SSR made me feel like Cinderella - before the Prince arrived!

[Topo Bella]

We just got back from our stay at SSR and rather than feeling magical, I felt like the we stayed at the ignored step-sister of the Disney resorts. First and foremost, let me say that I am not completely bashing SSR. The rooms and the resort were beautiful (and Turf Club was one of our favorite meals), the staff was great and I really would recommend it once they get their act together at this resort.

Disney needs to do so little to make this resort first class and I just don't understand how WDW, experts at dealing with crowds, missed on this one. Let me explain... The bus service was absolutely terrible the entire week we were there. Without question, there are not sufficient buses dispatched to this property. Our first day, with our children's faces lit up with anticipation, the Magic Kingdom bus took 90 MINUTES to get our stop. One other MK bus did pass by, but they were full and didn't stop. (We stayed at the Springs...the last stop at SSR) I can't even repeat the tirade of another guest who probably missed their Royal Table reservations because of an hour and a half long wait for a bus. Likewise, on other days we waited 45 mintues and 60 mintues for the buses which of course, coming so infrequently, were filled to the brim. The bus drivers were sympathetic and recommended that we take the boat or walk over to Downtown Disney for a bus. I suspect that WDW is so lax on the buses at this resort because they figure you can just go to DD. BUT THAT IS NOT THE POINT! I became a DVC member in part, because my family loves the convenience of the internal transportation system. I should not have to walk any further than the closest bus stop to get a bus!!! The slow buses were not limited to just the outgoing buses. The line for the SSR return buses at each of the parks was always the longest byfar.

Also, the pool complex, as great as it was, handles a large number of guests. On several occassions, although the pool was not overcrowded, there was not a pool chair to be had. Knowing that this pool handles so many guests, the resort should do a better job of making sure that guests do not leave behind towels and reserve chairs for hours without being present.

SSR needs to do so little to be great. I would love to speak to someone at DVC operations to let them know that there is a problem - a very fixable problem - but a problem nonetheless.

 

[rogerram]

I have had some of the same problems with buses in the past. They do need to address this. I also have seen the towel problem before. I will hit the pool and watch to see if anyone comes back in the next hour. I will then just move the towels and take the chairs. If someone was to come over and say it was theirs, I would give it to them.

 

[BroganMc]

Hmm, I wonder if they switched to the GPS dispatching this month. When I was there in October, Alfie the dispatcher was posted at the Springs bus stop in the mornings (8am-noon) and monitoring the busses.

He said they were planning on going to complete computer dispatching in another month. We had a big conversation about how that would work. There was a possibility that when it started there would be kinks.

In October the busses ran every 20 minutes in the mornings, 25-30 minutes in mid-day.

I did notice that was a little bit slower than in May, by about 5 min. However I was staying in Grandstand then.

 

[hansel1]

Although I have never had bus problems with any of our past trips, I chose Boardwalk Villas as my DVC resort so I wouldn't have to bother with busses except to get to Animal Kingdom. What I gained in convenience I lost in ownership years.

I'm sorry you had that problem and hope your next visit is better.

 

[Jaaron2]

Reading this I must say that I am getting a bit anxious I leave for SSR in 8 days (my first stay there) and I certainly hope I dont run into the same problems.

 

[Claire L]

We had a wonderful time at SSR in October, for two weeks, we stayed in the Grandstand section and the room was virtually brand new, it was the higest number on property! The bus serivce was excellent, only had one wait of more than 20 minutes. As for the Grandstand pool that was a real nice surprise, not crowded ample loungers and the pool abr for the refillable mug with self service was the best

Sorry you had such a bad time.

Claire

 

[KevGuy]

If I see lounge chairs and no one at them for hours and only plain white towels on them, those chairs then will become mine lol.

 

[dwelty]

Since you were at the springs (the last stop) it is very likely that non SSR guests filled up the bus at Congress Park. Non Disney guests are parking for free at Downtown Disney and then walking to Congress Park to take a bus to a park. They can save the rather steep parking fee this way. I talked to 2 different people on my last trip who admitted doing this. I think they need to make the bus drivers start checking for Disney Resort IDs.

 

[pouncingpluto]

Since you were at the springs (the last stop) it is very likely that non SSR guests filled up the bus at Congress Park. Non Disney guests are parking for free at Downtown Disney and then walking to Congress Park to take a bus to a park. They can save the rather steep parking fee this way. I talked to 2 different people on my last trip who admitted doing this. I think they need to make the bus drivers start checking for Disney Resort IDs.

Yeah, they should check at least at SSR. It doesn't seem that overall it would be that big a deal to begin this at one resort.

 

[ADP]

I will say that I believe there is an internal staffing problem with the transportation department. During our past October trip (19th - 28th) we encountered no busses running from AKL to AK. The line waiting for the bus was HUGE There could only be two possibilities; the bus broke down, or the driver who should be running the route did not show up for work.

