Parker1028
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Aug 26, 2005
- Messages
- 8
Just returned last night from our first stay at SSR. We were there for 8days, 7 Nights. We purchased last August, after much help from those on this board, and took a two bedroom this stay. My wife and I took our two kids (13 and 10) and my two sisters and an aunt. We have been to Disney World on at least 20 separate trips and have stayed at many different Disney Hotels (All Star, Caribbean Beach, Port Oleans,etc) Here are some of our experience from our first trip "Home".
We arrived at SSR early afternoon on Saturday. Check in time is 4pm so we expected to have to wait for a room (although I never have at any other Disney resort). The first thing I noticed was that there was no "cue up line" for check in. Just an informal line, which I found a bit weird but maybe that's a part of the laid back atmosphere of the resort. There were only 3 parties ahead of us at check in and yet we wait over 30 minutes to get to a cast member. So that I thought was a bit much. When we did get up to the window. We were helped by an Asian woman that was having a hard time understanding us (getting names wrong, getting the Adults to children numbers wrong several times) and that made for a much longer check in time than it should have been. We hadn't asked for any specific location when making our reservation and were more than willing to be put anywhere at the resort. We wound up with a room in Congress Park. We were told they only had the "Garden Room" views available after we asked for a view of Downtown Disney. We figured we'd ask anyway, knowing the chance to get one was small. And then she asked if I'd like to leave a credit card number to make the keys charge cards, it's a standard request that I turn down. I did however leave my card on file for any room charges that may occur. More on this later.
After being told the room wouldn't be ready until after 4pm we waited on a separate line at guest services to pick up our tickets for that nights Hoop De Doo revue show as our check in host couldn't help us. This line at guest services was only a couple of people long and they had 2 cast members handling the line. Or so it seemed. Well, another 30 minutes later we finally got to the desk. Seems that one of the computers had "broken down". I guess that's why one of the cast members was on the phone laughing and having a grand old time while people grew antsy on the line. Ok, stuff happens but maybe you should let people on line know what's happening because it seemed to many of us that she was talking with a friend while we waited and waited and waited. The good thing was that it would be the longest line we'd wait on the whole trip so at least we got it out of the way.
We finally got to the front and the man helping us says (as soon as we get there) "I have to go, I'm supposed to be somewhere else right now". So I asked him, is anyone going to help us and he kind of shrugged his shoulders and left. Now I'm a bit annoyed. Over an hour standing on lines here and not getting very far. The other woman is still laughing it up on the phone and I'm looking around for a manager. The guy comes back out and say ok, I'm staying here. Great. I need to pick up my tickets for the show tonight. "Oh sorry, we can't help you with that here. You can only pick them up 24 hours ahead of time here. After that you need to pick them up at the show". I tell him that 24 hours ago I was in NY so that would have been impossible and when I made the reservation they knew that and yet they told me to come here to get them. Needless to say, there was nothing he could do for me. Great.
Now I'm thinking "Is this what's it's going to be like here?" I'm not very happy.
We are able to get into the room a little after 4pm. The rooms look great and the first thing I notice is that we actually do have a view of Downtown Disney from the balcony. That's a nice surprise. The rooms are laid out great. We start to examine the rooms a little closer and that's when I notice a few minor things wrong. The light in the bathroom flickers. 2 of the 3 remotes for the TV's don't work and are missing the battery covers. The bottom draw in one of the dressers is jammed shut. There is a lot of dirt under the pull out bed. So my wife puts a call into maintenance to have them correct some of the problems. The vacuum in the room helps me get the left over dirt.
We go out to the show and come back late that night and see that none of the problems that we'd called about have been corrected. We call down again and are assured that it will be taken care of the next morning. But that they would try to get housekeeping up to check out the batteries in the remotes. A few minutes later, a nice woman from housekeeping comes up fixes the remotes. One had dead batteries, the other had to be reprogrammed because if you take the batteries out it loses it's programming and doesn't work. Ok maybe housekeeping should check those things out before giving the room the ready sign, especially since the remotes are missing the battery covers. She also gave us a nice tip about riding Mt. Everest (you get a different experience in the first and last car, not sure if that's true).
