We booked a Preferred DVC Studio using David’s DVC website. I requested building 1 in Congress Park with a view of Disney Springs. Look at a website called “Touring Plans” and it will show you the category of room, and the view from each room, and what request to make. I received a room in building 4 (the farthest one), but still in Congress Park. The room was on an inner portion, so I had a small view of Disney Springs, so that was still nice, of course it is only a request. There are different sections here to the resort, as it is quite large. There is the Grandstand section, The Carousel section, the Paddock section, Congress Park section, and “The Springs” section. The Congress Park section is 4 buildings and it is nearest Disney Springs. That is why we chose to book this particular resort with this particular section, as there is a walking path to Disney Springs, and you enter at the Marketplace side by the Christmas Store. From the farther building, it was an 8 minute walk to be at the Christmas Store. This was so convenient for us as we ate dinner there every night of our trip. We could make a pit stop at the room and walk over, and then ended our day there so it was easy to just walk back to the room. The walking path is nice and right on the water with great views of Disney Springs. In the Congress Park section there is a decent size pool, playground, and laundry facility. There is also parking at each of the sections, meaning if you drive a car, you can park right at your building, or if you are getting picked up or dropped off, it can be right outside your particular building as well. The rooms are in a covered outdoor hallway, but the door to your room is still technically outside. Our Studio room was nice and stocked upon arrival. Upon entry, there are some coat hooks which work great for backpacks or drying ponchos, there is also some room to store some large bags or luggage to the side upon entry as well. The kitchenette has a microwave, toaster, sink, and mini fridge (with small freezer flap for like an ice pack). It is stocked with paper plates, bowls, cups, and silverware. There is also dish soap with a sponge and drying towel. Paper towels, can opener, wine opener, and a Keurig was there (it had a pot and a single serving option). This area was nice for warming up leftovers for breakfast the next day. There is a closet with a folding door and it has the safe and ironing board in there, as well as hangers. This is also where you find the extra pillows and blankets for the murphy bed. The bathroom area has the sink separated from the toilet/shower room. The sink was large and had a lot of counter space, two drawers, and an outlet, as well as a shelf underneath. Came with a hairdryer. The bathroom has a rainfall showerhead which is super nice. (and also a handheld option). Has shampoo, conditioner, and body wash, and even a small shelf to put your own products which was nice. Our bath faucet did not work when pulling the pin to transition to the shower head and we visited the front desk on our way to the parks to notify them. They said they would send maintenance and it would be done when we return from the parks. When we returned they had just replaced the tub faucet part and all was working great! The main room has a lot of storage options. There is a small bench with drawers underneath, the whole under the bed is open for luggage as well. There are two drawers in each nightstand, there are 6 huge drawers in the main dresser, and the coffee table lid pops up and has storage on the inside. This is also a way to eat on the couch with the lifted up coffee table lid like an actual table. The couch is there and then you can pull the murphy bed down at night for 2 more guests. The murphy bed was actually more comfortable than the main bed! We presume this is because the main bed is used more often, it was worn and stiff and you could feel the indentations of each side of the bed. There are many outlets in this room (4) and each has two plugs and two USB plugs. The outlet at the kitchenette and the bathroom both have built in night lights in them. The dresser had a decent countertop to put things on under the TV. The TV has a bunch of channels and we were able to watch playoff hockey and basketball. Unfortunately though the cast from your device feature did not work for us. The balcony was small for our room, but other balconies looked larger (I am guessing it would be because they have a larger style room like a 1 or 2 bedroom villa and we booked the smallest which is the studio). It had a small table and two chairs. It was great for looking out at the views in Disney Springs, putting on sunscreen, and eating breakfast out there. Our stay was too short for a full housekeeping service (8 nights or more) but they say on your 4th day, you get a trash and towel refresh. We got that, but we also got trash service every day which was a nice surprise! There were 4 floors to our building and there were 2 sets of stairs and one elevator bank. The bus stop is located in the middle between all 4 buildings and was a easy walk. The busses came quite often and the next bus time was shown on the TV. The bus makes 5 stops and congress park is the 4th stop. So when getting on the bus, it stops at “The Springs”, which is the main stop, and then onto the parks or Disney Springs. Upon returning, it will follow the same path and you will stay on the bus until the 4th stop. The stops are 1: The Grandstand, 2: The Carousel, 3: The Paddock, 4: Congress Park, and 5: The Springs. Some buildings are closer to the golf course and have different views of the resort and have different categories. The Springs is the main area where the check in/lobby is, the food/restaurant is, the shop, the fitness center, the community center, and the main pool. Also there is a boat service that runs to Disney Springs as well from this area. Pull up a map of the resort so you are familiar with the size and location, as your experience may vary at this resort because of it. It seemed they had golf carts to take you and your luggage to your building if you did not have a car and you checked in at the front desk. We did the mobile check in feature on the app and it notified us when the room was ready (Which was about 3pm) and we could go straight to the room and unlock it with our magic band or phone key. Of course they had tons of resort activities and amenities that you can use and get involved in, but we were so busy at the parks we didn’t have time! You also get the early entry perk and the extended evening hours perk here too to take advantage of. Overall the resort is very well maintained and really pretty even if you just want to walk around the paths. It has a light Disney Horse theme as it is themed to the horse racing in New York. We really enjoyed our stay here. The main reason we chose this was because of the proximity to Disney Springs and that is where we wanted to eat every night. But since the only other park transportation option is busses with an internal bus loop, just factor in a little extra travel time for the extra stops. Maybe a better resort for Disney Springs time or resort time and less parks time due to convenience. We would stay here again.
