OKW - random thoughts on recent trip (Nov. 9-17) with pictures

[Shadeaux]

I was going to post a live report, but somehow never got around to it. We were at OKW in a 1BR renovated unit, #4621.

I was very excited to hear we were in building 46 because I love being on the canal, but this unit was at the far right side of the building overlooking a bay off of the canal but with no canal view. At first I was disappointed, but quickly changed my mind. I loved watching the ever changing reflections on the water.

I never realized that some of the balconies are bigger than others...this was wider & deeper than what we've had in the past.

We've been members since '94 and I have to say we're disappointed with a lot of the renovations. There is way too much of the same color, turquoise, throughout the unit. The sofa & love seat are so hard it was like sitting on Fred Flinstone's rock furniture!

The sleeper chair is not only ugly, it's not very comfortable - the ottoman helps somewhat.

There's a cute lamp on the table between the sofa & love seat.

The fabric that was used to recover the kitchen chairs is cloth rather than something that will be able to wiped off if something gets spilled on them.
The roman shades, while not too bad looking are a real pain to open & close. They're on this weird plastic pulley system that takes forever to open & close.

In my opinion, the bedroom renovations do not fit the Old Key West theme at all. For all of you short people who felt like they needed a ladder to get into the old beds, I'm happy to report the new ones are much lower! I'm only 5' and had no problem getting into these new beds. Not only are they lower, they're very comfortable.

I was upset when I heard they took out the carpet and replaced it with the fake wood flooring, but I'm happy to say it's one of the changes I really like. The flooring looks a lot nicer in person than in any of the pictures I've seen. They must have added some sort of insulation under it because it does not get cold and it's not noisy.

For some reason, the thermostat has been moved from the hallway to the living room. It's a very strange setup....there is no thermometer so there's no way to tell the current temperature in the room. There's also no way to chose between heat or air conditioning. If we had been there during the summer, I doubt I'd have noticed, but last week it got cold enough at night for the heat & warm enough during the day for air cond. When we walked in the unit the first time, it was set on 70 and to us, way too cold in the room, so I turned up the temperature to 75 assuming that would shut off the air conditioning. Instead, it turned on the heat. It's a very strange system that does not work very well for this time of year, but I'm sure will be fine in the summer.

From what I could tell, other than the new tvs, none of the other appliances have been replaced.

We had several problems when we checked in that required a call to maintenance. Dripping toilet, burned out bulb over the dining table, door to balcony that squealed so loudly it sounded like a wounded animal and a missing handle on the inside of the shower. Considering this was a renovated unit, none of these things should have needed fixing already. Maintenance called about 8:30 p.m. the night we checked in; told the guy nothing was so urgent it couldn't wait until morning. He said someone would be by at 10 a.m. the next day. When we got back to the unit the next afternoon, we could tell no one had showed up. I called again and they sent someone within 30 minutes.

Had we never been to OKW before, I'm sure I would have been happy with the looks of the unit. There's nothing horribly wrong other than the lack of OKW theme (and that darn ugly chair). The CMs were wonderful, as usual. We never did make it to Olivia's this trip. I had problems getting my router to work, but eventually got that worked out. There is now only one place to plug into the internet .....there's a cord on the corner table in the living room. All the other access points have been closed off.

 

[BeesKnees]

We were neighbors for a couple of days. We were in building 45. We had a great view of the canal which was a pleasant surprise because we actually forgot we asked for it (it has been that kind of year).

I agree it is not as OKWey as it used to be and after a few days I was missing the much more comfortable furniture at home. We switched the ugly brown chair and the couch but the cushions on the chair would not stay on it very well so it was not much better.

The room itself was fine except for the coffee maker which was broken and before we realized it half a pot of coffee was on the counter and floor as it was making. We had enough for a couple of cups and we called later in the day for a replacement. She brought the wrong thing initially but within an hour of the call we had a replacement unit.

