We currently are booked at SSR studio for 4 nights in August. Come January 2, I want to try to get a room at OKW instead to try it out. But I was wondering about rooms. I noticed that the point values for the rooms close to Hospitality House are the same as those which aren’t. My immediate thought is that I would prefer to be close to HH.
For those who have stayed, what are your thoughts about room locations there?
OKW is strange in that the points chart is one of the simplest. Room size and week of the year are the only factors. No views, no locations. Even near Hospitality House is the same points value. The only real question is if you are driving or if you are using the buses? Do you want to be closer to the bus stops or in a quieter area?
Almost none of the buildings have elevators. Only buildings 62-64, southwest of the main entrance, have them. The rest of the buildings were built before ADA standards made elevators mandatory.
Near HH may be harder to get. Also, be aware that -IIRC - that’s where the most handicap accessible buildings and rooms are.
Personally I think I enjoyed our Miller’s Road location best so far, with Turtle Pond a close second. Millers Road was a short walk to HH and was quiet with a very quiet neighborhood pool. Turtle Pond was also quiet and their pool has a snack shack, but it’s a much longer walk to HH
I did not like Southpoint (?) because I could see and hear Buena Vista Blvd when on my lanai (I think that’s the street - but regardless I found it was a lot of road noise over that way). Plus it was furthest from HH requiring a car, really, or to hop the bus to get there easily.
Always this.
We needed elevators when we were reserved at OKW and got bldg 64, but ground floor.
Would stay in that building again but one could hear every bus as it turned into the resort tho that sort of thing doesn’t bother me. The bus ride round the resort was annoying to my niece cuz of its length and roundabouts.
I identified bldg 23 as a possible for a future request if staying there again. Kind of between two stops. When leaving the resort use one stop and the other on return to avoid the long bus ride through the resort.
And still close to HH.
We won’t have a car, so being close to buses is best…and since we will want to take the boat to DS a couple times probably, I think close to HH makes sense.
I also think buildings 63 or 62 would be nice locations.
We loved it there! And the walk was less than 15 minutes.
If you’re wanting a studio this won’t affect your choice, but if you want a 1-bed and will have people sleeping in the living room then you probably don’t want near Hospitality House.
The 1-beds near HH only have one entrance to the bathroom, which is through the master bedroom. Not ideal if you want privacy!
Buildings numbered 30 and over have a second door into the bathroom through the laundry room. You just have to remember to lock both doors, but that’s the same as at BCV and others.
The bathroom is a split one too, with bath in one part and shower in the other (with toilet off the shower part iirc).
We stayed in bldg 46 and it was peaceful, but I would not want to be there without a car. We did buses one day and the internal loop was mind numbingly time consuming.
I had requested closed to HH, but didn’t get it. We drove from our room to HH when we went there.
Absolutely! But it’s still much further than Miller’s Road
Okay, thanks for the feedback on this.
I think if the category of studio near HH is available I will book that. If not, I will try to request Miller’s pond closest to HH.
If I have to wait-list, that becomes trickier.
Waitlists for OKW are the best. We just stayed 2 weeks in blgd 19 (Miller) and it was GREAT; it was next to pool and bus stop & only a 5 min walk to the HH. There are several bus stops all over OKW so HH isn’t necessarily the best location b/c it’s the last stop on the bus route, w/ the exception of the DS bus. Turtle Pond & HH are the only two pool areas w/ soda refill stations for the bottomless cups.
While there, the Miller pool/laundry was closed due to septic tank issues, and they posted lifeguards w/ golf carts to take guests to any other pool area they wanted. They took us to do laundry and then gave us their phone number to call them when it was finished and return us to our room.
ETA: bus routes for all parks: 1st stop is Peninsula Rd, South Point, Turtle Pond, Miller Rd, HH. The DS bus stops at HH first and then follows the rest of the established cycle.
Makes sense, since most people will be at HH to take the boats to DS. If the boats need to stop for any reason, they need to ensure empty buses at HH!
(Back in 2023, while we took a boat from DS to POR, they stopped running the boats, so we had to go to the bus stop along with HUNDREDS of others. We waited almost 2 hours because nearly every bus that came was already completely full. After an hour and a half, they finally sent a few empty buses. It was ridiculous.
Uber or Lyft, my friend. Never wait 2 hrs for anything
We had no idea it would happen. Plus there was 8 of us.
When we had 63 I liked the location.
Since y’all can walk, if you’re in 62 or 63, upon returning to the resort, get off at the stop on the main road after HH and walk back to your bdlg.
When we were in 63 DH was getting close to knee replacing.
Another thougt - I would save OKW until you want something other than a studio. Or at least until after the refurbishment. The studios are not the stars at OKW, and with that point chart it is worth waiting until you want or need more space.
I was super unimpressed with my near HH studio and resented having to lug my suitcases up to the foueth floor to stay in a akwardly shapped room with no decor and windows that either overlooked a road or the beeezeway.
Interesting. There are two main reasons. The first is that OKW has the largest studios on Disney property. (We usually stay in 1-bedrooms.) The second is that it is 3 pts less per night than SSR, so it saves points.
I would see what other people say, but I think the magic of OKW is with the bigger villas.
This. 
This is fact but they are very oddly laid out.