SSR Info Needed!

[NCHeel23]

If you have been to SSR please give your opinion and if you recommend it. If anyone has any trip photos from this resort please post them. I'd like to get real photos from real people.

 

[CDSTapisRouge]

The best place to ask this is on the DVC boards below. Since it is a DVC resort you will get a lot more answers.

We LOVE SSR. Hubby and I are DVC members and this is our home resort. We find it to be very peaceful, the rooms are very nicely decorated and the property is nice. There are bus stops throughout so it is very easy to get around, even without a car, although we always have one. The thing you have to remember about it is that it is 100% DVC, it is not like the Boardwalk, Wilderness Lodge or the Beach Club that are half DVC and Half a regular hotel. Because of that you are not going to find a full service restaurant, there is not room service, etc... The amenities are limited in that aspect. We don't have a problem with that because we always get a 1 or 2 bedroom so we have the kitchen and we stock up on groceries for the trip. Also there is a quick service location in the main building if you want to get something, it is just not a sit down full service restaurant. Sorry that I don't have photos that I can share of the resort, but again if you ask on the DVC board you will probably find more info and photos from other members.

 

[problemchild718]

We also love SSR! The rooms are beautiful, the proximity to DTD is great. We love the option of taking the boat or bus. It is beautiful and peaceful. It is spread out, but so is OKW. I will try to post some pictures. I took several on our August trip.

 

[Plutofan]

This website has photos and reviews of the resort.

http://www.allearsnet.com/acc/faq_hot.htm

 

[Janet2k]

If you have been to SSR please give your opinion and if you recommend it. If anyone has any trip photos from this resort please post them. I'd like to get real photos from real people.

My family enjoys staying at SSR. We've stayed there quite a few times, most recently last summer.

SSR's Community Hall is excellent if you have children. Last summer my daughter attended a cooking class and a "make your own towel animal" class. In the cooking class she made a pizza and ice cream. In the towel animal class she made a penguin, a bird, and a kitty. She had a ball in each of the classes.

My daughter also made a ceramic statue. Well, she didn't make the statue, she only painted it. But the staff did fire it in the kiln for her. The statue is presently sitting in my kitchen window. My daughter is very proud of it, as she should be. In yet another class, she decorated a canvas bag with various stamps and colored paint. It turned out darling.

I should note that some of the activities at SSR are free, while others require a small fee (usually just enough to cover the cost of materials).

While my daughter was doing her own thing with kids her own age, my college-age son & I played "The Game Of Life" and various other board & card games. Hey, we couldn't let my daughter have all the fun. The Community Hall also has various video games (I didn't play them but my son & daughter did). There was also a ping-pong table in the Hall. I did play that a few times with my kids and with other kids. It was always a lot of fun.

I don't have many photos posted of the various rooms that we've stayed in at SSR, but here is the link to one of my on-line photo albums: click here. Out of all the DVC resorts, I think SSR has the prettiest rooms.

In some small way, I hope this helped.

 

[Janet2k]

Honeymoon April 06!!!!! First Disney Trip EVER!

I just noticed that you're going on your honeymoon -- congratulations!

 

[Janet2k]

I thought I’d add that I’ve always requested "Downtown Disney" view rooms. I've been fortunate that my requests have always been granted. My family enjoys watching the 15-second “New Year’s Eve” fireworks display each night from our balcony.

I think for my next SSR stay, however, I will request one of the buildings near the main hub of the resort. Since I enjoy the main swimming pool complex, being located closer to it would work out well for me (and also for my daughter since she adores Community Hall).

 

[The Warden]

My son and I stayed at Saratoga Springs in Oct 05 for a week. We had a GREAT vacation and loved SS. However, it was not all great. Here were are pros and cons:

Pros:
Beautiful rooms. Everything is new. The beds were very comfortable. We had a studio and having the mini kitchen was great for breakfast in the room and snacks at night!
Loved the feature pool. Zero entry and fun slide - even for adults!
Very close to DTD. We were in the Paddock so we drove and were there in less than 5 minutes!
Many nice and friendly CMs.
Bikes, arcade, activities if you want to hang out at the hotel.
Nice location if you drive to parks - it was never more than 10 minutes to park or TTC.
Towel animals in room upon arrival.

