OKW Trip Report - Back Home (Links Fixed - More pics added-08/18)

[marvali]

We arrived yesterday (7/31) around 8:00PM. We were a little late leaving and then ran into about three different severe rainstorms on the way that slowed our arrival. We had a great experience at check-in. We were supposed to originally arrive today but were able to add another day on the front end of our trip. We couldn't get the same booking for both ressies so we were going to have to move after the first night. However, they were able to work it out for us to start out in our original room so we wouldn't have to change rooms (thanks Mica, you're the best!). We are in Bldg 54 which works great because we wanted to be in one of the higher numbered buildings that had the second door to the bathroom in the one bedroom villa.

We decided to hang around the resort after our long drive and ended up eating at Olivia's. Service was very good, and our meals were wonderful, even though it was getting close to closing time. I had the pork chop with mashed sweet potatoes and spinach with onions. Very good! DS11 and DW shared the shrimp penne pasta. They both said it was wonderful. DS15 had the Key West Steak Salad. He thought it was okay, but probably wouldn't order again. He loved his strawberry smoothie though. DS19 had the prime rib and liked it very much. The Olivia potatoes were also very good.

We headed out early this morning for rope drop at DHS, which was at 8:00AM for MEMH. We got our APs and DDE card and were waiting at the rope when it dropped. We got fast passes for TSM and then rode it before heading off to RnR. We were in line for ToT by 9:00 when the park opened for everyone else. We had lunch at 50s Prime Time. I had the Pot Roast and agree with most reviews I've seen; it was fantastic. DS15 had the chargrilled chicken sandwich, and DW and DS11 each had the stacked ham sandwich and thought they were good. DS19 had the fish sandwich and salad. He said it was good, but he tried my pot roast (his other choice) and wished he had ordered it instead. Sorry no pics so far, but we didn't take the camera out today. We decided to end our day a little early today so we can rest up for tomorrow. We plan to head out early to AK and we have a late ressie at Boma for dinner.

I will try to keep the trip report updated but so far we have had a problem with the High speed internet connection, so doing this dial-up. I will check tomorrow to see if phone charges show up on my bill. If not I will try to update regularly.

OKW is a great resort. We are very pleased with everything so far. It is a large resort that is spread out pretty good, but it still is only about a five minute walk up to HH. We had great bus service today (got lucky each time I guess as we walked up about the time the bus arrived at the resort and at DHS. The park didn't seem all that crowded today, but about the time we got done with lunch it was raining so I don't know if that held the crowds down some. We never waited more than about 30 minutes for anything, but we also made good use of fastpasses. It is very humid right now with all the rain.

 

[bobbiwoz]

I'm glad the check in worked out for you. Have a great trip, and I'll keep an eye out for your updates!

Bobbi

 

[Mocharilla]

Excited to hear more!

 

[ChelleinNC]

Sounds like things improved after your drive down Looking forward to hearing about the rest of your trip. We're trying OKW for the first time after Thanksgiving so I'd love to hear all about your experiences there

 

[AKV707]

Thanks for the report. Looking forward to hearing more.

Glad to hear check in went well and that you are happy with OKW. We love it there.

Have fun!

 

[justloveit]

Have a magical trip!

 

[Verandah Man]

Have a great time, we'll be there in 28 days!!!

 

[AnnaS]

Thanks for sharing. Everything sounds wonderful. Looking forward to reading more of your trip report.

We love OKW also

 

[mcrabeck]

Sounds like a great trip so far. Can't wait to hear more! Enjoy!

 

[slk537]

I'm in! Love live reports!!!

What did you think of TSM? We did it on our July trip and LOVED it!!

 

[marvali]

Thanks for reading along everyone. Today we decided not to be in such a rush to get to AK. We got up and headed up to the HH to pick up a couple of things before heading to the park. We decided to have breakfast at Olivia's. It was as pleasant of an experience as we had our first night. Jerry did a wonderful job of taking care of us. DS11 had the silver dollar pancakes and I had pancakes with sausage because we figured his wouldn't be that much and he might like a little more, so I was going to share. No need to worry as he had three pancakes almost the size of mine. They were very good, and very hot. The sausage was good too. My other two DSs had the Olivia's breakfast and thought it was very good. I managed to sneak some of their potatoes, which were very good. DW had the ham and cheese omelet and let me try a bite. We both agreed she made a good choice.

