Just back, highs and lows and yes we've already booked for next year

[PrincessJasmine66]

Just back from 16 nights at Old Key West with free dining, heres our highs and lows,

Highs :
The parks,
what I can say,first week was quiet second week got busier but still more than manageable. Could spend our entire holiday just walking round the Magic Kingdom soaking up the atmosphere.

Old Key West resort,
our second time staying here , asked for peninsular road but ended up at turtle Pond road, superb location, close to the wee pool and snack bar but only 10 minute walk to Hospitality House. Its such a nice relaxed resort and the CMs were always happy to help.

Olivia's restaurant,
Sort of part of the above but good enough to put in on its own, we had 3 meals here this time and it really is one of our favourite on site restaurants. Still can taste the Key lime pie and our youngest has had us looking for recipes for banana bread pudding.

MNSSHP,
We ended up going to the party on the 1st of November, can't believe how quiet to park was crowd wise. Loads of candy from trick or treating (in fact we had to remove 2 of our bags from our suitcase at the airport cause our case was overweight) And Hallowishes was amazing, we had a great view, right in front of the Castle. Our 18 year old DD also got to meet Gaston and he was fantastic.

Star Tours,
The new star tours ride was great, a big big improvement over the last one and we had a rebel spy in our party, (cost me $30 for the tshirt )

Free Disney Dining plan
i know this gets stick on the dis sometimes and I know some people think the food isn't as good as it used to be but we had several brilliant meals, the free dining offer saved us nearly $2000 . Some of the Highlights , Chefs De France for lunch, 3 courses for one credit, awesome onion soup, crouque monsier was really good and proferitoles for dessert. The plaza for lunch, one of the best meals we had, just a sandwich and some ice cream but in a lovely setting with good service. Mama Melrose dinner again 3 courses for one credit. calamari for 2 and a great steak, oh and an absolutely stunning amaretti cheesecake for dessert.Mama Melrose always get bad press on the Dis but this is our 4th time there and we've never had anything less than top class food and service.

The people,
As always its the CMs who make our holiday more enjoyable, every single one was brilliant, they are a credit to Disney but more importantly they are an absolute credit to themselves. Cannot speak highly enough of them.
Not only CMs though, all of the people staying at the resort and in the parks were so friendly. Every time we got on a bus or stood in a Que people were striking up conversations with us, so a big thank you to them too.



Dun Dun Dund

The Lows:


Newark airport,
What a zoo that place is, the staff were rude unhelpful and in one case in immigration incompetent. Nearly missed our connecting flight . Lost a suitcase(got it back next morning) have to say we weren't in a holiday mood after our brief stop over in New Jersey


Sorry for the really long post got a bit carried away, oh and everyone please look at our nice new shiny ticker.

 

[2Tiggies]

Welcome home!! Looks like you had a wonderful time.

You made me chuckle about the candy. We also had to remove some bags from our cases but luckily I did weight them before we got onto ME so we dished them out to the families waiting there with us.

I would have expected that party to be busier so you obviously did well in selecting your dates

Shame about your Newark airport experience. We had the exact opposite both ways. I think it was the most efficient immigration queue we have ever been through and on the way back, there had been severe delays due to weather so there was a lot of pressure on the staff there, but they were superb. Did you fly with United/Continental?

So where have you booked for next year and when are you going?

 

[wayneg]

Welcome home.
Sounds like you are enjoying the OKW deal as much as us. We are booking soon for next year which will be our 4th time.

We were not over impressed with Olivias, it was OK but we had better meals, I think we are trying it again next year if i plan an OKW DISmeet, it will be easy to eat there.

We got 3 bags full of candy at MNSSHP, DW took loads into work still got over a bag full to go at.

Star Tours we don't get, its a simulator that throws you about a bit. But not into Starwars.

I don't know what the quailty and standards of DDP were like before but we think its great value free.

Majority of CM's are excellent.

A lot of years since we went thru Newark, sorry you had a bad time there.

Happy planning for next year

 

[PrincessJasmine66]

Welcome home!! Looks like you had a wonderful time.

You made me chuckle about the candy. We also had to remove some bags from our cases but luckily I did weight them before we got onto ME so we dished them out to the families waiting there with us.

I would have expected that party to be busier so you obviously did well in selecting your dates

Shame about your Newark airport experience. We had the exact opposite both ways. I think it was the most efficient immigration queue we have ever been through and on the way back, there had been severe delays due to weather so there was a lot of pressure on the staff there, but they were superb. Did you fly with United/Continental?

So where have you booked for next year and when are you going?

Hi tiggies, we booked through Continental, we did the same thing last year and it went without a hitch there and back. This year though was a nightmare that ended as all good nightmares do with us running down a never ending corridor to get to a changed gate with about 5 minutes before our plane departed. Having said all that the staff on the planes were brilliant both there and back, and it hasn't put us off cause we are going the same way next year, and staying at old Key West again in September this time.

 

[PrincessJasmine66]

Welcome home.
Sounds like you are enjoying the OKW deal as much as us. We are booking soon for next year which will be our 4th time.

We were not over impressed with Olivias, it was OK but we had better meals, I think we are trying it again next year if i plan an OKW DISmeet, it will be easy to eat there.

We got 3 bags full of candy at MNSSHP, DW took loads into work still got over a bag full to go at.

Star Tours we don't get, its a simulator that throws you about a bit. But not into Starwars.

I don't know what the quailty and standards of DDP were like before but we think its great value free.

Majority of CM's are excellent.

A lot of years since we went thru Newark, sorry you had a bad time there.

