7/13 Just back from 1st OKW stay ...

[eyeheartgoofy]

Just got back from 6 nights at OKW in a one bedroom. This was our first visit to OKW - we own at VWL and, until this week, VWL was the only DVC we had tried.

Let me say, that the trip was not bad at all. I still prefer VWL, but OKW was nice.

THE GOOD
Check in was a breeze - we arrived around 1:00pm on Saturday and found our room ready. It took my husband 10 minutes (I timed him with my new stopwatch!) to check in (this was the time it took him from the moment he left our car until he came back to our car with room keys!). I had requested an upper floor in buildings 62,63 or 64 - we were assigned another building, but DH asked if they had anything in our first choice area and they re-assigned us to building 64 during check in.

Our room was on the second floor 6424, I believe was the number. We had a view of a pond with a fountain and some portion of a golf course being re-seeded. We could see the bridge entering OKW to the right. We were about a 3-5 minute walk from the Hospitality House. Good location.

I LOVED the size of our room! I was amazed to see the laundry room - WOW! And I really liked the table with four chairs for dining. We are a family of 4 and had plenty of space to spread out and relax (okay, 2 of us are under 6, but we had plenty of room for My Little Pony and all of her accessories!).

The bus service was much better than I expected. I will go so far as to call the bus service "good"! I had prepared myself for LONG waits and slow service. We had one afternoon when it took us an hour to return to our room from MK - we waited for 25 minutes at the MK bus stop before an OKW bus FINALLY pulled up. We watched 2 Yacht and Beach Club busses come and go before OKW finally showed up. Other than that, the bus service was a pleasant surprise. Seems like buses were always coming and going - we rarely waited more than 5 minutes at the Hospitality House bus stop. And I think we waited for 10 minutes at Epcot one night. Now the boat to Downtown Disney was another story - one trip was plenty for us!

We tried the quiet pool located by building 19 and the main pool. We enjoyed both pools, although the main pool was closer.

My kids both loved the community hall - my 5 year old loved the air hockey table and my 3 year old loved the box full o' toys (2 broken baby alive's without pants or bottles in somebody else's toy box trump one fully operational baby alive with accessories at home!).

THE NOT BAD, BUT NOT THE GREATEST
The room itself seemed fine overall - I noticed mildew in the bathroom shower area and LOTS of bugs in the ceiling light fixtures (I am not squeamish, but happened to look up at the bathroom lights and noticed a LOT of little bug corpses in the light fixtures - not 3 or 4 dead bugs - LOTS!). OKW just seemed "buggier" than VWL - I'm assuming that has to do with the room opening to the great outdoors and not an interior hallway and the fact that it was July and not January. The shower had a continual parade of drowned bugs - I picked a couple out every night.

Really, I did not notice any maintenance issues. The room seemed about the same in terms of housekeeping as our VWL rooms did in Jan 2006 and Jan 2007 (I'm not a big fan of the DVC mousekeeping I've seen so far - it seems that too much gets neglected - yes, I AM picky, but I paid a lot of money and feel that I have a right to a squeaky clean room. It irks me that DVC seems to have inferior cleaning standards when compared to comparable HOTEL rooms on Disney property.) Anway, OKW mousekeeping seemed to be the same as VWL.

We found the food choices at OKW to be kind of limited. We did not care for Olivia's on the night we ate there - service was slow and nobody really enjoyed the food. We had the dining plan, but skipped dessert that night because dinner just seemed so off. We had plans to eat there another night, but cancelled. Good's Food to Go was fine for the burgers we had.

I was bummed that the gift shop did not have any OKW postcards! My Dad is big on postcards, so I was all set to send him an OKW postcard on our first day - but they didn't have any! I asked - twice!

Anyway, we had a good trip. Everybody liked OKW well enough, but we can't wait to return "home" to VWL in 2008!

 

[disgirl]

Thanks for posting. I am glad you had a good trip. I am trying to get DH and DS to try OKW and we almost did one Feb. but we had to cancel that trip all together. Since we usually go in the hot summer, they always opt for SAB at the BCV, if we can get it. So far so good. Maybe some day.

I know what you mean about the dead bugs. I do think hotels that have doors to rooms that lead directly outside are more prone to that, of course (like you said). None the less, that always bothers me when I see them in my room, too!

Sorry they did not have an OKW postcard for you to send your dad.
Well, thanks again for sharing!!

 

[MrsNick]

I agree w/ you about the DVC mousekeeping. Not only does it seem not as thorough as Disney hotel mousekeeping, but also not as thorough (from what I've read on these boards) as other timeshares like Marriott.

I totally "get" that since we don't get daily mousekeeping like the hotels that things might show a little more wear and tear, but this is an area where I think DVC should be competing with other timeshares like Marriott. I do feel there is room for improvement.

 

[MickeyCrazed]

Mousekeeping is my only disappointment with DVC.
I wish they would open their eyes to this issue and address it.
I know I am going to be in the minority with this comment, but I would actually welcome a small dues increase to correct this ongoing problem.

 

[Robo-Daddy 3000]

Now the boat to Downtown Disney was another story - one trip was plenty for us!

