OKW Disappointment

[charvel67]

Just got back from a 4 night/5 day stay at the World. First 2 nights were at Wilderness Lodge. We have never stayed there and since we didn't have the kids with us this time we thought we'd stay at a couple of resorts we hadn't been to before. Wilderness Lodge was great. Although we own at SSR, which I think is absolutely beautiful, I found I prefer the hotel vs. condo type of resort. WL was decorated nice, it was clean, and proximity to MK was great. We even sat on the beach to watch the Electrical water Pageant and see MNSSHP fireworks. Pools were great, not overcrowded, just a real nice place. On our third day we would check in to OKW. I was very excited about this. From everything I have read and all the pics I thought this would be me kind of place, atmosphere. We dropped luggage off to be transferred and were told luggage would be there by 3:30 pm. We went to MK for a while, then rode the bus back to OKW to check in. Our room was ready but no luggage as it was only 12:30. We got to our room, a studio in building 64 which was a relief that one of my requests came through. I love the room size. Some problems that I didn't care for included, cobwebs all over, hair dryer didn't work, phone didn't work, moldy shower curtain, and you could hear every toilet flush through the walls and ceiling. I mean crazy loud. The main pool at hospitality house was always way overpacked too. Back to my luggage-I went over to luggage holding at 4 pm and still no luggage. Finally at 5:30 it shows, but now my suitcase is broken! I did call about the phone and hair dryer not working when we arrived on wednesday but it never got fixed until Thursday evening (they never replaced the hairdryer). I know this resort is older and they are refurbing rooms but I don't see staying there again. Bus service was good, no complaints about that. We managed to spend some time at both Kadani and Jambo to check it out and I thought it was amazing which is nice because I never thought I would like it from all the pics I have seen. We'll be spending our next trip their. Anyway, I hate to be a complainer when at WDW, but OKW just didn't cut for us and was amazed at the lack of service or room quality. I know it doesn't happen all the time, it just happend to happen to us this time.

 

[wildernessDad]

Personally, I think OKW is a very nice resort and it's my wife's favorite.

You did right by calling about the room problems. Hopefully you called maintenance and not the front desk. Yes, they are refurbishing OKW at this time.

By the way, it's Kidani, not Kadani. A lot of people make that mistake, even those who own there.

 

[Simba's Mom]

Sounds like a real poor experience, but I'll only defend one thing-the broken hair dryer at OKW and them not fixing it in a timely manner. We found out on this last trip that when you call "Maintenance" at [what you think is] your hotel, it often goes to some central all-resort #, which SUPPOSEDLY dispatches it to the correct location. Sometimes it happens, sometimes it doesn't. At least that's what we found out on our trip to BCV a few weeks ago, when it took 5 days to fix our refrigerator after we reported it. But when it happened, the "fix" involved giving us a brand new refrigerator. And we thought it was bad when it took 2 hours to fix/replace our unworking coffee pot the first morning (let me tell you, waiting 2 hours without coffee in the morning can seem like an eternity!)

 

[PMDR59]

Was not a fan of our stay at OKW either. Stayed in a Studio over presidents week. We had mold in the bathroom also. When we walked in I noticed the beds were 2 different heights..........which was odd. Night 1 we realized why. On the wall over the lower bed each night was basically a Spotlight. The lamp in the courtyard was in a position that it shined right through the peephole in the door. If the bed had been the same height as the other one, that spotlight would have been right on someones pillow.

 

[jarestel]

The rooms were "HUGE" though, right?

Actually, I like OKW. But all resorts have "lemon" rooms. I'd give it another try at some point before writing it off altogether.

 

[supersuperwendy]

uh oh...we just booked a trip to OKW and I've been so excited about it. You guys have me nervous now.

 

[bobbiwoz]

uh oh...we just booked a trip to OKW and I've been so excited about it. You guys have me nervous now.

My advice is not to open any thread that sound as if it is bashing the resort you're going to the next time! Truly, I'll bet you don't have the OP's issues and you will have a great time. I truly hope you do!

 

[SusieBea]

My advice is not to open any thread that sound as if it is bashing the resort you're going to the next time! Truly, I'll bet you don't have the OP's issues and you will have a great time. I truly hope you do!

Good advice! We've stayed at OKW over 25 times since 1993, most recently in September in a renovated room, and the worst issue we've had was a burned out light bulb.

 

[*Meagan*]

I strongly dislike OKW. It is by far my least favorite. It just did not do it for me.
To each is own!

We own @ SSR and love it!

 

[wildernessDad]

I strongly dislike OKW. It is by far my least favorite. It just did not do it for me.
To each is own!

We own @ SSR and love it!

I think you mean to each his own or more appropriately to each their own.

 

[srberubenh]

We stayed at OKW this summer in a room that was not yet renovated. The size of the room was great, but the room was in need of some TLC. I have stayed in 2-star hotels where the rooms were nicer. This experience certainly was not a deluxe one. In fact, the stay almost caused my wife to say no to buying DVC. Luckily, we has a great time at BCV and AKV so we still bought. I would try OKW again in a renovated room as the pictures looked nice.

 

[disneynutz]

Every resort has it's pros and cons. Over the years we have stayed at all of the WDW DVC resorts many times. Some stays were without problems and some weren't, I think that it is just the luck of the draw. I wish that I could tell you that reporting problems to the resort and MS makes things better but I really feel that problems are accepted as part of the business.

Here's hoping that you next stay is without issues.

Bill

 

[edk35]

uh oh...we just booked a trip to OKW and I've been so excited about it. You guys have me nervous now.

