Our DVC Vacation: SSR, Member Cruise 2010, & AKV - SSMC Day 1 completed

[rentayenta]

Love the Turf Club update. The Turf Club is on our must-do eats list for our next trip.

 

[Harlemgirl720]

Loving your report. Cannot wait to read the rest.

 

[Luckymomoftwo]

Hi Chris!! Hi Nikki!!! I'm finally making my way over to Marsha's trip report!

Saratoga is one of my favorite resorts. We could just stay there and not even go to the parks.

We actually did that a few years ago! We stayed there for a long weekend and only went to MK for the Pirate & Princess party. Unfortunately it poured down rain the whole night, but we still made the best of it! Got some really cute pictures of the kids in their yellow rain poncho's!


Marsha - we stayed at BLT after the cruise. It was a nice resort! HOWEVER, I advise ANYONE who plans to stay there...BE VERY CAREFUL IN THE BATHROOM AND KITCHENETTE AREAS!!! The marble floors are VERY slippery! I'm glad we didn't have our kids with us because they are accident prone and I KNOW we would have had a trip to the hospital from one or both of them slipping and splitting their head open on that marble floor! We loved the slide at the pool. And agree with Chris, the pool was somewhat small at BLT. But that slide rocks!!!!

I can't wait to read your CRUISE portion of your trip report!!!!!!!!

 

[dvc deernut]

HI MARSHA, REMEMBER ME YEP YOU TAKE MORE PHOTOS THAN ME IVE DOWNLOADED A FEW OF YOURS. I SEE A COUPLE FAMILIAR NAMES IN HERE. THE PEOPLE THAT WE CRUISED WITH MADE THE CRUISE THE ENJOYABLE CRUISE IT WAS. THANKS FOR HELPING TO MAKE THE CRUISE A BLAST. I WILL READ YOUR REPORT AND BORROW SOME PHOTOS

 

[PoohNFriends]

Love what I've seen so far! Can't wait to see some more pics of your journey!

 

[dclfun]

Thanks for the great report and photos! Can't wait to read the rest, but I know how it is after a long vacation and trying to get back into reality- there's never enough time. Your son is adorable!---Kathy

 

[BigDogHU75]

Hi Marsha!!! So glad I found your TR!!!! I have been trying to get to mine too but I had to see your thoughts of SSR - our home - we LOVE it there- actually I am missing it reading your TR because we are on a quest to try all of the DVCs after our stay at AKV next April we will only have BWV to go!!!

We stayed at BLT after the cruise but did a studio lake view - that was our first stay in a studio ever and it wasn't horrible but for the four of us - very cramped!!! It seems you mostly travel with family so definately do the 1 or 2 bedroom - I did take pics of the fireworks at the TOTWL - AMAZING!!!!!

I can't wait for your AKV part!!! I am anxious to learn all I can!!!

We still have a ways to go before we will be able to say we have tried all of the DVC resorts. We have only stayed at AKV, BCV, & now SSR. I think we are going to stay at BLT next so I cannot wait for the BLT part of your TR.

Love the Turf Club update. The Turf Club is on our must-do eats list for our next trip.

The food was very good. I would highly recommend the crabcakes and the pork tenderloin. YUMMO!

Loving your report. Cannot wait to read the rest.

Thank you.

Hi Chris!! Hi Nikki!!! I'm finally making my way over to Marsha's trip report!


It's about time!

We actually did that a few years ago! We stayed there for a long weekend and only went to MK for the Pirate & Princess party. Unfortunately it poured down rain the whole night, but we still made the best of it! Got some really cute pictures of the kids in their yellow rain poncho's!


Marsha - we stayed at BLT after the cruise. It was a nice resort! HOWEVER, I advise ANYONE who plans to stay there...BE VERY CAREFUL IN THE BATHROOM AND KITCHENETTE AREAS!!! The marble floors are VERY slippery! I'm glad we didn't have our kids with us because they are accident prone and I KNOW we would have had a trip to the hospital from one or both of them slipping and splitting their head open on that marble floor! We loved the slide at the pool. And agree with Chris, the pool was somewhat small at BLT. But that slide rocks!!!!

I can't wait to read your CRUISE portion of your trip report!!!!!!!!

Thanks for the warning. I will keep the tip about the marble floors in mind. DH cannot wait to stay there.

