SSR - Treehouses - what do I need to know?

[dukehoopsfan]

Hello ~ we are DVC members and own at SSR. For Christmas there will be 9 of us (myself, husband, son (17), daughter and her husband, my sister and her husband, and two daughters) coming to WDW and we will be staying at the Treehouses. Tell me what I need to know about staying there....best location, getting around (will not have a car), buses, pool, etc. Thanks!

 

[WellFedDave]

Stay away from any of the treehouses near the bridges on the Sassagoula River. As the water taxis come and go from the resorts farther upstream they blow their horns prior to passing under the bridges as to alert any other boats in the area that they are coming through. It can be quite loud and since the water taxis run into the late evening, it could be somewhat disrupting.

 

[ScoutN]

Allot PLENTY of time to catch the bus to SSR homebase to changeover to the Parks busses. I mean PLENTY of time.

 

[pauluk]

My friends used one a few years ago and said the hot water tank is small so they run out of hot water in the morning if the all had a shower.

 

[dukehoopsfan]

Stay away from any of the treehouses near the bridges on the Sassagoula River. As the water taxis come and go from the resorts farther upstream they blow their horns prior to passing under the bridges as to alert any other boats in the area that they are coming through. It can be quite loud and since the water taxis run into the late evening, it could be somewhat disrupting.

Thank you for this - would not have thought about the water taxis and their horns!

 

[dukehoopsfan]

Allot PLENTY of time to catch the bus to SSR homebase to changeover to the Parks busses. I mean PLENTY of time.

Thanks for the heads up!

 

[dukehoopsfan]

My friends used one a few years ago and said the hot water tank is small so they run out of hot water in the morning if the all had a shower.

Thanks for another good heads up - with 9 of us we are going to have to stagger those showers!

 

[ScoutN]

Thanks for the heads up!

If you are driving in I HIGHLY push for you to drive to the SSR main house if you want to ride a bus or even drive to the parks to avoid the waits. I have stayed SSR seven times in the last 18 months and have had less than stellar bus service each time.

 

[LuvtheGoof]

Stay away from any of the treehouses near the bridges on the Sassagoula River. As the water taxis come and go from the resorts farther upstream they blow their horns prior to passing under the bridges as to alert any other boats in the area that they are coming through. It can be quite loud and since the water taxis run into the late evening, it could be somewhat disrupting.

I really cannot agree with this, as we have stayed in the Treehouses twice, both times next to the boat dock, and we heard no horns inside the houses at all. We saw the boats coming and going all the time, and they were using their horns, since we could hear them when we were sitting on the deck, but not inside.

 

[LuvtheGoof]

My friends used one a few years ago and said the hot water tank is small so they run out of hot water in the morning if the all had a shower.

Weird. We have stayed there with 6 people twice, all pretty much adults (4 in their late teens with the 2 of us), and never had an issue with the hot water?!?!? Maybe a defective unit?

 

[LuvtheGoof]

If you are driving in I HIGHLY push for you to drive to the SSR main house if you want to ride a bus or even drive to the parks to avoid the waits. I have stayed SSR seven times in the last 18 months and have had less than stellar bus service each time.

I guess we have been lucky. We have stayed at SSR several times as well, and have not waited more than the posted 20 minutes ever. Most times, we have waited less than 10! Of course, YMMV, and not every person has the same experience!

I know that some here rag on the buses because it takes away time from the parks, but we don't look at it like that at all. We view the buses as time to relax and meet other travelers. For us, they are part of the vacation. Of course, since becoming DVC members several years ago, we never commando the parks, and spend a LOT more time at the resort. For us, the quiet pool in the Treehouses was that - quiet! We would have liked a pool bar, and there is space for one, so hopefully Disney will open one, at least during the day, at some point in the future. It is true that if you want to go to the main pool, it will be a bit of a bus ride (usually less than 10 minutes when we used it), so while a bit inconvenient, it wasn't a deal breaker for us. If your Treehouse ends up near the Grandstand side, the walk to that quiet pool is only a few minutes, and it does have a pool bar open during the day, along with a play area for younger kids!

 

[DVC4bestvacations]

We stayed at SSR in January. The bus service at times was slow. They had a CM at the springs stop to let us know the wait time. It would add a lot of travel time to the parks not having a car.

 

[slappy magoo]

Consider renting a car. You'll need to catch a shuttle bus to the main building to then get a bus to the parks.

I really really want to stay at the Treehouses one day, but I wouldn't do it without a car.

 

[dukehoopsfan]

Thanks everyone for the suggestions.

As for the boat horns and the water heater - I guess we will take our chances with that. And as for the buses - we will all go into it knowing it will be an "adventure" with the buses. Since the youngest in the group will be 15 - and no strollers/wheelchairs to think about - I think we will take this as part of the vacation like LuvTheGoof said - this will be time that we are all together and enjoy this togetherness - because we do not get together frequently - because of the 1300 miles between us!

 

[dukehoopsfan]

I guess we have been lucky. We have stayed at SSR several times as well, and have not waited more than the posted 20 minutes ever. Most times, we have waited less than 10! Of course, YMMV, and not every person has the same experience!

I know that some here rag on the buses because it takes away time from the parks, but we don't look at it like that at all. We view the buses as time to relax and meet other travelers. For us, they are part of the vacation. Of course, since becoming DVC members several years ago, we never commando the parks, and spend a LOT more time at the resort. For us, the quiet pool in the Treehouses was that - quiet! We would have liked a pool bar, and there is space for one, so hopefully Disney will open one, at least during the day, at some point in the future. It is true that if you want to go to the main pool, it will be a bit of a bus ride (usually less than 10 minutes when we used it), so while a bit inconvenient, it wasn't a deal breaker for us. If your Treehouse ends up near the Grandstand side, the walk to that quiet pool is only a few minutes, and it does have a pool bar open during the day, along with a play area for younger kids!

Thank you for your reply...we know that we are going at a very busy time of the year - but the 9 of us are really looking forward to being together - and getting to the park and doing all the "must-do's" is not the top priority this trip. So I look forward to the quiet pool and relaxing on the deck, and strolling to the bus stops! Thanks again!

 

[googilycub]

I really cannot agree with this, as we have stayed in the Treehouses twice, both times next to the boat dock, and we heard no horns inside the houses at all. We saw the boats coming and going all the time, and they were using their horns, since we could hear them when we were sitting on the deck, but not inside.

I agree with Goof. We stayed there last summer, our treehouse was along the river. We never heard the water taxies horns, and watching them was a neat little thing. I also would say to prepare for long bus waits, we never rent a car when we go to WDW, however we did on that trip because of what we had heard about bus service. From what we saw, they didn't seem to go by all that often.

 

[artvandelay]

Request rooms 7028 or 7030 for great river views and they're close to a treehouse shuttle bus stop. Rooms 7031 thru 7034 are very close to the walking path to the main building. If you don't mind walking, it's less than a 10 minute walk to one of the SSR bus stops.

 

[LuvtheGoof]

We were in 7021 with a view overlooking the river and boat dock.

 

[Todd L]

Hello ~ we are DVC members and own at SSR. For Christmas there will be 9 of us (myself, husband, son (17), daughter and her husband, my sister and her husband, and two daughters) coming to WDW and we will be staying at the Treehouses. Tell me what I need to know about staying there....best location, getting around (will not have a car), buses, pool, etc. Thanks!

Please let us know how it goes...we are thinking about getting one in the next few years!!

 

[dukehoopsfan]

Please let us know how it goes...we are thinking about getting one in the next few years!!

Todd L - will let you know how it all went after we get back!