At Saratoga springs ended badly

[scauzilloc1121]

Now though my trip ended badly I would not want to say that I would want the resort burned down. It is a beautiful resort The grounds needed a little trimming but all the natural flora made it such a tranquil place. I did see that those CMs that were assisting guests with check in and check out were overwhelmed and needed help but they did their best. Yes I do have to admit the buses are very overcrowed but like someone else mentioned a lot of non Saratoga Springs visitors use the bus route for Downtown so it does get conjested. I also have to say that I actually had to wait for a bus from Animal Kingdom Lodge back to downtown more than an hour.

 

[jodifla]

Sorry about the filthy room! That should not have happened. In 30 plus visits, we've been lucky....never had a really dirty room. Maybe a couple things missed, but so small they don't even stick out in my memory.

I agree with another poster though...I often have little things that happen that aren't perfect, but normally the overall experience more than offsets it.

At BLT, there was no instructions on how to use the DVD, which my son really wanted to use right away. And you had to know to put it on channel 92 to work...like ANYONE would know that off the top of their head. They did come in while we were at dinner and leave a note of instructions.

Our coffeemaker quit working the second day....they sent up a new one within the half-hour.

Small things. You get enough small things though, and it can change your experience.

In your case, for some reason, it definitely sounds as if you were on the list to check out the day before. It explains the keys, the maids barging in first thing, etc.

 

[River Country]

I stayed here a month ago 2BR and i have to say that i thought the service was phenomenal the busses were very crowded and yes we had 2 mousekeeping problems. The AC unit started leaking water all over the floor and 1 toilet just kept running. Both were fixed in a timely fashion and no one ever barged in the room beside DW would always have the deadbolt on .

 

[Chic]

We have never and will never stay at SSR again. Burn the place down and start over!

 

[kikiq]

We have never and will never stay at SSR again. Burn the place down and start over!

A little harsh don't you think? How long ago was your visit?

We have made at least 7 visits to SSR in the last 3 years, the last being just a month ago. Arrived on the red eye from the west coast and didn't get our villa until 4:30 pm. Bell Services offered to take us to our room when we picked up our luggage. In all our visits, except for one wet carpet, our villas (studios to 2 bedroom) have been clean. The bus stops have CMs monitoring buses during the busy season.

The OP had issues that need to be addressed. Hopefully she will share her concerns with MS asap. Other posters have made suggestions that will help others with future trips.

We've stayed at BWV and AKV. My DH will not stay at BWV again but he's not saying "burn the place down", even in jest.

 

[Anal Annie]

The one and only time I stayed at SSR I had a horrible experience as well, from the moment my family and I arrived at Check-in. It was 6pm and our rooms were not ready (there were 10 of us traveling) and we required 3 rooms. NONE of them were ready and Disney did not offer us anything to make it better. We instead got a line about how housekeeping was short-handed, etc. Um, I do not care! I have been traveling all day, was up before the sun and traveled with 9 family members. I am on vacation and I don't want to hear any woes. We finally got into our rooms around 9pm. The staff was horrible, we could not locate our building (and we have CMs helping us - who were also our family members). No one could make heads or tales of that map. The people at the airline check-in refused to check our flight status for us. They were two young CMs (male and female) and they were more interested in flirting than helping.

Not to mention, we were staying in The Springs section - which we quickly learned was the LAST bus stop at the resort. Every bus that showed up was full. We waited an 1 or more each day just to be able to fit on a bus. It was horrible. My mother, a grown woman, was in tears over the experience. It was our first time staying on property and it was awful.

We have never and will never stay at SSR again. Burn the place down and start over!

As an SSR owner who happens to LIKE SSR I am a tad offended at how nasty that comment is. Burn it down? Really? That's an evil sentiment. Our visit to SSR was pretty darned perfect. As a fellow Marylander I am embarrased... We had a truely crappy first ever DVC stay at OKW that had us almost in tears and regretting our decision to buy DVC. I've never tried to sugar coat that trip and it will be a cold day before we ever stay there again but I would never say they should burn it down. If someone likes OKW and wants to stay there then bully for them. Leaves more availability for us at the other resorts. But burn it down?!

(How would you feel if someone said they should burn your home down???)

 

[Sammie]

When the maids came in on me the room should not have been marked as vacant because we hadn't checked out yet. The only thing we had done at that point was called for BS to pick up the OL.

