# Just back from OKW



## LUVourMarriotts (May 27, 2014)

My family and I returned from 7 nights at OKW this past weekend.  As you can see from my updated signature, we had a great time.  Before the trip, I did ask several questions on the forum, so I figured I would provide a trip review of sorts here, and possibly update you all on how your help was put to use.

Our trip hit a snag before even leaving.  We were to fly out on Saturday (5/17) morning from White Plains, NY on JetBlue.  The flight was cancelled on Friday because nothing was landing in White Plains due to weather.  They rebooked me for Monday, which wasn't cool, so I called.  My only option was to fly out of LGA and fly back into HPN (White Plains).  We stayed over at the LGA Marriott Courtyard Friday night for a 6:30am flight on Saturday.  Left the car at HPN and had a car service bring us to LGA hotel.  Added expense right off the bat.

We arrived to the hotel, via Magical Express at around 11am.  We did not expect a room, but we were given one upon arrival, right across from Hospitality House.  It was a very nice 2BR unit on the 3rd floor.  No elevators, but fine for us.  Lunch at Olivia's before going to the room.  It was good food and decent price.  We went straight to the pool after changing and my daughter (this trip was for her 5th birthday, which was the 16th) had a blast.  She loved the water slide and the games they played in the afternoon.  Dinner at 1900 Park Fare was decent, but DD had a blast taking pictures with Cinderella and the others.  We took bus to MK then ferry to Grand Floridian.

Sunday we went to MK.  The buses worked out great being at Hospitality House because we were the last stop before leaving for the park.  Very easy/quick ride to MK. We had a great time at MK.  The weather was great the whole trip, not too hot, no precipitation.  We did end up going with the Memory Maker, before arrival, and are so happy we did.  We got 323 photos and they are all great.  You are allowed to add borders of all sorts and we have taken advantage of that as well.  The Magic Shots were great and my daughter loved them.  At MK, we did the Tinkerbell and Chip (Beauty and Beast) shots.

Monday we went to Epcot.  Again, bus was quick and easy.  My daughter didn't get the whole country thing, so we ended up running from country to country most of the day finding the princesses to take pictures with.  Unfortunately, the photographers were not with all of them, so we took some of our own pics.  It was a little crazy running back and forth.  Based on the schedules of the princesses and locations of them, I don't think there could possibly be a longer walk that Disney could have come up with.  But, our FitBit steps were racking up.  I averaged 18,400 steps over the week.  Dinner at Akershus Royal Table was really good food, but my daughter didn't like much there.  She hated Mission Space, as did my wife.  She loved Soarin and wanted to go back.

Tuesday back to MK.  My daughter really wanted Anna & Elsa pictures, but the line was always at 300+ minutes.  At 2:00pm, it was 120 minute wait.  My wife decided to do it.  My daughter and I walked around for a while, then met her in line.  It ended up being 3 hours 15 minutes (195 minutes) and almost made us miss the Cinderellas Royal Table reservation.  Since it was prepaid, that would not have been good.  But, I had already spoken with the manager at Cinderella's Royal Table to tell them the situation, and they said we would be taken at the 6:40 seating if we missed, due to the inaccurate wait time at Anna & Elsa.  That was a relief, although we made it by literally 30 seconds.  Dinner was very tasty again.

Wednesday was a pool day.  We played at the pool almost all day, then went to Downtown Disney for dinner at Portabello's, or something like that.  That dinner was decent, but my daughter didn't like anything there.

Thursday was at HS.  We only stayed until about 3pm and left.  We did everything we wanted to do, including lunch at HOllywood and Vine, which was great.  Daughter loved interacting with the Disney Junior characters.  They did a little dance party and other things.  We went back to OKW and swam for a while, then went back to MK.  We stayed for the electric parade, which was cool.

Friday back to MK.  Again, stayed until about 3pm, went back to swim, then came back to MK after dinner.  We ended up staying until almost 11 that night, saw great fireworks.  That day, the park was open from 6am to 6am the next day.  It was a zoo.

