OKW or ALK ?? Thoughts on busses and other factors

[wendlle]

I'm renting DVC points and OKW is as always the cheapest. I've never stayed there but have stayed at AKL (Jambo) before a few times.
My budget is very low for this trip so it will be between these two.

Are the busses at OKW really that bad? I keep reading about 5 bus stops and how long it takes. Now, I don't mind taking Disney busses and we typically don't return to the resort much on our park days - if at all, so won't be coming and going a lot. But I also don't want to be waiting forever and then not get on the bus because they're full.
I've never had an issue at AKL before with the busses.

AKL is around $1K more expensive for the week than OKW so of course i'd rather save the money if the bus situation isn't that bad.
Both options are Studios with 2 Adults and 2 kids.

Other option is a split stay, if this is the case I may be able to swing OKW for most of the trip with Boardwalk or Boulder Ridge for a few nights to top it off.

What would your thoughts be??

 

[Chuck S]

It is rare that I don't stay at OKW. I have stayed at AKL, Kidani. Considering the LONG hallways at Kidani, especially if you're in a villa near the end of the building, I'd take OKW any day. Since it is a budget trip, I assume you have a studio reserved. Just know that OKW studios are all lock offs, so be sure the connecting door to the one bedroom section is locked...and all OKW studios have two real queen beds, no couch. It CAN take a while on the busses to get to the parks, though. So leave your room earlier than at some other resorts if you have a dining reservation of want to be at the park for rope drop.

OKW is also a large, spread out resort. If you are not near the Hospitallity Area, and don't want to walk it, you can hop on any park bus, and Hospitality is the last stop before leaving the resort, EXCEPT the Disney Springs busses, they double as internal resort busses, and stop at Hospitality first. To get back to your room from hospitality, walk across the bridge to the Peninsular Road bus stop, and again, hop on any park bus.

 

[DizneyFamof4]

We're not OKW fans but if on a tight budget, I would save $1000 and give it a try, just add in a little more time for walking and transportation.

 

[mistysue]

Here is what I would consider -
Yes, the buses at OKW can be that bad. It depends where you room is. We stayed once, this Spring. We were located on the 3rd floor (no elevators, FYI) and at the end of a building. Leaving our room, we go down the stairs and the sidewalks don't connect so we have to walk through the middle of the driving lane for the parking lot for a good 30' stretch to get to the sidewalk that would take us to a bus. Cross the road, wait for a bus, roughly a 4-6 minute walk... if we want to go to the main building, the bus ride itself after waiting for the next bus was a 15 minute bus ride. (think how long the bus ride is from any resort to a park, and add 18 minutes to it, and you have the OKW bus potential)
We could have turned the other way from our room, in which case it averaged us 16 minutes to walk to the main building No shade, sidewalks are disjointed so road crossing is involved as well. We never bothered to trek to the other pools as they were further than the main one, but ALL of the resort stuff was at the main building. The food was ok (not good for dietary restrictions in all in our experience) and the little shop - unlike other DVC resorts - barely had anything to buy to make in your own room, so you NEED a grocery order here unless you happen to want to eat what they had in maybe 2-3 little freezer cases.

Regarding the food - check the menu, there's not much variety, if you like it great, but if you don't, not so great.

Now you might luck out and not be placed that far, but I feel like people don't really explain that OKW is built for the feeling that you have been dumped in the middle of some small town in central Florida with one shop/restaurant. Some people do love that, so if that's you- enjoy it.

AKL is also far from the parks, but you can shave 15 minutes off the bus time potential there. The walk to the furthest rooms are not much more than we had from our bus at OKW to our room, but at AKL they are indoors and with elevators. There are also more food options, and the QS and TS there are MUCH MUCH more flexible if anyone has dietary restrictions. For real OKW for dairy/gluten offered me a veggie wrap without the wrap... so a pile of veggies? it was the only option. AKL there were multiple locations that could give me 10+ options each.

It is a huge money difference, but it depends on your needs and what vacation you want too. My brother would have loved to be in the sort of laid back middle of nowhere feel I got from OKW. I don't think it hurts anyone to try it, and maybe you get lucky and are near the main building. I will say I think we would have had a completely different experience with a different location, but for us it took over an hour to hop over and pick up QS breakfast (not including waiting for allergy order food prep, it took over 2 hours round trip one morning), when usually one of us just hops down and brings everyone food.