I agree that in today's world we should keep the dead bolt on but at the same time I should not have to protect myself from the maids who should knock and announce themselves like they do everywhere else. Besides I am sure they have a device to open the door even with the dead bolt on so what is to keep them from coming in anyway? Do I need to barricade the doors to protect me from the maids? Hire a security guard? Or should the maids knock on the door to make sure that the trust they are given by having a key to my home is not going to violate my privacy?

put the latch on, it solves the problem. We have never had a maid not knock but in a one or two bedroom we don't always hear them.

 

[Sammie]

We were in a studio that was not renovated with the new showers, appliences, etc...

The showers were not changed. As Diane shared, there is no tile in the OKW's showers.

here is a photo: http://allears.net/acc/okw/okw10a15.jpg

 

[Sammie]

The one and only time I stayed at SSR I had a horrible experience as well, from the moment my family and I arrived at Check-in. It was 6pm and our rooms were not ready (there were 10 of us traveling) and we required 3 rooms. NONE of them were ready and Disney did not offer us anything to make it better. We instead got a line about how housekeeping was short-handed, etc. Um, I do not care! I have been traveling all day, was up before the sun and traveled with 9 family members. I am on vacation and I don't want to hear any woes. We finally got into our rooms around 9pm. The staff was horrible, we could not locate our building (and we have CMs helping us - who were also our family members). No one could make heads or tales of that map. The people at the airline check-in refused to check our flight status for us. They were two young CMs (male and female) and they were more interested in flirting than helping.

Not to mention, we were staying in The Springs section - which we quickly learned was the LAST bus stop at the resort. Every bus that showed up was full. We waited an 1 or more each day just to be able to fit on a bus. It was horrible. My mother, a grown woman, was in tears over the experience. It was our first time staying on property and it was awful.

We have never and will never stay at SSR again. Burn the place down and start over!

Many people, myself included like SSR alot. Your violence is uncalled for and in this day and age could get you in serious trouble, even though hopefully you don't truly mean it.

You have the option to not stay there and for the sake of other guests, if you are that violent I hope you never do.

Honestly if you were in Springs and you could not find your room, I am surprised you ever made it to Orlando.

If you are not happy that Disney has cut back staff, complain to those that make the decision. No one that works at SSR made the choice to cut staff, let Jim Lewis know.

 

[Sammie]

One of the reasons the buses are so crowded is people parking at Downtown Disney and riding the buses to the parks.

This is not a problem the staff at SSR can fix. Only DVC and Disney transportation can. Write, email and call and complain, only then will it improve.

 

[rocketriter]

I agree that mousekeeping shouldn't barge in. They shouldn't even knock before checkout time. If you're trying to sleep in, why would you owe it to them to wake up, answer the door and tell them to go away? That's what a "Do not disturb" sign is for. However, I can also tell you (with a smile) about a trip through South America some years ago. In every first-class hotel, in every country we visited, the housekeeper or room service would simply walk in the door, shout "Permission!" (pronounced per-MISS-ee-OHN) and then start to work, no matter who was walking by unclothed.

 

[TotoToo]

Well all 4 keys we had no longer worked, and they did admit that they thought we checked out already so they disabled our keys. I dont know how but they did. And we missed extra magic at Disney because we were shopping and wanted to drop off our packages before heading to theme parks. By the time they recut all of our keys it was past 1 am. And we didn't lock our deadbolt because of all of the crap we went through to get our room open. Sorry you didn't think it was bad but lets see you handle those issues and not get upset. As for the dirty room, it had bugs crawling all over the floor, someone clipped their tonails and left them all over the floor, the shower had pubic hair in it, and the room smelled like a wet dog.

Our unfortunate experiences as 6 year owners at DVC (now sold) basically mirrored yours and a big reason we decided to sell. We found the cleaning to be very hit and miss. Two units at the same resort, both supposedly ready to occupy and one is spotless the other a complete shambles (rumpled bedding, messy looking bath areas, kitchen that had dishes in the dishwasher that may or may not have been cleaned, more). We found it to be te case evry time we got a unit - no quality control whatsoever it seemed.

While we like DVC in general we fel it is a crap shoot as to what condition you will find in a newly assigned unit. It shouldn't be that way but it is.

 

[JWG]

Wow, such anger toward SSR?! The issues there are the same as anywhere, both DVC and non-DVC, both Disney and non-Disney. We've had housekeeping at a non-DVC non-Disney resort try to get in our room thinking we were gone, we've had our length of stay wrong at non-Disney hotels, too.

Matter of fact, we had a reservation at the Mayflower Rennaissance Hotel in Washington DC that they couldn't find when we showed up. We happen to have our printed confirmation with us which fixed the problem, but had we not, they wouldn't of believed we had a reservation.

