Bernadette1977
New Member
As some of you may know, I posted a few weeks ago after booking a trip for August at Saratoga Springs (have never stayed there before). We returned home four days ago and I wanted to give my thoughts.
SSR is beautiful. The grounds are, like all of the Disney properties I've seen, beautifully kept- neat and tidy. Before departing for FL, we attached the yellow DME luggage tags to our bags and kept all necessities in our carry on's (bathing suits!). Unfortunately, my 12 year old daughter ended up needing her bag (girl stuff) so upon landing at MCO at 1:15pm, we made our way to baggage claim and waited for about 30 minutes for our bags. What I didn't realize was DME, if they see those yellow tags, will snatch up your bags right away so you don't have a choice. Maybe I read the info wrong (not a newbie at this), but it was just unfortunate. Not a huge issue. We arrived at the resort between 3 and 3:30, room wasn't quite ready- not a big deal. Everyone was pleasant at check in and I was told that I would receive a text message when the room was ready for us. No problem, we figured it wouldn't be long. We took the opportunity to explore and have lunch at Artists Palette. Very good sandwiches and pleasant service. I will say, while the process isn't horrible, it would be nice to see the ordering/paying/food pickup process streamlined a bit. After eating and walking a little, it was now 5:30pm and I'd heard nothing and the girls were itching to do something- and my daughter still needed her bag which hadn't yet shown up. We walked to the desk to inquire about the room and voila, it was ready. Room was in the building I requested (The Springs) and had a nice view as well as only a quick walk to the main building/pool, AND was a quick walk to The Paddock pool. We relaxed and waited for our bags which unfortunately didn't show up until 7:30pm. I will not be using that part of the DME in the future. At that point, after having woken up at 3am that day (6am flight with a connection), we weren't going to go far for dinner. We took a bus to Downtown Disney (madhouse) and the restaurants which do participate with the DDP weren't taking walk-ins. By this time it was almost 10pm so we settled on Artists Palett again so that we could just get to bed. Had we just handled our bags ourselves, I feel like we could have squeezed a bit more out of the day. Not horrible, but unfortunate.
I have to ask here... has anyone else been on the DME bus(es?) with the window coverings? I know this must be to block out the sun, but it blocks it enough that you can't see and I was getting very car sick.
SSR overall was beautiful, like I said, but if given a choice I probably would not stay there again. I have to agree with others that said the resort is just too large. And with a resort of that size, I would have hoped for more food options than the limited offerings there are- although they are very good. We had both a lunch and a dinner at The Turf Club (wonderful food and service). To me, the food offered at WDW is as important as anything and I'm surprised that this wasn't given more thought at SSR.
As far as the parks for mid to late August, the waits were great. The longest waits we had were for Soarin' and Kilimanjaro Safari (both about an hour). Everything else was either walk on or up to a 15/20 minute wait. We did receive 'Just Engaged' pins and received countless 'congratulations' and they even gave the kids 'Celebrating' pins. We did receive a complimentary cupcake while dining at Akershush which was very nice. While in Epcot, during one storm, we took shelter at a snack stand. I have to say that it took a little away from the 'Disney Magic' to hear the employees talking poorly about customers while we were standing there. At a different time, I overheard two other employees, one dropping the 'F' bomb while we were all within earshot. Not magical- and I am BIG on the magic of it all.
We did not have ADR's as the trip was on the last minute side and reservations were hard to get, but we made out ok. Once there, I managed reservations for a few places. The Winnie the Pooh ride is very cute and fun, The Haunted Mansion is always a favorite and the new twist on the ending was very fun for everyone. Spaceship Earth is my alltime favorite ride (I'm still having trouble accepting how high tech it's become!) and while there this month I had the best pina coladas I've ever had (a definite plus!).
I absolutely love Disney and WDW is my favorite vacation destination. This trip however, I have to say, between SSR not being a favorite (due to size and food options), the room/bag mixup and hearing those CM's... a great trip as afterall, it IS Disney... just not as great as it could have been. I look very, very forward to our next trip, hopefully not too far in the future.