Our wait for the bus to AK was only about 5-10 minutes and we were at the park within 30 minutes after a quick stop at BB. We headed into the park and went with the "everyone goes right so go left philosophy. That took us to Camp Minnie Mickey first and DS11 had his autograph book today, so we decided to check out the four characters there. The lines were very short as even at around 10:20 there weren't that many people there yet, at least not in that area of the park. We saw Goofy first so I could get me a picture with the DIS Dad's Club mascot. Next we visited Minnie, then Mickey, and finally got around to Donald. All of the lines were rather short and didn't take long, but as we walked up to where Donald was we saw a most welcome site....The Dream Team! There were three of them there and every few people got Dream Lanyards, including the family in front of us, but we didn't.

However, as we headed down the exit one of them awarded us with Dream Fastpasses!!!! It was so nice to go around the park taking our time and doing things as we got to them. DW and I even relented and used our fastpass for Primeval Whirl since the DSs didn't want to let us off the hook on that one. ITTBAB was wonderful even having seen it before. It is one of my favorite 3D shows, right after Mickey's Philharmagic. EE and Dinosaur were great as usual, and we left KRR until last in case we got real wet and sure enough I was on the side that went down the hill backwards for the first time....and got absolutely soaked. It was a fun ride back in the AC on the bus.....brrrrr.

We are relaxing for a while and then heading out to our ADR at Boma for a late dinner. I took some pics today already and plan to take the camera with us to dinner so I can take some more of our AKV home, and hopefully the new construction at Kidani. Will try to update later.

For the person who asked about TSM, we thought it was pretty good but not sure it is worth all the trouble that is involved with the popularity right now. I'm sure when we head back to DHS we will fastpass it and ride again as it is a good addition. I think that there was just so much hype about it and with the popularity it is hard to live up to it all. Or maybe it is just we need to do it more so we score a little higher....

 

[Verandah Man]

We saw Goofy first so I could get me a picture with the DIS Dad's Club mascot.

Good Job!!!!!!!!

 

[marvali]

Well we had our first trying experience with buses, but I think it was mostly of our own doing. We didn’t have to wait long at the South Point bus stop for a bus but the first one to come along was to DTD and I figured we should be able to go there and catch another bus to AKL for our ADR. We got to DTD and it just happened that a bus to AKL was around from where we got dropped off. We hurried and managed to catch it, so all was going well. The only problem is the bus from DTD has a few stops on the way. It stopped again at DTD on the West side (I think; the side with Planet Hollywood, DQ, etc.) When we got there, they were changing drivers (seemed to be a common place for it since many other drivers were walking around the area and seemed to be looking for the bus they were going to drive. Then our new bus driver had a hard time getting the rear doors to close. We finally got underway and had a stop at TL.

AKL isn’t a short ride and I’m not sure the bus driver had done it many times since he slowed down to see if he should turn in a couple of times at maintenance/service entries before finally getting there. It’s a good thing we gave ourselves lots of time because we were an hour from when we first left until we finally arrived.

It was well worth the wait. We checked in and were actually seated about 5 minutes before our 8:30 ADR. Our Dinner at Boma was fantastic and our server Dilly was wonderful. (Side note: I took lots of pictures of this meal, and now have lots of pictures of our trip but posting will have to wait until we get back home since I forgot to grab the download cable for the camera from the desk where I normally use it.)

I told the DSs on the way that they needed to take this opportunity to be adventurous and try some new things first before resorting to the old standbys. I waited to take pictures while DW and DSs went to explore the buffet. DS11 was the first to return and he chose to stay with the safe items….mac and cheese and pasta with sauce and meatballs (he did finally go back and be a little more adventurous and found some other items he liked as well). Everyone else came back with plates with a variety of foods on them. I finally got my turn and since the main line where the meats were was so long I started with the other sections. I tried small samples of a lot of items including couscous (Moroccan or something in the name), coconut rice, pap, a pasta salad (heavy yellow sauce that I figured was honey mustard in nature), fresh fruit that looked too good to pass up, and a few other things. Pap tasted a little like sweet potato but was a little bland I thought. Still, I expected from other reviews I had read it would remind me of poi (which I think is like eating paste) but it was okay. Everything I tried was good except I didn’t care for the couscous (just don’t like the texture of it but the flavor was okay).

