Sell me on Saratgo...

[kayteekt]

I searched for an SSR main resort thread, but didn't see one, so I'll post here.

My Sister and her family had a week long stay booked at one of the All Stars. She has a newborn and I was able to help her rent points for a Studio at SSR. Which is def a bump up for her and the mini kitchen will be great with the baby.

We have APs and have decided to come down for a quick trip during part of her stay. Trying to be budget conscience since this is an extra trip for us, I booked POFQ. From the get go, I started searching for a room at SSR, for convenience sake. No luck...until today. If it everything works out I should be able to rent from someone who had an existing reservation.

I just can't seem to get excited about staying at SSR The only thing that I can see as a perk is the location to DS. Any SSR fans or frequenters out there...what do you enjoy? How's the food court? Pools? We will most likely be spending late afternoons and some evenings at the resort since she has an infant.

She already has in a room request for The Springs (I know it may not be honored) but how far is the walk from there to DS...how far from the congress park area, that would be back up request, I think...open to suggestions?

How are the buses? This is really my biggest gripe, I don't mind the buses themselves, just all the stops within the resort. I wonder how they run (what order).

Thanks for any info

 

[Anthony1971]

1st congress park and springs are both in the preferred category so unless the person you are renting from is booked at that cat. which is more points those areas are not an option. We stayed there last year (DVC owners) and enjoyed the resort far more than some of the other DVC resorts... I would suggest requesting the Paddock section with a pool view/near pool-- The Paddock pool has a great slide is an easy walk to the carriage house has food is very close to the bus stop not a bad walk to DS if you follow the bike path and turn left instead of right at Congress park 10-15 minutes -we however found walk to the boat to be the best option as it is VERY fast and puts you near everything now. We did stay at POR around 15 years ago before we owned DVC I do not think you can compare the two resorts as far as amenities and the rooms. If you want a lot of Info I suggest you look on the DVC boards under the resort section.

 

[NJ Goofy]

Although we prefer BWV, we have stayed at SSR on several occasions (we own DVC at both). It is a nice resort, kind of spread out and on the quieter side. We usually request the Grandstand section, it has it's own pool and is only a short walk to the main pool and main building. The food court is fine but it is only really one place. It has some groceries in the store also. The buses, we like Grandstand because it is the 1st stop on and 1st stop off, I've been on buses that have got to the Springs and were already full. Good luck, I'm sure you'll enjoy it.

 

[kayteekt]

Although we prefer BWV, we have stayed at SSR on several occasions (we own DVC at both). It is a nice resort, kind of spread out and on the quieter side. We usually request the Grandstand section, it has it's own pool and is only a short walk to the main pool and main building. The food court is fine but it is only really one place. It has some groceries in the store also. The buses, we like Grandstand because it is the 1st stop on and 1st stop off, I've been on buses that have got to the Springs and were already full. Good luck, I'm sure you'll enjoy it.

That's good to know, about the grandstand buses, my mom will have a scooter so that's definitely a consideration.

 

[JennaDeeDooDah]

When we first stayed there, we booked it because we could get a 1 bedroom for only slightly more than a Royal Guest Room at POR. I thought the extra space would be good for when our daughter took a nap. We ended up getting upgraded to a 2 bedroom and were told that it was because they have only a few one bedrooms (our 2 bedroom was not a 1 bedroom lockoff, in case you were wondering, but a true 2 bedroom unit). Anyway, we absolutely LOVED the resort. It is so quiet and peaceful. I also love that they have 2 major pools with water slides. We had a great time trying out both and deciding which pool was our favorite. I loved the clock's chime at the top of every hour because it played the Kentucky Derby trumpet call. Just a fun detail. We walked over to Disney Springs (still Downtown Disney at at the time) and enjoyed that, as well. We also loved the boat ride. I would absolutely not hesitate to stay there again. Absolutely loved it.

 

[Deb & Bill]

Cash reservations at SSR will probably get the standard view buildings (Grandstand, Paddock, Carousel) because there are more of them. Points reservations will be the area they reserved (preferred is Springs and Congress Park).

 

[Denise W]

I searched for an SSR main resort thread, but didn't see one, so I'll post here.

Since Saratoga Springs was built as a DVC only resort (no hotel rooms) the resort thread can be found on the DVC resorts forum in the DVC area of the boards. You will find a lot of information over there.
Denise

 

[hvanes]

I don't have a lot of experience at SSR, but our family of 7 stayed there on our last trip in July 2015. It is a bit more spread out and the theming isn't quite as strong as some, but we really did love it. We stayed in the Paddock section which has a smaller themed pool with water slide and pool games in the afternoon. Our kids loved it. There is also a pool bar and we were able to refill our mugs there. There is also a bus stop right there, and while I'm not sure about the "order" of pick-up and drop-off, I will say that we never waited longer than maybe 10 minutes for a bus, and it was never even remotely full. The food court is on the smaller side (our stay before that was a split stay between AoA and BLT so those are both pretty large comparatively) but we saved our "dining out" for the parks and used our kitchen for breakfast and either lunch or dinner (in the slow cooker -- no "heavy" cooking for me on vacation).

One afternoon my then 8-year-old dd and I took the bus to DS. We wanted to take the boat back (are they still offering that?) but there was some lingering lightening off in the distance after a rain shower so they would not let us on the boat. We decided to just walk since the showers had passed and I didn't feel we were in any danger. It was lovely. We saw several types of wildlife/critters along the way -- dd was thrilled. The walk is very doable.

Also, having in-room laundry is THE BEST.

We enjoyed SSR and I would be happy staying there again this summer, but my family likes trying different resorts each time. This may backfire on us at some point!