We recently returned from our first trip home to OKW. Lots of welcome homes and at check-in I was given two helium filled balloons and a dog made from a balloon. Given a choice of three studios to choose from. We loved OKW, it is beautiful, the CMs were great and couldn't do enough for us.
They began preparing for hurricane Charley on Thursday and asked us to take the patio furniture inside. Pool loungers were tied in big stacks, even the fans and light fittings from the bus stops were removed just leaving the bulbs. They kept leaving messages on the phone to update us with information about the park openings and left a flashlight in our room in case we lost power. Friday morning all parks except AK opened until 1 pm. for resort guests only and they said that admission tickets would be extended by a day. We went to MGM and walked straight onto everything, no queues, did as much as we would normally do in a full day. Buses were waiting at 1 pm to take us back to resorts. We stopped at the OKW store to get some things for lunch, it was absolutely packed with long lines. DH and DS went for a swim at Turtle Pond Road pool but wind started getting stronger and then heavy rain, thunder and lightening.
The resort channels were showing films, Nemo, Bugs Life and Brother Bear so spent the rest of the day watching them and the weather channel. They said Charley would hit Orlando between 8 pm and 11 pm. About 9 pm the light started to flicker every so often but we never lost power. Managed to sleep quite well, despite the noise outside.
Woke about 6 am all quiet outside, new message on the phone saying Charlie had passed through and now gone, they were assessing the damage and would post park opening on tv resort channel as soon as decisions had been made. Opened the curtains to find a tree outside our room had almost split in two and one half was on the ground
Went for a walk around OKW saw lots of damage to trees, the swimming pools were a mess and the golf course had lots of trees and branches on it but the buildings all looked fine. Then we saw a bus signed for MK. Returned to our room to find all parks except AK were open
We went to Epcot and saw lots of trees down on the way. It was amazing that WDW cleared the roads and opened the parks so quickly. Ellens World of Energy was closed and we were told that a lot of trees had come down at the back and caused damage. It was still closed on Tuesday but did reopen before we came home.
For the rest of our trip the parks were busy, there was quite a lot of rain but the CMs were brilliant and we had a fantastic time.
Most CMs we spoke to had suffered some kind of damage to their homes or cars and they were very short of staff as many had big problems and couldn't get into work but they still asked us how we were and wished us a good day! They are simply the best.
We are so glad we joined DVC and are already planning our next trip, hopefully for next May/June.
They began preparing for hurricane Charley on Thursday and asked us to take the patio furniture inside. Pool loungers were tied in big stacks, even the fans and light fittings from the bus stops were removed just leaving the bulbs. They kept leaving messages on the phone to update us with information about the park openings and left a flashlight in our room in case we lost power. Friday morning all parks except AK opened until 1 pm. for resort guests only and they said that admission tickets would be extended by a day. We went to MGM and walked straight onto everything, no queues, did as much as we would normally do in a full day. Buses were waiting at 1 pm to take us back to resorts. We stopped at the OKW store to get some things for lunch, it was absolutely packed with long lines. DH and DS went for a swim at Turtle Pond Road pool but wind started getting stronger and then heavy rain, thunder and lightening.
The resort channels were showing films, Nemo, Bugs Life and Brother Bear so spent the rest of the day watching them and the weather channel. They said Charley would hit Orlando between 8 pm and 11 pm. About 9 pm the light started to flicker every so often but we never lost power. Managed to sleep quite well, despite the noise outside.
Woke about 6 am all quiet outside, new message on the phone saying Charlie had passed through and now gone, they were assessing the damage and would post park opening on tv resort channel as soon as decisions had been made. Opened the curtains to find a tree outside our room had almost split in two and one half was on the ground
Went for a walk around OKW saw lots of damage to trees, the swimming pools were a mess and the golf course had lots of trees and branches on it but the buildings all looked fine. Then we saw a bus signed for MK. Returned to our room to find all parks except AK were open
We went to Epcot and saw lots of trees down on the way. It was amazing that WDW cleared the roads and opened the parks so quickly. Ellens World of Energy was closed and we were told that a lot of trees had come down at the back and caused damage. It was still closed on Tuesday but did reopen before we came home.
For the rest of our trip the parks were busy, there was quite a lot of rain but the CMs were brilliant and we had a fantastic time.
Most CMs we spoke to had suffered some kind of damage to their homes or cars and they were very short of staff as many had big problems and couldn't get into work but they still asked us how we were and wished us a good day! They are simply the best.
We are so glad we joined DVC and are already planning our next trip, hopefully for next May/June.
You had a wonderful first trip home !