Oh I am sure you will have a great experience at OKW. We have stayed there twice. During our first visit there I noticed some mold in the shower. I reported and the very next day they came in and did a COMPLETE top to bottom CLEAN of the entire 2 bedroom villa. Plus we still got our regular full service clean later that week. On our very first DVC stay at SSR.... they put us in a villa that was NOT clean. It had just the trash and towel service. They took care of that mistake right away. MOST times...they will rectify the PROBLEM in a timely manner.

 

[dclfun]

I love OKW and we've rarely had issues with our room where we felt it was either run-down or in disrepair. OKW's shining stars are its larger villas as they're so much bigger than the other DVC properties. The studio units, while lovely, really only become more favorable than the others when you want two beds vs. that pull out sofa. My kids are older and we prefer the two beds as who wants to sleep on a bed with springs in your back and a thin mattress? I'd also give it another try. After my first trip to SSR I hated it...I mean hated. I didn't like the feel of a condo vs. resort and I didn't like the layout of the room. We gave it another try and have been much more pleased as the resort is a little more mature than it was at the time we originally stayed there and we've found some of the public areas that we enjoy in different areas of the resort. There really isn't a DVC resort that I don't like which is a good thing as I prefer a bit of variety. They can "welcome me home" anywhere! Good luck if you do try it again as I really feel like you won't have a bad experience twice.---Kathy

 

[charvel67]

I here what most of you have said - the grounds were beautiful, we were just disappointed that this time around we got a lemon room or experience at OKW, and hey it's WDW and everything is supposed to be perfect. You could get a bad room or bad experience at any resort. Reason we booked there was because there were so many positive posts about it which made me really excited to try it. I'm sure it's fine most of the time, just not for us this time which makes me know I won't book there or try again for a while.

 

[edk35]

I here what most of you have said - the grounds were beautiful, we were just disappointed that this time around we got a lemon room or experience at OKW, and hey it's WDW and everything is supposed to be perfect. You could get a bad room or bad experience at any resort. Reason we booked there was because there were so many positive posts about it which made me really excited to try it. I'm sure it's fine most of the time, just not for us this time which makes me know I won't book there or try again for a while.

I would have NOT accepted the room after you actually got in it and saw the problems. I mean cobwebs and a moldy curtain.... I am thinking this room had not been used in a while. I wonder if you called upon entering in the room or did you wait and call the next day. Nonetheless, I would have asked for them to come and clean it since you checked into your room early and your luggage was not there. They could have easily moved you to another unit too. I think it pays to really let the front desk and housekeeping know RIGHT away when something is up like that.

 

[LindaBabe]

Was not a fan of our stay at OKW either. Stayed in a Studio over presidents week. We had mold in the bathroom also. When we walked in I noticed the beds were 2 different heights..........which was odd. Night 1 we realized why. On the wall over the lower bed each night was basically a Spotlight. The lamp in the courtyard was in a position that it shined right through the peephole in the door. If the bed had been the same height as the other one, that spotlight would have been right on someones pillow.

IT's that way in a lot of rooms because the peephole is so large. I just stick a post it note over the peephole on the inside of the door.

 

[eporter66]

One of the things I am still not sure about is the hotel vs condo environment. We rent a car, so being able to park right outside our unit is fine, and I rather enjoy taking walks in the evenings to the main areas. But - I also walk into a place like WL or AK and love just hanging out in the main areas of the hotel lobbies. They are big beautiful places that the condo resorts just dont have.

We have stayed at OKW, and although not our favorite, we will probably stay again at times to save on points, and when we have a little more golf time it is the perfect spot. OKW does have great rooms, and I found it was rather quiet, I dont remember hearing toilets etc..., but it has been a few years

 

[Melynny]

We have been DVC members since 1995. We are OKW and SSR owners. We take between 3 and 5 trips to WDW on our points each year. In all of those trips, I could have cut and pasted your comments to match my some of my experiences in ALL (except BLT and Kidani, not stayed there yet) of the DVC resorts. We have had terrible stays at BCV, then we have had nothing but wonderful stays there. Another year.. BWV seems to be on the low end of our list... The first time I stayed at Saratoga, I hated it.. it was not clean, the service seemed to be not up to par.. now I don't mind it at all. Please, Please, don't pass judgement on a single experience, yes it may make you think twice about a special occasion, and obviououly first impressions are hard to overcome. But each resort is special in it's own way, and each one will become it's own shining star as your membership grows.. I am no way condoning cobwebs, mold and broken items, but really this is just a part of large resorts and keeping costs down we need to bring these items to the resorts attention. If no one called about the broken hairdryer until you it can't get fixed. The housekeepers don't have time to check each hair dryer to see if it's working.

OP, by the way, did you ever think that maybe your luggage was broken at VWL?

 

[dmoore22]

Oh I am sure you will have a great experience at OKW. We have stayed there twice. During our first visit there I noticed some mold in the shower. I reported and the very next day they came in and did a COMPLETE top to bottom CLEAN of the entire 2 bedroom villa. Plus we still got our regular full service clean later that week. On our very first DVC stay at SSR.... they put us in a villa that was NOT clean. It had just the trash and towel service. They took care of that mistake right away. MOST times...they will rectify the PROBLEM in a timely manner.

We stayed at SSR for the first weekend of October. We were surprised at the poor condition of the paint, the mold in the bathtub tile grout, and the worn carpeting in the traffic areas considering this is one of the newer resorts. We have stayed there twice and found the bus service frustrating to say the least. We did enjoy the Artist's Palette. In spite of that we would probably stay there again though it would not be our first choice. I pass off many of these issues as normal wear and tear requiring routine maintenance. That being said, we've not had any issues at OKW. We love the ability to park close to our villa and find the bus service the best of all the resorts. Of course I'm not including the monorail at the Contemporary.