tidefan
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 1, 2007
- Messages
- 4,419
So, this past week, we were fortunate enough to stay in a Grand Villa at SSR for our DD's 21st birthday. We got the large villa due to the number of friends she was bringing. I had thought, well, maybe it would be better to do a 2-bedroom and a studio, or maybe 2 2-bedroom villas for the 12 of us, but honestly, the Grand Villa was simply amazing. It was really nice to have everyone together, and what really worked well was having the adults on the ground floor and DD and her friends up on the second floor, complete with their own separate entry. That was way more useful than I had imagined.
We had stayed in Grand Villas a couple times before, once at Pre-refurbed SSR for a couple of nights and once at RIV for 3 nights. However, the SSR Renovated Grand Villa was absolutely incredible and is now one of my favorite stays we've had at DVC (sorry RIV fans, I liked the renovated SSR GV better!). I still can't get over how night and day different SSR is since the renovation.
Mousekeeping brought in some amazing surprises on Trash and Towel day for DD's birthday (we had a banner on the door - with painters tape, so no damage
) Already planning on another visit. Also, the point charts on SSR GV's are fairly friendly, so that helps. OKW's are more friendly, but DW had a knee replacement a few months back and I wanted a property that had elevator access for her. As she gets better and better with mobility, we may also try OKW.
Another unexpected plus was just how well you can see the drone show from SSR. We watched it a couple nights and it really is cool. I do wish that they piped the music in on the SSR side, though. Really like the Paddock locations near the Paddock pool. As we were 12 people, we didn't use the car this trip and actually used the buses for the park. Had no issues at all, though we don't do rope drop.
But, again, the major thing, as with 1 and 2 bedrooms is that kitchen. We cooked every night and really made use of the kitchen facilities. It makes the trip so much easier for large parties when you can do spaghetti or tacos or hot dogs, etc. Simple things, but sure did save a bunch of money rather than eating on property (which, to be fair, we did some as well, but to illustrate, DD's Le Cellier birthday meal was $140, just for her). Cooking in the room, even if it's just part of the time, sure saves so much money. Also, it was really nice to have snacks, etc. We also enjoyed the large table for meals/games.
Man, it's going to be hard to go back to a studio... Fortunately, next two stays are at the FW Cabins which have a kitchen
We had stayed in Grand Villas a couple times before, once at Pre-refurbed SSR for a couple of nights and once at RIV for 3 nights. However, the SSR Renovated Grand Villa was absolutely incredible and is now one of my favorite stays we've had at DVC (sorry RIV fans, I liked the renovated SSR GV better!). I still can't get over how night and day different SSR is since the renovation.
Mousekeeping brought in some amazing surprises on Trash and Towel day for DD's birthday (we had a banner on the door - with painters tape, so no damage
) Already planning on another visit. Also, the point charts on SSR GV's are fairly friendly, so that helps. OKW's are more friendly, but DW had a knee replacement a few months back and I wanted a property that had elevator access for her. As she gets better and better with mobility, we may also try OKW.Another unexpected plus was just how well you can see the drone show from SSR. We watched it a couple nights and it really is cool. I do wish that they piped the music in on the SSR side, though. Really like the Paddock locations near the Paddock pool. As we were 12 people, we didn't use the car this trip and actually used the buses for the park. Had no issues at all, though we don't do rope drop.
But, again, the major thing, as with 1 and 2 bedrooms is that kitchen. We cooked every night and really made use of the kitchen facilities. It makes the trip so much easier for large parties when you can do spaghetti or tacos or hot dogs, etc. Simple things, but sure did save a bunch of money rather than eating on property (which, to be fair, we did some as well, but to illustrate, DD's Le Cellier birthday meal was $140, just for her). Cooking in the room, even if it's just part of the time, sure saves so much money. Also, it was really nice to have snacks, etc. We also enjoyed the large table for meals/games.
Man, it's going to be hard to go back to a studio... Fortunately, next two stays are at the FW Cabins which have a kitchen
