Condition of SSR Rooms

[Wilver]

We just got back from taking a Disney Cruise and stay at SSR before the cruise and AKV after the cruise. We were disappointed in the condition of the room at SSR, not that it was in poor condition, but not what we would expect from Disney. On the other hand, our room in AKV was excellent. Given what we experienced we would not be staying at SSR again. Has anyone else had similar or different experiences than us? BTW, we stay at Congress Park.

Thanks!

 

[TiaMaria]

We just got back from taking a Disney Cruise and stay at SSR before the cruise and AKV after the cruise. We were disappointed in the condition of the room at SSR, not that it was in poor condition, but not what we would expect from Disney. On the other hand, our room in AKV was excellent. Given what we experienced we would not be staying at SSR again. Has anyone else had similar or different experiences than us? BTW, we stay at Congress Park.

Thanks!

Nope. We've stayed in 5 different DVC resorts including 2 of the newest (BLT and AKV) as well as SSR, OKW and BCV, and have never had a villa that we were disappointed in the condition.

Can you be more specific as to what was in bad condition?

I'm hoping you called, Mousekeeping, Maintenance or the Front Desk to report the specific things that were in disappointing condition while you were there?

If so, and they were not taken care of, I'm hoping you at least filled out a comment card or emailed the Member Satisfaction Team with those conditions?

 

[SAGE]

What concerned you about SSR? Just curious ..... have our first stay there coming up. Was it "frayed" around the edges? or dirty? Scratches, chipped paint, etc I can live with.
Hope you had a great cruise!! I love them.

 

[vicki_c]

I guess I'm confused by "not in poor condition" but "not what I would expect from Disney". What exactly was the problem? Or how did it not meet your expectations?

Our room at SSR was really beautiful, IMO, and when we were there (although 2008) our room was just about the newest seeming cleanest Disney room we had had in years.

If you were talking about the resort overall, I might understand that comment more - some people don't like the theming or size of SSR compared to other resorts - or think it's not Disney enough. But I don't understand your comment about your room in particular if it wasn't in poor condition.

I have yet to be disappointed in any Disney resort, DVC or otherwise.

 

[tjkraz]

The best thing that we, as owners, can do is to report problems and give Disney a chance to repair them.

Some of the unavoidable truths of timesharing are:

1. Rooms are only serviced once or twice per week due to the limited housekeeping schedules
2. DVC resorts operate near 100% occupancy
3. Housekeeping only has from 11am to 4pm to attend to the rooms of every departing guest

In their haste to get things read for the next guest, housekeeping may miss some issues. Other issues are regrettably ignored if they cannot be properly addressed by the 4pm check-in time.

If you discover a problem, pick up the phone and take 30 seconds to call either housekeeping or maintenance. Do it just before you head out to the parks and ideally the issue will be resolved by the time you return. We have had minor issues in the past with televisions or appliances malfunctioning and the problems have ALWAYS been resolved upon our return.

Consider this: if the guest BEFORE you had taken the time to report whatever problems you experienced, you would have been none the wiser. And if you didn't take the time to report the problems yourself, the next guest to arrive may be facing the same issues.

This is true of all resorts. There are over 1200 dedicated and lock-off villas at SSR. It isn't fair to assume that every one of them has similar issues. Next time you run into a problem it may be at a different location. But take a moment to report the problem and give Disney a chance to respond.

 

[Sammie]

We stayed at SSR in August and our rooms looked like no one had ever used them, they were in perfect condition and spotlessly clean.

What were you disappointed in? Did you contact housekeeping or maintenance?

We had a light problem in one bathroom and called maintenance, they arrived within 15 minutes and fixed it. Great service.

Congress Park is a highly requested area, so wear and tear would be expected, anything else should be reported.

 

[Ansky]

We just got back from an 11 night stay in congress park. By luck we had a very nice view of Downtown Disney. The room was in very nice condition. One thing we noticed was that for the first day or so it had a slight musty smell to it. It went away on its own though. Another thing we had go wrong was that the bathroom light started flickering like a strobe light. We called maintenance though and they fixed it that day. Also one night we came back to our room and our keys didn't work to get in. After a couple of tries we had to be let in with a hard key from a cast member. Apparently the moisture and humidity burned out the card reader. We were given the option to have it fixed that night or the next morning. We opted for the morning and it was fixed promptly. These were all minor things though and the overall condition of the room was great and not worn at all.

Our only problem with SSR was with the Artist's Palette. While the food options were great there the fact that everyone had to go through one line to order and only one person was taking orders was a bit of a pain and sometimes took forever. It wasn't even that busy during our stay. I can't imagine being there during a busy time of year. With SSR being as big as it is I don't see why they only have a single spot to order food. None of these things would keep us from ever going back there though. It was very enjoyable.

 

[Wilver]

Well, reading what everyone else wrote, it seems that our experience was different from others - I guess that is good. What we experienced was a room that showed wear, by this I mean obvious scratches in the woodwork (both the dresser and molding) and a couple of areas that needed paint touchups (one area I recall was behind the bathroom door, an area that was visible when the door was closed). If I was staying in a mid-priced hotel this would be acceptable but I guess I expect more from a Disney property. That being said, I have to admit that I did not share any of this with Disney.

