Swan and Dolphin Breaks Ground on Major 120,000-Square-Foot Expansion at Walt Disney World

mgf13 hours ago

Went to a conference there a few years ago and had a fantastic experience. I've stayed at lots of conference centers and it really was a good place to be "trapped" with enough variety of food, drinks, and entertainment to spend a few days on location without even venturing out (which we of course still did).

mgf13 hours ago

It was already a hike to reach the end of the current conference center. The new location is going to be quite a walk. I wonder if they will add a shuttle for mobility assistance.

JMcMahonEsq1 day ago

One of the last conventions I spoke at in Florida was at the Bonnett Creek JW Marriot. Great location for a convention. Large spaces, multiple rooms available, decent food. Absolutely amazing space/bar on the roof with great sightlines around Orlando. That being said, there is no way you could claim that the JW Marriot is "on property" in any functional sense of the phrase. There is no benefits to staying on that property related to the parks. There is no Disney Transporation that will bring you to the parks. You aren't walking to any of the parks. I guess you could try and cross the roads and try and make a run to Disney Springs, but at least from JW Marriot, its well over a mile or 2 from the property to the main road, which would make the walk to DS pretty problematic. So other any being in the Orlando area, I would find it a stretch to call any of those other hotels to be considered "on property" and certainly they are not comparable at all to either Disney owned hotels, or the Swan/Dolphin.

Comped1 day ago

In general that list includes everything from Rosen Inn LBV to the good neighbor hotels around Disney Springs, to the luxury hotels like JW and Waldorf Astoria (all of which are physically on Disney property and count when discussing what hotels are on property, although not every one gets the same level of benefits). In terms of meeting space, you've got places like the Hilton Orlando Buena Vista Palace with 160,000 ft² of event space, not to be confused with the Hilton Orlando Lake Buena Vista also on property, which has 84,000 ft². The Waldorf has 60,000 ft²+. The JW Marriott has over 50,000 ft², the Drury with close to that amount, a couple of Wyndhams with a bunch of event space, and many more. Absolutely right. It's not competitive versus an off-site competitor, never mind some of the on-site hotels that are cheaper especially for smaller to mid-sized events. What's funny is that Disney could really make it work if they wanted to but just don't want to bother with the effort because they can sell their rooms to tourists and keep the event spaces for whatever clients they currently have. It's weird because it's clearly a huge investment opportunity if they really wanted to do it but they leave it on the table. I know of at least one major convention coming next year to Orlando that went with Shingle Creek over Disney because of the money, despite very much being interested in having the convention at Disney because many members of the organization probably would have stayed a few extra days for Disney and Epic, and brought their families too - so there would have been additional convention passes sold for attendees who wouldn't have thought about coming otherwise. But the money was simply too good off property. Among others. Coronado has a bunch but it is not as competitive as one might expect.

LSLS1 day ago

I'm assuming they are including Waldorf, Wyndham Bonnet Creek, and Four Seasons, who all have meeting spaces (though I don't think any are close to Swan/Dolphin size, but I know very little about convention spaces). Also worth mentioning Coronado has a lot of convention space (though not third party).

drkarcher222 days ago

It would be nice if they brought back character dining to Garden Grove to go along with the expansion. It was always cheaper than the other CD restaurants and you

monothingie2 days ago

The only thing I can think of, is that they can’t be competitive. I’ve been to several trade shows and corporate expos in central Florida and none have been on property. The main reason given is that others offer more for less and if people really want to visit Disney on their own time, then that’s why the events usually end on a Friday. It seems Disney would rather leave the rooms for leisure guests than put them out at a wholesale rate for convention attendees. Which is why the contemporary convention center just doesn’t work. At the same time the Coronado convention center is sucking wind because even though it has the capacity (rooms) it still isn’t competitive compared to a similarly equipped offsite venue.

monorail812 days ago

That property has parking issues with the current facilities. They need to add a parking garage to their list of things to do.

JMcMahonEsq2 days ago

What do you mean quite a few third party hotels on property? Other than swan and dolphin, what other non Disney hotels are “on property?”

Jambo Dad2 days ago

More phone-based fun for the Disney traveler!

Comped2 days ago

It's not their core business but they sure could make more money at it if they tried at all to expand clientele and upgrade the facilities to anything approaching the standard of their competitors even on property. There are quite a few third party hotels on property that offer convention and meeting space that exceed Disney in terms of amenities or capabilities, and that's money Disney isn't getting which they easily could...

JoeCamel2 days ago

If a conventioneer is in the convention they are not in the parks spending so they take rooms that could be better ROI but they still want whatever revenue conventions can bring. In other words the money is nice but not their core business.

Comped2 days ago

Most people don't realize that places like Rosen Shingle Creek, World Center Marriott, Gaylord Palms, all have more convention and meeting space than Disney does outside of S&D. Rosen alone has half a million square feet just at Shingle Creek, not including any of his other properties around Orlando. This renovation will still not overtake that property in terms of square footage of event space, but it will firmly put Disney's largest hotel in terms of meeting space, Coronado Springs, at about half of S&D. And both of those are a fraction of the convention center, not including all the hotels attached to it which have their own meeting and event spaces. I'm not sure if the reason why Disney hasn't put a big emphasis on their own hotel convention business is because they know they get business from mid sized clients every year and they just don't want to bother with expanding given they will never land the most lucrative contracts because they require spase or features that Disney doesn't have. I remember during my undergrad event/convention class, this was a topic of discussion for a guest speaker from Visit Orlando, who noted that unless Disney gave people a really good deal, most preferred to save money and stay off-site because the spaces were generally better and prices were lower.

Alice a2 days ago

So we do a lot of buying shows (retail) every year and, post pandemic, they are getting smaller and shorter as, reportedly, buyers preferred the online options that were offered during the pandemic. Even shows in destination cities like New Orleans and Orlando with perks like Mardi Gras events and exclusive park access has not been the draw it was in the past. I’m guessing this is just our industry (hardware) and not everyone’s, since clearly business is booming enough that they’re building more space?