SSR report & CM GOSSIP! (long)

[mndisfam]

Hi all - we were the family that had the sick son and went after much discussion. It all turned out fine - he is still on the mend, but it was a great break.

Now - for the SSR report. First - we loved it. Since we have only stayed at OKW and concierge at AKL, we are not as seasoned as many. I was worried after reading some of the reports, but we found it a beautiful and quiet resort we will love to make our "home."

Some thoughts however: it will be HUGE. When we were there, 85 of the 87 rooms were occupied (told that by CMS.) Eventually - at the rate they are building NOW - there will be almost 2800 units!!! According to the diff reports we had from CMs, they are up to selling the 10th building, with room for 12. Another Cm told us they are going to tear down the "Treehouses" and expand there with beautiful gold course views- but another CM told us that the Treehouses have become a designated wetland and there will be no building.

As to the pools - the theme pool is great - but size wise, a joke. Even with the few units filled, we couldn't always get a shady chaise. We were told the idea (by numerous CMs) will be to keep the small pool, and build lots of quiet pools. I will say the quiet pool by Congress Park was lovely - elegant and an incredible view of Downtown Disney and the lights. (or, as we called it "BUG CITY" music please...)

Now the restaurant - don't get me started. Wonderful help, and a very very small selection of good entrees. (One Cm tried to tell me that the best restaurants only serve a few selections.!! This is a good but glorified food court with maybe 16 selections...not a restaurant at all.)

Heard many different stories on this. 2 CMs told me they are def. adding seated dining. 2 DVC salesmen completely disagreed with each other (in front of each other) as to future dining prospects. One said - he seemed more in the know - the biggest complaint he hears is the lack of dining options and "trust me, they are hearing the complaints, and they are listening." The other salesman disagreed, saying "they will not add anything. DVCers like to cook in their rooms (OH REALLY WOMEN ARE ON VACATION TOO!!!) and can walk to Downtown Disney."

So - I don't know. They did tell me to complain...

Our view of Downtown Disney (or as I said the "evil pleasure seekers pontooning their way to sin city" (we were a tad jealous!) was STUNNING and enjoyable every night. We saw the fireworks from our bed. !! The decor was lovely - granite countertops, etc.

I know people have said the place is kind of industrial - I think the hurricane took a lot of plantings out. i don't think the size will be too much of a problem bcs its really really spread out. We enjoyed the outer hallways bcs we are from Minn and are fine with any weather.

The Turf club was great, and the check in is cavernous and shd accomadate the vast hordes in the future. The SPa was lovely. The Spa ladies told me that eventually there will be horses roaming the paddocks.

So, enough rumors for you? Anyone who worried, rest assured. We loved it, and I think, to paraphrase Frasier Crane , "They are listening." Oh yes - the Food and Wine Festival ROCKED!

I need to add a new counter!

 

[RuthnPaul]

Originally posted by mndisfam
Another Cm told us they are going to tear down the "Treehouses" and expand there with beautiful gold course views- but another CM told us that the Treehouses have become a designated wetland and there will be no building.

First, glad to hear that you were able to go on your trip and that you really liked SSR. Although we never made it over for one of the daily tours, I did see the exteriors while riding on the boat from DD to OKW and liked what I saw!

The treehouses did not fare very well during the recent hurricanes -- trees had fallen over on to a number of the treehouses. Since nothing had been done to clean up the damage (as recently as last Saturday), there doesn't seem to be much interest in preserving these buildings. I was shocked to see the amount of pine trees that had been destroyed or severely damaged by the hurricanes!

We heard some gossip from a CM concerning Vero Beach. According to what the CMs were told in a meeting, the damage to the building was considerable. Not much has been coming out on VB the last few weeks although I thought they were supposed to reopen 11/9. Guess we'll see...

 

[OneMoreTry]

Originally posted by mndisfam

As to the pools - the theme pool is great - but size wise, a joke. Even with the few units filled, we couldn't always get a shady chaise.

If this is the definition of "joke" size, then the pool at BWV is a joke, too. You can't even get a chaise there PERIOD unless you're a real early bird. They're all covered with towels, except the two or three that actually have someone sitting in them.


Sounds like SSR is great!!

