OKW week of 8/17 trip report - first Summer trip

[jimbostacks]

Hey Folks:

Please be patient with my Summer comments as this was our first trip. We usually go in the Fall, but with the kids getting older - we decided to try late Summer.

- OKW 2BR HH - love this location, but almost lost it as the rooms we reserved with HH were all taken, but somehow they stole a room from someone arriveing the next day...hopefully they were taken care of...had to wait 15 minutes as the CM left me at the desk trying to fix it.
>>>>love the size, spent last trip at AKV, and the rooms are so much larger and feels more like home.
>>>>Olivias, HH pool slide, Community Hall, were as good as always.
>>>>only sub par experience was waiting 30 minutes for a bus back from AK and DHS....not sure if 30 min is terrible, but longer than we experienced before.

- Weather was hot, but cloudy and rained almost every afternoon - just like everyone's advice, and I have to say sitting on the balcony of our 2BR with a storm happening was very relaxing.

- DHS was very crowded and was our first all day park. Toy Story fast passes were gone very early, wish there was something they could do about having multiple fast passes. If you get one for a very popular ride, you are stuck for a few hours. We could not believe the lines even for the "rest" rides - Movie ride was 45 min+ all day, I even saw a line for the Amimator show with Mulan dragon. This was the busiest park of the week for us. We did not stay for the Fantasmic show. this park is tough to predict on which day to go...Fantasmic vs EMH days.

- MK was fine, but with Space Mountain closed - Splash and BTMR were busy, but manageable with fast passes. Splash being the easier one to wait in stand by for. Good overall day - we then had lunch at the Poly for a change of pace, very beautiful place.
....The afternoon we took the monorail to Epcot to try Kim Possible. By 2pm Soarin and test track fast passes were gone for the day....I was hoping, but knew it would be tough. Kim possible was VERY cool, and a great way to keep the kids busy in the countries. You saw groups doing it in each country - great idea and fun for all. We could not get reservations for Dinner, so walked over to ESPN - and it was actually perect. We have 4 very loud boys, and they fit in there without any worries of them disturbing others.

- Animal Kingdom was very manageable with fast passes. It is funny how you see folks sprint to Everest and meet their families at the safari first thing in the morning...I believe all of the secrets and patterns are becoming the norm. THUMBS UP on the centralised fast pass system, saved me a long walk and I believe you are allowed three fast passes at the same time. I still love how Disney "lures" kids into the Dinasour and Bug's life ride...just to scare the $%$%^ out of them.

Oh well, next trip at WLV in January. the wife has vetoed future Summer trips because of the crowds and weather...but with kids getting older, will be tough off season......

 

[ccigliano]

I went once in July and let me say I'd rather not go back in summer, but if you have school age kids it will get tougher as they hit middle and high school so good luck. July was hot and it rained at least an hour or two every afternoon. As annual passholders, we just decided to go to the park in the evening and take advantage of EMH. We had ADRs at a park restaurant every night and then we'd usually just stay. My first DVC was OKW and I still like it alot with the spacious rooms and balconies and the overall Key West theming, I just fell in love with the VWL, so I sold OKW and bought VWL. Be prepared for your January where the weather can be very unpredicatable. You'll really just need to pack for cold and warm weather and pray that you only use the warm half of the suit case.

Good luck juggling school schedules.

 

[andrea9873]

Hey Folks:


- Animal Kingdom was very manageable with fast passes. It is funny how you see folks sprint to Everest and meet their families at the safari first thing in the morning...I believe all of the secrets and patterns are becoming the norm. THUMBS UP on the centralised fast pass system, saved me a long walk and I believe you are allowed three fast passes at the same time. I still love how Disney "lures" kids into the Dinasour and Bug's life ride...just to scare the $%$%^ out of them.

hi glad you had a great time at OKW, we were just there earlier this week as well.
can you please explain the centralised fast pass system, as my 14 year old DS and 17 year old DD were definitely sprinters heading to everest fast pass and then met us at the safari...

 

[5forDiz]

Glad you enjoyed your trip ! We size of the villas at our OKW home too

ita summer is hot & sticky at WDW but we make most of trips then too & we figure it's hot up here in the northeast during July & August too ( well with the exception of the unusually cool summer we've had up until this week this year ). How does that saying go " a hot July or August day at WDW is always better than a hot July or August day at home "

 

[andrea9873]

Jim, the more i read your trip report the more i'm finding we had similar experiences...we also couldn't find a single place to dine in the world showcase on Tuesday (18 August) evening...we ended up walking to ESPN for dinner and their LIVE sports show where my DH gave his opinion on an NFL question and got a souvenier prize.

What did you think of OKW? we just got back from our first OKW 2bd stay from 16-19 August, (we were at Kidani Village 2bd Villas 13 - 16 Aug) i really loved the old florida, hemmingway atmosphere...

 

[jimbostacks]

Thanks for the replies.....more details from some of your questions...

We have stayed at SSR, VWL, AKV, Dolphin....each one is very nice and would not be disappointed at any of them. My wife could care less where she stays, so it is usually up to me. It really depends on who is going with us. In January we are taking our two nieces, and do not expect to do the pool a ton...so being close to Magic Kingdom and the theming made me pick VWL...probably my favorite....but not by much.

OKW has a lot that I love. My boys love the main pool and the sand castle slide. The slide is much better than AKV/VWL. The Florida Keys theme is nice and relaxing. The size of the rooms is big deal, especially if you are going with a large group and if you are planning meals in the room. The full kitchen and dining room table...along with a full size patio make meals with large groups fun. The other resorts when it comes to meals can be "tight" with the bar seating and wall table. Olivias is always a great place for a quiet meal. The Community Hall is great, and is definitely missed when you go to the resorts without one. Depending on the trip, the boat ride to DTD is great and relaxing too. Especially at night when DTD is lit up with the new TREX restuarant, etc... The busses are usually good, we like building 23-26 as we are the first stop back from the parks, and we walk (3 min?) to the HH to be the last bus stop before heading to the parks in the morning.

AK Centralised fast passes - I read about these and did not use them until lunch time. We got fast passes to the safari and headed to Everest since my older kids were getting cranky about doing enough of the big rides. The centralised fast passes are close to the entrance of "It's tough to be a bug" show. There is Everest, Dinasoar, and Safaris only. The good thing is that you can get three fast passes at the same time...we only did everest, but the CM said we could do it. we have never needed fast passes to Dinasoar (stand by usually short)...but the safaris can go fast. The one thing I did not notice was that it did not show the times to return, which is helpful in planing the day. I might have missed it, but did not see it. I would do the normal run to Everest or Safaris at rope drop, and then use the centralised system before lunch if you want to ride again in the afternoon.

thanks

 

[disneygal55]

Is this centralized fast pass distribution area new? I've never heard of it. We were just there this June and didn't notice..of course we weren't looking for it either. So you can get up to three rides at one time? Are they spaced two hours apart?

 

[Sammie]

Is this centralized fast pass distribution area new? I've never heard of it. We were just there this June and didn't notice..of course we weren't looking for it either. So you can get up to three rides at one time? Are they spaced two hours apart?

It is new and just at AK as they are testing it to see how it goes.