Can you go directly from DTD to the parks?

[snowiit]

Sorry if I misunderstood. I just assumed we were talking about parking at DTD and taking transportation from there.... Sorry if I made a mistake. I think it's fine for anyone to walk somewhere and take transportation etc. I wrongly assumed that someone were going to park at a resort they were just visiting and take transportation from there. Must have been looking through my old glasses! Again, sorry for the misunderstanding.

Nancy

 

[ducklite]

I tried to say this in my previous post, but didn't word it very well. The off-site hotels that provide transportation to WDW do NOT have internal transportation around WDW, and most of them do not provide a way to get to DTD. At the most, the off-site hotel transportation drops you off at a park in the morning and will pick you up from the same park in the afternoon. These guests have as much right as any other Disney guest to leave that park and explore other areas of the Disney property before their hotel shuttle comes to pick them up.

Until WDW starts either offering a transportation pass for sale or checking park tickets and resort IDs, it will remain the same.

Carol

Those guests can take a bus from the TTC to DTD. They do not need to take a bus to SSR. Disney has made provisions for all guests to get to DTD via WDW transportation without using SSR buses.

Anne

 

[betterlatethannever]

Those guests can take a bus from the TTC to DTD. They do not need to take a bus to SSR. Disney has made provisions for all guests to get to DTD via WDW transportation without using SSR buses.

Anne

Even though there is a bus on those "tranportation wizard" sites, there is no bus from TTC to DTD.

Ed

 

[ducklite]

Even though there is a bus on those "tranportation wizard" sites, there is no bus from TTC to DTD.

Ed

Hmmm, I know I've done this in the past, sorry for the misinformation.

Anne

 

[Ready to go in Ok]

Wow, people do get territorial. Now I must see what is so great about SSR when I visit. J/K

 

[RweTHEREyet]

You should go check it out, but beware, you may decide you might like to stay there and end up going to do the DVc Tour, which can get expensive.

 

[kaytieeldr]

I think its more likely the DTD lot would become a "pay to park" lot, with you getting free parking when you show your PI/Cirque/DQ receipt or a receipt from a shop showing you spent more than $50. Free parking - provided you are spending money at DTD venues."

With all due respect - I refuse to pay to park to shop anywhere.

 

[kaytieeldr]

I tried to say this in my previous post, but didn't word it very well. The off-site hotels that provide transportation to WDW do NOT have internal transportation around WDW, and most of them do not provide a way to get to DTD.

Carol

On the other hand, the Hotel Plaza Boulevard hotels DO provide regular bus service - usually about every half hour to the major parks, sometimes dropping to every hour in the middle of the day.

 

[kaytieeldr]

I would take a resort bus to the resort closest to the park you are trying to get to. I would not walk over to Saratoga Springs as suggested, unless you are planning to shop there, etc. Why do any extra walking especially when it is hot.

I would not do or suggest that. I'm curious why anybody needs to park at Downtown Disney if they're not GOING there. I don't believe it's because they're planning to end their day there.

 

[betterlatethannever]

Hmmm, I know I've done this in the past, sorry for the misinformation.

Anne

If I remember right (and that's a big IF) Tyler said they stopped those busses about four years ago.

Ed

 

[UrsulasShadow]

And considering that several of us DVC members have already complained about using the SSR buses as mass transport I really hope that at some point they begin checking IDs there.

There was a thread started earlier re: a DVC owner was complaining that FW campers were using "his transportation" and "his restaurants", and that he had paid good money to have exclusive rights to chairs by the pool, among other complaints. Disney transportation is for Disney guests...that means ALL busses, ALL boats, ALL monorail lines. There is no transportation exclusive to DVC owners. Maybe that's something you should petition Disney for, instead of railing against the rest of the paying guests.

 

[UrsulasShadow]

Keep in mind that SSR is not a regular Disney resort, but is a Timeshare, paid for by members who purchased there.

The DVC busses are paid for by Member's annual dues, not by Disney in general. That is why DVC has the right to limit DVC busses to DVC members only and not to the general public. This is a fine point, but not widely understood.

This is also why they could put up a gate on the walkway to DD, which would require room key access to open.

Hopefully things will never get out of hand to the point where others overload the DVC systems, making such steps necessary and/or being demanded by the DVC owners.

Please explain to me, then, how I ended up with a 2BR suite at SSR for Christmas. I went through Disney to get the room, not DVC. It's on the list of available "home away from home" resorts. Does this mean I'm not supposed to use the busses, because I'm not a DVC member? I'm not trying to be sarcastic, I really don't understand how a non-DVC member who is legitimately staying as a paying Disney guest is not entitled to use Disney transportation at SSR only. Where is that fine point written and referred to for the "ordinary" guest?

 

[Ready to go in Ok]

You should go check it out, but beware, you may decide you might like to stay there and end up going to do the DVc Tour, which can get expensive.

Sounds like my DH's worst nightmare. But if I do, I will have to explore the walkway as well.....

 

[Deb & Bill]

Trying to restate what I said earlier:

Bus drivers and others tell people to take the SSR bus to get to DTD.
They take the bus to SSR.
They get off the bus at SSR (Carriage House) and have no idea how to get to DTD.
They wander aimlessly around looking for a way to DTD.

In reverse:
They park their car at DTD.
They somehow find the path over to SSR.
They wander aimlessly around looking for a bus stop to the themeparks.

