OKW lovers thread !!!

[helenk]

I've tried reading all the posts but there is just too many. I have booked a studio at OKW for my trip in December. My first stay at OKW, I only had 57 points and used 56 for 5 nights, you can't beat that.
I was wondering where the laundry facilties are? I'm just doing carry on for my trip and will want to do my laundry before I leave. Do you pay or is it like the other DVC resorts where its free ?

 

[Deb & Bill]

I've tried reading all the posts but there is just too many. I have booked a studio at OKW for my trip in December. My first stay at OKW, I only had 57 points and used 56 for 5 nights, you can't beat that.
I was wondering where the laundry facilties are? I'm just doing carry on for my trip and will want to do my laundry before I leave. Do you pay or is it like the other DVC resorts where its free ?

At OKW, the washers and dryers are located at the pools. They are free to use. You'll need your KTTW to get into the room.

 

[helenk]

At OKW, the washers and dryers are located at the pools. They are free to use. You'll need your KTTW to get into the room.

Thank you, the one thing I miss about staying at the value and moderate resorts is doing your laundry while your at the pool. It make better use of your time. That will make my stay a bit easier...unless there is a cold snap while I'm there and I can't relax at the pool.

 

[Bellesmama]

Hi, Does anyone have an activity schedule for June? Or even one from May? I'm interested to just see an example of what they do now. We haven't been to OKW in years. Thanks!

Bump...

I would like this info too!

1st time visit to OKW in 6 days!

 

[sherylcin]

We have just booked a GV at OKW for our next Grandfamily Trip to the World in January. We're very excited to stay here. The resort looks lovely and I'm gleaning lots of great info from this thread. I do, however, have a couple of questions that may be buried here somewhere, I'm just too impatient to wait till I uncover them.

1) Are there really 4 bathrooms in all the GV's? That's what I've read on this thread but the DVC site only says 3 and that's what Member Services told me as well. It matters because that will help decide if we need to get a Studio for my Dad or we can all crowd in together.

2) My Dad will have a scooter since all the walking will be too much for him and stairs will be a problem for him. Don't really need an accessible room but will need somewhere to put the scooter and he won't be able to climb stairs easily. Again, decision whether to get him his own ground floor studio or are there GV's at ground floor level?

Thanks in advance. I'm so glad I saw this thread!!

 

[Deb & Bill]

We have just booked a GV at OKW for our next Grandfamily Trip to the World in January. We're very excited to stay here. The resort looks lovely and I'm gleaning lots of great info from this thread. I do, however, have a couple of questions that may be buried here somewhere, I'm just too impatient to wait till I uncover them.

1) Are there really 4 bathrooms in all the GV's? That's what I've read on this thread but the DVC site only says 3 and that's what Member Services told me as well. It matters because that will help decide if we need to get a Studio for my Dad or we can all crowd in together.

2) My Dad will have a scooter since all the walking will be too much for him and stairs will be a problem for him. Don't really need an accessible room but will need somewhere to put the scooter and he won't be able to climb stairs easily. Again, decision whether to get him his own ground floor studio or are there GV's at ground floor level?

Thanks in advance. I'm so glad I saw this thread!!

Most of the GVs start on the second floor. If he can't get to the second floor, you need an accessible GV. I think there may be only three of them. So call now. There won't be anywhere to charge the scooter outside. Or get him a ground floor studio. He might like the quiet. But he won't be able to join the rest of the family for dining and stuff in the GV.

Yes, there are four bathrooms. The master bathroom, two upstairs (one in each of the two bedrooms), and one just off the entrance to the villa with a shower.

 

[MSUmom]

For the scooter - we had one at BWV in May. Just left it in the hallway, plugged in. Never had to worry about it getting enough charge or being in the way in our studio.

 

[dianeschlicht]

We have just booked a GV at OKW for our next Grandfamily Trip to the World in January. We're very excited to stay here. The resort looks lovely and I'm gleaning lots of great info from this thread. I do, however, have a couple of questions that may be buried here somewhere, I'm just too impatient to wait till I uncover them.

