Old Key West rooms

[xkwisit]

Hi everyone.... getting excited to book our Sept vacation at Old Key West in just 2 more days . Anyway we are going with my MIL & 2 SILs & their families. So our count brings us to a grand total of 13 people. Needless to say we can't get the 12 person Grand Villa. So I've been scrambling crunching numbers this afternoon trying to figure out how we can do this. At 1st I thought we could get 2 8 person villas but that increases our points by 84. So then I thought maybe we could get 1 8 person villa & 2 4 person studios. The SILs can each get a studio & then come & share our kitchen with us & that increases our points by only 20. Has anyone stayed in the studios? Do they have a coffee maker? Are they anywhere near or could they be where the 8 person villas are? We're kind of new to DVC. Only had our 1st DVC trip last year & stayed at Saratoga Springs (which was phenomenal). Anyone have any other suggestions for us? We have 6 adults & 7 kids total.... 17, 15, 12, 9, 9, 3, & 3. We wanted to stay at OKW because the points are so much less than any of the other resorts. And since I am stuck spending my Disney vacation with ALL my in-laws I don't want to use too many of next years points too.....

 

[DebbieB]

I would go with the 2 bedroom & 2 studios. That way if someone backs out, you can just cancel a studio. Studios have 2 queens, coffee maker, toaster, microwave, small fridge. With 13 people, you would qualify for a grand gathering and every attempt would be to get you in the same building.

 

[madelyn]

We had a 13 person family reunion trip last November for Thanksgiving. The party consisted of my family of 5 (but 1 child 2 at the time), my parents, 2 sisters, brother, bro-in-law, and 2 nephews. My sister is the DVC owner and got us a Savannah view 2 bedroom at Kidani and a standard studio. I stayed in the studio with my husband and 3 kids (ages 11, 8 and 2). It was a tight squeeze but we spent most of our awake time at the 2 bedroom. My parents slept in the master bedroom, my sister and her husband and 2 boys were in the 2nd bedroom and my brother and sister slept on the sofa sleeper and sofa chair in the living room. I felt bad that my sister, the owner had to sleep on the sofa chair! My college aged nephew was only there for about half the stay but he and his high school aged brother seemed to have no trouble sharing the 2nd queen bed in the second bedroom. We had to request a dedicated 2 bedroom unit to make sure we got a 2nd queen bed and not a sofa sleeper. The 3rd bathroom in the Kidani 2 bedroom unit was appreciated. I know many DVC-ers would say this is too tight a squeeze but we were within occupancy limits and it worked for us. To answer one of your other questions. I have stayed in an OKW studio but it was almost 15 years ago so someone else might be able to answer your question. But I am pretty sure that the OKW studios are the only ones that have 2 actual beds instead of a bed plus sofa sleeper. I believe all DVC studios have coffee makers. Could be hard to get at last minute but AKL Jambo house has value units that cost less points. They have value studios, 1 bedrooms and 2 bedrooms. So you might use the points calculator and see how that points usage works for you. We requested that our studio be located close to the 2 bedroom and it was on the same floor but about 10 doors down. We requested 2 rooms be close by at Saratoga in 2008 (but a reservation less than 2 months beforehand) and we were in the same building but on another floor and at opposite ends. There should be studio and 2 bedroom units located in all buildings at OKW. You can get a studio that connects to a 1 bedroom unit (which is a 2 bedroom lock-off) but you cannot get studios that connect to a 2 bedroom or to another studio.

 

[Pakey]

I would go with the 2 bedroom & 2 studios. That way if someone backs out, you can just cancel a studio. Studios have 2 queens, coffee maker, toaster, microwave, small fridge. With 13 people, you would qualify for a grand gathering and every attempt would be to get you in the same building.

I agree with this. Honestly, having done a large group a couple of times, I think that this is the best way to go, even if you had enough points to cover the Grand Villa. At least this way, they have a place to "escape" for their total privacy. For us, we've liked it better that way. If you get a Grand Gathering number, they will try to get your rooms close. We did this at BCV at our rooms were on the same floor although not next to one another.

 

[bobbiwoz]

I would go with the 2 bedroom & 2 studios. That way if someone backs out, you can just cancel a studio. Studios have 2 queens, coffee maker, toaster, microwave, small fridge. With 13 people, you would qualify for a grand gathering and every attempt would be to get you in the same building.

