Rebooking trip, tell me about Saratoga Springs

[eeyoreandtink]

We were renting points for a trip March 29-April 4. Fortunately our member is willing to rebook us for Thanksgiving. Since we are more than 7 months out we are going to have to go with their home resort, Saratoga Springs. I am not finding a lot about it online. We are booking a preferred studio so that we will have a refurbished room (I am assuming all of the preferred buildings will be done in another 8 months).

I had a few questions I was hoping to get answered:

1. What is the pickup order for bus stops? I will be using and ECV, and may need to go to the first stop to get on at park open.

2. Size of the preferred section. How does it compare to resorts like Pop? If we are at the far end of the preferred section, how far are we looking at going to get to the carriage house?

3. Anything else that would be helpful to know?

 

[bobbiwoz]

#1 The Grandstand is the first bus stop, and it is standard, not preferred. After that it’s Carousel, The Paddock, Congress Park and the Springs if you are going to a park.

#2 Preferred sections are Congress Park and Springs and they are not close to the bus stop at Grandstand,

I have stayed at SSR with an ECV, and it was not difficult. Sometimes they have to call for another bus, but not as often as I feared.

#3 We enjoy the counter service, The Artist Palette!

 

[The Jackal]

The Springs is the closest buildings to the Carriage house. Congress Park is far from the Carriage House, but very close to Disney Springs. SSR rooms are probably the quietest in DVC, if not all of Disney. The hallways are outside, but covered. Some people do not like that, but it helps keep the sound out of the rooms when people walk by talking. I would request the Springs location, it’s not too far of an ECV ride to the Grandstand bus stop to get on there.

 

[Sandisw]

The Grandstand is the first stop for the buses, but that is a standard, not preferred. The two preferred are Congress Park...which is stop #2, and the Springs, which is last. But, as mentioned, if you request the Springs...and I would ask the owner to put in the request for medical reasons that you are in an ECV...you will be close to the Carriage House and a pretty easy ride over to the Grandstand if you want to get on the bus first.

If you stay Congress Park, close to DS, and not too bad of a ride to the main building...maybe about 5 to 7 minutes via ECV?. But, you'd be stop #2. Congress Park has its own quiet pool. The Springs pool is one of the main pools with slides, etc. It is probably busier than Congress Park.

I like the CS meals at SSR. They have mobile ordering which is really nice and when we stayed there a few nights in October, it was great ordering from the room, saying I was there, and by the time I walked there from our room in the Grandstand, it was ready!!!

 

[momtwoboys]

we are rebooking April's trip to Sept and SSR as of now is the only resort with availability we may grab it. The new rooms look nice.

 

[HelsBels16]

It’s a really nice chilled out resort and Congress Park is best location imo as gives easy access for walking to Disney Springs. The lake is really nice to walk / run around. Restaurants on site aren’t great but proximity to Disney Springs makes up for it.

 

[a742246]

Just stayed at Congress Park and the refurbishment is a big improvement I would strongly recommend . The Congress park pool is a quiet pool but the pool is open earlier then the others. I got there at 7:15 AM and it was open. The other pools open at 10:00.

 

[Bobbybear68]

Congress Park is bus stop #4 not #2 for buses going to the parks

 

[Deano45m]

We were renting points for a trip March 29-April 4. Fortunately our member is willing to rebook us for Thanksgiving. Since we are more than 7 months out we are going to have to go with their home resort, Saratoga Springs. I am not finding a lot about it online. We are booking a preferred studio so that we will have a refurbished room (I am assuming all of the preferred buildings will be done in another 8 months).

I had a few questions I was hoping to get answered:

1. What is the pickup order for bus stops? I will be using and ECV, and may need to go to the first stop to get on at park open.

2. Size of the preferred section. How does it compare to resorts like Pop? If we are at the far end of the preferred section, how far are we looking at going to get to the carriage house?

