My take on OKW.

[pmcpmc]

Originally posted by mrsdon
I just skimmed the replies, so this may have been answered, but
about putting the groceries away.. What about the sideboard in the dining area. That area underneath is HUGE and has lots of space.
Just a thought.

That's usually where we keep the roadkill,snakes ducks etc.

 

[dianeschlicht]

Originally posted by mrsdon
I just skimmed the replies, so this may have been answered, but
about putting the groceries away.. What about the sideboard in the dining area. That area underneath is HUGE and has lots of space.
Just a thought.

That was exactly the point I was trying to make. We usually have no use for that big area, but it would be nice to have it in the GV! The island of the GV has food storage in it, but it isn't nearly as large as that one by the dining table in the 1-2 bedroom units.

 

[BWVDee]

Originally posted by dianeschlicht
That was exactly the point I was trying to make. We usually have no use for that big area, but it would be nice to have it in the GV! The island of the GV has food storage in it, but it isn't nearly as large as that one by the dining table in the 1-2 bedroom units.

Well, now I know for sure, we are really people that do not even think of cooking, food storage etc while on vacation! The idea is totally foreign to us while on vacation. We found that spot to be the perfect spot to store all the stuff you use a lot while on vacation but do not want cluttering up the place, like the fanny packs, extra film, cameras, camcorder & camera cases, rain ponchos, travel guide books, umbrellas, etc. Food!!! That idea never even entered our minds, of course we never have much food to store anyway! LOL!

 

[Sammie]

I to would be interested in the comparison of food storage at OKW to say BC. We found there to be no place to put food away at BC, but as stated plenty of space in the dining area built in buffet at OKW. This is not a complaint about BC, we love it too, just a fact.

As to being close to the parks, hands down BC/BW is the best for Epcot and MGM, but not any better than OKW to MK or AK. In fact the bus situation there is a joke at the BW/BC area.

Luggage: we are also the kind that love having a car right out front and being able to get in and out of our unit quickly.

This is why it's so nice to have choices. There is no bad choice at DVC, just different ones.

 

[BWVDee]

Originally posted by MiaSRN62
SNIP
We waited 40 minutes on our checkout day at BWV last year and would have actually preferred to have had our car right outside. We just sat in the room with all our luggage, twiddling our fingers. The Bell Service CM's did apologize twice for the delay. It was no big deal (I've never mentioned it before), but definitely held us up a bit.
SNIP

Maria, I sincerely mean this when I say it, I feel really bad that it seems as though almost everything that could have gone wrong on your stay at BWV, did. That is such a shame. I can honestly say in our numerous trips to BWV we have never had any of the problems or disappointments that you did doing your only stay there. As a BWV member, I feel very bad that your experience was not up to par with the service that is normally provided at BWV. I hope you give BWV another chance someday. It is really a very nice resort, honest! LOL!
I do not think you will ever like it as much as OKW because it is a totally different type of DVC resort, that will not give you what you desire on a WDW vacation. However it is still a very nice resort and it is a shame that your first visit there was not what it should have been.
BTW, Best of luck with your caring of your sick relative. We had both of my grandparents living with us when they were very sickly and I know how time consuming and emotionally draining it can be on a family. Wishing you and your family lots of pixie dust and Disney magic!

 

[MiaSRN62]

Maria, I sincerely mean this when I say it, I feel really bad that it seems as though almost everything that could have gone wrong on your stay at BWV, did.

