Old Key West .. ideas please :-)

[xlstacey]

Our family is going to Old Key West on an exchange in early January for 2 weeks. We have been to WDW 4 times, but have always stayed off property. My girls are 12, 10 and 7 and am wondering if anyone has any ideas for this resort ... activities, great eats or ? Any ideas would be helpful. Thank you

 

[KyBill]

Tell us about your accomodations, 1 BR or 2 BR. (I hope). Some buildings have 2 floors and some 3. If you don't mind the steps request an upstairs. Golf course view or water view?? NS or Smoking.
There are a lot of us OKW fans who would like to offer some advice. I presume you will fly from Oregon. So you will use the bus transportation.
Two weeks is a long visit. Do you plan to have any meals in the villa? The Turtle Pond area is nice with pool, grills and picnic tables.

 

[JimC]

You should check out the towncar services as you will get better, faster and less expensive service than Mears.

 

[beccasmom]

OKW is my home resort and I love it there! If you eat at Olivia's, I have found the meals are much better at lunch than at dinner, for some reason. And lunch is served until 5:00! The prices are, of course, lower too.

We've always preferred a water view; we love watching the boats going past and the sound of the lapping of the water. Old Turtle Pond is my favorite "neighborhood", but I recently stayed at a 2-bedroom villa on South Point Road and loved it!

Be sure to take a boat ride down the Trumbo Canal. They begin at 12:00 noon (weather permitting) and they are so relaxing. The boats go to Downtown Disney and past the Treehouse Villas and the new construction of Saratoga Springs. The dock is right at the Rainforest Cafe. This is one thing I never miss.

All of the pools are very nice; I especially like using the hot tubs after a long day at the parks, but any excuse will do! And the larger villas have Jacuzzis, which are fabulous!

Have a fantastic trip! You will love OKW!

 

[dianeschlicht]

WE will be at OKW the same time as you! It is our favorite time to be there. We eat an occational meal at Olivias in OKW, but usually we eat at one of the great restaurants in one of the parks, or just cook in. You don't say what size unit you will be getting. If it is a 1,2 or 3 bedroom, you will have GREAT kitchen and laundry facilities inside your unit. We usually have breakfast and one light meal in the villa and eat our main meal of the day (sometimes mid day, sometimes evening) at one of the better restaurants in WDW. We have our special favorites. We particularily like Teppanyaki Dinning rooms in the Japan pavillion of Epcot, and Boma at AKL and Artist's Point at WL. If you do not have a car, it will be more difficult to get to the other resorts, but bus service to all the 4 parks is great, and easy to do. It is just the resorts that are difficult to get to. It requires a trip through Downtown Disney, and that can take awhile. You can walk to Downtown Disney from OKW quite easily, and they have a pontoon that makes the trip every 20 minutes or so.

 

[dianeschlicht]

I forgot to mention that with 5 people, it will probably be cheapest for you to rent a car at the airport. It will cost less for a week than 5 two way trips on either the Mears or towncar. You will have the added chance to stop for groceries as well. What timeshare are you exchanging from?

 

[dianeschlicht]

BTW, we prefer the South Point villas as well. I like the quiet pool on that end. Remember, your room will have a jacuzzi in it as well!

 

[Simba's Mom]

What we did several times on a recent trip was take out from Good's to Go, the take out place at the HH. They put your order in a big paper bag, and then we'd take it back to our Villa and sit around the living room or out on the porch. Sometimes we'd stop at Boardwalk Bakery, French Pastry shop, or Main Street Bakery and buy "goodies" to have with our juice and coffee for breakfast in the morning. Maybe we were just lucky, but as we left MK after Enight, no one was at the Main Street Bake shop, so we were able to get some things there, kind of extended the feel of Enight into the next morning!

 

[xlstacey]

Wonderful ideas ... I love it!

We are in a 1 bedrm unit. We will probably only have 4 total at least most of our stay and we do have friends near ... so they can accomodate our extra if need be.

Non-smoking for sure and on the view ... we would probably like them all. I think convenience to a pool is a must and a unit over #30 .. due to the 2 doors into the bathrm.

Diane ... maybe we'll meet up there Thanx for the eating ideas it's always best to get the scoop b4 going.

 

[xlstacey]

forgot ... we do plan on renting a car. We are too independent to stay put for too long. We will probably visit Sea World as well.

 

[ncligs]

You will be pleasantly surprised at the room you will have , here are a couple of links for you of OKW below.......

http://***********.com/id250.htm

http://www.wdwig.com/g_okw.htm

 

[Pa@okw95]

For those who suggested pools!!! She said she is going in early January-unless she is a seal, I don't think she has to worry about what pool to be near. You can swim if you wish, the water is warm enough, but the air outside the pool will be too cold to hang around any pool. The weather that time of year is the coldest so back a lot of different things to wear. In the day time in could get nice enough in the low 60's but at night you could see some really cold weather. So bring a wide range of clothes.

 

[Keeter]

I don't think you have to be a seal to enjoy the pools. We love to go in January and even swim at the ocean. The heated pools are Disney are pure luxury next to the cold ocean water. Of course, we're from Illinois so it still feels almost hot to us in January. ha ha.

 

[xlstacey]

Nice pics & info, ncligs ... thank you!

Oh the pools. Well, I guess I am so use to being in Florida when it's warm, it still has not hit me that it will not be as hot as I am use to, although much warmer than Oregon. My girls will still love to swim and do a lot of the activities like biking and basketball. They'll have me running literally.

So I have heard Turtle Pond Rd area and South Point are good areas to request for our stay. This may sound a bit odd, but where is the lake on this map that I am looking at of OKW? Is it on the East side of the resort? It's very hard to see on this map.

I will be checking out the Trumbo Canal too, thanx

Thx to all

 

[xlstacey]

Okay .. after reading a bit more, I now realize there is not a lake, but a canal, the Trumbo Canal .. and of course, now I see on the map where it goes. My husband is laughing .. bur I was still thinking lake .. probably because I live in Oregon. Here I go plan, plan and plan some more ... fun!

 

[Pa@okw95]

The canal runs into a very small lake at DD and PI area. If you take the boat or rent one just follow the canal and you will end up at the lake. It is a nice ride either way. They had some freak weather down there a couple of years ago that allowed people to enjoy swimming in January. I was there last January, the last week, when it is warmer than early January and swimming was not on anyone's agenda, maybe you will get lucky and be able to swim.

 

[dianeschlicht]

The pool at South Point was HOT last January! It was almost too warm to swim in. We always use the hot tub before going to bed. It is a tradition for us.

 

[spiceycat]

the views are water, golf or woods

you can also ask to be near the bus stop, pool or HH

- HH is the center of all of the action - where the restuarant, front desk, gift shop, one of the pools, community hall, tennis court, basketball, sandbox (not really kindna of hard to describ) is - now I don't happen to like being near the HH - but I am in the minority.

I like building 55 or 18 - both are near a quiet pool and a bus stop.

hope you love OKW - we certainly do!

 

[KyBill]

We spend the month of January in Florida in Fort Myers. This past January was one of the most consistantly cold winter months that we have experienced. Since you are staying 2 weeks it could very well in the high 70's during the day or in the high 50's. Depends on how many cold fronts swing thru.
You will really enjoy your 1 BR villa and it is wise to ask for that bldg over #30 to get that extra door as you will have kids on the living area sofa queen.
We will also be there in January probably for about 3 nights. Usually drive up from Ft. Myers'

 

[Uncleromulus]

OKW is a great spot and previous posts have listed all the many reasons why.
Just to note tho that none of the pools at OKW have lifeguards, nor are there any slides, etc.