Hey, all.
Got back from our week-long stay on Saturday 12/18 and immediately had to leave town on business. We had a great week with one night in a BCV studio followed by 5 nights in an SSR 2B. Here are the highlights:
- Checked into BCV around 9am on Saturday. Was told that we got all of our requests (n/s, n/h, Epcot view) but that the room was not ready. We got into the room around 3pm. Room was 559. Top floor--Epcot view. The room was in great condition, with the exception of the coffee table which had seen considerable abuse.
It was our first stay in a Studio. I now know that if DW and I ever vacation alone again, a Studio will suit us just fine. But I don't think I could handle the kiddies in a room that small for more than a day or two.
- Sunday we did the character breakfast at Cape May before leaving for SSR. Characters were great, and they all visited our table within 20 minutes. DS3.5 had a great time posing with all of the characters we saw, but DD1.5 only like the "face" characters. She didn't have much use for Minnie, Chip & Dale, etc.
- Check-in at SSR was very smooth. We were about 5th in line when we arrived, but it only took 10 minutes to get to the desk. We were given a choice of two rooms (1st floor and 2nd floor) that were ready for occupancy immediately (10:30am). Neither was listed as a "Downtown Disney View", but that was only because they overlooked the quiet pool. You could clearly see DD in the distance, but these two rooms were listed on the CM map as "Garden View" and "Pool View." We took the 2nd floor room--number 2221. The room was located in the second building to the right as you approach Congress Park.
The room was in excellent condition. Great furnishings--very clean--no signs of abuse or damage. It was a 2b dedicated, so we had pleanty of closet space as we chose to stay in the 2nd bedroom (not the master suite). Only a couple of things come to mind that bothered us about the room:
- The living room sofa has overstuffed cushions which just didn't want to stay in place.
- No soap dishes or cutouts in the bathroom sink.
- The room seemed stuffy whenever we returned. I don't recall for certain if there is a motion-detection element to the air conditioning. If so, that would probably explain it. If not, perhaps it was just the thermostat resetting to a higher temp while we were gone. Either way, it only took a few minutes before the room was comfortable again.
That's really about all I can think of.
- We tried to hit as many of the Holiday events as we could during the trip. The Osborne Lights were a hit. Very impressive. The parade at AK was also fun. We had never seen the normal AK parade, but my guess is they are very similar. MVMCP was...just OK. We didn't do any of the stage shows. But we did do a few rides with short wait, got some character photos, and watched the parade and Wishes. The holiday parade at MGM (did anyone even know they had a special parade?) was disappointing to us. DS is in a big Star Wars phase now, and for some reason they eliminated the SW cars from the parade. We stayed past DS' nap time to view the parade, and when it ended, I had to deal with a teary-eyed 3.5 year old telling me "Daddy, we went to the wrong parade!!!" (Don't get me wrong--it's not like I hold Disney responsible for this. I just didn't recall hearing anywhere that they were doing a holiday version at MGM.)
The holiday add-on fireworks following Illuminations were very impressive. I videotaped the entire show, and will let everyone know if I can find a place to put the footage on the web.
- Crowds were larger than we expected, but wait times didn't seem to be adversely impacted by much. Our longest wait times were for character meet & greets, scheduled shows and when waiting for parades to begin. We used FastPass when available. Other than that, our longest waits were probably Tomorrowland Speedway (10+ minutes) and Star Tours (about 15 minutes on 12/11, a night on which the park had reached capacity about 3 hours earlier.)
- We did a LOT of character meet-and-greets this time. Stitch, Figment, Jo Jo & Goliath, Arial, Mickey, Aladdin & Jasmine, The Incredibles, the Princesses, Buzz, Woody & Jessie...the list goes on and on. DS made the big, cheezy smiles for just about all of the characters. DD could only tolerate the "face" characters.
Of particular note was Sorcerer Mickey at MGM. There was one group in the building when we arrived, and nobody else had yet entered when we were leaving. Mickey took about 6 photos with DS, and pulled him through a bad case of nap withdrawl. I always try to keep our character interaction to a minimum since I know there are others waiting, but it's nice to get that extra dose of "magic" when time permits. Eyeore at the Crystal Palace also made a couple of return trips to our table to try and get DD to warm up to him. Didn't work.
- We did the Member Mixer on Tuesday and weekly member update on Wednesday. I detailed most of those items in other posts. Both were enjoyable and we're glad we made the time in our trip.
