SSR is, hands down, our favorite resort. With the tree house section, it's almost like having two home resorts in one. Our points are aligning this year in such a way that we won't have an SSR stay this use year. That's unheard of for us, as SSR has always been at least one of our two weeks. (Maybe I'll try to sneak in a long weekend in the fall.)
I've never had a problem with the resort's size. People make it sound as if it's so large you can't get from one area to another. It's not. It's a lovely walk from any section to the Carriage House. And if you don't want to walk, you can always hop on a bus. The size makes room availability easy to find, it keeps maintenance fees reasonable becase costs are spread over more points, and it provides both enough room and enough of a customer base for a wide variety of recreational ammenities. For example, the number and variety of themed pools. Also, compare VWL's one lonely BBQ grill on the beach to SSR's 3 dedicated picnic areas with multiple grills and tables at each.
People also often complain about transportation at SSR. I continue to argue that it has the best transportation, as it's consistently good for all parks. Other
DVC resorts have great access to one or two parks, but terrible transportation to other destinations. For example, I absolutely love walking right into Epcot when we're staying at BCV. But, OMG, getting to MK and AK from there is awful.
