First Time Staying with DVC - Saratoga Springs Last Minute Trip

[hockeydad21]

I'm going to start off by saying I'm new to the DVC owners community (in the process of purchasing a resale poly contract for 330 points closing in mid April 2023), but I am very familiar with DVC overall as I have done extensive research over the past 2-3 years.

• Family overview - my wife and I have 2 kids (2 year old girl and 3 month old boy), and plan to occasionally have family members tag along with us from time to time.
• Reason for joining DVC - with little kids, nap times, and just really wanting our space, we knew that staying in a villa was going to be our only realistic option moving forward. Spring 2022 we decided to stay at a Marriott 3 bedroom villa in the Disney World area, and despite loving the proximity to Disney Springs and the parks, we knew it wasn't for us. Downsides were the pools were on the boring side for kids, staff that doesn't go above and beyond for their guests, and they didn't really have anywhere to eat (not even a pool bar/restaurant) unless you wanted to cook all of your own meals or get delivery. Personally, I don't want to cook while on vacation. These factors were enough to push us in the direction of joining DVC.

So to my review...this was a complete last second trip. I was browsing confirmed reservations on the internet for fun, and I came across a 4 night stay at Saratoga Springs in a 1 bedroom villa (standard view) for $11 per point. There was only one catch...the reservation was in 3 days....and we live in Philadelphia! This would take a miracle to pull off with 2 young kids, but we found some direct flights that worked timing and price-wise, so we pulled the trigger! No days at the park, just 3.5 days hanging at the pool and enjoying the Disney bubble.

Flight and rental car went as smoothly as one could hope. Got to Saratoga Springs around 5:30pm. Disappointed to see we still didn't have a room assignment via the app, but I think it worked out for the best because they gave us a few options when we went to the front desk: 1) the furthest building at Grandstand, 2) the furthest building at The Paddock, or 3) the building next to the Paddock pool. Easiest decision of my life, next to the Paddock pool (room 5714) it was! This worked out amazingly well especially with a toddler and infant.

The resort: absolutely incredible. I can't believe people are so quick to highlight any negatives about it, which to be fair there is 1 that stands out. It can be inconvenient if you're doing a very park heavy trip, but if you're doing more of a resort vacation then I think this should be pretty close to the top of your list. We walked and boated over to Disney Springs twice. Walking from our hotel room to DS took 17 minutes, which was actually faster than waiting for the boat the one time. But our daughter loved the boat ride, so we'll count that as a win. The grounds are spectacular - beautiful, quiet, and sprawling, which is a nice change from the majority of Disney resorts. Great if you like to run, walk, or just to get some peace and quiet from time to time.

The room (#5714 Paddock): beautiful, well decorated, quiet, functional, and the murphy beds were incredibly comfortable and easy to set up/stow away. I'm not going to lie, for the first day or 2 I was beyond confused by the maze of doors in the bathroom area, but then it began to grow on me as I imagined how nice it could be to have some privacy with as families grow. It could probably benefit from swapping out one of the doors for a sliding door to make it a little less confusing, but I'll let Disney slide on that one (dad joke).

The pools: These pools are fantastic, and 2 of them can go toe to toe with any of the Disney resort pools, unless of course you are a Storm Along Bay diehard.

• High Rock Springs Pool (main pool)- opened 2 days into our stay, and we did like it. It was nice how spread out it felt. At no point did you really feel like you were on top of people in either the pool or on your lounge chair because the entire area is quite large. Nice kids slide, mediocre splash pad, but my daughter loved the zero entry with the fountains shooting water into the pool.
• The Paddock Pool - arguably the best pool at Saratoga Springs. The kids' play area/slide/splash pad was better here than at main pool, loved the zero entry, and the water slide here is actually better than the main pool's slide as well. HUGE fans of the paddock, and would request this section again if booking a standard view.
• The Grandstand - nice how close it is to the main pool, but not a huge fan other than that. They have a nice splash pad, but there's nothing there for the kids to climb on or slide down. No zero entry on the pool, which is a huge negative with young kids.
• Did not do the Congress Park pool or the Treehouse pool, so can't comment on them.

The food: Good to very good.

