my first SSR experience- good and bad....

[dgaston]

So basically, the only real complain i have is the bus transportation- 5 stops to imagine what it would be like during peak season. I'm gonna try other resort in december and compare.

You were there during a PEAK SEASON! Personally I think the 2 weeks surrounding Easter can be worse that Christmas. We often travel over Christmas since DH teaches HS and we are bound by the school schedule.

Bus transportation would be better another time, not perfect maybe, but better.

 

[beccasmom]

I am sorry about your transportation issues. But I don't think it's surprising given that Easter week is a very busy time. I like SSR, but the bus system can be quite slow and over-crowded. We would opt for a car at SSR in all but the slowest times. One of my friends is at WDW now (at the CBR) and she cannot believe the crowds.....but I "warned" her!

We visited OKW for a quick stay in ealy December and the crowds were unbelievable. It's becoming more and more difficult to find a truly "slow" time, although our stay in September a few years back came close.

 

[waltfan1957]

Thanks for your post...I'm sorry about the buses. We have stayed there numerous times in the last 4 years. Our only compaint was folks leaving DTD and coming to SSR to catch a park bus. That really filled up the buses and I will have my eagle eye out this trip....and report folks doing this. I still wished they asked to see your resort key card then this would stop. Its very unfair to folks that are truly staying at SSR.

Anyhow...I'm with the other poster...what was the basket you picked up? Did we miss something..?

its not helping with people on other parts of this forum advising people to use ssr as a way of getting to dtd from the parks its about time if the line for the bus is more than it can hold then you should have to show your room card this situation is getting worse every year

 

[DaveH]

Disney was telling folks to take SSR busses for DTD. I went nuts on them once. I believe a supervisor was there. I have not heard Disney tell them to use SSR busses. I have heard them say take a bus to a resort then a bus to DTD. I have more good luck than bad with the busses. Every time Disney plays with bus schedules they have very long waits everywhere. We love SSR and going again in Nov.

 

[kiingor]

Disney was telling folks to take SSR busses for DTD. I went nuts on them once. I believe a supervisor was there. I have not heard Disney tell them to use SSR busses. I have heard them say take a bus to a resort then a bus to DTD. I have more good luck than bad with the busses. Every time Disney plays with bus schedules they have very long waits everywhere. We love SSR and going again in Nov.

I was on a SSR bus where the driver told a non-resort guesst to "take this SSR bus and get off at congress park and wait for the DTD bus". To top it off, they stood there trying to figure what to do or where to sit. My wife and i looked at each other and like, c'mon- its bad enuf we waited 40min. for this bus.. move along already and stop holding up the line. They just stood there and couldn't decide whether to stay on the bus or not.

 

[DutchsMommy]

Uhh...those baskets of linens are not placed outside the rooms for you to pick-up, the housekeepers don't have carts. They place the basets first, then start working the rooms. They do the same thing at OKW, they place the baskets early, then work the rooms throughout the day. Basically, don't move the baskets, the housekeepers will service the rooms.

I actually didn't realize this either! We generally stay for less than the full week so I have never had the 'full service' mousekeeping. I figured I had somehow missed them and they left the towels/sheets for me. I took them in and started putting the new towels up/stripping the beds and there is a knock at the door. The mousekeeper saw what I was doing and gave me a bit of a look. I explained and we had a good laugh about it

PS - The bus situation is why I really like staying in the Grandstand...first ones on and first ones off. Works for me!

 

[kiingor]

PS - The bus situation is why I really like staying in the Grandstand...first ones on and first ones off. Works for me!

I was thinking the same... but then i like the short walk to the "high rock springs main pool"
Although I haven't seen the other pools...

 

[diznycrazed]

Wow, those bus waits are terrible. In all of our trips, we have never had bad service like that. Our next trip to SSR is July, so hopefully the buses will be back to the schedule I remember.

LOL!!!!! Personally, I loved this piece of your post. We are from NJ as well and in those days when we drove 16 was our best record, so I can fully appreciate that drive time! What part of the state are you from? We are located in the southern part of the state. If you made it in 16 from central or north jersey then I to you!

We have learned to ALWAYS have a car when staying at SSR or OKW bus transport is just too slow. We had to have a taxi come on a recent trip at OKW as we would not have made our dinner ressie and yes we were at the stop for over a good hour.