Happy planning for next year

Thank you Wayne, yes Old Key West is great, we have stayed at the Animal Kingdom Lodge and we loved it but OKW is just so much more relaxed and the buses are far better, there really is no where on property we would rather stay. We did look at port Orleans French Quarter for next year and it looks lovely but with the full dining plan being free OKW is just too good value.

Yeah I can see how Star tours is just a simulator that throws you about a bit if your not in to star wars but we all are

I would definitely try Olivia's again, maybe it was just us or we were lucky but we really had some great meals there this year.

 

[2Tiggies]

Hi tiggies, we booked through Continental, we did the same thing last year and it went without a hitch there and back. This year though was a nightmare that ended as all good nightmares do with us running down a never ending corridor to get to a changed gate with about 5 minutes before our plane departed. Having said all that the staff on the planes were brilliant both there and back, and it hasn't put us off cause we are going the same way next year, and staying at old Key West again in September this time.

Actually we had our share of delays but they were beyond human control. On our return flight, the one we were booked on from MCO to EWR was delayed. It said so before we even checked in and they just put us onto the later one as the check in agent said they weren't even sure if it would be going anywhere at all. Later one was delayed due to severe weather conditions and I had resigned myself to the fact that we were never going to make our international flight. DD and I started discussing excitedly how we would spend the next day since we might be stuck in NJ overnight. Well they actually held our flight for us. We were so peeved

 

[wayneg]

Thank you Wayne, yes Old Key West is great, we have stayed at the Animal Kingdom Lodge and we loved it but OKW is just so much more relaxed and the buses are far better, there really is no where on property we would rather stay. We did look at port Orleans French Quarter for next year and it looks lovely but with the full dining plan being free OKW is just too good value.

Same for us, stayed at AKL, savannah view which was fantastic for 3 nights at £70/nt but the cost now is crazy, not worth it to me.
I never would but if I were to buy DVC I think it would be OKW, many like the monorail resorts, they don't appeal to me, I think Contemp, BLT are the worst looking buildings onsite. OKW just has something about it, relaxed, no crowds, good bus service.....
We just did a week offsite at Fairfield Inn, cost per night with food added almost came to what we pay for OKW with DDP which includes a better std of food.

 

[dixonsontour]

Glad you had a fab time - we loved the turtle pond pool area at OKW and are booked for 2012 at OKW.

We also came back with 4 massive bags of sweets (MNSSHP and 2 trips to seaworld's halloween spooktacular)

Ate some, took 2 bags into work, and split the rest for my nieces and friends kids. At the end of the night at MNSSHP they were giving handfuls away. Came back in Dh's handluggage - 18kg allowance with US airways.

Can I ask if the turtle pond pool was warm? I swam alot last year at OKW but this year offsite it was too cold in the pool and i missed swimming.

 

[disneyholic family]

welcome back!!
sounds like a wonderful holiday!!!

we also enjoyed the refurbished star tours - we went on it several times and had different stories each time...of course i had to keep my eyes closed as i have terrible motion sickness, but i still thought it was a nice improvement!

i agree, i think DDP is a very good value and we very much enjoyed all but 1 of our meals!!!

as for newark - i've never liked it, though i often find myself connecting there...
my last time through was last year, though i totally don't remember immigration...i was completely focussed on trying to make it to the 6 am connection to try to get to houston in time for my mom's surgery....but i didn't make it....ended up on the 9 am flight to houston...

 

[joolz1910]

We are going next Oct and plan on doing MNSSHP on 1st November - really excited about it now. Sounds like you had a fab time.

 

[jtlover]

You were at MNSSHP the same day as us, it was great fun.

Glad you had a good time

 

[Sarah28]

Welcome home, and thanks for sharing highs and lows, always love reading them! What a great way to get over post holiday blues - booking another trip! Happy planning

 

[Pegasus928]

superb location, close to the wee pool and snack bar

Not sure that's somewhere I would want to be close to to be honest

Still can taste the Key lime pie and our youngest has had us looking for recipes for banana bread pudding.

Does THIS help at all?

Welcome home and so good to see a lot more highs than lows.
Also really good to see such positive comments about OKW as this is one that we have been looking to stay at in the future (just not sure yet whether it is in the near future or not )

Will you get a chance to do a trippie - or at the very least post lots of pictures from around OKW as it is something that I would love to see.

 

[tinkerpea]

Welcome home glad you had a fab time ! I so love reading highs and lows Wr are booked at SSR next October but actually looking to go out on the 25th September so We can do universal for 3 days seaworld and a relaxing look around the malls and international drive before the Disney madness starts!! So We can count down together what day do you fly on? I am still looking at flights and it's driving me insane neither hubby nor I are any good at this DIY holiday stuff but we are giving it a good go thanks to Wayne I booked 15 nights at the SSR with free DDP in a 2 bed he plucked some prices for me for different holidays and ad much ad I loved SSR with my mum having a knee replacement this yr or start if next and still bring on an ECV the no lift thing scared me!! Plus I think my boys will love the pools better! Sorry to have taken up your thread with my holiday details I'm just so excited we skipped this yr for a financial break

 

[Floridian Princess]

Thankyou for posting your highs n lows

We really liked our stay last trip at OKW and can't wait to go back in July with free ddp

We liked Olivias and enjoyed two evening meals there but I do agree with Wayneg that there are better onsite restaurants, but it is so handy especially when it is pouring with rain!Did you try breakfast there? the menu looks good going to try it on one of our quiet days(if we have any!)

I agree with you about the cast members they are so helpful and kind at OKW,we didn't hire a car last trip and when we went to bell services to call a taxi to go to another resort restaurant in the evening more often than not a cast member would offer us a lift in their van, how nice is that!

Mama Melrose is a little gem and we have always enjoyed eating there

Did you enjoy having free wifi in your room?


Claire