SSR trip report May 7-12 1st trip home

[cincinmouse]

Wanted to report on our first trip home to SSR. We bought from DVC direct without visiting SSR so we were not sure what to expect

Stay was May 7-12 Me, DW, DS8, DD5, DS1, &MIL

Best part of trip was DS and I got Dream passes as we got off space mountain early Friday morning!


We requested 2 dedicated bedroom Springs section. Flight arrived at 9:30 at MCO and used DME to get to SSR and it all went smoothly. Upon check-in the CM ask me what we were planning on doing. I thought this was an odd question but after clarification she had availability at Springs, Grandstand, and Congress Park so depending on if we were doing Parks, pool, or DTD each location has it benefits. We wanted to be close to main area since it was our first time. Bellman helped us over to room 3735 in the springs section including the groceries we had ordered. We had already ordered groceries from Garden Grocery and they had already been delivered. We were eating sandwiches within 30 minutes of arriving at the hotel and since we had been up since 4:00 am this was great.

Room
I thought it was very clean although it took a while to find out where everything is. We have stayed in moderates before and we are now spoiled with 2 bed. With 3 children it was great to put kids to bed and still stay up. Note to people staying at DVC for the first time. Find out where the laundry basket is. We did not find it until the third day located under the sink by the tub. This is great because kids on vacation tend to throw dirty cloths in a pile in the closet and this helped to keep the place tidy. Also beware of silverware drawers along wall next to the dishwasher. The drawers are only a foot deep or so and I kept trying to pull them out further. If you plan to eat in the room a lot ask for extra trash bags as you will not make it to the 4th day. We did receive our trash and towel service on the proper day. We ate breakfast in the room every morning to save on cost and to get to the parks faster. Also had a few dinners include pizza delivery from Giordanos.

Main Pool
The kids love the pool both the big slide and little slide. The zero entry pool was also very helpful with little ones. I noticed the life guards tend to pay close attention to what is going on and letting people know when they are getting out of line.

Artist Palette
We only ordered food from there once. The flatbread pizza was very good for a late night snack. We never saw any big lines but can see how the flow of getting food from order, pay, to pickup can cause a problem with lots of people. They should move things around so that you pick up your food from a different area.

New service?
I believe it is new that you will be able to view picture from your photopass at SSR. The photo pass desk is located at the end of the hallway on the right leaving the gift shop area AP

Buses
Since staying in the spring’s section I was worried about being the last bus stop but we never had a problem and never waited more than 20 minutes for a bus to any of the parks. Only once was it standing room only for MK bus. Two of the 5 days there was a Bus driver at the springs stop taking notes of how many people were on the bus and how many people got on at the stop. I was told by some people on the bus that if a bus is full before it gets to the springs stop it just leaves SSR.

Gossip
One evening there was a film crew taking video of the front desk of the DVC center looked like a big deal???? Also talk to one CM who used to stay in treehouses until they were shut down and she said they are being renovated for guest but did not know if it will be DVC or not.

Checkout.
LOVED airport check in at lobby area. Not having to deal with 5 bags and 3 kids at the airport was great. Although I had to be very specific with my questions to the bell desk about what time should they come pick us up. We had a 7:30 am DME departure. They said if I was using airport check in I should be at the desk by 7:00 am so since we were in the springs section they would pick us up at 6:45 and they were right on time. We were checking out on a Monday and they said they did not have many departure that day. There were several people who showed up at the airport check at 7:00 and had a 7:00 DME departure and were not to happy as the instruction are not very clear. I thing some people think ME and airport check in are the same thing and they really are mutually exclusive.

Overall
DW and I really loved SSR we like the laidback layout and it does not seem to spread out to us, although we would stay away from carrousel park area but it would not be the end of the world if we had to stay there. We were at DTD and did not know the last bus was at midnight. We just missed by a minutes as it was pulling out when we got there. We spent to much time enjoying our Ghirardellis sundae. I know why you guys are crazy about them. So we walked back to SSR using the path and the same bus was pulling out of congress park stop by the time we got there. We are very happy with our purchase and look forward to many future stays. I don't know why so many people "hate" this resort but please feel free to continue to do so becuase it will leave more availability for me.

Thanks for the tips I got from this board.

 

[stitchsgrandpa]

We stayed at Grandstand May 4 thru 13th. I agree with everything you said loved SSR so much we added more points. Looking forward to next year. found bus service good but did find three buses in a row all going to same park a little funny. Found bus service at Contemporary and Gran Floridian to be much slower than SSR so I guess everyone is having problems with new computer system.

 

[KELLY]

Thanks for the great report. We just added another 100 points. We also got spoiled by the 1 bedroom.

 

[bobbiwoz]

It sounds as if you had a great vacation! Great!!!

Bobbi

 

[corky441]

A great review - thanks

Just bought a 175 pt contract for SSR myself and I haven't seen the resort in person yet. Reading reviews from others really helps a lot...

 

[marieNJkitty]

I enjoyed reading your trip report. We are looking forward to our first stay at SSR in November. I can't wait!

 

[Brave teacher]

Thanks for the report. We have our first DVC trip to SSR in February. I hope we have as good a time as you had.

