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Author
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jhare
Waiting to pass ROFR
Registered: September 2008
Location: Palm Bay, FL
Posts: 2
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Review Date: Sat September 20, 2008
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Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Price you paid?: None indicated
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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So much space - Room 2730
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Cons:
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3rd Floor, no elevator - Room 2730
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We were upgraded to this room due to some bedding issues in a studio.
This room has very firm mattress. The management had delivered 2 egg crates per person and we were all were very comfortable after that.
The third floor climb isn’t for everyone but we didn’t mind it. It did make it a bit tough with large luggage which we had. There are no elevators in this bldg.
Close to bus stop.
Front view is the Hospitality House and pool. The back view (porch) has a limited golf course view due to some tree obstruction. There is a fountain in the lake that you can hear a little but can’t see due to the trees. The porch is a good size with a table and 4 chairs.
The room was very clean and had everything we needed including a Jacuzzi.
This was he first time we stayed in a 2-bedroom. We usually stay in a studio and cram our 2 teenagers in there with us but this definitely is a first class way to vacation.
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vbradl1
Waiting to pass ROFR
Registered: August 2007
Location: Dallas, TX
Posts: 3
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Review Date: Mon September 22, 2008
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Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Price you paid?: None indicated
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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scenery, extra large rooms, relaxing nature of resort
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Cons:
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bus transportation- you NEED a car
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We stayed here for a quick 3 day 2 night trip 08/08/08-08/10/08. The place is absolutely gorgeous. The atmosphere is peaceful and relaxing. The landscaping is unbelievably lush and tropical. There were 8 in our group and we all fit here comfortably- which was surprising. In fact, we chose to stay here because of how much larger the rooms were here to the other resorts. With 8 people, an extra 200 sq. ft helps tremendously! We never felt like we were on top of each other or cramped. Our room was not a refurbished one like we requested. But every other request was met- bottom floor, water view, near hospitality house. We were close to a bus stop, but only used the bus once. That's the only negative- we caught the bus for Epcot at 15 minutes til park opening, and arrived about 20 minutes after opening. We were the 1st stop and then it hit all of the internal stops. We had a car and from then on used it. 35 minutes to go 5 minutes down the street to Epcot is a little crazy, but I was forewarned so it's my own fault. The fountain outside our balcony was so beautiful in the morning while I drank my coffee and was gorgeous at night when it was lit up. The balcony at Beach Club and actually all of the other DVC resorts is tiny. Here we had a table and 4 chairs and lots of room to relax and eat outside with the squirrels. We were in building 23. The only problem with the room was that the shower in the king bedroom did not fully close... however, that should be fixed once the room gets its scheduled refurbishment. It is a little farther than the resorts connected to a Deluxe resort, but here you drive up to your own villa and feel truly like you are coming home after a day in the parks. We all LOVED our stay here and would come back in a heartbeat!
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kathleena
One Bedroom
Registered: September 2005
Location: Cape Elizabeth, Maine
Posts: 279
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Review Date: Sun October 12, 2008
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Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Price you paid?: None indicated
| Rating: 8
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Pros:
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Large units, great views of ponds, golf, river
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Cons:
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Grand Villas overhead (see comments)
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I have stayed twice in a 2br at OKW, once on the river and once on the golf course. They are very nice and spacious and have a huge deck and a great sized dining table.
The second time, were were under a Grand Villa. They have hardwood floors. We heard running feet and scraping chairs all week long especially in the 2nd bedroom.
If you stay at OKW, get a 1 or 2 bedroom (see my note under studios....). And ask for 2nd or 3rd floor.
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Nancy in Maine
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Suflay
Grand Villa
Registered: September 2006
Location: Florida Panhandle
Posts: 1268
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Review Date: Thu November 20, 2008
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Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Price you paid?: None indicated
| Rating: 9
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Pros:
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Lots of space, convenient parking, quiet surroundings
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Cons:
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Distance to bus stops and HH if you get a building far from either of those
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I've stayed at the Value, Moderate and even Deluxe resorts before - what a difference staying at OKW. We were 4 families with a total of 6 people in a 2-bedroom villa (room 3622). Everyone had plenty of room and privacy as the bedrooms are separated by the living area and a hallway that includes the laundry room. My niece and her 9-year-old daughter chose to sleep on the sofa bed rather than having my sister and my other niece share a queen size bed. We had to request a foam pad for the sofa bed as the mattress was rather thin, and mousekeeping brought 2 foam pads which worked out well. The only bad part was that the sofa bed was right under the a/c vent and since I cranked the air down for sleeping, they were cold at night until we put some tape over the vent to partially block the airflow. Yes, we did remember to remove the tape before we left. Speaking of a/c, the unit was very quiet and did a good job of keeping the whole villa nice and cool.
