The good the bad the ugly of OKW renovations (update pg 13)

[Anna114]

It isn't the blinds that are the issue. It's the mechanism on the roman shades. The shades are beautiful, but they are such a PITA to open and close, that it seriously hinders the enjoyment of the porch.

Oh amen! They were awful. Luckily we were in a unit that we could leave them open for the length of the trip. You are right, though, they are very pretty.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

It isn't the blinds that are the issue. It's the mechanism on the roman shades. The shades are beautiful, but they are such a PITA to open and close, that it seriously hinders the enjoyment of the porch.

Yep, I understand it's the mechanism - I just have never run across a blind that had the difficulties that are being talked about so I cannot quite understand it. I wonder if the room designer tried it or just decided it looked good and bought it. It seems like the person might have moved from selecting furniture etc. at BLT to the renovation at OKW.

 

[dianeschlicht]

Yep, I understand it's the mechanism - I just have never run across a blind that had the difficulties that are being talked about so I cannot quite understand it. I wonder if the room designer tried it or just decided it looked good and bought it. It seems like the person might have moved from selecting furniture etc. at BLT to the renovation at OKW.

Again...not the blinds. You know, I do think the person who designed BLT might have moved on to OKW!!! That cheap vinyl flooring is exactly the same as at BLT, but a different color and more poorly installed.

 

[Deb & Bill]

The problem with the roman shades is that they have made them childproof. There have been a lot of recalls on roman shades and miniblinds because of the long cords and being able to get caught up in them. I know the roman shades in my house that I have on my French doors have a single cord instead of a double cord.

So they do the stupid childproof mechanism that even an adult has problems operating. It's five feet off the floor and you can't get the cord around your head.

I liked the wand on the blinds instead of the cords that they have in the living room. The cord isn't long enough to reach when you have the love seat or couch in front of the window. So you either stand on the couch and love seat to reach the cords or you pull them away from the wall so you can open and close them. I hate to live in a tomb and I don't want the neighbors looking into my villa at night. So you open them during the day and close them at night.

 

[dianeschlicht]

The problem with the roman shades is that they have made them childproof. There have been a lot of recalls on roman shades and miniblinds because of the long cords and being able to get caught up in them. I know the roman shades in my house that I have on my French doors have a single cord instead of a double cord.

So they do the stupid childproof mechanism that even an adult has problems operating. It's five feet off the floor and you can't get the cord around your head.

I liked the wand on the blinds instead of the cords that they have in the living room. The cord isn't long enough to reach when you have the love seat or couch in front of the window. So you either stand on the couch and love seat to reach the cords or you pull them away from the wall so you can open and close them. I hate to live in a tomb and I don't want the neighbors looking into my villa at night. So you open them during the day and close them at night.

Exactly! I can't figure out why they didn't use the wands again too. They are much safer than the cords anyway. The child proof mechanism IS the problem with the shades on the french doors, and I understand why they needed to make them that way, but maybe the whole Roman shade thing was a bad idea in an application like a French door anyway. That's especially true in a place like this where people are going to need to open and close them a lot.

 

[JandD Mom]

Exactly! I can't figure out why they didn't use the wands again too. They are much safer than the cords anyway. The child proof mechanism IS the problem with the shades on the french doors, and I understand why they needed to make them that way, but maybe the whole Roman shade thing was a bad idea in an application like a French door anyway. That's especially true in a place like this where people are going to need to open and close them a lot.

While I own at BWV and not OKW, I have been following this thread with interest since we'll be staying at OKW for the first time in April. I am also disturbed by the substitution of cheap materials described by Diane (the flooring, the repainting of furniture with crackle finishes etc). That's just contrary to everything DVC originally marketed itself to be.

In addition, I just don't understand why ANYONE would put roman shades on French doors on a hotel/rental property. I just bought some at home and have them in a living room that gets very light use. I'd just HATE to see what these roman shades look like a year or 2 from now. I just can't imagine they will stay in good shape. Unlike blinds, they are not designed to be pulled up and down and manipulated as frequently.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

The problem with the roman shades is that they have made them childproof. There have been a lot of recalls on roman shades and miniblinds because of the long cords and being able to get caught up in them. I know the roman shades in my house that I have on my French doors have a single cord instead of a double cord.

So they do the stupid childproof mechanism that even an adult has problems operating. It's five feet off the floor and you can't get the cord around your head.

I liked the wand on the blinds instead of the cords that they have in the living room. The cord isn't long enough to reach when you have the love seat or couch in front of the window. So you either stand on the couch and love seat to reach the cords or you pull them away from the wall so you can open and close them. I hate to live in a tomb and I don't want the neighbors looking into my villa at night. So you open them during the day and close them at night.

Now I've got a better idea of it all. It really seems like poor choices for door/window coverings at least for function. I too hate living in a dark tomb and always like to have shades open as much as possible. One of my complaints about BLT is the lack of sheer curtains and only having the room darkening curtains so if you have them closed there's no light coming in. You're ok if you have a high room on parts of the outer C but people can look into a lot of rooms without sheers.

Yep - I think OKW got the BLT room designer!

 

[Deb & Bill]

Sheers won't work at OKW because you can still look into the villa at night through the sheers. I do like the roman shades (like I said I have some at home). They just need a better mechanism.

