SSR in the Summertime, a TR by wdrl and denlo

[denlo]

Have you been out at 6:30 a.m. yet? Because this time of year, I imagine anyone trying to run much later is passed out in the foliage!

Denlo your pics are freaking me out. You resemble someone I know, but I can't put my finger on who it is...You don't have family in the NJ/PA/NY area, do you???

We have been up at 6:30 AM but haven't gone for walks that early. We keep meaning too but I have to do a breathing treatment each morning and it delays our getting out. So it's possible we're missing the runners/joggers.

No relatives to my knowledge in that area. I just have one of those faces that reminds people of someone.

[wdrl]

Day 9 - Monday, 8/6

Another slow day in paradise. We spent the day at SSR's Paddock Pool. The SSR laundry rooms are located near the pools, so we did a couple loads while sitting by the pool. There are only two washers and four dryers at the Paddock laundry room, but the guests ahead of us quickly moved their items in and out of the washers and dryers, so we hardly had to wait before we got to use the facilities.

We got to Paddock Pool before 9:00 AM and had our choice of seats. Breakfast is offered at the Paddock Snack Bar and we got a couple of danishes. We sat back and read while doing our laundry. Since SSR has a horse racing theme, we brought some of our Dick Francis mysteries to read on this trip. Dick Francis was a British steeple horse jockey and most of his mysteries involve horses and horse racing.

Here are the Breakfast menu and Lunch menu at the Paddock Pool Snack Bar:






There are several umbrellas around the pool that provide some shade and there are several tables that are shaded throughout the day. By noon time, most of the chairs were in use and there were lots of guests enjoying the pool and water slide. We went in and out of the pool, and then had some lunch. Denlo had the Chicken Chop Salad which was really good. I had the Angus Bacon Burger. It, too, was good but filling.

Lots of shady spots near the snack bar:




The pool games started about 1:00 PM with lots of little kids participating. For the first time ever, we saw a Disney lifeguard jump in the pool. He wasn't trying to rescue anyone though. The kids were doing a noodle relay race across the width of the pool. One team had a little girl, maybe 4 years old, that was competing against much bigger kids. She was so far behind in the race that the lifeguard jumped in the pool and gave her a boost. BTW: The lifeguard was an extra lifeguard that was watching the pool game; the other lifeguard stations at the pool were fully manned at all times.

We went back to our villa, showered and relaxed a bit more before driving over to Hollywood Studios around 5:00 PM. Just as we opened the car door, there was a big clap of thunder. When we got to DHS, we saw them stocking rain ponchos at one of the gift kiosks. I ask the CM if she was expecting it to rain, but she said no, "these are special ponchos for sun protection." We ended up feeling a few drops of rain during our stay, but not enough to need our ponchos.

DHS was much more crowded than what we see in the morning hours. Tower of Terror had a 100 minute wait, Toy Story Mania had a 120 minute wait, and Star Tours had a 60 minute wait. We got FastPasses for Star Tours and used our special gift FP to ride TSM. I actually topped 150,000 points on TSM, and we went to Hoth (my favorite) and Coruscant on TSM. We walked around a bit and ran into Captain Hook and Mr. Smee before they got ready for the Fantasmic Show later that night.




One thing I like about DHS is interacting with the Hollywood "citizens." However, it doesn't look like they come out and play in the evening

We couldn't decide where or what to eat tonight, so we went back to SSR and just ate some popcorn in our villa.

One thing I like about BLT is that the villas and common areas have several hidden Mickeys and Disney artwork. Here at SSR, we have only noticed two hidden Mickeys in our villa:

A hidden Mickey in the sofa fabric:



And a hidden Mickey on either side beneath the bathroom vanity:




Coming Up: Epcot, Teppan Edo, and the story behind Bullseye's run for the roses.

[nono]

No relatives to my knowledge in that area. I just have one of those faces that reminds people of someone.

It's your smile. And, I figured it out overnight. You look like a friend of ours who lives right near Atlantic City -- her name is Carolyn, and she's a lovely woman!

[denlo]

It's your smile. And, I figured it out overnight. You look like a friend of ours who lives right near Atlantic City -- her name is Carolyn, and she's a lovely woman!

Glad you figured it out. It's nice to know I remind you of a friend.

[wdrl]

Day 10 - Tuesday, 8/07


Today's events were centered around our 3:40 reservation at Teppan Edo. We took it easy, sleeping in until almost 8:00 AM. About 11:00 AM, we started getting hungry, but didn't want to have a big lunch because we were going to have a big dinner in just a few hours. We decided to see if there were anything to snack on at Artist's Palette, so we walked over to the Carriage House.

One complaint I've heard about SSR is that it is so large and spread out that its a long walk to get anywhere. I suppose there is some truth to it, but its less than a 5 minute walk from our building in the Paddock section to Artist's Palette. Of course, I'm not pushing a stroller and coaxing some tired 5 year olds to get moving, so it might turn out to be a 20 minute walk for some.

