Just back from SSR.

[jpolak]

We just (yseterday) got back from our first trip "home". The weather was great and the crowds were managable. This was our first trip in Feb. and the first time staying at SSR. Let me start by stating the obvious. SSR is a huge resort and the Grandstand section isn't even finished yet. I know that there are a lot of people who do not care for SSR, but we kind of liked it. We had a room in the Paddock which at first I wasn't thrilled about but it worked outgreat. We were the first bus stop, and the stop was just across the little parking lot. We rented a car so I loved the fact that there was plenty of parking so close to the elevators The walk to the High Springs pool was maybe five minutes, and when we wanted to go to DTD we drove to Congress and walked from there. I know many people do not like the theming or lack there of at SSR but we thought it was kind of nice to dare I say escape Disney for a few hours. It just felt like we were staying at a really nice resort. I really think that when completed Disney is going to need to add another "main pool". When we were there on Thursday there was not a chair to be had. I wasn't thrilled with the trash and towels service. They left a basket outside my door that my "neighbor" who checked in the day prior promptly took . Why does it cost $6.00 for extra towels? Artist pallete was very good and offered a good selection. The turf club was also good (see reiviews). We definitely want to try and stay at all of the DVC resorts at least once, but if the worst thing that happened to me was that I had to stay at SSR again I wouldn't complain.

 

[Chuck S]

Why, specifically, were you unhappy with trash & towel? Did you not receive any service at all?

At OKW housekeepers put baskets outside the rooms early in the day, that is NOT the extent of Trash and Towel...they distribute the baskets outside the doors, then begin working the units, removing the trash and replacing your soiled towels and putting those soilded towels in the basket for removal.

When your "neighbor" intervened, and removed the basket, the housekeeper assumed that either another housekeeper had serviced your room, or you did not wish to be disturbed. So, if you did not receive any Trash & Towel service, your "neighbor" was to blame. Did you call housekeeping and tell them your neighbor "stole" all the towels? If so, they should not have charged you the $6 to replace them.

Why do they charge $6? Because there is a cost associated with laundering and replacing used towels. That cost need to be born by someone, as it is a timeshare, not a pay per night hotel. Either everyones dues pays for towels when someone requests them, or the cost for them is passed on to the people that request extra towels. DVC has decided that the towel cost should be passed on to the people that actually request the towels.

Other than the towel heist, it sounds like you had a really nice stay.

 

[jpolak]

Why, specifically, were you unhapy with trash & towel? Did you not receive any service at all?

At OKW housekeepers put baskets outside the rooms early in the day, that is NOT the extent of Trash and Towel...they distribute the baskets outside the doors, then begin working the units, removing the trash and replacing your soiled towels and putting those soilded towels in the basket for removal.

When your "neighbor" intervened, and removed the basket, the housekeeper assumed that either another housekeeper had serviced your room, or you did not wish to be disturbed. So, if you did not receive any Trash & Towel service, your "neighbor" was to blame. Did you call housekeeping and tell them your neighbor "stole" all the towels? If so, they should not have charged you the $6 to replace them.

Why do they charge $6? Because there is a cost associated with laundering and replacing used towels. That cost need to be born by someone, as it is a timeshare, not a pay per night hotel. Either everyones dues pays for towels when someone requests them, or the cost for them is passed on to the people that request extra towels. DVC has decided that the towel cost should be passed on to the people that actually request the towels.

Other than the towel heist, it sounds like you had a really nice stay.

Chuck,

As you can see by my signature I am new to DVC and was unware of how they did trash and towels at SSR. When we stayed at Beach Club and VWL house keeping just showed up and knocked. Also I did notify house keeping of the situation and the room was never serviced. Thanks for your insight in to why there is a charge for extra towels we didn't get them but was curious about the charge.

 

[Chuck S]

Chuck,

As you can see by my signature I am new to DVC and was unware of how they did trash and towels at SSR. When we stayed at Beach Club and VWL house keeping just showed up and knocked. Also I did notify house keeping of the situation and the room was never serviced. Thanks for your insight in to why there is a charge for extra towels we didn't get them but was curious about the charge.

