We stayed five nights at the Dolphin resort in Feb. 2004. I found the resort hallways and rooms in need of refurbishing as well.. but not in deplorable condition as I read in the reviews. The beds we had were wonderful... no lousy mattresses... our view was not what I expected, but we were not in the room gazing out the window too much. The maid service was exceptional... our room was always clean and restocked upon our return from the parks, with plenty of towels, tissue, glasses, coffee ect. ect. We really enjoyed the hot tubs later in the evening. I did not want any crowds then and we had none late at night.. that was a wonderful soak at 96 degrees in the tubs.. I thought the room service food was quite good as well... when we could finally reach them... one night we really wanted room service, the phone rang for 20 minutes and I gave up...the 24 hour cafeteria was not all that bad... good in the morning for a quick breakfast before hitting the sites... the Boardwalk just next to the resort was the best...pick up the boat and you are on your way..nice walking there in the evenings as well. Overall the resort is overpriced and I have stayed at better.. but you cannot beat the location of the Dolphin...

We were 5 people total (2 parents, 2 kids, 1 grandparent) who stayed at this hotel for 3 nights in November 2003. We had a room with 2 double beds and a balcony on the third floor. The room was renovated and the beds and bedding were indeed marvelous. The pool area is huge and well maintained and the location is great if you are looking to be on Disney property at a discount.

On the downside, I do not know why they would not replace the hall carpets, but they were so rippled I tripped on them more than once.
That was disgraceful. The staff were at best, poorly trained, at worst, incompetent. I was given incorrect information, and forced to go to the front desk after arriving late in the evening to fix a problem the front desk created.

All in all, I would stay there again if I got the room free (with points) or inexpensively with a discount. Without a discount, I would sooner stay at the fine properties right next door that are run by Disney.

The good things: The hotel room bed was great. It was very comfortable with down pillows and a down comforter. However, the linens are changed only every four days to conserve water.The good things---with exception of the guest hotline, other staff were positive and attentive. We enjoyed the Italian night buffet at Gulliver's.

We stayed here over Christmas holidays 2003 and had a wonderful experience. We had a two bedroom suite that had three baths, an extra sleeping area and living room IN ADDITION to two full size bedrooms. I had read the reviews and had low expectations but the room size, hospitable service and amenities of the hotel overwhelmed us in addition to the great location. The price of the suite was very reasonable and we would definitely recommend this hotel to anyone coming to Disney World!