Old, New & Long Lost Friends, with a Side of Frump! FINISHED! DL TR started 1.20.14!

[Stringbean&Wingnut]

Aratoga Springs looks like such a pretty resort! Hahaha I always go the wrong direction too, we wandered around the Poly for MUCH longer than necessary when we stayed there!

Were the "additional questions" when you did online check in part of the My Disney Experience thing on the website, and did that mean that you were using the magic bands for the rest of your trip? (I'm still very confused by this process!) Or was that just a new feature on the site?

 

[arbolita]

Looking at your pictures of SSR brings back memories of our trip 2 years ago when we also stayed at SSR. We were a traveling group of 6 so we appreciated the space available in our two bedroom. I found SSR to be a very relaxing resort because it's so sprawled out, you feel completely removed from the hustle and bustle of Disney. Plus with DTD so close by it was very nice to have so many restaurant options!

I felt the same - the size of the resort was a little frustrating that first day, simply because it was really overwhelming not knowing where we were or where to go, but we really appreciated that later in the week. And being able to walk to DTD instead of waiting for a bus was fantastic!

Aratoga Springs looks like such a pretty resort! Hahaha I always go the wrong direction too, we wandered around the Poly for MUCH longer than necessary when we stayed there!

Were the "additional questions" when you did online check in part of the My Disney Experience thing on the website, and did that mean that you were using the magic bands for the rest of your trip? (I'm still very confused by this process!) Or was that just a new feature on the site?

It's a new feature! I'm sure it will assist a lot with the check-in process when people arrive at the resort, so they don't have to fax in any specific requests and the host(ess) doesn't have to try and rearrange where their room is after it has been assigned during check in, etc.

We actually didn't see any magic bands when we were there, although I wasn't actively looking for them. One of the CMs we were speaking with told us that for the week we were there, Caribbean Beach was the resort where guests were pre-selected to try out FastPass+ and other NextGen experiences. I think the current rumor is that by the end of the month, they'll be rolling out the Magic Bands to guests so hopefully there will be a TR soon from someone who got to use them!

 

[MasonsDisneyMom]

Saratoga Springs is on our list of DVC resorts to try. We sailed past it on our boat ride from OKW in October and it looks huge! How was the walk to Downtown Disney?

 

[emilyindisney]

SSR looks stunning! My sister is a huge horse fan (she's a professional horse trainer, in fact) so I'm sure she'd absolutely love it there.

Did you find the size unmanageable? Or was it better once you checked out a map/knew where to go?

 

[arbolita]

Saratoga Springs is on our list of DVC resorts to try. We sailed past it on our boat ride from OKW in October and it looks huge! How was the walk to Downtown Disney?

From our room, it was probably about a 10 minute walk from the time we left the building to when we reached the Marketplace bus stop - so not bad at all. I think the walk would be similar from anywhere in Congress Park, and no more than 5 minutes longer from The Springs area. The other areas of the resort, especially The Carousel, would be a bit longer.

SSR looks stunning! My sister is a huge horse fan (she's a professional horse trainer, in fact) so I'm sure she'd absolutely love it there.

Did you find the size unmanageable? Or was it better once you checked out a map/knew where to go?

Once we knew where our room was and could identify certain landmarks (bus stop, walkway to DTD), it made it a lot easier to figure out where we needed to go at the resort. We really only needed to go to the Carriage House a few times while we were there (mostly for breakfast), and that only took about 5 minutes. I think if we had been in one of the farther areas (like The Carousel, The Paddock or The Grandstand) we wouldn't have enjoyed it at much. We actually never even walked back to that part of the resort.

Actually, that's kind of a lie. We walked through the Paddock when we first got there (that's where we got lost, haha).

 

[danimaroo]

Ahh, I've never visited Saratoga Springs so I'm actually looking forward to seeing photos of the resort and your room!

Man, that My Disney Experience stuff ended up being such a pain prior to our trip. At one point, my Be Our Guest reservation WAS MISSING. And the site was telling me it didn't exist, ugh. But that being said, that's pretty awesome you could make those requests! In the past with online check-in with DVC, you could only make 2 requests and they were super limited. So good to know for the future!