HI MARSHA, REMEMBER ME YEP YOU TAKE MORE PHOTOS THAN ME IVE DOWNLOADED A FEW OF YOURS. I SEE A COUPLE FAMILIAR NAMES IN HERE. THE PEOPLE THAT WE CRUISED WITH MADE THE CRUISE THE ENJOYABLE CRUISE IT WAS. THANKS FOR HELPING TO MAKE THE CRUISE A BLAST. I WILL READ YOUR REPORT AND BORROW SOME PHOTOS

Who are you again? Oh, yes! You are the crazy one. Hi Ian!
Feel free to "borrow" some photos.

Love what I've seen so far! Can't wait to see some more pics of your journey!

Glad you are liking the pictures. I have a lot more to share.

Thanks for the great report and photos! Can't wait to read the rest, but I know how it is after a long vacation and trying to get back into reality- there's never enough time. Your son is adorable!---Kathy

You're welcome and thank you. I am supposed to be at work today but both DS & I are . Meanwhile, work is piling up on my desk as we speak. Oh well!

 

[BigDogHU75]

So, where did I leave off? Oh, yes! DMIL & DBIL had arrived. DH was taking DBIL to the resort and the rest of us were catching the bus back to the Grandstand. DMIL & DBIL were in a deluxe studio right across the hall from us.

DMIL & DBIL had an obstructed view of the Grandstand pool:

Seeing the pool made me want to go and explore it a little more. After DBIL & DMIL settled in they decided to go to the store to pick up some milk, ice cream for my DF, and coffee. You know, the staples. DH decided to go with them. While they were out getting lost, I mean grocery shopping, DS, DM, DF, & I decided to check out the pool.

We thought it was going to rain on our heads. Look at the sky in the picture above. But, the forboding sky did not deter us, especially DS.

After DS finished lounging, he & I ran proceeded to run in the sprinklers. I avoided to stay semi-dry. DS, on the other hand, was soaked by the time we went inside.

Once inside, I gave DS a bath in the big tub which he loved. Then we settled in for the evening. Once DH came back from the store, he & his brother decided to go to DTD to the AMC theater to watch a movie which DH enjoyed.

 

[BigDogHU75]

DS was up bright and early. The weather was beautiful! Perfect for swimming! Once I gave DS some breakfast & we aroused DH from Slumber Land, we headed out to the pool. Before the pool, DH stopped by DBIL & DMIL's room to see if they wanted to go. They would meet us out by the pool and so would my parents.

We had a blast in the pool! We had the pool to ourselves during most of our time in it. DS loves the water.

While we were in the pool, we noticed a skywriter. He was writing this:

While we were outsied, I was hoping this little stand would open up. But, it never did.

I was getting hungry & thirsty. With the smell of BBQ wafting through the air (someone was barbecuing on the grills by the pool), we decided to go inside. My parents never did make it out. In fact, they were about to come outside when we were headed inside. We were out there for almost two hours at the least. They said they were relaxing and enjoying their coffee and breakfast.

 

[beeadude]

So glad that you enjoyed SSR. Now that you have stayed at my home, , you can see why I said it was so beautiful. We just love it there. And you stayed in our favorite section, the GRANDSTAND! We just love that pool and the grounds and the rooms, ahhhhhhhh.

Your pictures have really helped me from missing our home resort.

But I saw where you said Corey wants to stay at BLT, which is our other home resort, well we stayed there after the Members Cruise (1st time) and LOVED IT! If you thought the 2 bedroom rooms at SSR were spacious just wait until you try that at BLT. And there were 3 bathrooms. Score! And we asked for a cheap view room, well we may have only been on the 2nd floor but had a great view of the Magic Kingdom! The girls could watch the fireworks while lying in bed. It was just awesome.

The only complaint we had was that they could have made the pool and pool area bigger for the BLT part. We walked over to the Contemporary Quite Pool area and enjoyed ourselves far better than we did at the BLT Pool. But that was just us. Small pool, lots of people = not much fun for us. However, we did like the slide at BLT pool.

Can't wait for your next update.

We also left the BLT pool for the pool at the Contemporary. We were annoyed that so many unsupervised kids were using the hot tub to do cannon balls!!! Also, one little kid came down the slide super fast and totally went under. Good thing Chuck was right there to pull him up-the life guard was about to jump in but Chuck got the kid to the side. His parents were busy @ the bar.

