What is the Reason Why SSR is Considered the Last Resort?

[davidhr]

With regard to walking: At SSR, we request Grandstand and walk to DS regularly. We even walked to DS from Carousel (not our favorite area of SSR but boy was it quiet) when our request for Grandstand didn't come thru. Granted, we like to walk and are fortunate to be able to do so. If fact, the one time we stayed at OKW, we walked to DS a couple of times from a near-Hospitality House room. I think the walking around the parks is at least as much walking as those walks to and around DS.

We also love to walk and I find walking from SSR to DS so peaceful. Maybe that’s one of the reasons I like Saratoga so much It’s a huge walkable resort.

 

[Girlstar30]

That's what we like too! In fact, our 2 favourite resorts are AKV and SSR and we never rent a car, using Disney transportation only. We even stayed at the dreaded Carousel location at SSR and were kind of bummed out to see that was where they put us. It turned out that we absolutely loved it and would stay in the same location in a heart beat. We were the 2nd bus stop, a mere 2 minutes to the Paddock pool and would cut through the Paddock pool area and over the bridge to the Carriage House if we needed to go there. We walked to and from DS many times. We absolutely love the resort! Oh and the refurbs of the rooms at SSR are gorgeous. This is our 1 bedroom in the Carousel location.

Love it! Call me crazy but I almost feel like you get a more upscale feel without the upscale prices because of lack of transportation. Since it turns out akv is my favorite too tied with boardwalk, I wonder where this will rank !

 

[Girlstar30]

Awesome. I love the "bridle" chandelier.

Love the golden mickey!

 

[Girlstar30]

It is actually our 3rd choice of resort for trips that won’t do parks or if we have a larger group and I need to save points!

We love its location to DS! Always go with RIV first with VGF in split stays. But if not, SSR it is!

Im telling you, I know you like the fancy resorts, so im onto something with my upscale at non upscale pricing lol!

 

[Girlstar30]

We also love to walk and I find walking from SSR to DS so peaceful. Maybe that’s one of the reasons I like Saratoga so much It’s a huge walkable resort.

We felt that way too!

 

[intamin]

So on our last trip, we decided to finally check out the grounds of our home resort, SSR!

And I have to say that we both really actually liked what we saw! I loved that its by Disney Springs which opens a ton of dining options and leisurely boat rides. We loved the pastel colors of the buildings, the fountains, the bridges, statues, seeing wildlife we've never seen before, the stately frog pool we passed, and the fact that it has a lot of land to meander and stroll through!

We admittedly peeked thru some windows and thought the rooms actually looked pretty fancy and we liked the overall vibe. I guess my question is, why so much hate? I was really expecting to walk into something rundown, plain or undesirable with the way its talked about

Is it really just the internal bus loop or is there something im missing? I wonder if perhaps it was smaller it would be more popular and thats the reason for it to be considered one of the last resorts on people's list?

IMO it suffers because of several things, the location not being park adjacent, bus only transportation, sprawling nature of the resort, internal bus loop, all of which are well known. One of the things it also suffers from though which may contribute just as much is the perceived undesirability as a result of it's excess availability at 7 months. In reality though it's a great resort, they really did a great job with the refurb. It's pools are some of the best IMO and the resort is just peaceful. Every building has elevators unlike OKW to make it easy for those in scooters. I know you can request the first floor at OKW but it's nice to have the elevator regardless. Walking distance to Disney Springs is really nice if you incorporate those restaurants into your trip and its also nice when eating dinner at other resorts to be able to take the bus to Disney Springs and just walk back to your resort without having to go to a theme park and then transfer.