Left Saturday.  Magical Express was awesome.

Overall, the character meals are overpriced for what you get.  The only one that actually had some interaction was Hollywood & Vine.  The princess meals, you overpay by far for 30 seconds of hi/bye and a few pictures, that you take on your own camera, not via PhotoPass.

We loved the trip, may daughter went to daycare today all excited to tell everyone about it.  We will definitely want to go back in a few years, or maybe a Disney cruise.


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## Weimaraner (May 27, 2014)

Sounds like a great trip! My daughter went for her 5th birthday in May two years ago. Great timd to go. In fact she informed me when she was 4 that kids go when they are 5...apparently a right of passage we printed off pictures after the trip and made a collage on posterboard to commemorate the trip and had it laminated. She used it for her VIP day but it's also saved for her graduation party someday to maximize our Disney investment haha. One thing she may enjoy on a future trip is the pin trading with cast members. My DD is outgoing so she loved chatting up the castmembers. We also had some Epcot cast members write a message in their native language in her autograph book. Both made the not so interesting Epcot, more interesting to her while looking for princesses. And I've got to give out a shout out to Snow White who "remembered" that she saw my DD at a princess luncheon the day before.


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## LUVourMarriotts (May 27, 2014)

Yes, we definitely had a great trip. We already added cool Disney borders to the PhotoPass images and have downloaded them. We now plan to create a Shutterfly memory book, similar to the one that Surf Club has been offering certificates for. We love our Surf Club book from last Nov. My wife has received coupons for free photo books from Shutterfly, so it's a no brainer. 

As for props to the Cast members, my daughter wore the Happy Birthday pin all week. We received so much attention for her birthday! It was great. Her favorite was during the 3pm celebration parade at MK. Anna, from Frozen, was on her float and saw the pin (we were in the front row).  Anna pointed right at my daughter and yelled Happy Birthday, then blew her a kiss. My daughter is totally into Frozen, so she was so excited over that. It was great. My wife actually snapped a picture of Anna doing that, then also snapped a reaction of my daughter. Both came out great.


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## Weimaraner (May 27, 2014)

That's so sweet! I was never much of a Disney fan until my daughter came along. The cast members really make the experience so special. Our special moment was when they were all lined up to help guide guests out before the fireworks. Cast member after cast member bowed to my bday princess and said "Good Evening Princess" or other phrase on our way out. It sounds like Frozen has created quite a frenzy. We were in St Lucia and met a little girl and asked her name. She said it was Elsa...which we thought was a coincidence until her dad told us her REAL name. Haha


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## AnnaS (May 29, 2014)

Sounds like you had a great trip.  Wow - 3 hours 15 minutes for Anna & Elsa.  Don't they have a FP for this?  You lucked out with the weather too.  We love the relaxed feeling at OKW.  One of my home resorts 

If you have not done a Disney cruise yet, you will love it!


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## LUVourMarriotts (May 29, 2014)

AnnaS said:


> Sounds like you had a great trip.  Wow - 3 hours 15 minutes for Anna & Elsa.  Don't they have a FP for this?  You lucked out with the weather too.  We love the relaxed feeling at OKW.  One of my home resorts
> 
> If you have not done a Disney cruise yet, you will love it!



Yes, they do have FP for this, but there were none left when I did my FP selections, which was about 45 days before travel.  Bummer there.

We loved OKW and would go back in a heartbeat.  And, we would definitely do a cruise.  Our neighbors have been on the Disney cruise line in the past and is going again next year.


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## SCSTWG (May 29, 2014)

I see that you own Marriott's, but for this DVC stay did you rent points, reserve through Disney, rent from an owner or something else?


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## LUVourMarriotts (May 29, 2014)

SCSTWG said:


> I see that you own Marriott's, but for this DVC stay did you rent points, reserve through Disney, rent from an owner or something else?



I did a direct exchange with a DVC owner for my Aruba Surf Club. I did this by posting a request on the DVC boards on this and other sites.


