Ssr

[AInWonderland]

Just back from Disneyworld and we (DH,myself and 4 kids) spent 4 nights at SSR. While the resort is beautiful and has some strong points, we were in the Paddocks which is very far walking to get to the pool, Carriage House, and forget about walking to Downtown Disney. We also had about 8 suitcases ( were staying at VWL after) and 20 bags of groceries, and I inquired about a cart to take them up to our room (on the third floor as far away from the elevator as possible) but they told us they did not have carts. So my DH, myself and 4 kids had to make many trips back and forth with the luggage/groceries. At least with OKW your room will not be very far from the stairs. This was quite a hike.

 

[HUFF590]

This was also our first trip home to SSR,and I will always stay there. This place was awsome, my whole family fell in love with SSR, the pool is the best, and they carried all our luggage up for us it took just one call. The walk was not bad at all, we stayed at congress park close to DTD , the walk had rabbits and many birds along the way. We felt the food court was great (best breakfast) everyone was so nice and we got a welcome home from everyone.We bought some gifts from Animal Kingdom and had them delivered to our resort and when I called to see if they had arrived they said yes, and I told I would pick them up in the morning but she ask would I like them that night and guess what she brought them to the room, what a surprise, thats never happened before.At the bus stop the driver let my wife sit in his seat while I took her picture.It just seemed like the whole resort was there just for us. Anyway I just wanted to say after alot of bad things we read before the trip just remember everyone looks at things in differant ways, while some dont like SSR we love it.

 

[jbwolffiv]

Glad you had a great time!

 

[lllovell]

Just back from Disneyworld and we (DH,myself and 4 kids) spent 4 nights at SSR. While the resort is beautiful and has some strong points, we were in the Paddocks which is very far walking to get to the pool, Carriage House, and forget about walking to Downtown Disney. We also had about 8 suitcases ( were staying at VWL after) and 20 bags of groceries, and I inquired about a cart to take them up to our room (on the third floor as far away from the elevator as possible) but they told us they did not have carts. So my DH, myself and 4 kids had to make many trips back and forth with the luggage/groceries. At least with OKW your room will not be very far from the stairs. This was quite a hike.

Not everyone knows (and some of us have been trying to spread the word) is that bellservices IS available to help you with loading and unloading! I am sorry you ended up carrying so much stuff back and forth to your room. They don't have carts available for use by guests, but will gladly help you with your bags if you call bell services.

Hope the rest of your trip was enjoyable!

 

[OneMoreTry]

Cast members should be taught to let people know about bell services when the ask about luggage carts.

How far does one have to be to "forget about walking to DD?" From what I've read on other threads it's not horribly far from any point in SSR.

Just interested.

 

[Sturg]

Just back from Disneyworld and we (DH,myself and 4 kids) spent 4 nights at SSR. While the resort is beautiful and has some strong points, we were in the Paddocks which is very far walking to get to the pool, Carriage House, and forget about walking to Downtown Disney. We also had about 8 suitcases ( were staying at VWL after) and 20 bags of groceries, and I inquired about a cart to take them up to our room (on the third floor as far away from the elevator as possible) but they told us they did not have carts. So my DH, myself and 4 kids had to make many trips back and forth with the luggage/groceries. At least with OKW your room will not be very far from the stairs. This was quite a hike.

We also just returned from SSR. Sounds like we were in the same building. We were in room 4827. I agree that it is a pretty good walk to the pool, Carriage House, etc. Probably wouldn't be too bad during cooler weather. The quiet poll was not too far away. Since no other buildings in the area were open yet, we usually had it to ourselves also.

 

[AInWonderland]

I did call bell services along with a very nice housekeeper who saw us carrying all the bags, and all they had to say to me was that they had no carts. She did not tell me any other services were available when I told her that I had alot of items to bring to my room. Yes, staying in Congress Park is very convenient to Downtown Disney etc. , but I am just saying if you get The Paddocks you may not be in love with SSR as much.

 

[jennypenny]

Hmmm, bell services should not be hard to find at a resort (shame on disney). It's usually the first interaction a guest has with a resort so service should be top notch to give the best first impression. I have always been pleased with bell services at the other resorts. Do you think they are understaffed because the resort is never fully booked yet?

We are going in August, and Fl. Tours is dropping us off, so we will definitely need bell services. I will report back on how we do. I won't go looking for a problem, but we will definitely NOT be dragging our bags and groceries to our building.

I've wondered if they will cut bell services staff (at all resorts) because of ME. In theory, if say 1/3 of all guests are using the service and arriving with no luggage, they would need fewer people in bell services--unless they just dump the ME luggage at bell services and let them work it out.