 

[Chuck S]

Here is what I would consider -
Yes, the buses at OKW can be that bad. It depends where you room is. We stayed once, this Spring. We were located on the 3rd floor (no elevators, FYI) and at the end of a building. Leaving our room, we go down the stairs and the sidewalks don't connect so we have to walk through the middle of the driving lane for the parking lot for a good 30' stretch to get to the sidewalk that would take us to a bus. Cross the road, wait for a bus, roughly a 4-6 minute walk... if we want to go to the main building, the bus ride itself after waiting for the next bus was a 15 minute bus ride. (think how long the bus ride is from any resort to a park, and add 18 minutes to it, and you have the OKW bus potential)
We could have turned the other way from our room, in which case it averaged us 16 minutes to walk to the main building No shade, sidewalks are disjointed so road crossing is involved as well. We never bothered to trek to the other pools as they were further than the main one, but ALL of the resort stuff was at the main building. The food was ok (not good for dietary restrictions in all in our experience) and the little shop - unlike other DVC resorts - barely had anything to buy to make in your own room, so you NEED a grocery order here unless you happen to want to eat what they had in maybe 2-3 little freezer cases.

Regarding the food - check the menu, there's not much variety, if you like it great, but if you don't, not so great.

Now you might luck out and not be placed that far, but I feel like people don't really explain that OKW is built for the feeling that you have been dumped in the middle of some small town in central Florida with one shop/restaurant. Some people do love that, so if that's you- enjoy it.

AKL is also far from the parks, but you can shave 15 minutes off the bus time potential there. The walk to the furthest rooms are not much more than we had from our bus at OKW to our room, but at AKL they are indoors and with elevators. There are also more food options, and the QS and TS there are MUCH MUCH more flexible if anyone has dietary restrictions. For real OKW for dairy/gluten offered me a veggie wrap without the wrap... so a pile of veggies? it was the only option. AKL there were multiple locations that could give me 10+ options each.

It is a huge money difference, but it depends on your needs and what vacation you want too. My brother would have loved to be in the sort of laid back middle of nowhere feel I got from OKW. I don't think it hurts anyone to try it, and maybe you get lucky and are near the main building. I will say I think we would have had a completely different experience with a different location, but for us it took over an hour to hop over and pick up QS breakfast (not including waiting for allergy order food prep, it took over 2 hours round trip one morning), when usually one of us just hops down and brings everyone food.

I have allergies, and have never waited that long for food at OKW...but I usually don't do the QS foods, as yes, they are quite limited. For quick foods, I go to the resort store and buy stuff I can eat in the room. Olivia's (table service), on the other hand, is usually very good.

The friends I usually travel with were happy to stay at Kidani once, to see the animals, which was neat, but we all said we'd never stay there again if there were any other options.

If you have trouble with stairs, be sure to ask the DVC Owner/Rental Company to call or chat with member services to request Ground Floor at OKW. I've never had a problem getting that when needed.

Remember, OKW was the first DVC resort, and when it was built, it was called a Home Away From Home resort, before they were simply reclassified at Villas. Hence the small home town feel.

 

[mistysue]

I have allergies, and have never waited that long for food at OKW...but I usually don't do the QS foods, as yes, they are quite limited. For quick foods, I go to the resort store and buy stuff I can eat in the room. Olivia's (table service), on the other hand, is usually very good.

The friends I usually travel with were happy to stay at Kidani once, to see the animals, which was neat, but we all said we'd never stay there again if there were any other options.

If you have trouble with stairs, be sure to ask the DVC Owner/Rental Company to call or chat with member services to request Ground Floor at OKW. I've never had a problem getting that when needed.

Remember, OKW was the first DVC resort, and when it was built, it was called a Home Away From Home resort, before they were simply reclassified at Villas. Hence the small home town feel.

See that interests me that you found Olivia's helpful for allergies - that was where we had the most trouble. I had heard it was a hidden gem and we were really excited for it! We went three times total. One person can't have dairy/gluten, and the other is dairy/egg/peanut/shellfish. All three times they refused to let us speak to kitchen staff. The first time the server wouldn't let the 4 allergy person have anything but bacon. Insisted nothing could be made separate and they couldn't substitute anything. Plus everything fried is unsafe for dairy or shellfish allergies. For gluten/dairy they did eggs, Udi's toast and bacon but that was all.
The second day we got completely different answers with more options but in ways that made clear one of the two didn't understand what they were telling us (my son ate his prepacked snacks), and the third trip still more different answers, enough it was concerning because we didn't want to end up in the ER.
I went to the QS the day we were leaving and the chef actually came over, insisted that the wrap they use is gluten free, and when I asked if he was sure, he reluctantly let me see the ingredients, where wheat was the first ingredient. I'm not a picky eater or even that hard to feed, I literally approach with the mindset of "I will take anything you can make without dairy or gluten" and ask if there are ways to modify anything, and got a chef insisting the wrap was my only choice and that it was safe... We left the resort for food at that point.

