SSR and Only 5 attractions in 3 nights 4 days?!?! Pics, lots of pics!

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Many pics of SSR to come! (Takes a long time for pics to load as you view the post, sorry)

Pre-trip:

$164/night was offered to AP holders at SSR. POR has been our favorite resort, and I questioned if it was worth the $20 more a night to stay at SSR. Of course, I asked on the DIS. I'm so glad I listened to fellow DISers and booked SSR!!!!

5 days before trip, Nikkibell wrote a great letter for me to fax to SSR requesting either The Springs or Congress Park. I'm so glad I followed her advice and sent the fax!!!! We got our request, the springs!!!

Check in:

Arriving at SSR by car:

With driver's license in hand, I'm greeted with a very friendly "Welcome home" and told to procede to the Carriage House.

Tommy and Rebecca were the cm who checked us in. I had left my driver's license in the car from when I showed it to the guard. Jokingly, Tommy looked at my 13 year old son and asked him if he had ID. My son took out his Hershey Park Season Pass and showed him that. That sparked a trip down memory lane for Tommy. As Rebecca worked on the computer, we had a great conversation with Tommy all about Hershey, Lancaster County, food, etc. When Rebecca was finished, Tommy told us we are in a great location, very central, near the elevator on the first floor. He said we'd be very pleased with the location. He was right!!!! It was awesome!!!

As soon as we entered the room, my 13 year old ran to the window, as my 3 year old (newly potty trained) ran to the bathroom. The 13 year old was so excited. He spotted at least 10 otters on the bank, heading towards the water. As I was assisting, my 3 year old, I was hollering to him to grab the camera. By the time he found it, the otters were swimming away.

Pics of the room and our view from the room.

 

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We checked out the resort activities in the Horsing Around. DS13 saw there was pin trading from 12:30-1:30. He realized he left his pins at home...ahhhh! So there was a quick phone call to dh who was at work, to bring the pins when he comes. Along with a list of other things we forgot.

Next we were off to explore. The skies by this time were looking very ominous and dark. We checked out the community center and the arcade. The arcade had many broken games, and there were 3 technicians in there repairing them.

Heard from dh and DisA that they had a very nasty storm. The skies at Disney cleared, so I guess we missed that one!

I took ds3 swimming, while ds 13 watched tv in the room and waited for dh to arrive. Once he arrived we were off to Epcot to meet up with Aeryn and disvaclub.

We met up with them and rode Nemo, watched Illuminations, and headed back to the resort. That's 1 attraction down, and 4 more to go!

 

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We decided to walk to DTD from SSR since there was some time before the market place closed. We nearly got to the bridge that links SSR to the bus terminal at the Market Place, when I spotted a snake, and refused to walk any further. I determined the snake to be a black racer, but ds and dh were pretty sure it was a cotton mouth. Either way, there was NO WAY I was going to go pass the snake. So we turned around and went for a drink refill instead.

 

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Day 2.

We wake up and decide to skip breakfast and go to Cici's Pizza at 11am. On the way out the door there was a mousekeeper at our door. He said he was leaving the basket there for us. To take what we wanted. I was under the assumption that we had daily housekeeping service because we paid cash not points. But he set me straight. I had a tip inside waiting for housekeeping, so I told him to hang on, went inside, got the $ and tipped him. We took what we needed, I went inside and made the beds. Then we were off to Cici's.


We were kind of shocked when our bill was $25.25 for 3 adults and a child. Guess it's now cheaper to eat at Pizza Hut than Cici's. Looking at our bill we saw they charged $2.50 for the to go cups, so that's where the added $'s were. The pizza was fantastic as always.

As we drove by the carousel section returning to the resort, we parked in the parking lot so I could get some pics. I love carousel horses, and have a collection of them at home.

We decided to spend the rest of the day checking out the resort and swimming. Our plan was to do the night EMH at Typhoon Lagoon.

I spent the afternoon swimming at the theme pool with the 3 year old. DH and DS spent the afternoon at the community hall, then playing Bingo at the pool.

