Just Back Trip Report (3/20 - 3/28) LONG!

[Cinderelli]

Here are some notes on our recent trip 3/20/03 – 3/28/03:

We stayed off-site 3/20 – 3/23. Lake Cecile Inn & Suites. It was nice but we’ve certainly been spoiled by DVC. We have no desire to stay off-site anymore (although I’m sure we will). Our vacation didn’t seem like it really started until we checked in at our “home”. We also had friends join us for the 5 nites we were at OKW. We truly enjoyed sharing our home with them and they were so happy to have had the experience. We have decided, tho, that future trips will not include extended friends or family. We didn’t feel like we vacationed the way we like to do in order to accommodate the other family.

For this vacation, there were 9 of us. My family (DH, myself, DD 9, DS 7, DD 6 and our friends DH, DW, DD 7, DD 2.5

CHECK-IN:

Arrived at OKW at 10 AM Sun, 3/23. Received a Welcome Home at the Guard Station. Immediately called to CM Paul’s window for check-in. Paul was very helpful and willing to answer all of our questions. The process took about 30 minutes. We were told we would be in Building 17, but that our unit wasn’t ready yet. We asked if there were other units that met our requests that might be immediately available (2 bedroom, non-smoking, lock-off, near a pool). They had a unit in building 23 that we could have taken but it was handicapped accessible. We asked about Turtle Pond but before he could check we agreed to wait for the unit in building 17 (never thinking it would take until 4:00 and we were ready to try a new area). Occupancy was at 98% and they were processing 350 check-ins that day (lots of Floridian’s doing the Sun-Fri thing). Whew! It rained this entire day, so we decided to go to lunch and then over to Super WalMart on 192 to do our shopping. Never again on a Saturday. It was a mad-house. Called at 1:30, room still not ready. Stopped at Downtown Disney to shop (got drenched in the rain since the Ponchos were still packed), back to OKW at 3:00. Room still not ready. There were about 4 other families waiting/sleeping in the lobby area so we didn’t feel lonely. They kept telling us to call back at 4:00. I think they just hadn’t had time to inspect the rooms or something because at 4:00 all of the rooms were ready for the 5 families all waiting in the lobby. Must have been magic, HeeJ HeeJ

UNIT CONDITION:

We were in units 1720 & 1721 (2 bedroom lockoff), 2nd floor of a 2 story building. We were very pleased with our villa. We have been to the Turtle Pond area the previous two trips to OKW and loved it, so were hesitant about trying something new. We came to love the Millers Road area. The unit had been recently rehabbed (still had VCR, tho). The new flat stove-top was lovely. All new pots/pans (we even had to take the stickers off) and the new utensils still had the strings attached, etc. The unit was very clean. No complaints (only accolades).

UNIT VIEW:

We had an obstructed view of the golf course (must have been one of those wildly growing trees previously posted about). It was a large bottle-brush tree (very beautiful). It obstructed the entire right half of the balcony, but it served as privacy from building 18 (whose balconies would have been looking at ours). We could still view a portion of the golf course (straight ahead) and to the left was unobstructed. We loved the view (and privacy) as we spent most evenings on the balcony.

UNIT NOISE:

Never heard anything, other than the Magic Kingdom fireworks & Pleasure Island fireworks. No bus noise and although I know we had neighbors, we never heard them (I only wish they could say the same about us). Next time we go with 5 kids we will request a bottom floor. I’m sure our neighbors below us wondered what the elephants above were doing as the kids marched around the villa at night. We tried to keep them quiet (no door slamming, etc.) but I’m sure if I were below I would have wondered what on earth was going on.

UNIT LOCATION:

Very close walk to the Millers Road bus-stop (only one building away). Also a very close walk to the quiet pool. This was lovely. Had a playground for the kids, hot tub, and a beautiful quiet pool. It was also fairly close to the Hospitality House. We never walked it, but it would not have been far.

BUS SERVICE:

We never waited more than 15 minutes for a bus (usually less). It never took us longer than 30 minutes to get home from ANY park (this was timed from the moment we arrived at the park bus-stop to the time we walked into our front door). Of course, this was not at closing time.

WEATHER:

Great except for several rainy days. This was the rainiest trip we’ve ever had. We were washed out at Animal Kingdom on Friday (3/21). The kids shoes were soaked and didn’t dry out until Sunday when we checked into OKW and put them in the dryer. Sunday (3/23) was a complete wash-out…all day. And our final evening (3/27) was storming. It was warm, tho, 80’s each day and we enjoyed swimming.

POOL HOPPING:

Called the Wilderness Lodge on Tuesday and asked if we could pool hop. They said “come on over”. The girls all got hair wraps and we enjoyed several hours around the pool.

MEALS/SNACKS:

Dole Whips, Popcorn, several types of Mickey Ice Cream bars, Columbia Harbor House, Flame Tree BBQ, Electric Umbrella, LeCellier, O’Hana Character Breakfast, Pizzafari, Sci-Fi Drive-In. Off-site: Some wing place on 192 that was very good (although it took the husbands like 90 minutes to get there and back). Joe’s Crab Shack (long wait for a table of 9. Fun atmosphere but not impressed with the crablegs..maybe it wasn’t the season). We ate quite a few dinners in our villa and
shopped at the Winn Dixie down the road from CrossRoads.

