Disappointed with OKW...SSR to the Rescue!

[kddlm]

We bought into DVC (SSR) in late 2004. I have stayed more often at OKW, despite owning at SSR, due to the points value.

Just returned from a Sat-Tues stay originally booked for a Studio at OKW near hospitality house. Booked back in March for a Sept stay and did online check in at earliest point possible. When we arrived to OKW around noon, our room was not ready yet.....no biggie...hung by pool and got a text around 2:00 with room number. DH and I went over to unload car and it was an accessible room with roll-in shower and low shower head. I immediately called front desk, only to be told they were completely sold out and could not move us. This was unacceptable to me given the fact that official check-in time was not until 4:00 and I'm sure there were some guests that had not even arrived yet. I called DVC member services who told me I needed to deal with the resort since we were already checked in (again, a little disappointing). After alot of back and forth with OKW manager, we were moved to SSR. In the end, we were upgraded to a 2 bedroom villa which worked out great with 2 15 year old girls on the trip! SSR could not have been nicer and more accommodating! Cannot quite say the same for OKW which was very disappointing. We stayed in the Paddock area and utilized the Paddock pool! It worked out great in the end, but not so magical at OKW. They also gave us 3 open FP+ for each member in our party, for our troubles!

It also made us realize that IMO OKW is beginning to look quite dated. We had just become so accustomed to staying there, that we hardly noticed, but after staying at SSR where everything seemed fresh and new, we have now decided that SSR will be our go-to resort from now on for quick getaways!

 

[Skip3key]

That sounds like an awesome turn of events! From sad to happy... we own at AKL but I have thought the SSR looked very relaxing and some day we will try it!

 

[a742246]

Disney made this right with you, good for you and with Disney!

 

[Chellymouse]

SSR is our home resort and I still can't figure out why so many like it so little. It's beautiful, quiet and peaceful, plenty to do and a short walk to DTD. Happy to hear you enjoyed my "home"

 

[disneynutz]

The reality is you were lucky that they moved you and other readers need to know that they may get a HC room and not be moved. HC rooms are in the inventory pool by policy, if we don't like the policy we need to let Disney/DVC know.

Bill

 

[ldo]

re. SSR. We like SSR fine, just like other DVCs better. If it was only SSR, we would still happily stay there. I applaud DVC for making it (more than) rigth for you. We had a weird issue with VWL DVC once (room not ready til after 9pm, then when we opened door, someone else was already in the room--yikes). DVC made it right for us, including cute chocolate figurine with cookie plate delivered with their apologies the next day.

 

[bakerworld]

The last time we stayed at OKW we were placed in a HA room. Actually, I liked the room however my husband does not like HA. It took some doing but concierge was able to switch us to a regular studio. The whole time the concierge person was on the phone with room allocation the front desk person was insisting there was no room for us to move. Not only did they find a room to move us to but they insisted in switching us to a room in the HH area. It was fairly surreal experience.

 

[linco711]

We bought into DVC (SSR) in late 2004. I have stayed more often at OKW, despite owning at SSR, due to the points value.

Just returned from a Sat-Tues stay originally booked for a Studio at OKW near hospitality house. Booked back in March for a Sept stay and did online check in at earliest point possible. When we arrived to OKW around noon, our room was not ready yet.....no biggie...hung by pool and got a text around 2:00 with room number. DH and I went over to unload car and it was an accessible room with roll-in shower and low shower head. I immediately called front desk, only to be told they were completely sold out and could not move us. This was unacceptable to me given the fact that official check-in time was not until 4:00 and I'm sure there were some guests that had not even arrived yet. I called DVC member services who told me I needed to deal with the resort since we were already checked in (again, a little disappointing). After alot of back and forth with OKW manager, we were moved to SSR. In the end, we were upgraded to a 2 bedroom villa which worked out great with 2 15 year old girls on the trip! SSR could not have been nicer and more accommodating! Cannot quite say the same for OKW which was very disappointing. We stayed in the Paddock area and utilized the Paddock pool! It worked out great in the end, but not so magical at OKW. They also gave us 3 open FP+ for each member in our party, for our troubles!

It also made us realize that IMO OKW is beginning to look quite dated. We had just become so accustomed to staying there, that we hardly noticed, but after staying at SSR where everything seemed fresh and new, we have now decided that SSR will be our go-to resort from now on for quick getaways!

This has happened to us so often that I always make a notation on my reservatiion that we do not want. HC room. Weird though that the only place this has happened was at Old Key West..