Jump ahead to the next evening and the other stuff has still not been taken care of. Now I'm super annoyed. We call again and by chance get the same woman who handled our last complaint. She says that both times someone filled out that the work had been handled. But that she'll send someone up right away. The guy comes and fixes the stuff in less than 5 minutes.
In between all the maintenance problems, I tried to use the High Speed Internet service. You pay $10 a day (standard charge for most resorts) and they put it on your bill. Now you may remember that I did leave my card on file for such charges at check in. I tried to use the service and was told that I needed to have a charge card on file at the desk. I call the front desk and ask them why this isn't working as I've left the card info already. They tell me that I need to activate one of the room keys as a charge card in order for the internet service to work. I've stayed in many hotels and have never heard of this. Usually, the charge is added to your bill and you pay it at the end. They already have my card info so why would I need to activate a key card charge? I went to the front desk and they could answer the question so I just made my card a charge card. Just another inconvience.
All that said, the resort is beautiful. It was a short walk from my room in Congress Park to the main pool. The staff at the AP and pool were fantastic. I will say that the walk to Downtown Disney is a bit much for some but can be done if your a walker. I am so I had no problem but others in my party weren't happy about it and drove there most days. They really should put a foot bridge across the water to make it easier. At night that path could be a dangerous place if some wacko was loose on the property. The brush is over 6 feet tall in some places near the end of the path.
As for concerns that I'd read about the noise from DTD, don't worry. The rooms really are sound proof. You can hear the music on your balcony but not a peep in your room.
On the great side:
It only rained lightly once for 5 minutes the entire trip.
The lines were very short.
The food was great.
And the magical memories for the family.
Hopefully they can work on the check in process and make that experience a little more "Magical". All in all once the kinks worked out it was a great place to stay. And I'm looking forward to my next trip "Home".
jp
We arrived at SSR early afternoon on Saturday. Check in time is 4pm so we expected to have to wait for a room (although I never have at any other Disney resort). The first thing I noticed was that there was no "cue up line" for check in. Just an informal line, which I found a bit weird but maybe that's a part of the laid back atmosphere of the resort. There were only 3 parties ahead of us at check in and yet we wait over 30 minutes to get to a cast member. So that I thought was a bit much. When we did get up to the window. We were helped by an Asian woman that was having a hard time understanding us (getting names wrong, getting the Adults to children numbers wrong several times) and that made for a much longer check in time than it should have been. We hadn't asked for any specific location when making our reservation and were more than willing to be put anywhere at the resort. We wound up with a room in Congress Park. We were told they only had the "Garden Room" views available after we asked for a view of Downtown Disney. We figured we'd ask anyway, knowing the chance to get one was small. And then she asked if I'd like to leave a credit card number to make the keys charge cards, it's a standard request that I turn down. I did however leave my card on file for any room charges that may occur. More on this later.
After being told the room wouldn't be ready until after 4pm we waited on a separate line at guest services to pick up our tickets for that nights Hoop De Doo revue show as our check in host couldn't help us. This line at guest services was only a couple of people long and they had 2 cast members handling the line. Or so it seemed. Well, another 30 minutes later we finally got to the desk. Seems that one of the computers had "broken down". I guess that's why one of the cast members was on the phone laughing and having a grand old time while people grew antsy on the line. Ok, stuff happens but maybe you should let people on line know what's happening because it seemed to many of us that she was talking with a friend while we waited and waited and waited. The good thing was that it would be the longest line we'd wait on the whole trip so at least we got it out of the way.
