Split Stay at SSR (12/31-1/2) and CFW (1/2-1/4)

[Patmcpsu]

I put myself on a waitlist for The Cabins, and after it went through, I was still able to snag SSR to make it a 4 day trip overall. It was my first split stay, and while Disney does everything they can to make switching hotels easy, I probably won't do it again.

My party of 5 arrived at SSR on New Years Eve around 6pm. The check in was the usual awkwardness where a worker in the lobby intercepts you with a tablet. With technology, why check in at the front desk when you can check in 10 feet away from the front desk? Lack of desk aside, the process went smoothly. They gave me a map of the resort (which they had to walk to the front desk to retrieve) and circled the building I was staying in. Being a "preferred location" room, it should have been a 5 minute walk from the lobby, but it ended up being a 20 minute walk due to:

1. Casual directions from the workers (i.e. "go past the picket fence" when they should have said "turn left at the picket fence")
2. The sheer scale of the resort making the map overwhelming
3. Each building apparently being divided into separate sections, each apparently with their own entrance. After you find your building, you have to trial-and-error which side of the building belongs to you.

Because of the frustration and time-consumption of finding your room, I don't recommend SSR for short stays. However, I could see it being a great place after you get settled in.

The one bedroom villa was nice, and I will mention that:

1. The bathroom layout is a bit inefficient and counter intuitive.
2. The hallways getting to your room have parking garage vibes. I recommend getting a ground floor room so you can potentially walk out via the patio instead.
3. The rooms feel like Grand Floridian's style, but the furnishings are noticeably lower-end (good but not great). It is a fraction of the points, though, so I feel SSR still offers a solid value.

The "preferred location" was absolutely worth the couple of extra points. Being able to walk easily to the restaurants and transportation is a game changer. The internal bus loop takes foooorrrrevvveer. I would only recommend the non-preferred location if you have a rental car you'll be taking everywhere, and if you're getting groceries delivered to your room. Taking the boat from SSR to Disney Springs is fine, but there are lines of people at peak hours which may require waiting for multiple boats, which makes it more time consuming than I pictured that short distance. I guess you could stay at the buildings by Disney Springs if that's your priority, but it puts you away from the main lobby area which has the restaurants.

Speaking of restaurants, SSR has the saddest bar situation I've seen at a DVC resort. They only have one "bar", and it's more like a window that you buy drinks through. There is lounge seating near said window, but it's just an awkward feeling overall. Did I mention it's the only one bar?

On New Years Eve they had a kid-focused celebration, which was really cute. They had a DJ, face painting, arts/crafts, pictures, and even a 10pm ball drop ceremony. It was all really fun and convenient if you were staying near the lobby. Absolutely the highlight of our stay.

All in all, I don't disapprove of SSR, but it is more of an extended-stay kind of place. I don't recommend it for a quick hit, but it wasn't terrible.

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I bought the dining plan for The Cabins reservation because it was now 2026 and kids could get it for free. To my surprise, the credits loaded before checking in at The Cabins.

We got to The Cabins late (around 9pm) and check-in was pretty straight forward. We got the golf cart and proceeded to our cabin. Unlike SSR the cabins were easy to find due to there actually being signage, clear routes, and things being number-based instead of word based.

As far as golf carts go - I would have opted for a rental car in hindsight:

1. We had two young kids, which meant we had a stroller, which meant we couldn't use the golf carts to get to the parks. I didn't consider this, which meant we had to take the internal bus loop to get to the actual park transportation. Speaking of which:
2. The internal bus system is actually really efficient! The routes follow the main roads, which have a direct layout. The tradeoff to this is that you may potentially have to walk a decent amount to get to your bus stop, as they are only on the main roads that the buses take.
3. If we had more time to spend at the resort and swim at the pool and go to parks, maybe I would have valued the golf cart more.
4. The only restaurants are at The Settlement, and taking a golf cart from The Cabins to there is a big commitment. By the time the early-risers go there, eat, and come back, the late-risers will be awake and waiting, and then they have to go through the same process. It is more efficient for everyone to go together, even if they are on different schedules. Better yet, just have groceries delivered and avoid the inconvenience all together.

