Thrilling review of Saratoga Springs!

Paper straw fan

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Hey forum, does anyone else get tired of the hustle and bustle of the more fun resorts? Or more likely, was literally every other DVC resort unavailable? Then I have the place for you!

SS combines the charm of a mediocre apartment complex in Kissimmee with some sort of horse theme, or something- you’ll be treated to stunning views of retention ponds and Disney’s bland, soulless golf course for dads looking for any excuse to get away from their families for 5 hours!

Ready to take the kids for some fun? They will enjoy our fabulous pools, all with unique themes such as “concrete hole with water in it”. Do they like the decor at AoA, with the life sized characters from Cars? They’ll love our various statues of horses, or perhaps be thrilled by our rides at each building, known as “elevators”

Ready to eat? Our quick service restaurant, “Cafe Teria” will amaze with its theme of various cafeterias from other fun places, such as hospitals and corporate office parks. Were all the popular sit down restaurants already booked? (Likely, as that’s how you got stuck staying here in the first place) then relax and enjoy our sit down restaurant, “Golf theme or something, whatever.” We will amaze you with our stunning decor (the cafeteria, but with slightly better chairs) and our chefs will amaze with their signature dish, “Food”

In the unlikely event that you wish to go outside the resort for entertainment, fear not-SS is conveniently located near...not much! Disney Springs I guess! With its quick and easy ferry boat access. Just a quick 15-20 min walk from your room and you’ll be at our boat docks, greeted by the site of our boat pulling away as you enter. When it returns, you’ll be whisked away and arrive at Disney Springs a mere 45 minutes from when you started! Much better than bus transportation from one of the DVC resorts you wish you were staying at!

Speaking of bus transportation, SS will eliminate the need to drive to our parks with our shuttle service. Ready to meet fellow S Springers who also booked too late, or frankly didn’t know any better? Well you’re in luck, as you will meet 50-75 of them on your filled beyond capacity journey to one of the parks! Since you weren’t in any rush to book your resort, you’ll have plenty of time to get to know your vacation neighbors, as our multiple stops and sprawling resort size means our bus will take 30 minutes to even leave the resort property on our way to the parks!

Ready to head back after a long day? Well you’re again in luck! You’ll get to show up all the guests at the other resorts at the transportation center, as your resort will clearly be the most popular line! You’ll laugh at the silly Yacht Club and it’s 5 person line, while they bask in the glow of your 300 person queue! Heck, they may even just let SS absorb another resorts queue line, and while those silly lads are already back in their boring rooms, you’ll still be enjoying the excitement of mobility scooters being loaded onto the bus with all of the speed and urgency of one of those (dead) horses featured at your resort! Those silly AK lodge guests will be long asleep while you consider hitching a ride in a windowless van driven by a guy with multiple face tattoos over being packed into a freezing cold bus featuring all the comfort of a rush hour Tokyo subway!

We know you had a choice of any of our DVC resorts, but that you waited too long and got stuck with us- but we thank you for not deciding to just cancel your reservation and stay at the hotel from “The Florida Project” instead. We’re sure you will next time, but until then, enjoy your stay!
 
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Paper straw fan

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I aim to please.

Note that this was written at almost 3 am, about 15 minutes after I’d arrived back at the resort from the NSSH bus ride back. Still meant all of it and then some.
 

worldfanatic

Well-Known Member
SSR has it's negatives.
But staying in the Congress Park section a couple trips ago had a pretty amazing positive as well - being able able to leave your room and walk to Disney Springs within 6-7 minutes.

Some may not appreciate Disney Springs like me, but I absolutely love the restaurant & bars there. And being able to eat & drink too much & stumble back to your room was absolutely GOLDEN.
 

StarshipDisney

Well-Known Member
Wow. What a resort horror story. Sorry to hear it.

I must admit that I have never considered SS on any past vacation. Not sure why I always ruled it out...bad karma I guess. From all I have read over time it has just never ringed "Disney" to me.
 

BoarderPhreak

Well-Known Member
I'm moving to the real place... 🤔

So I won't be staying there any time soon. Though I did stay at the prior incarnation, the Disney Institute, back in the day. It was pretty cool to stay in a full-sized town home. Disney Village was right around the corner - as was Pleasure Island.
 

Paper straw fan

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Wow. What a resort horror story. Sorry to hear it.

I must admit that I have never considered SS on any past vacation. Not sure why I always ruled it out...bad karma I guess. From all I have read over time it has just never ringed "Disney" to me.

Well, I mean the buses sucked, and it is a rather dull resort- I’ve stayed there now twice w my wife and I (both due to lack of options) and once with a huge group. The rooms are decent size (smaller than Bay Lake and AK that I can remember, maybe same size as WL and OKW) and there’s nothing awful, but just...yawn. Even when I did get to bed, it seemed like SS hired people from the cast of “Stomp”to perform outside my room all night, and occasionally make me think someone was at the door at 4am.

It just looks like a run of the mill golf course community in the suburbs of a Florida city. We did a fun run at POFQ and all I could think was how much more interesting the grounds there were. It’s always pick your poison exiting a night function at MK, either deal with the journey of jam packed monorails or ferry, to more jam packed trams, to your car and home, or always seem to have the longest bus line by about 100 people, and have to make tons of stops once you finally get a ride back to SS. And even with D Springs, I have walked back from there and made it back before bus/boat riders by over 15 minutes. So much for convienience there.

W the Halloween party, Even if you try to call Uber/Lyft from there, the regular ones can only pickup by the tram area, meaning you still have to pile into a monorail/ferry, or you could pay the ($42 last night) fee for a Minnie Van. Oh and they were backed up for about a half hour too. Several people, including myself, tried that option before being resigned to our fate.


Like I said, it’s typically people’s last choice on DVC. When I heard all we could get from DVC this time was SS, I honestly just rolled my eyes and asked my wife if we should just pay out of pocket for AoA or POR instead.
 

yaksplat

Well-Known Member
Though I did stay at the prior incarnation, the Disney Institute, back in the day. It was pretty cool to stay in a full-sized town home. Disney Village was right around the corner - as was Pleasure Island.

You rarely see a mention of the disney institute on these boards, or the Disney Village Resort. I have vague memories of staying there in 83. This picture just blows my mind, but it also meshes with what i remember.
LBVSV597069.jpg


For the sake of comparison (from google earth):
1540466002829.png
 
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correcaminos

Well-Known Member
Well, I mean the buses sucked, and it is a rather dull resort- I’ve stayed there now twice w my wife and I (both due to lack of options) and once with a huge group. The rooms are decent size (smaller than Bay Lake and AK that I can remember, maybe same size as WL and OKW) and there’s nothing awful, but just...yawn. Even when I did get to bed, it seemed like SS hired people from the cast of “Stomp”to perform outside my room all night, and occasionally make me think someone was at the door at 4am.

As an FYI for room size, it is nearly the same at WL's BRV. A little larger than CCV. Definitely smaller than OKW. Studios are larger at SSR vs BLT, but the other rooms at BLT are larger.

I'm with you on SSR. It leaves me feeling flat. It's one place I don't book and somewhere I wouldn't want to own as a DVC member because I wouldn't want to stay there. We prefer OKW by far. Some love it though, but it's just not for us.

You rarely see a mention of the disney institute on these boards, or the Disney Village Resort. I have vague memories of staying there in 83. This picture just blows my mind, but it also meshes with what i remember.
LBVSV597069.jpg


For the sake of comparison (from google earth):
View attachment 322147

We also stayed there in 1983! I have fond memories of our stay there :)
 

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