 

[gdrj]

SSR is our home resort and I still can't figure out why so many like it so little. It's beautiful, quiet and peaceful, plenty to do and a short walk to DTD. Happy to hear you enjoyed my "home"

While the grounds are very pretty there a few reasons that SSR is low on our list.
1- We prefer more of a hotel feel with Lobby.
2- We like to be able to walk to QS or lobby for AM coffee etc., without a long walk.
3- SSR has an Apartment/Condo building feel, so for us it is less appealing
4- Too spread out, especially if you don't have a car
5- Extremely bad experiences with busses on visits (I understand it can happen anywhere, just always happens when there)
6- Theming for us is not for us. While the rooms at many locations don't have tremendous theming, If you walkout the door at BWV you know your at Disney World, or BLT etc.
7- Poor CM interaction when staying there, again I know it can happen anywhere, just our experience.
8- Lack of Park nearby.

With all that said, we have in-laws stay with us and they loved it there.

 

[dismedvc]

I might be falling into a trap since this seems to be a Zombie thread, but here is my take:

You booked and were charged for a studio at OKW, but when you were given a HA studio you complained, requesting that you be moved and someone else checking in later be assigned to the room you did not want. When you were informed that could not be done, you thought that was "unacceptable". You still thought someone else should get that less desirable room just because they had not checked in yet.

In response to your complaint you were moved to a 2BR at a comparable resort (SSR) at no extra cost. Plus each member of you party received 3 open FP+ "for our troubles"
What you received was an amazing upgrade. (From a studio to a 2BR at no extra cost, because you complained)
Honestly I am very happy for you. Four people, all age 15 and over, would have been tough in a studio.
While SSR is great, I hope your decision to stay there in the future is not based on expecting this type of upgrade will ever happen again.

 

[kddlm]

I might be falling into a trap since this seems to be a Zombie thread, but here is my take:

You booked and were charged for a studio at OKW, but when you were given a HA studio you complained, requesting that you be moved and someone else checking in later be assigned to the room you did not want. When you were informed that could not be done, you thought that was "unacceptable". You still thought someone else should get that less desirable room just because they had not checked in yet.

In response to your complaint you were moved to a 2BR at a comparable resort (SSR) at no extra cost. Plus each member of you party received 3 open FP+ "for our troubles"
What you received was an amazing upgrade. (From a studio to a 2BR at no extra cost, because you complained)
Honestly I am very happy for you. Four people, all age 15 and over, would have been tough in a studio.
While SSR is great, I hope your decision to stay there in the future is not based on expecting this type of upgrade will ever happen again.

First of all......We are DVC members and SSR is our home resort. We chose to stay at OKW due to their studios being the only resort to have 2 queen size beds, which is more than enough room for 4 people over the age of 15....have done this numerous times!

My problem was this trip was booked at the 7 month mark and did the online check-in at the earliest possible time (right when e-mail to do so was rec'd). It was noted on my ressie of our time of arrival (being early in the day). I have no problem with waiting for a room to be cleaned/assigned. We were assigned this HA room earlier than normal check-in time. My DH is very tall, as is one of the girls. The HA bathroom would not have worked for us. I do not understand your critcism about "someone else should get that less desirable room just because they had not checked in yet". Yes, I did/do feel that way! I do not see the issue with this......we were already there, waiting to get settled and get our vacation under way. Why should we have not had that option if there was a non HA Studio room that had not been "issued" to someone yet or was not even there??

My decision to stay at SSR in the future is no way "based on expecting this type of upgrade" again.....it is my home resort! We were never nasty, demanding, or otherwise with our request to find an alternative. I would have gladly accepted another Studio room anywhere at that point that was not HA. Not that I need to justify anything to you, but I even told DVC member services when I was on the phone with them initially, that I would use more points if needed to be moved!

I realize that is was a tremendous upgrade and the staff at SSR could not have been any nicer. We never "asked" for any extras, our only request was to be put in a non-HA room, so I really do not appreciate your tone that we were being greedy in any way.

 

[Huggups]

I actually feel the opposite as our stay at SSR was less than magical. Partly because of transportation issues and also because of theming. We have stayed at OKW many times and I have to say their 1 BRs are the best in WDW. I do agree the resort is in some need of renovating but then again so does BCV and BWV. Good to hear that those resorts will be addressed in the coming year. BCV is probably in worse shape than OKW.

 

[PBB]

Sounds a bit overboard to me,believe me, I am quick to let management know when they have not lived up to their advertising. HA rooms are just part of the inventory. Sometimes, you win the lottery of rooms and sometimes you lose. The fact is they followed your online check-in requests by putting you in a studio near hospitality house. I believe that all the HA studios are in these buildings. Management made a mistake in making this accommodation.

One note on the HA rooms.......I don't understand why the Imagineers just don't put an extra shower head bracket on the wall. This way when the room is not being used for its intended use it can easily have the feel of a standard room. At that point, you just have the walk in shower vs a tub to step in.