DISNEYFOURME
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jan 26, 2008
- Messages
- 414
Well we're back and its taken me a few days to actually find time to check these boards. Here is my long story..lol. We returned on the 29th after 11 nights at SSR. The 29th was the only time we saw rain the entire trip. We needed jackets a few days/nights but the weather was otherwise perfect!! So much more enjoyable to visit AK when you aren't dying of heat and humidity (well all the parks but that one seems to be the worst!). This was our first visit as members and we used DP to stay in a studio for the trip (myself, dh, dd (12) and dd (7).
Our trip started out rough as the ME took forever to finally get to our resort after many stops prior to SSR. We landed 10ish p.m. but didn't actually get to our resort and in our studio until 2 A.M.!! Very long day! But in the morning when I woke up from excitement it was so cool to open those sliding doors to the balcony and see green grass and beautiful surroundings! We were in a corner unit, second floor in Grandstand. From our side view we could see the gs pool and from our balcony we saw the 10th hole. In our opinion this was the place to request. It had that great pool near us (which was good since the main pool was closed most of the visit) and it was the first stop out and the first stop back in to the resort!! There was a short walk to the main bldgs and to the boat to DTD. I found it to be perfect!!
The bus situation, for us, was great. We never had a long wait either at the parks or the resort. We only had to stand once on a trip back from BB. Unlike prior trips to Pop Century, we never had to watch a bus fill up and wait for the next. Even though we were told the resort was booked. In addition the parks were very busy. The key, we found, was to get at the parks just before opening and get fast passes for things we wanted to see. To us, waiting 2 hours for Toy Story wouldn't have been worth it. However, planning ahead and getting those FP and standing in the 30 minute line was good!
We ate bfast in our room every morning except the day we ate at the "castle" since we had ordered from GG. This saved time (and money) as the kids could eat while dh and myself got ready and vise versa. We purchased the TIW card and used that, the AP and DVC discounts whenever possible. Unlike other postings, we had no problems sharing that space for so many nights with the 4 of us. However, we have yet to try a one bedroom so that would probably make a difference!
We used the OKW pool one morning and the kids enjoyed that. One day we took a trip to our home resort (AKV) to see how things were going. We also took a trip to the Welcome Home Wednesday event and stopped to try the Kitchen Sink at Beaches and Cream. That was so neat and we were glad we tried that!! We also took the time to rent a pontoon boat at DTD and let the kids try Blizzard Beach for the first time. We had always been commando style vacationers and this time, even though we were up early at the parks, we seemed to find more time to enjoy other things as well.
After visiting other resorts my DH seemed to change his opinion of SSR a bit. He enjoyed how at other resorts they offer more things as far as places to eat. At OKW they have that place to grab a hamburger or enjoy a casual sit down meal. At the boardwalk you are near many restaurants just outside your door. At SSR you were really limited to flatbread sandwiches and things in their refrigerated section (which btw, nothing was priced). The GS pool had a place to fill your refillable mugs although it was never open when we would have used it. The bartender said there were no exact hours. We found it was even closed by 8 p.m. when they had movies by the pool (which btw, is a cool thing for kids!). That would have been very disappointing if we actually purchased the mugs but we noticed form the first day that it wasn't open much so we didn't buy them. In addition he had 2 separate problems with the cms at the concierge desk and their lack of help. He was so frustrated that he told me he had better service at Pop Century and paid a lot less to use those rooms. Of course by the end of the trip he calmed down and we both had a great trip, none the less.
The main pool opened on the 27th. The girls really enjoyed that and it was so very pretty. The whole resort was beautiful. Oh as is the flower and garden show at Epcot. So glad we were able to see that for the first time as well. There are many resorts we have yet to visit so I am excited to try them but I will have no problems booking SSR again either.
Well guess this TR is way long enough. Re-reading it brings a smile to my face though as I hope this first trip is just the start to many more awesome memories "Home"!
Our trip started out rough as the ME took forever to finally get to our resort after many stops prior to SSR. We landed 10ish p.m. but didn't actually get to our resort and in our studio until 2 A.M.!! Very long day! But in the morning when I woke up from excitement it was so cool to open those sliding doors to the balcony and see green grass and beautiful surroundings! We were in a corner unit, second floor in Grandstand. From our side view we could see the gs pool and from our balcony we saw the 10th hole. In our opinion this was the place to request. It had that great pool near us (which was good since the main pool was closed most of the visit) and it was the first stop out and the first stop back in to the resort!! There was a short walk to the main bldgs and to the boat to DTD. I found it to be perfect!!
The bus situation, for us, was great. We never had a long wait either at the parks or the resort. We only had to stand once on a trip back from BB. Unlike prior trips to Pop Century, we never had to watch a bus fill up and wait for the next. Even though we were told the resort was booked. In addition the parks were very busy. The key, we found, was to get at the parks just before opening and get fast passes for things we wanted to see. To us, waiting 2 hours for Toy Story wouldn't have been worth it. However, planning ahead and getting those FP and standing in the 30 minute line was good!
We ate bfast in our room every morning except the day we ate at the "castle" since we had ordered from GG. This saved time (and money) as the kids could eat while dh and myself got ready and vise versa. We purchased the TIW card and used that, the AP and DVC discounts whenever possible. Unlike other postings, we had no problems sharing that space for so many nights with the 4 of us. However, we have yet to try a one bedroom so that would probably make a difference!
We used the OKW pool one morning and the kids enjoyed that. One day we took a trip to our home resort (AKV) to see how things were going. We also took a trip to the Welcome Home Wednesday event and stopped to try the Kitchen Sink at Beaches and Cream. That was so neat and we were glad we tried that!! We also took the time to rent a pontoon boat at DTD and let the kids try Blizzard Beach for the first time. We had always been commando style vacationers and this time, even though we were up early at the parks, we seemed to find more time to enjoy other things as well.
After visiting other resorts my DH seemed to change his opinion of SSR a bit. He enjoyed how at other resorts they offer more things as far as places to eat. At OKW they have that place to grab a hamburger or enjoy a casual sit down meal. At the boardwalk you are near many restaurants just outside your door. At SSR you were really limited to flatbread sandwiches and things in their refrigerated section (which btw, nothing was priced). The GS pool had a place to fill your refillable mugs although it was never open when we would have used it. The bartender said there were no exact hours. We found it was even closed by 8 p.m. when they had movies by the pool (which btw, is a cool thing for kids!). That would have been very disappointing if we actually purchased the mugs but we noticed form the first day that it wasn't open much so we didn't buy them. In addition he had 2 separate problems with the cms at the concierge desk and their lack of help. He was so frustrated that he told me he had better service at Pop Century and paid a lot less to use those rooms. Of course by the end of the trip he calmed down and we both had a great trip, none the less.
The main pool opened on the 27th. The girls really enjoyed that and it was so very pretty. The whole resort was beautiful. Oh as is the flower and garden show at Epcot. So glad we were able to see that for the first time as well. There are many resorts we have yet to visit so I am excited to try them but I will have no problems booking SSR again either.
Well guess this TR is way long enough. Re-reading it brings a smile to my face though as I hope this first trip is just the start to many more awesome memories "Home"!
But...upon closer reading I think you must have been in the building across from ours.
so where do you think we should ask for. 
Closes to the pool or the food courts? I know they tell you they can not promise anything.