I know there was no bus running because we were waiting 60 minutes as well. No bus ever showed up. The bus driver to MGM Studios took us to AK as a courtesy run. The run from AK to AKL should only take 5 to 10 minutes. After 60 minutes nobody showed.

 

[vandy]

The information on the buses doesn't sound like it is getting better. We never had to wait longer than 20 minutes to go to the parks, but I agree it was a much longer wait to leave the parks and go back to SSR (and OKW on another stay).

If you are in the Springs, I suggest a short walk over to the Carousel stop. It is the second stop in the resort and you can get a seat. You will beat any of the DTD people sneaking rides.

 

[DisDaydreamer]

Also, the pool complex, as great as it was, handles a large number of guests. On several occassions, although the pool was not overcrowded, there was not a pool chair to be had. Knowing that this pool handles so many guests, the resort should do a better job of making sure that guests do not leave behind towels and reserve chairs for hours without being present.

Oh... this is not an SSR problem, and more than a DVC. Mostly, it is the problem of lazy, arrogant, self-centered jerks. PM me if you want to know what I really think...

Sorry about the transportation issues. It has been a real long time since we have used the bus system and we used to think it was great. Hope BroganMC is right that it was a change in systems problem.

 

[HUFF590]

I have stayed at SSR 7 trips in all, always had great bus service, but its seems that its hit or miss. All the resorts at one time or another will experience good and bad bus days. As far as towels go on back of chairs, just ask a cm, and most of the time they will remove towels themselves. especially if there are no shoes bags shirts on the chair.

 

[tomandrobin]

Since you were at the springs (the last stop) it is very likely that non SSR guests filled up the bus at Congress Park. Non Disney guests are parking for free at Downtown Disney and then walking to Congress Park to take a bus to a park. They can save the rather steep parking fee this way. I talked to 2 different people on my last trip who admitted doing this. I think they need to make the bus drivers start checking for Disney Resort IDs.

This is exactly the problem we saw three weeks ago. The non-SSR guests getting on the bus in Congress Park, filling the Magic Kingdom bus. We also verified this by talking and asking them about where they were staying.

 

[Feigned]

I'm sorry to hear about the bus problems that you encountered.

I have stayed at Saratoga Springs a total of 7 times so far (my 8th stay will be in about 2 weeks). In all but one trip I have had nothing but outstanding bus service, both to the parks and back from the parks. The only time I had a problem was back in May when we waited about 45 minutes for a bus to Epcot. We saw every other parks' bus go past (some more than once), except for the Epcot bus. Finally my dad said something to one of the other bus drivers and a bus was on its way. We were told they had just started something new with the busses (I can't remember what it was) and that was the cause of the delay.

There have been no problems any of my other stays, even the week of Christmas last year. Maybe I have just been lucky though!

Hopefully this is all resolved. I'll see for myself in 2 weeks.

 

[welovewdw]

We stayed at SSR in late August for a week and had the same bus problems - no busses at all! I admit that I'm not the most patient person on earth - we took cabs. Next time, if we have to stay at SSR, I'll be sure to rent a car. The bus service was just too spotty for us.

 

[dsneygirl]

We stayed at SSR the first weekend in Oct and had no bus issues at all. We also had the main pool to ourselves so hopefully this was an off week.

 

[Slakk]

We stayed at SSR the first weekend in Oct and had no bus issues at all. We also had the main pool to ourselves so hopefully this was an off week.

We were there the last weekend in October and had no issues either...

 

[Flyerfan]

Since you were at the springs (the last stop) it is very likely that non SSR guests filled up the bus at Congress Park. Non Disney guests are parking for free at Downtown Disney and then walking to Congress Park to take a bus to a park.

DH will flip when he hears this! If it's anything he can't stand, it's inconsiderate people taking advantage of the system......any system.

 

[CarolA]

The towel issue is NOT unique to SSR. As a mtter of fact its not near as bad there as at SAB where it's just horrid!

Folks MOVE THE TOWELS. If ALL the "Family" has left is a DIsney towel, TAKE THE CHAIR!!
Yes, I am shouting, but I don't believer in rewarding those rude people. (I did have a woman at BCV show up an hour after I got there once and stand there making RUDE comments because I moved thier towels LOL! They had been at lunch for two hours and just arrived at the pool.... )

I have never had a bus service issue at SSR. I have also stayed at the unit closest to DTD. I can say I did not see this "steady stream" of guests that folks complain about. However, I will say that there was recently a post on the transportation board that Disney was beginning to put notices on cars that stayed parked at DTD for long periods of time. (In other words if your car is there for a couple of days in a row for 8 hours or more it might be towed... they KNOW you aren't at DTD LOL!)