Experience at OKW?

[bestla]

I've been looking around for info on OKW--but I haven't been able to find a whole lot.

I'll be staying there for the first time Jan 09 for my wedding/honeymoon. My parents are DVC members, so they offered to cover lodging for everyone. OKW (while not their home resort) seemed to provide the biggest bang for their buck. DF and I will be staying in a 1BR villa.

I've heard mixed reviews on OKW. I've heard it's not as "Disney" as others and that transportation is a bit of a hassle. If that's the worst of it, I'm sure we'll be just fine! I've stayed at several value, mod, and deluxe resorts, and I've yet to be unhappy with any of them.


Soooo...I'm just curious what others think about the resort. What have been your experiences? Any tips to make it better? Any thing to "watch out" for?

Thanks!!

 

[DVC Mike]

Your 1-BR villa at OKW will be huge -- about 942 sq feet!

 

[bestla]

Your 1-BR villa at OKW will be huge -- about 942 sq feet!

Yep, one of the first things my dad told me about OKW was the awesome size of the rooms.

I told (aka yelled with glee) DF---"OUR ROOM WILL BE AS BIG AS OUR APARTMENT!!!" Can't go wrong with that.

 

[LizinSTL]

I've been looking around for info on OKW--but I haven't been able to find a whole lot.

I'll be staying there for the first time Jan 09 for my wedding/honeymoon. My parents are DVC members, so they offered to cover lodging for everyone. OKW (while not their home resort) seemed to provide the biggest bang for their buck. DF and I will be staying in a 1BR villa.

I've heard mixed reviews on OKW. I've heard it's not as "Disney" as others and that transportation is a bit of a hassle. If that's the worst of it, I'm sure we'll be just fine! I've stayed at several value, mod, and deluxe resorts, and I've yet to be unhappy with any of them.


Soooo...I'm just curious what others think about the resort. What have been your experiences? Any tips to make it better? Any thing to "watch out" for?

Thanks!!

We recently returned from an 10 day trip to WDW. The first 2 nights were at Pop, the rest at OKW (in a studio.)

Old Key West is beautiful. It's well maintained, incredibly clean and very very relaxing! The pool/hospitality house area was wonderful. We had absolutely NO problems with the bus service. The buses run constantly through the resort and then off to the parks. They seemed to get off schedule a little sometimes but the only thing you'd notice is two MK buses running right behind each other or something like that.
We had a couple really nice meals at Olivia's. The CMs were great. We had some nice cocktails from the Gurgling Suitcase. It's just a world away from Pop Century!


If I had to pick some "flaws" they'd be that Goods to Go has a very limited menu and there's no inside seating there.
Also, there was a bird that kept divebombing my head if I wasn't wearing a hat or covering my head! I'm sure I looked like an idiot holding a plastic bag over my hair or covering my head with a towel, but I don't care...birds scare me!
I'm not sure how the doors are situated in the 1 br villas- but in a studio, I had to cover the peephole with a bandaid or I was blinded by the "nightlight" outside the door! It was a bit bizarre!
The only other problem we encountered was with noise from some less than considerate neighbors in the next villa. Luckily we only had to deal with them for 2 nights of our trip! We could hear basically every word they said and the kids sounded like they were doing laps around the room at 11pm.

We chose OKW due to the low points too- it's really a steal, IMO. I'm hoping that any future trips to WDW will be with points too- it would be easy to get used to the room size at OKW!

 

[donald&daisy]

We stayed at OKW last summer and loved it! It is very spread out, but we liked it. It was a short distance to the bus stop and not too bad a walk to the food court/main area. We loved the themeing, especially the Jimmy Buffet music on the bus.

 

[DebbieB]

It's quiet and laid back. Sounds great for a honeymoon! The in room jacuzzi tub is the largest of the DVC's!

 

[Deb & Bill]

I'm there now and not leaving -I'm retiring here.

Check over on the DVC Boards for lots more info on OKW.

 

[bestla]

I'm there now and not leaving -I'm retiring here.

Check over on the DVC Boards for lots more info on OKW.

Now that's what I wanted to hear!

I looked briefly at the DVC boards and didn't see much except DVC details...perhaps I was looking in the wrong place! I'll check it out! Thanks!

 

[SueM in MN]

Here's a link to the OKW information page from wdwinfo.com (the other part of the DIS website). It has a lot of basic information, plus a map and pictures.

It's our DVC home resort and we love it - very laid back.
Two things you have to do on your honeymoon:
- take the boat to DTD. It's a relaxing 15 minute boat ride
- relax and have coffee on the porch out the back door of your living room. The porch is big enough to have a large (seats 4) round table. It's so relaxing to sit there drinking your coffee in the morning (or late in the evening, when it's cool and quiet)