The cabins themselves are really cozy, peaceful, and generally recommended. The only drawbacks I'll mention are:

1. Sleeping there gets HOT. I'm not sure if it was the memory foam they used for the mattresses or what, but I would wake up in a pool of sweat both nights. My sister had the same complaint too. Reminder that this problem was in January.
2. The large windows are dramatic, but also offer zero privacy. You can close the curtains for privacy, but that defeats the purpose of having windows. I wish they offered sheers like most hotels do.
3. The storage options for luggage is limited to a small closet. We had a lot of bags, and most of them sat out in the open.

Like SSR, I wish we had a longer stay here. I wouldn't recommend it for a quick hit, but if you get settled in, have groceries delivered, and learn the lay of the land, I could see it being very peaceful. That's the general theme of my trip - I stupidly stayed at two of the most "extended stay" type DVC resorts in short order.

 

[Simba's Mom]

I put myself on a waitlist for The Cabins, and after it went through, I was still able to snag SSR to make it a 4 day trip overall. It was my first split stay, and while Disney does everything they can to make switching hotels easy, I probably won't do it again.

My party of 5 arrived at SSR on New Years Eve around 6pm. The check in was the usual awkwardness where a worker in the lobby intercepts you with a tablet. With technology, why check in at the front desk when you can check in 10 feet away from the front desk? Lack of desk aside, the process went smoothly. They gave me a map of the resort (which they had to walk to the front desk to retrieve) and circled the building I was staying in. Being a "preferred location" room, it should have been a 5 minute walk from the lobby, but it ended up being a 20 minute walk due to:

1. Casual directions from the workers (i.e. "go past the picket fence" when they should have said "turn left at the picket fence")
2. The sheer scale of the resort making the map overwhelming
3. Each building apparently being divided into separate sections, each apparently with their own entrance. After you find your building, you have to trial-and-error which side of the building belongs to you.

Because of the frustration and time-consumption of finding your room, I don't recommend SSR for short stays. However, I could see it being a great place after you get settled in.

The one bedroom villa was nice, and I will mention that:

1. The bathroom layout is a bit inefficient and counter intuitive.
2. The hallways getting to your room have parking garage vibes. I recommend getting a ground floor room so you can potentially walk out via the patio instead.
3. The rooms feel like Grand Floridian's style, but the furnishings are noticeably lower-end (good but not great). It is a fraction of the points, though, so I feel SSR still offers a solid value.

The "preferred location" was absolutely worth the couple of extra points. Being able to walk easily to the restaurants and transportation is a game changer. The internal bus loop takes foooorrrrevvveer. I would only recommend the non-preferred location if you have a rental car you'll be taking everywhere, and if you're getting groceries delivered to your room. Taking the boat from SSR to Disney Springs is fine, but there are lines of people at peak hours which may require waiting for multiple boats, which makes it more time consuming than I pictured that short distance. I guess you could stay at the buildings by Disney Springs if that's your priority, but it puts you away from the main lobby area which has the restaurants.

Speaking of restaurants, SSR has the saddest bar situation I've seen at a DVC resort. They only have one "bar", and it's more like a window that you buy drinks through. There is lounge seating near said window, but it's just an awkward feeling overall. Did I mention it's the only one bar?

On New Years Eve they had a kid-focused celebration, which was really cute. They had a DJ, face painting, arts/crafts, pictures, and even a 10pm ball drop ceremony. It was all really fun and convenient if you were staying near the lobby. Absolutely the highlight of our stay.

All in all, I don't disapprove of SSR, but it is more of an extended-stay kind of place. I don't recommend it for a quick hit, but it wasn't terrible.

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I found your comments on SSR very interesting. You said you were in "preferred"-in Congress Park or the Springs? I was especially interested in your recommendation that it's more a long-term stay kind of place (at least for the first stay-maybe not so important once you've stayed and maybe know your way around). I'd never thought of that, and I should have-I went to SSR one day to bird-watch-I kept getting lost and needing to look at the map. The place was HUGE to me-so overwhelming! I was thinking of doing a split stay sometime, with the first few nights there followed by someplace I know and love, giving me someplace to look forward to in case I don't like SSR. Now I wonder if I should plan to stay there longer. Thanks for your thoughtful comments.

 

[Patmcpsu]

My room was located where the red arrow is shown below (in The Springs). It was as close as you can possibly stay to the lobby/bar/restaurants (denoted by A, D and E on the map) which I loved. It was also as close to the Disney Springs boat as you can stay, but the boat itself tended to back up at peak times.