My wife and I were watching a vlogger who has been going through each of the Deluxe resorts at WDW and providing honest reviews. We watched the one for OKW and then SSR as a comparison (since we are familiar with SSR).
Anyhow, in her review, she had a studio room at OKW, and she HATED the room. She called it dark, dated, ugly carpeting, etc. And some of her complaints are legitimate, although we are aware they are due to start refurbishments any time now, so I’m sure many of her complaints will be dealt with.
But there was one thing that actually shocked me…and that was the fact that her room balcony/patio had the A/C units literally right there, plus some power-related units. They were not only unsightly, but the noise was horrible. Which has made me wonder if she just really had bad luck (twice, since she asked to be moved, and the second room she was moved to had the same issue). Is there any chance, upon arrival, if we find ourselves next to A/C units like that we could request to be moved to a room which is quieter?
Of course, maybe it won’t be an issue. With August temperatures, the chances we would be sitting outside on that balcony area is slim to none, so would it then even be an issue? Perhaps not.
To be fair, we chose OKW to give it a try, but also because it was the most efficient use of our points for what is meant to be a very short, budget-minded trip. So, we knew that the rooms are not yet updated going in. But the sound of those A/C units, at least in her video, was significant.
don’t agree, the rooms are bright and cheerful…. bright because the dumb blinds don’t block all the light
I think this depends on the location of your balcony/patio. Upper levels won’t be near any units on the ground, but we used our patio (ground level) all the time w/o issue. There was more bus noise b/c we were across the street from a bus stop. And another time we had to listen to unparented children screaming in the ‘quiet’ pool next to our patio
Her first room was bottom floor, and she complained about it being dark. (Hard to tell, since modern cameras do too good of job compensating for low-light conditions.) But her second room was on the second floor, and she did say it was significantly brighter.
I do absolutely agree with her that the rooms are dated…but again, not really something we care about, since we already knew what the rooms looked like, and also are aware that once they are refurbished, I fully expect them to be on par with the rooms at SSR.
None of her comments about the room itself concerned us, really, since we were aware of it. Saving 3 pts/night is worth having those issues. (Although, my wife appreciated being reminded that when we come back to the room there will be no comfortable place to sit, really, since there is no sofa! Again, I fully expect the refurbishment will address this.) It was just the noise and ugliness of the A/C units!
My sister and 5 other family members were staying in a FtW cabin in 2006 I think it was. We’d read they were dark. And they were. But there were other pluses. Also we brought Christmas decorations cuz it was December. Brightened things up considerably.
(The FtW bit is largely irrelevant tho some mini lights can brighten any place)
Yes. She did. She just didn’t really like the rooms.
To be clear, this was a series on DELUXE resorts, so her criticisms were based on what you would expect from a resort called DELUXE. I didn’t think anything she had to say was at all out of line or wrong. And when you compare the rooms at OKW to the other Deluxe resorts, she is right.
We’ll be there to judge for ourselves in a couple weeks, but just based on pictures and vlogs ahead of time, I don’t think she was wrong in anything she experienced. It is just is, we knew when we booked OKW that this was the case. We just wanted to give the resort a try while saving 3 pts/night!
I’ll be interested to see what they do with the refurb, especially with the studios.
Some people love the fact there re two real beds in the OKW studios. Will they replace ne with a Murphy bed? I’m not sure they will, to be honest. I’m sure I remember reading confirmation from the 2025 Condo Association meeting that they won’t be adding Murphy beds to the villas, so I’m not sure they will add them to the studios. I definitely expect they’ll replace the sleeper chairs in the villas with a pull down, as they have done at BLT and Kidani.
I don’t think they CAN add murphy beds to the one-bedrooms, so that may be what is driving that conversation. But they absolutely can (and IMO should) do so in the studios. There really is no reason not too.
Except that they don’t actually need to. The OKW studios have been unique in that regard, and many people like them. I wonder if they’ve asked OKW owners; are there any here who can tell us?
But agreed on the villas. I’ve always said they can’t, because adding them where the sleeper chair is now would block the exit (without going round and through the kitchen) and therefore would probably violate a fire safety code.
