Just back from SSR!!!

[rjthkids]

We stayed in a Grand Villa at SSR, in the Springs section. It was our first trip "home" and I must say it was beautiful. We had a pretty view of one of the lakes, we were right across the street from the High Rock Pool, and my kids just loved it. We spent a lot of time in the early evening watching frogs and little turtles on the walkway, and several days I took bread out and we sat on the grass by the water and fed the ducks. (Oh, and a warning about that...if you see the swan coming, you better run! That swan chased us off twice, and the other time I had to fend her off by feeding her half our bread supplies while my husband helped the kids feed the ducks... )

There were only a couple of disappointments, most minor. The first was the fact they wouldn't let you go down the waterslides with the kids. My 18 month old was so excited about the little water slide, but he couldn't go down it since he would have had to go alone. My four year old daughter really wanted to try the big slide, but she is blind and she was scared to do it by herself because she wouldn't have any idea what was coming. So, I was kind of disappointed they couldn't enjoy the slides, but I understand policy is policy and they are trying to keep everyone safe.

My other minor disappointment was the cockroaches. We had *a lot* of cockroaches in our villa, both in the kitchen and in the bedrooms. I assume that they have to be pretty common in Florida given the weather down there, but it kind of freaked my mom out. I did let someone know at the front desk.

The only thing that really did kind of bother me was the fact that they don't have a place for guests to bring their trash on in between days. There were ten of us and the barrels are really tiny, especially considering I was cooking three meals a day for ten people. Our trash filled up quickly. I called housekeeping to see if there wasn't a place I could bring the trash to dump it, and they said the only way to get rid of it was to pay ten dollars to have housekeeping come and get it. I was not about to pay someone ten dollars to come pick up the garbage, so unfortunately we ended up having to leave it out on the balconey, which I hated doing because I think it ruins the scenic view for everyone else to be staring at trash. I understand why Disney might not want huge, ugly trash receptacles marring the property, but I don't think it is unreasonable to allow someone to bring their trash down to housekeeping's trash bins or something like that, which would eliminate the extra trash and the unsightly aspect.

Honestly though, the whole trip was so wonderful. I loved Saratoga, I loved where we stayed, I enjoyed the cast members there, our accomodations were wonderful. They said that in January they are opening a full service restaurant which will be a nice addition!

Can't wait to go back, and we just got home!

 

[jakenjess]

I'm glad you had a good time! I'm really surprised there's no where to take your trash. We've stayed at VWL and OKW and both had places to take your trash. I agree that the trash cans get full pretty quickly!

Thanks for sharing your experience!

 

[artvandelay]

There were only a couple of disappointments, most minor. The first was the fact they wouldn't let you go down the waterslides with the kids. My 18 month old was so excited about the little water slide, but he couldn't go down it since he would have had to go alone. My four year old daughter really wanted to try the big slide, but she is blind and she was scared to do it by herself because she wouldn't have any idea what was coming. So, I was kind of disappointed they couldn't enjoy the slides, but I understand policy is policy and they are trying to keep everyone safe.

I think the pool at POFQ allows you to go down the wateslide with your kids. With DVC you could pool hop there. It's only a 5 minute drive away.

I own at SSR, but I haven't stayed there yet. Can you hear the PI fireworks at night?

 

[justloveit]

Happy to hear you had a good first trip home. I wonder if the trash in the rooms contribute to the cockroaches? At Hilton Head there are no trash facilities, but all you do is put it outside the door and call housekeeping to pick it up. There is no fee. I agree with not wanting to pay $10.

 

[DisneyPhD]

We will be staying at SSR for the 1st time in Jan (maybe we will get to eat at that new restuarnt.)

1st. So sorry about the slides. I know most don't let parents go too (my DD also likes to be with mom) but I am surpized they wouldn't make an expection for a disability. It is totally understandable how a blind 4 year old would need a parent for that!

How was the smaller slide btw? I know my DD will want to use that. I would guess my then 17 month old will too, but not sure if she can. However she has a lot less fear then her older sister so she might just go at it alone.

2nd. The trash is a pain. I have never heard of that in any DVC resort ever. I have seen trash sitting in hallways at some resorts for a lot longer then they should be and I don't like that. If this is a new DVC or SSR policy, this is a bad plan and as DVC members we really should protest it and let the powers that be know we don't like it. I think if we want to take the trash out oursevles we should be able to. I am not having those skinky dipars in my room all week!!!!!

that leads right to the 3rd thing. cockroaches In well over a dozen trips (15 or 16 I think) I have never seen one cockroaches ever in a WDW resort. Maybe that whole trash thing is the reason (um more then likely.)

I wouldn't let this go, I would make sure to take a survay and write DVC to complain. This is a new resort, there should not be cockroaches, even in FLA.

Glad the rest of the trips was great. I look forward to trying it myself in a few months.

Oh, how were the busses? We can't decied if we want to rent a car or not. I have heard mixed reports. We normally just take the busses, but when we were at OKW people said to take a car and we didn't. We wish we had one then (not at most other resorts though.)