It's the wandering around that bothers me.
People who go to the BC or BW or whatever, don't have to wander around aimlessly through the resort to find what they need. There are CMs in all the public areas to tell them where to go. There aren't CMs stationed all over SSR because it is so large.
At SSR, it's up to the guests to direct people if they want to tell them. Sometimes we show them to the bus stop. Other times, if we truely feel sorry for them, we direct them to the path.

To me, it's a security issue for the SSR guests. Not a my bus vs your bus.

 

[Deb & Bill]

Please explain to me, then, how I ended up with a 2BR suite at SSR for Christmas. I went through Disney to get the room, not DVC. It's on the list of available "home away from home" resorts. Does this mean I'm not supposed to use the busses, because I'm not a DVC member? I'm not trying to be sarcastic, I really don't understand how a non-DVC member who is legitimately staying as a paying Disney guest is not entitled to use Disney transportation at SSR only. Where is that fine point written and referred to for the "ordinary" guest?

You got your room there because a member traded out to something else. DVC traded the room to Disney so the member could use something else, like the Disney Cruise Line. Disney does keep about 4% of the inventory for breakage (rooms in need of repair, regularly scheduled maintenance, etc).

You're staying at SSR, through DVC. As a guest there, you get to use the transportation.

 

[UrsulasShadow]

You got your room there because a member traded out to something else. DVC traded the room to Disney so the member could use something else, like the Disney Cruise Line. Disney does keep about 4% of the inventory for breakage (rooms in need of repair, regularly scheduled maintenance, etc).

You're staying at SSR, through DVC. As a guest there, you get to use the transportation.

So all those people who have gotten Mousekeeping daily, like a regular guest, instead of like DVC members, were there through DVC. And allearsnet is mistaken when they say that any guest can book a room there...

As with all the Disney Vacation Club resorts on property, anyone can rent rooms or suites at Saratoga Springs, subject to availability. You do NOT have to be a member of the DVC.

To me, that sounds like there's no difference between SSR and any other DVC property, meaning, that any guest can rent rooms there, regardless of whether they're a member of DVC or not. I don't know if they have a certain number of rooms set aside for non-DVC guests or not, but I'm pretty sure this is not an isolated case of "I lucked out because someone backed out". It was right there on the Disney.com reservations page, and offered up like all the other DVC properties.

 

[Deb & Bill]

... It was right there on the Disney.com reservations page, and offered up like all the other DVC properties.

Right, DVC has to earn back the expenses for the member trading out, so CRO sells the rooms for DVC as a CRO reservation (daily housekeeping, etc). But the DVC resorts are owned by the members who pay monthly maintenance fees.

When you have DVC resorts that share the facility with an ordinary Disney resort, such as the BC and BCV, BWV and BWI, VWL and WL, the DVC resorts pay towards the maintenance of the common areas using member maintenance fees. The ones that are soley DVC, OKW and SSR, use member maintenance fees to pay the monthly expenses. That's why the monthly member maintenance fees are different at each resort. And bus or other transportation expenses are part of those maintenance fees.

Gee, wouldn't it be faster to walk over to the Contemporary from the MK and get the DTD bus from there? Or walk over to the S/D/Y/B/BW from Epcot or Disney Studios and catch that bus to DTD ?

 

[kaytieeldr]

In reverse:
They park their car at DTD.
They somehow find the path over to SSR.
They wander aimlessly around looking for a bus stop to the themeparks.

It's the wandering around that bothers me.
People who go to the BC or BW or whatever, don't have to wander around aimlessly through the resort to find what they need. There are CMs in all the public areas to tell them where to go. There aren't CMs stationed all over SSR because it is so large.
At SSR, it's up to the guests to direct people if they want to tell them. Sometimes we show them to the bus stop. Other times, if we truely feel sorry for them, we direct them to the path.

To me, it's a security issue for the SSR guests. Not a my bus vs your bus.

I don't see it as exactly a security issue - the Guests in question aren't making their way over to SSR from DTD with any nefarious purpose in mind, e.g. not to cause harm to the SSR Guests or their property.

No, what bothers me is off-site Guests parking free at Downtown Disney, then strolling over to SSR to take a bus to a park.

 

[manning]

It is a quick walk (less than 10 minutes) to Saratoga Springs from Downtown Disney. You can take a bus to a park from there.

Carol

Duh....Thanks Carol, us SSR members pay for that service!!!

 

[UrsulasShadow]

Right, DVC has to earn back the expenses for the member trading out, so CRO sells the rooms for DVC as a CRO reservation (daily housekeeping, etc). But the DVC resorts are owned by the members who pay monthly maintenance fees.

When you have DVC resorts that share the facility with an ordinary Disney resort, such as the BC and BCV, BWV and BWI, VWL and WL, the DVC resorts pay towards the maintenance of the common areas using member maintenance fees. The ones that are soley DVC, OKW and SSR, use member maintenance fees to pay the monthly expenses. That's why the monthly member maintenance fees are different at each resort. And bus or other transportation expenses are part of those maintenance fees.

Thanks, Deb...I understand this a lot better now. I guess I get a little "up in arms" when I hear some members trashing other guests for getting in their way at other resorts that don't have this setup, but it seems SSR and OKW are really set up differently. I guess it is within the rights of members to ask for dedicated busses and some sort of identification. I somehow don't think it will be soon forthcoming, though.