Disney's Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa — Hotel in Lake Buena Vista

First and foremost, this isn't the greatest resort for your first Disney World trip. The location and transportation options aren't great for park access, compared to most hotels. If you're excited to go to Magic Kingdom for the first time, the best choice is the Floridian... but it costs like it's the best.

While most Disney hotels are referred to as resorts, most don't feel that way. Saratoga Springs, despite its upstate NY theme, feels more like an Omni golf resort than a Disney Resort... but one that's somewhat nearby to Disney World. That's not always a bad thing. Sometimes you want to go to Disney a little here and there and not deal with Disney at your hotel. In terms of Disney, it's similar to one of the sprawling moderate resorts like Caribbean Beach Resort.

Transportation is provided via bus to the parks; via boat or walking path to Disney Springs. The bus loops, besides the treehouse line, all go directly to parks after the internal stops unlike some resorts which require transferring from an internal bus to an external bus. Rideshare is a good and reasonable option if you are in a rush to get to the parks, considering the amount you're saving being somewhat offsite... but if you're budgeting, save those rideshares for park close... busses are miserable then and you will be tired.

There can be some amazing perks staying at Saratoga, despite the price being somewhat average for a hotel room anywhere. Bonus: even though this feel like a moderate resort, Disney regards it as a Deluxe. Why would that matter? Well currently Disney provides Extended Evening Hours on certain days only for Deluxe resort guests... and if you happen to be staying on one of those days you don't want to miss that. As these days are limited to a fraction of onsite guests, extended evening hours can be a great chance to see a park at night or experience attractions that would otherwise be a long wait.

Are you visiting with a family and want the coziness and privacy of a home inside a Disney resort? Yeah, there are cabins at Fort Wilderness (trailers really), and there are glam-bins at the Wilderness Lodge ($$$$), but neither are actually secluded. Saratoga's Treehouse Villas - where we stayed on our visit - are hidden in the woods. I can't think of any more private space in a Disney resort... you can hardly see the neighbor's treehouse from your property.

Caveat - it is best if you have a car, which you can park directly at your building. The full kitchen does you no good with the limited grocery selection at the resort, which itself could be a 2 mile walk across Saratoga's golf course. Better to spend an hour doing a grocery and water run (Target at Flamingo Crossings is a good option). I doubt rideshare can pick you up (except Minnie Vans) due to an unstaffed access gate (we did uber back and unlocked the gate ourselves). Walking across the golf course is possible to visit the rest of the resort, but the resort has very poor signage; what signs do exist only direct to area names, which you probably don't know unless you work there (most of you want will be at the carriage house). An internal bus does run periodically between the treehouses and the carriage house (you must transfer to leave the resort). The treehouse area does have a dock, with boat access to Disney Springs... this is one of the most scenic boat rides at Disney World and worth it even if you don't want to go to Disney Springs (it will take a bit).

These treehouses have a cool aesthetic - round and elevated, but look a bit dated and not much like a treehouse from the outside. Inside, however, there's an 1100 square foot 3 bedroom, 2 bath... well basically a house. An open concept common room has a full kitchen, dining room, and living room with plenty of seating both on couches and chairs and tables and stools. Outside is the elevated private deck complete with a picnic table.

If you're doing a couples trip or a family reunion, the treehouses are one of the few places at Disney where your room will be a part of the magic. I can't recommend this...

