DisneyMum2018
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Mar 5, 2019
We just got back from our first stay as DVC members in a standard studio at Saratoga Springs. It was a totally different experience to our previous trips as it was our first trip with our almost 1 year old (we were there to celebrate his birthday). I'm hoping to do a more detailed trip report later, but some initial thoughts and feedback below, as well as some pics of the new refurbed rooms in Congress Park!
Check In: We did online check in for the first time, we were exhausted because we attempted the red eye from Vancouver Island (with 3 flight changes) with our 1 year old and suffice to say no one got any sleep. We arrived at the resort via magical express at about 1230pm, and swung by the reception to pick up our magic band order. My folks rented points for a standard studio, and we had faxed the resort with a request to be in the Paddock area with ground floor rooms close to each other using the Touringplans service. I have to say I was very impressed with the room allocation. We got a txt at about 1:30pm that our rooms were ready. We were in rooms 4543 and 4547 on the ground floor of the Paddock. There was a one bedroom I believe separating us. Both rooms had really nice views over the lake, and having ground floor with a stroller was fantastic. Overall check in and ride to room with Bell Services was really fantastic.
Room: OK, so the room was fine, but I am very glad that the hard refurb is underway as it was pretty tired and old looking. It's also very dark and had a slight musty smell! The air con was also hard to adjust. It was either freezing cold or off. I don’t think the thermostat was very accurate. Our pack and play was broken but we took the one from my folks room and let housekeeping know that it was broken so they could replace for the next family. I took some snaps of the rooms they have been refurbishing in Congress Park on our way back from Disney Springs - they look really nice, certainly a lot more modern and bright (maybe too standard hotel chain ish?). It looks like they have gotten rid of the table and chairs in the studio - not a problem for us as it ended up just being a dumping ground for our stuff, but some people might miss this.
Location of Room: I had hoped to be in one of the Paddock buildings closer to Disney Springs, but the walk was OK from our room (about 20 minutes). It was about a 7 minute walk to the main building where Artist's Point and check in is. About a 3 minute walk to the Paddock Pool.
Busses: This was the most disappointing aspect of our trip. We debated for along time about whether or not to rent a car, but decided against it. This was a mistake One day we waited 1 hour for a MK bus (at about 930am) and the next 50 minutes for an AK bus. Waiting this long in the heat with a toddler can really put a damper on your day. My husband ended up tweeting after the second long wait, and Disney did give us an extra fastpass. He then complained to the resorts guest services, who to be fair to them ended up covering the cost of our taxi to our Ohana dinner reservation. However, the bus system was really really bad and unreliable this trip. The app was never right, busses would just show up without warning on the app, multiple busses for the same park would come within minutes of each other while some parks were 30-50 minutes apart. Next time we stay here we will definitely be renting a car, as there was just way too much time lost waiting around in the heat for the busses.
Check In: We did online check in for the first time, we were exhausted because we attempted the red eye from Vancouver Island (with 3 flight changes) with our 1 year old and suffice to say no one got any sleep. We arrived at the resort via magical express at about 1230pm, and swung by the reception to pick up our magic band order. My folks rented points for a standard studio, and we had faxed the resort with a request to be in the Paddock area with ground floor rooms close to each other using the Touringplans service. I have to say I was very impressed with the room allocation. We got a txt at about 1:30pm that our rooms were ready. We were in rooms 4543 and 4547 on the ground floor of the Paddock. There was a one bedroom I believe separating us. Both rooms had really nice views over the lake, and having ground floor with a stroller was fantastic. Overall check in and ride to room with Bell Services was really fantastic.
Room: OK, so the room was fine, but I am very glad that the hard refurb is underway as it was pretty tired and old looking. It's also very dark and had a slight musty smell! The air con was also hard to adjust. It was either freezing cold or off. I don’t think the thermostat was very accurate. Our pack and play was broken but we took the one from my folks room and let housekeeping know that it was broken so they could replace for the next family. I took some snaps of the rooms they have been refurbishing in Congress Park on our way back from Disney Springs - they look really nice, certainly a lot more modern and bright (maybe too standard hotel chain ish?). It looks like they have gotten rid of the table and chairs in the studio - not a problem for us as it ended up just being a dumping ground for our stuff, but some people might miss this.
Location of Room: I had hoped to be in one of the Paddock buildings closer to Disney Springs, but the walk was OK from our room (about 20 minutes). It was about a 7 minute walk to the main building where Artist's Point and check in is. About a 3 minute walk to the Paddock Pool.
Busses: This was the most disappointing aspect of our trip. We debated for along time about whether or not to rent a car, but decided against it. This was a mistake One day we waited 1 hour for a MK bus (at about 930am) and the next 50 minutes for an AK bus. Waiting this long in the heat with a toddler can really put a damper on your day. My husband ended up tweeting after the second long wait, and Disney did give us an extra fastpass. He then complained to the resorts guest services, who to be fair to them ended up covering the cost of our taxi to our Ohana dinner reservation. However, the bus system was really really bad and unreliable this trip. The app was never right, busses would just show up without warning on the app, multiple busses for the same park would come within minutes of each other while some parks were 30-50 minutes apart. Next time we stay here we will definitely be renting a car, as there was just way too much time lost waiting around in the heat for the busses.
