OKW Building/Area Recommendations

[snicker-doodle]

We are planning our trip to WDW for January 2008 and I've already made our ressies for a GV in OKW. We've been to WDW several times, but this is our first visit to our "home" resort.

We need a non-smoking room for medical reasons and I did request that we a close to a bus stop since we are not renting a car.

After reading some of the OKW posts, I'm concerned about the noise level. We have three small DD's, of which two are very, very light sleepers. We plan on bringing a sound machine to run at night to help with some of the "strange" noises.

For those who are regulars at OKW, do you have any area or building recommendations. Maybe a third floor? I don't want to bog our ressie down with too many requests, but I don't want sleepless nights either.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!!

 

[dianeschlicht]

We are planning our trip to WDW for January 2008 and I've already made our ressies for a GV in OKW. We've been to WDW several times, but this is our first visit to our "home" resort.

We need a non-smoking room for medical reasons and I did request that we a close to a bus stop since we are not renting a car.

After reading some of the OKW posts, I'm concerned about the noise level. We have three small DD's, of which two are very, very light sleepers. We plan on bringing a sound machine to run at night to help with some of the "strange" noises.

For those who are regulars at OKW, do you have any area or building recommendations. Maybe a third floor? I don't want to bog our ressie down with too many requests, but I don't want sleepless nights either.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!!

First of all, if you are in a GV, you WILL be on a second and third floor. The master is on the second floor, and the other two bedrooms are on the third floor. We have stayed in GVs in buildings 22 amd 15. Neither are especially close to a bus stop, but they aren't a long walk either. The thing we liked about building 15 was that we could choose Miller's or HH. If we saw the bus go down toward Millers, we knew we had time to make it to HH before it got there. I don't think there are any GVs that would have noise issues, because they are all in the center and top of the buildings, so no worry about roads or anyone above you.

As far as I know, the only GV building that allows smoking at OKW is building 19. Here is a map with key of the OKW buildings and bus stops.

 

[snicker-doodle]

Thank you for your quick response. The color-coded map is great! Thanks.
As you can see, we've never stayed in a GV before (but are really looking forward to it!).

Have you had much luck requesting a certain building at OKW? Or even a certain area, like Miller's? Maybe I'm fretting over nothing.

I noticed you are also from Minnesota and had a Twins logo -- we are huge Twins fans -- season ticket holders. My DD is big-time crushing on Joe Mauer!

Thanks again for your help!

 

[Simba's Mom]

I'll chime in with agreement with the recommendation for Building 15. It was close to the hospitality house, an easy quick walk for Good's to Go, but far enough away to be quiet. I'd say of the 5 different buildings we've had at OKW, this was the best for us.

 

[RobDoc]

Something we always do at every resort is to change the setting on the thermostat from "Auto" to "On". That will keep the HVAC fan running all the time and it creates a reasonable level of "white noise" to serve as a good backgroud to help minimize any sounds from outside. It will not affect the temperature setting you want to use - as it controls only the fan itself.

I would not make too many requests regarding a GV as there are only 27 ot them and your location will depend more on when you arrive and how many GVs became available on your arrival date. (If there are only 8 available on that day and you are the 8th to arrive, there won't be any opportunity to choose anything.)

As Diane noted, all except one have the entrance located on the 2nd floor of the building and that one is a HCA GV. There are 2 others with elevator access, but the remaining 24 are accessed only by using the stairway. None have elevator access to the 2nd floor of the GV as is the case with all 36 GVs at SSR.

Enjoy!

 

[tvwalsh]

If you look at the map you will see what a delightful location Building 29 is if you need a grand villa. We have stayed in 27 and 28. When you walk to the HH it is a pleasant walk along the ferry waterway and then over the bridge. The walk is especially pleasant and healthy if you chose the DDP!

 

[snicker-doodle]

Thank you all for your responses. I did mention when we made our ressies that we will not have a car and that we'd like to be close to the bus stop and HH -- I think I'll leave it at that. Sounds like the noise won't be an issue. I appreciate the reassurance.

Also - thanks Doc for the great tip regarding turning the thermostat to auto. What a great idea.

I'm sure all will turn out fine. We've had great experiences so far with the DVC resorts and I expect this will be no different.