 

[bavaria]

I own at SSR, but I haven't stayed there yet. Can you hear the PI fireworks at night?

I posted a review of my recent great stay at SSR.

I was in Congress Park, directly across the lake from Bongo's.

Night 1: asleep by 1130 (unsual for me! didn't hear a thing, again odd for me)

Night 2: dozing at midnight; heard brief pops for 30 seconds but didn't bother to get up (I had read that they are so brief I knew that I would miss them)

Night 3: awake at midnight, ran to balcony, caught the last few seconds. Definitely a very very brief show

I don't know if you would be able to hear them anywhere but Congress Park - they were really just pops and not the booms from Illuminations, etc.

Hope that helps!!

And re the bugs: the only one I saw in Congress Park was a dead palmetto bug. I've spent a lot of time in Alabama this year, and saw some real monsters there - pushing 4 or 5 inches. This one was just a tiny one in comparison.

 

[artvandelay]

We will be staying at SSR for the 1st time in Jan (maybe we will get to eat at that new restuarnt.)

1st. So sorry about the slides. I know most don't let parents go too (my DD also likes to be with mom) but I am surpized they wouldn't make an expection for a disability. It is totally understandable how a blind 4 year old would need a parent for that!

How was the smaller slide btw? I know my DD will want to use that. I would guess my then 17 month old will too, but not sure if she can. However she has a lot less fear then her older sister so she might just go at it alone.

2nd. The trash is a pain. I have never heard of that in any DVC resort ever. I have seen trash sitting in hallways at some resorts for a lot longer then they should be and I don't like that. If this is a new DVC or SSR policy, this is a bad plan and as DVC members we really should protest it and let the powers that be know we don't like it. I think if we want to take the trash out oursevles we should be able to. I am not having those skinky dipars in my room all week!!!!!

that leads right to the 3rd thing. cockroaches In well over a dozen trips (15 or 16 I think) I have never seen one cockroaches ever in a WDW resort. Maybe that whole trash thing is the reason (um more then likely.)

I wouldn't let this go, I would make sure to take a survay and write DVC to complain. This is a new resort, there should not be cockroaches, even in FLA.

Glad the rest of the trips was great. I look forward to trying it myself in a few months.

Oh, how were the busses? We can't decied if we want to rent a car or not. I have heard mixed reports. We normally just take the busses, but when we were at OKW people said to take a car and we didn't. We wish we had one then (not at most other resorts though.)

Good to see you haven't been banned! Wink, Wink

 

[Yardbird]

We were at SSR the first week of October, and I agree about the trash situation. Twice DH had to hunt down a trash recepticle to put a bag in. Other than that, SSR is a wonderful place to stay.

 

[Sammie]

I am confused, are you saying the trash cans in the room are small, or the ones in the Trash Room.

There is a location at every DVC resort to take your small bags of trash out of your unit to the trash area.

In Congress Park there is a trash room around the corner from the elevator, I have not stayed at the Springs so not sure of the location of the Trash room.


At Hilton Head they are under the villas, since all the villas are above ground.

At OKW they are on the first floor of each building near the housekeeping room.

At the Beach Club they are on the floors about halfway down.

There are bins in the trash room for regular and recycle.

 

[rjthkids]

I am confused, are you saying the trash cans in the room are small, or the ones in the Trash Room.

There is a location at every DVC resort to take your small bags of trash out of your unit to the trash area.

See, this is what I was looking for, a trash room. This was my first time staying as a DVC member in a DVC room. When I called, they said there was no trash room, housekeeping would have to come and get it for a ten dollar fee. So, it sounds like I talked to the wrong person then, if there are actually trash rooms.

 

[jennypenny]

Yes, there are trash rooms on every floor. They are near the elevators so it's easy to take your trash out as you head out to the parks every day.

Were the *cockroaches* actually palmetto bugs?? They used to freak me out at BCV (that's where we usually stay) but then someone explained to me that they are not really what I would call a cockroach coming from the NE. Still gross though. They always rode in on our stroller every night. We had to check it before we went into the room. I've always had more trouble with them getting in the room at OKW and SSR so I assumed it was because you entered the room straight from the outdoors.

Jenny

 

[DisneyPhD]

Good to see you haven't been banned! Wink, Wink

shhhhhhhhhh! The walls have ears!

 

[rjthkids]

Were the *cockroaches* actually palmetto bugs??

No, these were definitely cockroaches. I lived in Africa for two years and lived with a million of the critters the whole time. Man, we used to fumigate the kitchen once a week and kill 300-500 at a time. These were clearly a different variety of cockroach, not as big, but definitely cockroaches none the less. At night if you walked into the kitchen and turned on the light, you would see them scampering to/from the cabinets. I personally saw five of them in the kitchen, my aunt says she saw one in the bedroom and my mother saw two in her bedroom. It wasn't a huge issue for me, as I've dealt and lived with plenty more annoying bugs before, but I was kind of disappointed and my family was completely freaked out. I thought my aunt would have a heart attack! I just assumed, like in Africa, that cockroaches are a part of life in tropical weather and you just have to live with them. I only casually mentioned it as we were checking out in case they wanted to move our villa up on the bug control cycle or something. But, if everyone else is saying it's not a typical occurance, I might write or call DVC just to give them a better heads up about it. Because there were a lot of them. If we saw eight of them, there are most likely 10 times that amount where you can't see. I made sure all our food was tightly wrapped and I checked all our outgoing bags (and found a cockroach in a box) to make sure we didn't take the problem home with us, but I can only imagine how grossed out someone would be if they had open food in the kitchen and came back to find a roach in it.

