Is OKW worth it?

[The Disney Bunch]

We own at OKW & to be honest, I would not think of staying elsewhere. With little kids, it is great to have all the room that OKW has. It is relaxing & laid-back & I really feel like I am home at times. We have stayed occasionally at some of the other resorts & I always felt like I was staying in a hotel, while I don't get that feeling with OKW. I have never had a problem with housekeeping or the front desk. They have always been accomodating & the staff is wonderful.

 

[dianeschlicht]

Actually, the friendly staff has been one of the best parts of OKW too. They really do give it a Key West island feel. I too like the "homey" feel as opposed to the hotel feel of the other DVCs.

 

[castleri]

We love OKW, and we like it more each time we stay.

What OKW doesn't have, in my opinion.. is as much of a WOW factor as some of the other resorts have, but others will disagree with this, including my husband who was "wowed" when he first checked in.
PS My trip report (1st trip home as DVC members) talks about OKW.

Nice trip report and I had to laugh about the WOW factor as a friend had stayed at OKW on his first DVC trip home (owns at HH) and really loved it (OKW). Then he and some others went again the following year. They stayed at BCV and he came back and said "WOW the rooms at BCV are so much smaller I couldn't believe it."

We have stayed at all the onsite DVCs and my first choice is still OKW. I have 220 points there, 150 at BCV and 150 at SSR and usually try to get OKW. We do use the BCV ones if we want to use SAB a couple of days and SSR worked great when it was just DH and I because I like those studios better than OKW ones. It is so nice to have so many options.

Glad you had a great trip.

 

[LIFERBABE]

I read these boards pretty regularly , and I don't recall those kind of reviews at all other than the very occasional one as you'll see for any resort. Where did you see "all the reviews" that were so negative?

OKW is a great resort. Don't worry about it and enjoy it!

I agree Granny. Im on here a bazillion times a day, and I dont get that vibe about OKW at all from these boards or the resort boards. OKW is a beautiful resort and it is VERY well maintained. I purchased DVC after seeing how well kept OKW was. If OKW was raggedy, I wouldnt have purchased at ANY DVC!

Have a great stay!

 

[Duchie]

Add us to the OKW fan club! We chose it as our home resort because of the lower point "cost" and the bigger rooms. We'll hit the parks or DTD when we want action, but the relaxing feeling of the resort really appeals to us at the end of the day. I've also been very impressed by the staff there - each and every visit, they have been extremely attentive to the guests. For our trip this year we decided to try BCV because we've never stayed there, but I expect we'll be back at OKW soon!

 

[ScooterL]

I love OKW - it was our first home resort, and I love those HUGE rooms!!! So much nicer and larger than any of the newer resorts that were built with that "hotel room" footprint. I also like the individual building concept, which lets you park fairly close to your room, rather than that long hike from the parking lot that you have from the other resorts. Unfortunately we almost never stay at OKW because it's not walking distance to Epcot/Studios like BWV is...but if I can't get into BWV then it's my second choice.

A couple of years ago we sent my brother-in-law and his family to OKW for a week - they had two kids (6 and 3 at the time) and they absolutely loved it...even though we'd gotten them 5 day park passes they ended up only spending 3 days in the parks and the rest of the week they hung around the resort and the pools. They thought it was a great resort for a family with young kids.

Laura

 

[Simba's Mom]

DH has fallen so much in love with OKW that he wants to sell our BCV points to purchase (more) at OKW (scandalous, I know)

I feel better now, knowing I'm not the only one with an OKW-crazy DH! He made us sell our VWL points so that we could own at OKW. Since we ended up buying about 50 more points than we'd sold, I didn't really mind.

 

[off to neverland]

Obviously, you have never stayed in a GV at OKW!

No, I haven't, but I'd love to! And after seeing how big a one bedroom and studio are, I would probably have to retract my "wow" statement, I admit.

We are booked for SSR in December, but on a waitlist for OKW, and talking about it is making me a bit sad we won't be there again. It will be our first stay at SSR, and so far we haven't been disappointed with any of the DVC resorts (BCV, VWL, and OKW) that we've tried. I'm excitited to try SSR, though...

 

[off to neverland]

Nice trip report and I had to laugh about the WOW factor as a friend had stayed at OKW on his first DVC trip home (owns at HH) and really loved it (OKW). Then he and some others went again the following year. They stayed at BCV and he came back and said "WOW the rooms at BCV are so much smaller I couldn't believe it."

I guess the WOW factor can work both ways!!! Wow this is great, Wow this isn't so great...........

 

[MiaSRN62]

We enjoy all of our DVC resort stays, but OKW has a special place in our hearts ! We love the laid-back, neighborhood kind of feel.
As for maintenance/mousekeeping issues.......that can happen anywhere. We just checked out of the Beach Club on Sunday (not the Villas) and I can tell you there was mold on the shower curtain & dirt and dust in the bathroom floor tiles in the corners mostly. Didn't find any other issues with the room (except we had the tiniest balcony I think we've ever seen ! )----just the bathroom. But for a deluxe flagship resort such as the Y&B, we didn't think there should be anything like this. We, personally, never noticed this at OKW, but not saying it couldn't happen. Overall, OKW is a wonderful resort. We'll be checking in over the weekend ! Can't wait ! My dh won't even consider buying add-on points anywhere else (except maybe the VWL). He likes the themeing there.

 

[Disneyrsh]

.

 

[hojolo]

I'll join the chorus of praise for OKW. We bought our 1st contract at BWV because we love the area around EPCOT. Then, we bought more points @ OKW and we just love it. I agree about how spacious and relaxing OKW is, but am surprised that another benefit is not mentioned more...dedicated Disney bus service. OKW pays for its own bus service so you have more and less crowded transportation than at the DVC resorts that share with hotels. We just spent a couple days @ OKW followed by a couple @ VWL and the difference was very noticeable.

 

[dan and scott]

We own at BW-but if I had the extra $$ lying around we would own a contract also at OKW. Some of our best vacations have been there.
After all it is supposed to be the DVC flagship resort-the 1 that started it all!
We have never had any up keep issues of any severity at OKW or BW.

Scott