I am going to apologize now.... TRIP REPORT OKW

[douglas4315]

I will first apologioze for everything I am going to say in this posting. First I have to say for the first time I was humiliated, mortified, upset, embarressed, etc. to be a DVC member. Reason being: OKW!!! We brought another family with us this past week (returned last night) and I could not tell you how embarressed I was all week and our friends kept asking "why would you buy a timeshare here, this is awful!"

I will get to the good things in a minute..

BAD:
Buses from any park back to OKW was at least 40-60 minutes and we even waited 1 hour and 13 minutes just for the bus to arrive at Typhoon Lagoon to bring us back to OKW. One night at DTD we waited 50 minutes for a bus and we got seats but before we left we had standing room only. The had the nerve to go to PI and pick up additional people which would never had fit and of course there was a fist fight on the bus because of over crowding. One guest actually pushed the beus driver because the bus driver was trying to load more people. Moving on, we began to track buses at this point and most resorts had 2-3 bus arrivals to every one that OKW had.

In addition this was the first time that the bus drivers were so nasty also. A guest could not get on a bus and asked when the next bus was coming and the driver replied "when Disney decides to send one" and closed the door.

Back to OKW, service here is no where near as good or friendly as SSR. SSR cast members are so much more friendly and ensure your vacation is "magical".

Believe me our friends never complain about anything but they said they would much rather go somewhere else or stay at another property. They were extremely disappointed in OKW and for our first time we were also.

WE WILL NEVER STAY AT THIS RESORT AGAIN!!!! I have already called into member services, our guide, DVC management, transportation, etc. to find out if we can get out of DVC just because of this experience.

Those that have reservations booked there, good luck! Go to SSR, you'll be treated as you expect not like a low life as you will be treated at OKW.

Good things:
WE HAD A GREAT TIME EVERY MINUTE WE WERE AWAY FROM OKW

 

[Starr W.]

 

[calypso*a*go-go]

What other issues did you have besides the bus service? Any problems with the room? Also, have you stayed at any Disney resorts during the summer months (the busiest season)? I'm just trying to determine if the bus problems stemmed more from the time of year than anything else.

 

[douglas4315]

Bus issues were the main issue and many guests I spoke to said that OKW has consistant issues with bus service. Other guests said that they do put more buses on at "full rack rate" hotels in Disney AKA non DVC resorts.

The other issues we had were with service. Concierge folks were not as friendly, check in took 35 minutes. I guess I am used to SSR where all cast members make you really feel like you are home and go out of the way to make sure your vacation is magical.

Another example:
I went to the concierge to get Disney dollars for the kids which they gladly supplied. They only had princess dollars and I also needed something for the boys. They said to go to the gift shop / Conch Flats to get more. I proceeded there and two ladies behind the counter responded "I don't know why they would send you here, we don't have those" but with a nasty tone.

Again, I am the easiest person to get along with and all I do is brag to people on how great DVC is but I have to tell you after this experience we are going to stay away for a while. I am also going to be writing letters to all the executives at the top, that's how upset we are.

I am going to say it again, OKW is horrible and good luck to all those that have never experienced this place. My recommendation is to stay away!!!

 

[calypso*a*go-go]

Except for the bus transportation -- the experiences you posted about still seem fairly minor (sorry...I'm sure it doesn't feel that way to you, but for someone reading this it does). One thing that's great about DVC is there's usually something for everyone -- as a matter of fact, I just read a couple of posts on the resort board where people that had just returned from OKW loved it. Oh well, to each their own!!!

Happy to hear you still enjoyed the rest of your visit and hope you can return again soon under better circumstances.

 

[Muushka]

We will be staying at SSR this October. I promise if we don't have a wonderful time, I will not come on these boards and slam the resort. Why? Because a resort cannot be judged by just one visit.

We have had not so great visits at our beloved Villas of Wilderness Lodge. But we have had many wonderful ones. I think you need to stay at a place more than once before you throw the baby out with the bath water.