I forgot to answer about the slides...the small waterslide is really, really manageable. It's just a tiny dip into the pool. Think of a medium sized toddler slide in a regular park. My four year old wouldn't do the big one without me, but she did do the smaller one. And if your 17 month old is brave, he shouldn't have a problem either. My 18 month old could have done the small waterslide if my husband helped him up and I stood at the bottom to catch him, but he is very sensitive and clingy and would have no part of it.

The neat thing is, the small waterslide is small enough that you can go down it when they "close" the pool for the day. Once the lifeguards were gone, so long as your bathing suit was wet, it was enough water to slide you down without a problem. So, I did manage to take my little one down once the lifeguards were gone.

The neat thing about Saratoga that I forgot to mention were the playgrounds. There were a couple of evenings and afternoons where I swung the kids by the playground and they had just a fabulous time. We stayed in the Springs, and I was thrilled with the location. The view from Congress Park does look pretty, but we were pretty heavy users of the main pool, the playground, feeding the ducks, and running to the carriage house. Our building was literally right across the street from the High Rock Pool, right on the other side of the bridge from the playground, and the ducks walked up on the grass right outside our building and nested there. You could walk to the West End of Downtown Disney in about 10-15 minutes. So, for our family it was worth trading the Downtown Disney view for closer proximity to the stuff we were actively using. However, I can see where people would love Congress Park.

As for buses, my husband drove our car down to fit our immediate family in it, while my mother, my sisters, and my aunt and my cousin took the buses. On trips where we were leaving at the same time and going to the same park, or coming back at the same time, I got a pretty idea of the comparison times. Magic Kingdom, the bus times vs. drive time were pretty much even. Other parks, driving saved 5 minutes at the shortest to 15 minutes on average. There were 2 occassions where a bus took over 30 minutes to pick everyone up...once was at the end of Animal Kingdom extended evening hours and the other time was also around the same time at night coming back from Epcot. In both those cases we were back well over 45 minutes before they got back. But, all the rest of the time, the buses were running pretty on par with driving. If we didn't already have the car with us, I'm not sure it would personally have been worth spending the money to rent one. The Saratoga bus makes four stops within Saratoga Springs...the Carousel, the Paddock, Congress Parks, and then the Springs. They go in a loop so the Carousel is the first to get picked up to go to a park and has to sit through the other three stops before heading on to the destination, but they are the first dropped off at the end of the evening, and vice versa. Since we stayed the Springs, the family would pick up the bus at the Springs stop and get off at night at the Paddock if it was really crowded, because our building in Springs was just over the bridge from the Paddock and it was faster and shorter to get off there instead of riding through to the final stop.

 

[Sammie]

Roaches are a part of life in Florida but that many in unit, would warrant a call for a visit by pest control.

Just another note to add to your collection of being a DVC member. By all of us being reactive to situations that need addition while in our villas we help our fellow members that follow us.

I always make sure that anything that needs attention while I am in unit is fixed while I am there. I call right before we leave for the day, inform them I would appreciate their seeing to this while I am out and we never have any problems with them getting it done.

 

[bigalpf1]

We stayed in Sept. and trash disposal was on first floor near ice machines.Do you think the bugs you saw were Palmetto Bugs?

 

[Ali and boyz]

Happy to hear you had a good first trip home. I wonder if the trash in the rooms contribute to the cockroaches? At Hilton Head there are no trash facilities, but all you do is put it outside the door and call housekeeping to pick it up. There is no fee. I agree with not wanting to pay $10.

I was wondering the same thing re the cockroaches and the trash. Did they not come and spray the room. You would hear me screaming if they were in my room

we are going home to SSR next July and without going into to much details we will need to get some of the trash removed daily but I don't feel you should have to pay $10 if there is nowhere for you to dispose of it yourself.

 

[cristbaby]

We just stayed in a GV at SSR the first week of Oct. The trash could be disposed of near the ice machine near the steps. They don't tell you that but when we were taking the steps we managed to see it and we did use it because we also had 10 people and the trash builds rather quickly.
We stay in Congress Park and it was beautiful. We also came across acouple of roaches but this is normal for Florida. We also had the problem of not being able to go on the slide with our children but I definately understand the reason for this even though it was disappointing. It is a lovely place to stay and we will be staying there again next year!

 

[MarylandPirate]

We stayed at the Springs in August....and had no steekin' roaches! You all however have made me very homesick! Time to start planning my 3rd stay at SSR!