You certainly make some valid points here. If you want to nitpick a resort you could probably find things wrong anywhere. That being said, it isn't unreasonable for people to expect the same service they recieve at other
DVC Resorts. DVC is far to much money from a buy in standpoint to expect anything less. IMO SSR CM's and bus transportation should be at there best. After all they are still selling this place. Most timeshares really make a concerted effort to be at there best from a service standpoint when the resort is still selling. A good timeshare maintains that high level of service. Unfortunately many don't. Where is the incentive? The resort is already sold. Now to SSR. I don't agree with your advice of not buying there if you do not want to stay there. I own 350 SSR points and use excatly 0 of them there. I travel slower seasons and have never had a problem booking elsewhere at 7 months. This year alone I will be staying at BWV, VWL, OKW and VB. All of these booked at less than seven months. The reasons many do not like SSR are as follows: 1) Theming. I live in Saratoga Springs, NY and I can tell you the theming is a joke. Putiing up horse pictures doesn't qualify as a theme in my book. Also who wants to travel all the way to WDW and see native northeast landscaping? You don't even feel like you are in Florida. It doesn't feel like SS either, just generic cross between BCV and YC. It looks like every other timeshare. 2) no room service. Many like having this feature after a long day. It is especially convenient for people like me with a small child. 3) no poolside food. Having to go inside to AP is annoying to say the least. Timeshares with little or no services still offer this convenience. Dripping wet people going into AP is a bad idea. Poor planning IMO. Bar is also way to small for a property of this size. 4) condo style. Some people like me prefer hotel like properties. I feel that DVC is to expensive to settle for a condo like resort. Full range of services should be offered at all DVC Resorts. If not, lower the price per point for the condo resorts. I can find tons of condo timeshares in Orlando for a third of the price. SSR isn't for many but that doesn't make it a bad place. Different strokes for different folks. The extra 12 years were too much for me to ignore. The older resorts have maintained resale value but that will soon change. A timeshare with say 25 years use left will not be appealing when the newest resort will offer 50 and SSR still offering 37. Resale values of the older DVC Resorts will be dropping in the next 5-10 years. To the OP, why not stay there and give it a try? Your vacation habits will dictate whether you like it or not. Good luck and don't let the negatives scare you away. This resort has many positives as well.
DAVE
We arrived on Magical Express with other guests and the whole check-in process only took about 15 minutes. Every CM we came into contact with was friendly and helpful. The resort itself is peaceful and beautiful. There were a few days that we had to wait 15-20 minutes for buses, which was my kids' time to torture each other. 
Other times the wait was short--it was just luck. We did find it easy to walk to DD. We visited other resorts by catching the buses there. We are staying at BWV in June and only hope to like it as much as we enjoyed SSR. 
