Just Back from SSR

[living la vida mickey]

Just got back yesterday from SSR. When at WDW, we have always stayed at OKW since 1993. We love our home resort but I couldn't get a studio at OKW for all my days so we went with SSR. It was an interesting experience. I'd go back but OKW is still my first choice. The room felt MUCH smaller than OKW. We never heard one "welcome home" during our entire 5 day stay. Front desk CM's when we called with questions had no clue how to answer. I'm not talking difficult stuff here:1. Is our room number in the Congress Park section?(that was when I called to get our room assignment) - The CM had to put me on hold and find someone who knew the answer. She came back on and said "I think so." 2. When we called from our room to ask which stop to use for the Artist's Palette since the maps aren't very clear, another CM said that she wasn't sure and had to go and ask.
The room was clean and in good condition. The best CM's were the bellmen and the CM's in the Artist's Palette.
The DDP was fantastic!!! We felt that it was well worth the money. We had wonderful TS meals and CS meals. The ability to use snack credits for things like a package of bagels, etc. was great!
Bus service was good. The quiet pool at Congress Park is lovely and so is the lookout to DD. The Congress Park laundry is bright and cheerful and the dryers work better than OKW (of course, they're newer).
We had a great time despite the rain. We'd go back to SSR but only if OKW was unavailable.

 

[HUFF590]

Now thats a good report opinions without bashing, sounds like most of the problems came from cms not the resort itself. Glad you had a great time , I think a lot of the cms there are new and still learning but you should have got a welcome home, we had many when we stayed. Thanks for the report.

 

[Granny]

Thanks for the report.

I know that OKW studios are bigger than other DVC resort studios, but I don't think it's that huge of a difference. Now the 1BR and up, those are clearly bigger. But the studio seems only slightly larger...could be my perception.

I agree, I think you did a good job of expressing your opinions without any bashing. Sounds like you got a run of inexperienced CM's, which can happen at any resort.

If they were more experienced they would never have gone off to find the answer...they would have just made something up!

Thanks for the report.

 

[Sammie]

FYI: when you call the "front desk" you do not get the front desk of SSR. You get the Disney Call Center. Not making excuses for the responses but the blame goes on the Call Center not the CMs at the front desk.

 

[Chuck S]

FYI: when you call the "front desk" you do not get the front desk of SSR. You get the Disney Call Center. Not making excuses for the responses but the blame goes on the Call Center not the CMs at the front desk.

I don't know when the change took place, but that it true, you basically get the WDW operator. I found that out last year when I tried to get the front desk and the person said "Normally I can help with most problems, but let me transfer you to the physical front desk."

The "virtual" front desk CM probaby does not know the layout of each resort, and had to call the "real" front desk to get info.

 

[ont/ohana]

Thank you for the review. We are arriving home this year for the first time. I will be dissapointed not to get a "welcome home" but still we will be there not here in the snowy north! Thanks!

 

[Sammie]

Thank you for the review. We are arriving home this year for the first time. I will be dissapointed not to get a "welcome home" but still we will be there not here in the snowy north! Thanks!

I am sure the lack of Welcome Home to the OP is as described, but I can say we have stayed SSR 3 times and never did we not get many Welcome Homes. Every time at the gate, every time at the desk and many friendly smiles and assistance throughout the resort.

I am sure your stay will be great! It is a beautiful location.

 

[thelobstershanty]

I don't know when the change took place, but that it true, you basically get the WDW operator. I found that out last year when I tried to get the front desk and the person said "Normally I can help with most problems, but let me transfer you to the phyisical front desk."

The "virtual" front desk CM probaby does not know the layout of each resort, and had to call the "real" front desk to get info.

That explains a lot. We were floored when we called the front desk at SSR and they told us there were no towels available at the main pool; only to discover, upon arrival with room towels in tow, that there were plenty of pool towels available.
I even said, when I got off the phone, that I thought the front desk SSR CM was wrong about the pool towels, but we brought them, just in case. The reason I was leary about the CMs response to our pool towel question was because we had called previously to the front desk and were given incorrect information regarding Artist Palette's hours and the locations of the ice machinces in each building. We were told incorrect hours for Artist Palette and told that ice machines were on every floor, and they are not. Not a big deal, but there should be CMs that can answer basic questions about the resort they are working at or talking about via the telephone.
In all fairness, we have unfortunately experienced uninformed CMs at many of the WDW resorts, at the parks, and especially on the phone. This is not solely a SSR problem. But we did experience more instances of uninformed CMs via the telephone than we have ever experienced at any other WDW resort. If the CMs answering the front desk phones are truely off site--then maybe Disney needs to rethink this. In our opinion, the present system is NOT working. We had chalked all these events up to the fact that it is a new resort and they are still getting their sea legs. But after reading this, I see we were wrong.

