SSR Lovers and Owners Part 3

[Tink415]

Our flight is arriving at midnight and we'll be taking magical express to SSR. How will we get to our villa, does bell services give a golf cart ride or do people generally walk to their room? This is our first trip to SSR without a rental car. I don't want to be walking to our villa with luggage at 1am; depending on other people's experience I may rethink a rental car! Thank you!

 

[hayesdvc]

Is the boat transporation

There's only a limited amount of the world you can reach by boat from SSR. The blue flag boats run between the SSR Carriage House, Tree House Villas, and the Disney Springs West Side dock. At Disney Springs, you can catch a red-flagged boat, which Disney calls the "Water Taxi." These boats make a circle of the three docks at Disney Springs: the Marketplace, The Landing, and the West Side. You can also connect to separate boats that service the Old Key West (Green Flag boats) or Port Orleans resorts (Yellow Flag boats). The Old Key West and SSR boats load at the Disney Springs West Side dock. Port Orleans loads at the Marketplace.

The waterways around Disney Springs do not connect to those at Magic Kingdom, Epcot, or Hollywood Studios. It's not possible to catch a boat from SSR or Disney Springs to those destinations.

So when I see the dock at the Marketplace (connects with the pedestrian bridge from SSR to DS) which shows SSR (I think OKW down the other side), the boat does not come directly from SSR but comes from the West side ?

 

[LtRazor]

I'm excited. First time to SSR and I've lucked up and gotten 2 weeks back to back through RCI. I have 3 girls (11, 4, 1), any suggestions on best place to stay (near a kids pool and/or splash pad), suggestions, tips, etc..

 

[girli565]

Our first stay as new owners is coming up in April for Star Wars The Dark Side race weekend. I can now do online check in and was wondering what requests I should put in. We will have a car but we typically wont use it other than to get to the early race mornings. We always take the buses to the parks and Disney Springs. We'd like to be close to the main areas (The Springs, right?). But it's not an option on online check in. Can I call member services and put in that request? We love the pool and splash area for my toddler but don't think there will be time for that this trip since we have all the race activities and Dapper Day at MK, so pool proximity isn't a worry.

 

[DVC4US]

Our flight is arriving at midnight and we'll be taking magical express to SSR. How will we get to our villa, does bell services give a golf cart ride or do people generally walk to their room? This is our first trip to SSR without a rental car. I don't want to be walking to our villa with luggage at 1am; depending on other people's experience I may rethink a rental car! Thank you!

Yes, bell services has golf carts and they will take you and your luggage to your room.

 

[Tink415]

Yes, bell services has golf carts and they will take you and your luggage to your room.

Thank you!

 

[hayesdvc]

How long does it take to walk from Grandstand to DS? What Grandstand buildings/rooms are closer? Where on the West side does the trail come out, at the very end close to Cirque ?

We love DS and trying to determine if extra points for CP will be worth it in 2017.

 

[BirdsOfPreyDave]

How long does it take to walk from Grandstand to DS? What Grandstand buildings/rooms are closer? Where on the West side does the trail come out, at the very end close to Cirque ?

We love DS and trying to determine if extra points for CP will be worth it in 2017.

The path from this side of the resort leads into the extreme Northwestern end of the DS parking lot on the far side of Cirque. There are bridges across the river at the Tree House Villas and behind the Carriage House. The closest building in the Grandstand would be 8501-8836. You should note that the path is partly a service road for housekeeping's golf carts and partly the Lake Buena Vista Golf Course's cart path. No one will stop you, but it isn't an official walking path to DS like the one from Congress Park. There are parts of it that aren't lighted, so it's really only usable during the daylight hours.

The walk from the Grandstand pool to Cirque & House of Blues is 0.6 miles. You can compare that to Congress Park. The walk from the Congress Park pool to the fountain at the entrance of the Disney Springs Marketplace is 0.26 miles. Keep in mind, though, that the new Premium Booking Category for SSR includes both the Congress Park and Springs sections. You're not guaranteed to be in a Congress Park building. If you're in the Springs, that adds an additional 0.3 miles walk to Disney Springs.

 

[hayesdvc]

In your opinion, if you were not going to stay at CP (or drive to CP) which section is the easiest to get to DS (group will include a 5 year old and infant)?

 

[BirdsOfPreyDave]

In your opinion, if you were not going to stay at CP (or drive to CP) which section is the easiest to get to DS (group will include a 5 year old and infant)?

If you want to avoid the premium level points, the Southern-most buildings in the Paddock would be the closest walk. Also see the map I posted above regarding the Grandstand.

Of course, if you don't mind dealing with the strollers, the bus is convenient from any section of the resort. There's also the option of the boat from behind the Carriage House or the Tree Houses, which is a wonderfully-relaxing trip across the lake.