Then I braved the long line for the meat. This is where you find mealie bread, bobotie, potatoes with afritude, and fire roasted meats. This night they had prime rib, barbecue ribs, seasoned whole chicken, and nut crusted salmon (plus a few other things I had no room to add to my plate). It was all wonderful. Mealie bread tastes like slightly sweet cornbread to me, and bobotie is some type of ground meat with breading on top. DS15 in particular asked me if I tried it and the salmon, so I know he liked both of those. Everyone seemed to enjoy everything except DS19 who I’m not sure knows what any of it tasted like since he was more interested in enjoying the scenery that kept passing by our table.

We finally made the trip to the desert bar and I got a little of most everything there. DSs seemed to like the pineapple upside down cheesecake and DS11 highly recommends the chocolate chip cookies. There were a few items that they say contain alcohol but don’t remember any type of strong alcohol taste. I think the pineapple item the DSs enjoyed was about the only think I didn’t try (only because my plate was full and I knew they had already tried them and liked). I liked the strawberry tartlets, but DS15 didn't like the texture of the shells. DW liked the zebra domes. I would recommend everything. They were all very good.

My only regrets about this trip is that we didn't get there sooner. Since we bought in at AKV I wanted to explore more and possibly get some pictures of the construction at Kidani. As it was, I was only able to get a couple of pictures at the pool while we waited to be seated, and by the time we were finished it was too dark.

 

[marvali]

We decided to slow down a little and spend some time by the pool and do a park later on for our Sunday. They did a pool party in the afternoon at OKW and DS11 participated quite a bit. We got cleaned up and decided to head to MK even though it is supposed to be a heavy crowd day of the week. It was starting to get cloudy so I was hoping many people would leave. Somehow I missed the fact that MK also had EEMH so we were looking at a double whammy.

As a side note, we had a new issue with the buses. I told everyone we would take the first bus that came for either MK or Epcot (since we could catch the monorail from there to MK). A MK bus came about 5 minutes after we got to the bus stop and we headed out. When we got to HH there were two ladies in the motorized scooters who needed to be boarded. Most of us were up towards the front of the bus but DS15 sat alone beside the back door where the ramp is. They moved some people and let the ladies ride onto the bus. The first lady did an expert job of parking. When the second lady rode up on the bus she was trying to back up her scooter and get it into place. When she went to make her final maneuver she was looking back but hit forward....and crashed right into DS15. He got a small rub on his knee but he is okay. She was very apologetic.

DS11 didn't get to see Spectromagic or Wishes last year because the night we had planned to see it we stood in pouring rain and they finally cancelled it. As late as we were heading into the park we wanted to maybe catch HM real quick and then just camp out for a good viewing spot. We walked in the park and it didn't appear that crowded, and a lot of people seemed to be leaving about the time we arrived. We headed left and decided to ride PotC since wait time was about 10 minutes. We went in the left line but many before us had chosen the same thing so we had a little longer wait. Turned out there was almost nobody in the right line but oh well.

We left PotC and headed to HM since it was closed last year when we were here. The line was pretty long down the sidewalk so we decided to wait and go find our spot for Spectromagic and Wishes. We got some food from Casey's and struck up conversation with the people sitting around us. The parade and fireworks were spectacular as usual. I got a lot of pics so will post when I get home.

A lot of people left after Spectromagic and when the fireworks finished we headed against the crowd towards Liberty Square to try and beat the crowd to HM. We made it fairly quickly and were one of the first few in line at the closed outer doors. We had about a five minute wait and we headed in and enjoyed the ride. DS11 enjoyed it for the first time. After that we knew we only had a few minutes left before the park closed at 11. We headed to BTMRR and the sign said 60 minute wait in standby, but the people we could see were moving along really well so we decided to go for it. We didn't stop walking until we got almost to where you board the ride. We got right on in just a few minutes. That is the first time we have ridden at night and we all thought it made the ride even better. When we came out of the exit and went back past the entrance they had changed the sign to 10 minute wait.

