OKW Complaints?

[PamOKW]

with parking lots surrounding each building, it seems to me that it would feel like a motel.

Try it...you may like it. It is NOTHING like a motel at all. You have to park somewhere and the spaces are out in front of the buildings. However, each building is lavishly landscaped in the front with little seating areas, fences and courtyards. Not just blacktop to the door. It's more like the driveway of your house. Once you are in your unit, the windows look out to the "back" which will have you looking across beautiful fairways and/or water or woods views. Unless you are on the end (usually the studio or 2nd bedroom of a 2-bedroom) you won't be seeing any traffic or buses from your balcony. It is true that the views from the studios are not as good as those from the other units. It has to do with the way they are positioned in the building.

A good rule of thumb when making requests is to keep them limited to those that are most important and rank them in importance as well. Rather than giving specific rooms/buildings try to tell them what you want....near pool, no smoking, near a bus stop etc.

Lucky's friend was located in that Miller's Road area where the bus makes a very tight turnaround in the parking area. I always hold my breath that we'll clear everyone's car. One night the bus was blocked by someone who left there car sitting there. We waited awhile and the driver tried to locate the person. Finally, security came and moved the car. I could see where the buses might have been annoying when in the front area. However, I've never stayed in this area and have never had a problem with the buses.

 

[GAIL HAYDEN]

Am I nuts? Anyone else feel this way? Am I wrong about the layout?

It is nothing like a motel. In fact, the only time you will see a parked car is when you come out the front door or look out a bedroom window (only in studios and the second bedroom in a two bedroom unit), the view, otherwise is lovely. The parking lots are in the front of the buildings, not surrounding them at all.


Yes, a sidewalk would be nice in the back of the buildings, but, because they are mostly golf courses, they cannot do that for safety reasons. However, there is a lovely walkway over by Turtle Pond that you can walk on. Nice walk to DD.

 

[sgtdisney]

Originally posted by doubletrouble_vb
I have to say though...I probably won't stay at OKW again unless I'm staying in a 1 bedroom. The noise from the air conditioners was really annoying...I like to sit outside on my balcony and the air conditioners were right next to it. And even if I'd been on the 2nd floor I would have had a problem with the palm tree overgrowing the balcony...plus the noise of the airconditioners.

Can I ask what unit you were in? Every time we have stayed at OKW, and we have been going for 10 years now, the A/C units have been located in the front of the buildings. They always seem to be grouped around the front of the 2nd bedroom/Studio's front windows. I have never heard an A/C from the rear of the villa. Maybe it is just the buildings that we have stayed in?

 

[sgtdisney]

I may be mistaken, but don't all the WDW DVC resorts have some villas that over look parking/roadways? I have only stayed at OKW, but I thought I heard that BWV has some units that overlook the main drive into the resort, VWL has some units overlooking the parking lot and BCV has some units that overlook the service road going past Epcot? I don't recall any units at OKW that had bad views from the rear part of the villas. It would seem that if you had an issue with seeing cars or busses you could potentially have a problem at just about any DVC resort....

 

[donald@home]

The air conditioner units in the buildings that I have stayed in run the length of the sides of the buildings, from the front to the back. I also have never been able to sit out on my patio when in a studio on the first floor because of the noise. Now we mostly stay in one bedrooms or on upper floors, so it isnt much of a problem.

I agree about the busses. I think OKW has one or two of those new busses, and they are much more pleasant. I think OKW is the only Disney resort that has streets running through the middle of the resort. The other spread out resorts (CBR, CSR, PORR) have the streets and busses that go around the perimiter resort leaving the middle of the resort for walking paths and recreation areas. Why couldn't they have designed OKW the same way?

 

[sgtdisney]

Originally posted by donald@home
Why couldn't they have designed OKW the same way?

The resorts that you mention as having the streets going around the perimeter all have some units that look out into the Parking lots or the streets while others look inward to the landscaping. By designing OKW as they did almost all the units look out onto Golf Courses or landscaping from the rear of the unit. In fact the one bedrooms have no windows facing the front and the entire view is from at the rear.