- The character meal at the Crystal Palace was a disappointment. It was our second visit, and probably our last for a while. They had us crowded around a table in the middle of the room that just felt too small for our party. It took 30 minutes before a single character to arrive, prompting our son to ask the unfortunate question "why won't Pooh bear come to see me?" At one point we had an 8" stack of dishes in the middle of our table that the server had not come by to remove. Our Cape May experience was MUCH better.
- On the warmest day of the week, we made time for swimming at High Rock Spring. The children's play area was open. Both of the kids loved it, along with the small slide. DW and I both went down the large slide. Sorry BWV fans, this slide puts the scary clown to shame!!! It was really a thrill with all of the twists and turns. On the last turn before you get dumped into the water, I rose more than 90 degrees up the side of the canal. Lots of fun.
- DW and I also took the walking path over to Downtown Disney. On the return trip we timed our walk. It was exactly FOUR minutes at a moderate pace from the start of the path (near the bus stops) to the first building at SSR. We stayed on the second floor of the third building along the path. The total walking time from DD to our front door was 12 minutes. What a great perk it is being that close to DD!
- I surprised DW with the Sleigh Ride at the Wilderness Lodge one night after dinner at Whipering Canyon. Unfortunately DS was a bit testy after a short nap, so he never really warmed up to WC. But our server was great and even we adults had fun.
The Sleigh Ride was a big hit. About 5 minutes in we saw a couple of deer standing 4 feet off the path through the WL grounds. Taking that ride as a family, in the cold, huddled under a blanket listening to Christmas music was the most enjoyable "holiday" moment of the trip.
- We had a car so we only took the busses a couple of times. But our experiences weren't great. I know that busses are hit-and-miss, but each of the four times we took the bus (two and from the parks twice) we waited 10-20 minutes for one to arrive.
- DD got her first haircut at MK. That was really neat. The barber (Mike?) was very good with her. He gave Molly about 6 stickers when she first sat down, and she played with them the entire time. We got a certificate and a set of Mickey Ears embroidered with "First Haircut" on the back.
- Did some off-site shopping at the Belz Outlet. Belz is really worth a trip if you have a car. We spent about $120 on items marked down to half of their theme park prices.
- Got a TON of "Welcome Homes" at SSR. From check-in to security to random CMs that we passed when walking through the resort.
- Almost every CM we met during the trip really had their best "Disney" face on. Sure, there were exceptions like the CM on "Living with the Land" who might have lost the Miss Congeniality award to an audio animitronic character. But we also had some great CMs like the one at the SSR gift shop who gave us an early copy of the MVMCP schedule along with touring tips.
- Don't know if other resorts do this or not but at the guard shack you can use your room key to get through the gate on the far right of the shack. We had times when 4-5 cars were backed up waiting to get in, and there was a sign clearly directing current guests to the right to enter through the automated gate. I had not seen such a sign at other resorts.
- One morning at the Animal Kingdom they were apparently testing the biometric scans on ALL guests. There were a lot of "suits" loitering around and folks with clipboards. One member of our party had a hopper pass, and was asked to use the finger reader. They had attached some signs to the finger scanners with a cutsey name for the "program", but I don't remember what they called it.
Since there is no unique identifying info (name) on the current passes, I assume this was just a test. We arrived well after opening, so the lines were not long. CMs were doing as good a job as they could telling people what to do. Overall, there was an air of confusion, but people will start getting used to it after January 2nd. Seems like a foregone conclusion that they ARE going with the biometrics on all passes after 1/2.
What we learned on this trip:
- First, I didn't care for resort hopping. There were 6 people in our party. For the first night (Saturday), I got a studio at BCV for our family and my parents paid cash to stay at Caribbean Beach. The next day we all checked into SSR. While a 6 night stay felt just right for us, it felt like it took two days to really get settled. I think I smell and add-on in our future...
- I hope nobody takes offense to this, but we really didn't get a charge out of the Christmas festivities. It was nice to experience everything this time, but I don't think December will be calling us down on a regular basis. As much as we tried to get our Christmas shopping and activities done before we left, we still felt behind the 8-ball upon our return. It just hasn't left us enough time to enjoy the holiday season in the manner we are used to.
- As much as I liked SSR before staying there, I like it even more now. We have ressies in a BWV Standard View room for next spring. If it wasn't Standard View, I'd have already switched over to SSR. But we didn't get to spend enough time at Epcot this trip, so it will be nice to be closer next time.
But SSR was just a fabulous experience. I know I'm really going to miss not being there next year. We love the furnishings in the rooms, the resort design, the colors...nearly everything about the place.