 

[Happy Birthday Cat]

Originally posted by mndisfam
2 CMs told me they are def. adding seated dining. 2 DVC salesmen completely disagreed with each other (in front of each other) as to future dining prospects. One said - he seemed more in the know - the biggest complaint he hears is the lack of dining options and "trust me, they are hearing the complaints, and they are listening." The other salesman disagreed, saying "they will not add anything. DVCers like to cook in their rooms (OH REALLY WOMEN ARE ON VACATION TOO!!!) and can walk to Downtown Disney."

Glad to hear your son is fine and that your trip went well.

You have to love it when two CM's argue with each other on something like this. It really shows how tight lipped Disney really is about plans and that no one really knows for sure.

DVCers like to cook in their rooms? I'll remind my DW of that the next time we are on VACATION!

HBC

 

[mndisfam]

I too was shocked at the number of pine trees down - quite a few right on top of the treehouses!!

And I should have clarified as to the pool as to the "joke" size. First, we loved the pool. At the top of each hour, they play the horse racing "Charge" , which we enjoyed - makes you want a mint julep - whatever they are.

The pool is just not that big. While it wasn't crowded (with 85 of 87 units occupied) it was almost busy. It wasn't nearly as big as the pool at AKL.

Had to post to see if my new count down works.

 

[MJTinNH]

It was interesting to read your report. Love hearing the different perspectives on the DVC resorts. Glad you had a great time and had some discussions with the CM's. We will have to see how this plays out with the Food Court and theme pool. Thank you for posting!

 

[tjkraz]

Originally posted by mndisfam
Some thoughts however: it will be HUGE. When we were there, 85 of the 87 rooms were occupied (told that by CMS.)

Not true. Direct from the POS, each building has 46 rooms--24 of which are Two Bedroom Lockoffs which could be booked separately as a 1B + a Studio. With four buildings currently open, you have between 184 and 280 individual parties staying at the resort now at maximum occupancy.

Eventually - at the rate they are building NOW - there will be almost 2800 units!!!

Again, not true. The current plan is for 18 buildings (up from 12 in the original design.) Using the POS numbers cited above, at completion the resort will host between 828 and 1260 families. This makes it about 60% larger than OKW.

According to the diff reports we had from CMs, they are up to selling the 10th building, with room for 12.

I don't really see how that could be accurate. They've only been selling SSR points for 14 months. If they've completely sold 9+ buildings, that's more than 400 rooms. 400 rooms is larger than all of BWV, and larger than BCV and VWL combined. I love SSR, too, but there's no way they've sold that many points in just 14 mos. At best, they are probably on #6 right now, with a few points left over from #4 that they are holding for add-ons by current members.

Phase 3 (buildings 13-18) won't even open until 2007. There's no way they will go 2 years without having any points to sell.

If things were selling this fast, they would have raised the price ages ago to increase profits and slow sales to a point where they were more in line with the construction schedule.

Another Cm told us they are going to tear down the "Treehouses" and expand there with beautiful gold course views- but another CM told us that the Treehouses have become a designated wetland and there will be no building.

I'm not certain of the exact disposition, but it's been stated many times that the treehouses cannot be torn down. Sounds like CM #2 may be right in this case.

As to the pools - the theme pool is great - but size wise, a joke.

I'd love to see another themed pool, but have my doubts. Also, I don't know that the size is really out of whack. The one time we visited SSR, we were staying at BWV. The SSR pool seemed comparable in size to Luna Park. And, at BWV, you've got about the same number of guests being serviced including both the Villa and Inn rooms.

I think two factors may be skewing the appearances at SSR now:

1. The main pool at OKW is closed for rehab. It's very easy for those guests to hop over the SSR.

2. Pool hopping from other DVC members who may just want to give SSR a look.

Hope I didn't come across too negative. I know you were just repeating what a lot of CMs told you, but there seem to be more than a few holes in those stories.

Glad you had such a good trip.

 

[msdis]

Glad to hear your son is well and your trip turned out good.

 

[msdis]

Originally posted by tjkraz


At best, they are probably on #6 right now, with a few points left over from #4 that they are holding for add-ons by current members.

That reminds me-he said they were selling #7 last he knew and that was a couple weeks ago.

 

[Sammie]

Originally posted by OneMoreTry
If this is the definition of "joke" size, then the pool at BWV is a joke, too. You can't even get a chaise there PERIOD unless you're a real early bird. They're all covered with towels, except the two or three that actually have someone sitting in them.


