I've been meaning to stop by this thread to give the perspective of someone who had to "settle" and stay at SSR:
We recently stayed at SSR Oct 25-Nov 1 through an RCI exchange. We own BWV, but we also have some traders in RCI that we like to use for Disney since we don't have a lot of our own
DVC points (only 100).
Originally, I was really disappointed that RCI has only been getting access to SSR, but we "sucked it up" and took it. I stayed once at SSR before in a studio for 3 nights on a last minute trip, but this time it was me and my fiance in a 1-bedroom. We had put in a request to be in Congress Park, but we got there late (4:30pm) on a Sunday, and they were unable to meet our request. They gave us a room in the Paddock in the closest section to Congress Park and told us they could move us on Monday to Congress Park with DTD view. We didn't want to move since we had 2 more stops on this trip after SSR. We had also requested high floor, but were given a first floor room.
We were pleasantly surprised with the location of the room. Our view, while not the Downtown Disney view we requested (and obviously not available in Paddock), was of a nice pond. We also found first floor to be convenient to not have to use stairs or the elevator. We were very close to the Congress Park bus stop, literally the end of the building closest to Congress Park, and the walk to Downtown was short too. We had requested Congress Park not only with the hope of getting our requested DTD view, but also for the short walk. So it worked out great. We also walked to the Carriage House a bunch of times, or got off the bus at Grandstand, walked to Carriage House to grab food, then walked back to the room. Nothing was too far of a walking distance.
We are used to staying at BWV, and have loved the convenience of walking to the 2 parks from there. Staying at SSR, we did not go in and out of Epcot like we normally do for F&W, or run over to Studios just to get a drink at Tune In, but the easy access to the buses to other resorts at DTD was extremely convenient for dinners. When we moved to POR and then POFQ, we missed that ease of transportation immensely. Even though they have the boat (or bus) to DTD, we prefer the ability to walk. We went in thinking we would miss the ability to walk to the parks, and yes, we did, but we picked up the ease to walk to DTD so that really helped make up for it.
We have another search in RCI for an upcoming trip in May or June, and we are looking forward to staying at SSR again, as I'm sure that's what will match. Now just to get that match so I can start planning dining reservations!