The Walt Disney World Dolphin is a resort hotel located between Epcot and Disney's Hollywood Studios in the Walt Disney World Resort in Bay Lake, Florida. It is the sister resort of the Walt Disney World Swan. Both hotels were designed by Michael Graves. The Dolphin opened on January 13, 1990, as part of a joint venture between the Walt Disney Company, Tishman Hotel Corporation, MetLife and Starwood Hotels and Resorts, which was merged into Marriott International in 2019. 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 Marriott International 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 (78 m) 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 (17 m) tall Dolphin statue. On the main colored facade there is a turquoise banana-leaf pattern echoed by a similar wave pattern on the Swan. The statues on top of the Dolphin hotel are not mammalian dolphins, but a stylised version of a nautical dolphin, a common symbol used on old world nautical maps. The design of the creatures is based on Triton Fountain in Rome. In 2008, The Walt Disney Dolphin Resort was awarded a One Palm Designation through the Florida Green Lodging Program, established by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. From Wikipedia