 

[dianeschlicht]

Sheers won't work at OKW because you can still look into the villa at night through the sheers. I do like the roman shades (like I said I have some at home). They just need a better mechanism.

I agree that sheers would not work at OKW, but drapes that could be pushed aside like the ones in the bedrooms would be very appropriate and much easier to use than the roman shades are.

 

[Deb & Bill]

I agree that sheers would not work at OKW, but drapes that could be pushed aside like the ones in the bedrooms would be very appropriate and much easier to use than the roman shades are.

Most definitely.

 

[lizziepooh]

I agree, the roman shades were awful to operate. I had scrapes and scratches on the back of my hand from trying to open the darn things. We want the light during the day, but want them closed at night for privacy. I too liked the old shades with the wands. So much easier to operate.

 

[dianeschlicht]

I agree, the roman shades were awful to operate. I had scrapes and scratches on the back of my hand from trying to open the darn things. We want the light during the day, but want them closed at night for privacy. I too liked the old shades with the wands. So much easier to operate.

Last month we tended to leave the French door open instead of operating the Roman shade. Thankfully, it wasn't too cold. We did have one of the guys in our GV who didn't mind pulling the Roman shades up, so we gladly let him do it!

I'm going to guess that most of the buildings are done by now. I know when we were there a couple weeks ago, they were loading new countertops and such into building 23.

 

[MoonPet]

The thermostats at OKW used to work great. Never had a problem until our trip last month. Why the heck did they change something that has worked fine for years? Like Inkmahm, I was either freezing or sweating at night.

I haven't finished reading the whole thread yet, so I apologize if this has been posted already.

We were at OKW in December and had one of the renovated rooms with the new thermostats. We googled the name of the thermostat and were able to look up the instruction manual. You can easily slide the thermostat off the wall and change the pin settings so that you can actually control the temperature (just make sure to reset before checking out!). The thermostat is actually just a wireless controller, so changing the pins and restarting provides instant results.

I am sorry that I don't have the link with me, otherwise I would post it.

 

[dianeschlicht]

I haven't finished reading the whole thread yet, so I apologize if this has been posted already.

We were at OKW in December and had one of the renovated rooms with the new thermostats. We googled the name of the thermostat and were able to look up the instruction manual. You can easily slide the thermostat off the wall and change the pin settings so that you can actually control the temperature (just make sure to reset before checking out!). The thermostat is actually just a wireless controller, so changing the pins and restarting provides instant results.

I am sorry that I don't have the link with me, otherwise I would post it.

Interesting info, but I doubt it would be practical for most vacationers.

 

[Shadeaux]

I haven't finished reading the whole thread yet, so I apologize if this has been posted already.

We were at OKW in December and had one of the renovated rooms with the new thermostats. We googled the name of the thermostat and were able to look up the instruction manual. You can easily slide the thermostat off the wall and change the pin settings so that you can actually control the temperature (just make sure to reset before checking out!). The thermostat is actually just a wireless controller, so changing the pins and restarting provides instant results.

I am sorry that I don't have the link with me, otherwise I would post it.

I'm not sure I understand why you'd have to reset the thermostat to control the temperature. The problem we had with the new thermostats at OKW was there is no way to change it from air conditioning to heat. Are you saying you were able to figure a way to switch between those two?

 

[MoonPet]

I'm not sure I understand why you'd have to reset the thermostat to control the temperature. The problem we had with the new thermostats at OKW was there is no way to change it from air conditioning to heat. Are you saying you were able to figure a way to switch between those two?

Yes. You can change the pin settings on the back to allow for manual control -- high fan, low fan, heat, ac, motion sensors off, etc. Because it is a wireless transmitter, once you change the pin settings you "restart" the thermostat and the change takes effect immediately.

I will start looking for that link. I believe we also took a photo of the pin settings for easy future reference.

 

[MoonPet]

Ok.
I found the photographs we took of the "cheat sheet" from the instruction manual and the pin settings we used to get full manual control of the thermostat.

However, I'm sorry to say that I don't know how to upload the images from my desktop. Can anyone help?

Thanks

 

[Shadeaux]

Yes. You can change the pin settings on the back to allow for manual control -- high fan, low fan, heat, ac, motion sensors off, etc. Because it is a wireless transmitter, once you change the pin settings you "restart" the thermostat and the change takes effect immediately.

I will start looking for that link. I believe we also took a photo of the pin settings for easy future reference.

Very interesting! Those new thermostats drove me nuts; it kept switching to heat when all I wanted was to set the air conditioning temperature a little higher. Same thing happened with the heat...I wanted to set the heat lower, but then the darn air conditioning came on.

 

[dcamdad]

Ok.
I found the photographs we took of the "cheat sheet" from the instruction manual and the pin settings we used to get full manual control of the thermostat.

However, I'm sorry to say that I don't know how to upload the images from my desktop. Can anyone help?

Thanks

What brand is your cheat sheet from? Our 2 br in December had a PECO (POS) thermostat that I went into the set up of the programming to correct the issues I found.

 

[MoonPet]

The top of the page mentions a WDDC thermostat; the name on the back of the unit is Onity Wireless.

Again, I have the three photos - but no idea how to attach or post them.