OKW Lovers Thread. Part 2

[Chuck S]

Mugs can also be refilled at the Turtle Shack at the Turtle Pond community pool, but hours are limited.

 

[Karabear15]

Awesome! That is very helpful, thanks!

 

[GLovesDisney]

Hello everyone. We are planning our first extended family trip, as well as our first stay at OKW, for this summer. Thank you so much for all the great info on this thread! It's been truly helpful.
Here is my question. We have a 2 bedroom near HH and a regular 1 bedroom booked for the week. Any advice on getting rooms close together? I understand that we won't get both rooms in the HH area. Should we try requesting both rooms in the 60s? Being near HH would be nice, but being close to each other would be even better. (Just a side note: the original reservations were made at two different times by two different people which is how we ended up with different room categories).

 

[ahalper0227]

Hi everyone! My wife and I are looking to book a weekend trip to Old Key West studio. I have stayed at many of the DVC resorts (AKL our home, BW, BC, Bay Lake, WL, SS, HHI), but have never even been to the OKW property. Can you please let me know what to expect? Any tips? Thanks in advance!

 

[OKW Lover]

Staying on OKW property is little different from the others. Once exception is that you can park your car very convenient to your unit.

 

[mgdisney]

Hello! I will be staying in a 2-bedroom villa in May and was hoping someone might be able to tell me if there are DVD players in the rooms at all?

 

[OKW Lover]

Yes, all the OKW units have DVD players

 

[mgdisney]

Yes, all the OKW units have DVD players

Thank you so much!

 

[kenny]

Which non hospitality house buildings have nice views of golf course or water. Have 1bedroom

Thx

 

[OKW Lover]

Just about all the units have nice views of the course and/or water.

 

[Lee Matthews]

Silly Question Alert....

I have never done online check in before and its available to me in 60 days for OKW but if i go and do that, is that when i can put room requests or is it purely to bypass check in when i get to the resort?

 

[BobNed]

Silly Question Alert....

I have never done online check in before and its available to me in 60 days for OKW but if i go and do that, is that when i can put room requests or is it purely to bypass check in when i get to the resort?

You can put in requests during online check-in, but you shouldn't. The online check-in system was designed for the regular hotels, not DVC. You would be better served by adding your requests through Member Services. Then during online check-in just skip the request part. If you are renting points the person you rented from has to make the requests.

 

[Lee Matthews]

Im just paying OOP for my room, not DVC points or anything else

 

[BobNed]

Im just paying OOP for my room, not DVC points or anything else

Then you get stuck between a rock and another rock . You can use online check-in, but be careful what you request. It will present you with some conflicting options. For example on request is "near Hospitality House" and another is "Canal View". There is no view of the canal from anywhere in the Hospitality House area. Keep your requests general, and request the area you prefer, like Miller's Road, Turtle Pond, etc. You are always close to a bus stop at OKW and there are community pools at each area.

 

[maples189]

Do any of the studios have a king bed instead of two queens?

 

[OKW Lover]

No. Studios at OKW all have two queens

 

[Deb & Bill]

Do any of the studios have a king bed instead of two queens?

Only one, two and three bedroom villas have king bed in the master bedroom.

 

[jbish]

Have tried to look through some posts for some guidance on building requests, but figured I would just ask. Staying on points, not HH area. 1 BR. Here are my thoughts going into a building request:

• Three kids who would probably want to swim at some point (though I would prefer to be in the parks as much as possible!).
• I think I'd prefer to be at the end of the bus route, rather than the start of it so that we don't have to ride through the entire resort (but if the buses get filled up, maybe we'd prefer to be one of the first ones on?), so thinking Miller's Road would be best
• Buildings 15/16 - walkable to the HH pool? Is that more fun for the kids than the Miller's Road pool?
• If we go with the start of the bus route, Buildings 27, 28, 29 - is that walkable to the HH pool?
• Don't need an elevator building, so I won't request those
• Should we consider another area instead of Miller's Road? Turtle Pond?

This is our first time staying at OKW so any insight would be greatly appreciated!

 

[KyGirl]

We just found out that our purchased points reservation for January of 2017 came through! We used one of the "middle man" companies (I didn't know if I was allowed to mention them) and we've been waiting for them to have a points owner with available points for us to purchase. Anyway, it unexpectedly worked out last night and now we're all booked and very excited!

So of course I have a question immediately and I thought the experts on this post would be an even better resource than the company we used.

We got a 2 bedroom villa. My understanding was that "near the hospitality house" was a special booking category and somewhat difficult to obtain. This is not a priority for us. We will have a car that we plan to drive to the parks (my husband has hate/hate relationship with Disney busses!), we plan to stock up and not be relying on the limited food service available, and probably won't even be swimming too much as it will be late January. What is desirable for us is a nice view off the balcony, parking near our room, and hopefully quiet (I read that some of the buildings have a lot of road noise?). I was going to request "water view" or whatever it is when I did online check in at 60 days out.

So, lo and behold when I entered our confirmation number into my MDE account it popped up "Room type: 2 Bedroom Villa-Near Hospitality House". At first I was afraid this might keep us from getting the things that matter more to us personally but then I thought well, if that's what everybody else wants then maybe there's something to it! Also, because of the somewhat complicated process of making any changes (through the middle man and then through the owner) should I just leave this alone? We stayed at OKW once before and were in building 32 on Old Turtle Pond Road and we loved that location. The view was great and being in the interior of the resort, there was lots of peace and quiet. I had planned to cross my fingers and hope for something similar, which of course wouldn't happen if we're truly "near the Hospitality House". And maybe that's better anyway and we just don't know what we're missing! We really didn't spend any time exploring the resort last time because we were so insulated in our location so maybe we missed out on things we would have enjoyed.

Obviously I am an overthinker and long winded so if you're still reading, any advice? Should I just let this ride and feel lucky that we got something that others "try" for and don't always get or should I go to the trouble of changing it and risk backing up to Bonnet Creek Parkway or something like that? I've already flip flopped twenty times in the last hour. Thanks in advance for any help!

 

[Deb & Bill]

Have tried to look through some posts for some guidance on building requests, but figured I would just ask. Staying on points, not HH area. 1 BR. Here are my thoughts going into a building request:

• Three kids who would probably want to swim at some point (though I would prefer to be in the parks as much as possible!).
• I think I'd prefer to be at the end of the bus route, rather than the start of it so that we don't have to ride through the entire resort (but if the buses get filled up, maybe we'd prefer to be one of the first ones on?), so thinking Miller's Road would be best
• Buildings 15/16 - walkable to the HH pool? Is that more fun for the kids than the Miller's Road pool?
• If we go with the start of the bus route, Buildings 27, 28, 29 - is that walkable to the HH pool?
• Don't need an elevator building, so I won't request those
• Should we consider another area instead of Miller's Road? Turtle Pond?

This is our first time staying at OKW so any insight would be greatly appreciated!

It sounds like you have some good choices. All those buildings you listed are easily walkable to the main pool. 15 and 16 are also not too far from the Millers Road pool.