Hello, this is my first post and I have a couple of questions regarding our resort, OKW. We are staying at a two-bedroom villa from 20th June to 3rd July. Via our travel agent, we have already requested a dedicated two-bedroom villa (i.e. without a kitchenette).
The first question is regarding building/unit selection. The Unofficial Guide has been very useful regarding the buildings to avoid because of noise (essentially Bonnet Creek Pkwy & Buena Vista Dr units) and I’ve read somewhere that Block 64 does not have a car park. So if I exclude these, I am interested in your specific recommendations with respect to the optimal room with the following constrains in order of priority; a dedicated two-bedroom, a beautiful view (river or lake/golf course), a reasonable position on the bus route (does anyone know the actual route order taken – e.g. Miller Road, Old Turtle Rd, South Point Rd etc?). My hunch is 45-48 and 53-56. If you have stayed in any of these buildings, did you tend to use the quiet pool between 55 and 56 or the larger one at the community hall?
My second question(s) relates to car rental and Disney Transportation. I’ve read mixed reviews regarding Magical Express. We are considering not renting a car initially and then picking it up at the Alamo Car Rental at Car Care Drive some days into the holiday. How was your Magical Express experience from Orlando Airport – where does OKW feature on the route, did your luggage arrive in good time? Did you have a good experience with the courtesy shuttle to Car Care Drive? For park visits, did you find it frustrating at OKW without a car (we don’t have the problem of young kids on this visit and we’ve always had a car from the get go)? We’re off to Universal for our last three days – has anyone dropped off his or her rental car at Four Point Sheraton by Universal and been able to either walk easily to The Portofino Bay or get a cab without difficulty?
I have never stayed at OKW, so I cannot give you specific building recommendations. The thing to bear in mind when making room requests is that you can be better off making general requests that give the Room Assigner a good idea of what is important to you rather than specifying certain buildings - that way they can choose the best room for you based on what is available at the time. Therefore, I would go with your request as you have stated it in terms of your priorities.
Re car rental, I would consider renting a car at the airport for your entire stay for the following reasons. First, renting at the airport can be considerably cheaper than picking up at one of the car care centers - if you check www.carrentalsavers.com regularly and rebook when you see a better rate you can get a great deal. Second, as you are staying at a Villa you have a full kitchen to take advantage of, so a car will allow you to stop at a grocery store along the way to pick up supplies. Third, airport pickup/drop off is very convenient; no worrying about how to get to the car care center to your resort and vice versa.
We stayed in a 2 bedroom in building 45 and it was lovely overlooking the waterways. We watched the ferry boats to DTD all the time and it was peaceful… We had a car so we didn’t use buses and I don’t remember where the bus stop was in relation to that building.
I have mixed thoughts about renting a car at the airport vs renting from the place near the MK. I personally would send everyone on MDE except a car driver who could take the majority of the luggage in the car. People ride MDE with carry ons and then you have space for stuff in the car so you can rent a smaller car for less money if that is an issue?
We used the main pool area, always drove and parked nearby. It is just more fun to have all of the recreation we like to do in one place, so we go there.
brklinck - regarding car rental. Through my U.K. agent before I travel, I have the option of picking up the car at the airport or on resort - there is no negative cost impact. In fact, I will save two or three days rental if I choose the later pick-up option. With respect to the back end of the trip, my choices are to drop off at The Sheraton and walk/taxi to The Portifino and then grab a taxi to the airport upon departure (so no drop-off delay at the airport) or keep it for three worthless days at Universal with the commensurate parking fee but I save on the airport taxi run. I don’t know how much a taxi from Portifino is to the airport but will research. So, there’s a bit of cost/benefit analysis here and opinions are welcome on the shuttle to Car Care Drive and the hassle from Sheraton to Portifino. Good advice on keeping the room request more general.
alitig1 -Was your 2 bed a dedicated one, i.e. no kitchenette but a second vanity unit in the section between the bedroom and bathroom and two entry points? I can’t seem to find anything on where dedicated two bedrooms are located versus those ones with kitchenettes. A very good point regarding main pool versus quiet pool.
Something else worth mentioning is that only buildings 62/63/64 at OKW have elevators. This may not be too much of a concern for you, but we did not want to be dragging suitcases and grocery shopping etc up stairs, so our major room request was therefore to be on the ground floor.
Well, the one we stayed in had a large kitchen area in the center, a bedroom behind the kitchen and a bedroom down the hallway from the living room. I have stayed in the 2 bedroom lockoffs(with a 1 bedroom and a studio with kitchenette) at SSR and Beachclub before.
There were 2 entries into the master bathroom, 1 when you are in the bedroom and 1 through the hallway with the laundry area. There is a doorway to the balcony from the master bedroom.
There was a door between the other bedroom and the bathroom, so you really don’t have to go through nay bedrooms to use the bathrooms.
I’m really late to this conversation, but I thought I would try to help since your vacation hasn’t happened yet and I have been researching this resort for my own stay in October. Here is the bus stop order: What is the order of bus stops at Old Key West?
All buses except those bound for Downtown Disney follow this route:
Peninsular Road
Old Turtle Pond Road
South Point
Miller’s Road
Hospitality House
Downtown Disney buses make an additional stop at the Hospitality House upon entry at the resort, and then proceed to Peninsular Road. The Downtown Disney buses are often referred to as “Internal” buses as they provide a means for guests to get from the Hospitality House (during that initial visit) to any other bus stop at the resort.
Old Key West Transportation
Bus: Stops are located in the following locations:
In front of Hospitality House
Millers Rd. across from building 19
Peninsular Rd. by building 27
Old Turtle Pond Rd. in front of building 33
South Point Road between buildings 52 & 53
What are Old Key buses like during FW in October? Do they tend to be really crowded? We’re flying in and using ME. I’m considering a room on Peninsular just so it’s the first stop. Right now, I have a split stay at OKW for arrival night and the rest is at AK-Kidani, but I’m considering waitlisting the whole stay at OKW. I LOVED the buses at Kidani! They have monitors at the bus stop that let you know when each park bus will arrive and we were the first stop, with the other at Jambo. Two stops versus five! Decisions…decisions.
Thank you for your help Deeis4Disney - I have requested an upper floor in the Peninsular Road area and have been cheeky and asked for blocks 27-29 or 45-47 although I believe that they don’t take specific block requests but nothing ventured, nothing gained…