Jenny

 

[athenna]

Just back from Disneyworld and we (DH,myself and 4 kids) spent 4 nights at SSR. While the resort is beautiful and has some strong points, we were in the Paddocks which is very far walking to get to the pool, Carriage House, and forget about walking to Downtown Disney. We also had about 8 suitcases ( were staying at VWL after) and 20 bags of groceries, and I inquired about a cart to take them up to our room (on the third floor as far away from the elevator as possible) but they told us they did not have carts. So my DH, myself and 4 kids had to make many trips back and forth with the luggage/groceries. At least with OKW your room will not be very far from the stairs. This was quite a hike.

Sorry to hear you had a bad experience w/bell services, or lack of services, I should say. The one time I've been ''home'' they were great, but then again I just had luggage and not groceries. I'm not too sure I'd want to stay in the Paddocks, if it's a really long walk to DTD, I think I'll continue to request Congress Park.
Hope you had a great trip otherwise
And thanks for reporting!

 

[athenna]

This was also our first trip home to SSR,and I will always stay there. This place was awsome, my whole family fell in love with SSR, the pool is the best, and they carried all our luggage up for us it took just one call. The walk was not bad at all, we stayed at congress park close to DTD , the walk had rabbits and many birds along the way. We felt the food court was great (best breakfast) everyone was so nice and we got a welcome home from everyone.We bought some gifts from Animal Kingdom and had them delivered to our resort and when I called to see if they had arrived they said yes, and I told I would pick them up in the morning but she ask would I like them that night and guess what she brought them to the room, what a surprise, thats never happened before.At the bus stop the driver let my wife sit in his seat while I took her picture.It just seemed like the whole resort was there just for us. Anyway I just wanted to say after alot of bad things we read before the trip just remember everyone looks at things in differant ways, while some dont like SSR we love it.

How wonderful to hear you had a first great trip ''home'' The 1st trips ''home'' are always the best!
I feel the same way about SSR!

 

[Juls]

We were clueless about bell services on our first trip to SSr in Dec. We were looking for carts also like they have at HH. When we called bell services nobody answered so we lugged it up ourselves. BUT...my DH said on our trip last month that no way was he lugging those bags up. So as soon as we pull up to the Carriage House check-in there it is right in front of our faces is the bell services desk. And they were glad to see us and asked us right away if we needed help before we even checked in. Of course we said yes! I dont know how we missed them in Dec. I guess it was the excitement of being in a new resort or something.

 

[lllovell]

I did call bell services along with a very nice housekeeper who saw us carrying all the bags, and all they had to say to me was that they had no carts. She did not tell me any other services were available when I told her that I had alot of items to bring to my room. Yes, staying in Congress Park is very convenient to Downtown Disney etc. , but I am just saying if you get The Paddocks you may not be in love with SSR as much.

A - have you called and talked to someone in management about this? Or written a letter about it? It does sound like poor training and you should have been offered SO MUCH MORE help! Bell services should have asked WHY you needed a cart and come to help you (in my opinion). I do know they ask for a call ahead when checking out for scheduling I assume, but I cannot believe that was not one person available to help you. I would call and make this issue known.

 

[Daitcher]

Just back from Disneyworld and we (DH,myself and 4 kids) spent 4 nights at SSR. While the resort is beautiful and has some strong points, we were in the Paddocks which is very far walking to get to the pool, Carriage House, and forget about walking to Downtown Disney. We also had about 8 suitcases ( were staying at VWL after) and 20 bags of groceries, and I inquired about a cart to take them up to our room (on the third floor as far away from the elevator as possible) but they told us they did not have carts. So my DH, myself and 4 kids had to make many trips back and forth with the luggage/groceries. At least with OKW your room will not be very far from the stairs. This was quite a hike.

I've posted my dislike of this resort in the past and took a beating for it. Luggage carts are a necessity at this resort. It is set up like a condo resort so therefore it should have carts near the stairs. Full kitchens means groceries. Without carts those several trips are a pain. The spread out nature of the resort and the lack of room service and a full service restaurant make it a loser in my book. Never again for us.

DAVE

 

[RweTHEREyet]

We love this resort, but I do agree that there should be some carts available for the Guests to use. That being said, I can also see how there would end up being a lot of dings and dents to the walls, etc. as I don't think that Guests can control those carts as well as the bell services people do.

 

[sagwanamu]

I just got back from SSR as well and stayed at Congress Park... It was awesome resort and we will go there again next trip to home...

