2 BR: OKW vs Saratoga

amcnj

DIS Veteran
Joined
Sep 10, 1999
Messages
4,094
Hi. I see from floor plan dimensions that the Saratoga Springs 2 bedroom is a couple hundred square feet smaller than the 2 BR at OKW. My question to those who have experienced both locations is where did this 200+ square feet come from? Did they make the bedrooms smaller, the living room kitchen area, the bathroom, or did they take a little from each spot? Is the smaller size noticeable, and if so where? I know the OKW 2 BR main area is nice and big and open and hope that feel is still present at Saratoga.

Thanks for any help.
 
I would say that almost all of the 200 sqft are lost in the kitchen/family room area. The bedrooms seems about equal to me, but none of the other resorts can compare to the layout and size of the OKW main living area.
 
2BRs at SSR. BWV, VWL, BCV, and AKV Jambo House are all fairly close in size to each other. OKW, the first DVC has huge living/kitchen areas in the 1BR portion of the 2BR. That is where you will immediately recognize a huge size difference from the others. AKV Kidani will have larger 1BR units (and thus 2BRs) than all except OKW (about 90 to 100 extra sq ft than BWV, BCV, VWL, SSR or AKV Jambo) and will add a second bathroom off the living room area, so that 2BRs will have three bathrooms.
 
The master BR at SSR seems just a little smaller than at OKW, but mostly the living room is much bigger at OKW. At SSR, you will have a sofabed, a chair+ottoman, entertainment center and a chest/coffee table as the big furniture with little room to walk around them when the sofabed is open. There is also a narrow rectangle table with one bench as the dining, as well as two chairs by a bar at the Kitchen.

At OKW, you have a loveseat along with the sofabed and chair/ottoman. You will also have a large round table with four chairs, and plenty of room to bring in the chairs and/or table from the balcony if needed. We like having extra cabinets that act as a buffet by the dining table, gives much more room to put your stuff. On top of that, OKW has full size washer/dryers instead of the stackables. Size wise, you just can't help but absolutely love OKW.

The only other real difference is that in the older buildings at OKW (1-29), you do not have access to a bathroom from the living room. You need to go through a bedroom. The newer buildings do have another door to the bathroom (similiar to the other resort).

We love both resorts and love staying at both, but we do miss the space when at SSR.
 

We just stayed at OKW FOR 8 NIGHTS in a 2br and our home resort is SSR and we have stayed in 2brs. there too. Let me just say that OKW seems huge huge huge compared to SSR. We also stayed at BCV after our OKW stay and wow that seem so small but I am guessing it is the same at SSR. I think all the living space at OKW is bigger...including the extra bedroom with the 2 beds. I think over all OKW is bigger....at least it seem that way to us. Just HUGE. I mean everything has a place...at OKW. When we stay at the other DCV resorts...we still have lots of stuff laying around in the 2brs.
 
Darn you people, now I'm going to consider staying at OKW next year when we have 8 people in a 2 bedroom villa. Ugggh. I wanted to stay at SSR since it's where we just bought, but I could be swayed.
 
We love the space at OKW too - my favourite part of the one or two bedrooms is the huge patio area with table and four chairs, which we enjoy several times a day to watch/feed ducks, admire all the beautiful foliage, or enjoy those afternoon thunderstorms while reading a book with a cold drink:thumbsup2 We own at VWL and BCV, and always stay at OKW for our family vacations!
 
No doubt about it, OKW is more spacious. For a larger sized party, the larger dining area in the kitchen and the much larger balcony at OKW is really nice. And I also agree that having the full sized washer and dryer is great too. All that said, the newer, fresher units at SSR are awfully nice. If you will eat a lot of meals and spend a lot of time in your unit, OKW is hard to beat. But the lovely units at SSR really have some strong selling points too! I have done two, extended family stays in two bedrooms at SSR (both times with six people total, four adults and two kids each time) and we had plenty of room to spread out in. But we only ate breakfast in the unit. I also prefer the restaurant dining options at SSR, Artist's Palatte is much better than Goods to Go in my opinion, and getting to DTD is easier and quicker from SSR. So if most of your meals will be eaten out of the unit, SSR is a bit more convenient and has more choices. But again, if I was going to spend a lot time eating and relaxing in the unit, and I had say 8 people vs. six, OKW would be my choice for sure!

I noticed no difference in the master bedroom, the master bath at OKW definitely felt larger.
 
No doubt about it, OKW is more spacious. For a larger sized party, the larger dining area in the kitchen and the much larger balcony at OKW is really nice. And I also agree that having the full sized washer and dryer is great too. All that said, the newer, fresher units at SSR are awfully nice. If you will eat a lot of meals and spend a lot of time in your unit, OKW is hard to beat. But the lovely units at SSR really have some strong selling points too! I have done two, extended family stays in two bedrooms at SSR (both times with six people total, four adults and two kids each time) and we had plenty of room to spread out in. But we only ate breakfast in the unit. I also prefer the restaurant dining options at SSR, Artist's Palatte is much better than Goods to Go in my opinion, and getting to DTD is easier and quicker from SSR. So if most of your meals will be eaten out of the unit, SSR is a bit more convenient and has more choices. But again, if I was going to spend a lot time eating and relaxing in the unit, and I had say 8 people vs. six, OKW would be my choice for sure!


I have to agree with you on this. We started missing SSR when we would pass it in the boat going to DTD. It is easier to get to downtown from SSR. I also felt like Artist Pallette was much better than Goods to Go too. I did like the space at OKW though but we didn't spend a lot of time there so for us......if we want to be close to dtd...then SSR will be the choice. OKW is like you said....more for kicking back.
 
Darn you people, now I'm going to consider staying at OKW next year when we have 8 people in a 2 bedroom villa. Ugggh. I wanted to stay at SSR since it's where we just bought, but I could be swayed.

I would NEVER stay with 8 people in anything smaller than an OKW unit. Just the ext ra real bed alone makes that a no-brainer, but the extra space also. We have done 7 in an OKW 2 bedroom, and it was just fine. Not something I'd do everyday though.
 
Another plus about OKW for us is that our teenage boys do not share a sofa bed well. At OKW, there is plenty of space to put an air mattress and leave it in place. Plenty of room to walk around it. SSR was more of a challenge.
 
ssr does have something that OKW does not - the desk in the bedroom.

really wish that OKW would get these things.

do love OKW!

of course hey maybe by now OKW has these - anyone been to a 1 or 2 bedroom at OKW lately?
 
ssr does have something that OKW does not - the desk in the bedroom.

really wish that OKW would get these things.

do love OKW!

of course hey maybe by now OKW has these - anyone been to a 1 or 2 bedroom at OKW lately?

No desk in the bedroom, but DH uses the dining table for a desk. If that's busy, he either goes to the table on the deck or the coffee table.
 



















DIS Facebook DIS youtube DIS Instagram DIS Pinterest

Back
Top