My initial impressions about returning to DVC have not been wonderful. In my previous incarnation I would spend February/March in Saratoga Springs because it gave me walking access to Disney Springs, and my birthday week at Boardwalk because that gave me walking access to my two favorite parks, Epcot and Hollywood Studios. I have fewer points this incarnation, but more than enough for a week in Saratoga Springs, which is now my “home” resort. This trip I shelled out extra points to get into a room I thought would be right next to Disney Springs. But no…the extra points put me right next to the main building, which I guess was a premium spot but not what I wanted. And the view off my balcony might as well be a brick wall.

So maybe extra steps to Disney Springs benefits my overall health. Fine. Whatever. It’s not crippling, just annoying. But I came back into this expecting better than I was getting now.

This morning I attempted for the first time to use one of the laundry rooms here, only to discover they don’t put nearly enough washers and dryers in them here. At Port Orleans Riverside they have lots at every pool. I reckon the thinking here is there are enough rooms that have their own washers and dryers in them they don’t need a lot of those in the common laundries. This was an unpleasant surprise. 

Previously I either wasn’t staying long enough to need a laundry or, if I was staying on hotel row for a few nights and then going to my DVC room, I would use the excessively long time between DVC check-in and check-out to go to a local laundromat and get my things clean. I would pack lots of clothes for my birthday week at Boardwalk because Septembers in Florida can be sweltering. This was so as not to need to do the laundry until I got back home. My birthday falls on peak hurricane season…hahahahaha…but the points and hotel stays are cheaper then so…okay.

When I discovered how easily I could get into the laundry at Port Orleans I decided to pack fewer clothes and use the resort laundries instead. I’ve been trying for years now to limit the amount of luggage I take with me on my road trips, all to no avail. But fewer clothes in the main luggage helped a bit.

I began checking out the laundry rooms after I got here, and discovered they were tiny by comparison. But also mostly empty. So this morning I tried getting into the laundry across from my room, which was somewhat larger because it’s in the main building and pool complex. It was fully occupied. But there was a web app I could use to tell me when the machines became available. I figured that app was also how you paid, similar to payment to use the machines in Port Orleans, and other hotels nowadays. (which is Very Nice because you don’t need a lot of quarters…)

Oh great…now I can do my laundry!

So I kept checking the app to see when the machines in that laundry room were available. But it kept reading zero machines available. So I checked the other Saratoga Springs laundry rooms and the only one showing any availability was way on the other side of the resort. I began to think I’d need to go to that Laundromat in Kissimmee again, and what the hell am I spending all this money to be back in DVC again??

Get me started on the pathetic welcome package they gave me when I rejoined…

So I decided to walk over and check. Sure enough the web app was broken and all the washers were available. There was a couple using the dryers (there were Lots more of those) and I asked if they’d tried the app and is that how you pay. Oh no, says they, the app isn’t necessary and the machines are free.

Well okay…that’s a perk. I guess it makes sense given that some rooms have washing machines in them, so maybe it isn’t fair to those of us staying in the studios to charge us for using the ones in the common laundry rooms.

So maybe now I’m not so unhappy being back in this thing again…