Thoughts on first stay at SSR

[tedisney]

Our WDW background: We have been to WDW 10+ times, and have been DVC members for about 1.5 years. Our home resort is AKV, and we have stayed there (Concierge 1BR and Sav GV) and at BCV (1BR) on previous trips. We have also stayed at all the moderates, WL, ASMu, and PC before we joined DVC.

Our first stay at SSR began around noon on Saturday January 24th. We are in the Congress Park section in a dedicated 2BR, and we have a rental car to hop around.

Things we like about SSR and our room:

1. The buildings and grounds are gorgeous, and very pleasant to walk.
2. We love walking to DTD!
3. The pool here in Congress Park is very nice, and the playground is also a hit with our 2yo DD.
4. We get to park our car very close to our villa, always a plus for pathological parkhoppers like us.
5. Proximity to the food and shopping on Apopka-Vineland is excellent, only 5 minutes or so to Winn Dixie for groceries.

There are, however, some things we really don’t like about SSR and our room:

1. We have a handicapped-accessible room, which may be part of the problem. The 1BR portion of the room has no counter space in the bathrooms. None, unless you count the toilet tank.
2. There are also no soap dish type areas on the sinks, so the soap constantly falls into the sink itself. I don’t know if these are specific to HA rooms, but jeez, there’s not even enough space to put a contact lens case, let alone toothbrushes, hairbrushes, etc.
3. Because the hallways are bare concrete floors and walls, every noise in the hall seems to come into our rooms. Our daughter’s naps have been interrupted twice already by people working in the hall (yay cranky 2yo). These noises aren’t exceptionally loud, but we would not have even heard them in a resort with carpeted hallways.

Overall, we think SSR is nice, but if we had known about the noise factor, we probably would have stayed elsewhere, as our DD is exceptionally sensitive to such things. And our sanity depends, of course, on her getting enough sleep.

Crowd levels are very low right now, the weather has been perfect, though we’re expecting rain this weekend. We’re having great meals right and left, and this will go down as another great trip to WDW. We’re heading to Siesta Key on Sunday, and we’ll get to enjoy a nice relaxing week on the beach there.

 

[Buckeye Fan]

We stayed in a 2-BR at the Springs last Easter. Here is what our bathrooms looked like:

Master:

2nd Bathroom:

Hope you enjoy your stay!!! Post some pics if you have time. I'd love to see your view from CP.

 

[KeepSwimmingDory]

Thanks for the list of pros and cons. We own at SSR but have yet to stay there. I am always glad to see why people like it or don't.

Enjoy the rest of your vacation.

 

[Dee77]

I have only been to Disney once and we stayed at SSR (Nov 2008), my in-laws have gone each year for the past 3 or 4 years and they love it. We loved it as well and decided to buy DVC while we were there. We actually thought our room was very quiet, no noise from outside or the rooms on either side. I am not trying to be defensive for SSR at all but I do think it all depends on which building you are in and there is possibly a difference in the bathrooms because I recall my in-laws had their toiletries across a sink area if I remember correctly when I needed to look for a bandaid.
It is funny that you brought this up because I just spoke with my sister-in-law yesterday about how quiet SSR is and yet my DH and I bought at BLT and we have to wait until Sept to get feedback about these things from the first visitors. Hope you enjoy the rest of your vacation!

 

[jblrn2b]

Thanks for the feedback. Send pictures? I am getting excited to leave in 18 days!!!​

 

[tedisney]

Thanks for the pics, Buckeye. That is a lot different than what we have.

I will post pics when I get a chance later today.

 

[DiznyDi]

SSR is one of our home resorts and we absolutely love it there! We've stayed multiple times in studios and 2 bedrooms - no one bedroom yet. We've been in a 2 bedroom in the Congress Park section and the bathrooms were exactly as posted by Buckeye Fan. It must be because of the handicap accessible room?

Enjoy your stay. Hope things 'quiet down' a little for you.

 

[tedisney]

Enjoy your stay. Hope things 'quiet down' a little for you.

Thanks! I had to chuckle, because as I read this post, there is a leaf blower cleaning out the hallway outside our room. LOL

We definitely are enjoying our trip, heading out for a walk right now to enjoy what remains of the sun for today (rain on the way).

 

[liznboys]

I'm glad you're enjoying SSR for the most part! I'm sorry about the noise, that's a bummer. It's always been so quiet when we stay there, never a peep from the halls. We rarely see anyone at all near our room. I guess we are in secluded areas. lol

RE: the HA room.... We had a HA room our first ever DVC trip (at SSR) and we didn't even know it at first, but we knew it wasn't a good room for us. We make sure now that we don't get one. Having a non-HA room is more important than any other possible requests for us.

 

[Chellymouse]

SSR is my home resort also and I found it to be very quiet. I haven't heard hallway noise on either trip! Sorry to hear that your DD's naps were interrupted!