This is what I would do. Go with the Grand Gathering and that will be your best chance to get the rooms near each other.

 

[xkwisit]

We had a 13 person family reunion trip last November for Thanksgiving. The party consisted of my family of 5 (but 1 child 2 at the time), my parents, 2 sisters, brother, bro-in-law, and 2 nephews. My sister is the DVC owner and got us a Savannah view 2 bedroom at Kidani and a standard studio.

Madelyn!!!!!!! You just made my day!!!! I have been wanting to stay at Animal Kingdom & completely forgot that some of the 2 BRs sleep 9 people! I talked to my husband & we are going to book the Savannah View with a 2 BR & a Studio! I can't wait to have coffee in the morning with the giraffes or elephants or whatever else is parading around on the Savanah! Thank you Thank you Thank you! We can put my one SIL & her husband & kid along with my MIL in the studio & the rest of us can stay in the 2 BR. And then they can come to room for breakfast or whatever! I am so even more excited now than I was!

Thank you everyone else for the info on the studios. Its good to know they have coffee makers. I was nervous about that.

 

[bobbiwoz]

Madelyn!!!!!!! You just made my day!!!! I have been wanting to stay at Animal Kingdom & completely forgot that some of the 2 BRs sleep 9 people! I talked to my husband & we are going to book the Savannah View with a 2 BR & a Studio! I can't wait to have coffee in the morning with the giraffes or elephants or whatever else is parading around on the Savanah! Thank you Thank you Thank you! We can put my one SIL & her husband & bratty kid along with my MIL in the studio & the rest of us can stay in the 2 BR. And then they can come to room for breakfast or whatever! I am so even more excited now than I was!

Thank you everyone else for the info on the studios. Its good to know they have coffee makers. I was nervous about that.

I would be "nervous" about offering any adult woman, a studio stay with a husband/wife/child. What sort of sleeping arrangements do you invision?

Bobbi

 

[madelyn]

xkwisit, glad you are happy about staying at AKLV. When I called for studio availability this past Saturday for the July 4th timeframe, there was little availability for much except Savannah view. Guess people are saving their points? bobbiwoz, I didn't read closely and catch that MIL would be in the studio along with another family. I know I could not deal with sleeping with my mother or MIL in a studio with or w/out my husband and kids. Well, maybe I could handle my own mom if we had our own beds. Yeah, that could be tight since there is only a king bed and a sofa sleeper (full I believe). We had 2 adults/3 kids (one under 3) but they were all my kids. Not sure if I could deal w/ more than 2 adults in a studio unless it were my 2 sisters. But each family is different.

 

[xkwisit]

I would be "nervous" about offering any adult woman, a studio stay with a husband/wife/child. What sort of sleeping arrangements do you invision?

Bobbi

I'm not too worried about them rooming together... it's mother & daughter.... I'm sure gramma will end up sleeping with her grand daughter. I'm not even sure how our room arrangements are going to work out except my husband & I get the master bedroom in the 2 BR villa....

 

[bluenosemickey]

We stayed last year with 11 people, 2 SILs and their families. We found it great to have them in the separate studio. They had their own breakfast food, lunch and snack foods and then we collaborated on dinners when we weren't eating out. Just be sure to stress they they need to be located close by. We had to move rooms to make this happen, but it was worth it.

If they needed to use the kitchen for breakfast or lunch, they just came in and did what they needed to do. This way, they could get ready while eating breakfast in the am in their own rooms, really saved time. At lunch, they ended up in the main kitchen with some of their stuff already put together for the lighter eaters (yogurt, fruit, rolls etc.).

I would request the lockoff 2bdr so ensure that the studio attached has it's own kitchenette. We found the ones that were dedicated had extra closet space, but no kitchenette. Not a good trade off. I found that we needed the extra toasters to get everybody covered for breakfast. This was at AKL, so I know they have dedicated 2bdrs. Did this with my parents, if they wanted tea and toast at night, they had to come over to our unit to use the kitchen. Not a big deal, but we moved to a lockoff unit after a few days and it worked out a lot better. They much preferred the freedom to snack as they pleased without feeling like they were leaving their own space to do so.

I was kind of bummed that we couldn't get a GV, but in retrospect, it worked out better. You really need that private space with larger groups. Even the most beloved family gets on your nerves after a while