quirty30
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 29, 2009
- Messages
- 2,200
We just returned from SSR last night; saw another recent similar thread but thought I'd start my own. I agree with the other poster for the most part. We had the misfortune of being assigned to the Carousel - not a good option for single mom with 2 kids, who needs frequent access to restaurants, shops, & recreation facilities and has no car. I hadn't put in a room request - mostly because I was overwhelmed and couldn't decide what would matter most to us. I will say that the resort is beautiful, and the villas just pristine. They look much nicer in person than in the pictures. We had a lovely view of the pond and fountain and a nice, big private balcony on the 4th floor. But the resort is even bigger that it looks on paper - one morning we hopped on a bus to get to the Springs to walk over to Artist's Palette for breakfast. Walked back to the bus stop and waited...and waited...and waited for a Downtown Disney bus. After over a half hour, we gave up and walked back to our building. Though we did see otters swimming in the pond on the way back - that was a delightful surprise.
We spent one day at the High Rock Springs pool, which was very nice. And we walked over to the Paddock pool one evening after dinner at Epcot. It was also enjoyable. Our visit was only 3 nights, and we spent more time at DtD and the resort than at the parks; I agree that the bus service is iffy. One nice thing about the Carousel is that you can almost always get a seat on the bus - but we also had some very long waits. Agree that happens everywhere though. I can't say one resort's bus service is that much better than any other. But we sure are spoiled by our previous stays at BLT, BWV and BCV, and easy access to at least one park.
Overall I think SSR is a lovely resort, and I would definitely seek out a booking there for a non-parks visit. But I would not seek it out for a stay revolving around theme parks. In hindsight, I would have requested a room in the 2 buildings of the Grandstand closest to the main resort buildings (thanks to Jill the greeter who offered that advice at check-out.) I ran into Jill after we checked out, which was quite the fiasco. I had to call to have internet charges from our folio; we were short one boarding pass AND there was a 45 minute wait for Bell Services. We didn't have time to wait for bell services and opted to lug our bags onto the Epcot bus to get to the Springs - thank you to the nice driver who saw us and waited! I guess I should have realized that bell services would be limited at check-out time, but then again, I've never needed them at check-out at any other resort - we've always been able to hop on an elevator and walk down the hall to get to the bell stand on our own.
Also note, I know we could have asked to change rooms, but for a 3 night stay, it hardly seemed worth the hassle. We opted to make the best of our weekend and enjoyed the beautiful weather. A few other comments about the stay in general - parks were really crowded. We really only spent one full day - Saturday morning and afternoon at Epcot, followed by evening hours at MK. Soarin' was out of Fastpasses before 2PM (but thankfully we got ours first thing after arriving.) MK was packed Saturday night. The guard checking my bag said they were expecting 52,000 people (presumably because the 2 nights before and one after were all MNSSHP nights and it was an EMH night???) We arrived just after 8PM and promptly plopped ourselves down on Main Street for a good view for the MSEP, which we loved. Fought the crowds to get to IASW, and made it out just in time to see Wishes, right over our heads in Fantasyland (I thought that was pretty cool.) Then we hit Mickey's Philharmagic and after that just didn't feel like fighting the crowds, despite the evening EMH. We have annual passes and this trip was kind of a bonus, so I wasn't concerned about maximum park time. Also, without a doubt, we had the worst dining experiences EVER this trip. Le Cellier Thursday night - DD and I had strip steaks and apparently missed the salt crust in the description. They were just swimming in salt and we had to send them back (and I like a lot of salt - they were that bad.) Friday night at Coral Reef, DD got a piece of mahi-mahi about 2 inches square. DS had a strip steak that was about half gristle, and my mahi-mahi was tasteless once they made it again without the sauce (I don't eat onions and it was loaded with onions - no indication of this on the menu - just "coconut lime sauce.") The plus here - desserts - the Bailey's/Jack Daniel's Mousse was to die for. DD enjoyed her butterscotch creme brulee and DS loved his chocolate wave (I let DD order dessert off the adult to make up for her tiny dinner portion.) Our final meal of the trip was dinner at Ohana - hands down, our worst meal ever at WDW. We checked in 40 minutes early for our 6:35ADR, and were seated just after 7PM. We had a window seat with a lovely view of the lagoon, but it went downhill from there. Our salad, wings, dumplings, veggies and noodles all arrived moments later before we even got drinks. Then they immediately started coming around with meats, but I advised that we weren't ready. When they came back, all the meat was absolutely charred, dry and, pretty much inedible. We didn't get offered shrimp until much later and I didn't even feel like trying it. We were celebrating my birthday and the waiter brought out a cupcake with an unlit candle and offered to come back...I told him not to bother. I will say the bread pudding was really good. But it wasn't good enough to salvage the meal. I felt like our food was just thrown at us - service and food, all dismal. We have dined at Kona several times prior and always wondered why Ohana was so much more crowded and I was just thrilled to get a reservation there for this trip - but never again. We'll go back to Kona.