1) Are there really 4 bathrooms in all the GV's? That's what I've read on this thread but the DVC site only says 3 and that's what Member Services told me as well. It matters because that will help decide if we need to get a Studio for my Dad or we can all crowd in together.

2) My Dad will have a scooter since all the walking will be too much for him and stairs will be a problem for him. Don't really need an accessible room but will need somewhere to put the scooter and he won't be able to climb stairs easily. Again, decision whether to get him his own ground floor studio or are there GV's at ground floor level?

Thanks in advance. I'm so glad I saw this thread!!

1) YES there are really 4 bathrooms, and all 4 of them have bathing facilities. The two bathrooms upstairs have tub/shower units in them. The hall bath downstairs (for whomever sleeps in the living room) has a walk in shower, and the master bath has a Jacuzzi plus a walk in shower and two seperate rooms for the bathroom.

2) You can request an elevator building for medical reasons if he really can't climb stairs at all. The only ground floor GV will be handicap accessible, so the kitchen and master bath will be modified in such a way that you wont like it much. There are 2 GVs in an elevator building, and one of those is HA and the other is not. If you are lucky you could maybe get that one that is in the elevator building and not HA. If he can climb a few stairs, the exterior stairs at OKW are fairly low rise, and even my DH who has horrible knees has very little trouble with them. However, inside the villa, he will either have to use the master or sleep in the living room, because the other two bedrooms are upstairs. As for the scooter...Even if you are not in an elevator building, they will allow you to plug it in at HH in Papa's Den. We had to do that one trip, and while it was a little inconvenient with having to take a bus to HH and then retrieve the scooter, it was able to be managed.

 

[bobbiwoz]

Two weeks ago, I invited DS's family to stay an extra day with me at WDW. I was at AKV, and couldn't get them a 1 bedroom there, but could at OKW. It was their first stay there, they were in building #17, had a nice golf course view and enjoyed it.

 

[sherylcin]

[QUOTEMost of the GVs start on the second floor. If he can't get to the second floor, you need an accessible GV. I think there may be only three of them. So call now. There won't be anywhere to charge the scooter outside. Or get him a ground floor studio. He might like the quiet. But he won't be able to join the rest of the family for dining and stuff in the GV.

Yes, there are four bathrooms. The master bathroom, two upstairs (one in each of the two bedrooms), and one just off the entrance to the villa with a shower. ][/QUOTE]

Thank you so much for the info and you're right! With my 7 grandchildren around he might just beg for his own studio! He can climb stairs to a point but doing it more than once a day would wear him out.

[QU1) YES there are really 4 bathrooms, and all 4 of them have bathing facilities. The two bathrooms upstairs have tub/shower units in them. The hall bath downstairs (for whomever sleeps in the living room) has a walk in shower, and the master bath has a Jacuzzi plus a walk in shower and two seperate rooms for the bathroom.

2) You can request an elevator building for medical reasons if he really can't climb stairs at all. The only ground floor GV will be handicap accessible, so the kitchen and master bath will be modified in such a way that you wont like it much. There are 2 GVs in an elevator building, and one of those is HA and the other is not. If you are lucky you could maybe get that one that is in the elevator building and not HA. If he can climb a few stairs, the exterior stairs at OKW are fairly low rise, and even my DH who has horrible knees has very little trouble with them. However, inside the villa, he will either have to use the master or sleep in the living room, because the other two bedrooms are upstairs. As for the scooter...Even if you are not in an elevator building, they will allow you to plug it in at HH in Papa's Den. We had to do that one trip, and while it was a little inconvenient with having to take a bus to HH and then retrieve the scooter, it was able to be managed. OTE][/QUOTE]

Thanks for the great info! That 4th bathroom is really an unexpected bonus! What you stated is exactly what I was thinking. I really don't want a HA unit completely since none of us (including my dad) really need those modifications. (I also would feel bad taking an HA unit if someone who really needed one couldn't get it then.) It's just too much walking and/or stair climbing is too much for him. He suffers from neuropathy in his legs (diabetic) and sometimes if he overdoes it, they just give out on him. I already figured if we have everyone together, he'll have to have the Master. Good info about charging the scooter at HH. I wondered if there might be some accommodation there at Luggage Services.