• Ate here Paddock Grille for breakfast, lunch, and dinner at various points. All meals were good to great, but the highlight for me was their fried chicken sandwich, which is the best fried chicken sandwich I've ever eaten anywhere. It's borderline criminal that Disney doesn't offer this exact chicken sandwich at all of their quick service locations at resorts and the parks. It's that good! RUN, don't walk, for this fried chicken sandwich!
• Artist's Palette for breakfast and lunch. Breakfast was good overall, but nothing to write home about. My wife's bacon and caramelized onion quiche was probably the best of the bunch. Lunch was better in my opinion. The pulled pork with coleslaw was fantastic, but messy. Wife had a great salad. Daughter had a pretty good cheese pizza. I couldn't bring myself to order the cheesesteak after seeing pictures of it. They need to hire someone from Philly to give them a cooking class on cheesesteaks because that, my friends, is not a Philly cheesesteak.
• Was miraculously able to snag a reservation at The Boathouse in Disney Springs. Ordered a few cocktails, the ahi tuna for the wife, and the ribeye for myself. All fantastic. Highly recommend getting yourself a reservation here if you can find one and if it's in the budget. Definitely our most expensive meal by about 2.5x.
• Yesake in Disney Springs was a last second decision, and we're glad we did it. Their poke bowls were very tasty, very fresh, very fast, and very affordable. Great decision to come here if you don't have a reservation and are looking for something, fast, affordable, and healthy.
• Was able to snag a reservation at Polynesian's Ohana for breakfast, which was well worth the price tag. Our 2 year old loved meeting Mickey and Goofy, but not so much with Stitch, so we told him he could pass us. Food was very good for the wife and I. Really loved the bread, ham with pineapple, sausage, potatoes, and eggs. The waffles were standard Disney/Mickey Waffles, so nothing to really write home about there, but our daughter loved them of course. Overall we really enjoyed it, and hope we can bring the kids back for another meal when they're a little older.

The staff: Absolutely incredible from start to finish. Day 1 w asked for a full size crib and a pack and play to be delivered to our room, and it was there within 60 minutes. The lifeguards (shoutout to Abby and Sydney) were incredible. Anytime my daughter was even the slightest bit upset, they were right there to cheer her up with a sticker, a ball, or small (cheap) pool toy. All stupid little things for her to play with, but in the eyes of a 2 year old they were the best things ever! The servers were great as well - very kind and genuinely showed an interest in hearing about our family as well as telling us about their Disney careers. All of these people are what make Disney, well...Disney. Their 1-5 minute interactions here and there made our trip, and reinforced our belief that becoming DVC members is a great investment for our family.

Walk Times:

• Carriage House/Main Lobby/Springs Pool: 5 minutes
• Disney Springs entrance: 17 minutes
• Disney Springs by boat: 5 minute walk then 5 minute boat. You may have to wait a few minutes for the boat though as they run every 15-20 minutes.

Cons:

• Transportation - Getting to and from the parks isn't the easiest, quickest, or most fun for kids as buses are your only option, and there are a handful of bus stops at Saratoga Springs, which adds to the time spent getting to the parks.
• Iced Coffee - It's Florida. It's HOT out. Disney needs to offer better iced coffee than this stuff they've got today. I don't need a Starbucks iced Frappuccino with whipped cream, salted caramel nuggets, and unicorn sprinkles, but for God's sake can a man get a decent iced coffee with maybe like 2 flavored creamers to choose from?

Pros: Literally everything else. This vacation with a toddler and an infant was a dream. No place else on earth would have made this vacation as enjoyable as it was.

Can't wait until points are loaded into our account in a few weeks, and we can start planning our next DVC vacation.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

We enjoyed our stay there, too. DS golfed and liked the course. We also actually biked through there once from OKW over to DS and it was a really nice, relaxing ride. We enjoyed Artist’s Palette and thought it was better than some of the quick service locations at other Disney resorts. Glad you liked the Paddock area, and good to know. (We were in Grandstand and it wasn’t bad, a relatively quick walk over to the Carriage House. The one thing we were surprised about when we were there was that the boat to DS was shut down by 8pm. Idk if that’s the norm but it seemed early.

 

[mz-s]

I know you flew and coming from PA will likely fly most of the time (I would) but keep in mind that you can park for free at the parks if you drive in the future (or fly and rent a car etc). That can take the sting out of staying at a "far away" resort like SSR.