We did hear footsteps in the 3rd floor villa above us late at night, but it wasn't too loud and didn't last long. We never heard any voices of guests next to us or above us. We had a nice view off the patio, to the right we could see other buildings and balconies through the lush landscaping and to the left was the nicely manicured green of a golf course and a pretty fountain in the water. The only distraction was a large metal overflow unit at the water's edge. We saw lots of white ibis birds every morning and some people were throwing bread crumbs to them, causing masses of them to run back and forth. We also saw an otter one morning, gallumping across the golf course and into the water where he disappeared. Oh yes, one morning a guy in an adjacent unit walked out onto his balcony in the nude to watch the birds! He was only out there a moment so we didn't call the front desk to have him reminded that his nude appearance was not welcomed first thing in the morning. :-)
We really enjoyed having all the room and lots of closet space to utilize, as well as the full size washer and dryer. We couldn't figure out how to turn off the timer on the dryer and it buzzed loudly several times before we gave up just left the dryer door open.
The master bath was HUGE with a large jacuzzi tub, a sink and commode in one room, and another commode, a large shower and another sink in a separate room. There was a large stained area on the tile floor around the sink, but other than that everything was spotless and well maintained.
We were right around the corner from the Turtle Pond bus stop and we were the third stop on the bus circuit. That was much better than boarding the bus at HH and having to stand in a full bus. The only time we used our car was one morning when we drove to AKL for breakfast at Boma. The rest of the time we used the bus service which was quite efficient.
I have a bad hip and had contemplated requesting a building with an elevator (bldgs 62-63-64), but the Turtle Pond area worked out fine for us. I was able to handle stairs to the second floor with no problem.
We love OKW Resort and even though we just bought into DVC with AKL as our home resort, I plan to buy points at OKW so I can pool them with my sister's points the next time we have a family vacation at WDW. You can't beat the spaciousness of OKW Resort for a group gathering.
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[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
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Suflay
Grand Villa
Registered: September 2006
Location: Florida Panhandle
Posts: 1268
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Review Date: Thu November 20, 2008
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Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Price you paid?: None indicated
| Rating: 0
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Pros:
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Movies by the pool, view of shuttle launch
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Cons:
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I forgot to mention a couple things in my previous review of our 2-bedroom villa, #3266. The dates of our visit were November 8-15, 2008.
In the evenings the CMs set up a large inflatable movie screen by the swimming pool and showed Disney movies. We watched Ratatouille one night, alternating between lounge chairs and jumping into the pool where the view was just fine. They can't set up the screen if the wind is blowing, but they had the movies set up every calm night, which the kids really enjoyed.
There was a shuttle launch scheduled for 7:55pm one night and the CMs told us we should be able to see it from the bridge over the swimming pool. We all gathered there about 7:45 and looked toward the east. Unfortunately, we had to shade our eyes from the bright lights around the pool as we were looking almost directly into them. At 7:55 we could see the lower clouds get really bright and we knew the shuttle was launching from Cape Canaveral, about an hour's drive from WDW. It was a cloudy night so we only got to see the shuttle for a couple seconds before it went into the cloud cover, but it was an exciting moment for everyone. I'm sure the folks on the higher floors at other resorts had a really good view of the launch.
Our 9-year-old niece loved the pool and went swimming almost every evening. She especially enjoyed the castle slide which twisted around inside and spit you out with a stream of water. She's a little cautious in the swimming pool but finally worked up the courage to try the slide and after that we couldn't get her away from it.
We ate dinner at Olivia's one night and it was quite good although pricey. The service at Goods to Go by the pool was a little slow but the burgers, fries and chicken strips were made to order and really tasty.
We will definitely come back for another stay at OKW.
