I've Stayed at This Walt Disney World Hotel 14 Times—It's Still My Favorite

Welcome to Rebooked, Condé Nast Traveler's new column where we share the properties our editors and contributors loved so much, they’ve booked them over and over (and over!) again. Travel journalists have their pick of the litter—so you know these are something special. My first stay at Walt Disney World Swan was in May 2021 for my first trip back to Walt Disney World since the start of the COVID pandemic. Like a lot of people, I'd spent the better part of the previous year and a half dreaming about the moment I could finally travel again, and I wanted my Disney return to feel as easy and low-stress as possible. That meant finding a hotel that would let me sidestep certain social-distancing-unfriendly aspects of a Disney trip—specifically, the packed buses and crowded monorails. The Walt Disney World Swan—part of Marriott's Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin resort complex—sits within walking distance of both EPCOT and Hollywood Studios, so I booked it and never looked back. While I originally settled on the Swan for logistical reasons, it ended up changing how I think about staying at Disney entirely. For years, I'd ended park days facing the same impossible choice: sta