 

[hockeydad21]

I know you flew and coming from PA will likely fly most of the time (I would) but keep in mind that you can park for free at the parks if you drive in the future (or fly and rent a car etc). That can take the sting out of staying at a "far away" resort like SSR.

100% agree. We’ll probably rent a car for the next few years because of young kids/car seats, so SSR’s location really won’t affect my family should we stay there in the near future. For other families though, it most definitely could be a negative.

 

[john7994]

Just came back from a Disney trip last week - stayed in the Treehouse Villas. Also, we stayed in the Congress park buildings this past January. Both visits were perfect as were the rooms. Like many others who have posted, don't really understand the hate this resort gets, but that's ok because there are rooms available at some pretty decent times of the year - so great for me and easy on the points!

I agree the transportation may not be ideal, but we drive to WDW and rideshare everywhere anyway. Observationally, the busses appear to run like clockwork and the few folks I spoke with seemed ok with the arrangement. The sprawling nature of the complex will certainly not be to everyone's taste, but I found the grounds relaxing and picturesque. As mentioned, I think the staff here is top-notch maybe only rivaled by the flagship GF resort.

One last thought, since I golf, I like hanging out for a cocktail or two by the pro-shop and they have some pretty decent merchandise - often they are running sales (yes, I said sales on Disney merch) - last week it was buy one and get a second for 50% off - this was on Adidas and Peter Millar Polos along with other brands - 2 Polos and 4 hats later - I was pretty happy to have stopped by.

 

[Bmramaut]

Just came back from a Disney trip last week - stayed in the Treehouse Villas. Also, we stayed in the Congress park buildings this past January. Both visits were perfect as were the rooms. Like many others who have posted, don't really understand the hate this resort gets, but that's ok because there are rooms available at some pretty decent times of the year - so great for me and easy on the points!

I agree the transportation may not be ideal, but we drive to WDW and rideshare everywhere anyway. Observationally, the busses appear to run like clockwork and the few folks I spoke with seemed ok with the arrangement. The sprawling nature of the complex will certainly not be to everyone's taste, but I found the grounds relaxing and picturesque. As mentioned, I think the staff here is top-notch maybe only rivaled by the flagship GF resort.

One last thought, since I golf, I like hanging out for a cocktail or two by the pro-shop and they have some pretty decent merchandise - often they are running sales (yes, I said sales on Disney merch) - last week it was buy one and get a second for 50% off - this was on Adidas and Peter Millar Polos along with other brands - 2 Polos and 4 hats later - I was pretty happy to have stopped by.

How was bus transportation for staying in the treehouses?

I think the treehouses are under going hard refurb soon and I’m glad I own SSR because of that. Great option for bring family along and I think they will be beautiful post refurb. They did an amazing job with the rest of the villas.

 

[nlenguyen]

SSR is our first home resort. We stayed there in January and absolutely loved it. We were in the farthest room in the Grandstand and took a while to walk anywhere, but that did not seem like it really affected any of our plans.
While the main pool was closed, we did do the Paddock Pool and really liked it there. Surprisingly in January it was not too cold to swim

 

[bobbiwoz]

@hockeydad21 what a nice review! Glad your trip was so great!

 

[peabody58]

So glad you enjoyed SSR. We own at BLT and BWV, but have stayed at SSR 3 times and have enjoyed every trip. We prefer the Grandstand area for busses and walking to DS. SSR remains a hidden jewel that has a lot to offer. It's a perfect non-park vacation location.

 

[DVCSunDevil]

I'm going to start off by saying I'm new to the DVC owners community (in the process of purchasing a resale poly contract for 330 points closing in mid April 2023), but I am very familiar with DVC overall as I have done extensive research over the past 2-3 years.

• Family overview - my wife and I have 2 kids (2 year old girl and 3 month old boy), and plan to occasionally have family members tag along with us from time to time.
• Reason for joining DVC - with little kids, nap times, and just really wanting our space, we knew that staying in a villa was going to be our only realistic option moving forward. Spring 2022 we decided to stay at a Marriott 3 bedroom villa in the Disney World area, and despite loving the proximity to Disney Springs and the parks, we knew it wasn't for us. Downsides were the pools were on the boring side for kids, staff that doesn't go above and beyond for their guests, and they didn't really have anywhere to eat (not even a pool bar/restaurant) unless you wanted to cook all of your own meals or get delivery. Personally, I don't want to cook while on vacation. These factors were enough to push us in the direction of joining DVC.