Can I ask what allergies you manage since they seem to be more on top of that for you? The two hour QS breakfast was a walk there, order including verifying it was safe (we were first in line), waiting for food, and walking back. There was a little blip that they made my coffee and accidentally gave it to some other random person so had to re-make it which added another 10 minutes or so. Between the ordering, waiting and coffee was about an hour and twenty minutes. I really do hope it was a fluke, but it was a really bad half week for their food service from our experience. They were very kind, but that didn't help with the level of frustration it caused.

I get that it's the perfect resort for many people, and that is great. It's just really not for me and I didn't feel like people put enough focus on just how big it was or just how limited the food was. I wish I still had the pictures, I sent my son photos of the food case, and as far as what nobody was allergic to it was like one lunchmeat, a bag of tater tots with a CC warning and maybe some hot dogs. I'm just used to more variety but their case was almost all beverages. It's the only WDW resort we've been at and wished we had a car, as it was obviously planned for people to have their cars just by the sidewalk paths.

 

[Chuck S]

Well, my allergies are pretty simple, Strawberries and honey. But I've traveled with people with severe gluten allergies without any issues at Olivia's. One thing I had to avoid were their dinner rolls, they've changed them now, but they used to contain honey. And of course, the key lime honey mustard dressing they used to have.Almost any of the mixed fruits had strawberries, so that was out. I can see dairy being an issue, as many of their more popular dishes would have some dairy in the prep.

When you start getting multiple combined allergies, like gluten, dairy and something else, I can see most any restaurant having issues as it would seriously limit thier ingredients.

Not every resort is for everybody. Like I said, I wont do AKL again. I did a Poly studio, and it was OK, . I'm going to try for Boulder Ridge in February, my 7 montth window is coming up. I've never stayed at Wilderness Lodge. Another on to try list is BLT. I might try Riviera at some point in the future, but it really doesn't seem to be my style, but I could be surprised.

 

[SpaceMountain77]

With the BLT hard goods refurbishment scheduled, AKV will have the most dated villas in the DVC system. While they are clean and maintained, the carpets, furniture, and upholstery are worn from time and use. I encourage you to watch recent TikTok and YouTube videos with villa tours. OKW had a full refurbishment in 2018. If villa condition is of importance to you and your family, then I kindly suggest booking OKW.

 

[mistysue]

Well, my allergies are pretty simple, Strawberries and honey. But I've traveled with people with severe gluten allergies without any issues at Olivia's. One thong I had avoidle were their dinner rolls, they've changed them nw, but they used to contain honey. And of course, the key lime honey mustard dressing they used to have.Almost any of the mixed fruits had strawberries, so that was out. I can see dairy being an issue, as many of their more popular dishes would have some dairy in the prep.

When you start getting multiple combined allergies, like gluten, dairy and something else, I can see most any restaurant having issues as it would seriously limit thier ingredients.

Not every resort is for everybody. Like I said, I wont do AKL again. I did a Poly studio, and it was OK, . I'm going to try for Boulder Ridge in February, my 7 montth window is coming up. I've never stayed at Wilderness Lodge. Another on to try list is BLT. I might try Riviera at some point in the future, but it really doesn't seem to be my style, but I could be surprised.

Which foods they are definitely makes a difference - my son's blood work shows he might be outgrowing dairy and I can't explain how excited I am for him. Prior to the OKW thing, Beach Club marketplace was our only "can't feed us" situation at a WDW resort. BLT felt very convenient to us, convenient and noisy.
We loved RIV but I would guess if OKW is your feel, Riv might feel almost stuffy. We felt like it gave off the air of GF if it were in Europe- but we had a standard view and I got to lie in bed watching two different fireworks displays so if you like that it may be redeeming. After a day in a 1 bedroom my sons asked if they could move in.

 

[wendlle]

Thanks everyone for the replies. I'm thinking maybe we might to do a split stay and give OKW a try. I may go back to boulder ridge or copper creek for a few nights towards the end of the trip or even give BLT a try.
I liked Boulder Ridge it felt like we were in the woods, which was wonderful.

I have also tried Boardwalk which I loved walking to Epcot and HS.
What resort do you think is best for kids? I even noticed Saratoga Springs is quite cheap and I love the idea of being close to Disney Springs as we do tend to go there a bit for food.