I do have one more question, is the sofabed in the living room comfortable enough for an adult to sleep on? We typically only put the kids there.

 

[sherylcin]

For the scooter - we had one at BWV in May. Just left it in the hallway, plugged in. Never had to worry about it getting enough charge or being in the way in our studio.

Thank you! I know when we stayed at Beach Club there were scooters parked in the hall as well so it must ok to do.

 

[glaserjm]

Hi all! We only have 4 months until our next OKW stay and couldn't be more excited. However we are now in the midst of booking a March trip where we will be staying in one bedroom for the first time as we will be going with my parents.

We haven't made any special requests on our previous two OKW visits because we don't have any special needs, but my dad has pretty major knee/back problems and while he isn't immobile by any means, having to climb stairs several times per day in addition to park touring may be a lot for him. My question is whether or not there are a good number of 1st floor one bedrooms and if people have had success requesting them. I don't want to request a space in an elevator building or an accessible unit as those should be reserves for someone with more serious mobility issues, but I'd like to make it easier on him.

Finally, I have read that only buildings 30 and up have 2 entrances to the bathroom in the one-bedrooms. I wanted to verify this and ask how much success people have had requesting specific areas. DH and I will be sleeping in the living room and do not want to walk through the bedroom to use the bathroom in the middle of the night (which I do pretty much every night).

Thanks in advance for your advice!

 

[OKW Lover]

The 1BR units are spread pretty evenly though out the resort. You should have no problem at all requesting a 1st floor unit. When you talk to MS, be sure you mention that you need a 1st floor unit for medical reasons (no need to explain further) so they can note it on your reservation.

 

[BEASLYBOO]

Had a 6 day stint at my favorite resort, got back 6/16/12! What a fantastic time, it was my friend and I, plus our 2 15yr old sons and 2 additional 15yr old friends. The OKW 2 bedroom was perfect and roomy; love the addition of that sleeper chair!

Arrived at 11am, and hey, for the 1st time at OKW our villa was not ready. They gave us the room keys but not the room number; they were going to text us when the villa was ready. I've never been successful at receiving a text from any resort telling me the room was ready & this was no exception. We dropped the boys off at the main pool and headed to DTD to get our AP's and a couple of water park tickets. Got back just in time for the, "Where are you, we're starved?" text from my son. It was a lovely, actually cool and breezy day for mid-June so we opted for Olivia's, outside patio with tropical music and paddle fans!

Olivia's bacon cheeseburgers & Cuban sandwiches, family favorites, the food was delicious! It was a great lunch and our waiter got to razzing the boys, we laughed, a really fun lunch and a great way to start a fantastic vacation! After lunch I called to see if the villa was ready and it was, no text!

Villa # 4222, 2bd, 2nd floor by the quiet pool, which I had requested, as the boys love the take multiple dips and I like to grill! Immaculate, noticed two changes, all white dishes replaced the old colored fiesta and 2 out of the 3 shade hardware mechanisms were pulled out from the wall. When it's loose it's actually easier to roll up & down, what a pain these are! This time around, view wasn't as important as the locale by the quiet pool, but it was still decent, "a corner of the golf green w/ a bit of rocks and water"

As Floridians and DVC owners it's not so much the parks that attract us, I've been to Disney 50 plus times, it's the resorts and what else Orlando has to offer. We ate breakfast in the villa every morning. Had a lunch there mid-day between our MK & DHS day, boy was it hot and steaming! Made baked ziti & meatballs, salad & garlic bread for dinner the night of our, don't tell Mickey, "Universal" day and grilled a marinated London broil on arrival night at the quiet pool!

It wasn't a Blue Zoo kind of trip, so with 4 15yr old boys, it was a "buffet" trip! The Chinese buffet, The Golden Corral (I detest buffets, but they have me with that Pot Roast). We had 2 ADR's, Tepan Edo, which we all loved and the other at Sci-Fi (But that was the rain day, so we cancelled it early and did Pizza Hut delivery and Salad at the villa instead, great call, it rained till 8:30pm!