We also had router issues this time. I finally had to leave the notebook running with a web page reloader set for 5 minutes to keep the router active for the other devices we used. In the past it seemed like you only had to load a browser once or twice a day.

The LG TVs are not very good. I hooked up a special AV device to the composite AV cable inputs (the one used for the DVD) and it kept switching back to the 'Must See" channel. The problem was the AV device required much more volume so when it randomly switched back it was incredibly loud. This happened not only on the LR TV but the bedroom tv too. It was very annoying.

The IPad worked better on 3G than it did wireless and it is a great device to have on vacation. We played multiplayer games on the plane and passed the time much more quickly. The Disney Apps were good and the restaurant finder worked well too. The IPad is a little too heavy to use as a book reader long term but for short bursts it is fine.

We had lofty plans for our days but we didn't need that kind of vacation so almost all of it got cancelled on arrival. We needed downtime so other than MVMCP we lounged quite a bit. We actually didn't eat on an official Disney property the entire trip. We did, however, rediscover the Swan and Dolphin . We hadn't eaten there since one of them had Gulliver's travel buffet of some sort which was very unimpressive. Shulas was out of this world and so was Kimonas (sp?).

The towels in our OL ruined our electric skillet. They had a heavy scent from the dryer sheets and no matter what we tried we could not get the smell out. Scrambled eggs a la country breeze is not as pleasant as you might imagine. The newly refurbished unit had nice cookware but since most people do not realize that you should only hand wash nonstick I doubt it will stay that way.

It was a good trip but if we don't start catching some breaks at work and having some long weekends here and there we may start ending up at HHI more often.

 

[Shadeaux]

I agree it is not as OKWey as it used to be and after a few days I was missing the much more comfortable furniture at home. We switched the ugly brown chair and the couch but the cushions on the chair would not stay on it very well so it was not much better.

It's rather sad that the kitchen chairs are the most comfortable place to sit now. I remember the first few times we stayed at OKW, we found the sofa so comfortable that when we were looking for new furniture at home, we looked for something similar.

I don't think I watched tv for more than 5 minutes the whole 8 days we were there. My husband had it on quite a bit, and I noticed that whenever he was flipping through channels it would get very loud on certain channels.

Despite not liking the new look, (I admit it...I don't do well with changes) we had a great trip. We've had a lousy few months and really needed to get away from reality. Sitting on the balcony drinking coffee, reading or watching the ducks is so relaxing. As long as they don't change the balconies at OKW, I'm happy.

 

[BeesKnees]

It's rather sad that the kitchen chairs are the most comfortable place to sit now. I remember the first few times we stayed at OKW, we found the sofa so comfortable that when we were looking for new furniture at home, we looked for something similar.

I don't think I watched tv for more than 5 minutes the whole 8 days we were there. My husband had it on quite a bit, and I noticed that whenever he was flipping through channels it would get very loud on certain channels.

Despite not liking the new look, (I admit it...I don't do well with changes) we had a great trip. We've had a lousy few months and really needed to get away from reality. Sitting on the balcony drinking coffee, reading or watching the ducks is so relaxing. As long as they don't change the balconies at OKW, I'm happy.

No surprise you watched 5 minutes. Other then MNF I didn't watch much myself. Of course, they don't give you much selection. We have a Roku box that we watched some but when we weren't out and about we spent quite a bit of time on the balcony. Those groups of buildings are some of the few where the ground floor actually is better.

As far as the decor goes... I didn't hate it but I also didn't love it. I love OKW so I willl learn to deal with it but I wasn't blown away.

 

[spiceycat]

the wall colors looked tan and brown - so where is the turquoise - you were talking about?

if the floor is laminate it comes with its own padding.

thanks for the review. Sorry it was not as wonderfully as you expected it to be.

sounds like need to go back to OKW. Love a hard bed. the one at BLT is way too soft for me.

 

[JudithM]

Thanks for taking the time to share your random thoughts and photos. It will be interesting to see what we think about the changes when we see them on our next trip.