 

[mistysue]

Thanks everyone for the replies. I'm thinking maybe we might to do a split stay and give OKW a try. I may go back to boulder ridge or copper creek for a few nights towards the end of the trip or even give BLT a try.
I liked Boulder Ridge it felt like we were in the woods, which was wonderful.

I have also tried Boardwalk which I loved walking to Epcot and HS.
What resort do you think is best for kids? I even noticed Saratoga Springs is quite cheap and I love the idea of being close to Disney Springs as we do tend to go there a bit for food.

I don't think this is a common response, but until we outgrew it (5 people) POP was my kids' favorite. I fell in love with YC, we did split stays there any my kids were playing in storm along bay asking to go back to POP. We eventually learned that going for a single afternoon at either water park made up for my missing storm along bay and was a huge budget help. Also, when they are very little, that size of pool can be stressful. Our favorite moderate was Port Orleans Riverside with Carribean Beach a close second.

For the most part, kids usually love whatever resort you are at and act really excited to see. Beyond that, there is a lot of personality influence - I mean just look and ChuckS and I talking about OKW. That place is precious to so many, and I would pay to be moved out, but must recognize I've been dreaming of going back to the Riv or Poly and that may be their nightmare.

When they got older, my outgoing child's next favorite was Contemporary. She likes a lot of noise and bustling, which the main building has an abundance of.
The one who is very "keep to himself/be quiet" liked the Poly. All three have been loving the Boardwalk. My daughter (wants busy) prefers the boardwalk view to sit on the balcony and people watch all day. The "keep to himself" finds the lobby relaxing as you can sit back away from people. I even have a picture of him happily taking a nap in a chair on the boardwalk, pushed against the building in a little quiet nook after reading a book. Middle child is pretty much happy anywhere. All three loved BW community hall (games, movies, art projects, quiet pool with giant chess game), which most DVC resorts have some version of. We basically all debate between Poly, Riv and BW, but they are basically happy anywhere.

My neices (5&7) are super into zoos... we actually bought into AKL to travel with our family because everyone else loves it there. We find it nice, not our favorite, but haven't had any complaints. But to them, it was the best place ever because you look out the window and see all sorts of animals that surely aren't outside their windows at home. If anyone's favorite park is AK, AKL is probably their cup of tea.

The season also matters - if we went in September, I suspect the Riv looses some appeal as you get stuck on skyliners in thunderstorms. The interior hallways of some locations are more important in searing heat or pouring rain. Spring or Fall, those outdoor walks can be nice.

 

[mort1331]

Before you mentioned it, I was going to say check out SSR. Points very close to OKW,,,I like both,,,but for studios I prefer SSR. Pull down 2nd bed allows it to be put up during non use times and opens up the room. Walking to DS, 2 main pools for more variety.
Yes bigger, but bus system is fine.
Save the money on split stays and use it for either nice meals and snacks, or ubers if you dont want to use the bus.

 

[zackiedawg]

I personally don't find the busses to be that bad at OKW - any of the resorts that have 4-5 stops can be a little busy for rope-drop and early park busses if you're at the last pickup, but there are ways to avoid that at OKW by making sure you get certain buildings/areas. There is a booking category called 'close to Hospitality House, which is one way around it - but there are also other buildings in the general category that are also quite close to Hospitality House - and they have a big advantage - there are two bus stops quite close to each other that can be easily walked from those buildings - one is the first stop and one is the last stop - giving you two options going and coming from the parks.

The Peninsular Road stop is the first - it is just a few hundred feet up the road from Hospitality House - if staying in the near-HH rooms, you can walk through the HH archway to the back, cross the street, and head to that stop to be first-on - this will guarantee a spot on the bus, if you don't mind riding around to all the other stops. The other buildings that are fairly close to both bus stops are 62, 63, 64, and 16, all on Miller Road right across from HH, and 27, 28, and 29 all on Peninsular Road close to that bus stop and just a few hundred more feet to the HH stop.

What's also neat is if you find yourself missing your intended bus at the Peninsular Road stop (you see it already driving up Peninsular), you can walk over to the HH bus stop and still catch it on the last stop before the parks (assuming it's not full). Honestly, unless it is a very busy season and you're doing rope-drop, I've rarely encountered a completely full bus even at the last stop.

When I stay at OKW, I rarely eat on site - Olivias is decent, but the quick serve options don't do much for me - what I like is having the boat to take you over to Disney Springs where there are plenty of options for eating and drinking everything from counter-serve to high-end restaurants.