At least you guys took a scenic route! No but seriously, the resort looks pretty! It kind of reminds me of Old Key West, but more open.

I'm really excited to see what your room looks like!

 

[experiment818]

Saratoga Springs is a very nice resort. We stayed in a Treehouse Villa last September and loved it. We have also stayed in the main resort a couple of times. Spent a lot of time at the main pool next to the carriage house.

 

[arbolita]

Ahh, I've never visited Saratoga Springs so I'm actually looking forward to seeing photos of the resort and your room!

Man, that My Disney Experience stuff ended up being such a pain prior to our trip. At one point, my Be Our Guest reservation WAS MISSING. And the site was telling me it didn't exist, ugh. But that being said, that's pretty awesome you could make those requests! In the past with online check-in with DVC, you could only make 2 requests and they were super limited. So good to know for the future!

At least you guys took a scenic route! No but seriously, the resort looks pretty! It kind of reminds me of Old Key West, but more open.

I'm really excited to see what your room looks like!

I had the same issue at first with My Disney Experience with our ADRs not showing up as well! Glad they were able to get that situated quickly and without actually losing any reservations.

I'm hoping to get the post about the room up by this evening!

Saratoga Springs is a very nice resort. We stayed in a Treehouse Villa last September and loved it. We have also stayed in the main resort a couple of times. Spent a lot of time at the main pool next to the carriage house.

A friend of mine and I are debating on getting a group of people together to do the Treehouse Villas sometime soon! How were your wait times with buses? Any big pros/cons that stand out to you about the Treehouse Villas in general?

 

[Grumpy's Wife]

Can't wait to see what's behind the door. The resort does look very pretty. I hope you enjoyed your stay.

 

[ziggystardust]

Thanks for the tip about BWI. I just moved to the area so its my new airport.

I flew out of there in Oct and definitely waited on a bit of a security line. I was ridiculously early plus the flight ended up being delayed so it didn't really affect me but I will remember for next time. Can never risk missing my flight to disney!

 

[marDgreen88]

YAY! I love seeing all these SSR pictures! It looks like such a beautiful resort. Hahha I totally understand being directionally challenged. I promise. When I stayed at All Star Movies, not once did I remember which way was the shortcut to my room. It was quite pitiful. So basically I get it.

Can't wait to see room pictures!

 

[arbolita]

Can't wait to see what's behind the door. The resort does look very pretty. I hope you enjoyed your stay.

We did! I really hope we stay there again some day!

Thanks for the tip about BWI. I just moved to the area so its my new airport.

I flew out of there in Oct and definitely waited on a bit of a security line. I was ridiculously early plus the flight ended up being delayed so it didn't really affect me but I will remember for next time. Can never risk missing my flight to disney!

Glad I could help! My husband and I have flown a lot over the past two years, and we were so excited when one of the airport employees told us the downstairs existed! And welcome to the area!

YAY! I love seeing all these SSR pictures! It looks like such a beautiful resort. Hahha I totally understand being directionally challenged. I promise. When I stayed at All Star Movies, not once did I remember which way was the shortcut to my room. It was quite pitiful. So basically I get it.

Can't wait to see room pictures!

I guess it was bound to happen after actually NOT getting lost in the airport this time, haha. What a frump.

 

[arbolita]

Chapter 5 - This room is nic- OH MY GOD, THAT VIEW.


Time to finally check out our new home for the next week! Upon closer inspection of the door, you will now see this instead of the KTTW slot:

You just tap you room key onto the Mickey panel, and it unlocks for you! I absolutely loved this change, and even though it probably only shaved a few seconds off the amount of time it took to get into the room, I was so happy for the switch. I'm one of those people who always seems to have issues swiping a card to unlock a door. Disney is totally spoiling me for other hotels. As usual.

But, I know you didn't click on this new chapter just to read about my love affair with the new tap-to-enter locks (or did you? Hmmm...), so welcome to our room!

Funny story about that picture - see that shirt hanging in the closet? Yeah, my husband left it there. We've each called the SSR Lost and Found and left a message about it, but no luck yet. Cross your fingers it turns up eventually!

