SSR trip report

[cobbler]

Hello all -
First trip report so bear with me

Just back from a quick 3 night stay at SSR. Took a mother and daughter trip and both of us enjoyed the food and wine festival.

First off this was my first time using DME - great job. We were the first stop off and the only family to get off at SSR. Check in went very smooth with very little wait. Requested Congress Park but there was nothing available so we were in the Paddock (didn't ask about Springs). We ended up in the bldg right across the street from the Congress Park bus stop with the water view. Very nice.

Mother and I had a studio, I let her have the bed and I took the sofa couch. Pull out is very comfy, liked it very much. Nice studio, very clean. For some reason (and I couldn't put my finger on it until recently after speaking with hubby and figured it out) this room didn't seem all that special to me. It's because we have stayed in a one bedroom for our first trip home and going to a studio is a little sad Guess it's true what they say, you will never want to go back after a one bedroom

Did some shopping at DTD, between the two of us we spent $600 after my AP discount!!!! But a lot of it was Xmas shopping for the kids and other family so I guess it's ok. They are offering a blanket throw right now for $15 if you purchase $60 or more. Nice throw.

SHIPPING has gone UP for those of you that do tax exempt purchases at DTD and have them sent home. It went up as of October 1st. I don't remember the lowest amount but for purchases over $500 (which we had) it is $112 to ship now!!! Well between the AP discount and the tax off, it helped pay for that huge shipping bill. Oh well, we were there only 3 nights and had only enough room for carry on.

We did the Illumination cruise that night and popped over to the BW for some food and to see the model room. Found out some AKV info which is posted on the other thread.

The next day we did F/W. It was fun. LOVE congo!!! YUM YUM YUM. The juice at Mexico. Didn't sample much because of the heat we just weren't hungry but did have the duo of chocolate truffles, the chocolate creme brulee, lignonberry mousse, and the cheddar cheese soup from Canada.

Had dinner at the Garden Grill, good as usual but the dessert wasn't a sample as it was before, just bread pudding which neither of us like.

Next day we had bfast at Ohana, they have a new juice they introduced last week. I asked her what it was and for the life of me I can't remember. I do remember it had 3 things and I know one for sure was guava and the second I am pretty sure was OJ, but can't remember the 3rd. It's good. Pineapple bread wasn't as good, not as gooey as before and I swear it was served warm before but this time it was quite cold and somewhat hard.

Went over to Epcot for the Nemo preview and it was very very cute. They have sting rays on the moving walkway before you enter the clam mobiles. Definatly geared more towards the youth but much better than what they had there before. LONG queres though, must anticipate it being popular.

Then we had over to the pool at SSR and here is where I noticed some things that I wasn't to fond of. One there are a LOT of non-members there right now, I know because they weren't given the "welcome home" folder but the regular Disney one and most you could tell were not by conversations. I don't know what the deal is but the ones that were not members stuck out like sore thumbs because of the obnoxious and rude behavior. I also found more beer cans around the grounds than I had ever seen before. I don't know if being that close to DTD is going to be a problem but I hope not. I also wonder if many of the people at the pool aren't DTD area hotel guests popping over to use the pool.

Also the bus issue, while service was good, I hope it doesn't become a problem with those from DTD using the service to get to the parks to avoid paying. I heard a few of these conversations. There seemed to be 4 people going to DTD and using SSR busses as a mode to get there for every 1 that was actually staying at the resort.

I am kind of hoping the resort goes more to members only as the points sell out because you could just tell that some people didn't belong. Not trying to start anything but if you saw you would know what I mean.

After pool time went to MK to watch Wishes and have dinner at LTT. Great as usual. I love comfort food.

DME for return was also good.

Overall good trip but what I there were some minor kinks. Esp not having that one bedroom

 

[cobbler]

PS forgot to add we did the Segway tour! It was so much fun. There were 3 guys and 3 girls in our group and of course all the guys had their segway's get away from them

It does take a bit to get used to and my ankles were sore by the end of the tour but I guess that happens and it went away quite quickly.

 

[Erie Islands]

We just joined SSR the other day and this is just the kind of feedback I like to get...thanks! I'm guessing that the beer cans could be because a lot of colleges were off for fall break this past week (at least here in Ohio). My daughter was home from school Thursday until tonight. I can totally relate to the studio versus 1-bedroom. That's actually how we got involved with DVC. We're going down in March and we were going to stay in a DTD hotel. We've always stayed in a WDW resort, but we're only staying 4 nights and I was thinking we should save some money. After a few days of just "thinking" about not staying in a resort put me in the worst mood So next thing I knew, we were buying into SSR! Thanks for the report!

 

[disney-super-mom]

Glad you had fun on your trip.

I've heard the same thing about room size, which is why for our first trip ever, we're staying in a studio. (Of course, if we were bringing our two boys 7 & 3 along, we'd get a 1 bedroom for sure.)

I don't like to hear about the beer cans and abuse of the SSR busses and pools by people at DTD though. They may have to do some kind of bracelet ID thing (like they do at SAB) so only actual guests of the resorts are the only ones allowed to use the pool. Not sure what they could do about the bus issue though.

Hopefully it was just the time of year with fall breaks and whatnot.

Anyway, thanks for the great report!