One final note, thanks so much to Wigit12 for the provisions you gave us, and also for the bus advice (you saved us with that!) I want you to know, I am not a big beer drinker, but I knew you had a plane to catch - I met a fun group on the bus home from Epcot Friday night and they were all carrying their empty beer glasses from Germany...suffice it to say, your beer did not go to waste! Thank you again for your generosity - it was very much appreciated.
We spent one day at the High Rock Springs pool, which was very nice. And we walked over to the Paddock pool one evening after dinner at Epcot. It was also enjoyable. Our visit was only 3 nights, and we spent more time at DtD and the resort than at the parks; I agree that the bus service is iffy. One nice thing about the Carousel is that you can almost always get a seat on the bus - but we also had some very long waits. Agree that happens everywhere though. I can't say one resort's bus service is that much better than any other. But we sure are spoiled by our previous stays at BLT, BWV and BCV, and easy access to at least one park.
Overall I think SSR is a lovely resort, and I would definitely seek out a booking there for a non-parks visit. But I would not seek it out for a stay revolving around theme parks. In hindsight, I would have requested a room in the 2 buildings of the Grandstand closest to the main resort buildings (thanks to Jill the greeter who offered that advice at check-out.) I ran into Jill after we checked out, which was quite the fiasco. I had to call to have internet charges from our folio; we were short one boarding pass AND there was a 45 minute wait for Bell Services. We didn't have time to wait for bell services and opted to lug our bags onto the Epcot bus to get to the Springs - thank you to the nice driver who saw us and waited! I guess I should have realized that bell services would be limited at check-out time, but then again, I've never needed them at check-out at any other resort - we've always been able to hop on an elevator and walk down the hall to get to the bell stand on our own.
Also note, I know we could have asked to change rooms, but for a 3 night stay, it hardly seemed worth the hassle. We opted to make the best of our weekend and enjoyed the beautiful weather. A few other comments about the stay in general - parks were really crowded. We really only spent one full day - Saturday morning and afternoon at Epcot, followed by evening hours at MK. Soarin' was out of Fastpasses before 2PM (but thankfully we got ours first thing after arriving.) MK was packed Saturday night. The guard checking my bag said they were expecting 52,000 people (presumably because the 2 nights before and one after were all MNSSHP nights and it was an EMH night???) We arrived just after 8PM and promptly plopped ourselves down on Main Street for a good view for the MSEP, which we loved. Fought the crowds to get to IASW, and made it out just in time to see Wishes, right over our heads in Fantasyland (I thought that was pretty cool.) Then we hit Mickey's Philharmagic and after that just didn't feel like fighting the crowds, despite the evening EMH. We have annual passes and this trip was kind of a bonus, so I wasn't concerned about maximum park time. Also, without a doubt, we had the worst dining experiences EVER this trip. Le Cellier Thursday night - DD and I had strip steaks and apparently missed the salt crust in the description. They were just swimming in salt and we had to send them back (and I like a lot of salt - they were that bad.) Friday night at Coral Reef, DD got a piece of mahi-mahi about 2 inches square. DS had a strip steak that was about half gristle, and my mahi-mahi was tasteless once they made it again without the sauce (I don't eat onions and it was loaded with onions - no indication of this on the menu - just "coconut lime sauce.") The plus here - desserts - the Bailey's/Jack Daniel's Mousse was to die for. DD enjoyed her butterscotch creme brulee and DS loved his chocolate wave (I let DD order dessert off the adult to make up for her tiny dinner portion.) Our final meal of the trip was dinner at Ohana - hands down, our worst meal ever at WDW. We checked in 40 minutes early for our 6:35ADR, and were seated just after 7PM. We had a window seat with a lovely view of the lagoon, but it went downhill from there. Our salad, wings, dumplings, veggies and noodles all arrived moments later before we even got drinks. Then they immediately started coming around with meats, but I advised that we weren't ready. When they came back, all the meat was absolutely charred, dry and, pretty much inedible. We didn't get offered shrimp until much later and I didn't even feel like trying it. We were celebrating my birthday and the waiter brought out a cupcake with an unlit candle and offered to come back...I told him not to bother. I will say the bread pudding was really good. But it wasn't good enough to salvage the meal. I felt like our food was just thrown at us - service and food, all dismal. We have dined at Kona several times prior and always wondered why Ohana was so much more crowded and I was just thrilled to get a reservation there for this trip - but never again. We'll go back to Kona.
One final note, thanks so much to Wigit12 for the provisions you gave us, and also for the bus advice (you saved us with that!) I want you to know, I am not a big beer drinker, but I knew you had a plane to catch - I met a fun group on the bus home from Epcot Friday night and they were all carrying their empty beer glasses from Germany...suffice it to say, your beer did not go to waste! Thank you again for your generosity - it was very much appreciated.
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