Sounds like SSR is great!!

This will probably not be a popular comment, but personally I think until all pool hopping is stopped and "enforced" the pool situations are only going to get worse.

I mean when SSR sells out and you take even a small percentage of that number and send them over to OKW or BW to use the cool slides, it is going to be crowded.

 

[dianeschlicht]

So glad you enjoyed your trip! Obviously, you were there (as we were) over the MEA break.

What unit were you in at SSR? We were in 1747 and had a great view of DTD. Yes it was VERY quiet, but we decided we didn't particularily like this resort. You can go back and read my trip report to see why.

As to the tree damage, yes we saw LOTS of tees down, and lots of damage to some of the old Disney Institute villas, but we were surprised that the elevated treehouses seemed to have no damage at all. Are you sure you weren't looking at the old DI villas? Those are the buildings very near SSR. The Tree houses are actually elevated up on stilts like trees and are a bit farther down the road and nearer OKW. We even commented to each other on how much damage there was at the villas and how litte to the tree houses.

We thought it was difficult to get around SSR right now. Maybe that will improve when the whole complex is done.

Yes, the "food court" is a joke! That was our biggest disappointment at SSR. We loved the "town" feel of the streets and buildings.

 

[DisneyMim]

First I am happy to hear that your son is ok and everything worked out well for you.

I am still laughing over the statement that DVCers like to cook in their rooms!!!! I truly hope (although I am the biggest non-believer that anyone really cares what we think) that someone from management is reading this I HAVE BEEN A MEMBER SINCE 1991 AND HAVE NEVER COOKED ANYTHING BEYOND BREAKFAST IN MY ROOM. Just had to say this. We were there in August and went over to SSR one evening to look around and to grap a quick meal. The resort is beautiful, but I too have to agree with you that the food court (or whatever it is supposed to be) is a joke. I know that some people like it, but my kids took one look at the menu and didn't have to say a word to us, we knew instantly that we would not be having dinner there that night. Maybe some adults would like the menu, but it is not desinged for kids. Also I was hoping that I could maybe pick up some muffins or something for breakfast the next morning. I was basing this on what I had read in one of the Vacations Magic issues, that the food court would feature some kind of "grab and go" type of area. This was during dinner time and they did not have much at all. Maybe it's just too early to really get an idea of what the area will be. I hope so. Also just to add I thought that the pool was lovely and didn't think it was small. This could have been because it was empty. Time will tell.

 

[Luckymommyx2]

Welcome back! I'm also glad to hear that your son is doing better. I haven't been "home" yet so I'm reading everything anyone has to write! I love the comment about having horses at SSR!! I hope that happens by the time we get there! I'm interested to see what happens, if anything, in regards to the pool situation and the dining situation. Those seem to be the most consistent complaints/concerns. Thanks for sharing!!

 

[Poohs Pal]

I just returned from SSR on 10/18 and received a post card in the mail to take a survey of my recent visit at SSR. The questions covered all the concerns I've read here on the board. I was very happy with my visit home and really only had concerns about the food court and slightly concerned about the pool. I also saw many tree's that had fallen on the treehouse villa's. Glad you had a great time. Susan

 

[Scratch42]

But then again.........

I'll be able to FINALLY find out for myself!



Less than two days!

Scratch

 

[jbwolffiv]

Thanks for the great report! I hope they do put in seated dining, would be nice to have another choice!

 

[ErinC]

When I was down a couple of weekends ago, you could see many trees down on the treehouse villas while traveling down the road in between SSR and OKW (Vacation Club Drive, I think). In fact there were several trees still lying very close to the road. It looked like they had just chopped the parts from the golf cart paths, and road, and most were just cleared to the side to make way for the golfers. It looked like Disney still had a lot of cleanup to be done it that area of the property. Very sad to see.

 

[Mickmse2002]

Why can't they tear down the damaged treehouse villas? Is this a known fact or just a CM "fact"?

 

[DebbieB]

Originally posted by Mickmse2002
Why can't they tear down the damaged treehouse villas? Is this a known fact or just a CM "fact"?

I've heard that it's a wetland area, which is protected by law. I believe they can tear them down but they cannot construct new buildings in their place. The existing structures are "grandfathered" but that exemption would be lost if they were torn down.

 

[Mickmse2002]

OK, so they can tear them down, just not re-build. That makes more sense to me know.