no math, but I think at that point Disney is paying you to take it home.
Zero on a leash. Original price unknown, marked down to $7.99.
Haunted Mansion Tsum Tsum and Aulani Emoji booster pin packs. Christela couldn’t get a picture of these in the store because there were so many hands reaching over and grabbing them by the handful. Mansion pin set originally $32.99 while Aulani was $29.99, both marked down to $9.99.
Oswald the Lucky Rabbit costume for Duffy. Original price unknown, marked down to 99 cents with an additional 40% off. For me personally, once an item drops down to 99 cents I almost have to buy it on principle. However this is also why I had to rent a storage unit that is, shall we say, off the books (because if my girlfriend found out about all this crap she may kill me).
Mickey Santa Loungefly backpack. Originally $90, marked down to $34.99. The eBay pirates came out in full force for this item – one couple came in and announced upon entering at store opening that they would take everything on the shelf plus whatever they had in the back. A fight nearly broke out in the middle of the store. Crazy times.
Set of 2 “toothpick” holders. Original price unknown, marked down to $8.99. Like the Black Spire Outpost style of artwork above, I’m a huge fan of this “Shag“-like retro style of art that looks like it would fit right in at Universal’s Cabana Bay Beach Resort.
Holiday bar towel. Original price unknown, marked down to $5.99. When stuff like this makes its way to the Florida Outlets, I’ll usually end up buying one for each particular season. We have one set for Halloween, another one featuring Remy from Ratatouille for just regular days, etc.
We’ll close out with this Holiday snacks adult onesie. Originally $69.99, marked down to $32.99. I’d probably be forced to wear this if my girlfriend ever finds out about the storage unit. Like the attractions shirt we started with, this also includes several of the designs being upside down and I just don’t understand the reasoning behind that.
Thanks Christela! So glad to see at least one of our regularly featured stores is open. Now let’s check in on Florida…
The Bad: The Disney Outlet Stores in Orlando are STILL CLOSED.
Someone play the sad trombone sound effect, because we’ve had yet another disappointing month here in Florida. What’s even crazier is that just about everything else in Florida has re-opened, even movie theaters, and yet the official Disney Character Warehouse outlet stores in Orlando (and there is another in Sunrise, Florida) remain closed. Many other Disney outlet stores across the country have reopened as well, just not these stores. Here’s the current look at the Disney outlet store located closest to Walt Disney World, off Vineland Ave.
Disney Character Warehouse. (photo by Brandon Glover)Disney Character Warehouse. (photo by Brandon Glover)
Minimal work has been done inside in what seems to be getting ready to help with social distancing, but no markers on the ground and no sanitizing stations have been put in.
A quick check at the Disney outlet store closer to the Universal Orlando Resort, off International Drive, reveals the same lack of activity.
Disney Character Warehouse. (photo by Brandon Glover)Disney Character Warehouse. (photo by Brandon Glover)Sorry, Moose out front should have told ya. (photo by Brandon Glover)
That hasn’t stopped Disney from releasing next level bonkers items. I mean take a close look at this “limited edition” pin featuring Mickey Mouse. Look at that face! Look at the hands and feet! Then for some reason there is a normal Mickey Mouse on the back of the package. WHAT IS GOING ON?!!! I FEEL LIKE I’M TAKING CRAZY PILLS!!!
Which leads us to…
The UGLY: Disney is still putting out a lot of weird stuff that is Outlet Worthy
Let’s start off with an item that was recently seen at Disney’s Magic Kingdom. Our ol’ pal @bioreconstruct spent one of his rare moments on the ground this past week and took a picture of this “Halloween Countdown” piece. I didn’t even realize people counting down the days to Halloween was even a thing. First I find out about the absolutely bizarre perfectly sane thing called “Halloween trees” and now this. But this one gets even better. Take a close look at Minnie Mouse…
Intrepid TouringPlans blog guru Julia Mascardo has helped scour the internet for the most ridiculous Disney items available, and boy has she found some doozies. Let’s start off with this Mickey Mouse shirt at Wal-mart. Price is $19.19 and this is an officially approved product from the Walt Disney Company.
Staying with shirts, here we have a bonkers meme shirt at Kohl’s for $21.95. I’m wondering who the audience is for this, as we’ve covered them in the Outlet Reports in the past. The people who want a Beauty & the Beast shirt probably aren’t the demographic that would want a “meme” shirt. The people who wouldn’t mind wearing an obnoxious “Weird Flex But O.K.” shirt are probably wondering who the guy in the chair is. Just another amazing merchandise decision made my Team Disney.