We had a few minutes before closing......could we possibly squeeze Splash Mountain in also??? We headed over and the wait was longer but we figured since they weren't holding the line we would be okay. We were getting pretty close when 11 rolled around and I innocently asked the CM we were beside at the time "what time does the park close?" He looked at me and gave me my first clue that we had goofed......."2:00 am for resort guests! We were excited to hear this and went out after the ride to get our armbands. We went through Fantasyland and rode PPF (still a popular ride with 20 minute wait), did Philharmagic with about a 5 minute wait and headed for Tomorrowland. DSs saw the tea cups and since there was basically no line they decided to ride.

We then headed to Space Mountain and it had a 60 minute wait. The line was all he way to the entrance and probably took every bit of the 60 minutes. There was probably a couple hundred people who passed us in the fastpass line, but since we weren't aware of being able to stay late there weren't any left to get. After we finally rode we hit Buzz Lightyear and then decided to head home.

We made a quick stop at Main Street Bakery and got some cinnamon rolls. I guess DSs impressed the CM serving us so she granted them a wish and handed them a large chocolate chip cookie for free.

It was a late night so we decided to sleep in and start slowly today. We are getting ready to head out to Epcot soon so more later.

 

[ChelleinNC]

Sounds like you're having a great time!

My DS11 had a great time at the Sunday pool party at SSR when we were there in June. He even won the hula hoop contest I'm guessing that the party at OKW is similar, contests, games, singing?

I love dinner at Boma I'm hungry now after reading your report

Can't wait to hear more! Enjoy your day at Epcot

 

[marvali]

Sounds like you're having a great time!

My DS11 had a great time at the Sunday pool party at SSR when we were there in June. He even won the hula hoop contest I'm guessing that the party at OKW is similar, contests, games, singing?

I love dinner at Boma I'm hungry now after reading your report

Can't wait to hear more! Enjoy your day at Epcot

We weren't there for the whole pool party as we left to head out to the park, but while we were there it was a lot of children dancing, dance contest and singing contest. Not a bad incentive for each contest to be the winner.... 30 minutes rental on a pontoon boat for up to ten people. DW and DS11 competed in one contest where they had to do the twist. They did a pretty good job but unfortunately some of the contestants had a rather large group with them so when it was based on the cheering of the crowd, they were at a disadvantage.

 

[marvali]

Since we arrived at Epcot later in the day there were waits of around 100 minutes for test track, soarin' and mission space, and no fastpasses were still available. We decided to try a couple of things we had never done before that typically don't get good reviews, but at least they were basically walk on attractions. We did Journey into Imagination with Figment and then headed to Ellen's Energy Adventure. When we got to EEA we were near the front of the line and the standby sign said 5 minutes. While we were standing there a CM came out as numerous people were exiting and told us the ride had shut down and we should come back later. We decided to head on into World Showcase and spend our time there, which we had wanted to do anyway.

Norway we shared a school bread and sweet pretzel. The school bread was good and DSs said the pretzel was good, but they weren't overly excited about either. We rode the Grand Fiesta Tour in Mexico and Maelstrom in Norway for the first time each. Everyone found them pretty interesting but obviously not in the category of a TT or MS. We had CS in China that was okay but nothing special. DSs had to get a funnel cake and of course enjoyed as usual. We actually got to explore in the different countries more than we usually do. We even shared the fish and chips in England and everyone thought they were good....definitely fresh and hot.

As it got time for Illuminations, which we have seen many times, we headed back to Future World in hopes we would be able to ride one of the big three rides. We had never ridden Soarin' before and it had a 65 minute wait, so we decided to wait it out. Everyone agreed it was great and WELL worth the wait, which was pretty accurate at the 65 minutes. Unfortunately we finished there about the same time Illuminations ended so we had to fight the huge exodus from the park. We still had a pretty good time while we were there.