Our day ended with a torrential downpour and storm that started around 6pm. It was one of those rains that just doesn't stop. Needless to say there was no Typhoon Lagoon for us. We were all tired from a day of swimming, we went to bed at 8:30pm!

 

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Forgot to add above that before we went to the pool, there was another mousekeeper at our door. She said she was there to clean the room. I told her about what the man mousekeeper said. She said, he was incorrect. That we are scheduled for housekeeping every day.

 

[*NikkiBell*]

Great trip report and pics! I am glad that you enjoyed your much deserved vacation! How nice it must be to drive over to WDW for a weekend!

 

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Day 3

I woke up and checked to see if the swim suits were dry. I was greeted by some ducks.

There was still so much we hadn't looked at or done at the resort, so we decided to take a walk and look around. We checked out the tennis courts,

basketball court,

shuffleboard,

and boat dock.

 

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Then we went over to the Community Center where ds3 painted a wooden car. I'm so thankful to tenthousandvolts for the heads up about checking the Horsing Around Weekly Activity Sheet. Thanks!!!

 

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We went to DTD for lunch. I took the 3 year old with me by boat, while dh took the oldest one by car. After lunch, we stopped by ghiradelli's for a chocolate.

DH took us back to the resort, then took ds13 to the Bass Pro shop, while we swam at the quiet pool at the Grand Stand.

 

[Funniebunny]

Great trip report Tink, can't wait to read more.
Wonderful pics too, glad to see the duck family could join you

 

[TenThousandVolts]

subbing- great pictures- great report, anxiously awaiting more!

 

[nts4wdw]

Loving all your pictures! We so enjoyed our time at SSR this summer! Your pics make me homesick! Looking forward to more.

 

[lovethattink]

subbing- great pictures- great report, anxiously awaiting more!

I can't thank you enough for the tip about making sure to check out the Horsing Around Weekly Activity Sheet!!! We enjoyed everything we did.

Here's more pics of the quiet pool:

 

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I was shocked at how full the theme pool was vs. how empty this quiet pool was. My 3 year old loved the small pool slide at the theme pool, but he preferred these "squirting" waters, as compared to the Donald "squirting" waters. At the theme pool on Saturday, we could not find a spot for our belongings. We just piled everything into the stroller and parked it out of the way. Here, I had my pick of chairs or tables. Maybe because it was Sunday??

My 3 year old met another 3 year old from Texas and his older brother. They played tag, and had a great time in that squirting water.

After swimming, we went back to the room. Here are some more mousekeeping dilemnas, lol.

Before we went swimming, I saw a Mousekeeper going into the room next to us. I asked her if she was doing our room next, since the girl from yesterday told me she had both rooms. This one said, that I'm not on the list. So being confused, I brought the stroller back into the room, and called housekeeping to inquire. I was told that I am indeed on their list, not to worry, they were running late. No problem, we went swimming.

Came back from swimming, and I open the door. The room was cleaned, beds made, etc. I called dh to see when he'd be coming back from shopping, and he said he was in the parking lot on his way. I thought he meant he was in the parking lot at the Bass Pro shop.

Anyway... there is a knock at the door. In comes a mousekeeper with a shower curtain. She puts it on the shower, says goodbye and leaves. Then the door opens and it's dh and ds. I'm on the phone with disvaclub figuring out where I'm going to meet her and her family tonight. We arrange it, and there's another knock on the door. In comes a different mousekeeper, she has a tissue box in hand, and changes out the tissues. On her way out, she thanked me for the tip I had left in the room earlier.

So I'm getting ready to get out of my bathing suit. And here is another knock on the door. This is a mousekeeper with a clip board. She does an inspection, then leaves.

Eventually, I got a shower, dressed, and we all headed to the Magic Kingdom to meet up with Disvaclub. Our 3 year old was so excited to see her children again. He just loved them when he met them on Friday.

