December OKW trip report

dianeschlicht

<font color=blue>DVC-Trivia Contest, Apr-2006: Hon
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We checked in early on 12/1/04 and headed out to hit the OKW annual meeting. Nothing very remarkable about the meeting, but the annual pass announcement and the new slide received big responses. I was a little dissapointed that the "refreshements" only consisted of orange juice, coffee, or soda. I was hoping for a cookie or a donut! :earboy2:

We called back to OKW about 3 to find our room was assigned, so we headed for the grocery store and our 1st floor (ugh) villa. I was a bit dissapointed to find we had once again been given a first floor room in the HH area. It is generally not my favorite area, and with the pool down for rehab, was a bit worse than usual. I generally do NOT like 1st floor rooms either, but this dedicated 2 bedroom (1314) had a great view of a pond, fountain and just a smidgen of the tee and golf cart path. It was a nice area, but our Christmas lights weren't seen by many, since it was not visible from any roadway.

The unit was in great shape except for the damage to the dishwasher door that some inconsiderate guest some time in the past decided to "boot"! There was a huge dent in it that looked like it had been kicked repeatedly. I did a quick check of the kitchen items and called down to get pot holders, since I knew we would be needing them right away that night. We really liked this location for view and ease of reaching HH and the bus. As for our upstairs neighbors....not so much... They must have had a LOT of kids up there who were up banging and pounding on walls, tile floors and windows with hard objects starting at about 5:30 every morning. A sharp knock on the ceiling with the broom a couple of times one morning did quiet them down a bit. On top of it all, I am asthmatic, and someone was smoking in this non-smoking building, and it was coming through the bathroom vents. I called the front desk and they allerted housekeeping to try and find out where it was coming from and to "gently" remind them it was a non-smoking unit. It must have worked, because I didn't notice it again.

We had another DVC owner along as our guest this trip. She is taking her sister and family in March and was out of points, so we brought her along to start an AP for her next trip. We really had a GREAT time!

It was such fun meeting so many DVC/DISsers at our little mini meet at SSR and again at the Merry Member Mixer. BTW, we thought the mixer was great! Hope they do this other times of the year as well!

The pool slide is very near completion now, and it looked like they were getting ready to paint it when we left.

There seemed to be lots of renters this trip. Lots of folks on the bus who had no clue about what was going on.
 
dianeschlicht said:
We checked in early on 12/1/04 and headed out to hit the OKW annual meeting. Nothing very remarkable about the meeting, but the annual pass announcement and the new slide received big responses. I was a little dissapointed that the "refreshements" only consisted of orange juice, coffee, or soda. I was hoping for a cookie or a donut!

Unfortuntely it has been a long time since we've had anything more that juice, coffee, soda & water. And the meeting was earlier this year! Gone are the days of danish, Mickey & Minnie in their Christmas dress, the informal meeting the day before the annual meeting, etc.

Thank you for your trip report!
 
Maybe the "merry mixer" was a better place for that stuff anyway. I enjoyed both the mixer AND the annual meeting.
 
I forgot to mention that we thought the crowds were much bigger this year than Decembers of the past. Even the MVMCP was PACKED! I guess I'm not sure I would do that again if they aren't going to limit the number of tickets. We went on Thursday night and expected it would be less crowded.

I also wanted to add that the buses were absolutely fabulous this trip. We have never had much trouble with the OKW buses anyway, but we really did not wait at all this time in 11 days there!

We did the Segway tour this trip too, and it was absolutely fabulous! I hope they get an advanced one going for the future. We got to do some cool things with them in World Showcase. We did the early morning tour, which meant there were no guests to worry about in World Showcase. Just had to watch out for an occational delivery vehicle etc. :moped:
 

Welcome back, Diane. Sounds like a nice trip overall, in spite of a few glitches here and there. Thanks for the interesting trip report! :D
 
Thanks very much for the report. And thanks for the reminder about the food (well, lack of it) at the annual meeting. Note to self: eat a good breakfast BEFORE the meeting, hopefully next year!
 
Thanks for the report Diane. Sorry to hear about the noise upstairs and the smoke smell though.
Also, I'm hearing consistantly how much more crowded the parks have been in early Dec ? I know the last time we went to MVMCP (in 1998) it wasn't crowded at all (it was a Monday night I believe). I don't think I'd be too happy if it was packed since it's not cheap (and we have a family of 5). Wonder if you're right, and Disney did stop limiting the number of admission tickets they sell to the party. Must have been difficult to see the parade if it was that packed.
How were the holiday decorations at OKW ? Parks ?
Glad you had a nice time :cheer2:
 
Decorations at OKW were the usual fruity garlands and lots of poinsettias. There didn't seem to be as many folks putting up their own lights as before. We put up lights on our balcony, but few got to seem them since we did not face a common area.

Park decor was wonderful as usual! I could sit and watch the "lights of winter" for hours, watching them change to the music. Same goes for the fountain at Epcot!

The parades were both so packed at MVMCP, that we really had difficulty seeing it. Lines were pretty heavy at the mountains too, but short waits with two trains going on most except Splash. We never did go get a photo because of lines. Others spoke of "special gifts" from MVMCP in the past, but all we got was a cookie and hot chocolate. The only other thing was a purple wrist band! :earboy2:
 
Park decor was wonderful as usual! I could sit and watch the "lights of winter" for hours, watching them change to the music. Same goes for the fountain at Epcot!
I agree ! I have this on video tape from our '98 trip and I still like to watch it around the holidays. I have the entire holiday Illuminations on tape too---so I can feel a little bit like I'm there this time of year. ;)
 
The holiday version of Illuminations with "Let there be Peace On Earth" had all of us crying the first time we saw it on the 1st. It has less impact the more we saw it, but it was quite powerful.
 















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