 

[hayesdvc]

Does anyone go to MK by going to DS, take a bus to VGF, then monorail on in ? Would this ever save time by avoiding both the bus and driving which avoids the TTC ?

 

[hayesdvc]

In reading the various threads about AKL, it seems the comparison to same type room of many properties are that the rooms there are nicer, bigger, more amenities, etc. For those who have stayed at AKL, if all that is true, why does the point chart comparison between SSR and AKL not agree? Location ?

 

[DVC4US]

Does anyone go to MK by going to DS, take a bus to VGF, then monorail on in ? Would this ever save time by avoiding both the bus and driving which avoids the TTC ?

Not sure this would save much time. First you would have to walk to DS, wait for the bus to GF (which is probably shared with another resort so you might have an extra stop), walk up to the monorail station, wait for the monorail, and then finally get to MK.

Not sure why so many people complain about the buses at SSR - yes there are several stops but other resorts like OKW have multiple stops too. When staying at BWV you make an additional stop at Swan/Dolphin and sometimes Yacht & Beach Club.

I have stayed at all the DVC resorts except for Poly and VGF and the buses at every resort have been frustrating at times.

 

[sachilles]

Just got back from our trip. We stayed at SSR for the first time. We've stayed at POR, CBR and ASM. It's now my favorite.
I think we had exceptional bus "luck". Maybe it's because we rubbed the Buddha's belly at Yak and Yeti.
Aside from our first trip in(we had a split stay) so we went from a park to SSR, we didn't know which stop was for the desk area. I "knew" it was the last one, but I thought there was only 4, whoops.
We really didn't have wait for any buses. We might have sprinted once or twice. Our park of choice always seemed to be the first bus.
The food court was to my taste. The pools were nice. We were ground floor along a fairway of the golf course.
It was comfortable, well kept just as you'd expect. The theme is nice, but not exotic to me as I live near Saratoga NY. While I liked the them at POR and CBR a little more, I think the layout of SSR suited us better.
Location is everything, so I'd say we ended up with a decent location within the complex as it was walking distance from the carriage house(a request I asked for).
I'd like to spend more time there in the future.
Unfortunately, we didn't have time to hit Disney Springs, but it's proximity is a selling point for a future stay.

 

[Minniesgal]

Does anyone go to MK by going to DS, take a bus to VGF, then monorail on in ? Would this ever save time by avoiding both the bus and driving which avoids the TTC ?

I can't see how a two step journey with a walk could ever be quicker than just taking the MK bus from your resort.

Also the DS resort buses don't start until something like 10am so it would only work on a later start.

What we do do is walk to Ds and take a resort bus for evening resort dining.

 

[DizDaD7]

Hello all, new to this thread, Recent (2011) DVC owner @ SSR, but have yet to stay....As of now we will be having our 1st stay here in November, and can't wait to actually stay at our home resort....Also can't wait to eat at our hidden gem (Turf Club) which we discovered 3 yrs. ago..

Right now It's noted as a request to be near carriage house, but am thinking about CP too, before the price changes/points changes...

 

[Bobb_o]

I've read that it's a 15 minute walk from the Treehouse Villas to the closes park bus stop (I think Grandstand?) but is that from the south loop that's closest or from the middle of the 60 treehouses? I'm in early planning for a possible big (~6) adult trip in 2017 and the treehouses are just so cheap! My big concern is I'm a be at the parks at least 30 min before they open kind of person so the travel aspect kind of worries me.

 

[DVC4US]

Hello all, new to this thread, Recent (2011) DVC owner @ SSR, but have yet to stay....As of now we will be having our 1st stay here in November, and can't wait to actually stay at our home resort....Also can't wait to eat at our hidden gem (Turf Club) which we discovered 3 yrs. ago..

Right now It's noted as a request to be near carriage house, but am thinking about CP too, before the price changes/points changes...

We used to request the Springs when we first started staying at SSR but changed to CP several years ago. We are all adults and we love the quite pool at CP and the proximity to DS. We will be staying at SSR in June and have requested CP.

 

[BirdsOfPreyDave]

I've read that it's a 15 minute walk from the Treehouse Villas to the closes park bus stop (I think Grandstand?) but is that from the south loop that's closest or from the middle of the 60 treehouses? I'm in early planning for a possible big (~6) adult trip in 2017 and the treehouses are just so cheap! My big concern is I'm a be at the parks at least 30 min before they open kind of person so the travel aspect kind of worries me.

The South loop is the closest to the path to the Grandstand, but the THV complex really isn't that big. You could still make it to the Grandstand bus in about 15 minutes with a normal walking pace even if placed further to the North.

 

[DizDaD7]

We used to request the Springs when we first started staying at SSR but changed to CP several years ago. We are all adults and we love the quite pool at CP and the proximity to DS. We will be staying at SSR in June and have requested CP.

Thanks....I think I might give that a whirl....As long as I'm not in Carousel, I think anywhere should be fine.