 

[tmt martins]

We had a Few Earing my ears CM's a few weeks ago and the Welcome home was not as when I was just visiting back in Oct . Guards ,A.P. and Mousekeeping always smiled and gave us the WH .

That was fine as they really were eager to learn and always kept a smile on.

I still don't think they have the resort fully staffed with permenent people yet but are getting there.

 

[HUFF590]

FYI: when you call the "front desk" you do not get the front desk of SSR. You get the Disney Call Center. Not making excuses for the responses but the blame goes on the Call Center not the CMs at the front desk.

Thanks for that info, I did not know that.

 

[Sammie]

That explains a lot. We were floored when we called the front desk at SSR and they told us there were no towels available at the main pool; only to discover, upon arrival with room towels in tow, that there were plenty of pool towels available.
I even said, when I got off the phone, that I thought the front desk SSR CM was wrong about the pool towels, but we brought them, just in case. The reason I was leary about the CMs response to our pool towel question was because we had called previously to the front desk and were given incorrect information regarding Artist Palette's hours and the locations of the ice machinces in each building. We were told incorrect hours for Artist Palette and told that ice machines were on every floor, and they are not. Not a big deal, but there should be CMs that can answer basic questions about the resort they are working at or talking about via the telephone.
In all fairness, we have unfortunately experienced uninformed CMs at many of the WDW resorts, at the parks, and especially on the phone. This is not solely a SSR problem. But we did experience more instances of uninformed CMs via the telephone than we have ever experienced at any other WDW resort. If the CMs answering the front desk phones are truely off site--then maybe Disney needs to rethink this. In our opinion, the present system is NOT working. We had chalked all these events up to the fact that it is a new resort and they are still getting their sea legs. But after reading this, I see we were wrong.

I definitely think it has kinks in the system. The info they can give you is limited to what is on their screen. And there are so many questions that a guest can ask that it would be impossible to cover them all, for all locations.

Another situation of where abuse led to a system that incoveniences others. You had so many people calling the Front Desk to make room requests, calling asking questions that are covered in the materials given at check, asking what time is the 3 o'clock parade etc. that they could not deal with the guests at the desk. Hence the calls all go to the Call Center now which is not on the property and some that answer have probably never even seen the resorts.

 

[Chuck S]

Just an FYI, the "virtual" front desk is all Disney resorts, not just SSR or DVC. That is why when the real "front desk" calls you for something specific, they usually leave an extension number for you to call back.

 

[thelobstershanty]

Just an FYI, the "virtual" front desk is all Disney resorts, not just SSR or DVC. That is why when the real "front desk" calls you for something specific, they usually leave an extension number for you to call back.

I could be wrong, but we have found that when calling from our DVC villa to the front desk--we got the front desk. It seems as though, this was not the case when we called SSR front desk from our SSR villa. Prior to our SSR trip, we stayed at BCV, about 4 months earlier than our SSR visit. When we called the front desk at BCV, we got the front desk.
I am confused.

 

[Chuck S]

About a year ago I called the front desk at OKW in December and June and got the "virtual" desk both times. The virtual desk pick-up may depend on time of day or season. All Disney resorts have the capability of using the virtual front desk, how they determine when to use it may vary. I had to call to roll over my room charge (I hit the limit ) I called the WDW operator, who said she could do it, no problem, and asked at which resort I was staying. I know she did it in her system, she hadn't had time to call another resort CM before she said "All fixed, charge away "

 

[byoung]

Thanks for reporting.

 

[living la vida mickey]

Thanks for the replies about the "virtual" front desk. That does explain it. I've never had that experience in over 13 years at OKW. The "welcome homes" were what we missed the most. I'm glad that some of you have been getting them at SSR. As I said before, we would stay there again but OKW will always be our first choice.

 

[jjohnson]

Just to add a little to this. When we checked in at SSR the CM's were on "loan" from BWI and Polynesian so the real SSR front desk can not answer many questions either.