 

[douglas4315]

I can appreciate the feed back but it was not minor by any means. I am just being very polite in my post.

Please don't take this the wrong way but if you think traveling with a 3 year old, 2 year old, 1 year old and a pregnant wife being crushed on a bus, seeing a bus driver almost get his a$# beat, and an actual fist fight on a bus amongst adults which probably scarred some of the children for life MINOR than you need to re-evaluate yourself. Again my apologies

I would have owned Disney if me child was injured in the fight

 

[Starr W.]

We will be staying at SSR this October. I promise if we don't have a wonderful time, I will not come on these boards and slam the resort. Why? Because a resort cannot be judged by just one visit.

We have had not so great visits at our beloved Villas of Wilderness Lodge. But we have had many wonderful ones. I think you need to stay at a place more than once before you throw the baby out with the bath water.

But that makes so much common sense Muushka, why would we want to think that way.

 

[spiceycat]

write to DVC and say everything that went wrong.

something was wrong - with the controllers (again).

don't blame the bus drivers they have to do what they are told these days.

but sometimes the controllers are out of CONTROL.

complaint to disney.

anyone want the old days back.

if this happens again - pick up one of the phones at OKW bus stops and tell them you wish to speak to transportation now.

you should have never had to wait even 30 minutes for those buses.
now said that the one exception is around lunch time. You will wait longer then.

I always bring my stop watch it is on my watch. I set it as soon as I get to the bus stop. Once it is over 30 minutes I am on that phone. It has been a couple of years since I have had problems. but I still set the stop watch.

 

[calypso*a*go-go]

If you re-read my post I said "except for the transportation". I don't see how you can blame the resort for the behavior of strangers on the bus. It would be a horrible situation and the driver should have called security and had the people removed...but was that really OKW's fault?

 

[Kickapoo Joie Juice]

Having had some very "entertaining" memories of disney busses, I can sympathize.

We never take the busses anymore, we just drive ourselves in Disney (if you see a gold mazda mpv minivan covered with disney stickers, that's us) because the busses definitely kill the magic for us.

My advice to you in the future would be when the bus starts getting that overloaded, just get off.

Seriously!

We've called cabs in the past when we had bad bus karma-15 bucks is definitely worth avoiding bus trauma.

I can remember 2 times where my husband and I gave each other the "lets get off the bus now" looks-this was when we had already limited using bus transportation to Fort Wilderness, which is tough to get around using. In those cases, we just walked to where we needed to be.

 

[calypso*a*go-go]

Also, doesn't OKW have a ferry boat that goes to DTD? That probably would have been a more relaxing option than the bus (especially with the small children and pregnant wife).

 

[DebbieB]

I would never stay at OKW without a rental car. I just don't have the patience for waiting for busses and then they are so crowded. Nothing against OKW, I always rent a car no matter where I stay. People say they want to relax on vacation and not drive. I don't find the bus system relaxing.

I've stayed at OKW many times and loved it.

 

[calypso*a*go-go]

I don't find the bus system relaxing.

I agree completely...I hate that feeling of dread as you are waiting in line and realize the bus is filling up really fast and you've got the dilema of standing or waiting for anther bus (not really knowing how soon it will get there).

 

[jbrowna]

Am I missing something here? The OP indicates they would like to quit DVC because of their bad experience at OKW. Yet the main complaint I hear stems from the buses, which is run by Disney Transportation, and all DVC can do is pass on the complaint. The OP also says that they had a great time "every minute" they were away from OKW, but then tells about the awful wait for a bus at Typhoon Lagoon and the bad bus experience at DTD and PI.

The only things directly relating to OKW the OP mentions are the lack of "friendliness" on the part of the CMs there. That seems to me to be a pretty subjective measuring rod. As far as checkin taking 35 minutes: when checking in during one of the busiest seasons of the year I would think 35 minutes isn't that bad! And the Disney Dollars thing: the CMs can't create something they don't have, and if their tone sounded "nasty", well, again, that's a pretty subjective measurement.