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## SCSTWG (May 30, 2014)

Got it.  Great idea.


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## ctrayer (Jun 2, 2014)

Just returned from Old Key West myself.  Was there 23-30 May and this was our first stay there.  Let me start by saying that I have exchanged into every other DVC resort with the exception of the new Villas at the Grand Floridian.

Old Key West is, BY FAR, our new favorite DVC resort to exchange into, hands down.  Bay Lake was nice being close to the Magic Kingdom but Old Key West really feels like a place that is home for us.  I felt like I could stay in the 1BR unit with my wife for the entire winter.  We were in Bldg 45 on the canal and enjoyed the location watching the boats to DTD go back and forth when we were relaxing.  We plan to grab OKW for our next two week trip this fall if it's available.

We stayed at Saratoga Springs the week before and always stay at the Grandstand section near the pool and bus stop.  We love the Grandstand pool and love always having a seat on the bus because the Grandstand is the first stop leaving the resort.  It's also the first stop coming home from the parks.

Having stayed at all of them and exchanged 6 weeks already since November, I still think we will come back to OKW many more times in the future.  It truly feels like home for us and the layout of the rooms is perfect.  Trying to get 8 weeks of DVC exchanges in before our annual pass expires in November and I think we'll have no problems reaching our goal.  It's always hard to come home from Disney.


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## icydog (Jun 4, 2014)

LUVourMarriotts said:


> I did a direct exchange with a DVC owner for my Aruba Surf Club. I did this by posting a request on the DVC boards on this and other sites.



Let me get this straight please.  You traded a Marriott two bedroom Surf Club for a one bedroom Disney's Old Key West? I'm just checking if I got it right. If so, I'll be glad to make that trade if you want to do it again! I love the Surf Club and I have 199 points I can spare.


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## LUVourMarriotts (Jun 4, 2014)

Nope. We did 2BR for 2BR.


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## icydog (Jun 5, 2014)

LUVourMarriotts said:


> Nope. We did 2BR for 2BR.



A two bedroom Disney's Old Key West in May would be 269 points.  If the member had rented her points at a modest $11 a point her week was worth $2959. 

She could have taken the money, it's very easy to rent out Disney Vacation Club points, and rented a Surf Watch in May (from an owner) two bedroom, Oceanside for half that amount. 
You did very well in that trade.


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## LUVourMarriotts (Jun 5, 2014)

icydog said:


> A two bedroom Disney's Old Key West in May would be 269 points.  If the member had rented her points at a modest $11 a point her week was worth $2959.
> 
> She could have taken the money, it's very easy to rent out Disney Vacation Club points, and rented a Surf Watch in May (from an owner) two bedroom, Oceanside for half that amount.
> You did very well in that trade.



I agree that the trade was well worth it for me.  Luckily, I found a very nice person to work with.  I booked them Thanksgiving week for this year.  That week, for rental, seems to get more than a May week, but I still probably made out OK.

On a side note (not sure I can say this), I've had to post the Thanskgiving week in the Marketplace  and other places because of a travel issue for the person I exchanged with.  So I'm getting her Thanksgiving next year.  I'll get up early to get it for her.


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## icydog (Jun 5, 2014)

LUVourMarriotts said:


> I agree that the trade was well worth it for me.  Luckily, I found a very nice person to work with.  I booked them Thanksgiving week for this year.  That week, for rental, seems to get more than a May week, but I still probably made out OK.
> 
> On a side note (not sure I can say this), I've had to post the Thanskgiving week in the Marketplace  and other places because of a travel issue for the person I exchanged with.  So I'm getting her Thanksgiving next year.  I'll get up early to get it for her.



That's very nice of you.  Are you allowed to say for how much you're renting this year's week? Perhaps you can send me a PM?


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## LUVourMarriotts (Jun 5, 2014)

icydog said:


> That's very nice of you.  Are you allowed to say for how much you're renting this year's week? Perhaps you can send me a PM?



I'll send you a PM.


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