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Thread: Old Key West Questions

  1. #1

    Old Key West Questions

    Hi everyone,
    Well, our Spring Break trip took a little change of events. DD and I will be doing some DVC hopping!!

    We are, instead of staying off site with DH who will be at a conference at the Rosen Shingle Creek resort, staying at OKW. We have the points so I made the ressie to save the $ on a rental car.

    Can someone please let me know what to expect? I saw the rooms and they look very nice. What about transportation? Does it take a long time to get to the resorts? I'm wondering if there is a specific cluster of rooms I should ask for? There was no availability close to the hospitality house, I know that much.

    Is there a specific area/ pool that anyone particularly like?

    Any tips on OKW that you care to share?

    Thanks everyone!


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  3. #2
    Read Everything-Assume Nothing GusMan's Avatar
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    OKW is rather spread out... But at the same time, the buses will take you to the different areas if you dont want to walk. But, the thing is that if you do end up closer to the main building, get off at the first stop and walk back. The internal loop adds at least 10 minutes.

    Even if they say that they dont have a room near the main building, still make sure its in your ressie notes. And when you check in - see what can be done on the spot.

    Once you are out of the resort, the transpiration times to the parks were rather short. That was awesome! Getting back to the resort via bus was never a problem as well.

    The main pool is rather fun and the community hall has a lot of cool things that you can do as well. However, quick service meal choices are very VERY limited, so you need to plan ahead if you want your morning coffee or something quick. (Actually, there was nothing quick about it when we were there, if you catch my drift.) If we were to stay there again, we would bring more snacks from home or get a grocery order from a delivery service. Plan on doing meals elsewhere if you want better choices.

    Though, I will say that Olivia's, their TS eatery, was very good for breakfast. (The Mrs. loved how they had an adult-sized Mickey waffle even though it was not in the menu.)

    Overall, we really enjoyed our stay there and would surely stay there again. It was just a flat out fun-themed and relaxed resort.

    Disney-Inspired Author and Blogger
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  4. #3

    Thank you GusMan!!

    I read a review also that there are no elevators. Do they have cast members that help you with bags?
    Im traveling with just DD and lifting our suitcases on our own may be a challenge. I mean I can lift it no problem, but up stairs would be difficult.

    I saw some photo tours on You Tube last night, the place looks very peaceful.


  5. #4
    Read Everything-Assume Nothing GusMan's Avatar
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    They do have bell services available, and believe that you are correct that there are no elevators. (We asked for a ground floor room ourselves.)

    Disney-Inspired Author and Blogger
    CoHost of the Behind The Ears Podcast... Check it out on iTunes
    Admin of The WDW Community Facebook page.

    The search function is like the Force. It may take practice, but the more you use it, the more control you will have over it!

  6. #5
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    Mark Goldhaber's Avatar
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    I always ask for a ground-floor room just because I hate schlepping upstairs at the end of a long day. There are three buildings with elevators: 62, 63, and 64. Those were the last three to be built, and I believe that they had elevators added to have more ADA-compliant accommodations. Bell services will help you with your bags (and will take you to your room via golf cart if you'd like). I like being near Hospitality House for the ease of walking over to eat at Olivia's (the food is great) and stopping by the Conch Flats General Store. I usually have a car and load in breakfast supplies, but if you won't have that, you can always get a couple of items to get you by at the store. Old Key West is my favorite resort, and has the largest rooms of any resort on property. Enjoy!


  7. #6
    Starspeeder 3000 Technician
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    Old Key West was the first Disney Resort we stayed at after becoming Disney Vacation Club members. Therefore, it has a special place in out hearts. It has a very relaxed atmosphere(as mentioned above) and is seemingly tucked away in it's own little corner of WDW.

    There is a nice lighthouse waterslide at the main pool. The secondary pools are basic with little theming.

    We've stayed on the third floor before, in a non-elevator building. It wasn't too bad, unless you have a sleeping child in a stroller.

    Olivia's is always nice. The quick service take-away window, Good's Food To Go, is good as well. However, it usually involves a somewhat lengthy wait, for us anyway.

    My only real gripe with OKW is the golf course. I don't play golf, unless there's the word 'miniature' in front of it. I don't really care to have a golf course view, personally.


  8. #7
    Registered User arnoldvb's Avatar
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    Last December (2011) was our (wife and I) first time staying at OKW, and we completely enjoyed the experience. We specifically requested a room near the Hospitality House, and ended up with one that was just a very short walk away. We had a one-bedroom suite on the 1st floor and loved the large size of the unit. The only negative was that for privacy we had to keep some of the window curtains drawn while we were in the room. We were both amazed by the bus service. If you read my trip report, you'll see that we never had a wait of more than 15 minutes, either going to the parks or coming back, and very often had the bus show up almost as soon as we arrived at the bus stop. Our interactions with resort staff was always pleasant and helpful. We didn't use the pool facilities (we rarely do), but the whole resort has a very relaxing feel to it. We'd definitely stay at OKW again in the near future.