SSR is beautiful. The grounds are, like all of the Disney properties I've seen, beautifully kept- neat and tidy. Before departing for FL, we attached the yellow DME luggage tags to our bags and kept all necessities in our carry on's (bathing suits!). Unfortunately, my 12 year old daughter ended up needing her bag (girl stuff) so upon landing at MCO at 1:15pm, we made our way to baggage claim and waited for about 30 minutes for our bags. What I didn't realize was DME, if they see those yellow tags, will snatch up your bags right away so you don't have a choice. Maybe I read the info wrong (not a newbie at this), but it was just unfortunate. Not a huge issue. We arrived at the resort between 3 and 3:30, room wasn't quite ready- not a big deal. Everyone was pleasant at check in and I was told that I would receive a text message when the room was ready for us. No problem, we figured it wouldn't be long. We took the opportunity to explore and have lunch at Artists Palette. Very good sandwiches and pleasant service. I will say, while the process isn't horrible, it would be nice to see the ordering/paying/food pickup process streamlined a bit. After eating and walking a little, it was now 5:30pm and I'd heard nothing and the girls were itching to do something- and my daughter still needed her bag which hadn't yet shown up. We walked to the desk to inquire about the room and voila, it was ready. Room was in the building I requested (The Springs) and had a nice view as well as only a quick walk to the main building/pool, AND was a quick walk to The Paddock pool. We relaxed and waited for our bags which unfortunately didn't show up until 7:30pm. I will not be using that part of the DME in the future. At that point, after having woken up at 3am that day (6am flight with a connection), we weren't going to go far for dinner. We took a bus to Downtown Disney (madhouse) and the restaurants which do participate with the DDP weren't taking walk-ins. By this time it was almost 10pm so we settled on Artists Palett again so that we could just get to bed. Had we just handled our bags ourselves, I feel like we could have squeezed a bit more out of the day. Not horrible, but unfortunate.
I have to ask here... has anyone else been on the DME bus(es?) with the window coverings? I know this must be to block out the sun, but it blocks it enough that you can't see and I was getting very car sick.
SSR overall was beautiful, like I said, but if given a choice I probably would not stay there again. I have to agree with others that said the resort is just too large. And with a resort of that size, I would have hoped for more food options than the limited offerings there are- although they are very good. We had both a lunch and a dinner at The Turf Club (wonderful food and service). To me, the food offered at WDW is as important as anything and I'm surprised that this wasn't given more thought at SSR.
As far as the parks for mid to late August, the waits were great. The longest waits we had were for Soarin' and Kilimanjaro Safari (both about an hour). Everything else was either walk on or up to a 15/20 minute wait. We did receive 'Just Engaged' pins and received countless 'congratulations' and they even gave the kids 'Celebrating' pins. We did receive a complimentary cupcake while dining at Akershush which was very nice. While in Epcot, during one storm, we took shelter at a snack stand. I have to say that it took a little away from the 'Disney Magic' to hear the employees talking poorly about customers while we were standing there. At a different time, I overheard two other employees, one dropping the 'F' bomb while we were all within earshot. Not magical- and I am BIG on the magic of it all.
We did not have ADR's as the trip was on the last minute side and reservations were hard to get, but we made out ok. Once there, I managed reservations for a few places. The Winnie the Pooh ride is very cute and fun, The Haunted Mansion is always a favorite and the new twist on the ending was very fun for everyone. Spaceship Earth is my alltime favorite ride (I'm still having trouble accepting how high tech it's become!) and while there this month I had the best pina coladas I've ever had (a definite plus!).
I absolutely love Disney and WDW is my favorite vacation destination. This trip however, I have to say, between SSR not being a favorite (due to size and food options), the room/bag mixup and hearing those CM's... a great trip as afterall, it IS Disney... just not as great as it could have been. I look very, very forward to our next trip, hopefully not too far in the future.