These are not Disney or DVC specific issues, and certiainly not SSR issues only. The only reason we don't like SSR is because of the same essential layout and spread resort we can stay at OKW for fewer points and with more shade from the hot sun.

With the new Paddock pool maybe we'll change our mind, but if we can't get our preferred home resorts we have no problem staying at SSR or OKW. We just choose OKW between the two if available to save points.

 

[vicki_c]

As a fellow Marylander I am embarrased...

That is exactly how I felt! I guess we all feel some responsibility for our neighbors' behavior!

 

[scauzilloc1121]

I am sorry you feel that there is anger towards SSR. I just shared my vacation with the board, I went overboard with some of my remarks towards a few others, but lesson learned. I am not angered towards SSR, I had a bad experience at SSR and OKW. Will I go back, oh course I will. Disney is Disney and to me to be able to share in owning part of that magic through DVC and stock is wonderful. I think we all need to be aware that there are problems and maybe if enough of us complain to the high ups it will be fixed. Yes there are problems throughout the world in all hotels but when 95 percent of your vacations revolve around Disney then you would expect some issues to get fixed after awhile. Like someone said before, we are sharing here to keep others informed and maybe not to make mistakes that others made so we can have a better stay. I know I will use the info here to change.

 

[saturndb]

I think sometimes we expect to much from Disney. We have all stayed at other hotels that were less then perfect. some of the posting of room conditions, there is no excuse for, if it happened. IE the vomit smell, etc. late checks in are just a part of Disney. My wife and I showed up one year at 10:30 pm and our room was not ready, we made the best of it and started our vaction. If life gives you lemons, make lemon aide. We had been traveling all day, got a flight delay, ect.

You are on vaction, don't let things get to you, fix it and have fun!

 

[TisBit]

The one and only time I stayed at SSR I had a horrible experience as well, from the moment my family and I arrived at Check-in. It was 6pm and our rooms were not ready (there were 10 of us traveling) and we required 3 rooms. NONE of them were ready and Disney did not offer us anything to make it better. We instead got a line about how housekeeping was short-handed, etc. Um, I do not care! I have been traveling all day, was up before the sun and traveled with 9 family members. I am on vacation and I don't want to hear any woes. We finally got into our rooms around 9pm. The staff was horrible, we could not locate our building (and we have CMs helping us - who were also our family members). No one could make heads or tales of that map. The people at the airline check-in refused to check our flight status for us. They were two young CMs (male and female) and they were more interested in flirting than helping.

Not to mention, we were staying in The Springs section - which we quickly learned was the LAST bus stop at the resort. Every bus that showed up was full. We waited an 1 or more each day just to be able to fit on a bus. It was horrible. My mother, a grown woman, was in tears over the experience. It was our first time staying on property and it was awful.

We have never and will never stay at SSR again. Burn the place down and start over!

OK...ignoring the last comment, but some of your isses were legitimate issues at the time. The bus service was horrible and they have worked very hard to fix that in the last couple of years and have done a great job. I do not see SSR bus service sub par to any of the other resorts and sometimes it is much better. Our last trip, during the morning park rush they had an empty bus following the other busses around and would take over if the first bus got full. They usually had a bus staged in Grandstand in case there were delays in a bus coming, etc.

As for the attitudes of the employees, who knows...maybe it was a just a bad lot that you got. Like anywhere, we have had some good and some bad...rarely is it epidemic throughout the resort. As for airline check in, I wasn't sure they were tied into the systems to get the flight status?

 

[Sammie]

I am sorry you feel that there is anger towards SSR. I just shared my vacation with the board, I went overboard with some of my remarks towards a few others, but lesson learned. I am not angered towards SSR, I had a bad experience at SSR and OKW. Will I go back, oh course I will. Disney is Disney and to me to be able to share in owning part of that magic through DVC and stock is wonderful. I think we all need to be aware that there are problems and maybe if enough of us complain to the high ups it will be fixed. Yes there are problems throughout the world in all hotels but when 95 percent of your vacations revolve around Disney then you would expect some issues to get fixed after awhile. Like someone said before, we are sharing here to keep others informed and maybe not to make mistakes that others made so we can have a better stay. I know I will use the info here to change.

Its not you, its the person that said Burn it down. Totally uncalled for.

 

[JimMIA]

Its not you, its the person that said Burn it down. Totally uncalled for.

Drama begets drama.

 

[ocean134]

Ok, sorry for having offended. I was only noting that I have read so many bad experiences, that I think the place needs a fresh start. I think folks may have taken me a little too seriously.

I love Disney and everything about it. I just think the place has bad chi...