First OKW stay, good and bad

[Silver Queen]

We will be at OKW this weekend for our first stay there. (We own at SSR and have been looking forward to trying OKW because we love the ambience.) We will only be there for three nights this trio but are not deterred at all by this controversy. We much prefer the spread out nature of OKW and SSR to the "big hotel" feel of some of the other resorts. That being said I'm sure we will enjoy many aspects of BWV when we stay there sometime in the future. Our goals is to try all of the resorts (our next two trips are scheduled for AKL (Kidani) and WLV. In the meanwhile I know that we're going to just love OKW.

 

[nappingbeauty]

When did small children begin getting credited with being mature? They are children. Plain and simple. children are children and who is to say how they will react do varying situations... they just don't have the maturity to handle most things they are unfamiliar with.

 

[Kickapoo Joie Juice]

I don't see this as a problem with OKW.

Nor is it a problem with your kids. They are simply too young to be turned loose without supervision in a strange setting. If you had to request the bus driver make sure they got off in the right place, how could you possibly expect a 9 & 10 y/o to find their way back?

Thank goodness they had the good sense to call you and they got home safely!

Yeah, I had this same reaction. I have 10 and 8 yo daughters, and there's just no way on God's green earth I would put them on the bus and ask the driver to take responsibility for my children.

Disney is, in fact, one of the few places on earth where I will let them out of my direct line of sight at all. In other words, if I'm at Olivia's, I'll let them check out the arcade, with strict orders to report back if they want to try something else. They usually have to prove to me they can find their way to and from any (close) location before I let them go.

And these are not stupid children-I think that kids just don't have the same directional sense as (most) adults.

The slide, back on topic, has been their favorite slide since they put the slide in! They used to wear little puffy swim suits that would keep them above the water when they were little, but since they were about 6 they didn't need them. You can buy the suits at Target, if you're worried about 4 year olds on the slide.

 

[mgb123]

Thanks Kickapoo Joie Juice! I was thinking about purchasing such an item for my 4 year old, in the pool. Typically my husband or I wait at the end of the slide and grab her as she comes off! Is the depth of the pool at the end of the slide shallow enough to do so? We are 5'6 and 5'11. We do this at Wilderness Lodge and at Beach Club.

 

[mgb123]

Thanks Kickapoo Joie Juice! I was thinking about purchasing such an item for my 4 year old, in the pool. Typically my husband or I wait at the end of the slide and grab her as she comes off! Is the depth of the pool at the end of the slide shallow enough to do so? We are 5'6 and 5'11. We do this at Wilderness Lodge and at Beach Club.

 

[bakmmo]

Old Key West is my Favorite resort and my home resort. It is much larger square footage than the other resorts......I like the way the resort is more like condo's than a hotel...set up. When I started to go I always requested building #51. I liked that you could hear the bus come thru the circle and get out to the stop without waiting...My kids were also very young and if I left them at the kids center, I would arrange with either the counselor or the bell hop to drive them home on a vehicle. Sometimes they even got to steer the vehicle......or they would call my room and I would hop a bus to get them. I never had an issue.... I'll be there again this August for several weeks..

 

[Kickapoo Joie Juice]

Thanks Kickapoo Joie Juice! I was thinking about purchasing such an item for my 4 year old, in the pool. Typically my husband or I wait at the end of the slide and grab her as she comes off! Is the depth of the pool at the end of the slide shallow enough to do so? We are 5'6 and 5'11. We do this at Wilderness Lodge and at Beach Club.

Definitely, I think it's about 4 feet deep. It's very similar to Wliderness lodge.

Here's a picture of younger DD in her "puffy suit" at the OKW slide when she was 5. She definitely doesn't need it now, she swims like a fish!

 

[bonrea]

Here's a pic of one of the beds. Both of them in this bedroom looked like this. The "curve" is NOT caused by any wide angle of the lens. That's the way the bed looked.

Check out the thread I started on the OKW beds: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2134894

We like OKW. The pool and the slide are the best and the rooms are great. But the beds? OMG...

 

[Bob Price]

I don't see this as a problem with OKW.

Nor is it a problem with your kids. They are simply too young to be turned loose without supervision in a strange setting. If you had to request the bus driver make sure they got off in the right place, how could you possibly expect a 9 & 10 y/o to find their way back?

Thank goodness they had the good sense to call you and they got home safely!