  9. #8

    I spent two nights in a grand villa at OKW a couple of weeks ago, and it was terrific! I hadn't stayed at the resort before, so I was especially happy to experience it. I liked it *very* much, and have the following observations:

    The unit we stayed in had been recently refurbished, so it was like a brand-new unit. Very nice! So even though OKW is one of the older DVC resorts, it certainly does not feel that way. I loved the decor of the unit and the overall theme of the resort. The pool area looks terrific.

    At check in, there were all sorts of balloon flowers and swords for the kids as well as "Welcome Home" letters created out of balloons. What a fun way to be greeted!

    We had bell services take us to our building via golf cart, lugging our bags to the unit. However, on our departure, it was up to us to handle the bags. An elevator would have been nice (and it's good to know that there are some buildings with them; thanks, Mark!!)

    Our unit had a view of the golf course, which was pretty and peaceful. I liked it (and I don't play golf).

    We had dinner our first night at Olivia's and it was terrific. I noted that most of the servers were a little bit on the older side, and my understanding is that they've been there for years because they like it there so much. Says a lot about the resort, doesn't it?

    The onsite bus service was fine to get from here to there and back again, and I'm a person who prefers a rental car to get around.

    Mary@MasterpieceTravels.com

  10. #9

    Thanks you all!! I'm so excited now!


  11. #10

    My husband and I stayed here a few years back and had a ground floor studio. It was on the golf course but there was a good deal of vegetation around our patio. We were sitting out on the patio around 10am watching the little lizards (anoles I believe) running around in the bushes. A yard maintenance worker walked up along a very small path right next to our patio and we scared the crap out of him. We were slightly surprised, but I thought he was going to have a heart attack! We were being very quite just enjoying how peaceful it was. I guess he assumed everyone should be at the parks at 10am

    Melissa
    "Fire at will!" Which one's Will?

  12. #11
    Registered User Silvercat's Avatar
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    Birmingham, UK

    We stayed there last November and absolutely loved it! We are not DVC members but Disney offered special deals to UK residents and we chose OKW. We didn't regret it! The room was gorgeous, newly refurbed and bright and sunny. We were very close to a quiet pool which also had a laundry, so one day we put some washing in the machine and then spent an incredibly relaxing and peaceful couple of hours in the pool, alone, with no-one else around us, while the washing got clean. Bliss.

    Olivia's was lovely - check out the pineapple bread, worth dining there for on it's own!

    Silvercat

    (Enjoy reading trip reports? Why not try my books, "Tiggerific Travels" - all 4 books available now as e-books)

  13. #12

    Thank you everyone for the input.
    We stayed at the OKW resort on Monday, Tuesday and Wed of our trip. (April 9-11, 2012)
    We were able to take a break one day and enjoy the big pool and the water slide. That was a ton of fun. The weather was gorgeous and the pool water temperature was perfect.
    We ended up on Millers Road in Building 22. We were the end of the road so to speak! We were a few buildings away from the bus stop and the quiet pool.
    We used the laundry facility one night, it would of made more sense for us to have brought the laundry to the big pool and done the wash while we swam but I didn't want to lug the laundry on the bus. Oh well, we also could of just swam at the small pool too but we really wanted to play on the water slide. :-)
    We grabbed some snacks at the counter service and than on our way back to the room grabbed a tuna salad sandwich to split for dinner. It was good! We had purchased the refillable mugs for the trip and those really came in handy while at the pool. DD and I took turns walking back and forth from the pool to the quick service counter.
    I loved the ambiance at this resort but it would not be my first choice of DVC places to stay at. I think it would be a great place to stay if I had a vehicle to get to and from the hospitality house. I do regret not having the time to take a jog around the grounds, that would of been fun.
    I liked the fact that our room was very spacious and that DD and I had our own beds. The check in person was less than enthusiastic about her job and that was a little disappointing but the bell staff made up for her. They were very helpful in advising me on how the buses worked and getting my bags to us. We were personally driven by a bell person on a golf cart and he lifted all our bags up the two flights of stairs. Im glad I had help because my suitcase is HEAVY! ;-)

    ETA: I think if I had been dressed and not in my pool attire that night I would of liked to have tried Olivia's. Also, they had a very good selection at their gift shop. :-)
    Oh sorry, I mean "merchandise experience" place.
    (I was informed this week that Disney does not have gift shops, only "merchandise experiences")


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