 

[Luckymomoftwo]

We also left the BLT pool for the pool at the Contemporary. We were annoyed that so many unsupervised kids were using the hot tub to do cannon balls!!! Also, one little kid came down the slide super fast and totally went under. Good thing Chuck was right there to pull him up-the life guard was about to jump in but Chuck got the kid to the side. His parents were busy @ the bar.

NICE!!! Just because it's WDW doesn't mean something bad can't happen!!! People are just crazy, aren't they?!

 

[BigDogHU75]

After returning to the room we showered, changed into our clothes and had a snack. I wanted to DS to take a nap but he would not fall asleep. He rested on the couch with his Granny for a little while.

Then I took him into the Master bedroom where he finally fell asleep. I knew he was tired after spending a couple of hours in the pool. While DS was sleeping I rested too. DH & his brother decided to see how long the walk was to the Carriage House (where check-in and the restaurants are). They said the walk was not long at all. I also decided to chage our ADR at the House of Blues. We originally had an ADR at the House of Blues for 4:15 p.m. which I changed to 5:00 p.m. since DS fell asleep late. Plus, I needed to get my Disney Rewards card. I ordered it before we left home but it did not arrive in time. So, I needed to stop at Guest Relations in DTD before heading to our ADR.

We decided that we would take the ferry which we saw the day before while we were dining at the Turf Club. So, we headed out to catch the bus. The bus ride over really made me wish that I had more time to explore the resort. Once we got off the bus I had to take this picture.

GORGEOUS!

We then walked to the Carriage House to catch the ferry. When we arrived, a ferry was pulling up.

We hopped on and got situated. We had the ferry to ourselves.

During our ride, I snapped some pictures along the way. It was such a scenic view.

After a few short minutes, we were at DTD. The ferry dropped us off at Pleasure Island. We could either catch another ferry to the West Side where Guest Relations and House of Blues were or we could walk. We decided to walk. It was hot out so it was a leisurely walk. We also stopped in some stores along the way.

 

[beeadude]

Hi Marsha. So glad I also found you. You have the knack of us wanting to read more. I never stayed at the Grandstand-we always stayed facing Downtown Disney. Thanks to your pictures Grandstand will be our next stop!
Vicki

 

[RysMomma]

Loving your trip report. Can't wait to read more!

 

[dopeygirl76]

Hi again Marsha!! The photos are awesome!!! Charles looks worn out!!! Can't wait to read about the cruise!!!!

 

[BigDogHU75]

Hi Marsha. So glad I also found you. You have the knack of us wanting to read more. I never stayed at the Grandstand-we always stayed facing Downtown Disney. Thanks to your pictures Grandstand will be our next stop!
Vicki

I am glad you found me! We loved the Grandstand. The pool was so close and not as crowded as the main pool. We had a blast!

Loving your trip report. Can't wait to read more!

Thank you. More will be coming soon now that I have uploaded all of the pictures and scanned in all of the navigators.

Hi again Marsha!! The photos are awesome!!! Charles looks worn out!!! Can't wait to read about the cruise!!!!

Thank you! Charles was worn out. He did not want to take a nap but I knew he would be tired. I am glad he eventually fell asleep. When he woke up (with a little nudge from me) he was refreshed and ready to go.
I will start "reporting" on the cruise by the end of this week.

 

[dianeschlicht]

Glad you liked Turf Club as much as we do. It's on our "must do" dining list every trip.

 

[dvc4life]

We also left the BLT pool for the pool at the Contemporary. We were annoyed that so many unsupervised kids were using the hot tub to do cannon balls!!! Also, one little kid came down the slide super fast and totally went under. Good thing Chuck was right there to pull him up-the life guard was about to jump in but Chuck got the kid to the side. His parents were busy @ the bar.

Yes, we were in the hot tub when a little girl with a life jacket, a life jacket I say, did a cannon ball. I was not happy with that. I mean, come on. It is a hot tub not the pool.

And good thing Chuck was there for the little kid. Some parents, huh.

 

[heaven2dc]

Saratoga Springs Resorts is such a lovely resort - the rooms are so beautiful! It's nice to have a day of relaxation before hitting the parks

 

[beeadude]

Yes, we were in the hot tub when a little girl with a life jacket, a life jacket I say, did a cannon ball. I was not happy with that. I mean, come on. It is a hot tub not the pool.

And good thing Chuck was there for the little kid. Some parents, huh.

When are you going to the Food and Wine Festival? Chuck and I leave Thursday. I think Terrie and Wally are there now. We will be at BLT.