PARK CROWDS:

We never took advantage of Early Entry. Just didn’t think we could get there that early so skipped the EE park on those days. We were usually at the park at opening time (9). All parks were crowded, but not like I’ve seen it in the summer. With fastpass we did everything we wanted to do over our 8 days there and never spent more than 5-6 hours in any given park. In fact, from around 4-5 at AK on Wed, you could walk right on the Safari ride. That whole area was very thinned out and we loved it. Thurs afternoons at MK were very short waits.

BEST PRE-TRIP INVESTMENT:

Walkie Talkies and Ponchos.

DISAPPOINTMENTS:

Not getting to do Spectro, MK fireworks, or Fantasmic.

BEST MEMORY: Seeing my kids re-united with their best playmates and sharing our vacation (even if it was a little stressful). Just makes us want to plan another trip sooner so we can get the magic we missed this time.

If you have questions, I'll be happy to answer (if I can). Thanks!

 

[zurgswife]

I have the same feeling about sharing with another family...we have only met up with people for a few days of our vacation and each time we do it we find we are more stressed out......We don't do our normal vacation pace because we feel the need to make sure the others experience lots of stuff....We have sworn never to do it again...LOL

Thanks for sharing your trip ...

 

[anniet]

What a great trip report Cinderelli! We are planning on staying at OKW in January and now I can't wait! I understand what you mean about having others along. We brought family down on vacation with us in 2000-stayed at CSR since it was pre-DVC for us, and we plan on bringing them back in 2005, but I KNOW it's an altogether different trip when others come along. Not worse, just different.

Glad you had a great time despite the weather!

 

[allicat]

Cinderelli, we were there the same time as you- stayed in building 18! Maybe we saw each other at the quiet pool or Millers Rd. busstop! Too cold for me to go in the quiet pool but the main pool was like bath water!
I loved OKW. Our home resort is BCV and I do love it there but I also like the feel of OKW.
We braved the rain and thats the only time I didnt see crowds! Ive never been in the summer except for the last week in Aug.and if you say its more crowded then what I just experienced, I'll never go in summer. MK lines were unreal!

 

[StormTigger]

We have decided, tho, that future trips will not include extended friends or family. We didn’t feel like we vacationed the way we like to do in order to accommodate the other family.

AAHH!!!.. Don't wanna hear this. Going to take SO's family with us next trip home in Oct.. all ready nervous about traveling w/ family, now I have to worry about this??!! aahh!!

Oh well.. I'll have the master bedroom and the hot tub... so I'll be sure to get an escape from the madness.

Thanks for the report, and glad you had a good trip dispite the added people, and hope your next trip home is even more magical!

 

[yasuern]

Great trip report - We to LOVE OKW!
I have one ? please.

Was the unit big enough in the OKW 2bdrm with the 9 of you - I ask because we are going with some exteded family in June and have a 2bdrm at OKW - there will be 7 of us 4 adults 1 teenager 1 8y/o and 1 6y/o - I have never stayed in a 2bdrm and am hoping its as roomy as the 1bdrm.
Any info /comments appreciated

 

[Cinderelli]

allicat - How cool that we were there at the same time. We never made it over to the main pool. Didn't realize it was any warmer. The kids swam (I stayed to the hot-tub) at the quiet pool. Any pool under 90 degrees is too cool for me! One exception to the crowds was probably MK. We were there on Thursday afternoons and didn't feel it was horribly crowded - perhaps it had gotten so busy because of EE alot of people left? We never went until around 4 PM. However, the Monday we went it was packed. I've heard the Sat, Mon & early entry days are the busiest. The other parks were not bad on the days we were there (we always avoided the EE parks - except MK). Don't get me wrong, they were very busy. Maybe I just didn't notice. I was too busy trying to keep track of all 9 of us each day, ha! I've been in the summer before where you just couldn't walk thru MK and we didn't see that this trip. On the flipside, we have friends who were staying at Marriott's Cypress Harbor who did MK on Monday and they left early (3) and were disappointed they didn't get to do more because of the crowds. There were definately things we didn't get to do, tho (Buzz Lightyear - lines too long, fastpass already gone). Isn't it funny how each persons perception can be different? I think I may have been in the Twilight Zone (or wishing I was, ha!). We cooked out at the grills at the quiet pool Tuesday around 5ish? Did you see us?

Storm Tigger - I'm sure you will have a lovely time if you just accept that it will be a little different. One thing I think I would have done differently is plan more (my DH disagrees with this, tho). We agreed with our friends that we wouldn't have "a plan" and everyone could just come and go as we pleased. In my opinion, this didn't work. In the future I would have an itinerary prepared (subject to change/flexibility, etc.) and give it to everyone. We could then have our "plan" and the other family/friends could jump in where they wanted. We also had the issue of being so close to Tampa and they had other friends want to come and see them (they were former neighbors of ours). We had originally planned that these people would come over on our first night (Sun). Well, one family got sick and couldn't come Sunday. They called Tuesday morning and asked if they could come that night. We ended up having "additional" guests for dinner on 2 nites vs one and that really cut into our time, too. Just have to go with the flow and realize it will not be your typical vacation.