It's awful you didn't receive your T&T service. I wasn't aware they did it differently at the "hotel" style resorts...

You certainly should have received service after you called housekeeping!

I saw you were new to DVC, which is why I explained how they service the rooms at OKW...I hope you didn't think I was being harsh. Without the benefit of verbal inflections, it can be hard sometimes to interpret the "tone" of a post.

 

[jpolak]

You certainly should have received service after you called housekeeping!

That's I what I thought. After I called I rerally didn't think about too much. I told them at the front desk upon checking out and I let Disney know if I get that survey card.

 

[mckryan]

Did you have a minivan with a hard carrier on top? If so, we saw your car! We were in 4501, 4510 and 4535. I thoughts the crowds were crazy-busy compared to when we've gone in late May and early June.

 

[jpolak]

Did you have a minivan with a hard carrier on top? If so, we saw your car! We were in 4501, 4510 and 4535. I thoughts the crowds were crazy-busy compared to when we've gone in late May and early June.

No a blue/grey Durango. May have seen you we were in 4630. This was our first trip in Feb. and yes the crowds were big. But somehow we managed to get to the parks before opening and did ok.

 

[abk96]

I'm glad you had a great trip. I would've never know about the basket outside the room. I'm glad you mentioned it here. We are going in July for the first time as new members and would have probably seen the basket and just taken it inside thinking this is what you're supposed to do.

 

[mckryan]

Oh, I think I saw that Durango, too! We had a tan Yukon XL with a tigger antenna topper with a Kerry Blue sticker and DVC sticker on the back window.

DH and I went last February, but it was before President's week, so it was pretty quiet. We were thinking that President's week would be quieter than summer, but we were wrong! We did a lot of the night EMH and that helped with the crowds. We didn't get to do as much as we hoped, but we still had a great time.

 

[BroganMc]

I'm glad you had a great trip. I would've never know about the basket outside the room. I'm glad you mentioned it here. We are going in July for the first time as new members and would have probably seen the basket and just taken it inside thinking this is what you're supposed to do.

I thought the basket thing was odd too. When we left our unit on T&T day and saw the basket we were stunned. We wondered if that was all there was to it. But the maids were traipsing up and down the halls, so we just left things be. When we returned later in the day they had put everything neatly inside.

Funny thing was we wash our towels and such so half of ours were in the washer. We ended up with extra towels because of it.

Would be nice if they explained what T&T service was like on check-in. Fewer people would be stumbling over their baskets.

 

[castleri]

Why, specifically, were you unhappy with trash & towel? Did you not receive any service at all?

At OKW housekeepers put baskets outside the rooms early in the day, that is NOT the extent of Trash and Towel...they distribute the baskets outside the doors, then begin working the units, removing the trash and replacing your soiled towels and putting those soilded towels in the basket for removal.

.

Chuck - When at OKW Christmas week the Housekeeper knocked on the door the wrong day at about 8am with her arms full of towels(no basket in sight) and when I explained that some people were still asleep and could she come back later she handed me the towels and asked me to sign next to the unit number on her paper. I thought she would be back later to get the dirty ones and take care of the trash. It was no big deal as we had taken most of the trash out each time we left the unit anyway. We ended up with the extra set of towels because no one ever came back to get the first set. The next day another one showed up and tried to hand me another set - when I told her we already had enough she asked me to sign her paper. Oh yes the first one had also handed me a roll of toilet paper. We really don't care if they replace the towels or not when we have a washer/dryer in the villa but some people might have had a problem with this method of T&T. At SSR the next week on T&T day the basket was outside the door when DH and I left but I had put the Do Not Disturb thing on the door as my DGD was still asleep. We forgot to take it off the door later and the room was never serviced but that was totally our fault. We were checking out the next day anyway so it didn't really make a lot of difference.
It sounds like they sometimes do things differently even at the same resorts.