Cons:
- We had a late flight so arrived at midnight. We requested Springs or Congress Park 11 months in advance - got Paddock. Understand requests are not guaranteed but without prodding the CM said you didn't get the Paddock or the Springs because you got here so late. They were full and basically give each guest a choice of which rooms are ready for their reserved size - they did not assign rooms. Get there early or stay somewhere else the first night!
- When we got to our room it was 12:30am and we brushed teeth, threw on our pajamas, and hopped into bed. There was a screw or something rattling around in the air conditioning unit above the bed. We did not notice the noise too much in the bathroom or entry but it was bad when in bed - to the point that at 1 in the morning my son and I were still awake and could not sleep. He was only 6 at the time and had not been to sleep yet. We called the front desk. They said they were busy. They could send someone over to fix it but it would probably be a few hours. Her recommendation was to move to another room in the Paddock. She'd send someone with the new key (her idea). We got packed and waited and waited. At 2 AM we called back. Single woman with 6 year old needs a little help here... Explained my situation to another CM. Told her I'd be happy to drive over and get the key just needed to get my little guy to sleep. "fine" with attitude.
- The next morning understood the poor service. The Artists Palette was jammed. Orders lined up clear across the counter. Who cares - we're at Disney! Placed an order, paid, and sat in waiting area with our beeper thing. Waited and waited. Finally after 45 minutes went up to the cooking area. Apparently our beeper was not working. They did not try to call our number in the Dining Room or seem to care that we'd been waiting patiently for 45 minutes. Actually made me feel like it was my fault. So not sure what part of April you are going but if it's during a busy week go to DTD or make your own breakfast.
- It took 12 minutes to walk from our room in the Paddock to the food and main pool with an 8 year old in tow. If you both like to walk - no problem. We just drove over after the first day. You can wait for the bus but it really does depend what time of day you're waiting. Sometimes there was quite a wait. I think if we were staying in the Springs or Congress Park we would have had a much different experience.
- No room service or take out menus provided.

We are very happy, easy going people so the cons did not bother us but I did not think things were necessarily handled as well as they could have been on several occasions. I would still go back to this resort but now that I have the first hand information, I would do things a little differently (get there early! Find the nice CMs). I'm sure you'll have a wonderful honeymoon. Marriage is the world's best kept secret!

 

[nucpharm29]

Congrats on your upcoming wedding and honeymoon! We just stayed at SSr for the first time in January. Here are some of my "real people" pictures. We stayed in a designated 2bdrm (there is a two bed. that is considered a lock-off--which is a one bedroom and studio combined) If you are staying in a 1brd. then the master bedroom pics are what a one bed looks like with the kitchen/living area. Our villa was in Congress Park, the building with the 1500 villa numbers. Enjoy the pics and your vacation!

pic of our congress park building from behind the "quiet" pool

view from the "quiet pool" toward Downtown Disney

 

[nucpharm29]

Here are the pics of the actual villa we stayed in

Living area

Kitchen

Master bedroom

Master bath--there is also a separate shower/toilet room--don't have a pic of that

 

[nucpharm29]

And here is the second bedroom if you're at all interested!

You can tell these are "real people" photos--check out DS on the bed!

The bath in the second bedroom--the vanity in a studio is a little different--it only has one sink. And if you are standing at the sink and turn around that's where the kitchette is located in the studios!

We had a great time at SSR. We actually enjoyed things being spread out. WE got to walk a lot and a lot of the time it felt like we were the only ones there. We also liked walking to DTD! Enjoy!

 

[castoff50]

Beautiful, relaxing, comfortable 1 bedrm. You have to enjoy walking, it is spread out. The thing I really like about this resort is the accessibility to the Downtown Disney bus stop. You can easily walk to it (albeit possibly a long but pleasant walk) and catch a bus directly to any of the other Disney resorts. A real time saver if you want to resort hop or have dinner reservations.

 

[imlazar]

we went last year and liked it a lot, we stayed in the congress park section in a 1BR suite with two boys, ages 2 & 4. It was a short walk to downtown disney, very quiet, and had a nice pool. We also really liked the food at artist's pallete. What we didn't like was the long walk from our room to the pool.

We were going to stay there on our next trip, but it was very expensive for a March visit so we're doing WL instead.

 

[flagirl]

I stayed there last May and just LOVED it. Nice and new rooms.......Love the pools - both the main one and the quiet ones. We ended up using the quiet pools just as much. Our room was AWESOME location. Overlooking marketplace..... so was the quiet pool. It took us probably 5-10 min max to walk to marketplace. Thought it was a wonderful resort. We did not get the room we wanted the night we checked in (we checked in late also) So I called in the AM and asked if anything with the marketplace view would be available that next day. They said yes and we could switch - so we did! I think we had to wait till later in teh day to switch while the new room was cleaned but it still was well worth it. Have fun.

 

[canwegosoon]

SSR Last MArch
I am a former hotel owner...so I am a little to begin with.
We stayed at Congress Park Scection(checked in around 2:30)and had a wonderful room and fantastic view of DTD. I also loved the beds, layout, decor. I was ok with the exterior hallways. The pool was fantastic, the restaurant food quality was great. They property layout was great...(very nice for walking(espically around the lake). Employees were all very friendly and took time to talk to my kids.

Things that were in need of improvement:
The bus transportation was very slow(to be fair it was Easter week)...and this was my first DVC trip...I get the impression that DVC'er use cars more frequently than guests at other non-DVC resorts.
Restaurant was CS only and only limited food selection...after 3 meals I would not eat there again.


Again the improvements needed are part of a learning process with a huge resort like SSR. I think SSR is a great resort if you do not need to be in the parks every minute...golf location can't get any better. Shopping at DTD...the best. Proximity to offsite attractions great. We also stayed at BWV's and really enjoyed both...but SSR is a more relaxed, yet sophisticated atmosphere.