Thanks for posting your report. We are going to OKW for the first time at the end of August and we are really looking forward to it. I planned on taking the boat to DTD a couple of times while we are there. We've got ADR's for Raniforest and for Fulton's plus we were going to La Nouba on a different night. So, I guess that I'm trying to figure out what was so bad about the boat ride? Thanks.

 

[drakethib]

Mousekeeping is my only disappointment with DVC.
I wish they would open their eyes to this issue and address it.
I know I am going to be in the minority with this comment, but I would actually welcome a small dues increase to correct this ongoing problem.

I would pay a little more on dues to have Mousekeeping everyday.

 

[eyeheartgoofy]

Thanks for posting your report. We are going to OKW for the first time at the end of August and we are really looking forward to it. I planned on taking the boat to DTD a couple of times while we are there. We've got ADR's for Raniforest and for Fulton's plus we were going to La Nouba on a different night. So, I guess that I'm trying to figure out what was so bad about the boat ride? Thanks.

It just took a long time (45-50 minutes). I think the schedule says the boat runs every 30 minutes before 4:00pm and every 15 minutes after 4:00pm. Well, we must have hit it wrong, b/c we waited at the boat dock for 20 minutes before a boat came (around 5:00pm or so) and the boat stopped at Saratoga Springs before continuing on to Downtown Disney. Twice, the boat had to reverse positions and idle while waiting for another boat to pass down the channel. Also, the boat ride was very hot (vs. air conditioned bus).

By all means, allow yourself ample time and try the boat. The boat was neat for us to try once, but we drove ourselves to DTD on the morning of our last day and it took about 4 minutes (but I think the parking situation could get pretty hairy there in the evening).

I was expecting OKW to be very convenient to DTD - I thought it would be the kind of situation where we could just pop on a boat and be there in 15 minutes (my Passporter says it takes 15 minutes to reach DTD by boat from OKW - maybe on a perfect voyage?). We did not take the bus to DTD, so I can't comment on that.

 

[Pamjr]

Thanks for posting your report. We are going to OKW for the first time at the end of August and we are really looking forward to it.

Hey RoboDaddy: We are going to OKW the week of August 26, what week will you be there?

I was surprised to hear about the boat too. I had heard that was the way to go to DTD and we have 2 DDP reservations there.

 

[eyeheartgoofy]

I was surprised to hear about the boat too. I had heard that was the way to go to DTD and we have 2 DDP reservations there.

I wouldn't get too worried - my experience was one boat ride. We had one bus trip home from MK to OKW that took an hour, but that was definately NOT the norm.

Still, the commute time to DTD was surprising. I really had visions of us popping over to DTD for quick trips here and there. Maybe I just have bad luck with DTD trips - it took me 1hr and 20 minutes to get back to the WL from DTD one trip! The bus stopped for 25 minutes to change drivers after it left the Marketplace!!!!!

 

[Buckalew11]

I think bus service to and from DTD is always an issue. Either that, or I have extremely bad luck with it from every resort I have ever stayed at.

OP, glad OKW was nice for you all. We stayed there in Jan. (first trip home) and it was great. We loved it.

 

[Robo-Daddy 3000]

Hey RoboDaddy: We are going to OKW the week of August 26, what week will you be there?

I was surprised to hear about the boat too. I had heard that was the way to go to DTD and we have 2 DDP reservations there.

Yep, we'll be there then too! Arriving on the 26th and staying for 5 nights. I thought the boat would be a fun way to get to DTD but now maybe not.

 

[Pamjr]

This is very cool. We should get DisBoards tshirts so we can find each other.

I'm taking the boat to DTD. If it's a pain, I'll chalk it up to that one experience.

I've had a few things go wrong on trips to WDW but I always think how many people go through that place and use the transportation and how many actually have a bad experience. In all the time I've been going (I remember when there was only a MK!) I've only had one very bad bus experience (last year) and the other uncomfortable ones were because I stayed out until my feet couldn't walk anymore and I was grumpy until the bus came.

Have a great time!

Pam

 

[byoung]

Thanks for reporting. We have always had good meals at Olivia's, sorry to here your wasn't good.

 

[fkj2]

It just took a long time (45-50 minutes). I think the schedule says the boat runs every 30 minutes before 4:00pm and every 15 minutes after 4:00pm. Well, we must have hit it wrong, b/c we waited at the boat dock for 20 minutes before a boat came (around 5:00pm or so) and the boat stopped at Saratoga Springs before continuing on to Downtown Disney.

It's a long wait if the boat has just left the dock. OKW and SSR share the boat, and it stops at SSR each way, I think. By the time you factor in how long it's docked at SSR going back, OKW, and SSR coming back to DTD, plus the travel time itself, 45 minutes seems about right. After 4 pm, it should have been quicker unless you somehow fell into that switchover period.

I'm one who finds the boat ride very relaxing. And it may seem taking the bus is faster, but when you consider taking it from the Marketplace to its stop at Pleasure Island, and from that stop to Typhoon Lagoon before it returns to OKW, it isn't all that fast either.