So to my review...this was a complete last second trip. I was browsing confirmed reservations on the internet for fun, and I came across a 4 night stay at Saratoga Springs in a 1 bedroom villa (standard view) for $11 per point. There was only one catch...the reservation was in 3 days....and we live in Philadelphia! This would take a miracle to pull off with 2 young kids, but we found some direct flights that worked timing and price-wise, so we pulled the trigger! No days at the park, just 3.5 days hanging at the pool and enjoying the Disney bubble.

Flight and rental car went as smoothly as one could hope. Got to Saratoga Springs around 5:30pm. Disappointed to see we still didn't have a room assignment via the app, but I think it worked out for the best because they gave us a few options when we went to the front desk: 1) the furthest building at Grandstand, 2) the furthest building at The Paddock, or 3) the building next to the Paddock pool. Easiest decision of my life, next to the Paddock pool (room 5714) it was! This worked out amazingly well especially with a toddler and infant.

The resort: absolutely incredible. I can't believe people are so quick to highlight any negatives about it, which to be fair there is 1 that stands out. It can be inconvenient if you're doing a very park heavy trip, but if you're doing more of a resort vacation then I think this should be pretty close to the top of your list. We walked and boated over to Disney Springs twice. Walking from our hotel room to DS took 17 minutes, which was actually faster than waiting for the boat the one time. But our daughter loved the boat ride, so we'll count that as a win. The grounds are spectacular - beautiful, quiet, and sprawling, which is a nice change from the majority of Disney resorts. Great if you like to run, walk, or just to get some peace and quiet from time to time.

The room: beautiful, well decorated, quiet, functional, and the murphy beds were incredibly comfortable and easy to set up/stow away. I'm not going to lie, for the first day or 2 I was beyond confused by the maze of doors in the bathroom area, but then it began to grow on me as I imagined how nice it could be to have some privacy with as families grow. It could probably benefit from swapping out one of the doors for a sliding door to make it a little less confusing, but I'll let Disney slide on that one (dad joke).

The pools: These pools are fantastic, and 2 of them can go toe to toe with any of Disney resort pools, unless of course you are a Storm Along Bay diehard.

• High Rock Springs Pool (main pool)- opened 2 days into our stay, and we did like it. It was nice how spread out it felt. At no point did you really feel like you were on top of people in either the pool or on your lounge chair because the entire area is quite large. Nice kids slide, mediocre splash pad, but my daughter loved the zero entry with the fountains shooting water into the pool.
• The Paddock Pool - arguably the best pool at Saratoga Springs. The kids' play area/slide/splash pad was better here than at main pool, loved the zero entry, and the water slide here is actually better than the main pool's slide as well. HUGE fans of the paddock, and would request this section again because of it if staying in a standard view.
• The Grandstand - nice how close it is to the main pool, but not a huge fan other than that. They have a nice splash pad, but there's nothing there for the kids to climb on or slide down. No zero entry on the pool, which is a huge negative with young kids.
• Did not do the Congress Park pool or the Treehouse pool, so can't comment on them.

The food: Good to very good.

• The Paddock Grille for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. All meals were good to great, but the highlight for me was their fried chicken sandwich, which is the best fried chicken sandwich I've ever eaten anywhere. It's borderline criminal that Disney doesn't offer this exact chicken sandwich at all of their quick service locations at resorts and the parks. It's that good!
• Artist's Palette for breakfast and lunch. Breakfast was good overall, but nothing to write home about. My wife's bacon and caramelized onion quiche was probably the best of the bunch. Lunch was better in my opinion. The pulled pork with coleslaw was fantastic, but messy. I couldn't bring myself to order the cheesesteak after seeing pictures of it. Someone from Philly needs to give them a cooking class because that. my friends, is not a Philly cheesesteak.
• Was miraculously able to snag a reservation at The Boathouse in Disney Springs. Ordered a few cocktails, the ahi tuna for the wife, and the ribeye for myself. All fantastic. Highly recommend getting yourself a reservation here if you can find one and if it's in the budget. Definitely our most expensive meal by about 2.5x.
• Yesake in Disney Springs was a last second decision, and we're glad we did it. Their poke bowls were very tasty, very fresh, very fast, and very affordable. Great decision to come here if you don't have a reservation and are looking for something, fast, affordable, and healthy.