3. Anything else that would be helpful to know?

SSR is our home resort and we absolutely love it. We have a toddler and it makes it nice for going out to dinner. Rooms and resort are great. I can’t wait to stay in the new rooms when we go in July. We also had to rebook our trip from end of March we were 11 days away.

 

[sleepydog25]

Just stayed at CP the first week of March, and most of those rooms are now newly refurbished. While one of the more farther out areas from the Carriage House, there are others that are much farther. For an ECV or someone walking with you, it would be a short five to seven minute ride/walk depending on which building in CP you're located. The bus stop for CP is very conveniently located just about in the middle of the area. The Turf Club is a nice spot for dinner--not great but solid. We particularly liked our location at CP as we were mere steps from the quiet pool (bottom floor), and that pool's hours were from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m., and the pool doesn't get loud since there are not parties, music, etc. There is a chair lift device at the hot tub, too. As for being quiet, we found it to be in the moderate range. Unlike a prior poster, we felt the outside hallways echoed the noise more than what we're used to for indoor rooms, and you can definitely hear the CM golf-cart style carts whizzing by at all hours. Moreover, we also heard bands playing in nearby Disney Springs every night. That being said, we didn't find any of those things too terribly intrusive, but they were certainly noticeable.

 

[MMSM]

I had to rebook my April 1 (rented DVC points) to June and Saratoga is what is available. I have a one bedroom villa standard. Will this be refurbished? I liked how the new refurbed ones have the pull down Murphy bed and also the small bed under the tv. But the old ones do not. Without booking a preferred how can I get a refurbished one?

 

[JETSDAD]

I had to rebook my April 1 (rented DVC points) to June and Saratoga is what is available. I have a one bedroom villa standard. Will this be refurbished? I liked how the new refurbed ones have the pull down Murphy bed and also the small bed under the tv. But the old ones do not. Without booking a preferred how can I get a refurbished one?

Only preferred rooms have been refurbed (and not all of them) so that is the only way to have a chance at one of them.

 

[DizDaD7]

We were renting points for a trip March 29-April 4. Fortunately our member is willing to rebook us for Thanksgiving. Since we are more than 7 months out we are going to have to go with their home resort, Saratoga Springs. I am not finding a lot about it online. We are booking a preferred studio so that we will have a refurbished room (I am assuming all of the preferred buildings will be done in another 8 months).

I had a few questions I was hoping to get answered:

1. What is the pickup order for bus stops? I will be using and ECV, and may need to go to the first stop to get on at park open.

2. Size of the preferred section. How does it compare to resorts like Pop? If we are at the far end of the preferred section, how far are we looking at going to get to the carriage house?

3. Anything else that would be helpful to know?

as stated earlier
1. Grandstand, Carousel, Paddock, Congress Park, and finally Springs.

2. Kinda big, but beautiful grounds to walk. Especially the CP section. Depending on if you get a bldg. in this section will determine how far the walk will be..If you get the Springs section( Also Preferred) you'll be very close, and also the last bus stop to leave for the parks.

3. Heres a updated video showing the new studios. and also a map for you to see just how large it is.

Also like Turf Club a lot..It's been 2 years or so since we've eaten here but this place never seemed to disappoint. It actually was a nice hidden Gem TBH. Especially the Prime Rib...Also another member pointed this out to me which I was unaware of. Just underneath the Turf club around the back , there is a quick service type place that supposedly has amazing food. I'm going to give it a whirl next trip. I believe it's called chip n dales...here's another link

https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/dining/saratoga-springs-resort-and-spa/chip-n-dales-cafe/https://www.wdwinfo.com/resortmaps/saratoga.htm

 

[sleepydog25]

Also like Turf Club a lot..It's been 2 years or so since we've eaten here but this place never seemed to disappoint. It actually was a nice hidden Gem TBH. Especially the Prime Rib...Also another member pointed this out to me which I was unaware of. Just underneath the Turf club around the back , there is a quick service type place that supposedly has amazing food. I'm going to give it a whirl next trip. I believe it's called chip n dales...here's another link

https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/dining/saratoga-springs-resort-and-spa/chip-n-dales-cafe/https://www.wdwinfo.com/resortmaps/saratoga.htm