I felt my pocket vibrate while on the bus. I couldn't get to my phone, without getting fresh with the man sitting next to me, so I just let it ring. By the time we got to the MK, our little boy was out cold.

I tried to listen to the message left on the phone. I had no clue what it said. So I passed the phone to my 13 year old. He too had no clue what it said, but he heard something about Crystal Palace. Passed the phone to dh. The third time was the charm. He heard the whole message, that disvaclub was at Crystal Palace with a buzzer in hand.

We headed over to the CP where we had a mini vmk DIS meet. I got to meet up with Disvaclub, greenmimi, alyce, and daffypluto. It was great to see those I had met before and meet the new ones.

My dh decided that since our youngest was out cold, that we try POTC. He is scared to death of the hill on that ride, so we decided to try it while he slept. As fate would have it, he woke up just before the hill, and wimpered like a scared puppy. We held onto him tight. He was fine once that part of the ride was over.

While the other DISers were eating dinner, we headed over to tomorrowland, with all intentions of meeting up with them all later. We rode Buzz Lightyear space ranger spin, the TTA, and Carousel of Progress, (rides 2-5, lol)

Even though we ate supper in our room, we were all hungry, and headed off to Cosmic Ray's Starlight Cafe. There went my WW points!!

I have to say the kid's chicken nuggets are fantastic there. I ate half of one of my son's nuggets, but dh brought back a bacon cheeseburger, and I ate half of that, smothered in sauteed onions, mushroom, and loaded with ketchup. And my son didn't finish his chile fries, so I ate the rest of them too. I don't even want to think of how many points I ate at that meal alone.

After eating we were tired. Decided to head out of the park. I sent a text message to the other DISers and we attempted to get out of the park. Our timing was impeccable. The parade was going on, and we were blocked. Dh led the way and we walked down by the rose trail. It was bottlenecked all the way from there to just pass the icecream shop. This happens all the time. You'd think that Disney would somehow have a system to get people through here. We went single file and it took us 30 min to get from the castle to the icecream shop. By this time, the parade was over. Foot traffic started to move better.

We got to the bus, and it was surprisingly empty! We all got seat this time! Yay!

 

[wdwgirl03]

Awww, I love the pictures of SSR...that's my "home!"

Also loved the one of the wand coming down on Spaceship Earth. Great report!

 

[Belle1997]

I am so glad that your room was clean so well hehe. You definately had the queen treatment. Each maid bringing in another item

 

[4fosterkids]

Great report Tink!
sounds like a great time, I'm so glad you guys got away and enjoyed a nice weekend!
Love the pictures!

 

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Once we got back to the room, we decided to go for a drink refill. DS13 was too tired, so he went to bed. Once we got back to the room, I packed up our stuff while DS3 played with his Ratatoille toys until midnight.

The next morning we had the car packed early. At 10am, there was a phone call. It was housekeeping checking to see if we were still there. I thought that was pretty rude. After all, check out is before 11, so we still had an hour.

DS13 wanted to go look at the fish on the bridge so we grabbed the few pieces of bread we had left and fed the fish. He was all impressed with the Talapia and bass he saw. The 3 year old just had fun tossing pieces of bread to them.

We made our way to the playground at The Paddock.

It was just a little bit before 11am. We headed back to the parking lot and into our cars. DH wanted to stop and use the bathroom in our room, just out of spite, because technically it was before 11. But, he didn't. We said our goodbye's to SSR and drove home. I guess we picked a good time to leave, because I-4 was closed for hours that day, and we missed it!! The sun was shining bright as we left the resort.

As soon as we arrived in our hometown, the clouds opened and it began to rain. We stopped at pizza hut for lunch. It rained cats and dogs as we sat there eating. Maybe it was the rain, not really sure, but all four of us felt a sense of letdown as we were leaving the magic and returning to reality.

 

[LoriR]

Tink, thanks for the report and the great photos! I've only had a 'road view' of SSR and had no idea how beautiful it is. This definitely goes on my list of resorts to stay in.

Sounds like you had a great time!



Lori