Terry

 

[kiingor]

LOL!!!!! Personally, I loved this piece of your post. We are from NJ as well and in those days when we drove 16 was our best record, so I can fully appreciate that drive time! What part of the state are you from? We are located in the southern part of the state. If you made it in 16 from central or north jersey then I to you!

Terry

I'm by 6flags in NJ. It actually took me less than 16hrs coming home because there were lot less traffic and more night time driving. If it wasn't for my SUV's small tank only 250 miles per tank... i could have made better time. Luckily, i had my dvd player running so my 2yr old wasnt that bad.

 

[JustSayin]

The bus waits you had were pretty bad. I can reassure that what you experienced is not always the case. We stayed for 7 nights in October, travelled exclusively by bus, and never waited more than 10 minutes for a bus.

 

[granmanh603]

The bus waits you had were pretty bad. I can reassure that what you experienced is not always the case. We stayed for 7 nights in October, travelled exclusively by bus, and never waited more than 10 minutes for a bus.

Goes to show.....we stayed for 2 weeks in Oct and the service was AWFUL! long waits full buses, so full they would pass by the Springs....2 or 3 busses for 1 park and none for another....

 

[kiingor]

Goes to show.....we stayed for 2 weeks in Oct and the service was AWFUL! long waits full buses, so full they would pass by the Springs....2 or 3 busses for 1 park and none for another....

that's exactly how it was during my stay.... 3 buses for 1 park and none for another until at least 30 min. later.

10 min. for bus they would be awesome...

 

[granmaz]

Goes to show.....we stayed for 2 weeks in Oct and the service was AWFUL! long waits full buses, so full they would pass by the Springs....2 or 3 busses for 1 park and none for another....

that's exactly how it was during my stay.... 3 buses for 1 park and none for another until at least 30 min. later.

10 min. for bus they would be awesome...

Well this was our experience at POR last time so it seems the bus bosses can't get it right anywhere!

 

[dismorgh]

Wow, sorry to hear about the bad times. We were at SSR last week from the 16th - 19th, and had absolutely wonderful bus service! We never waited longer than 10 minutes at any time, and frequently less than 2!!! I guess it's all timing.

 

[BroganMc]

Wow, sorry to hear about the bad times. We were at SSR last week from the 16th - 19th, and had absolutely wonderful bus service! We never waited longer than 10 minutes at any time, and frequently less than 2!!! I guess it's all timing.

You know what would be good? A real time bus tracking display at the bus stops. That way you can see when the busses are due to arrive and if you just missed one.

The worst wait I ever had for a bus at SSR was last NYE at Congress Park. We were waiting on a bus to MGM/DHS for EMH. My party took its time wondering in from our view of the lake fireworks, but we met another group waiting for 45 minutes already. Our wait was about 15 minutes. Problem was the road had been closed out of MGM due to fireworks debris. The insane traffic jams from park exodus at EPCOT and MK led to another 30 minutes on the road.

 

[kiingor]

Wow, sorry to hear about the bad times. We were at SSR last week from the 16th - 19th, and had absolutely wonderful bus service! We never waited longer than 10 minutes at any time, and frequently less than 2!!! I guess it's all timing.

i guess also which bus.... i stayed there during the week of 3/16 as well and i recalled there were very limited epcot buses. There were tons of downtown buses and magic kingdom. Then there are times 2 or 3 animal king. buses. I was saying to my wife... what are the odds of us missing the bus we want every time. I had to wait at least 30min. every park we wanted to go. I guess its also all about luck and i just didnt have good bus luck that week.

 

[DVCSAMNH]

that's exactly how it was during my stay.... 3 buses for 1 park and none for another until at least 30 min. later.

This isn't just an SSR problem, unfortunately. My husband and I were at BWV in early Feb. and decided mid-day to head to the MK. There was quite a crowd at the bus stop. Buses for AK, Epcot and DHS all go by and hardly anyone gets on. Obviously, this crowd was all waiting for a MK bus and they had been waiting for a while. We figured it would take at least a second bus for us to get on so we decided to walk through Epcot to catch the Monorail. It really amazes me that this is such a hard problem for them to fix. They aren't exactly new at this whole thing.

 

[avamadison]

I'd like to know about the basket as well...