We did Typhoon Lagoon, MK, DHS, Epcot, Universal and the 2 Outlet Malls, along with House of Hoops! (15yr old boys love anything Nike & Lebron’s (Go Miami Heat!) OKW buses, on time, no issues!

My friend and I took long walks in the early morning and late at night when it was cool. The boys played basketball, they love the resort also, we hosted them last June and it was such fun we had to do it again! A good time, but also a relaxing time, at 15 they can go on their own and at their own pace and so can we!

OKW is such a beautiful resort, and I already miss it! Next up, Kidani in August, it’s going to be hot!

 

[DVC Jen]

Just finished getting all the processing and editing done on our vacation photos. I wanted to come here and post a link to the photos I took during our first OKW stay. We really liked the resort.. such a wonderful laid back feel and the rooms............HUGE!!!!!!!!!!

Anyway there are 31 photos so here is a link to the gallery instead of actually posting all of the photos.

I have to say - after showing some of my disney friends these shots I heard a lot of "we never thought of staying at Old Key West before. It never appealed to us, but now I want to stay there."

Sorry for letting the "secret" out.

http://jenniferdifranco.smugmug.com/Disney-Vacations/Disney-Magic-and-Walt-Disney/Disneys-Old-Key-West-Resort/23730063_cbm7t7#!i=1921690817&k=QCZJTr6

 

[Pinkocto]

Jennifer thank you for sharing those pictures, so beautiful!

Beaslyboo, your trip sounds like such fun, thanks for sharing

 

[MiaSRN62]

Just finished getting all the processing and editing done on our vacation photos. I wanted to come here and post a link to the photos I took during our first OKW stay. We really liked the resort.. such a wonderful laid back feel and the rooms............HUGE!!!!!!!!!!

Anyway there are 31 photos so here is a link to the gallery instead of actually posting all of the photos.

I have to say - after showing some of my disney friends these shots I heard a lot of "we never thought of staying at Old Key West before. It never appealed to us, but now I want to stay there."

Sorry for letting the "secret" out.

http://jenniferdifranco.smugmug.com/Disney-Vacations/Disney-Magic-and-Walt-Disney/Disneys-Old-Key-West-Resort/23730063_cbm7t7#!i=1921690817&k=QCZJTr6

Jennifer....your photos are absolutely stunning !

 

[toklotursa]

Great pictures Jennifer. Thanks.

 

[DVC Jen]

Thanks everyone.

A lot of people spend a lot of $$$ on souvies from their vacations - I spend a lot of time taking photos - those are my souvies.

Like I said before - we really did like Old Key West - it reminded me a lot of Vero which we also love. Very casual, laid back, relaxing. People seemed to be (to use my 19 yr old DDs word) chill there - not a lot of rushing around to get from here to there. People were actually mellow and relaxed - so nice after a few days in the parks.

On our last day TS Beryl went through and we didn't even leave the room except to check out a few movies and get some burgers at Goods to Go. And we didn't even feel like we were wasting precious time. It was nice to just sit in the room enjoying the rainy day and relaxing - while watching old Disney movies. We saw the Apple Dumpling Gang - and LOVED it.

 

[tb1972]

Thanks everyone.

A lot of people spend a lot of $$$ on souvies from their vacations - I spend a lot of time taking photos - those are my souvies.

Like I said before - we really did like Old Key West - it reminded me a lot of Vero which we also love. Very casual, laid back, relaxing. People seemed to be (to use my 19 yr old DDs word) chill there - not a lot of rushing around to get from here to there. People were actually mellow and relaxed - so nice after a few days in the parks.

On our last day TS Beryl went through and we didn't even leave the room except to check out a few movies and get some burgers at Goods to Go. And we didn't even feel like we were wasting precious time. It was nice to just sit in the room enjoying the rainy day and relaxing - while watching old Disney movies. We saw the Apple Dumpling Gang - and LOVED it.

Beautiful photos. Thanks for sharing.