SSR Lovers and/or Owners Thread!

[BroganMc]

BroganMc, Your Trip sounds like it was amazing. The temperatures were crazy. Was that just for a couple of days or was it for the majority of your trip?

Sunday, when we arrived, it was sunny and in the 80's. Of course we spent much of the day in MCO trying to get me some wheels. Night time was in the 60's. From then on it got progressively colder throughout our stay. Yesterday we woke up to frost and bone-chilling cold. A good day to go home and hibernate by the fire. But I heard from other departing guests it was in the 80's all last week. I guess Orlando just gets cold when I wander into town.

Sounds like another wonderful trip. Sorry about your power chair though. Are doing something to take care of the damage?

They did replace the battery and got me a loaner powerchair for the day. But it was an emergency fix so not all the parts were replaced. I'm having my guys come out Monday and see what else needs be done. Standard protocol calls for a report filed and the customer to sign off if they were satisfied with the resolution. But since they wanted me to sign that Sunday when I was stuck with a loaner chair and my chair was off with some unknown repair company, I refused to sign. I think it will all work out. Very inconvenient but it could have been worse. Like they broke my joystick controller or damaged a motor. Those parts must be special ordered and cost several thousand dollars. A battery is cheap.

If anything it made me absolutely anal about how and when they take my chair from me. I insist on talking to the baggage crew so they don't do something as stupid again.

Oh, and Southwest gave me a $200 voucher to fly again. Pretty much the cost of my roundtrip ticket for New Year's. To be honest, I was gonna fly down next October when we stayed exclusively at Disney. Now I'm thinking it's less problematic to just drive down as always.

And to Disney's credit, when it looked like I would be totally powerless Sunday as my loaner chair failed to charge, they really came through. Magical Express got us on the first bus out of the airport. SSR called all around to mobility companies for another loaner chair (all had been rented) and finally just loaned me a manual chair for the stay. I had thought I'd have to go back and get it from the front desk when I returned from Magic Kingdom Sunday night. Instead I found it sitting in my room waiting for us.

It was amazing to see how much all the cast members tried to accommodate guests. Even to the point of bus drivers getting off the bus to advise guests when the next bus to their chosen park was coming. They were so exhausted and so many guests had wacky demands. (Like the foreign family who tried to storm the wheelchair sections of EPCOT for NYE fireworks claiming they had bum feet. Or the Spanish student CM propositioned by the drunk 45 year old woman at Muppets.) I felt sorry for them and yet they never lost their tempers.

NYE at Disney was a lot of fun, but I think it's an every other year thing for us. It's just too exhausting to plan a big Christmas at home and then trip out of town.

 

[BroganMc]

SSR Lovers and Owners,

Do any of you have a map layout of the resort to post?

Here ya go.

 

[granmaz]

Are there 2 paths to DTD? It looks like one, but I am sure I have heard mention of another.

 

[tomandrobin]

Yes there are two paths. The second is located behind the Turf Club and ends at the West Side.

 

[rie4630]

Subscribing.

 

[Cheryl N. WI]

Thanks for the positive reports and the pictures of the Carousel section! I have read negative things about this area so it is very nice to read good about it and see the beautiful pictures. We always rent a car so I will no longer worry about possibly being in the Carousel when we go for Christmas!

Are there pictures of the Carousel section anywhere? Can anyone tell me anything good about this area? Thank you

The Carousel is just as pretty as the rest of the resort. We stayed there during our Christmas trip of 06. It is a place that you will want to be driving if you are there. Since we always drive, it wasn't a problem for us. I don't believe we took any pictures of the outside of Carousel. The only problem with the Carousel is that it is not close to the carriage house or any pools.

We stayed in the Carousel for three nights last December and loved it. We did not have a car and walked to the pool ever night. It was really very refreshing. It was nice and quiet too. But the best part of it is that it is in Disney. You just can't go wrong there.

Here are a few

 

[loribell]

Your very welcome. We really enjoyed our stay in the Carousel. Have a great time. Christmas at Disney is wonderful!

 

[mamaprincess]

Paulieuk, I originally thanked the wrong poster for the carousel pics. I corrected my post and want to thank you for the beautiful pictures!

 

[BroganMc]

All this talk about the Carousel section gave me the strangest dream last night. SSR had assigned us the same room in the Springs as last time but we wanted to try something different, so we asked for the Paddocks. It ended up being far away and down a massive hill. Of course my powerchair died and my 75 y.o. dad had to push me up the hill (both ways) to get to AP for drinks.

I woke up trying to figure out exactly where that part of the resort actually was. (I've been all over SSR multiple times so know there are no Siberia's there.)

Makes me wonder if that's what SSR Dislikers envision when they are told SSR is the only resort available.