 

[Splash Mountain Fan]

Thanks for the report. We are looking forward to our SSR trip in October. We love the resort.

 

[dopeygirl76]

We also had our first DVC stay sight unseen at SSR April 20-26. We didn't make a location request - we booked rather late and were just thrilled to get a room!! We ended up in the Paddack section and were so pleased!! We never even made it to the Big Pool!! The quiet pool at the Paddock was more than enough for our girls (4 &1) and the play area was also a hit!!

We also LOVED everything about SSR and are so glad we bought there - we would definately not be disappointed to be "stuck" there!!!

One area we noticed an issue (I was already prepared from all of my DIS research) was the Artists Palette. Of course we were there at a prime time - 11am on Saturday - as everyone is trying to get lunch. But I waited in line for 30 minutes to order and then another 25 minutes for our food. I had the chicken cordon bleu panini - FABULOUS!! DH had the pepperoni flatbread which he enjoyed and DDs shared the chicken fingers which they also enjoyed. So the food was great but they need to reorganize or something!!

We also had some minor maintanence issues - dishwasher not working and towel rack fell off the wall. However DH called the front desk and it was fixed in no time. Also DD4 locked the toliet room door as she came out and shut it - and DH phoned again they were there in less than 30 minutes - and yes I asked how many times a day they have to open those doors and the maintanence man said on a good day 5-6!!!!

 

[cindy18]

So glad I found this thread. We are staying at SSR at the end of August for the first time, and the information I found on other websites was confusing me in terms of the size of the place and the layout, etc. Can I ask some questions: we have a 2 bedroom reserved but did not specify a location. We're probably going to do something of everything -- some parks, including water parks, some pool and some Downtown Disney. Would it make sense to request a location? What makes certain locations better for certain things? Also, are the buses sufficient to get around all of WDW, or should we consider renting a car?

Thanks in advance!

 

[felway17]

2 days away from going to SSR... and good to see this post... I can not wait. I wonder if it is too early to go to the airport.

 

[corky441]

2 days away from going to SSR... and good to see this post... I can not wait. I wonder if it is too early to go to the airport.

By all means get to the airport - maybe you can get out on standby...
I'm not going until October but I have already started the infamous "making of the lists ritual"... DH thinks I'm nutz but he's learned to live with it.

 

[cincinmouse]

So glad I found this thread. We are staying at SSR at the end of August for the first time, and the information I found on other websites was confusing me in terms of the size of the place and the layout, etc. Can I ask some questions: we have a 2 bedroom reserved but did not specify a location. We're probably going to do something of everything -- some parks, including water parks, some pool and some Downtown Disney. Would it make sense to request a location? What makes certain locations better for certain things? Also, are the buses sufficient to get around all of WDW, or should we consider renting a car?

Thanks in advance!

The all purpose location would be the springs. Remember your request is only that and there are no guarantees. I think the key to getting you location you want is to get to the resort in the morning but be flexible enough that if the room location you want is not ready you can wait. The only downside of the springs section is it the last bus stop of the resort. Many people have reported that they have had issues with bus service although I did not experience it. If the bus is full before it gets to the springs stop it just leaves. Since we stayed in the springs my backup plan if the busses were an issue was to walk over to the first bus stop, the grandstand section, which is not more than a 5-8 minute walk from the springs bus stop. You may want to consider just walking over there if you have something you have to be at in the morning like a character breakfast. The path is a little confusion at first how to go from springs to grandstand so you might want to scope it out before you are having to do it in the heat of the moment. The new bus dispatch system is a work in progress so they may have things figured out by August. I keep an eye out on the boards. If you are going to DTD taking the boat is a great way to go. We have never rented a car yet due to little ones and having to deal with car seats. We may consider it one day but for now that is at least several years away.

 

[cindy18]

The all purpose location would be the springs. Remember your request is only that and there are no guarantees. I think the key to getting you location you want is to get to the resort in the morning but be flexible enough that if the room location you want is not ready you can wait. The only downside of the springs section is it the last bus stop of the resort. Many people have reported that they have had issues with bus service although I did not experience it. If the bus is full before it gets to the springs stop it just leaves. Since we stayed in the springs my backup plan if the busses were an issue was to walk over to the first bus stop, the grandstand section, which is not more than a 5-8 minute walk from the springs bus stop. You may want to consider just walking over there if you have something you have to be at in the morning like a character breakfast. The path is a little confusion at first how to go from springs to grandstand so you might want to scope it out before you are having to do it in the heat of the moment. The new bus dispatch system is a work in progress so they may have things figured out by August. I keep an eye out on the boards. If you are going to DTD taking the boat is a great way to go. We have never rented a car yet due to little ones and having to deal with car seats. We may consider it one day but for now that is at least several years away.

Very helpful! Thanks for the details. Sounds like checking the boards is a great idea. A 5-8 minute walk is not a big deal, I guess. It just sounds as though the resort is HUGE, so I was struggling to get a sense of how inconvenient it would be to be at one place or another. We'd much prefer not to rent a car, if we don't have to. We've previously only stayed at BCV, which seems more central...

 

[Chellymouse]

thank you for the post! I am eagerly anticipating my first trip "home" in 88 days! We also purchased SSR without going through it first!