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

[kiingor]

HI all,

Just want to share my first experience at SSR as a DVC member-
5 day stay- Sunday to good friday
Drove from NJ straight-16 hrs. not bad at all

Good-
Arrived at 1pm- checked in less than 5 min.
Very nice resort- i stayed at the Spring and the walk to the pool was easy- pool opened till late.
Food court was great and has everything i needed.
the resort does have a homely feel
got the room facing the lake and water fountain.
Very friendly people welcoming you.

Bad-
I stayed at the Spring so it's the last stop in the resort- the bus schedule was horrible compared to my All Star stay last year. Took over 30 min. for each bus to arrive. Some of the guest even complained about having to wait 1 hr 15min. for a bus to Hollywood studio. Took at least an hour for me each time just to get to the park via their bus.
Non resort guest comes to SSR bus stop to catch the downtown disney bus didnt help either.
Wish they have housekeeping (even a little would help) rather than just dumping a basket of towels and sheets at my door twice during my 5 day stay.
Dinning Plan sux this year- unless you're using the table service for buffet- you gonna pay up if ordering appetizers and drinks (which we did).

So basically, the only real complain i have is the bus transportation- 5 stops to get back to my room and limited buses. I was hesitant going back to my room for my 2 yr old for a nap because of the bus. I almost missed my dinning reservation he first night because of the bus wait (1 hr just didnt cut it- to epcot), so i ended up going to the bus stop 1 1/2 hr before my dinning reservation after that. I could imagine what it would be like during peak season. I'm gonna try other resort in december and compare. My wife and I loved the animal kingdom lodge few years back. Might consider getting DVC there instead.
Also, I stopped by timeshare store and got my goodie basket... that was great..

Any comments or suggestions that would help improve my experience next time around are appreciated .

 

[tomandrobin]

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.

 

[Chuck S]

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.

 

[kiingor]

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.

Nice to know its not like that all the time- for a min. there, i thought that's how it is at SSR. The bus wait was a real turn off for me this stay. I had times where 3 magic kingdom bus and 2 hollywood studio bus pass by and not a single epcot.

 

[kiingor]

Uhh...those baskets of linens are not placed outside the rooms for you to pick-up, the housekepers 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 didn't move the basket- I left my room around 11am- saw the basket and left it alone. Came back to the room around 3:30pm, the basket was gone and nothing done to the room. So I thought that i was maybe supposed to take the basket in myself- but they took it back. then the next day, the knocked on my door and hand me the bedsheets. that was it.

 

[Chuck S]

I didn't move the basket- I left my room around 11am- saw the basket and left it alone. Came back to the room around 3:30pm, the basket was gone and nothing done to the room. So I thought that i was maybe supposed to take the basket in myself- but they took it back. then the next day, the knocked on my door and hand me the bedsheets. that was it.

You should have called housekeeping and complained, that isn't how the system is supposed to work. Although during a 5 day stay, you should only have gotten fresh towels once and the trash cans emptied once, no fresh sheets.

 

[kiingor]

You should have call housekeeping and complained, that isn;t how the system is supposed to work.

it was silly of me not to read the literatures till the 4th day of my stay. I didnt realize that till later on- and then the literature states that I have to pay if I call for housekeeping. So i ended up cleaning it myself. But i'll know for my next stay.

 

[dianeschlicht]

it was silly of me not to read the literatures till the 4th day of my stay. I didnt realize that till later on- and then the literature states that I have to pay if I call for housekeeping. So i ended up cleaning it myself. But i'll know for my next stay.

When you buy a timeshare it is rare that ANY housekeeping other than that done between guests is done. At least at DVC there is a schedule of trash and towel on teh 4 day (counting check-in day as day 1), and if you are staying more than 7 nights, you will get a full cleaning with sheet change etc on day 4 and trash and towel on day 8. Then the cycle starts over again with basically SOME kind of housekeeping every 4th day. If you want additional, yes you do have to pay extra for it, and that would be true of most any timeshare. Not sure why you would have gotten sheets at all if you were only there 5 nights. You should have gotten trash and towel on Wednesday, and that should have been it.

 

[BroganMc]

Also the issue with the busses appears to be system-wide. People reported long waits at BCV and BWV last week as well.

Disney is employing a new satellite-tracking system for bus dispatching. It appears to have many flaws.

At SSR the waits for busses as late as last New Year's was around 10-20 minutes.

I'm staying there the last week of April so you can bet I'll be checking it out myself.

 

[tomandrobin]

I'm staying there the last week of April so you can bet I'll be checking it out myself.

Last week in April? I thought you were going catch up with us for a drink at Epcot in early April?

 

[Ariel8676]

Im glad to hear you liked SSR..we really do love the resort, the bus service..not so much. We have honestly had problems with the buses our last 3 times in SSR

 

[BroganMc]

Last week in April? I thought you were going catch up with us for a drink at Epcot in early April?

Yes we are. I cleared my schedule for you guys, so you better be there. I need some drinking buddies for my around the world trek.

We're staying offsite at Marriott the first two weeks. We leave April 5 to stay 6-20. But the 20th we check into SSR for the week. I'll have the van too so if the busses are the least bit wonky, I can see myself hopping my personal express.

 

[Sammie]

There are phones at every bus stop, if a bus is long in coming to the stop, I would give them 25 minutes, call them, they will send a bus.

 

[5 for WDW]

Sorry to hear you had a hard time with the buses.

We were there for ten days in September and had perfect bus service. The best we have had in the past 12 years onsite...really.

I hope they get the buses worked out soon!!

I hope you had a great trip!

 

[erin.w]

what was the basket from the timeshare store for?

 

[LSchrow]

We were there for ten days in September and had perfect bus service. The best we have had in the past 12 years onsite...really.

we found SSR to have the best bus service also (last june was our latest visit there).

if SSR had probs, imagine what the other resorts were like
lol

 

[podsnel]

Yes we are. I cleared my schedule for you guys, so you better be there. I need some drinking buddies for my around the world trek.

We're staying offsite at Marriott the first two weeks. We leave April 5 to stay 6-20. But the 20th we check into SSR for the week. I'll have the van too so if the busses are the least bit wonky, I can see myself hopping my personal express.

You're goin to the Mouse for 3 weeks??!! May I just say...

 

[Esmerelda]

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..?

 

[kiingor]

what was the basket from the timeshare store for?

It was a gift basket for those who purchase their DVC membership from resale thru timeshare store. A nice basket of goodies- perfect for my wife.

 

[MrsNick]

There are phones at every bus stop, if a bus is long in coming to the stop, I would give them 25 minutes, call them, they will send a bus.

We had great bus service at SSR on our last trip just a couple of weeks ago. However, thanks for this tip Sammie! I wouldn't have known to do this! Now I know