Got back from our week-long stay on Saturday 12/18 and immediately had to leave town on business. We had a great week with one night in a BCV studio followed by 5 nights in an SSR 2B. Here are the highlights:
- Checked into BCV around 9am on Saturday. Was told that we got all of our requests (n/s, n/h, Epcot view) but that the room was not ready. We got into the room around 3pm. Room was 559. Top floor--Epcot view. The room was in great condition, with the exception of the coffee table which had seen considerable abuse.
It was our first stay in a Studio. I now know that if DW and I ever vacation alone again, a Studio will suit us just fine. But I don't think I could handle the kiddies in a room that small for more than a day or two.
- Sunday we did the character breakfast at Cape May before leaving for SSR. Characters were great, and they all visited our table within 20 minutes. DS3.5 had a great time posing with all of the characters we saw, but DD1.5 only like the "face" characters. She didn't have much use for Minnie, Chip & Dale, etc.
- Check-in at SSR was very smooth. We were about 5th in line when we arrived, but it only took 10 minutes to get to the desk. We were given a choice of two rooms (1st floor and 2nd floor) that were ready for occupancy immediately (10:30am). Neither was listed as a "Downtown Disney View", but that was only because they overlooked the quiet pool. You could clearly see DD in the distance, but these two rooms were listed on the CM map as "Garden View" and "Pool View." We took the 2nd floor room--number 2221. The room was located in the second building to the right as you approach Congress Park.
The room was in excellent condition. Great furnishings--very clean--no signs of abuse or damage. It was a 2b dedicated, so we had pleanty of closet space as we chose to stay in the 2nd bedroom (not the master suite). Only a couple of things come to mind that bothered us about the room:
- The living room sofa has overstuffed cushions which just didn't want to stay in place.
- No soap dishes or cutouts in the bathroom sink.
- The room seemed stuffy whenever we returned. I don't recall for certain if there is a motion-detection element to the air conditioning. If so, that would probably explain it. If not, perhaps it was just the thermostat resetting to a higher temp while we were gone. Either way, it only took a few minutes before the room was comfortable again.
That's really about all I can think of.
- We tried to hit as many of the Holiday events as we could during the trip. The Osborne Lights were a hit. Very impressive. The parade at AK was also fun. We had never seen the normal AK parade, but my guess is they are very similar. MVMCP was...just OK. We didn't do any of the stage shows. But we did do a few rides with short wait, got some character photos, and watched the parade and Wishes. The holiday parade at MGM (did anyone even know they had a special parade?) was disappointing to us. DS is in a big Star Wars phase now, and for some reason they eliminated the SW cars from the parade. We stayed past DS' nap time to view the parade, and when it ended, I had to deal with a teary-eyed 3.5 year old telling me "Daddy, we went to the wrong parade!!!" (Don't get me wrong--it's not like I hold Disney responsible for this. I just didn't recall hearing anywhere that they were doing a holiday version at MGM.)
The holiday add-on fireworks following Illuminations were very impressive. I videotaped the entire show, and will let everyone know if I can find a place to put the footage on the web.
- Crowds were larger than we expected, but wait times didn't seem to be adversely impacted by much. Our longest wait times were for character meet & greets, scheduled shows and when waiting for parades to begin. We used FastPass when available. Other than that, our longest waits were probably Tomorrowland Speedway (10+ minutes) and Star Tours (about 15 minutes on 12/11, a night on which the park had reached capacity about 3 hours earlier.)
- We did a LOT of character meet-and-greets this time. Stitch, Figment, Jo Jo & Goliath, Arial, Mickey, Aladdin & Jasmine, The Incredibles, the Princesses, Buzz, Woody & Jessie...the list goes on and on. DS made the big, cheezy smiles for just about all of the characters. DD could only tolerate the "face" characters.
Of particular note was Sorcerer Mickey at MGM. There was one group in the building when we arrived, and nobody else had yet entered when we were leaving. Mickey took about 6 photos with DS, and pulled him through a bad case of nap withdrawl. I always try to keep our character interaction to a minimum since I know there are others waiting, but it's nice to get that extra dose of "magic" when time permits. Eyeore at the Crystal Palace also made a couple of return trips to our table to try and get DD to warm up to him. Didn't work.
- We did the Member Mixer on Tuesday and weekly member update on Wednesday. I detailed most of those items in other posts. Both were enjoyable and we're glad we made the time in our trip.