The staff: Absolutely incredible from start to finish. Day 1 w asked for a full size crib and a pack and play to be delivered to our room, and it was there within 60 minutes. The lifeguards (shoutout to Abby and Sydney) were incredible. Anytime my daughter was even the slightest bit upset, they were right there to cheer her up with a sticker, a ball, or small pool toy. The servers were great as well - very kind and genuinely showed an interest in hearing about our family as well as telling us about their Disney careers. All of these people are what make Disney, well...Disney. Their 1-5 minute interactions here and there made our trip, and reinforced our belief that becoming DVC members is a great investment for our family.

Cons:

• Transportation - Getting to and from the parks isn't the easiest, quickest, or most fun for kids as buses are your only option, and there are a handful of bus stops at Saratoga Springs, which adds to the time spent getting to the parks.
• Iced Coffee - It's Florida. It's HOT out. Disney needs to offer better iced coffee than this stuff they've got today. I don't need a Starbucks iced Frappuccino with whipped cream, salted caramel nuggets, and unicorn sprinkles, but for God's sake can a man get a decent iced coffee with maybe like 2 flavored creamers to choose from?

Pros: Literally everything else. This vacation with a toddler and an infant was a dream. No place else on earth would have made this vacation as enjoyable as it was.

Can't wait until points are loaded into our account in a few weeks, and we can start planning our next DVC vacation.

What a fun, last minute trip! I haven't stayed at SS yet, but you make a really good point about it being perfect for resort only stays. The proximity to DS is perfect. And we hit Boathouse every time we go to WDW. I love having a few cocktails while sitting outside. It's a fun spot to eat. Thanks for the heads up on Yesake...we have never been and my 16 year old LOVES poke. It is now on my to-do list for our next trip.

It's funny you mentioned your Marriott experience being a driving factor for your decision to join DVC. Last year we did a split stay that included the Hilton by DS (I redeemed points, so why not right?). The vibe of the Hilton was NOTHING like the Disney resorts. Thank goodness the two nights at the Hilton were on the front end of the trip, because ending there would have been a terrible way to end the trip. It was so bland and the service was terrible. So going from there to the Poly was like a breath of fresh air. I will never stay at a non-Disney resort again (which makes sense considering I am a DVC owner, lol). That might sound snobby, but whatever. I just want to be in the "bubble" when I am in WDW.

Good luck on your closing!

 

[purpliequeen]

Thanks for your review. SSR is our home resort and the renovation has put it leagues beyond where it used to be. We also LOVE the proximity to Disney Springs - which has been such a welcome improvement to the Downtown Disney that we had when we originally bought our SSR contract. Welcome to the DVC family and cheers to many more fantastic stays!

 

[justadreamaway77]

I know you flew and coming from PA will likely fly most of the time (I would) but keep in mind that you can park for free at the parks if you drive in the future (or fly and rent a car etc). That can take the sting out of staying at a "far away" resort like SSR.

We like to have a few cocktails at the parks so that never works for us. I don't mind the buses, they are in all my childhood memories and that first bus ride for every trip is joy for me.

 

[Jack Kerouac]

I'm going to start off by saying I'm new to the DVC owners community (in the process of purchasing a resale poly contract for 330 points closing in mid April 2023), but I am very familiar with DVC overall as I have done extensive research over the past 2-3 years.

• Family overview - my wife and I have 2 kids (2 year old girl and 3 month old boy), and plan to occasionally have family members tag along with us from time to time.
• Reason for joining DVC - with little kids, nap times, and just really wanting our space, we knew that staying in a villa was going to be our only realistic option moving forward. Spring 2022 we decided to stay at a Marriott 3 bedroom villa in the Disney World area, and despite loving the proximity to Disney Springs and the parks, we knew it wasn't for us. Downsides were the pools were on the boring side for kids, staff that doesn't go above and beyond for their guests, and they didn't really have anywhere to eat (not even a pool bar/restaurant) unless you wanted to cook all of your own meals or get delivery. Personally, I don't want to cook while on vacation. These factors were enough to push us in the direction of joining DVC.