Coming soon...our early visit to MK and our ADR for breakfast at Crystal Palace. We are heading out to HS now to catch the late showing of Fantasmic.

 

[rbuzzotta]

I am exhausted reading your report!!!! LOL!! I am so glad your having a blast!!

We also had some great meals at Olivia's!! Nice and relaxed. I love the Mahi Mahi and now my DD12 loves it as well!! DH always gets the penne pasta!!!

Sorry we missed you all!! We took a more relaxed approach this trip.........expect for the magic hours at MK on Friday night when we got back to the room at 4 AM!! I think I am still trying to recover from that!!! LOL!! It was so much fun and the lines very doable!!! As a matter of fact, the only ride we waited long for was Toy Story (60 mins) but it was so worth it!!! My new favorite ride!

Enjoy the rest of your trip..........

 

[marvali]

Tuesday was our late breakfast ADR at Crystal Palace. We got to MK just after rope drop and headed into Tomorrowland. The wait at SM was already pretty long so we fastpassed it (time was right after we would finish at CP) and went to Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor. We enjoyed it as usual and headed across to Liberty Square since it had just opened and hit HM again. The wait was fairly short and after riding again (still a classic even with the updates) we headed to BTMRR to see if we could squeeze it in before breakfast but the wait was too long so we didn't try it. We were able to jump on PotC instead and then headed to our ADR. We checked in and actually got seated about 20 minutes early.

We really enjoyed the breakfast and characters were great with time at the table. Our waitress Isa was great and helped make it all special. We are in the middle of three birthdays and our anniversary so everyone was wearing special pins except DS11. Isa brought us special cards signed by all the characters and also brought DS11 a special signed YOMD certificate for his "unbirthday." Even though it is fairly standard fair for breakfast it was still very good. Everyone enjoyed everything.

DS15 wasn't feeling real well (sinuses are causing him problems and he had a headache) so he didn't feel like riding SM. DW and I gave DS11 and DS19 our fastpasses and took DS15 back to OKW while they rode twice. DS15 took the opportunity to give away his fastpass as a dream to someone entering the park and finally found the person he wanted to give it to. It is funny how you try to give people things that will help them and they look so quizzical and question what you are trying to give them. I guess that is how the Dream Team feels at times when people don't understand.

DS crashed when we got back to the room. DW and I headed out to the pool and after a few rides DS11 and DS19 came back and joined us. DS15 got to feeling a little better and we ended up heading out to DHS to catch the late show of Fantasmic. When we got there the line was going in for the early show and we decided to head in and see how the seating was. We ended up in pretty good seats so decided to do the first show. We sat there for 40 minutes waiting on the show to start and they made an announcement about a short sample of what we would see during the show. As soon as it was over they said to leave the theatre as they wouldn't be doing the show because of bad weather in the area. There were a lot of unhappy people in the theatre for sure. We finally headed out and got back in line so we would have great seats for the late show, even though they said it was possible that it wouldn't happen either, but still had not been cancelled. To make a long story short, they let us up the ramp and stopped us at a rope, and then at 10, thirty minutes before the show was supposed to start, they informed us to head down the exit because the second show was also cancelled due to "technical difficulties." I think that it was really that they were still concerned about the weather but that was their excuse because they didn't want a theatre full of irate people again. The bad part was you could hear the fireworks for the other shows in the area, and there were stars in the sky. I asked a CM on the way out about the park closing and they said it was closed. Found out today they kept ToT and RnRC open an additional hour. That really made us happy after wasting about three hours with the sole intention of seeing Fantasmic. We are going to try again tonight since we are running out of opportunities, but with EEMH at DHS tonight, we will see if we have a prayer of making it in.

 

[bless7ings]

Wow, I can't imagine doing a live report! Your amazing! Can't wait we will be there the 23rd. I finished reading your reports, I loved the details! So sorry about DHS.

Thanks so much for adding the little details it will help me with planning on what to expect or what we might be able to do. Great job! Loved the details of time waits and how many rides you could get in and your times of the dates. Awesome job! I appreciate all your work!