Just Back. Some Observations/Concerns

[JimFitz]

Just returned from WDW. We spent three nights in a 1bdrm at OKW (Home Resort) and loved it. We then spent 8 nights in a 2Bdrm at SSR, it should have been 10 nights but we left early to get away from Wilma.

First off, the trip was great. Parks were somewhat crowded, but we walked onto alot of rides and FastPassed the ones we could not walk on. We did MNSSHP and were not impressed, it was fun, but not upto my expectations. Maybe we will try it again in a few years when the boys are older ( 3 boys under 3 makes for tough times late at night in the parks). The buses were excellent and I am now a Disney transportation convert!!

Some things we did and loved:
1. Biergarten Buffet in Germany. Great show and great atmosphere.
2. Boma for dinner.
3. The Usual Crystal Palace breakfast.
4. Chef Mickey's for Dinner. I thought the food was excellent.
5. Rode the Great Movie Ride for the first time in MGM. Loved IT!!

We did many other things, and I will have a trip report up soon.

We have now stayed at VWL, OKW, and SSR. OKW is by far our favorite. The room size beats the other resorts hands down. Olivias is excellent, and the ferry to DTD is great. OKW was very relaxing.

SSR is beautiful. We were in the Springs and close to the Main Pool. Artist Palette is nice, but the lunch is horrible. I mean if I am paying $8 for a turkey sandwich, give me real turkey!! I don't like that fake turkey they serve, it taste like rubber. They have a great breakfast and dinner, but lunch is lacking.

One thing that really bothered me was the type of people we encountered while at SSR. We came across alot of "Trashy" people while at SSR. One woman sat by the pool cursing all day and smoking and she was allowing her kids to eat in the pool!!! I noticed some families talking about renting, and one woman said "Disney is nuts if they want $15,000 out of me, when I can rent points from members!" This really bothered me. I am not a snob by any means, and we did meet many nice people at SSR, but there were some people at the main pool that just turned me off to DVC completely. I actually commented to my wife that we should consider selling and just rent when we want to.

SSR is going to have many many members that will be renting points all the time.

 

[littlestar]

I don't think renting DVC points is what I would call a "cheap" vacation. Most people that would go to Disney cheap would probably stay off site on a priceline deal, etc., for around $30 to $50 a night. Even renting a studio at Saratoga from a member would still run around $110 a night Sunday through Thursday in low season - I would think. And I don't think "poor" necessarily means trashy. I've met some pretty rude/boozing/let my kids run wild with no concern for others at the Yacht Club, believe me. Probably my worst stay for adults behaving badly was at the Yacht and Beach or watching a guest jump on a cast member at the Grand Floridian - it wasn't pretty. I think society in general has lost a lot of their manners. Sometimes the wealthiest are real stinkers.

Just chalk it up to bad luck.

On a side note, my brother was teasing me on our big family trip in September. He said he thought about walking into the lobby at BWV with high water pants and mismatched clothing and saying real loud, "hey, where's the free stuff, my sister is a member of this here DVC and I want what's coming to me on this trip." Yes, I would tie him up and gag him if he tried it

 

[JimFitz]

Don't get me wrong, when I say trashy, I don't mean poor. For all I know, these people could have had "boat loads" of money. I just found some peoples behavior very disturbing while I was at the main pool.

 

[ddave]

One thing that really bothered me was the type of people we encountered while at SSR. We came across alot of "Trashy" people while at SSR. One woman sat by the pool cursing all day and smoking and she was allowing her kids to eat in the pool!!! I noticed some families talking about renting, and one woman said "Disney is nuts if they want $15,000 out of me, when I can rent points from members!" This really bothered me. I am not a snob by any means, and we did meet many nice people at SSR, but there were some people at the main pool that just turned me off to DVC completely. I actually commented to my wife that we should consider selling and just rent when we want to.

SSR is going to have many many members that will be renting points all the time.

Very easy to fix! Don't allow renting!

 

[Beca]

Jim,

I think you are "dead on"....there are going to be a lot of SSR owners (for a while, anyway) who bought and might be having "buyer's remorse....they say it happens when every new resort opens. They will be renting their points, and between their home advantage being at SSR, and with SSR being the largest, and therefore the last to fill....a lot of renters will end up at SSR, while I think more members will be filling the other resorts.

I am not saying that no members are trashy, and all renters are....in many cases, it could be the opposite....but, I think most owners tend to feel fondly and sometimes protective over their "home" (don't mess with my BCV ). I know if I was at BCV and saw/heard that...I would be REALLY grumpy, and possibly mean!! That behaviour is unacceptable!!

I would think DVC would really crack down on that, since their models are there. Can you imagine what a propsective buyer would've thought if they had seen that?!!



Beca

 

[oogsdaughter]

Don't get me wrong, when I say trashy, I don't mean poor. For all I know, these people could have had "boat loads" of money. I just found some peoples behavior very disturbing while I was at the main pool.

I would bet if you stay at any resort, DVC or not, enough you will see some disturbing behaviors eventually. It's more chance than SSR, IMO.

 

[manning]

. I've met some pretty rude/boozing/let my kids run wild with no concern for others at the Yacht Club, believe me.
Just chalk it up to bad luck.

