Review: The Treehouse Villas at Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa

DISNEY’S TREEHOUSE VILLAS

Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa is a sprawling Disney Vacation Club resort (available to the general public for rent just like any other Disney World hotel rooms) with four principal room types: Studios, One Bedroom Villas, Two Bedroom Villas, and Grand Villas. The review of the full resort and those room types is here.

However, the map of Saratoga Springs has a little arrow on the left, which I’ve circled in red, labeled “To Treehouse Villas.”

Though literally “off the map,” the Treehouse Villas at Saratoga Springs are so different from any other offering in all of Disney World, much less at Saratoga Springs, that even though there’s only 60 of them, they get their own review here!

Why are they so different?  Most importantly, they are the only three bedroom offering at Walt Disney World priced at the same level as a Two Bedroom Villa.

They have no more capacity than most two bedroom villas–they sleep nine.

But they place those nine differently. Instead of the typical DVC layout of two in a master king room, four in a two queen or one queen/one sleeper sofa room, and two to three in the living room, they sleep

• Two in a master queen room
• Two in another queen room
• Two in a bunk bed room
• And three in the living room

Moreover, among the DVC resorts, the living room/kitchen/dining room combo is particularly livable, bested only by the enormous spaces at Old Key West.

See the floor plan for how all this fits together.

Now, to take full advantage of all this space, some folk have to be able to fit in the bunk beds, which I measured as 39 inches wide by just 70 inches long–although there’s about 3 more inches of toesy space beyond the 70 inches of mattress space.

But many families or groups who can do so will function better in four separate sleeping rooms, rather than three of the other comparably-priced two-bedroom DVC offerings.

There’s other distinctive positives too:

–As remote and wilderness-feeling a setting as you’ll find at Disney World

–The only spaces other than the Cabins at Fort Wilderness where every room has a barbecue grill, and

–Outdoor decks as big as you’ll find anywhere at Disney World.

But the Treehouse Villas come with great negatives as well–negatives so strong that the Treehouse Villas are the bottom-ranked option for first time visitors.

Saratoga Springs is a remote and inconvenient resort.  And the Treehouse Villas are the most remote and inconvenient of the Saratoga Springs areas–so much so that they have their own buses to take people to Saratoga Springs itself (there’s also a walking path). Want to go to a theme park and don’t have a car? Then take a bus to Saratoga Springs proper, and wait for another bus to the parks…

See the map, with bus stops near the top and bottom.

The remoteness does mean they have their own boat dock–that’s the Port Orleans boat, taken from beneath our Treehouse on our second stay in one, in December 2013.

They also have their own pool. It’s tiny–but remember, there’s only 60 villas.

With the tiny pool comes a tiny hot tub.  The nicer Grandstand pool is a 5-10 minute walk away, and the main pool at Saratoga Springs five minutes further than that.

Also worth noting is that the exterior is kinda ugly. I love these Treehouses for their remoteness, natural setting, and livability…but my, they are funny looking!

PHOTO TOUR OF TREEHOUSE VILLAS ACCOMMODATIONS

This review continues here!

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