Discrimination against service dogs! We are traveling with a large party and have 3 service dogs total in our party. Yes, service dogs, not emotional support dogs. I reached out to Disney before booking any reservations to confirm this would not be a problem. They said no problem. And even though I am not required to, I called the hotel ahead of him to let them know we had service dogs, and upon check-in I presented their certifications and registration card as proof. They said no issues at all, we just can’t leave the dogs unattended in the room or take them to the pool area. We said no problem. And even though they’re not required to, they were wearing a harness every time they were in public that said service dog. They were leashed and pleasant at all times. We didn’t want any confusion or issues about why we had dogs and made it abundantly clear to everyone that they were service dogs. Despite all this, management called our room on the first day saying they had to do daily room inspections. Apparently this is part of their policy for everyone, not just due to the dogs supposedly. I’ve been coming to Disney with the dogs for years and I never experienced this in the past. My understanding was that they can enter the room if they deem necessary, not that they HAVE to. A ‘manager’ called our room phone and said in a not so polite tone that it was not a pet friendly resort. We clarified that there is a difference between a service dog and a pet. And that we fully disclosed the service dogs when we checked in so they were aware. She then said the dogs weren’t allowed in the room alone. Clearly the dogs weren’t in the room alone because they called the room phone and we answered. So obviously we were there with them. We told her we were aware of the rules and had been abiding by them. The dogs had never been and would not be left in the room alone. So what is the problem? She shrugged and again reiterated the resort is “not really set up for dogs”. We said a service dog is different than a pet and she had nothing else to argue. Every day we were there they had someone come to ‘inspect’ our room, and they could come whenever they wanted, no announcement or warning at all. We felt constantly paranoid about when someone was going to show up and demand entry. Later in our trip they called and said they could not do their daily inspection because they were not allowed to enter the premises if a dog was there. Even though they had been coming in whenever they pleased all week. We said so what are you proposing we do? Leave? They said the dog can’t be out if the inspector is there. So we had to lock them in the bathroom so they could come do their bogus inspection. We did not feel welcome at all at the resort and it put a huge damper on what was otherwise a very fun and very expensive vacation. My travel party was constantly anxious about when they would show up for these daily inspections and drastically altered our plans to try to avoid them. We shouldn’t be chased from a room we are paying a lot of money for. I think this ‘manager’ needs some schooling on the ADA and the legal rights of service dog owners because she doesn’t seem to get it and I hope they are not treating other people with service dogs this way. Our vacation was otherwise very enjoyable but we will not be back to this...

Our Saratoga Springs stay was a mixed bag for us. It was okay, but we were very disappointed especially when Saratoga Springs is considered one of Disney's Deluxe resort options. In order to  give the full details, I want to cover both the positives and negatives of our stay.

The positives at Saratoga Springs: •Great Property (from building layout to green space), •SUPER CLEAN ROOM! (massive thank you for that), •Interactive experience with the app and door lock (really awesome add-on with Tinkerbell magic pixie dust sound effect), •Picturesque landscaping with awesome lawns/grass and beautiful flowers (10/10 marks for maintaining that magical element that is a trademark Disney feature!), •Even the theming was great (definitely got the vibe of Saratoga Springs horse racing community) with some great pastel building coloring and the art elements. •The pool/water options are great. Late closing times at the pools I'm sure help with littles too. •Even the openness with lake and walking features was wonderful with the expansiveness. •Bed linens were very soft and felt higher end. •The “Welcome Home XYZ Family” to the TVs was a magical touch. Kudos for that bonus!

Now some negatives at Saratoga Springs: Cast members: •They didn't look like they even wanted to be there, and what's worse they looked like you were bothering them if you had a question. And this was present from almost all of our interactions, from housekeeping staff (not for our room thankfully) to maintenance crew to even store to front desk lobby cast members. ••We had basically only 3 really positive cast member interactions during our stay (with the best being a transportation bus cast member). •In fact, at the lobby, it felt that since we weren't Disney Vacation Club members we weren't valuable or necessary. •The mobile check-in was nice but since we did it, we missed an opportunity for a magical moment. That was our choice so we have to live with it. But in a sense I'm glad we did since our interaction with the front desk later went not so great. •If you don't want a very loud room experience, don't have a room right next to the pool. Late night closing times don't help if you're exhausted after full days in the parks. •Towels: they are NOT soft AT ALL •Now the theme at Saratoga Springs is great if you want that older yesteryear horse racing experience and we were fine with it when we booked it, but it just seems a bit dated. It needs some refreshes. Add more instances of more modern Disney horses like Maximus from Tangled or Sitron from Frozen or even Angus from Brave. You all have a stable full of great horses, use them more! Lean in! Think modern! Even some modern statues of these newer horses could go a long way and connect things for your guests in a more modern way.

It just didn't scream Disney magical experience. Being a Deluxe resort we expected much, much more. It almost feels Disney's lost its way some and that's not a great feeling when the costs for the whole Disney experience from parks to food to resorts is more...