Dee, honestly, despite some of our pitfalls there 1) trouble with room key checking in (bad electrical storm) 2) not the nicest view for a PV room 3)and the longer wait for checkout, we'd still definitely stay there again. The resort is beautiful, CM's friendly and we enjoyed being able to walk to Epcot (though this isn't a must for us). We also enjoyed our morning walk over to the BW Bakery for danish & croissants (YUM !). My kids even loved the (scary) clown slide at the pool....lol. I've said this in many other posts in the past, that I enjoy all the things that each DVC resort has to offer.
I think we all have a favorite and OKW is ours. I feel the fact it doesn't have early am and after midnight room service available is because this resort was originally designed for people to feel like they're at home while on vacation---and this is exactly how it makes us feel. I don't see it as lacking in customer service because this is the way the resort was designed to be. It's the one on-site DVC resort that is uniquely different in it's lay out. It's like a laid-back home (for us) without all the stress of work, bills, schedules, appointments etc. We just like the feeling OKW gives us when we stay there though I realize it may not be the same for everyone. We go right back to what Mark said about strengths and weaknesses that each resort has.
I would like to try BCV and SSR one day. So I don't mean to come off sounding like we had a completely negative experience at BWV because this wasn't the case at all.

BTW, Best of luck with your caring of your sick relative. We had both of my grandparents living with us when they were very sickly and I know how time consuming and emotionally draining it can be on a family. Wishing you and your family lots of pixie dust and Disney magic!

Thanks so much Dee---I really appreciate it.

 

[MarkRG]

Hi all! We havn't left yet, infact arn't going till Friday morning.

I'll try to cover questions on the replies here.

Maria, We're in unit 14, across from HH, with a nice view of a waterway and one of the tees for the golf course. It is very nice indeed! Now as to the remoteness, this is more a remoteness just from the activity/busyness of the parks, not the WDW complex in general. A better statement might be that it enhances a quiet, very laidback atmosphere.

About Olivia's, we arrived down here on Sat at 7:30, went straight to dinner, and had nearly a full room inside, probably not quite the norm, and they were a very talkative bunch, and with my hearing problem it's all babble to me. But it is good service and quality food, all that's really important.

Now as Pam pointed out there is that cabinet in the dining area, and we did use one side of it for the bigger boxed foodstuffs. But that's outside the 'kitchen area' per say and it would have been nice if less of the actual cabinets in the kitchen were so occupied with the supplied kitchenware. The lacking thing here are cabinet organizers to take better advantage of the shelf space. Those would free up 1 whole cabinet easily.

Now PKS44 wanted more detail, And I will certainly provide

* One restarurant - I have not seen it at capacity, yet, but I would say considering the easily equal to what we have at home kitchen, I can see that most wouldn't be eating there with regularity, so more than one full sitdown probably isn't merited. There is also an excellent counter service called 'Goods to Go' that has typical fast food type fare of high quality as well.

* Workout Room - Have not seen the workout room so I can't comment on it. The amount of running around we do when here is usually enough workout for me.

* The Pools - The one we have used right behind HH is very nice, and equal of most of the other resort pools of say 5 years ago. Disney has been on a campaign to make all the middle/deluxe resort pools into mini Stormalong Bays so to compare it to them now would be unfair. It's a large pool with a very nice layout. I agree a slide for the small kids would be nice. Have not gotten a look at Turtle Pond to be able to say anything about it one way or the other.

 

[Sammie]

Thanks Mark for the detail explanation. Many times we are all confused by what someone says and what they actually meant. I would agree completely with your observations of OKW the remoteness is what we love.

You have access to the parks but feel removed from them when you go back to the resort.

 

[chuckg0413]

Originally posted by dianeschlicht
So true. I think that definitely points up the changes Disney did after they realized that, while Disney Vacation Club (OKW) was designed like a regular timeshare, that folks going to WDW didn't necessarily travel the same way as to other timeshare destinations. That is when they started treating DVC more like a hotel than a vacation home. Those of us who bought into the "vacation home" idea, still love OKW, because that is what we were looking for.

I understood that the reason Disney quit making the VC resorts 'standalone' (after OKW, VBR, and HH) was because it was cheaper to add VC rooms onto an existing, (or planned) WDW restort, and thereby share resources, (front desk, pools, restuarants, etc.) This is the same reason SSR was built at old DI, most of the 'common' buildings were already there, so it saved money, and shorted the construction time a bunch.

IMHO

Chuck