You must have run into one of my wife's nieces. They don't booze, but the kids are awful. and they think they are angels. The other niece's kids are almost as bad. She says her kids are difficult to handle. The nieces handicap is their mother who said when raising them " I am going to teach my kids to get what they can." They never got the chance to learn good parenting skills. It is showing. The sad thing is this is happening more and more now.

 

[simpilotswife]

I would bet if you stay at any resort, DVC or not, enough you will see some disturbing behaviors eventually. It's more chance than SSR, IMO.

 

[jarestel]

At this point in time renting points for a vacation is by far a better deal ( short term ) than purchasing outright. No dues, no long term committment to WDW, no large sums of cash being tied up... As long as members are willing to rent for low prices just to cover dues or even worse, to avoid losing points that are about to expire, renting is a very smart thing to do for folks who want the DVC experience without any of the responsibilities.

 

[cobbler]

Wow, I do agree that you could see them anywhere but the other side about seeing more because of it being new and a lot of renters kind of gets to me. I really hope not and hope that people that buy into SSR aren't looked upon as the lower class DVC

We bought into it not only for the great deal but because we loved it when we toured. Sure I want to try others but we had a lot of pros for wanting to buy at SSR then other resorts.

OP-
Glad you had a wonderful time besides. How was Biergarten? We are going to try it for this next trip!

 

[granmanh603]

It 's funny you should mention this thing about renting. We just stayed at OKW OCT 5 thru 15 and the majority of people I talked to or met were not DVC members....this is the first time this has happened and since 2000 we have stayed 2 X a year for roughly 2 weeks each stay at all resorts except BCV.

 

[Amy&Dan]

We just returned from six nights at SSR and had the exact opposite experience. Maybe we got lucky. We didn't go to the main pool once, we were in the Paddock and had a quiet pool right next to our building. As soon as we saw it had a hot tub we knew we wouldn't bother with the Springs too much. The day we arrived the main pool was so packed it turned us off. As for the class of people we saw nothing but nice, normal folks. Now bear in mind we had come from two nights at All Star Sports. I love the All Stars because my kids have so much fun and they are adorable but there are some scary people there. Checking in on a Friday afternoon at around 5:00 p.m. was like being in the middle of a White Trash Family Reunion. Checking in to SSR at 11:30 the following Sunday was a breath of fresh air. I also think a lot of people may rent points because they have family members who are DVC and they want to stay at the same resort. We talked to several people who were renting points for that very reason and acted like they wanted to buy into DVC they were enjoying it so much. Unfortunately, you can run into nasty, trashy people anywhere. Hopefully our next experience at SSR in January and then BWV in April will be as positive as this one.

 

[Sammie]

I don't think it is any more the renters than it's a general decline in manners in general. As stated I seen this behavior at all resorts and everyday.

 

[Simba's Mom]

Very easy to fix! Don't allow renting!

Even though lots of people do it, is renting technically not allowed by DVC? I thought I heard that a few years ago. Or maybe it was just wishful thinking on someone's part.

 

[OneMoreTry]

By your definition of "trashy people" I see them most everywhere I go. All over WDW and everywhere else. I call it inconsiderate. It's up to WDW to control that behavior the best they can. Usually they're pretty good at it, but "trashy people" will usually run to lawyers if you try to get them to be considerate.

At the very least we can hope for karma to do its job.

 

[Blue&Gold]

If you stopped renting you would be changing the economics of the DVC investment. (And I don't mean investment in the sense of trying to make money, I mean in the sense of justifying my outlay.) I have yet to rent, have no plans to rent, but feel that the option to rent out if years come where I can't use the points helped justify my risk in committing a chunk of $$$.

 

[jonestavern]

At the very least we can hope for karma to do its job.

and very quickly, please!

Jean

 

[Montana Disney Fan]

We were there the exact same dates as you Jim!

Maybe it was those trashy folks who follow Tiger Woods around

Almost everywhere we've gone in WDW over the past 8 years we've encountered "these" types of people. The "pool people" seem to be the worst. They're there because someone gave them the room or they inherited it or won it on Wheel of Fortune or whatever and won't spend the money on park tickets so they camp the pool with Pringles, a six-pack, and a carton of non filtered Camels.

A good way to get rid of them is to splash water at them continuously even after they've asked you to stop and threaten your life.

15 "cannon balls" in a row near their seating area sometimes works.

Another good trick is to lay down next to them, look over and ask, "Could you please pull my finger"?

Tell them that Apocalypse Now is your all time favorite movie then quote lines from the movie to them for the next hour.


I dunno, just some random thought...

 

[LeCras]

Montana Disney Fan, it's a good thing I wasn't drinking anything when I read your post - I nearly choked on my chewing gum!!

Charlotte

 

[LIFERBABE]

Almost everywhere we've gone in WDW over the past 8 years we've encountered "these" types of people. The "pool people" seem to be the worst. They're there because someone gave them the room or they inherited it or won it on Wheel of Fortune or whatever and won't spend the money on park tickets so they camp the pool with Pringles, a six-pack, and a carton of non filtered Camels.

I am not kidding! I met these people last summer at BCV! We were in the shallow area and she was going on and on how they come every year, don't visit the parks and hang out at SAB all day! She was a member, but she brings the whole family, (smoking, drinking, and beer endorsing bikini's).

"Pool People" that is too funny!

The "hot" rental property is not SSR. Just check the Rent/Trade boards.