I also would make sure I knew before time the specifics of their trip. Our friends told us they would not be renting a car (the reason the people in Tampa had to come to Orlando to visit them), and they showed up with a rental car. Really no need for the Tampans to come since our friends ended up visiting the neighborhood yesterday before their flight left. Also, I sent them emails and talked with my friend numerous times about them getting park hopper tickets and how fun it was to do one park in the AM, then rest, then do Epcot or MGM, whatever. They said they would. When they got there they decided they really didn't want to do all 4 parks and ended up buying single day tickets for MK and AK. This really changed our plans, as well. No Illuminations or Fantasmic for any of us.

Yasuern - in my opinion you will have plenty of room. One bed in the 2nd bedroom (studio) went unslept in the entire trip. We brought an aero bed with us as we had planned to let our 2 DDs sleep on the fold-out and our DS sleep on the aero bed. Well, all the kids wanted to sleep together, so we had 3 girls on the pull-out (fit just fine - these are small children) and one girl/one boy on the aerobed. Our friends (DH/DW) had the entire studio to themselves at nite. With your scenario, I don't think you'll have any problems (especially if the 8 and 6 y/o's will sleep together). If not, you may want to consider an aero bed. It fit nicely up against the wall behind the chair during the day (so it was out of the way). We never felt crowded during non-sleep times either. OKW is awesome that way. Have a great trip.

 

[geffric]

We were at OKW same time as you. Just wore our ponchos on Sunday and had fun but called it an early evening. The weather was nicefor the rest of the week. We stayed in a studio unit this trip #4916.. very much in disrepair. We joined DVC in 1996 and have never been in a unit that was in such bad shape. We had to call housekeepng and have them fix the bathroom and kitchen stuff.. But other than that....we had a wonderful time. We did EE at MK and it was very crowded. Epcot was fairly empty, compared to the summer.

Waited for 1 hour for dinner at Wilderness Lodge, but had great meal and fun for the kids. They love asking for ketchup and running around with crayons.

Only 5 more months and then we can go home for 2 weeks.....

 

[Simba's Mom]

Cinderelli, thanks for your report. We're going to a 2 BR at OKW end of May, and really want a golf course view. Could you see the golf course well from the left side of the balcony? We also love bottle brush trees. The ones we have around here have red "bottle-brushes". Did this one? The unit you got sounds like a good compromise for our family-golf course view for DH and DS #1, bottle brush tree for Mom. BTW, did you see any hummingbirds? Often, they love the bottle brush trees-although it might not be quite warm enough for them yet.

 

[Cinderelli]

Simba's Mom, I would have to say the view was more obstructed than clear. It was a red bottle brush and it was big and beautiful. It did encompass the entire right half of our view (but like I said, provided privacy from the units to our right). Straight ahead but further out (right up against the golf course) was a large palm tree that also caused an obstruction of the golf hole. We could see the golfers when they pulled up, but couldn't see their shots unless they were between the bottle brush & the palm (kinda had to get in the right spot). My husband is a golfer and he had no objections to the view. However, if you want a "great" view of the course, this would not be the unit. We didn't see any hummingbirds, lots of bunnies & ducks, tho. Have a great trip

 

[allicat]

Cinderelli- Yes, i did see people cooking on the grill on Tuesday! I took my daughter to the quiet pool for a quick swim around 5. We were only there for about 15 minutes though.I remember seeing two women by the grill, one with blonde hair and one brunette and a few kids too!
Did you get to try Olivias at all? We had breakfast there and it was great. Im sorry we didnt get there for dinner. I would have liked to hang around OKW more and take advantage of the bikes, community room etc. but this trip wasnt long enough to fit it all in!

 

[Cinderelli]

allicat - that had to be us. My friend has brown/reddish hair. My other friend (who came for the afternoon) is tall with shoulder length blonde hair and I have very short, very blonde hair. I may have run up to the unit while you were there (my husband wasn't feeling well) and you may have seen my friend vs. me. How fun. Wish I had known a fellow Diser was around. Thanks for posting!

 

[carone0318]

I read this post and I have to say when we go down in May, it will be the first trip that we are taking with just our immediate family. We usually travel with friends or family. Our best friends are also DVC and that makes it really fun.

I just want to make a suggestion for those who are concerned about travelling with others, don't plan to do everything together. Our last trip, we were with 2 other families, there was 12 of us altogether. The one thing that we did was plan one big meal together a day. If we were doing something that others wanted to do, than we would be together for a little bit, but if others didn't want to do what we were doing, we would just meet up at the planned meal. My family, we are commando style and we like to go character hunting. We would get up early and be at the park first thing, our friends were not like that. We did have 2-way radios and we would plan to meet at a park, in a certain time range and then just call on the radio when they got in the park. It worked out great.

I also suggest that you talk about your vacation styles before you go. Know if the other party is a commando style or more relaxed and rather just mosey along. Say up front that you don't have to do everything together and start with a planned meal. I think that this is will make your trip more successful.