 

[cobbler]

There were quite a few beer cans but they were "hidden" (probably thrown) in the bushes so they weren't totally out in the open.

However it was isolated to SSR. Mom and I had breakfast at Ohana one morning and walked to the bus stop in front of the Poly. The little posts along the walkway had quite a few glasses with drinks still left in them on top of the posts.

We actually ran across this a couple of times at other resorts.

Kind of irritates me that people don't respect property.

 

[elijahpep]

Nice report Cobbler! thanks!

We just returned yesterday from a 8 day visit to SSR. We also noticed
some odd behavior. There were some folks that had a styrofoam cooler
full of GLASS bottled beer and they were tossing them to each other in the hot tub at the leisure pool above children's heads. Have never experienced
anything like that ever<?> I told DH about it after returning to the villa and he mentioned maybe these were some of the folks that had possibly
been bumped up from All Stars or elsewhere, that we've heard so much about.

ITA you can just tell when there are folks who aren't DVC due to the lack of respect for the property and behavior. I hope that 's the case anyways!

Was at the Theme pool several nights and didn't notice the beer cans, but am sorry you had to experience that.

Thanks again for the report!

 

[Sammie]

Nice report Cobbler! thanks!

We just returned yesterday from a 8 day visit to SSR. We also noticed
some odd behavior. There were some folks that had a styrofoam cooler
full of GLASS bottled beer and they were tossing them to each other in the hot tub at the leisure pool above children's heads. Have never experienced
anything like that ever<?> I told DH about it after returning to the villa and he mentioned maybe these were some of the folks that had possibly
been bumped up from All Stars or elsewhere, that we've heard so much about.

ITA you can just tell when there are folks who aren't DVC due to the lack of respect for the property and behavior. I hope that 's the case anyways!

Was at the Theme pool several nights and didn't notice the beer cans, but am sorry you had to experience that.

Thanks again for the report!

Did you call security to report glass at the pool?

As to members and nonmember behavior, there are some bad ones in each group and there is truly no way to know for sure unless you ask them. And certainly there would be no way to know if they had been relocated from All Star. And even if they had that does not mean they are not going to know how to behave.

I have friends that work at DVC resorts and they have as much if not more trouble with damages and unrully behavior from members than nonmembers.

 

[LisaS]

Great report, cobbler! It sounds like you and your mom had a great time. And thanks again for the info you posted on the AKV thread.

I know what you mean about going back to a studio. So far we've stayed in a studio (VWL), then a 1BR (OKW), then a 2BR (BWV) but in Dec we're back to a studio... no king bed, no jacuzzi, no washer/dryer. I don't know how we'll manage!

I'm glad you enjoyed the Segway tour. We've done it twice and it was so much fun! I think the WS is just about the perfect place for a tour like that.

 

[dumbo71]

Thanks for the report about SSR. Sounds like you had a great trip.

A possible reason for all of the non-members at SSR: I was recently considering a cash stay for this October. I started by going to Disney.com and searching abvailability. Everytime I did a search the Disney Recommends section always listed a SSR studio. This was even when there were 2 bedroom units free at OKW. I really think they are pushing to sell out SSR. Encouraging non-members to stay there certainly doesn't hurt.

Now, blaming non-members for beer cans and the like is a bit of a stretch. I think a lot of assuming on your part went into that. I don't believe for one second that non-members abuse a resort anymore or any less than DVC owners. Assuming non-members are some form of rif raf is a stretch as well. It is all up to the individuals or group. I often stay at "other" timeshares
on cash. I'd hate to think people are sterotyping me like you sterotyped the SSR guests. You may have been looking for things that were not there.

Glad you had a great trip.

 

[cobbler]

Oh no, I wasn't blaming non members for beer cans. I said I had just noticed and wondered if DTD had a play in it and also said we saw the same thing at the Poly.

As for the non-member comment I know the rude behavior was by them because I had heard conversations saying they were cash guests. Not in those exact words but along the lines of "I think this is one of those Disney timeshare resorts" and other things that would indicate they aren't members.
And we only encounted this behavior at the pools and I wondered if they were DTD crashers.

As for rif raf, heck no. I personally know a few people who are well off and don't have any more manners than a knat.

Just wanted to clarify

 

[tiberius]

I'm glad you had a good trip! We really enjoyed our SSR trip last Dec/Jan (wow, that long already!) It really is a great resort.

 

[byoung]

Thanks for reporting, glad you had a good trip.

 

[dumbo71]

Oh no, I wasn't blaming non members for beer cans. I said I had just noticed and wondered if DTD had a play in it and also said we saw the same thing at the Poly.

As for the non-member comment I know the rude behavior was by them because I had heard conversations saying they were cash guests. Not in those exact words but along the lines of "I think this is one of those Disney timeshare resorts" and other things that would indicate they aren't members.
And we only encounted this behavior at the pools and I wondered if they were DTD crashers.

As for rif raf, heck no. I personally know a few people who are well off and don't have any more manners than a knat.

Just wanted to clarify

Thanks for clarifying. I just hate to see people generalize about groups of people especially non members. I'm often a "non member/non owner" at other timeshares. I now see you didn't mean it that way.

Glad you enjoyed SSR for the most part.