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[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
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cleocat30
Studio
Registered: August 2007
Posts: 158
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Review Date: Thu November 27, 2008
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Would you recommend the product? No |
Price you paid?: None indicated
| Rating: 3
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Pros:
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Room sizes, room layout, new/full sized appliances, room was refurbed recently so everything is new, attractive grounds
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Cons:
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No sound proofing between floors--can hear everything, toilet seats don't stay up (men not happy), had to call for trash/towel service, buses not regular, had to practically beg for bell services to check our luggage, carpet filthy (socks turning black)
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Our home resort is BCV, but we stayed here due to the low points. I don't think I'd stay here again unless absolutely necessary. We didn't get to use the pool due to chilly temps.
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5crazymice
Waiting to pass ROFR
Registered: April 2007
Posts: 9
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Review Date: Wed January 14, 2009
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Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Price you paid?: None indicated
| Rating: 7
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Pros:
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Spacious Rooms. Very Family Friendly.
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Cons:
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Transportation to Parks
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We just got back from OKW on 1/11/09. We stayed in a 2 bedroom villa with a view of the golf course and had plenty of room (me, my husband, and 4 teenage boys ages 18, 16 and 13)! The resort could use some updates but it's not terribly dated. The pool area is really nice and the water slide is cool. The only complaint we had was transportation to the parks. Getting on a boat was close to impossible because the boats stop at Saratoga first and by the time it gets to OKW there are seats for only 4-6 people. You can wind up waiting over an hour to catch a boat to Downtown Disney. The buses run about every 15 minutes from the main lobby. But if you catch the bus at the main lobby you have to travel through the entire resort and return to the lobby before going to the parks. There is no way of knowing if you're going to take the resort tour until the bus starts its journey. The food is good for a quick bite but if you want something really good, DTD is the place to go.
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jrbdad
Add-on Aficionado
Registered: October 2008
Location: North Louisiana
Posts: 8286
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Review Date: Thu July 9, 2009
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Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Price you paid?: None indicated
| Rating: 6
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Pros:
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Low # of points needed, extended stay; lots of space; full-size W/D
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Cons:
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Old, needs updating, distance from parks; noise from other guests
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Said yes - but, it really depends. If you go into it with the knowledge that you are getting an older product, and you don't expect much to start with -- you won't be disappointed. We were in building 29, had GVs above us & they were pretty loud, didn't bother me -- but DW said it woke her during the night. Never tried the pool, looked small, never tried Olivia's -- looked nice though.
Don't know if we'd stay here again -- will probably help motivate us to plan our WDW vacations further out. I don't think it is that bad -- DW said she'd much rather be at SSR.
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John
 
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Hubbs
One Bedroom
Registered: February 2009
Location: North Attleboro, MA
Posts: 206
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Review Date: Sat July 25, 2009
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Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Price you paid?: None indicated
| Rating: 6
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Pros:
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new appliances, full size w/d, large rooms, large deck, large eating area
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Cons:
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showed some serious wear, stains on furniture, chipped paint and tiles
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Overall we enjoyed our stay at OKW, but still prefer SSR. We had a third floor in a building with no elevators. The unit was showing its age. However the appliances were new.
The small pool near our room was very nice except for the one night that a small group of 20 somethings were there loaded. They could barely stand up. They eventually left.
The bus service was good. Not usually a very long wait.
Would stay there again but would probably ask for the second floor.
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Hubbs
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minniekissedme
Add-on Aficionado
Registered: May 2008
Location: In my car with three kids.
Posts: 6680
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Review Date: Thu August 27, 2009
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Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Price you paid?: None indicated
| Rating: 9
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Pros:
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Point value, spacious room sizes, Olivia's, Gurgling Suitcase, pools, convenience to parks, transportation
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Cons:
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none really
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We have just completed our first stay at Old Key West on August 25, 2009 and were very pleased. We had an excellent room location in building 55, first floor. This building is in the South Point area, has a pool next door, and is a minute walk to the bus stop. South Point is the second bus stop in and three more stops to the Hospitality House. From this location it is approximately a 10 minute walk to the HH.
Bus service to all of the parks was very good. Animal Kingdom was about 13 minutes, Magic Kingdom 10, with Epcot and Hollywood Studios a short five to seven minutes.
The 2BR is quite large. Even with the pullout sofa open there is ample room to move in the living area. I personally really enjoyed the round dining table and chairs much more than the bench seat and rectangular table in other resorts.
The kitchen has plenty of counter space and the appliances are all updated.
The master bedroom is nicely furnished and has one iHome alarm clock. The master bath is very large with the tub and sink in one room, shower, toilet, and another sink in another room.