 

[Chuck S]

Chuck - When at OKW Christmas week the Housekeeper knocked on the door the wrong day at about 8am with her arms full of towels(no basket in sight) and when I explained that some people were still asleep and could she come back later she handed me the towels and asked me to sign next to the unit number on her paper. I thought she would be back later to get the dirty ones and take care of the trash. It was no big deal as we had taken most of the trash out each time we left the unit anyway. We ended up with the extra set of towels because no one ever came back to get the first set. The next day another one showed up and tried to hand me another set - when I told her we already had enough she asked me to sign her paper. Oh yes the first one had also handed me a roll of toilet paper. We really don't care if they replace the towels or not when we have a washer/dryer in the villa but some people might have had a problem with this method of T&T. At SSR the next week on T&T day the basket was outside the door when DH and I left but I had put the Do Not Disturb thing on the door as my DGD was still asleep. We forgot to take it off the door later and the room was never serviced but that was totally our fault. We were checking out the next day anyway so it didn't really make a lot of difference.
It sounds like they sometimes do things differently even at the same resorts.

Christmas week was probably an extremely busy week at OKW. Plus lots of maids etc. may have called-in sick (their kids are out of school, too). Not an excuse, but I do fell badly for the CMs that do show up and have to do double duty because others don't report for work. But they should not have handed you the towels and said, "Sign this."

We were the in mid-December and the news was always reporting on a nasty strain of flu that hit the Orlando area, and that it was early for flu season...so maybe the housekeepers, or their family, were legitimately ill.

 

[edk35]

So are we supposed to gather up our own towels and put them in that basket if we want new towels?????

 

[Chuck S]

So are we supposed to gather up our own towels and put them in that basket if we want new towels?????

No, the housekeeping staff simply sets those baskets outside your room in the morning, going by their list of which rooms get service that day. Then they work though and service those rooms throughout the day.

I usually just pile all the soiled towels together semi-neatly (well, as neat as a pile of dirty towels can be, I guess) on the bathroom floor. The housekeeper will collect the soiled towels, place the clean towels, and empty your trash cans. They do not make the beds or "tidy up."

 

[edk35]

No, the housekeeping staff simply sets those baskets outside your room in the morning, going by their list of which rooms get service that day. Then they work though and service those rooms throughout the day.

Oh okay. I wonder why the room next to their room took their basket? That is odd. Maybe they weren't sure what they were for either.

 

[Chuck S]

Oh okay. I wonder why the room next to their room took their basket? That is odd. Maybe they weren't sure what they were for either.

Probably.

 

[castleri]

Christmas week was probably an extremely busy week at OKW. Plus lots of maids etc. may have called-in sick (their kids are out of school, too). Not an excuse, but I do fell badly for the CMs that do show up and have to do double duty because others don't report for work. But they should not have handed you the towels and said, "Sign this."

We were the in mid-December and the news was always reporting on a nasty strain of flu that hit the Orlando area, and that it was early for flu season...so maybe the housekeepers, or their family, were legitimately ill.

I would agree except that there were three of them in that area at that time. One of them seemed to be a supervisor or something from the outfit she had on. I just thought it was strange. As you have posted about putting the dirty ones togethere to be picked up I had then taken the dirty ones and stacked them up on the jacuzzi shelf so they were in one area for them to pick up. I later put them in the washer and we had extras for the last two days. And yes it was an extremely busy week and they probably were short some people so maybe these were some who don't normally do the job. After I thought about it maybe they have been told if people don't let them in the room to get the paper signed so it shows that they tried or that they had left the towels.

 

[barlitz]

jpolak, We just got back from SSR also and we loved it, already planning another trip in June......... I'm wondering if you were the Yankee fan on our Safari ride at AK, We were gonna throw you to the Lions Go Sox!!!

 

[Ms. WDW]

Hummmm....now I'm trying to remember if I even saw "baskets" outside the doors last July??? We had out T&T day without any problems (thankfully) but I don't remember baskets.

Well when we're back in May if I see baskets I'll leave them where they belong!

 

[DabsandTroy]

I know that there are a lot of people who do not care for SSR, but we kind of liked it. We had a room in the Paddock which at first I wasn't thrilled about but it worked outgreat. We were the first bus stop, and the stop was just across the little parking lot.

It just felt like we were staying at a really nice resort.

I have to agree with you here ... we love SSR for that reason. It's peaceful, quiet, and you feel like you just away from it all.