Moving on.

As you walk further inside, on your left you have the small kitchen area:

The upper cabinets have plates, cups, mugs, bowls and napkins for your use, along with the microwave, coffee pot and toaster that you see in the picture. The refrigerator was SO COLD. We bought a case of water at one point, and some of the bottles froze overnight, even if they weren't in the dedicated freezer section. That was actually really nice for when we would bring the water to the park the next day - no problems with it not staying cold!

Opposite the kitchen area, you have the closet (seen in the earlier picture), sink and vanity and the bathroom.

I feel like this picture of the bathroom is slightly deceiving and makes it look a little smaller than it actually is. Having been used to values and moderates, I was really appreciative of how spacious the bathrooms here were!

The bed was a queen, and although I loved it, my husband thought it was too firm and actually had trouble sleeping on it. On the right in the picture, you see the sofa that converts into a bed (we never pulled it out, though).

Across from the bed was the most important part of the room:

THE STACEY BOX! (We will be coming back to that in just a minute! I promise!)

Next to the television were the table and chairs.

I have to say, I'm really happy Disney now offers free WiFi in the rooms (and in the parks). We didn't use the computer a ton while we were there, but it was nice to be able to get online to check out e-mail, and for my husband to take care of some work items that came up.

Some of the Disney accents in the room:

So, up to this point, I was pretty happy with the room, but wasn't feeling as "WOW"-ed as I thought I would by a DVC/Deluxe resort. Then I went to the balcony.

WHY HELLO THERE DOWNTOWN DISNEY, LOOK AT YOU RIGHT OUTSIDE MY WINDOW.

I was so completely giddy after seeing this!! I love Downtown Disney (I'm actually writing a series on it for TouringPlans) so looking out my window and seeing this made my day and really set the tone for the rest of the trip.

I don't even know if I can count how many pictures I took of the Characters in Flight balloon during the week. I can promise this won't be the last one you see in this trip report.

Alright, so I explored the room, I went crazy over THAT VIEW, there was one other thing I needed to do in order to get settled.

HI STACEY!

Wait a minute, is that...?

OH MY GOD, YES IT IS. NEW STACEY FOOTAGE.

The new footage as amazing and glorious as she is. And the new footage isn't just of her in New Fantasyland and Storybook Circus. Oh no. They recut a lot of the old footage, including her using the phrase "chunker munker." I laughed like a hyena and kept repeated that throughout the entire trip.

Don't just take my word on how AMAZING it is. Go watch for yourself!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQRIkOIbs9M

I only had one complaint about the new footage, which I expressed on Twitter:

@GertietheDino89 Why are there all these clips on the Stacey channel that don't include Stacey? I'm looking at you Test Track commercial

You can see them in the YouTube video as well. COME ON DISNEY, GET IT TOGETHER. Just have Stacey come back and record footage for Test Track. You know she loves it.

I made another quick update on Twitter, then it was time for us to set off on a mission.

@GertieTheDino89 I could watch @staceyjaswad all day, but I guess we should go to our lunch reservation.

Continued in Next Post



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[danimaroo]

Your view was FABULOUS!! Love it!

I have to say, DVC rooms, the studios, tend to not be as fancy as the normal Deluxe rooms. That being said, the one and two-bedroom villas are AWESOME. There's a beautiful huge jacuzzi tub, a king size bed, and then a massive kitchen and living room. We had a one-bedroom at OKW for the second half of our honeymoon on our trip and it was awesome. That being said, we stick with studios now because the one-bedroom was just too much space for us. I'd rather save points and just stay in a studio. Plus, having all of the awesome amenities of Beach Club (like Stormalong Bay and the location) are amazing. Studio rooms are decent but nothing like what you'd pay OOP for a regular Deluxe room.

We put Stacey on right away, too, and I was happy for new footage! However, I didn't really like the new music for Cirque de Soleil (I'm weird, I know, but I liked the wonky old music better, hahaha)... That and at the end of each Stacey loop, during the credits, the music would get all choppy/wonky! Did you notice that at all?

Can't wait for another update!