There is a separate laundry room that provides access into the toilet portion of the bath room area.
The second bedroom is huge with two queen beds, bath, and another sink area.
The patio is three times the size of any deck. Has a round table and chairs and a ceiling fan. In this particular room, our view was of the river...very nice for a quiet moment at home.
Pleasantly surprised with Olivia's...the Jerk Chicken Wings were awesome! The "boardwalk" area of OKW is nice with picnic benches right next to the pool. The Gurgling Suitcase is great for a quick beverage.
All in all, with point values so low, OKW is a bargain. While I want to stay at all of the resorts in the DVC collection, OKW will certainly see a return visit from us.
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:goofy:Are you MOD? aka MouseOwnersDad?? Click here to join!
:woohoodanMKM Maulers 2012-13 Champion of the MODly Men of the World Fantasy Football League:woohoodan
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swilson46
Waiting to pass ROFR
Registered: August 2009
Posts: 1
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Review Date: Tue September 8, 2009
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Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Price you paid?: None indicated
| Rating: 6
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Pros:
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Close to all parks and a very quiet resort
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Cons:
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room 3918 was less than clean, mold in rooms and very dirty carpets. Romm was missing several dishes and housekeeping did not seem to care. My son slept on the sofa bed and the matress was all springs. He complained of back pain .
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This resort needs alot of work. The years are really showing. We stayed in room 3918 and experienced mold in both bathrooms, dirty carpets, less than full kitchen with missing dishes etc... Matress on sofa bed had deadly springs that caused back problems everynight.
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dschwarzbauer
Grand Villa
Registered: December 2008
Location: Eagan, MN
Posts: 1357
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Review Date: Tue August 10, 2010
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Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Price you paid?: None indicated
| Rating: 9
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Pros:
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Pool, size of rooms, convenience, point cost
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Cons:
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tv's
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We stayed in unit 1244 for two days before we headed to Vero Beach. The room was lovely and very large. We were across the street from the hospitality house. We loved the huge pool but the tv's should be updated.
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dschwarzbauer
Grand Villa
Registered: December 2008
Location: Eagan, MN
Posts: 1357
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Review Date: Tue August 10, 2010
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Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Price you paid?: None indicated
| Rating: 9
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Pros:
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Pool, size of rooms, convenience, point cost
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Cons:
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tv's
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We stayed in unit 1244 for two days before we headed to Vero Beach. The room was lovely and very large. We were across the street from the hospitality house. We loved the huge pool but the tv's should be updated.
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Smltown96
Studio
Registered: January 2011
Location: Redding, CA
Posts: 122
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Review Date: Sat January 15, 2011
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Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Price you paid?: None indicated
| Rating: 9
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Pros:
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Room size
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Cons:
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Distance from main building
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We stayed in June 2010 and this was our first DVC experience. We did not stay as DVC members but as regular guests (had six people so needed the Villa or two rooms at other resorts). We were amazed at the size of the villa and loved every bit of it from the patio to the large kitchen to the huge master bath. My wife loved having the laundry in the room and was excited about going home and not having to do thousands of loads of laundry. It was a bit far to walk to the main building and the bus rides to the parks took some time but we are not regulars at WDW (we usually go to DL) so we didn't really have a problem with it. While it is an older resort, it goes along with the saying that its a "oldie but goodie".
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[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
:mrmouse:DVC Member Since 7/2010:mrmouse:
MOD118
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bluesandwhites
One Bedroom
Registered: October 2010
Location: Maine
Posts: 236
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Review Date: Mon April 11, 2011
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Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Price you paid?: None indicated
| Rating: 8
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Pros:
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Large Space / Pool
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Cons:
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Bus Service
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We had a first stay at OKW early April, staying in bldg 28 in a 2 bdr. DH, DW, DS5, DS8, DMIL. Space was more than large enough for the cast we had. Plenty of space fir MIL to have her own room. Great location, building 28 is about a 5 minute walk to the bus stop and maybe 7-8 minutes to HH.Only slight negative was we were the first bus stop, so if you got on you spent about 20 minutes touring the rest of OKW before you headed out anywhere. Other than that everything was great. The kids loved the pool and slide. We ate at both Olivia's and Good to Go and found them both to be quick and decent food. If you are looking for seclusion and while at WDW, OKW is it.
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[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
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