Reviews of Saratoga Springs Resort (Disney Vacation Club)
Reviewed by Kpow12 Review Date: 06/29/2022
Rating: (4) Not Recommended
This resort doesn’t feel like it should be a deluxe resort. The only good thing I have to say is that the newly refurbed room looked nice. We booked a preferred room but we still had a half mile walk to the main building. The busses can get very crowded since there are 5 internal bus stops. The food at the quick service locations is very mediocre. We got Mickey waffles for breakfast one day and they were still completely doughy inside. We have stayed at a lot of the different Disney resorts on property and I can confidently say we will not be staying at this one again.
Pros:
Nice refurbed roomsCons:
Very very spread out. Bad food with not a lot of options.Reviewed by Anonymous Review Date: 02/08/2022
Rating: (5) Not Recommended
Cookie cutter decor makes this 2 bedroom villa feel highly sterile and impersonal. The walls are paper thin and we can hear our upstairs neighbors every footstep. I much prefer Old Key Wests’s spacious villas and relative quiet. Saratoga Springs isn’t terrible, but for a DVC I expected more. There are better choices.
Pros:
The rooms are newer and look recently refurbished.Cons:
Over under washer dryer(old key west has full size and a separate laundry room), poor sound dampening between rooms(use a sound machine app on your phone or you won’t sleep), weirdly cramped floor plan.Reviewed by Anonymous Review Date: 12/28/2019
Rating: (6) Not Recommended
It seems the quality of DVC resorts has taken a downturn. After OKW, the size of DVC resort rooms has continued to decrease. The \"living room\" area is very small and It is difficult to imagine a family of six eating at the small table provided in the \"dining area\". My home resort is OKW which has, admittedly, the largest rooms of all DVC properties. Coincidentally, it is the first DVC resort. One an only assume, imaagineers realized smaller units translates into more units; hence the reduction in size.
Putting the size of the unit aside, housekeeping has also declined over the 24 years I have been a DVC member. In early ears, units were impeccably clean on check-in and all amenities worked. On my most recent trip, the faucet in the kitchen sink was leaking an had to be repaired by maintenance, very quick response, the shower head in the master bath was immobile and the sliding door to the balcony had to be repaired as well. On occupying the room, it was rather obvious housekeeping had done only a cursory clean of the unit, as dust was readily observed on the tops of furniture, small bits of trash were on the floors and bathrooms were in need of attention. Again, all things which would not have occurred in previous years.
Finally, bus service to Saratoga Springs has not improved since my first stay in 2007. Buses are still overloaded by the time they reach appropriate stops and some drivers are not exactly customer service oriented; they do not announce stops or even allow the programed announcer do so
Pros:
Convenient to Disney Springs, if a big part of your vacation plans Convenient to offsite grocery stores and pharmacies, if neededCons:
Distance from all park areas, long \"tours\" of resort to get to bus stops. I would strongly advise using either Uber or Lyft service, if possible, for returns to the resort. Use regular Lyft X service as opposed to Minnie Van; good service for less than half the cost. Overall, a very disappointing stay for a DVC member of almost 25 years. I will not stay at this resort again.Reviewed by Stitch1623 Review Date: 04/18/2019
Rating: (6) Not Recommended
Resort itself is very pretty with views of the golf course. The treehouses are awesome. Always have had clean rooms but this resort we have always had bus issues where we wait much longer than the twenty minutes and the Buses are always full. We always try to not stay here when booking rooms. Turf club is also my least favorite restaurant. I have gotten food poisoning there and had issues with the wait staff and will never eat there again. Only place on Disney property I can say that about.
Pros:
Picturesque, close to Disney springsCons:
Long rides/busing to the parks, turf clubReviewed by Shirleykung Review Date: 03/22/2016
Rating: (2) Not Recommended
Rude staff, unable to perform the basic duties of their jobs. Made my 4&6 year old children wait for at least an hour in the cold night air bc staff was disgruntled and oppositional toward performing their basic job duties. Staff seemed to be intentionally confusing regarding the check in procedures and then seemed to find delight in our confusion, as they were seen snickering and continued to be unhelpful. Also, by the time we finally got to our room it was LATE, after midnight, so their one restaurant wss closed. I was told there were vending machines on thr first floor by thr elevators which turned out to only be a $3/soda machine. My children were hungry and the significant waste and disrespect of our time left us all with empty stomachs & thoroughly upset that this was our "disney" experience.