Yep, it's called Chip 'n Dale's. It's solid but I wouldn't call it amazing. We tried it out a couple of weeks ago and liked it. I had the club, my wife the club as a salad (they'll do that with any sandwich which is very cool). My club and her club salad were both good but I wouldn't stray into amazing: typical white bread, Disney bacon, lettuce, and tomatoes, but it was nicely stacked with those ingredients. Certainly, it's worth trying C 'n D's as it's very convenient. Friendly staff, too.

 

[a1tinkfans]

Stayed but wouldn’t return. Not enough Disney feel, didn’t like resort theme and nothing special. Tho massage was awesome.

 

[Brian Noble]

3. Anything else that would be helpful to know?

SSR is sometimes thought of as the red-headed stepchild of DVC, because it is the one that is easiest to book. And, I will admit that at first I was not a huge fan. However, I just got back from a late-Feb/early-Mar trip there, and it has really grown on me.

The general vibe is one of casual and understated elegance. The sense of place is less obvious than, say, OKW which is "island time" everywhere you look, but it is there if you allow yourself enough inner stillness to see it. The landscaping has come in as well. In its early years, it was a bit of a moonscape with four-story buildings amid too-new landscaping, but that was 15 years ago, give or take, and it has matured nicely. That contributes a lot to the look-and-feel of the place for me.

As noted above, if you are in a preferred building, you will be in either bus stop 4 or 5. Both of my stays have been Standard, in the Paddock area. If you have a room that faces the long narrow pond separating Paddock from Springs, it is lovely, particularly as the sun rises in the morning. This puts you near stop 2 or 3, depending on where you are exactly. None of these are all that far from the Carriage House now that the bridge is in place. It's at most a 5-10 minute walk from anywhere in that section.

 

[eeyoreandtink]

thank you everyone for your replies. I appreciate the info

 

[Ellophant]

Hi, we´re considering booking SSR or OKW for our resceduled trip April 2021. Are there different stops for the boats at Disney Springs? We stayed at SSR 5 years ago and the boat stop was near the Cirque du Soleil and we had to walk a while to get to the centre of Disney Springs or wait for another boat to the next stop. I read, that the OKW stop is at this second stop, is this still the same or has it changed? We would love the refurbished rooms in the preferred section and could walk to Disney Springs and we will have more options for the food. If we´d like to refill our mugs, does every pool have fill up stations like the Grandstand (this was our last section 5 years ago)? Thanks for answering.

 

[DizDaD7]

Hi, we´re considering booking SSR or OKW for our resceduled trip April 2021. Are there different stops for the boats at Disney Springs? We stayed at SSR 5 years ago and the boat stop was near the Cirque du Soleil and we had to walk a while to get to the centre of Disney Springs or wait for another boat to the next stop. I read, that the OKW stop is at this second stop, is this still the same or has it changed? We would love the refurbished rooms in the preferred section and could walk to Disney Springs and we will have more options for the food. If we´d like to refill our mugs, does every pool have fill up stations like the Grandstand (this was our last section 5 years ago)? Thanks for answering.

That is called the West Side now *(near Cirque) And I believe only the water taxis take you from there to the Landing and market place and returns. No resorts at that location. I think they have red flags.

From SSR its either green or blue flags and that'll take you right to the Landing. (Middle of everything,) & next to the Boathouse. I believe OKW also drops you off @ this dock too, and

POFQ & POR both drop you down by the Market place/stores and that's yellow & I think purple flags.

If you're in the CP section , depending on which building you are in will determine if you want to walk over to DS or walk up to the Carriage house to take a boat to DS. If you're going to visit Market place than it would be considerably shorter , whereas if you head to the Landing a boat might suffice.
Also I'm not 100% but I think only The Carousel section doesn't have a refill station..I could be wrong though.

 

[lisaviolet]

Great overview -