 

[newyorkmike]

Our last stay at SSR was in May. We had two studios in the springs section for a week and both were prinstine. My experience has been that they generally do a good job addressing any problems with the rooms. I do hope that you reported the problems that you saw, otherwise the CM's with the power to have them fixed may never know about them.

 

[TisBit]

Well, reading what everyone else wrote, it seems that our experience was different from others - I guess that is good. What we experienced was a room that showed wear, by this I mean obvious scratches in the woodwork (both the dresser and molding) and a couple of areas that needed paint touchups (one area I recall was behind the bathroom door, an area that was visible when the door was closed). If I was staying in a mid-priced hotel this would be acceptable but I guess I expect more from a Disney property. That being said, I have to admit that I did not share any of this with Disney.

As already pointed out, if its not reported and not completely obvious, there is no way for it to be corrected. Another thing to keep in mind with SSR over AKV is that SSR rooms are bright and colorful, AKV are more dark and subdued, which means it is easier to pick up blemishes in the brighter resorts vs the resorts with darker interiors.

 

[Cee]

Those sound like issues for an eventual refurb, not Mousekeeping. OKW is having the renovation now, and maybe SSR will be next.

 

[eporter66]

What we experienced was a room that showed wear, by this I mean obvious scratches in the woodwork (both the dresser and molding) and a couple of areas that needed paint touchups (one area I recall was behind the bathroom door, an area that was visible when the door was closed). If I was staying in a mid-priced hotel this would be acceptable but I guess I expect more from a Disney property. That being said, I have to admit that I did not share any of this with Disney.

My thought on that is they cannot replace a dresser or molding everytime it gets scratched up. Unfortunately some people dont have the same respect or care level that many of us here do for the rooms. If it was in really bad shape or broken, then that might be different. We stayed at OKW before the rehab, and the room was a little worn (needed paint, carpeting) but overall it was clean and comfortable, and I understand the rooms are going to take a hit before they get refurbished.

I always notify the front desk if there are issues, even if they would not be corrected during my stay - hopefully it will help them fix, replace anything that needs it.

 

[TisBit]

Those sound like issues for an eventual refurb, not Mousekeeping. OKW is having the renovation now, and maybe SSR will be next.

I really don't think these issues are a very big deal, even the OP didn't call about them. Things happen in rooms and unless they are notified they can't correct it....and sometimes it just isn't feasible to. I doubt SSR will need a refurb, there are very few reports of problems/issues in the rooms.

 

[LoveKermit]

We had wear and tear issues at SSR in August as well. Our iHome time was off and DH had an awful time fixing it. He had to take something off the back in order to reset the time. Then the divider between the bath and bedroom was off its track. Not really able to fix, but we got it closed and kept it closed. They had spackled a crack under a window, but had not painted over it yet. A child had drawn a smiley on one of the hidden mickey's under the ledge on the divider (don't know what else to call it) in pen.

Definitely wear and tear and I mentioned that we stayed in a rehabbed BWV room last, so we had nothing to compare. But SSR will benefit from a rehab, whenever that happens.

 

[eporter66]

Wear and Tear issues can be found at any and all resorts.

 

[LoveKermit]

We just felt like our issues were from people who are not respectful of a hotel, more than a reflection on Disney--though the spackle is a little iffy. But I wanted to support the OP to say that we had some similar issues in Congress Park as well.

DH just keeps saying, "What do people do to these rooms?" "Why would someone do this?" etc.

 

[TiaMaria]

Wear and Tear issues can be found at any and all resorts.

Exactly.

But OP - if you never bothered to report any of these issues, how can you expect them to be addressed? Don't you wish the guest before you had reported them? Then you may have had a pristine villa also. Coming here and griping about it isn't going to get it fixed - pointing it out to the people that can do something about it will.

 

[photobob]

I found at SSR every drawer seemed to be off track. I don't know if it is poorly made furniture or what. The condition of the room was very good, no real excessive wear. We always completely unpack and use the drawers to put our clothes in and it was an adventure getting drawers to open and close properly, all of them.

 

[TisBit]

Our iHome time was off and DH had an awful time fixing it. He had to take something off the back in order to reset the time.

Actually, this is a big complaint about the iHomes, they can receive their time off the FM frequency and people report that sometimes it is almost impossible to get the correct time to display (after a period of time they revert back).

 

[tjhsr]

I found at SSR every drawer seemed to be off track. I don't know if it is poorly made furniture or what. The condition of the room was very good, no real excessive wear. We always completely unpack and use the drawers to put our clothes in and it was an adventure getting drawers to open and close properly, all of them.

I sometimes think people use there feet and kick the bottom drawers to close them. I had to have them come pry one open once. It was pushed in so far I was worried the handle would break off. But after many stays in Congress Park the condition of the rooms don't seem that bad. It was the first section to open and has been the most requested.