Recent stay at SSR vs past stays at BWV

[Deb & Bill]

Here was another thing about the room we couldn't quite make sense of...... The master bathroom has the toilet in a separate area with a door and the sink and shower outside of it, yet all in the same "room".
What is the purpose of that? Is one person supposed to be sitting on the "throne" the other is brushing teeth or showering?
If my husband is in the "room" with the toilet, there is no way I am going to be in the shower and be left enjoying his aftermath.
No one could figure out why or what the reasoning was for that set up. The BW has it all in one one large bathroom.

We made use of the large foyer by storing the guys golf clubs there. We still would have made better use out of the extra room in the living room and kitchen than the foyer.

We didn't "hate" SSR, we missed getting back to our resort quickly after a long day in the parks. We really missed the ESPN club and in general, we missed the amenities that come along with a deluxe hotel attached to the DVC.

You won't enjoy BCV. It's set up exactly the same way.

 

[bwvBound]

Here was another thing about the room we couldn't quite make sense of...... The master bathroom has the toilet in a separate area with a door and the sink and shower outside of it, yet all in the same "room".
What is the purpose of that? Is one person supposed to be sitting on the "throne" the other is brushing teeth or showering?
If my husband is in the "room" with the toilet, there is no way I am going to be in the shower and be left enjoying his aftermath.
No one could figure out why or what the reasoning was for that set up. The BW has it all in one one large bathroom.

Roaring with laughter- I complained earlier this month of this same topic but opposite configuration. We had the Master Bedroom of a SSR Grand Villa. The bathroom had toilet, shower, sink and jetted tub all in one room with no partitions. Given the gaps in the shutters over the jetted tub, I could almost view Fulton's Crab House while seated on that throne. I felt the toilet had zero privacy from the master bedroom and it really bugged me. I compared it to my more familiar BWV 1BR layout where the toilet is not located in the same room/space as the jetted tub.

 

[bwvBound]

... although we did think that walking thru the parking lot was not very Disney-like.

Ah, thank you! You've just put words to something I knew was rattling around my brain but couldn't quite articulate. Agreed, walking through the parking lots is an un-Disney element. We like the green belts, the landscaping and the sense of "space" at SSR -- but the encounter with parking lots while meandering between Congress Park and the Springs or between Springs and Grandstand really breaks the mood.

 

[Deb & Bill]

Ah, thank you! You've just put words to something I knew was rattling around my brain but couldn't quite articulate. Agreed, walking through the parking lots is an un-Disney element. We like the green belts, the landscaping and the sense of "space" at SSR -- but the encounter with parking lots while meandering between Congress Park and the Springs or between Springs and Grandstand really breaks the mood.

How do you get from your car at the BW to the villas?

 

[jekjones1558]

How do you get from your car at the BW to the villas?

Perhaps BwvBound's post was referring to moving around within the resort not to going from car to resort.

 

[DebbieB]

Was just sitting out on our balcony at BWV. Illuminations was going off to our right and at the same time, Wishes to our left. Love it!!!!

By the way, had dinner over at Ft Wilderness with friends. Rumors abound about a new DVC on the former River Country site.

 

[jekjones1558]

Was just sitting out on our balcony at BWV. Illuminations was going off to our right and at the same time, Wishes to our left. Love it!!!!

By the way, had dinner over at Ft Wilderness with friends. Rumors abound about a new DVC on the former River Country site.

Oh, you lucky dogs! I do so hope that we get an open balcony this time! DH is bringing a walker to use in the room when we go in December so we don't have to have 2049, which is HA but has the solid wall balcony that is just no good for SITTING to relax while enjoying the view! It sounds like you are making the most of your Crest of the Wave room. Good for you!

 

[bwvBound]

How do you get from your car at the BW to the villas?

Car? Oh, sorry -- I left it at home. We really enjoy Magical Express and the WDW transportation system. It isn't just a Disney-thing, I find myself eager to park the car and forget it on most of our getaways.

jekjones: Yes, sorta/mostly? While staying at BWV, I can remain immersed in "Disney" while navigating all around Boardwalk, Dolphin, Swan, Yacht/Beach, Epcot and DHS. I s'pose I often tend to stay within that territory (or more frequently: BW, Dolphin, and Swan, ignoring everything else) and thus never cross a parking lot.

 

[Pixieflip]

I haven't gotten to this part on my trip report, but I have to agree a bit here. We've stayed more than 15 trips on property at a dozen or so resorts and never ever has such terrible bus service as we just did at SSR. Lovely resort. Horrible bus situation. I suppose that statistically one day you will have a trip that is bad. But this was really bad. Waiting forever for a bus to the park. Waited for 45 minutes at park close at Epcot. 4 buses to AKL in that same time frame. Same with Pop Century. We went from daylight, through sunset and onto darkness with stars. We were so tired! And then there were so many people ready to board that every single adult under the age of old or who didn't have a sleeping kid in their arms had to stand like sardines. I should have been in my villa, showered, pj-ed and sorting pins that had been traded that day, but I was still standing next to Mr. No Deodorant on the bus!

 

[Luvmyfam3]

We have stayed at just about all the DVC resorts (except BLT) and we love them all...including SSR!!