We finally got to the front and the man helping us says (as soon as we get there) "I have to go, I'm supposed to be somewhere else right now". So I asked him, is anyone going to help us and he kind of shrugged his shoulders and left. Now I'm a bit annoyed. Over an hour standing on lines here and not getting very far. The other woman is still laughing it up on the phone and I'm looking around for a manager. The guy comes back out and say ok, I'm staying here. Great. I need to pick up my tickets for the show tonight. "Oh sorry, we can't help you with that here. You can only pick them up 24 hours ahead of time here. After that you need to pick them up at the show". I tell him that 24 hours ago I was in NY so that would have been impossible and when I made the reservation they knew that and yet they told me to come here to get them. Needless to say, there was nothing he could do for me. Great.
Now I'm thinking "Is this what's it's going to be like here?" I'm not very happy.
We are able to get into the room a little after 4pm. The rooms look great and the first thing I notice is that we actually do have a view of Downtown Disney from the balcony. That's a nice surprise. The rooms are laid out great. We start to examine the rooms a little closer and that's when I notice a few minor things wrong. The light in the bathroom flickers. 2 of the 3 remotes for the TV's don't work and are missing the battery covers. The bottom draw in one of the dressers is jammed shut. There is a lot of dirt under the pull out bed. So my wife puts a call into maintenance to have them correct some of the problems. The vacuum in the room helps me get the left over dirt.
We go out to the show and come back late that night and see that none of the problems that we'd called about have been corrected. We call down again and are assured that it will be taken care of the next morning. But that they would try to get housekeeping up to check out the batteries in the remotes. A few minutes later, a nice woman from housekeeping comes up fixes the remotes. One had dead batteries, the other had to be reprogrammed because if you take the batteries out it loses it's programming and doesn't work. Ok maybe housekeeping should check those things out before giving the room the ready sign, especially since the remotes are missing the battery covers. She also gave us a nice tip about riding Mt. Everest (you get a different experience in the first and last car, not sure if that's true).
Jump ahead to the next evening and the other stuff has still not been taken care of. Now I'm super annoyed. We call again and by chance get the same woman who handled our last complaint. She says that both times someone filled out that the work had been handled. But that she'll send someone up right away. The guy comes and fixes the stuff in less than 5 minutes.
In between all the maintenance problems, I tried to use the High Speed Internet service. You pay $10 a day (standard charge for most resorts) and they put it on your bill. Now you may remember that I did leave my card on file for such charges at check in. I tried to use the service and was told that I needed to have a charge card on file at the desk. I call the front desk and ask them why this isn't working as I've left the card info already. They tell me that I need to activate one of the room keys as a charge card in order for the internet service to work. I've stayed in many hotels and have never heard of this. Usually, the charge is added to your bill and you pay it at the end. They already have my card info so why would I need to activate a key card charge? I went to the front desk and they could answer the question so I just made my card a charge card. Just another inconvience.
All that said, the resort is beautiful. It was a short walk from my room in Congress Park to the main pool. The staff at the AP and pool were fantastic. I will say that the walk to Downtown Disney is a bit much for some but can be done if your a walker. I am so I had no problem but others in my party weren't happy about it and drove there most days. They really should put a foot bridge across the water to make it easier. At night that path could be a dangerous place if some wacko was loose on the property. The brush is over 6 feet tall in some places near the end of the path.
As for concerns that I'd read about the noise from DTD, don't worry. The rooms really are sound proof. You can hear the music on your balcony but not a peep in your room.
On the great side:
It only rained lightly once for 5 minutes the entire trip.
The lines were very short.
The food was great.
And the magical memories for the family.
Hopefully they can work on the check in process and make that experience a little more "Magical". All in all once the kinks worked out it was a great place to stay. And I'm looking forward to my next trip "Home".
jp
Picking up the tickets at the show took less than a minute. But I still wasted 30 minutes on a line for no reason after an extremely long check-in process. 
We have accents around the U.S. Some are darn tough to decipher. As tough as "foreign" accented English.
