Walt Disney World Dolphin

The Walt Disney World Dolphin is a resort hotel designed by the 2012 Driehaus Prize winner Michael Graves located between Epcot and Disney's Hollywood Studios in the Walt Disney World Resort in Bay Lake, Florida, next to Disney's BoardWalk Resort area. It opened on June 1, 1990 and is joined to its sister hotel, the Walt Disney World Swan by a palm-tree lined covered walkway crossing a lagoon. The Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin is a joint venture between the Walt Disney Company, Tishman Hotel Corporation, MetLife and Starwood. The land the resort occupies is owned by the Walt Disney Company, while the buildings themselves are leased by Disney to the Tishman Hotel Corporation and MetLife but operated by Starwood under the Sheraton Hotels and Resorts brand. The Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin are a part of the Walt Disney Collection of resorts; because of this they are Disney branded and guests of the resort have access to special Disney benefits available to Disney Resort Hotel guests only.

The Dolphin and Swan share similar elements, but each has a distinctive appearance. The Dolphin is composed of a 257-foot tall triangular tower bisecting a 12-story rectangular mass with four 9-story wings on the Swan-side of the structure. The roof of each half of the main mass is adorned with a 56-foot tall Dolphin statue. On the main colored facade there is a turquoise banana-leaf pattern echoed by a similar wave pattern on the Swan.

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