Just back from Beach Club and Old Key West (pictures!)

[Stitch1404]

We just got back from the Beach Club and Old Key West last night. We drove from Cincinnati and I only have one thing to say: never again. I am flying from now on. It was a 16 hour drive both ways. Some people can do it. Those people are not me, I will never be driving 16 hours with a 6 year old and 1 year old again! Other than this aspect the trip was about as perfect as I could have hoped for.

We were originally booked at Old Key West for 11 nights in a 2 bedroom. We really like the Epcot resort area though and I was kind of bummed to not be getting to stay at the Boardwalk or Beach Club this trip. Then the annual pass rates came out for July. So, after about 5 minutes of convincing, I talked DH into adding 3 nights to the beginning of our trip at the Beach Club. It wasn't the villas, but for $189/night it sounded like a good idea. I wanted to enjoy Stormalong Bay in the summer and be able to stroll into Epcot.

When we checked in at the Beach Club I got both of my requests: first floor, close to Epcot. We were assigned to room 1554. This was really the absolutely perfect room in my opinion. It was steps from the walkway to Epcot. I loved the location. For those who are interested, this was a standard view room with 2 queens and a daybed. Here are some pictures from the room:

View from our patio:

And the best aspect, if you looked to the right from our patio, this was the walkway to Epcot!!

This is my very first time posting photos here and I am computer challenged to say the least, so I apologize for the fact that they are so large.

Our stay at the Beach Club was fabulous. We enjoyed Cape May Cafe for breakfast and walking to Epcot. We only had one small problem. Our last night at the Beach Club we got back from Epcot extra magic hours. Being the horrible mom that I am I dragged my kids around until they were exhausted and we didn't get back to the room until close to 12. When we got in the room it had a horrible chemical smell. Just being in there for 5 minutes gave me a migrane. I called housekeeping and told them they needed to send someone immediately. Someone came down and said they had been recaulking the toilets, that's what the smell was. She offered to spray some air freshener. I realize that this was partially my fault for keeping the kids out too late, but I had a sleeping one year old and a whining exhausted 6 year old and a smelly room. I was not happy. I demanded to speak to a manager immediately. She called from the room and the manager was there within 5 minutes. He said he would get us a new room. He said he would go down to the desk to get our new keys and bell services would come move our bags. I told him he was crazy if he thought I was packing up the room at midnight, we don't travel light. I told him we were leaving our belongings in this room but would need a different room to sleep in. He didn't argue and was back with new keys in about 5 minutes. Overall it was not a big deal, but while it was happening I was not a happy camper!

The Beach Club really was wonderful, just as beautiful as always. However, after 3 nights, we were ready to spread out in our 2 bedroom at Old Key West!

 

[Stitch1404]

We checked into Old Key West around 3 and I had only 1 request when I made the reservation: close to the Hospitality House. The woman at check-in informed me we were assigned to building 50. But then she said, "let me see if I can find you anything better, I hate building 50, you can hear the road from those rooms." I reminded myself that requests are just requests and she put us in Building 42 in Turtle Pond, room 4212. It was a first floor room which I really appreciated with a stroller. I ended up loving this location! It was literally just steps from the Turtle Pond pool and with the bus stopping at Turtle Pond 3rd it seemed to be a good location. We had a golf course view, which was pretty.

We were staying for 5 nights on cash (annual pass rate) and 6 nights on points due to the fact that DH was attending a meeting that was reimbursing us for part of the stay. I told the CM about our situation and she worked extra hard to make sure we could stay in the same room all 11 nights. She had to go in the back and change some things around and I really appreciated what she did, she was absolutely wonderful. We still had to check out and back in again of course, but we did get to stay in the same room!

We enjoyed the new sandcastle slide, riding the boat to Downtown Disney, and of course a few rum runners at the Gurgling suitcase. Okay, maybe more than a few rum runners...

But mostly we enjoyed the SPACE! After staying in a hotel room I was once again endlessly pleased with my DVC! As everyone knows, the 2 bedrooms at OKW are huge! Everyone could spread out and I could feed the kids right in the room, it was great. My DS1 generally sleeps through the night so he and DD6 were in the second bedroom with a baby monitor and DH and I enjoyed the master bedroom and jacuzzi tub. Old Key West is just so relaxing, it truly was the perfect resort for our long stay.

We did have one negative experience and that was with housekeeping. During the nights that we were paying cash using the AP rate we should have received daily housekeeping but we didn't. The first and second days I called around 4 and they came and cleaned our room. However, it was very frustrating to me that we would get back from the pool or parks and the room was still not made up. We also received no housekeeping or trash and towel during the points portion of our stay. All in all I called housekeeping 7 times regarding this. It was never resolved. During our 5 night cash stay we received housekeeping twice and during the points stay we got nothing. I tried not to let it bother me but it was a bit of a nuisance.

I also enjoyed visiting Saratoga Springs during this trip. I used the fitness facility there about 4 or 5 times. I also had a massage at the spa there which was absolutely incredible. The last time we were at Saratoga was in December 2004...wow has it grown! It is absolutely gorgeous, it is next on my list of DVC's to stay in.

We pool hopped to Coronado Springs, Caribbean Beach, and Saratoga during our stay. Each time we called the front desk ahead of time and we always got the okay. I love this member perk. I know many don't utilize it, but we love seeing the other resorts pools and DD6 loves trying different slides.

We had never been to Disney in the summer and will probably avoid it from now on. It was just sooo hot and crowded. We went to the parks once during the day and then gave that up. From then on we would just spend all day at the pool and then go to the parks for dinner and evening Extra Magic Hours, this is where having AP's came in handy!

Anyway, I know most of you know what OKW rooms look like, but here are some pics of our room. I always like seeing Disney pics, so I thought some might enjoy these:

These little critters were waiting for us in our room when we arrived

Master bed

Jacuzzi tub

Master bath

Kitchen

Second bathroom

What is up with the toilets at this place? They are so hard to flush! My DD would sometimes need help, lol!

Second bedroom

Queen beds in 2nd bedroom

And, I can't figure out how to rotate this, but this is one of the lockers in the spa at Saratoga Springs. All the other lockers are normal, but this one was Minnie's I guess...too cute!

Overall our trip was absolutely incredible. I thought with 14 nights at WDW our trip would never end, but of course it did. It's good to be home, but I am already counting down the days to my next Disney trip. Sorry this was so long. Any questions, feel free to ask!

 

[jakenjess]

Sounds like a great time! I love the pictures. It seems I've been reading a few posts lately about not getting trash and towel. I wonder what's going on with that. Thanks so much for sharing!!

 

[PrincessJasmine08]

We just got back a few days ago from 2 weeks at the Beach Club Villas. We probably crossed paths at some point! Anyway, thanks for the pictures and the review, I love Old Key West, it was good to see some pictures of one of my favorite places. I agree, the heat and crowds were no fun!

 

[rbuzzotta]

We were at OKW at the same time. I am sure we must have seen one another at the pool at some point. We also stayed on Turtle Pond in Bldg 32. We too did not recieve T & T as we were suppose too. I had to call. WE got it the day before we left. At that point my towels were already laundered quite a few times by myself and we emptied our own trash!!