Just got back from first trip to OKW (own at BCV). Thought OKW was nice enough, but felt like we needed a rental car there, and it felt almost as if we were staying off-site. We're a young family and much more the BCV type. It didn't help that the main pool was closed - no central activity area. We stayed in bldg 49, which felt isolated. For people who like more activity, I'd definitely recommend staying closer to the HH.
The one thing I hadn't expected at OKW was so much nature....the geckos right outside the room, the many mosquitos in the room. I like Animal Kingdom, but am really a city girl and prefer to have no other living things anywhere near my hotel room.
The brand new sofa bed at OKW was terrific - extremely comfortable.
We swam at SSR and thought that pool was terrific and I think under-rated from what I've read on these boards. Was ideal for young kids with the zero-entry and small slide. Adult slide was lots of fun. Thought pool was a good size too. Food court is a disappointment, but otherwise thought SSR looked very nice.
Our trip was Nov 3-8, during Jersey Week. I don't know if it was just because of the Jersey folks or maybe hurricane reschedulers or some other reason, but we thought the parks were very crowded. Lines were often 30-45 minutes long. Even returning with FastPasses you had to wait at least 15 minutes to get on a lot of rides. We usually go in Dec or Jan, when the FastPass machines aren't even operating sometimes. I had read in Sehlinger's book that Nov. is a "2" as far as crowds compared to a "1" in Dec, but that was not our experience at all. I'd say the crowds were at least a 4.
It was great using DVC card to walk right onto Stitch. My whole group of 7, though, thought the attraction was terrible. Maybe it wasn't fully functioning? It wasn't a ride -- you were harnessed in but never moved. At one point, Stitch spits on you and you get sprayed directly in the face with his wet bad breath. This smell lingered afterward for quite a while - you just wanted to take a shower and wash that off of your face and hair. It was also inapproriate for young kids -- we saw several young kids screaming in terror. We will never ever go on this again. What a huge disappointment. We really liked Alien Encounter and much prefered it to Stitch.
We tried Sea World for a half day on the last day of our trip. Sea World was a let-down after 4 days of Disney. Made us remember that Disney is more than just a park -- really someplace magical.
Overall trip was super.
By the way, I've been reading this board for over a year and want to thank all of you for your advice. I've greatly enjoyed reading your posts and have learned a tremendous amount about DVC and Disney from you.
Sesame
The one thing I hadn't expected at OKW was so much nature....the geckos right outside the room, the many mosquitos in the room. I like Animal Kingdom, but am really a city girl and prefer to have no other living things anywhere near my hotel room.
The brand new sofa bed at OKW was terrific - extremely comfortable.
We swam at SSR and thought that pool was terrific and I think under-rated from what I've read on these boards. Was ideal for young kids with the zero-entry and small slide. Adult slide was lots of fun. Thought pool was a good size too. Food court is a disappointment, but otherwise thought SSR looked very nice.
Our trip was Nov 3-8, during Jersey Week. I don't know if it was just because of the Jersey folks or maybe hurricane reschedulers or some other reason, but we thought the parks were very crowded. Lines were often 30-45 minutes long. Even returning with FastPasses you had to wait at least 15 minutes to get on a lot of rides. We usually go in Dec or Jan, when the FastPass machines aren't even operating sometimes. I had read in Sehlinger's book that Nov. is a "2" as far as crowds compared to a "1" in Dec, but that was not our experience at all. I'd say the crowds were at least a 4.
It was great using DVC card to walk right onto Stitch. My whole group of 7, though, thought the attraction was terrible. Maybe it wasn't fully functioning? It wasn't a ride -- you were harnessed in but never moved. At one point, Stitch spits on you and you get sprayed directly in the face with his wet bad breath. This smell lingered afterward for quite a while - you just wanted to take a shower and wash that off of your face and hair. It was also inapproriate for young kids -- we saw several young kids screaming in terror. We will never ever go on this again. What a huge disappointment. We really liked Alien Encounter and much prefered it to Stitch.
We tried Sea World for a half day on the last day of our trip. Sea World was a let-down after 4 days of Disney. Made us remember that Disney is more than just a park -- really someplace magical.
Overall trip was super.
By the way, I've been reading this board for over a year and want to thank all of you for your advice. I've greatly enjoyed reading your posts and have learned a tremendous amount about DVC and Disney from you.
Sesame
