Saratoga Springs - Wonderful surprise!

[La2kw]

We too fell in love with SSR the first time we stayed there. We have been owners at OKW since '94 and never purchased an add on at any of the DVC's that have been added since OKW. SSR changed that, and we purchased our one and only add on. We love the feel of the resort, and it is very complementary to our favorite resort OKW. I just wish they had designed the rooms larger since that is a huge property. We think the furnishings are the nicest out of all the resorts. We also enjoy Artist's Palette and walking to DD and especially having easy access to Ghiradelli's for the best sundaes at WDW.

 

[dizney4us]

We love SSR too! I could never understand how anyone could be disappointed with it. It has beautiful rooms, lovely landscaping, yummy counter service, and so close to DTD. We love our stays there, and the many family members we have brought have always been very impressed as well!

 

[bobbiwoz]

I'm so glad you had such a nice stay!
Bobbi

 

[BroganMc]

Hey, stop talking up SSR... It's going to make securing a ressie much harder for us owners!

That's what I was thinking!

I'm happy to see more people enjoying my home away from home, but then I'm not surprised either.

And mostly I'm just relieved my long, cold winter is finally drawing to a close. This time next week, I'll be in the midst of warm Florida sun and lush green blossoms.

 

[DVC4me4Ever]

This is a great post!!!! Funny thing here is we took our non-member brother and SIL to WDW with us in 2004. At that time we stayed at OKW and they said that is their favorite resort and never wanted to stay anywhere else if they came back to WDW.

Well fast forward to September 2008 my brother and SIL come back to WDW with us for a second time still on our points since they were not members. We stayed at SSR hoping they would like it and not complain too much about not being at OKW. They both fell in LOVE with it....so much so they joined DVC September 2008 because of SSR.

I feel this resort is truly beautiful and relaxing. Large in size but beautiful throughout and truly a wonderful place to vacation.

 

[thepowellslovedisney]

We were in the paddock in november 2008 and really enjoyed it too. We thought it was beautiful and the lake was gorgeous. The only drawback was that we had purchased the resort mugs and so we had to walk a long way to re-fill them. Other than that, it was beautiful.

 

[toocherie]

That's what I was thinking!

I'm happy to see more people enjoying my home away from home, but then I'm not surprised either.

And mostly I'm just relieved my long, cold winter is finally drawing to a close. This time next week, I'll be in the midst of warm Florida sun and lush green blossoms.

Yay for you--love the new avatar!

My problem is that I've only stayed at SSR--so now I'm afraid I'm going to be disappointed if I stay somewhere else (I am going to try somewhere else though!) I love the peacefulness of SSR and I think I liked the Paddock more than I enjoyed the Grandstand.

 

[TBLaube]

We are using DP as well in July and are staying for nine for free. That in itself is enough to make me happy! This is our first DVC stay as well and can't wait to stay in our home at BLT next year, but our really excited for SSR.
We have stayed at POR and POFQ and loved the convenience of taking the boats to DTD. SSR is so close and we are really excited to be able to go to DQ, RFC, and T-REX so easily. Usually DTD is a one afternoon trip for our stay. We are planning on expanding our restaurant hozions and checking out some new places.
SSR sounds so beautiful and relaxing. We can't wait to try all of the fun activities there are and enjoy some relax time by the pools. Our biggest dilemma is where to stay. All of the areas sound like they have good perks so we are debating whether to put a request in for Grandstand. We kind of want to take a gamble and see where we end up????
This has worked out for us well in out past trips staying at the different resorts.

 

[TBLaube]

My typing is so horrible lately.....I meant to type 'horizons'

 

[Coach81]

We love our home to!!!

 

[Monorail Purple&Gold]

We too were pleasently surprised with SSR last year when we "only" could get ressies there for a last minute hurricane evac! Wasn't sure going in how we would like the resort, but fell in love with it!! Would add on there for sure. Glad you had a great experience at SSR!

 

[sparkyboy]

so nice to hear that others have discovered our home resort and like the amenities. thanks for your report.

 

[tinkerbell of winter]

I like SSR, but I LOVE AKV! The one thing I dislike about SSR is how spread out it is, but I did notice that there are TONS of activities going on at the resort.

 

[Entropy]

Shhhhh. Don't go around telling everyone. The place will get crowded.
Repeat after me: "SSR Stinks! The busses are lousy! Everything is too far apart! There are no parks in walking distance" Repeat again and again...

Hi - I posted this yesterday morning, and wanted to add one more enjoyable thing we "discovered" at SSR. Yesterday my husband and 2 older grandsons spent the day fishing with a friend over in Venice, Florida. I spent the day in Typhoon Lagoon with the 2 younger grandkids. In the early evening we walked over to check out the Community Hall. What frun! They had Wii, pingpong, foosball, coloring and we played a couple cut throat games of Connect 4. The CMs were great. The BCVs do not have anything like this. Also, "discovery" number 2. I am going to the spa for a facial tomorrow. That sounds very nice.
I am still loving SSR!!!
Sandie

???Sorry, I "lost" the beginning of this post when I went to edit it. I spoke of how I am a diehard BCV owner and lover and only wanted to stay there or in our other home in HH. A late decision to go to WDW left us with few choices, and we ended up at Saratoga Springs. Short form: we love it!