But, please don't flame me for this....while researching our next stay, I found SSR point-wise to be MUCH higher than I expected. I know there's been a huge point shift this year, but their configuration just seems really high (and I'll admit that it could just be the time we're going), but it was close in points to some other resorts that have just as many amenities and a better location. Obviously, just my humble opinion.

Kim

 

[LSchrow]

Is there anything equal to this picture we took about 5 minutes ago from our balcony?

simply, NO

we just can't imagine how a parking lot, street, some trees, more parking lots , etc can ever compare to that amazing view available at only one place on earth.

count us among the BW view addicts

 

[hakepb]

Finishing up my SSR stay (Grandstand). I must give a big thumbs up to the front desk staff for fighting the computer system and keeping me in the same room on my split DDP stay (I think MS passed my name for part of the stay and DW for the remainder and confused the system)

I have also been impressed with the bus arrival times for everything, except AK. AK was a crazy long wait on 2 different days (and why does the AK bus stop @ BB on both directions? We might as well give extra service to Coronado while we're at it)

But I do agree with 2 of the OP's points
1- I have been shocked that a majority of the bus runs have been Standing Room Only by the time they get to the Springs, and quite a few were SRO @ CP. This is my 3rd SSR stay, and I do not recall that before. And I'm talking about late morning and afternoon runs, not the expected crazy rope drop times. Also the EPCOT run is extremely long. I think much longer than needed, go past DHS then up World drive, make a wrong turn in Albuquerque, then back to WDW. It would be fun to listen to a GPS yell at you while on the EPCOT bus "make a legal U turn" "recalculating route". I'm hoping they are trying a UPS style right turn only route to save fuel, because it is crazy for a park that seems close.

Also, I do have to agree that the living space in a SSR 1BR seems smaller than BWV. Not sure if I would want more people in a 2BR sharing that small of a living room. I do wonder though, it looks, on the fire map, that some lockoff 2BR's have a studio offset from the 1BR, in a way that probably requires a larger entry than normal.. Was the OP's 2nd bedroom sharing the same outside wall/balcony as the Living room?

 

[photobob]

I agree that BWV is as good as it gets location wise, it is wonderful being so close to Epcot and DHS.

When people talk about bus service being great at one place or poor at another, I really don't think there is much difference from one place to another bus service-wise. I think the biggest difference is how fortunate your timing is arriving at a bus stop. Does anyone else agree with me?

I've had for the most part positive experiences with bus service, there is the occasional hiccup where I have a long wait but it is the exception rather than the rule. I always have a car but rarely ever use it. It have only driven to a park twice in 12 trips.

 

[hakepb]

I think location matters some. When I stayed Values, I preferred AS Sports. When shared, it was the first stop. I considered POP but those lines at the parks were always huge in comparison.

Last night at MK the POR line was huge, and a CM sounded like that was normal, but the PORFQ line was only about 15% as big..

But I have always thought SSR had better service than the values, and I generally like SSR's stop location @ parks vs others. But proximity means more than location.

 

[quirty30]

When people talk about bus service being great at one place or poor at another, I really don't think there is much difference from one place to another bus service-wise. I think the biggest difference is how fortunate your timing is arriving at a bus stop. Does anyone else agree with me?

Totally agree. I'm sure sometimes we arrived at the bus stop just moments after the bus to Epcot (or MK, or DHS, or AK) just left. I also just posted about a recent SSR stay and one of my remarks was that bus service at any resort I've stayed at has been iffy. That being said, being within walking distance to at least one resort (like at BLT/BCV/BWV) makes that situation a little easier to endure. When you have to wait for a bus to go anywhere, of course it feels like you're spending a disproportionate amount of time to do so.

 

[Deb & Bill]

Some of the crowding problems at SSR come from guests taking the bus from the theme parks to SSR so they can get to DTD. Or from guests at the DTD Hotels walking over to SSR to go to the parks.

 

[~Brandy~]

Some of the crowding problems at SSR come from guests taking the bus from the theme parks to SSR so they can get to DTD. Or from guests at the DTD Hotels walking over to SSR to go to the parks.

I witnessed this several times during our recent trip, overhearing people in the queue and on the bus discussing which stop they needed to get off at to walk to DTD. Some of the people would even get off at the first stop (the Grandstand) and immediately sit on a bench to wait for the DTD bus.

 

[hakepb]

It does seem like 25+% of the afternoon/night SSR trips I'm on involve a bus driver giving DTD tips/directions to someone....
I think the drivers should at least give me a DVC rumor when that happens.

 

[Deb & Bill]

It does seem like 25+% of the afternoon/night SSR trips I'm on involve a bus driver giving DTD tips/directions to someone....
I think the drivers should at least give me a DVC rumor when that happens.

Heck, they had a large sign posted at Epcot the last time we were there that told people to take the SSR bus if they wanted to go to DTD. I couldn't believe that one.

 

[momx2]

We stayed at the Buena Vista Palace last spring and walk over to the Springs to catch the bus because the hotel bus was always jammed, and did not have any of the problems that you had. Maybe it was the time of the year but it was Easter weekend and very busy.

I don't guess anyone caught this but me. This type of abuse contributes to the bus overcrowding. I wish disney would do something about it.