 

[SueM in MN]

When I think of a motel, I think of a straight building with all the room doors in a line with parking right in front of the doors. As tho others said, that's not how OKW is at all. The doors to the units are at the parking lot side, but the units are set back from each other so you don't really even notice the other front doors. The whole front area is well landscaped and once you are inside, all you will see is the view to the back of the unit (usually a very, very nice view, with NO parking lot views).
I do think that someone who got their 8th choice (out of 10) was probably a very frustrating guest for the CM to wait on. No excuse for rudeness, but it must have been pretty frustrating for the CM to have to find the room that met the criteria that person had in mind.

 

[littleducksmom]

hi all,

i am the email friend of lucky that she is referring to in this thread.

i will post most of my letter that i have written back to lucky. should clear up a few things, i hope...... she mainly just wanted to know more about the bus situation since neither of us had heard of these problems with the busses around okw in postings on these boards.

btw........i rented points from a dis member. i would highly recommend renting points from her.....great to work with all the way around.

here is my response back to lucky........


"i have read with interest the dis board posting, if you would like to post this response i would have no problem with it.........people dont have the whole story....lol. it is interesting to note their comments tho. when i have more time to write i will go into more detail........oh well, i'll make the time.....lol. #1 i had made absolutely no room requests prior to our arrival.......i just researched, on my own, what bldgs i would ask about at checkin....there were 10 bldgs that i had thought would meet our needs the best. our biggest need was to be near the hospitality house. that is the only request i made at check in . luckily #8 on the list of 10 bldgs( the cm didnt know i had this list, as i carried it in my own head...lol) was available. i was fine with this. what the cm did, that i thought wasnt particularly professional, was to say that one of the bldgs closer to the hospitality house wasnt available for a studio rental. then within the next minute the cm working in the next desk over asks the cm helping us if we had gotten that studio in that bldg., since she wanted to give it to the couple she was assisting. so obviously there was a studio closer to the hospitality house available that she wasnt willing to give us.......lol. i dont really care where we ended up...the point is she lied. she also then made up same lame excuse why she didnt offer it to us to begin with. i never said anything........i just told her we would be fine with whatever she could find us as close to hh as possible.

we were on miller's road so that may have been the problem with busses, but there are several room locations there that we would have been bothered by the noise and fumes of the busses. luckily we had a great view from our studio balcony and there was no bus noise or fumes from there. our view was of the golf course and water. just anytime we walked to hospitality house or pools we had walk beside busses that do have a lot of exhaust. really it didnt bother me too bad.....but our baby in the stroller was more on the level for having to breathe these fumes.

the boat to dtd was super. the driver, eddie, was the best........he even let our baby "drive" the boat and honk the horn as we made our way back and forth to dtd.

yes, actually i did miss the maid service, but i also enjoyed the amenities of the room.

really the only thing that bothered us was the busses......they are certainly more a part of your stay at this resort than at any other wdw resort. i cant think of any other resort with busses driving so close to your rooms at most hours of the day. i should have thought about this prior to booking...just never crossed my mind. i had no problem with the closeby parking of our vehicle.......that is one of the reason we picked okw over the other dvc resorts. we rarely had to wait for a bus......and the drivers were also polite and knowledgeable. we used our car probably 50% of the time and the busses the other 50%.

okw just wasnt for us........but i can really see how it would be for a lot of people. if it wasnt for the bus noise and diesel smell we would be back. and yes if they would make a walking path on the back side of these particular bldgs........that would help. i understand why they cant do that tho."

of note.........we were in room 1836.......third floor studio. we gladly stayed in this room even with having to take the baby and the stroller up and down the stairs. this is also something the cm said she couldnt help us with if we wanted to be closer to the hh. this was the best she could do for us........ok.....fine.
she also with a quick tongue informed me that i would not be taking the path to dtd as this isnt something you are allowed to do as a guest of okw, since this is a golf course path. she had never heard of such a thing.......when i tried to explain what i heard about the path..........well let's just say i didnt wanna fight with her since she seemed to know all about it. we never did try the path.

i am not at all trying to start a debate about okw.....just merely relating my experience.

thanks for all your comments tho.....they are interesting to read.

