Actually, Swan and Dolphing are Starwood hotels and are not owned by Disney.
If you want a good moderate that has recently been refurbished, try the Caribbean Beach Hotel.

Thanks for clarifying swalter. As to my friend's comments..you are right you get what you pay for, but the room they were in had crud on the door and around the bathtub. They asked to be moved and the second room wasn't much cleaner. Staying at Disney you expect the rooms to be sparkling.

I've stayed at the Yacht & Beach Club, Wilderness Lodge, Contemporary, Grand Floridian and all three of the All Stars and I've never experienced a problem.

I did have a CM call me out for accidently breaking in line at the gift shop in the All Star Music.

We stayed at the Poly in 1996. Thought the property was gorgeous, although the rooms were nothing special. The convenience factor was huge, with the monorail right there. The second time in 1998, we stayed outside WDW in a lovely condo, and rented a car. The condo was secure and very deluxe. Much cheaper than on site at WDW. Our kids were 12 & 10 the second time...it was nice to have the 1-bedroom unit, so that mom and dad could have a little privacy!

Leslie

checked into all stars on 12-20 at 11 an.my room was ready got to pick the buzz and woody rooms. the boys were thrilled,they swan in the cold weather. i was treated great also tiffany towncar was great with me changing driving time to airport. nice trip

I thought that everything at Disney was sterilized and Americanized for your protection. Oh horrors!!! \/

Disney is so obsessed with keeping their stock price up that they cut corners in every possible way. It is completely unacceptable considering the prices that they charge.

I never stay at a Disney hotel for what most would consider a very silly reason....they are the only hotel group that does not have a toll free reservations number. If any company is THAT cheap, they don't get my patronage.

Besides, several nice properties such as the Sheraton Lakeside offer convenient shuttle to Disney's entrance, actually closer than any Disney hotel is. In other words, it's quicker to shuttle from an off-property hotel than it is to walk or wait-in-line to monorail from a Disney hotel.

Message: We had a wonderful stay at the Portofino Bay Hotel in Orlando. The best asset was the front of the line pass at the Universal Theme Parks. I am quite a Disney fan but Universal has one upped them with this perk. If I had to search for a complaint it would be the rooms are starting to show some wear. The staff was premiere. We ate at Tschoup Chop at the Royal Pacific and it was great. Palms at Hard Rock was excellent but their portions were TOO BIG... The waitress was very very good. I usually whine about the small things and my wife and I are fortunate to travel a great deal. I'm picky and couldn't find much to pick on there!! I could go on and on and believe me I would if I was not 150% satisfied. I WAS. Please feel free to ask away if you have any q's! Universal parks were super.

It drives me mad when someone has a less-than-perfect experience, and then posts an all points bulletin to have others jump on their grudge-mobile.
Yawn, you described your experience as a "cautionary tale", but chose to name your post "AVOID the etc..."

Disney, fortunately, can weather the storm of this thread, but when I see this done to a small or fledgeling business, it is a disgrace.

I don't mean to offend anyone here, including the original poster, but not everthing in the world, including a well-planned vacation goes without a hitch. Yawn, you rolled with it,and you survived.

Thanks for listening.

Wefferman, I agree with you that Universal has done some things much better than Disney. My sons enjoyed Islands of Adventure more than Magic Kingdom. If someone were asking me for advice on Orlando, I'd recommend Universal over much of Disney. And I do feel compelled to stick up for Yawn. Having a hotel be overbooked and being moved to a totally different hotel is a pretty unusual travel experience and I'd not be thrilled to have to go through that. I'd personally want to avoid some hotel/restaurant/etc. that many people have had many problems with, but that's just my opinion.