That said, you could get me to wear either of those two shirts above before I could get Bacini – the official dog of DisTwitter – into this Mickey Mouse Dog Costume. I think we could get Vincent Vision 4D to get this for his dog Kent though, and film another award winning VLOG~! Actually, for those of you who don’t know, there is a HUGE rivalry in the are of DisTwitter pets. It’s competitive like you wouldn’t believe. I’m talking competition straight out of the Olympics. Bacini is like Nancy Kerrigan and Kent is like Tonya Harding. (Tom Bricker’s cat would be Mitch Gaylord in this metaphor.)
This Princess Leia Bun costume for cats is just $5.50 at Chewy, but I’d pay quadruple that just to see someone try to put it on a cat.
Staying on Star Wars, here’s a reminder that we can’t have the awesome Hyperspace Hoopla at the parks anymore because Disney wants to “protect” the Star Wars brand. However we can get this Darth Vader “Clap On, Clap Off” nightlight for $29.99 at Bed, Bath, & Beyond.
This overhead ceiling light isn’t that awesome, especially since it is designed for a children’s bedroom. However, apparently the company who makes it didn’t want to spend the extra money for the Disney license, so instead we get a “Cartoon Mouse” lamp.
Wayfair went the other way. They paid for the Mickey Mouse license, but said “F— it, we’re gonna call it FAUX TAXIDERMY.” You already have the insufferable QAnon weirdos up in your business Wayfair. Do you want the DisTwitter mob too?!
The Zero toy we saw earlier in the Disney Outlet Store does nothing for me, but I actually like this “mood lamp” from Boxlunch. Especially at $17.17.
Hot Topic has this interesting product featuring the awesome Pixar film Up. The box is a wonderful recreation of the “My Adventure Book” from the movie that never fails to tug at the heart near the end of the film.
Unfortunately the box reveals… an eyeshadow palette. WHAAAAAAAAAAT?!
Hot Topic going all in on crazy this month because you gotta check out this “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” necklace. This is from the point in the movie when Snow White was in a near death state. I want to meet the gal – or guy – who rocks this around their neck. I feel like if they remake the Harry Potter series for Netflix, this is the cursed necklace Draco Malfoy would give to Katie Bell.
Saks Fifth Avenue has this Mickey Mouse-branded “Facial Treatment Essence.” I know all of those words individually but have no idea what they mean when presented like that. The bottle is under 8 ounces, so it at least it can’t cost that much. Right?
Wrong.
ShopDisney has this Mickey Mouse cookie jar and maybe it’s just me, but it seems like Mickey’s been eating too many of his own cookies…
That however isn’t even the most disturbing part.
If we get that cookie jar, our kitchen won’t be complete without this $150 Iron Man Keurig coffee maker from Bed, Bath, & Beyond. Tony Stark’s lucky he didn’t live to see this.
This seems like a perfectly reasonable price on eBay.
Be kind. Rewind.
Our last item comes from the Bradford Exchange, so no matter what you’ll be able to buy it on monthly installments. It’s the “Mickey’s Magical Moments” figurine.
The bottom of the figurine features a quote from Walt Disney himself.
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One of the selling points of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at Disneyland and Disney’s Hollywood Studios was the land’s deep immersion factor, completely enveloping Guests into the world of Batuu. This extended all the way down to special metal gift cards themed to the currency of Black Spire Outpost, known as the Batuuan Spira. Sparsely available since last year, it looks like a new silver version of the medallion is on its way to Disney’s Hollywood Studios! These new silver […]
It’s Pluto’s birthday this week! In honor of Mickey’s loveable pup, shopDisney is celebrating with all new merchandise and a special MerchPass opportunity! Read on to see how you can have a chance to get your hands on the latest collectible key and key pin. Pluto made his screen debut on September 5, 1930, in […]
While Tokyo Disney Resort continues to operate in an adjusted state due to COVID-19, it seems we’re taking steps back towards normality as of late. Between reports of Cast Member previews beginning for the highly-anticipated The Enchanted Tale of Beauty and the Beast early next month, and announcements of food for Halloween, we’re slowly but surely returning to normal. And it seems the latest development is this: Tokyo Disney Resort will be the second resort (after Shanghai Disneyland) to resume […]
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