Old Key West - advice?

[Megazz]

Hi there,

Thank you for approving me to join!

I am headed (back) to Disney World for the first time in almost 20 years! The last time I was there was in high school - and this time, I'm going with my husband and two kids (9 & 6) - all of whom have never been before. We're coming from Canada and we're excited!

We are staying in a 2 bedroom villa at Old Key West. This will be only my second time staying on property (and the last trip was ages ago!!!) and my first time staying at a DVC/villa. We booked on the Disney website, not with buying points, etc, if that's helpful context for my questions.

I did quite a bit of research before booking and I do feel like reading a lot of the forum posts has helped me with some good information, advice, knowing any "downsides" (eg: lack of elevators), etc.

Context that might be helpful:

We are going to use the Disney internal bus system as we are flying in and are not renting a car. (Though, we will pay to use Minnie Van to "rope drop" Magic Kingdom - a great tip I picked up reading forums).
Trip focus is the absolutely the parks; we got a 6 day hopper pass.
My son is a Type 1 Diabetic (plan is to get to parks early and then in afternoons likely spent back at the resort - inside or by the pool - in those hot heat hours of the day, but we won't know until we get there and see how the Florida heat impacts him).
We like quiet sleeping environments (and I'm a very light sleeper).

I'm looking for specific feedback about room requests.

Currently, in the "check in", I have selected:
1 - Close to bus stop
2- Peninsular Road Area

With our focus on the parks and using internal transport, I felt that these were the best selections (hopeful for sections 25-27? based on this combination of requests). My rationale is this would also put us close (ish) to hospitality house and PR area is one of the earlier bus stops, meaning hopefully the bus isn't too full. It's also one of the first drop offs - nice after a long day

I am open to feedback from those with far more experience than me. Given our situation, are there better choices in the "room requests". I've also seen people mention they chose two requests (like mine) but then also called and asked for additional things (that are in the drop down), such as "ground floor" or "upper floor". Does this happen? Or would they make you swap out a previous selection?

We will be doing a grocery delivery service for our arrival evening to have food for the villa. Does anyone have specific recommendations of the best stores to order from? Suggestions or advice for this? (There might be stores I'm not familiar with, coming from Canada).

Any other tips from OKW experts about getting the most out of our stay at this resort?

Thanks in advance for any feedback you're willing to provide!

 

[thanxfornoticin]

Being married to a light sleeper, and having stayed at OKW many, many times over the years, you might want to reconsider the request for 'close to the bus stop'. I understand why you would like that (and it's only a request anyway, which may or may not be granted), but some rooms near the stops can be a little noisy with the buses stopping all day long. Another recommendation for light sleepers is to ask for a top floor room. You'll have to get your luggage up stairs to the third floor, but you won't have a family with 4 kids running around at 6AM in the room above your head! Hope you enjoy your trip. Old Key West is really 'home' for us at Disney - very peaceful and relaxing.

 

[Tigger's ally]

For the light sleeper, the headboard of the king bedroom will be up against the front wall so any noise from busses early in the morning may wake you. The headboards on both the queen beds are actually on the opposite wall (back wall of the villa) in the other bedroom and if you shut the door to that bathroom, you may sleep through the busses. However, I am a light sleeper and I am usually not bothered in either bedroom. I have however been bothered by people up above us. Room on top floor minimizes everything.

 

[eandt]

Being married to a light sleeper, and having stayed at OKW many, many times over the years, you might want to reconsider the request for 'close to the bus stop'. I understand why you would like that (and it's only a request anyway, which may or may not be granted), but some rooms near the stops can be a little noisy with the buses stopping all day long. Another recommendation for light sleepers is to ask for a top floor room. You'll have to get your luggage up stairs to the third floor, but you won't have a family with 4 kids running around at 6AM in the room above your head! Hope you enjoy your trip. Old Key West is really 'home' for us at Disney - very peaceful and relaxing.

We were in a 2nd floor studio in Bldg 18 a few months ago and heard a lot of noise from above floor and got to know the screaming voice of a young man named Cooper and his brother staying in the adjoining room very well ..luckily Coop usually slept in later than us ..no the towel at the bottom of the door did not provide significant relief …

 

[eandt]

Duplicafe

 

[beccasmom]

We have stayed at OKW dozens of times since it’s one of our home resorts. We just returned today in fact and stayed in a one-bedroom 2nd floor unit in building 55 on South Point Road. This was very close to the pool, but we didn’t find it to be especially noisy. The walk to the bus stop was relatively short, but we had no road noise. There was a view of the Trumbo Canal, but it was pretty much obscured by trees. The boats were not running on this trip due to low water levels.