So to my review...this was a complete last second trip. I was browsing confirmed reservations on the internet for fun, and I came across a 4 night stay at Saratoga Springs in a 1 bedroom villa (standard view) for $11 per point. There was only one catch...the reservation was in 3 days....and we live in Philadelphia! This would take a miracle to pull off with 2 young kids, but we found some direct flights that worked timing and price-wise, so we pulled the trigger! No days at the park, just 3.5 days hanging at the pool and enjoying the Disney bubble.

Flight and rental car went as smoothly as one could hope. Got to Saratoga Springs around 5:30pm. Disappointed to see we still didn't have a room assignment via the app, but I think it worked out for the best because they gave us a few options when we went to the front desk: 1) the furthest building at Grandstand, 2) the furthest building at The Paddock, or 3) the building next to the Paddock pool. Easiest decision of my life, next to the Paddock pool (room 5714) it was! This worked out amazingly well especially with a toddler and infant.

The resort: absolutely incredible. I can't believe people are so quick to highlight any negatives about it, which to be fair there is 1 that stands out. It can be inconvenient if you're doing a very park heavy trip, but if you're doing more of a resort vacation then I think this should be pretty close to the top of your list. We walked and boated over to Disney Springs twice. Walking from our hotel room to DS took 17 minutes, which was actually faster than waiting for the boat the one time. But our daughter loved the boat ride, so we'll count that as a win. The grounds are spectacular - beautiful, quiet, and sprawling, which is a nice change from the majority of Disney resorts. Great if you like to run, walk, or just to get some peace and quiet from time to time.

The room: beautiful, well decorated, quiet, functional, and the murphy beds were incredibly comfortable and easy to set up/stow away. I'm not going to lie, for the first day or 2 I was beyond confused by the maze of doors in the bathroom area, but then it began to grow on me as I imagined how nice it could be to have some privacy with as families grow. It could probably benefit from swapping out one of the doors for a sliding door to make it a little less confusing, but I'll let Disney slide on that one (dad joke).

The pools: These pools are fantastic, and 2 of them can go toe to toe with any of the Disney resort pools, unless of course you are a Storm Along Bay diehard.

• High Rock Springs Pool (main pool)- opened 2 days into our stay, and we did like it. It was nice how spread out it felt. At no point did you really feel like you were on top of people in either the pool or on your lounge chair because the entire area is quite large. Nice kids slide, mediocre splash pad, but my daughter loved the zero entry with the fountains shooting water into the pool.
• The Paddock Pool - arguably the best pool at Saratoga Springs. The kids' play area/slide/splash pad was better here than at main pool, loved the zero entry, and the water slide here is actually better than the main pool's slide as well. HUGE fans of the paddock, and would request this section again because of it if staying in a standard view.
• The Grandstand - nice how close it is to the main pool, but not a huge fan other than that. They have a nice splash pad, but there's nothing there for the kids to climb on or slide down. No zero entry on the pool, which is a huge negative with young kids.
• Did not do the Congress Park pool or the Treehouse pool, so can't comment on them.

The food: Good to very good.

• The Paddock Grille for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. All meals were good to great, but the highlight for me was their fried chicken sandwich, which is the best fried chicken sandwich I've ever eaten anywhere. It's borderline criminal that Disney doesn't offer this exact chicken sandwich at all of their quick service locations at resorts and the parks. It's that good!
• Artist's Palette for breakfast and lunch. Breakfast was good overall, but nothing to write home about. My wife's bacon and caramelized onion quiche was probably the best of the bunch. Lunch was better in my opinion. The pulled pork with coleslaw was fantastic, but messy. I couldn't bring myself to order the cheesesteak after seeing pictures of it. Someone from Philly needs to give them a cooking class because that. my friends, is not a Philly cheesesteak.
• Was miraculously able to snag a reservation at The Boathouse in Disney Springs. Ordered a few cocktails, the ahi tuna for the wife, and the ribeye for myself. All fantastic. Highly recommend getting yourself a reservation here if you can find one and if it's in the budget. Definitely our most expensive meal by about 2.5x.
• Yesake in Disney Springs was a last second decision, and we're glad we did it. Their poke bowls were very tasty, very fresh, very fast, and very affordable. Great decision to come here if you don't have a reservation and are looking for something, fast, affordable, and healthy.