- The character meal at the Crystal Palace was a disappointment. It was our second visit, and probably our last for a while. They had us crowded around a table in the middle of the room that just felt too small for our party. It took 30 minutes before a single character to arrive, prompting our son to ask the unfortunate question "why won't Pooh bear come to see me?" At one point we had an 8" stack of dishes in the middle of our table that the server had not come by to remove. Our Cape May experience was MUCH better.
- On the warmest day of the week, we made time for swimming at High Rock Spring. The children's play area was open. Both of the kids loved it, along with the small slide. DW and I both went down the large slide. Sorry BWV fans, this slide puts the scary clown to shame!!! It was really a thrill with all of the twists and turns. On the last turn before you get dumped into the water, I rose more than 90 degrees up the side of the canal. Lots of fun.
- DW and I also took the walking path over to Downtown Disney. On the return trip we timed our walk. It was exactly FOUR minutes at a moderate pace from the start of the path (near the bus stops) to the first building at SSR. We stayed on the second floor of the third building along the path. The total walking time from DD to our front door was 12 minutes. What a great perk it is being that close to DD!
- I surprised DW with the Sleigh Ride at the Wilderness Lodge one night after dinner at Whipering Canyon. Unfortunately DS was a bit testy after a short nap, so he never really warmed up to WC. But our server was great and even we adults had fun.
The Sleigh Ride was a big hit. About 5 minutes in we saw a couple of deer standing 4 feet off the path through the WL grounds. Taking that ride as a family, in the cold, huddled under a blanket listening to Christmas music was the most enjoyable "holiday" moment of the trip.
- We had a car so we only took the busses a couple of times. But our experiences weren't great. I know that busses are hit-and-miss, but each of the four times we took the bus (two and from the parks twice) we waited 10-20 minutes for one to arrive.
- DD got her first haircut at MK. That was really neat. The barber (Mike?) was very good with her. He gave Molly about 6 stickers when she first sat down, and she played with them the entire time. We got a certificate and a set of Mickey Ears embroidered with "First Haircut" on the back.
- Did some off-site shopping at the Belz Outlet. Belz is really worth a trip if you have a car. We spent about $120 on items marked down to half of their theme park prices.
- Got a TON of "Welcome Homes" at SSR. From check-in to security to random CMs that we passed when walking through the resort.
- Almost every CM we met during the trip really had their best "Disney" face on. Sure, there were exceptions like the CM on "Living with the Land" who might have lost the Miss Congeniality award to an audio animitronic character. But we also had some great CMs like the one at the SSR gift shop who gave us an early copy of the MVMCP schedule along with touring tips.
- Don't know if other resorts do this or not but at the guard shack you can use your room key to get through the gate on the far right of the shack. We had times when 4-5 cars were backed up waiting to get in, and there was a sign clearly directing current guests to the right to enter through the automated gate. I had not seen such a sign at other resorts.
- One morning at the Animal Kingdom they were apparently testing the biometric scans on ALL guests. There were a lot of "suits" loitering around and folks with clipboards. One member of our party had a hopper pass, and was asked to use the finger reader. They had attached some signs to the finger scanners with a cutsey name for the "program", but I don't remember what they called it.
Since there is no unique identifying info (name) on the current passes, I assume this was just a test. We arrived well after opening, so the lines were not long. CMs were doing as good a job as they could telling people what to do. Overall, there was an air of confusion, but people will start getting used to it after January 2nd. Seems like a foregone conclusion that they ARE going with the biometrics on all passes after 1/2.
What we learned on this trip:
- First, I didn't care for resort hopping. There were 6 people in our party. For the first night (Saturday), I got a studio at BCV for our family and my parents paid cash to stay at Caribbean Beach. The next day we all checked into SSR. While a 6 night stay felt just right for us, it felt like it took two days to really get settled. I think I smell and add-on in our future...
- I hope nobody takes offense to this, but we really didn't get a charge out of the Christmas festivities. It was nice to experience everything this time, but I don't think December will be calling us down on a regular basis. As much as we tried to get our Christmas shopping and activities done before we left, we still felt behind the 8-ball upon our return. It just hasn't left us enough time to enjoy the holiday season in the manner we are used to.
- As much as I liked SSR before staying there, I like it even more now. We have ressies in a BWV Standard View room for next spring. If it wasn't Standard View, I'd have already switched over to SSR. But we didn't get to spend enough time at Epcot this trip, so it will be nice to be closer next time.
But SSR was just a fabulous experience. I know I'm really going to miss not being there next year. We love the furnishings in the rooms, the resort design, the colors...nearly everything about the place.