Along the walk, we took some photos for our friend Dorothy. She loves wildlife and flowers and sometimes posts pretty (and pretty obscure) photos of animals and plants on the "Where in the World is Waldo" thread. Here are a couple we took during our walk from the Paddock to the Springs:







Artist's Palette has some good food, but I think its a bit small for the size of the resort. The food orders move fairly quickly but there is a line during the peak times. This photo was taken at noontime.



If you prefer, you can get some food, drinks, and snacks for your villa.








Every day, Artist's Palette has a ceremony to celebrate Bullseye's latest race. As if by magic, Bullseye seems to win every day! I guess it helps to be able to ride like the wind. The CMs in the gift store select a guest to be Artist's Palette's Jockey of the Day, who then has the honor of putting a blanket of roses on Bullseye.






We drove over to Epcot about 1:00 PM. The FastPasses for Soarin' were already gone and the stand-by line was 140 minutes, so we decided to just walk around World Showcase. When we got to Canada, Off Kilter was just starting their set. But there were no seats in the shade, so we moved on to the United Kingdom.

Canada's Off Kilter:



There are some London 2012 Olympic souvenirs for sale in the UK gift shop. It looks like one of Mike Wazowski's English cousins has landed a job as the Olympic mascot:




After doing some people watching in France, we headed over to Japan to see if Teppan Edo could seat us early. They did, and we had a good meal. Teppan Edo is one of our favorite restaurants, but it doesn't honor the Tables in Wonderland card. Instead, it gave us a 10% discount because of our Annual Pass.

Teppan Edo:




After our late lunch, we decided to return to SSR and hit the pool. As we were leaving Epcot, I bought a mystery pin box of Disney pins called 'Animation Art.' Each box has two pins. The set has 42 pins of Disney characters plus 42 chaser pins that match the character pins. I had already bought two boxes earlier in the trip, and it seems like only the Epcot Pin Center store carries those boxes.

We have three character pins - Minnie, Jasmine, and Jack Skellington - and the chaser pin for Cruella DeVil, which is the pin in the lower right of this photo. You can see by the page that comes in each box that this is a very large pin set.




Just as we walked into our villa, it started to rain, and rain some more. No pool time tonight.

As we settled in for the night, I opened the mystery pin box and experienced our first unmagical moment of the entire trip. The box was empty! No pins! The box had a little weight because there is a page showing all the available pins in each box. But in hindsight I should have noticed the box was lighter than normal. I think someone opened the box and took the pins out at the store.

I'll see if I can get a refund for the box. Oh well, if that is the worst thing that happens on this trip, I won't complain.

We settled in for the night, spending most of the time trying to decide what we will do tomorrow. I think it will be a return trip to the Magic Kingdom.


Coming up: A trip to the MK and hearing the words "We are sorry to inform you that the Magic Kingdom is closed because it has reached maximum capacity."

[goofyjames]

Thanks for the TR. Awesome... I'm not sure I will be doing that detailed a report anytime soon.. With four kids, and a friend tagging along, I don't see us slowing down much at our next trip... but this is inspiring me to try.

James

[drcoulsey]

Day 10 - Tuesday, 8/07
We drove over to Epcot about 1:00 PM.

You have a car? You have written so much about the WDW buses, this is the first time you mentioned a car. Do you go grocery shopping or just pick up a few items at the market in SSR? Looking at your pictures today showed a good sample of what can be purchased on site. We've never had a car with us so we have always been dependent on the resort market for breakfast items.

[Redoctober25]

I'm glad someone else has my luck when it comes to pins and vinylmation. I picked up two vinyl boxes from an early park series out of two separate cases. Got back to room, opened it... Same figures. Then on next purchase, picked two boxes side by side in same case. Opened them... Different figure than the first set, but both the same figure. And this was before trading.

Anyway, it was nice following the trip report and seing how others vacation at disney.


(Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk)

[wdrl]

You have a car? You have written so much about the WDW buses, this is the first time you mentioned a car. Do you go grocery shopping or just pick up a few items at the market in SSR? Looking at your pictures today showed a good sample of what can be purchased on site. We've never had a car with us so we have always been dependent on the resort market for breakfast items.

Yes, we have a car, but we have used Disney transportation for at least half of our trips to the Parks and Downtown Disney. Hyundai calls our car color Sky Blue Metallic, but we call it Cinderella Blue. Here is Cinderella parked in front of our building at SSR:



Since we have a studio, there isn't much cooking we do in our villa. We brought water, cereal, and snacks with us from home, so the only thing we needed to buy at the SSR market was milk. Last year, when we had a family gathering at Kidani Village, we used our car to run to a Publix supermarket and got a lot of food for breakfast, lunch & dinner.

BTW, the selection of food items isn't enormous, but SSR has about all the basics.

[goindowntofla]

Love the report. LOVE the detail. Like mentioning the color of the monorail you ride. I love that! Makes you feel like you are there.

I am so glad that you are enjoying SSR. I love it, and I feel this TR really captures the calm beauty and magic of a much-debated resort.

And LOVE the Bullseye tributes : )