We are staying in the Paddock in a 2 bedroom overlooking a beautiful lake and landscaping. We can park right in front of our villa, the bus stop is next door, there is a quiet pool next door, and a bridge to the main pool is just steps away. The dreaded concrete hallways are painted, clean, have mirrors and are just fine. The elevators are quick, quiet and they are beautifully decorated too.The bus service is prompt.


Our room is beautiful, CLEAN, and nothing shows wear and tear (one of the real negatives about the BCV). Everyone has been so friendly. I drank my coffee on the balcony today and loved the view.

If you see a trend here - beautiful describes it. We have really enjoyed our visit here and I would not hesitate a moment to book here again. So if you have hesitated to stay here, I would suggest that you reevaluate it. What a lovely place!
Sandie

 

[allshookup]

I'm beginning to see more and more positive reports about SSR. I have always wondered why so many people liked to trash it in the earlier days. I have always enjoyed it. But I never stayed there until the Grandstand section was finished. So I wonder, did some not like SSR because:
1) It wasn't finished when they first stayed there? I would not have liked being there during construction either.
2) First impressions of an unfinished resort still affect their opinion. All the mud, noise, etc? All long gone to a nice green landscape now.
3) Disappointment of the Eagle Creek project being cancelled in favor of SSR.

I know people have legitimate personal reasons for not liking SSR. But I'm sure glad so many people are like me and finding it to be an absolutely wonderful resort to stay at.

A lot of the negativity came mostly from long time DVC members that saw DVC creating this huge resort that was allowing a significant number of people to now buy into DVC causing the overall value of DVC to decrease & making it very difficult to make reservations after the 11 month window. Mainly because some believed that nobody would really want to stay at SSR & that people were just buying there to stay at the other DVC resorts. Especially since they were offering some wonderful incentives & low introductory prices to get people to purchase. If you ask most SSR owners, I don't think that scenerio really turned out to be true. It certainly isn't true for us, we love SSR & stay there just about every other trip. I do believe, however that some of these complaints were legitimate, since DVC is no longer the exclusive club it used to be & it is getting increasingly difficult to get last minute reservations, but they just keep adding more & more DVC accomodations to the equation & selling more & more memberships, so I think it's difficult to blame it all on SSR at this point.

Also some people just don't like how spread out the resort is or the concrete hallways. I'm not sure the fact that it was unfinished was really the problem. We bought at SSR pretty much site unseen, but we've never regretted the decision. We've stayed at almost every other DVC resort, but we're always happy to go "home" to SSR. I'm not a big fan of the concrete hallways either, but I really do love how beautiful & peaceful it is there. Personally I think you can find something to complain about at every resort since none are perfect, but I find that more often than not there is so much to love!

 

[Goofy's apprentice]

Diane....you have summarized it very well. I stayed away from SSR initially, even though it was my home resort, because of all the negative posts here. Ironically that helped to perpetuate all the fears of SSR owners staying at other resorts.

Once I stayed there, I loved it and now we stay their often. I like all the other resorts as well and do switch at the 7 month window but the variety is one of the things we like about DVC.

I learned early that, while these boards are a great wealth of information and contain a great many helpful posters, there are certain amount of posters that just love to stir the pot with negative, panicky posts. I prefer to make my own decision as to what I like or don't.

Here's to the good points and reasons for all the dvc resorts !

 

[-Rockettower Plaza-]

My awesome parents surprised my DH and I with a DVC membership.

Knowing we knew nothing about Saratoga Springs, they told us we were cutting back this year and staying at a moderate resort. When we pulled up to the front gate, a CM smiled and said, "Welcome Home." We all started started screaming. What a perfect moment!

Saratoga Springs is absolutely stunning. Our villa was beautiful as well as cozy! Aaron and I spend a good deal of time walking around, just enjoying the resort itself. We had one of the best meals of our lives over at the Turf Club, where we had the pleasure of sitting outside and watching the boats.

All I can say is WOW! Can't wait to go back.

 

[tomandrobin]

Glad you had a great time!!

Saratoga is our favorite resort. I have been an outspoken supporter since I joined. We like it so much that we have added on 5 times at SSR and now have 960 Saratoga points!!

 

[5forDiz]

..........I am still loving SSR!...........If you see a trend here - beautiful describes it. We have really enjoyed our visit here and I would not hesitate a moment to book here again. So if you have hesitated to stay here, I would suggest that you reevaluate it. What a lovely place!
Sandie

So nice to hear ! Enjoyed reading your post Sandie, SSR is worthy of your praise

 

[JustSayin]

Shhhhh. Don't go around telling everyone. The place will get crowded.
Repeat after me: "SSR Stinks! The busses are lousy! Everything is too far apart! There are no parks in walking distance" Repeat again and again...

My thoughts exactly!!!!

Nothing to see here!!! You would be sooo much happier at BCV, BWV, VWL, etc.!!!

Remember, SSR is the sub-standard DVC dumping ground!