Peninsular Road is a nice area, although it is the “main road” so there’s a good deal of traffic. What is nice is that it’s an easy walk to the Hospitality House and the main pool. A lot of folks like the Turtle Pond area too. It’s kind of tucked away and feels a bit more private (to me, anyway! ), although of course there is bus traffic. It’s nice to have access to a car there, but we usually don’t. I would suggest you review a map of the resort and choose a building/area that is within a short walk to the bus stop (not directly behind it). Perhaps I am just accustomed to the buses, because I’ve never found them to be that bothersome. However, we’ve had some overly loud “neighbors” a time or two on the floor above us. Just the luck of the draw.

I think you’ll enjoy the two-bedroom units - they are huge!

 

[Little E]

Hi there! My family and I stayed at OKW in March of this year in a two bedroom. OKW is lovely and very quiet. As a fellow light sleeper, we loved the two bedroom villa; our sons had their own bedroom and bathroom and we had tons of space. We stayed in building 39. We were on the top floor, and honestly, we never saw another soul in our building. It was like we had the whole building to ourselves. It was a quick walk to the pool with the Turtle Shack snack bar from our villa and were shocked at how great the busses were. We were a quick walk from the Turtle Pond bus stop and we never waited for busses to get to the parks the entire time we were there. The main drawback to OKW is that it is so, so big. We loved building 39 for the quiet, the closeness to a bus stop, and closeness to the pool, but it was a big hike to get to the main lobby area. Unless you book preferred, that will be the case anywhere you stay in OKW.

We had groceries delivered to have breakfast and snacks in our room. We always use Shipt, but this time, we couldn't get a shopper to pick up our order, which delayed delivery by a whole day. So, I would recommend avoiding Shipt. I'm going to do some research for which delivery service to use for our fall trip.

Have a magical stay, and enjoy OKW!

 

[hertamaniac]

I am not sure the canal villas would work with the boat horns going off when they round the bend. Of course, I think the boats at DS are on a temporary shut-down until water levels increase. We personally stay only in the 2BR canal villas.

Is a white noise generator an option? I use it on my phone and has never failed me regardless of external noise(s).

 

[Megazz]

Wow! Thank you everyone for all of this incredible information. You've given me a lot to consider! Thankfully our trip isn't until July so I still have some time to make decisions!

 

[Megazz]

Can someone tell me if buildings 45-48 are considered Peninsular or South Point? It's hard to tell from the map!

 

[beccasmom]

Can someone tell me if buildings 45-48 are considered Peninsular or South Point? It's hard to tell from the map!

I am pretty sure they are all considered South Point Road (and incidentally, some units in 45 and 46 have great canal views). 48 is right across from the bus stop. We recently stayed in building 55 and that was our bus stop.

 

[heynowirv]

Personally we prefer the Old Turtle Rd area. The pool there has a nice snack bar and it's relatively quiet most of the year. There's a bus stop of course.And you can walk to HH and the boat to DS easily.

 

[gmi3804]

Don't underestimate the maddening sound of bus hydraulics and the beeping EVERY TIME IT STOPS at a bus stop.

 

[miksicnarf]

OKW owner for 27 years . There are 5 bus stops throughout the resort so you're never very far from one. On the WDW app on your phone you can see when your park bus is arriving at your stop and time your departure accordingly so you're not waiting long out in the heat. PR is a good choice as it's the very first stop and close to the Hospitality House; however it doesn't have its own pool, if that matters (not far from the main pool, though). If you call to make additional location requests, ask how your requests will be prioritized.
My experience with grocery delivery: for years I used Instacart from Publix. When it works properly you get notifications when your shopper is shopping and when they're on their way, and you can message the shopper. If you're in your room they can bring your order directly to you; otherwise they leave it with Bell Services (except alcohol, you must be present to accept delivery of that). That said, I had several bad experiences with Instacart (orders cancelled with no notification or reason) so I now use Lyft to go to Publix and do my own shopping and I find that works better, is less expensive and the whole process takes no more than an hour.

 

[Mai Ku Tiki]

We were in a 2nd floor studio in Bldg 18 a few months ago and heard a lot of noise from above floor and got to know the screaming voice of a young man named Cooper and his brother staying in the adjoining room very well ..luckily Coop usually slept in later than us ..no the towel at the bottom of the door did not provide significant relief …

Annie the toddler was our neighbor recently & had perfected "Terrible Twos" tantrums...LOL! We were ready to offer to buy her some new toys to keep her 'happy.'

As to top floor...YES! Removing the carpeting during that renno has made all the difference in noise levels. Bell service can do your luggage.

And we stay as far away from bus stops as we can...The internal bus service is constant, making South Point fine for us. We aren't happy Mouseketeers without our beauty sleep.

Very happy for you & your family! Have a magical visit!