When we arrived at the resort on the 3rd, the Bell Services were very busy, but waiting about 15-20 minutes in cool lobby, they took us and the bags to the building. They hussled themselves very much to accomodate as many guests are possible, not to mention kind and nice. And next time ask the bell service to carry the bags for you when you check in. I am sure they are more than happy to help.


Have you stayed at BWV? You wouldn't complain about distance from elevator in SSR when you compare how far some of units are from elevator in BWV (I am not bashing BWV, in case some people take this comment in wrong way, we absolutely loved it except walking to and from elevator).

 

[momsgoofy]

I am curious about a few things...mostly do the buildings you stayed in NOT have an elevator? This was one of things we disliked about OKW for the exact reason you stated. We did have bell service drive us from the HH to our building and lug all 6 pieces of luggage and about 6 bags of groceries up to our 3rd floor room and we gratefully tipped the guy.

Also, can you tell me which buildings are currently open in SSR? We are headed there at Christmas so any info would be appreciated!

Thanks!

 

[NMW]

Cast members should be taught to let people know about bell services when the ask about luggage carts.

How far does one have to be to "forget about walking to DD?" From what I've read on other threads it's not horribly far from any point in SSR.

Just interested.

I agree with you about letting people know about bell services. This is like the 4th or 5th time I've read about people having to make multiple trips and no one helping them. That's a shame and not a great way to start a vacation.

As for the walking, I've never done it so I can't really make a factual statement about it. However, freinds of ours let family use their points for a SSR stay in June and the one complaint they had was how very far DTD was from the building they were in. They said if it was cooler, it may not have been so bad. With the heat and humidity they said they were sweating by the time they got to DTD and weren't even hungry anymore. I guess there was a building closer but they weren't in that one. After walking it once, they started taking cabs there and some sort of boat back. They said after walking all day at the parks, they hated to walk so far in the heat just to get dinner.

Maybe someone can answer this for me. Are there buses to/from SSR to DTD? If so, does the bus make multiple stops at the different buildings? How often do the boats run? I'm curious why these people didn't take the boat both ways. Does it run often like the one to and from the Epcot resorts to MGM/Epcot? Is there a building/buildings that are really far from DTD? Is the Congress Park building that every one says is really close a specific booking category or just a request when you get there?

 

[Rombus]

Well, me and my dgf stayed at SSR and The paddock from 6/28-7/8. Here is my list of pluses and minuses:
+
1. Room was amazing; I personally think we were only the first or second people to stay in it since it smelled so new.
2. easy to get to from the main entrance.
3. Staff was great, it really felt like a good welcome home after 3 years

-
1. Construction noise, Not bad enough to wake us up, but always there in the background.
2. Requested a Downtown Disney View back when my mom first set up everything, didn’t get it
3. long walk to the rest of the resort.
4. Apparently my mother had purchased a cake to be delivered to our room for my DGFs birthday, that never came, nor did another one she set up at dinner that night (Ohana's, amazing food and service, just no cake ).
5. Our room would not go below 77 degrees, even if we had the temp set as low as it would go (65) (never annoying enough complain, but could be annoying to some)

and me and my DGFs biggest gripe: The bus fiasco. When we stayed there, only one building of the paddock was open, they were finishing up the second one. There is a bus stop directly outside our building and a second bus stop down by the remote pool down by the unopened building. The closest bus stop was "closed" but the one farther down was open. This made no sense to anyone I asked, yet no one could tell me who controlled it. Even some bus drivers missed both stops, and didn’t even know where they were. I even had to talk one of them though where it was at! There was no logic behind having the farther bus stop open and not the near one. This really annoyed my DGF since she was recovering from a motorcycle burn to her leg.
(Note: Before anyone says it, it wasn’t bad enough to require her to go to the hospital even though she probably should have, and didn’t impair her walking, and she is pretty proud, so she had no need for a wheelchair, but it got uncomfortable to her after walking for a while)

Honestly, all and all I would stay at SSR again, but I would avoid the paddock until they finish the construction and fix the bus issue.

 

[Daitcher]

We love this resort, but I do agree that there should be some carts available for the Guests to use. That being said, I can also see how there would end up being a lot of dings and dents to the walls, etc. as I don't think that Guests can control those carts as well as the bell services people do.

People alkways seem to have reasons why carts can't be made available. They can and should be. HH has them, why not onsite DVC? Condo units all over the world have shopping carts for groceries and bell carts.

DAVE

 

[Rombus]

One more Plus i frogot about:
We got free internet while we were there!

When i plugged in my laptop, i got a website saying that they had not finished installing the highspeed internet yet, but i could attempt to use it using a "Trial", worked fine, i dunno what buildings have this, but i can confirm room (the paddock) 4614 had free internet from 6/28-7/8