 

[DeeP]

luckytso,
As another poster said what greatly appeals to someone might be the exact opposite in appeal to someone else and I agree no one should make comments or belittle someone's experience without knowing all the details. I am sure your friend was only giving her experience to you as a future reference point.
That being said, I have to say that out of all the DVC resorts OKW is my least favorite because for me it is too far away from everything and too laid back and boring for me. I like the DVC resorts with the hotel atmosphere because when I am on vacation I want to be pampered and I want all the hotel amenities like room service and valet parking and I want to be within walking distance to many restaurants,several parks and nighttime entertainment. But I must say I have never encountered anything but the nicest CMs at OKW. I have been bothered by the ac unit noise on the balcony and I have had a balcony that was almost completely covered by trees and bamboo plants. I have also been woken up early on many mornings by the sound of the lawn mowers cutting the golf course greens and there are many roads running throughout the resort not just on the perimeter of the resorts so you do see a lot of traffic which includes cars, buses and CM vehicles. And there are parking lots in front of every building but as others have said you do not see the parking lots from the rear of the buildings which is where the balcony is but you do see them whenever you enter or exit your unit.
None of the DVC resorts are for everyone and your friend's experiences were her experiences and not invalid or wrong just her likes and experiences. I am sure you know her a lot better than you know anyone on this board so I would definitely take what she has to say with some crediability.

 

[SueM in MN]

Thanks for posting, littleducksmom.
Some of the responses you got were to the "we ended up in bldg 18, which was my 8th choice, outta 10". We wrongly assumed that you had made 10 requests. I guess, that was based on lots of posts from people who actually had made 10 requests and then posted that they got a rude CM when all the requests couldn't be met. Obviously, from waht you posted, not what happened in your case. It sounds like you got a CM who needed a little more pixie dust.

I'm glad there is a lot of variety in DVC resorts. For our purposes, OKW works out the best. We've stayed at BWV and VWL and just didn't like them that much because with a person in a wheelchair, they were not as convenient as OKW. But the things that were negatives for us at those resorts might be just what someone else was looking for. Nice to have different resorts for different people.

 

[fkj2]

While the buses may have been a problem in this particular situation, I could say the same about the boats at BWV. Every time one docks or debarks....those horns, which they have to sound for safety, I know. It's just annoying to me particularly in the evening.

And those who have stayed in the Contemporary Resort Tower should be able to relate to the noise from the parking lot, even if you're staying on an upper floor. I can't tell you how many times car alarms sounded whenever the fireworks were displayed at the Castle. I guess most resorts have their drawbacks in one form or another.

Several years ago, I spoke with a CM on one of the hotel monorail boarding areas about Dis eventually expanding the system. She said it was under consideration but money was an issue (isn't it with nearly all of us these days) but that Dis was restricted by the state from adding any more diesel burning busses to the system because of the air pollution. I suppose a cure will take time and money to gradually change the present system.

 

[Dean]

I must say the image I had was that of about 12-14 requests with specific buildings and units listed. You obviously got a bad employee or at least caught them on a bad day. I also understand you're just relating your experiences. There's no excuse for lying to you.

I will say though that one who makes no requests up front is asking for trouble on check in. It is also customary at all timeshares I know where rooms must be assigned to give members priority over non members, as it should be. It seemed from your note that the CM at check in knew you were a renter, I'm curious what told them that.

 

[DeeP]

It is also customary at all timeshares I know where rooms must be assigned to give members priority over non members, as it should be. It seemed from your note that the CM at check in knew you were a renter, I'm curious what told them that.

I have never rented my points nor have I rented points so my knowlege of this is limited to what I have read on the DIS, but maybe the front desk knew they were renters because the name on the reservation was not a DVC member? From what I have read regarding renting pts it seems that the member rents the pts and then once they receive the money they change the reservation over to the renter's name. Please correct me if I am wrong, because as I said I have no experience with renting my pts or renting another DVC members pts. I am not saying this should be an excuse for rude behavior to any guest whether they are DVC members or renters but maybe this is how OKW's front desk knew they were not members. I must add that I do agree that members should be given priority over renters but NEVER should anyone receive rude treatment from a CM whether they are renters or DVC members.