 

[goofygal1975]

Glad you are having a great time at SSR...we'll be there in about 3 1/2 months!! Sorry about the noise...we have stayed at a few values and BCV and a couple of times had the most horrible loud noises in the middle of the night, the day, morning...talk about being cranky w/out sleep! That we me! But other times/area there wasn't noise. So I feel your pain about the noise.

Enjoy the weather today before it rains!! Thanks for sharing your trip with us!

 

[SLM]

Thank you for your trip report-we're staying in a 1BR this August for two nights with developer points at the end of our AKV week. It's always interesting to read reports that share pros and cons!

 

[Starr W.]

I'm glad you're enjoying SSR for the most part! I'm sorry about the noise, that's a bummer. It's always been so quiet when we stay there, never a peep from the halls. We rarely see anyone at all near our room. I guess we are in secluded areas. lol

I've never heard a peep either or seen any one near our room and we've stayed at SSR for 3 Thanksgiving trips!

 

[Brave teacher]

Thanks for the info. I'll be staying at SSR for the first time in 23 days.

 

[mtmbyck]

I'd love to hear how your view is. I am just arriving home from Orlando and I stopped by SSR as we are staying there in 5 weeks in a 2 bedroom and I requested Congress Park. However, now I am thinking I should have requested Grandstand sinc ethe main pool will be closed for our entire stay and DD9 and DD12 love swimming and horsing around the pool and the Grandstand has the bar, activities...etc. Can't decide whether to choose better pool over closer to DTD.

 

[hakepb]

In my 2 SSR trips (studio) I would, on occasion, hear a lot of hallway noise. Both times I noticed at least a 1" gap under the door. (easy to see light through). Wonder if HA requirements eliminated the doorway threshold, but they never lengthened the door to fill the gap...

I would think an extra rolled towel would help..

 

[Starr W.]

I'd love to hear how your view is. I am just arriving home from Orlando and I stopped by SSR as we are staying there in 5 weeks in a 2 bedroom and I requested Congress Park. However, now I am thinking I should have requested Grandstand sinc ethe main pool will be closed for our entire stay and DD9 and DD12 love swimming and horsing around the pool and the Grandstand has the bar, activities...etc. Can't decide whether to choose better pool over closer to DTD.

My boys 7 & 12 like the Congress Park pool, it's huge(no slide) and they usually have it to themselves.

Though they may move some of the regular afternoon poolside activities to the Grandstand pool while the main pool is down. Love playing poolside bingo, actually won a set of pins last visit!

 

[tedisney]

The view is pretty blah. We are looking out at the parking lot and the bus stop, so not much to look at. However, we'll trade view for parking closeness anytime, except at AKV.

The pool here in Congress Park is great, it's really quite large for a satellite pool, and hardly anyone has used it this week. We like to get out of the pool and head over to the rocking chairs just down the steps, so we can gaze over at HOB, La Nouba and DisneyQuest while we dry off. It's very serene here.

We did get rained on at MK this afternoon, but it was a blast, and we got to ride POTC, Splash, HM, SM, Buzz and Monsters Laugh Floor all in the span of two hours. We then headed over to Il Mulino for a truly superb meal. I love that place!

Thanks for the comments. I just realized my camera cord is still at home in Michigan, so I will post pics of the room and view when I get home.

 

[SueM in MN]

In my 2 SSR trips (studio) I would, on occasion, hear a lot of hallway noise. Both times I noticed at least a 1" gap under the door. (easy to see light through). Wonder if HA requirements eliminated the doorway threshold, but they never lengthened the door to fill the gap...

I would think an extra rolled towel would help..

No.
There is no requirement for HA rooms not to have a threshold and all the HA rooms we have been in did have a threshold. We've been in non-HA rooms that had a gap under the door.

We stayed in a 2-BR at the Springs last Easter. Here is what our bathrooms looked like:

Master:

2nd Bathroom:

Hope you enjoy your stay!!! Post some pics if you have time. I'd love to see your view from CP.

This is the part of the master bedroom with the whirlpool tub in an SSR HA one bedroom:

This is the master bathroom (the part with the toilet and shower) in an SSR HA one bedroom. It's the same part as picture #2 in the quote above:

We stayed in a one bedroom, so we don't have any pictures of the 2nd bathroom.

 

[Goofy's apprentice]

Glad you are enjoying SSR !

The HA accessible one and two bedrooms do feel much smaller. We had a two bedroom last April with 8 people, 4 of them teenagers. When we walked in we noticed it was HA. Luckily we were travelling with a group and they had the two-bedroom across the hall with only 3 people. They were nice enough to switch with us. The switch was very confusing for the front desk staff to manage but they eventually got it right!

Non HA is usually one of our requests!