 

[arbolita]

Your view was FABULOUS!! Love it!

I have to say, DVC rooms, the studios, tend to not be as fancy as the normal Deluxe rooms. That being said, the one and two-bedroom villas are AWESOME. There's a beautiful huge jacuzzi tub, a king size bed, and then a massive kitchen and living room. We had a one-bedroom at OKW for the second half of our honeymoon on our trip and it was awesome. That being said, we stick with studios now because the one-bedroom was just too much space for us. I'd rather save points and just stay in a studio. Plus, having all of the awesome amenities of Beach Club (like Stormalong Bay and the location) are amazing. Studio rooms are decent but nothing like what you'd pay OOP for a regular Deluxe room.

We put Stacey on right away, too, and I was happy for new footage! However, I didn't really like the new music for Cirque de Soleil (I'm weird, I know, but I liked the wonky old music better, hahaha)... That and at the end of each Stacey loop, during the credits, the music would get all choppy/wonky! Did you notice that at all?

Can't wait for another update!

Good to know about the studio rooms vs. the other rooms! No one in either of our families has DVC (or loves Disney as much as I do - sigh), and they've been out of our price range to pay out of pocket. One day!

And YES. I noticed the exact same thing about the end of the Stacey video! I hope they get that fixed soon. Stacey deserves better.

 

[beachphotog]

Hi Theresa I'm a new TR reader! I somehow ended up following you on twitter... Probably from one of the MANY dis friends that I found on twitter. But I somehow had no idea you were here, too !
Anyway, I'm so excited to be reading along with your TR after reading some of your tweets! Love the look of SSR! I debated between staying there and at BWV when I go in the fall, but the proximity to so many things really edged out and won.
Count me in for the rest of your report, and it is great to "meet" you!

 

[MasonsDisneyMom]

That view is amazing! Your studio looks like the DVC studios that we have stayed in so far (AKV and OKW). We are staying in a 2 bedroom theme park view at Bay Lake Tower in September and I can't wait to wake up to the castle everyday! I'm hoping we get a decent view at Beach Club Villas in May so that we can see Illuminations from our room!

 

[emilyindisney]

Love, love, love the inside of your room! Can you tell I'm practically sold on SSR?! The views off your balcony were gorgeous!

I'm a little bummed they didn't put Stacey into the new test track stuff either. That hokey 'Test Track, baby!' gif is one of my favorites, haha!

 

[experiment818]

A friend of mine and I are debating on getting a group of people together to do the Treehouse Villas sometime soon! How were your wait times with buses? Any big pros/cons that stand out to you about the Treehouse Villas in general?[/QUOTE]

We had a rental car so the buses were not really an issue for us. We stayed with my wife’s parents and there were a few times that we split up. We would let them use the car while we used Disney transportation.

We stayed in THV 7059, which was in a great location. It was a short walk to the boat launch, quiet pool and the path that leads to the main resort. It was also right next to one of the internal bus stops but we would just walk over to the Grandstand section and pick up a park bus there.

The entrance to the resort on Disney Vacation Club Way was closed during our stay due to some construction that they were doing. An internal bus from the THVs would have to drive all the way over to the entrance near the Downtown Disney Marketplace to get to the Carriage House bus stop. You would then have to disembark and wait for a park bus there. It just seemed easier to walk to the Grandstand.

If we took a bus home from one of the parks, we would just get off at the Carriage House and walk back to our THV. It was only about a 5-10 minute walk.

That is probably way more information than you wanted to know!

Pros:
We liked having our own “home” for the week.
Large deck with a table and four chairs. We enjoyed having our breakfast & coffee out there, and hanging out at the end of the day.
We liked having our own grill right at the villa. We used it twice to cook dinners. I realize that this is probably not a PRO for most people, as I hardly saw anyone using them.
The quiet pool in the Treehouse section was really quiet. We went a few times and were the only ones there.
Plenty of room in the villa (especially since there was only 4 of us).

Cons:
If you don’t have a rental car, relying on the buses could be a pain.

The location of our THV was definitely a huge PRO. If we were located on the other end of the treehouse section it would have nearly doubled our walk to the Carriage House.