The staff: Absolutely incredible from start to finish. Day 1 w asked for a full size crib and a pack and play to be delivered to our room, and it was there within 60 minutes. The lifeguards (shoutout to Abby and Sydney) were incredible. Anytime my daughter was even the slightest bit upset, they were right there to cheer her up with a sticker, a ball, or small pool toy. The servers were great as well - very kind and genuinely showed an interest in hearing about our family as well as telling us about their Disney careers. All of these people are what make Disney, well...Disney. Their 1-5 minute interactions here and there made our trip, and reinforced our belief that becoming DVC members is a great investment for our family.

Cons:

• Transportation - Getting to and from the parks isn't the easiest, quickest, or most fun for kids as buses are your only option, and there are a handful of bus stops at Saratoga Springs, which adds to the time spent getting to the parks.
• Iced Coffee - It's Florida. It's HOT out. Disney needs to offer better iced coffee than this stuff they've got today. I don't need a Starbucks iced Frappuccino with whipped cream, salted caramel nuggets, and unicorn sprinkles, but for God's sake can a man get a decent iced coffee with maybe like 2 flavored creamers to choose from?

Pros: Literally everything else. This vacation with a toddler and an infant was a dream. No place else on earth would have made this vacation as enjoyable as it was.

Can't wait until points are loaded into our account in a few weeks, and we can start planning our next DVC vacation.

Congrats on the Poly resale contract! We just bought Poly resale late last year after realizing we wanted our boys (8, 5, and 3) to experience WDW every year. Our first trip is in 78 days (7 nights in Poly LV and 2 at AKV-K 1BR Savanna). We are also planning trips for January and May/June, both of which we are looking at possibly staying at SSR for a portion of one or both, so thank you for the really great review!

 

[kes601]

Was miraculously able to snag a reservation at The Boathouse in Disney Springs.

Tip on The Boathouse piece. Use OpenTable. Disney doesn't have very many of their reservation slots. It's typically wide open on OpenTable.

 

[Ellester]

We love SSR, first visited when we bought in in 2006 and our family has grown up there. Kids were 8, 5, and 2 our first trip and will be 25, 22, 19 and 14 (added a kid since our first DVC trip ). Definitely a great resort when you have littles and also when they grow up and can go to Disney Springs by themselves! We have a quick one night stay next month on our way to visit family in SoFl and are looking forward to seeing the refurbished rooms. We’ve enjoyed stays at VWL, AKL, OKW and HHI over the years but SSR is probably my favorite at WDW (Hilton Head is amazing as well, great for families). Glad you enjoyed your first DVC visit! Welcome to the family!

 

[Dotluvsdisney]

Great find! Cheers to you pulling that off. We bought Poly resale after renting points too. We just stayed with our teens and it was wonderful! Enjoy your future trips!

 

[AnnaS]

A great and successful last minute trip. Thank you for sharing!

Congrats on your Poly points!! Enjoy them!

 

[DisneyRegulars]

Tip on The Boathouse piece. Use OpenTable. Disney doesn't have very many of their reservation slots. It's typically wide open on OpenTable.

This is what I had to do for my recent trip. Zero open slots for my entire week 60 days out. Open table had a bazillion.

 

[Travel60]

Glad you had a great trip! We own at HHI, which we love, but do 4-6 week snowbird trips to WDW each January/February. Our go-tos are 1 BR at SS or OKW. No parks (unless grandkids come for a weekend). We love SS for the reasons you mentioned.

Just last night I booked 6 nights in 2 BR at SS for Columbus Day weekend when grands will come. We will do one park day, maybe one non-Disney park day. The rest will be walks, Disney Springs (movies, bowling, etc), boat rides, pools.

I know you mentioned flying. Look into the Auto-Train. You drive from Philly to Norton, VA (just south of D.C.), leave late afternoon, arrive in Sanford, FL after breakfast (just north of Orlando). You have your own car and don't have to worry about car seats in rentals, etc. And, pack all you want. We've done it for 30 years in a family room. They had some operational issues over the winter but hopefully working that out. Pricing is based on time of year (more $$ going south in winter when everyone is going south, cheaper going north or in summer). But, price might compare to flying 4 people plus a rental car.

Enjoy!

 

[erinch]

Loved your report!
Also a fan of the auto train. We live in Lancaster. Great way to get to FL.
OT: I’ll be in Philly in 2 weeks. Center city. Best cheesesteak?