Saratoga is also a good option for similar reasons - Disney Springs is really your resort dining option, since you can not only boat over, but easily walk over, anytime. A side-perk of Saratoga is being able to use Disney Springs busses to and from resorts and walk back to your rooms at Saratoga - useful when he park busses get really crowded such as after fireworks shows at end of the day...from DHS, Epcot, and MK, there are resorts you can walk over to and catch their Disney Springs busses to get back to SSR.

 

[wendlle]

thanks so much for all the great information.
I'm guessing that I can just get a ride share if I don't want to wait for the bus anyway in the mornings. I don't mind waiting to come back, it's more we want to be sure we get the early entry when available.

 

[Chuck S]

Here's my most recent experience ay OKW...I was in the Hospitality Area, and was the last bus stop before heading to the parks. ECPOT: Arrived in plenty of time for rope drop*, as they only open the World Celebration area, so I was able to get on the first show of Soarin'

AK: Arrived about 10 minutes after rope drop*, and headed directly to FLight of Passage, the line seemed really long, way down the path between Avatar Land and Lion King. but it moved quickly, so about 35 minutes.

Studios: Arrived about 5 minutes after park opening, but BOTH of the main Star Wars rides were down that morning, so I did Star Tours.

MK: arrived just after Rope Drop* lines were fairly long, so I did the less popular attractions, and the lines thinned out during the day. The exception was Haunted Mansion, it had a 30 minute wait time, so it was the first ride i did, then the less popular rides, and by the time I did those Pirates of the Caribbean was only a 15 minte wait. And remember, this was when two major attraction were closed, Splash/Tiana and Country Bears.

*By Rope Drop, I mean the 30 minute early opening for onsite guests.

 

[s.r.disney nut]

Here is what I would consider -
Yes, the buses at OKW can be that bad. It depends where you room is. We stayed once, this Spring. We were located on the 3rd floor (no elevators, FYI) and at the end of a building. Leaving our room, we go down the stairs and the sidewalks don't connect so we have to walk through the middle of the driving lane for the parking lot for a good 30' stretch to get to the sidewalk that would take us to a bus. Cross the road, wait for a bus, roughly a 4-6 minute walk... if we want to go to the main building, the bus ride itself after waiting for the next bus was a 15 minute bus ride. (think how long the bus ride is from any resort to a park, and add 18 minutes to it, and you have the OKW bus potential)
We could have turned the other way from our room, in which case it averaged us 16 minutes to walk to the main building No shade, sidewalks are disjointed so road crossing is involved as well. We never bothered to trek to the other pools as they were further than the main one, but ALL of the resort stuff was at the main building. The food was ok (not good for dietary restrictions in all in our experience) and the little shop - unlike other DVC resorts - barely had anything to buy to make in your own room, so you NEED a grocery order here unless you happen to want to eat what they had in maybe 2-3 little freezer cases.

Regarding the food - check the menu, there's not much variety, if you like it great, but if you don't, not so great.

Now you might luck out and not be placed that far, but I feel like people don't really explain that OKW is built for the feeling that you have been dumped in the middle of some small town in central Florida with one shop/restaurant. Some people do love that, so if that's you- enjoy it.

AKL is also far from the parks, but you can shave 15 minutes off the bus time potential there. The walk to the furthest rooms are not much more than we had from our bus at OKW to our room, but at AKL they are indoors and with elevators. There are also more food options, and the QS and TS there are MUCH MUCH more flexible if anyone has dietary restrictions. For real OKW for dairy/gluten offered me a veggie wrap without the wrap... so a pile of veggies? it was the only option. AKL there were multiple locations that could give me 10+ options each.

It is a huge money difference, but it depends on your needs and what vacation you want too. My brother would have loved to be in the sort of laid back middle of nowhere feel I got from OKW. I don't think it hurts anyone to try it, and maybe you get lucky and are near the main building. I will say I think we would have had a completely different experience with a different location, but for us it took over an hour to hop over and pick up QS breakfast (not including waiting for allergy order food prep, it took over 2 hours round trip one morning), when usually one of us just hops down and brings everyone food.

An hour to get to the Hospitality House? You can take any park bus there and then walk over to the Peninsular bus stop and take any one back to your bus stop.

 

[mistysue]

An hour to get to the Hospitality House? You can take any park bus there and then walk over to the Peninsular bus stop and take any one back to your bus stop.

no- it was roughly a 16 minute walk. The 2 hour round trip was walking there, getting breakfast from the QS, and going back to the room to eat. The day the allergy people didn't eat it still took an hour.