SSR Opening Day! Who plans on being there?

[LIFERBABE]

I received my letter today stating SSR will open May 17, 2004 for units 1A-1Q. We own unit 1C. Im thinking of making ressies for opening day/s. Will there be much fanfare? What do they normally do for DVC openings?

I wasnt that excited until I read the letter! I guess it makes it real to have an official date! (although they are subject to change )

 

[dyingtodisney]

Wow!!! That would be so cool to be there on opening day, unfortunately my dd is still in school so we will plan on being there the first week of June!
I can only guess that the CM's we be extra excited for the opening and hopefully extremely helpful

 

[Tinkrbell]

Although I wasn't there. There were several members on the boards who attended BCV Opening Day, and they all said there wasn't much of Anything.

I remember that some had posted pictures, Mickey was there, and somebody cut a ribbon. But mostly, they said it was a small crowd.

 

[dcfromva]

LIFERBABE,
I thought about going for opening day, too--but, it will be a Monday (and we already have a trip planned two weeks later).
I was really surprised when I received that letter --Our guide had told us we were going to be buying in the second unit and I didn't think we would even be eligible for opening day. But, according to the letter and the documents we signed, we are actually in the first building!

-DC

 

[dmbkmb]

Yep, my husband and I are planning on being there opening day. We were actually disappointed that it was moved out to May 17th. We were hoping for the May 1st. May 1st will be our 5th year anniversary. Oh well...that is construction for ya. Anyways, yep we plan on being there. Still haven't decided on how long yet. Probably from Monday till Sat. We may even go over to VB aftrwards. Gotta convince work and hubby that the vaca needs to be longer ....hehe

So, really aren't too concerned about many people being there. I'm actually hoping for a quiet time! We go in the off season just so we don't have to be with the kiddos...nothing against them...but we still don't have any....so no need to take a vaca in the middle of July!

So we'll see you there!!

Deanna

 

[Towncrier]

We were at BCV on opening day. We asked if there was going to be anything special going on (like a ribbon cutting ceremony). According to every CM we asked, there was nothing special planned. We decided to hang around anyway and were there when they cut the ribbon to officially open the resort. They had hand picked a family to participate in the ceremony. There was confetti and lots of video cameras. You could tell that the whole thing was staged for the camera because they practiced it over and over again and shot it from a couple of different angles. I shot about 20 minutes of video during the ceremony and tried my best to stay out of the way. The CMs that were there encouraged me to move up and get a better picture.

My biggest disappointment was that, even though we were there on opening day, there was nothing "extra" in the rooms. I half expected a pin or button or something else commemorating the event, but there was nothing. Almost all of the giveaways had been given away in the weeks leading up to the opening. There were these really neat "Opening Day" buttons that the CMs were wearing that I had hoped to get. No such luck. There wasn't even anything available to purchase. No postcards. No shirts. Nothing. I guess that's what happens when you open a resort a few months early. The merchandise just wasn't available.

Later that day, my family and I wandered into Beaches & Cream for a burger. I mentioned something about being disappointed about opening day to our waitress (who was wearing one of the coveted Opening Day buttons) and she gave me her button. She told me that it was her last one and that she had given four of them away. Then one of the other waiters overheard our conversation and said that he had just thrown his button in the trash. Yikes. He went and retrieved it, so I ended up with two opening day buttons. And my faith in the Disney magic was restored.

So don't expect too much from Opening Day at SSR. Unless they decided to do things differently from BCV, it will be a low key, by invitation only event. But you might be able to sneak in if you ask nicely.

Have fun and take lots of pictures.

 

[CarolA]

My theory is to always NOT be at a hotel opening. (And let's get real Disney is opening a hotel!)

That way someone else has discovered that the construction workers threw giant objects in the toliet when it overflows. (That happened at my house!) I like for you eager beavers to iron out the kinks for me!

 

[eporter66]

We were actually thinking about it. It would be the week before Memorial Day, so I thought the crowds might be low, and it might be kind of fun to be the first ones to stay!!!!!

 

[daddiojiggy]

now that i think about it,they told me i can't start booking 'til dec1/03 for anything after may17/04.does that mean someone already in dvc will be able to book into ssr(7 mos rule) ahead of me even though it's my home resort?

 

[dcfromva]

Originally posted by daddiojiggy
now that i think about it,they told me i can't start booking 'til dec1/03 for anything after may17/04.does that mean someone already in dvc will be able to book into ssr(7 mos rule) ahead of me even though it's my home resort?

daddiojiggy,
You will be fine--folks from other resorts can't make ressies for SSR until Feb
-DC

 

[dcfromva]

daddiojiggy

Here's a link to the discussion on folks who don't own at SSR anxious to book a stay there:

-DC

 

[CRSNDSNY]

to wait until New Years Eve and early January instead of SSR's May opening. Instead, we have reservations at BCV for our first official DVC-member trip in May. I'd rather all the kinks get straightened out before our first stay there.

Can't wait!

 

[eporter66]

We should all come back and post if we are successful for booking on or around opening day. Should be great!!!!