Not sure what the makeup of your group would be, but one thing to keep in mind. A THV sleeps 9 but two of the beds are bunk beds. If you had 9 adults, two of them would have to sleep in bunk beds and if I remember correctly, they did not look like they would be very comfortable for a full grown adult.

 

[arbolita]

Hi Theresa I'm a new TR reader! I somehow ended up following you on twitter... Probably from one of the MANY dis friends that I found on twitter. But I somehow had no idea you were here, too !
Anyway, I'm so excited to be reading along with your TR after reading some of your tweets! Love the look of SSR! I debated between staying there and at BWV when I go in the fall, but the proximity to so many things really edged out and won.
Count me in for the rest of your report, and it is great to "meet" you!

Hello there!! My Twitter name and DisBoards name are so different from each other, i'm not too surprised you didn't realize I was on both!

I totally don't blame you for choosing BWV - being able to walk to EPCOT and DHS, and having so many other great restaurants nearby? I'm really hoping I get to stay there at some point myself! But we really enjoyed staying at SSR, so I would definitely keep it on your list to try eventually!

That view is amazing! Your studio looks like the DVC studios that we have stayed in so far (AKV and OKW). We are staying in a 2 bedroom theme park view at Bay Lake Tower in September and I can't wait to wake up to the castle everyday! I'm hoping we get a decent view at Beach Club Villas in May so that we can see Illuminations from our room!

Oh wow, that should be an amazing room/view when you're in BLT!! Not even just for waking up to the castle, but being able to watch Wishes and Celebrate the Magic from your room if you head back early one night (and same for Illuminations at BCV). If this TR is still in progress after your trip(s), you'll have to post some pictures!

Love, love, love the inside of your room! Can you tell I'm practically sold on SSR?! The views off your balcony were gorgeous!

I'm a little bummed they didn't put Stacey into the new test track stuff either. That hokey 'Test Track, baby!' gif is one of my favorites, haha!

YAY SSR! I think one of the other great things about that resort is because of the size, it's pretty easy to guarantee that you will be able to get rooms there for your entire stay, and in the section that you want. And I still can't get over those views!

I could make Stacey gifs forever. I really hope a higher quality version of the new video goes up soon so I can get back to work!

We had a rental car so the buses were not really an issue for us. We stayed with my wifes parents and there were a few times that we split up. We would let them use the car while we used Disney transportation.

We stayed in THV 7059, which was in a great location. It was a short walk to the boat launch, quiet pool and the path that leads to the main resort. It was also right next to one of the internal bus stops but we would just walk over to the Grandstand section and pick up a park bus there.

The entrance to the resort on Disney Vacation Club Way was closed during our stay due to some construction that they were doing. An internal bus from the THVs would have to drive all the way over to the entrance near the Downtown Disney Marketplace to get to the Carriage House bus stop. You would then have to disembark and wait for a park bus there. It just seemed easier to walk to the Grandstand.

If we took a bus home from one of the parks, we would just get off at the Carriage House and walk back to our THV. It was only about a 5-10 minute walk.

That is probably way more information than you wanted to know!

Pros:
We liked having our own home for the week.
Large deck with a table and four chairs. We enjoyed having our breakfast & coffee out there, and hanging out at the end of the day.
We liked having our own grill right at the villa. We used it twice to cook dinners. I realize that this is probably not a PRO for most people, as I hardly saw anyone using them.
The quiet pool in the Treehouse section was really quiet. We went a few times and were the only ones there.
Plenty of room in the villa (especially since there was only 4 of us).

Cons:
If you dont have a rental car, relying on the buses could be a pain.

The location of our THV was definitely a huge PRO. If we were located on the other end of the treehouse section it would have nearly doubled our walk to the Carriage House.

Not sure what the makeup of your group would be, but one thing to keep in mind. A THV sleeps 9 but two of the beds are bunk beds. If you had 9 adults, two of them would have to sleep in bunk beds and if I remember correctly, they did not look like they would be very comfortable for a full grown adult.

Thank you so much for all the info! I think we're looking at going with a group of 4-7 adults, so hopefully the bunk beds won't be an issue.