Pros:
Nothing uniqueCons:
Rude & downright disrespectful staffReviewed by joshwatkins23 Review Date: 08/18/2015
Rating: (1) Not Recommended
If you are looking for a deluxe resort that feels like a moderate resort, than Saratoga Springs is the place for you! We just returned from a stay at Saratoga Springs Aug 8-15. We stayed in a 1-bedroom room via DVC. Our last trip was in 2013 and we stayed at Old Key West. This time we tried Saratoga Springs and boy were we disappointed. I can honestly say that it feels no different than staying at Port Orleans Riverside or any other moderate resorts. The room was very clean and we were pleasantly surprised. We had a great view from our room as well. It was a perfect size for a family of 4 at our home away from home, but that is pretty much all the pros. I read reviews of people complaining about the bussing and just ignored them thinking it was just bad luck. Well, I have to say, the bussing is just awful. We stayed in the Grandstand which is the 1st pick up and drop off. Very convenient when/if a bus comes. We learned very quickly that we have to plan 2 hours of travel time to get to a dining reservation or to a park by a specific time. I've had 12 visits to WDW in my lifetime, 9 as an adult, and never have I experienced such poor transportation issues at a resort (I've stayed at all of the levels from value to deluxe). The entire resort feels like a moderate resort. There is nothing special about it, outside of the spa experience that you can purchase at any time (you don't have to stay at the resort). The bell services and housekeeping crew were wonderful. We did on-line check-in which turned out to be a waste of time as we had a NUMBER of issues that included 3 trips to the front desk in the first 2 hours that I arrived. I love WDW, and can't wait to go back - but I will never stay at Saratoga Springs again, and cannot recommend it to anyone. Despite the awful accommodations, my family still had a magical time....and look forward to our next visit....hopefully real soon.
Pros:
Room cleanlinessCons:
Feels like a moderate resort, Awful bussingReviewed by WingsAt46 Review Date: 03/09/2013
Rating: (6) Not Recommended
Cons:
Our room, #3334, was overlooking an intersection and across from the Disney Vacation Club van parking. Every morning we could hear the back-up beeping of the vans, and all day the traffic of buses constantly decelerating and accelerating at the corner. Much too loud to sit on and enjoy the balcony.
The thermostat would (we discovered 2 days/nights into our stay) have to be set at 80°F to keep the place from getting below 72° - according to the dial. However, 72°should feel a LOT warmer than THAT 72°! It was freezing in our villa but we couldn't open the door wall for some warmth because of the bus noise outside. Still, I'd need to get up during the night to re-set the thermostat back up to 80° because it would not warm up the rooms until the temp hit 72°. There was just one extra blanket.
The couch really needed to be replaced. Just sitting on it (I weigh 144#) would leave a deep fold in the cushion and when my husband sat on it (200#), it almost folded in half. We simply could not be comfortable on it for long.
Now for a vacation club suite, I would think storage space would have been of greater importance. In the bedroom, there were 2 small drawers for each my husband and for me. A Hope Chest type piece had a broken drawer so we couldn't use that. There was another in the living room but we stored extra sheets and pillows in that for the pull-out bed.
The SPA portion of the resort was down for refurbishing but we were not notified of that until we read through the Welcome Packet at check-in. The Spa was one of the reasons we chose Saratoga.
Pros:
The bed was comfortable, the room darkening curtains kept the room dark, the H2O hair products were great and we had plenty of sheets and towels, coffee, shampoo (dropped off in a basket at our door each morning).
I was SO glad that we didn't buy into the Vacation Club as we had been considering!
We will not be returning to Saratoga. Every year we stay on Disney Property and have never had a complaint. Until now. It was an expensive lesson.
Pros:
beautiful grounds, near Downtown Disney,Cons:
not enough storage space for clothing or groceries, too much noise from buses and vansReviewed by QueenBlackFrost Review Date: 01/24/2023
Rating: (9) Recommended
DH & I stayed here in September 2022. We rented DVC points and really lucked out with the location of our room. This resort is huge, but our room was a short walk to the lobby and right next to a bus stop. When we first arrived, we discovered our toilet wasn't flushing after we had already unpacked. We called the front desk and some workers showed up minutes later to fix the problem. I was really worried that they would move us to a different room, but it got fixed and was fine the rest of our stay. We were stuck in our room for 2 days during Hurricane Ian, but cast members were great and we were able to extend our stay. I feel like the majority of guests were stressed and behaving rudely. This resort only had prebagged sandwiches for sale and shut down all dining options. Because this resort is close to Disney Springs, we had planned to do most of our dining there, but of course that wasn't an option either. I thought cast members did the best they could to keep everyone fed and protected from the storm. I think if I had to ride out the storm in a value resort, I would have felt more claustrophobic than I already did. Buses were slow the following days, but roads were flooded and again I understood that we were dealing with unusual circumstances. I definitely would stay at this resort again.
Pros:
The lobby smelled amazing! I spent hours there adjusting reservations and it made me feel calm and relaxed. Cast members were all very kind. Bed was comfortable. There is an ottoman that adjusts to a TV tray. This was pretty handy since we ate a number of meals in our room.Cons:
The resort is large and depending on location, you might do a lot of walking.Reviewed by Anonymous Review Date: 12/13/2022
Rating: (9) Recommended
The updated rooms are amazing. Loved staying here and it was close to many parks and Disney springs.
Pros:
Lots of food around, pools, and updated roomsCons:
Large resort so defiantly not a resort you want to walk aroundReviewed by SkipperJess Review Date: 09/17/2022
Rating: (7) Recommended
This is a lovely resort. Rooms are spacious and beds are comfy. We rented DVC points so it was cheaper than a moderate resort and more space. Only transportation to the parks was by bus and they were sometimes delayed causing us to miss early entry on 3 of our 5 park days.
Some of the guests were a bit pretentious (“Everyone knows you take an Uber to the parks!”) but the cast members were friendly. Overall it was a nice stay and we would choose this resort again.