 

[Dean]

Originally posted by DeeP
I have never rented my points nor have I rented points so my knowlege of this is limited to what I have read on the DIS, but maybe the front desk knew they were renters because the name on the reservation was not a DVC member?

No must be something else as a lot of family and guests have other names on the reservations. Members are supposed to notify DVC if they are renting but the cards still usually say member on them when renters check in.

 

[littleducksmom]

dean,

i dont think the cm that was working with us really knew either way if we were members or renters. i would hope that members would get priority. we made our ressie within a few weeks of our arrival and we checked in at 1030 am on a saturday. i really think our biggest problem was the cm, not anything else.

i guess the main thing is............is that i didnt get the impression(at least from this cm) that rooms were even assigned prior to our arrival. i think i have seen this point made on other threads. maybe members do have their rooms assigned prior to arrival? and renters and paying guests dont until they check in? i just dont know.

we did have room key stating that we were members.

really the room assignment and the cm were not the problem that will keep us from returning, it was the bus noise and fumes.

 

[Dean]

hat the cm did, that i thought wasnt particularly professional, was to say that one of the bldgs closer to the hospitality house wasnt available for a studio rental

This is what made me think they knew about it being a rental, obviously I was mistaken. I would not have expected the front desk to have that info, at least not readily available. They are apparently doing at trial of first come/first serve right now at some of the resorts.

 

[doubletrouble_vb]

Every Disney resort has drawbacks. For me...I can't stand air conditioner noise....so the big hotels work better because their are fewer places to hear it. If I'm near them, off season stays work better because people aren't as compelled to cool their units. For littleducksmom...bus noise & smell...and to be honest if I had stayed at OKW a week that would have bothered me too.

BWV...I don't like the rooms around Luna Park...same problem...noise. I like to destress on vacation & noise = stress. You have to walk a mile to get to your room.

VWL...it takes forever to get anywhere except Magic Kingdom...and again its a fair walk just to get beverages or the little grocery.

And by the way I like the lizards...

Anyway I know I tend to speak negatively of the resorts but that is because most posters don't have anything bad to say about whatever resort they are speaking of...and that just doesn't give a balanced picture.

So here is some positive stuff:

OKW...loved the flowers and the HH...the environment felt so fragant and fresh (as long as you were away from the bus stop). The boat ride was great and gave me some ideas where I would stay...in a 1 bedroom!...the next time I go back.

BWV...loved the gym...love the pool bar...love the boardwalk itself...and all the sitting areas.

VWL...my favorite so I wont comment on it. Hopefully you will all stay away.

BCV! We will see...I grew up near a beach so I'm not in love with it as most people seem to be. Its very attractive from BWV and I'm looking forward to staying there.

 

[Deb & Bill]

I'd hate to have walkways behind the units at OKW. When I'm sitting on my balcony, I'd hate to have a parade of people walking by. When we stayed at BCV in July, we took the path over to Epcot that runs right next to the BC resort. We could look right into people's rooms if the curtains were open. That's what we would have with sidewalks on the other side of the OKW units. No privacy.

Also, I thought the buses all have the extended exhaust pipe on them that exhausts above the bus instead of at ground level. There are as many buses at OKW as at BWV, VWL, BCV and every other resort. Maybe even fewer. You make it sound like OKW smells like a refinery. Come on, now. Not even close.

I guess you won't rent points at OKW anymore - you'll have to pay more for your bargain/dream vacation.

 

[Beth]

Deb & Bill,

FWIW - DIS <i>may</i> be in the process of converting its fleet to the newer style bus - exhaust at the top - but there are still MANY of the older style running around property right now...

 

[fkj2]

I last was able to vacation at OKW 12/00 and had requested at the 11 month window, either a GV on the first floor or in the newer elevator equipped buildings, as the mom has severe arthritis that precludes frequent stair climbing. I learned when we arrived to check-in, that those buildings had been assigned to someone else who had not yet arrived and there aren't any first floor GV. It wasn't a matter of convenience; my mom could not do the stairs. The desk people sent out a supervisor who, upon evaluating the situation I suppose, made adjustments in the room assignment and OKW was able to accommodate our medical needs.