 

[loribell]

Glad that was just a dream, but with the pics I have seen of your dad he would have handled it with no porblem at all.

 

[50 years Too!]

Try this link: http://www.wdwinfo.com/maps/SSMap.pdf

I hope you all enjoy SSR as much as we do!!

Thanks, RachelTori. Just what I was looking for!

Deb

 

[MinnesotaChill]

Glad you had such a great trip. Neat trip report, although I can't imagine all of those late nights. What time did you get going in the morning?

Did I read correctly that you saw all three parks' fireworks from the SSR pool or did you mean that you got to see all of the park fireworks on various nights? I can't imagine you could possibly see MK from SSR, but I could be wrong... it has happened before. Once.

 

[popstar7867]

Hi Everyone! I'm an SSR owner! We took our first trip for Halloween in OCT! My boyfriend got me tickets to see Little Mermaid on Broadway and we just got back tonight! It was so nice to go down! Last time we were in NYC together was four years ago when we were back in high school! The Little Mermaid was UNBELIEVABLE! The show was so incredible and it's my favorite movie so I loved itttttt! I highly recommend you try to see it if you can! the costumes were fantastic and the actress who plays Ariel was perfect! Just wanted to write about my disney magic, even if it's not in disney! We are heading back to WDW in May, but we are trying the Boardwalk Villas! Anyone ever stay at the BV?

 

[BroganMc]

Glad you had such a great trip. Neat trip report, although I can't imagine all of those late nights. What time did you get going in the morning?

Afternoon, more like. I was rolling into the room in the wee hours of the morning most nights (i.e. 5am, 4am, etc.). No one in my room woke up before 10-11am. By the time we get ready, ate and dealt with my daily chair issues it was around dusk.

Did I read correctly that you saw all three parks' fireworks from the SSR pool or did you mean that you got to see all of the park fireworks on various nights? I can't imagine you could possibly see MK from SSR, but I could be wrong... it has happened before. Once.

I meant you could see the high fireworks of all three parks (including MK) from the lakeside walkway in front of Congress Park. MK fireworks were just to the ride of Cirque de Soleil. A litle more to the right was MGM. And farther to the right was EPCOT. MK's fireworks went on the longest, still running 5 minutes after everyone else's finished. EPCOT started early and finished first.

From the pool you had trees and stuff in your way so could only see the high DTD fireworks. (And there were three layers to the DTD fireworks including flares along the lake.)

But I also did see fireworks at two of the parks. MK on Dec 30 and EPCOT at 7:30pm on the 31st. That's how I recognized them.

FWIW I was surprised you could see MK from SSR too. Now I know why locals report seeing them from outside the resort. They are high.

 

[Mischa]

The past three trips we've stayed at SSR (we love it there and it helps to have a DVC at SSR too).

Anyway, I keep reading about DTD fireworks - when are they? We're either in the wrong place or sleeping - because we've never seen them.

Thanks!

 

[TenThousandVolts]

But I also did see fireworks at two of the parks. MK on Dec 30 ....

Hi Brogan- I was there at MK watching those spectacular firworks on the 30th too! Weren't they fabulous! I didn't realize they were doing a NYE test run- but it gave me an excuse to go to bed early on NYE- since I already counted in the New Year- even if it was a day early. I loved the 10-9-8-7... fireworks.

 

[bpmorley]

The past three trips we've stayed at SSR (we love it there and it helps to have a DVC at SSR too).

Anyway, I keep reading about DTD fireworks - when are they? We're either in the wrong place or sleeping - because we've never seen them.

Thanks!

They used to be every midnight on Pleasure Island. I believe they stopped about a year ago

 

[tomandrobin]

The past three trips we've stayed at SSR (we love it there and it helps to have a DVC at SSR too).

Anyway, I keep reading about DTD fireworks - when are they? We're either in the wrong place or sleeping - because we've never seen them.

Thanks!

They only do fireworks at DTD on July 4th and New Years Eve. Disney use to have fireworks nightly at DTD but stopped a couple years back.

 

[DisneyBride'03]

Just venting...I really want to go to SSR for our June trip, however DH thinks we need the space a 2 bdr will give us at OKW!
Its me, DH, DD11, DD(will be 2) DS14 and his buddy. Plus we have a studio for my mom, and she fell in love with SSR when I showed her my pics from last month!
I wish they could guarantee Grandstand section!!

 

[tomandrobin]

Just venting...I really want to go to SSR for our June trip, however DH thinks we need the space a 2 bdr will give us at OKW!
Its me, DH, DD11, DD(will be 2) DS14 and his buddy. Plus we have a studio for my mom, and she fell in love with SSR when I showed her my pics from last month!
I wish they could guarantee Grandstand section!!

the early check-ins have the best chance of getting room/view request. Also, make sure to call MS and put you Grandstand request in to them.