Saratoga Springs 1/8 - 1/14 (few pics)

[ShuisFan584]

Hi everyone, I haven't been online for the longest time because I've been so busy. Anyways, my parents just joined DVC last March, and we took our first trip to Old Key West in August. Of course, my sister and I, being the Disney freaks we are, couldn't wait to go back. So my parents let us go on a trip by ourselves, with my boyfriend, and our friend John to Saratoga Springs from January 8 - January 14.

I know you probably all think my mom is crazy for allowing that , but my parents have known them for 3 years and absolutely love them. And of course they completely trust all 4 of us.

Anyways, the trip itself was wonderful. The weather was beautiful, it was high 70's all week, except for Saturday which was pretty chilly. And I've never seen the crowds so low (since we always go in August). We were walking onto things like Splash Mountain and RnRC in the early afternoon! The only bad day was Saturday, since we made the mistake of going to MK (although I didn't think that Saturday rule applied to January!) Space Mountain went up to an 80 minute wait, and even Pirates had a 10-15 minute wait!

And now of course, onto the resort. I was excited to stay at SSR, considering it is our home resort. Check-in went pretty smoothly. I had requested Congress Park, since I really wanted to have a view of Downtown Disney, but unfortunately they didn't have any rooms available. So I asked for the next best thing, a room at the Springs, and they ended up having a room available for us there. Let me say, we had the perfect room. I'm actually happy that we ended up not staying at Congress Park, because I was really happy with the Springs Section. We were in the middle building in the Springs Section, and we had the corner room on the third floor (3701). So we had a nice view of the fountain and the building across from us, and to our left we could see the pool and the whole check-in/main area.

To get to the bus stop, all we had to do was pretty much walk downstairs and it was right there. And it was so convenient being so close to the Artist's Palette and everything else.

I absolutely loved the pool. I never got a chance to go in because one person forgot to bring a bathing suit and another person didn't really want to go in. But the water was nice and warm, and I loved walking past it everyday, and I wished I could have gotten a chance to go in.

I really liked the Artist's Palette. It was really convenient for us to go whenever we needed food, and the food was good too. Of course it was also fun to sit there and color as we ate.

And I was absolutely thrilled with the bus service. I was a little nervous about that, since we had some trouble with buses at Old Key West (our average wait was over 20 minutes!). We never waited more than 5-10 minutes for a bus! While we waited at the bus stop at our resort, there was constantly a bus coming up...and as soon as that one went off, another bus would come in. I remember one day I went to the bus stop by myself because everyone was taking too long to get ready. I saw our Animal Kingdom bus pass, and the next one came about 10 minutes later.

A lot of times we were also the only people on the bus. One day we had reservations for Cape May Cafe at the Beach Club at 9:00. So we took a bus to Downtown Disney, so we could catch a Beach Club bus from there. But since we were the only people on the bus, the bus driver just took us straight to the Beach Club!

So here's a couple of pictures from our trip:

This was the view to the left from our room. The bus stop is right around the corner, and the pool is straight ahead.

This was the view straight ahead/to the right of our room.

Another view from our room

Hanging out on our deck

The pool

Another view of the pool with the slide

The Springs bus stop

This is the view of our building from the bus stop. We were on the third floor, in the corner on the right.

Me and my sister at the bus stop

Me and my boyfriend at the bus stop

If anyone is interested in seeing the rest of my pictures, you can find them here

 

[LIFERBABE]

Oh!!! Thank you for the pics!!! I really needed that this morning!! I really miss SSR and we were just there 2 weeks ago! I love the views

Also, you and your sister travelling together is pretty wonderful in itself. Thanks for the great trip report and the photos and the bright spot in my day!

 

[disney-super-mom]

Great trip report and awesome pictures! You all look like your happy and having a wonderful time! How FUN!!!

Couple of questions - What kind of room did you have? (studio, 1 bedroom, or 2 bedroom)

Also, since your room was so close to the bus stop and traffic, was it noisy in your room or on your patio? Did it bother you at all having a bus go buy every 10 minutes or so?

Thanks for the report and pictures.

 

[ShuisFan584]

I'm glad you all like the pictures.

Anyways to answer your questions, we stayed at a studio this trip. We already used up a lot of points to stay at a 2 bedroom in August, so we only had 50 points left this year. We used up all of our points and borrowed a few from next year. I had no problem staying at a studio, because it's still bigger than a standard room at a moderate, where we always used to stay. I also definitely wouldn't want to stay at a one bedroom, considering they are really my parents points, and I wouldn't want to use up that many of their points. The room was definitely big enough for the four of us, and even though there's only one bathroom, it's great having that vanity area so everyone else can get ready while other people are using the bathroom or taking a shower.

And we definitely had no noise in our room during the day or at night. It wasn't that bad on the deck either, although we didn't really sit out there that often.

 

[magicmommy]

Thank you so much for the pictures. Now I'm even more homesick! Our first trip to SSR we had requested Congress Park and it was not available so we ended up in the Springs and loved it! We had our choice the next trip and picked the Springs again.

 

[stampinshauna]

Thanks for sharing some pictures. I love seeing my home away from home!

 

[conciergekelly]

It sounds like you had a great time. Very nice trip report.

 

[Good Ol Gal]

thanks for the report... We've always stayed at CP, but looking at your pictures sure makes me want to stay at the Springs!!

 

[athenna]

Thanks so much for the pictures of ''home''
I am really homesick now!!
I also had requested CP section, but took the Springs because it was ready right away, and was glad I did, it worked out better for us. And I requested it again for the next 2 trips

 

[cobbler]

Great pics. I miss "home" already!!

 

[Jen D]

The pictures are fabulous. As someone who has seen the resort only in pictures (except for one bus drive-through) I feel like I keep seeing the same views over and over. These pictures had a bunch of different views I haven't seen before and the place really does look beautiful! Thanks for sharing!

 

[auntsue]

Great pictures, great report!

The buildings remind me a lot of the BWV. Very nice. Glad you had such a nice time.

 

[DisneyPhD]

Hi, we were there the same time as you. Same building as you, but we were at the other end, 1st floor. I agree, great location. We had a car and always had a close parking spot loved that. We had a few bus issues, but mostly at night with sleeping kids. We ended up taking the car to everywhere but MK (and even then we drove on the last day.)

We did get in the pool some, it is fun (especially for a 4 year old)

I wrote a trip report too, always fun to read people who were there the same days as you.

 

[bobbiwoz]

What a nice report, great pictures.

Bobbi

 

[byoung]

Glad you had a good trip. nice pictures.

 

[eliza61]

Thanks for the great pictures, My family and I are visiting the end of August and it's a toss up between SSR and the VWL (our home resort is actually BCV but we like trying different resorts)I was worried that since it's relatively new, there would be a lot of "bugs" to work out but it sounds like you really enjoyed it.
Thanks for the report.

 

[Credit Man]

Enjoyed your report & pics.

 

[SpoonfulofSugar]

Glad you had a magical time !!!! The pictures are fantastic. We are staying there in March and now I'm really looking forward to staying there. Thanks again !!!!

 

[TOMAR@SSR]

thank you for the wonderful trip report and for sharing your beautiful pictures with us! I`m really feeling homesick now, can`t wait for July!!!

 

[liznboys]

Great report and pix! In December we were also in the middle Springs building, we were on the 2nd floor, further down towards the other side of the building. That fountain was straight out from our balcony actually. It was a beautiful view!! We loved being so close to the bus stop too.