I just feel like there's more to it. I suspect the OP is really the most upset because the other family they brought along failed to be impressed. Does that other family belong to some other timeshare? Is this some kind of a timeshare p***ing contest going on?

 

[zoomsharedisney]

I always find it amusing that most of the complaints arise during the busiest times of the year. Things don't always run as smooth when the parks are full and the resorts are full. Disney tries its best - and for some people that just isn't good enough. We do get 'spoiled' as DVC members and not everyone is proper when it comes to bus riding ettiquete, but it's still Disney and I love every moment that I am there!

 

[jennz]

Wow - you and your friends' experiences are very different from ours except for the bus service, which was very very slow. We took 1st timers with us to OKW (our home resort is SSR) because the points were less and the rooms were bigger. We had 8 people in a 2 br and it was wonderful. They were very impressed with the theming, cleanliness, layout, and service. (And they weren't just being nice because they were there on our points! ) The adults and their 3 children, two teenage boys and dd's 9yo best friend, said they had the vacation of a lifetime.

Yes the bus service was bad and DH and I were not pleased with the long waits and subsequent crowds but everything else was great. We also had a long wait at check in, longest we've ever had, between 30 - 45 minutes, but we were checking in on a Sunday in June - obviously we weren't the only DVCers choosing OKW to save some points!

We did go over to SSR to swim and noticed a different feel there; this was our first stay at OKW and it seemed there are a lot more large groups and families there. But hey, probably again for the same reason we were there with our group of 8 - more room and less points.

Would we stay at OKW again? You betcha!

Sorry you had a bad trip.

 

[Dean]

A bad experience can happen every where. I am sorry you had a bad experience at Old Key West. I do not believe your experience is consistent with what most people have seen. You may want to give it another chance in the future.

 

[douglas4315]

Ok last post on this topic

I was trying to be political here and could have let loose on the post but it is not the appropriate thing to do. No the friends do not own a time share and no I was not trying to impress them it's just very discouraging when you brag about how great things are and it turns out to be the opposite.

In addition I travel every week and stay in Marriott & Ritz Carlton resorts which are a hell of a lot nicer than any DVC resort. Believe me I am not a hotel snob by any means. I have stayed at other resorts and in our opinion this is the bottom of the barrel and we would never stay here again. Your opinion is yours and ours is ours. A lot os people love OKW and that's great, it's just not for us and I was warning those that have not stayed there yet.

The CM's again are not as friendly and if you read the post clearly about the disnet dollars I did not ask them to produce anything, I said the gift shop folks were nasty.

Yes everyone's standards are different but ours are not unreasonable by any means and there were many others that were complaining about the same thing.

Last but not least, be aware and do a lot of research before you choose any resort. One more thing - We requested a 1st floor room because of a pregnant wife and we had not clue there were not elevators. We ended up with a 3rd floor room and they never changed us during the week

 

[Doctor P]

Your experience in general does not mesh with ours, except for one thing. Your complaints regarding bus service were related to the DD and TL buses. First of all, did you ever ride the bus to and from DD when you were staying at SSR? If not, you have no basis for comparision on the transportation system. The DD and the TL buses (which are actually the same) are the only bus (other than the Blizzard Beach/AK) bus that has more than one stop before proceeding back to OKW. The bus drivers are instructed that they must make the full route, even if full. Second, it has been my experience that the PI bus stop has Disney Transportation people that are responsible for calling for additional buses. Were they not there that evening? That said, the DD buses from ALL the resorts are noted for their problems for some of the same reasons you have mentioned. It took me 55 minutes once ON the bus to get back to BCV from DD (it is only about a 7 minute drive). If the problems you had were with DD and TL, and you didn't take those buses back to SSR during your February trip, I wouldn't blame OKW for that part of the issue.