OKW...Here comes the Fedora family!!

[Johnnie Fedora]

Our Jan trip is coming up so fast, I'd better start gathering info now!!. Yesterday, I borrowed (only a few) 2004 points to 2003 and 2003 points to 2002 so we could stay 3 nights at an OKW studio, instead of ASMo (yeah!!!). This will be our first trip to OKW and we are not as familiar with it. We've driven through it, and found it to be somewhat sprawling. We want to see how we will like OKW as are debating swithching our June 6 night BCV ressie for a 7 night OKW, but wanted to stay at both resorts before we decide. Anyhow, I have a couple of OKW questions:

1) I was wondering what kinds of kids activities they have. Are they along the lines of HH? Is there a kids night out, how many per week, and what do they do??

2) Is there any difference in the three smaller pools or are they just rectangular. They all look rectangular on the OKW map.

3) Since we need to save some money on this trip, I was planning on cooking a meal or two on the grill. Are there grills through out OKW or just by the pools.

For those that have stayed at HH and OKW is the atmosphere similiar?

Thanks for any help...Johnnie

 

[RobDoc]

The children's programs at OKW are more like those at the other onsite DVC resorts than the HH programming. There are several centered around the Community Hall area of the resort. I'm sure someone can offer a more detailed report on the programs. Since HH (and VB) has no opportunity for theme park access, the programs there offer different opportunities for daily activities.

The quiet pools at Miller's Road and South Point are rectangular and the one at Turtle Pond is L-shaped (I think).

Grills are all located near the pools.

To me, OKW does not have the same atmosphere as HH. The resort is comfortable to enjoy a walk, play tennis or ride bikes, but the roadways and parking areas make these activities very dependant on the sidewalks. At HH, the layout is more relaxed and encourages venturing off the walkways without concern for any vehicular traffic. We love both resorts and find them each relaxing- just in a different way!

Enjoy your OKW trip!

 

[cgcw]

We just spent an unplanned night at OKW because we had a sick child and didn't want to travel the 1200 car trip until he was at least a little bit better. Anyway, we loved OKW and will probably stay there on our next trip to WDW.

I can't answer about the activities but I know our children (2 and 8) both enjoyed the community hall. DS8 and I played ping-pong while DS2 played with the toys they had there. DH even sat down and played some solitare on the computer in there. The playground was nicer than the one at HH -- at least our kids thought so. DS8 thought it was great fun to play in the sand and pretend he was a stunt guy falling off the playground structures into the sand. I liked the fact that we could park right outside of our villa. No lugging a great distance from the car. DS8 was itching to go swimming in the big pool - even if there wasn't a slide. Although we didn't allow him to swim (because DS2 would have wanted to also), I know he would have had a great time. We rented surrey bikes and tried to ride around the resort to the different pools.....those surrey bikes are alot of work and we didn't make it to but one pool before giving up (it was rectangle in shape). OKW is much bigger than HH.

One thing I noticed there which was a bit scary with our little guy was that the beds are very high up from the floor. I had to really stretch to get into the bed. Housekeeping brought us some bedrails but I felt like I was on top of our little guy to be extra careful because of the height.

We loved the feel of OKW. We felt relaxed there, as we do at HH. Have a good trip!

 

[ZerasPride]

I now know why so many love OKW. It was wonderful and for me, a completely different feel than HH. Hilton Head has that woodsy, cosy feel to it. OKW felt more tropical and tranquil, I actually came home feeling relaxed after a Disneyworld vacation! We had such a great time at both resorts that I am honestly not sure which is our favorite now. For some reason, I can't seem to get OKW off my mind as I contemplate a quick trip in June and can't wait to stay there again.

We enjoyed being able to park our car in front of the unit and thoguht the white picket fences and benches at the units were so cute. Bus service was wonderful to the parks and there was hardly ever anyone at the bus stops. My brother came home with the impression (keep in mind he is just 12 years old) that there was something wrong with OKW because most of the other bus stops had hordes of people lined up when the parks were closing but there was hardly anyone at the OKW stop.

Anyway, I thought the one bedroom at OKW as very large - even in comparison to the 2 bedroom we had at HH. I am sure you will have a wonderful time! Please report back and let us know how you enjoyed your trip.

 

[Disneyaholic]

If you love HH (and we all know you do), you will also love OKW. It has that same "non-hotel" feeling to it, which is what we love.