In queue for BLT but now thinking OKW?

[Afabena]

Hi all, this is my first post but I have lurked for a long, long time. I am currently in a queue waiting for a 2 bedroom BLT Lake View rental for 6 nights to come through, but I have started to second guess the decision (mainly on cost). Now I am wondering if we should consider something like OKW which would save us almost $1,400. My main concern is taking buses everywhere from OKW. We will be flying and most likely not renting a car. For those of you who have stayed at OKW, were the buses reliable, and how was the time getting to and from the parks? Also, how was the resort in general?

I originally had my heart set on BLT but now I’m not sure I can justify the cost (on top of all of the other costs of Disney). This is my first time back to Disney in about 20 years since I was a kid, and now I am taking my 2 small kids who will be 6, my husband who has never been to Disney and my parents who also have not been back in 20 years.

Interested in others opinions if you have stayed at BLT or OKW. We are planning to visit all 4 parks, but will definitely go to Magic Kingdom and Epcot more than once. Thanks!

 

[hakepb]

Most OKW buildings do not have elevators, so you could wind up with a walk up the stairs to a 3rd floor unit. (Might be a problem for parents or sleepy kids)

OKW is very much a home away from home in a lovely tropical setting...it’s great of you stock up the kitchen with some food/snacks, but it’s a big pain if you are making regular trips to the outdoor quick service window.

A lot of kids will think the busses are fun. They do take more time (have to leave the room earlier). I drive down to WDW, and still prefer to let Disney drive me around, so I take the busses.

 

[cvjw]

A lot of people love OKW. We do not. We owned points there, stayed there several times. Tried to love it. Just didn’t. All of the villas we stayed in were loud - from the people next door, from people outside at their cars and most importantly - from bus turnaround noise. The bus rides are very long - there are multiple internal bus stops BEFORE you leave for a park. We always had to add additional time to get to the park of our choosing.

We would pick BLT every single time. Just being able to walk to the magic kingdom is priceless. We love the modern villas, the extra bathrooms in the larger villas, the pool, being on bay lake, etc.

If you can swing the extra with small kids to stay at BLT, I would recommend it.

 

[CraigInPA]

With small children in strollers, BLT would save you immeasurable amounts of time and energy due to the easy walk to the MK, and the convenience of the monorail to TTC/monorail to Epcot.

OKW's bus service is fine, but going everywhere on a bus, especially a crowded bus at the end of the day, is tiring.

 

[Deb & Bill]

We have stayed at OKW over 20 times since we bought 21 years ago. Never had a problem with the buses. We were just there last week and the buses were just magical for us. We must have been living right because we either got to the bus stop just as a bus arrived or it arrived a few minutes later. Olivia's is a wonderful table service restaurant, but Goods to Go is a small counter service. Nowhere near a food court. You'd have to go to the Contemporary for dining if you stayed at BLT unless you just use the kitchen. OKW kitchen is probably the biggest of all the kitchens. OKW also has a full sized washer and dryer instead of stackables.

But being a short walk to the MK from BLT is a really big perk. You can hop the monorail to get to Epcot, but you have to change monorails at the TTC. You'll still bus to DHS and AK. BLT is really nice, but OKW is so much bigger.

 

[Afabena]

Thanks for all if your replies.

I did not consider possibly walking up stairs just to get into the room (and we would be dragging a stroller with us). I’m definitely concerned about the bus situation especially with the internal buses. I have no experiences with the buses at Disney. I have been to Disney many times as a kid and we either stayed off site and drove everywhere, stayed at moderates and drove, or we stayed at the Polynesian and Contemporary and either walked/monorailed to MK and Epcot and drove to MK and HS (MGM!).

The other factor is we are trying not to ask my parents to pay anything towards the resort so that extra cost could be the deciding factor, unfortunately for me because I really do love BLT. Originally it was just my family of 4, but we decided to invite my parents since Disney was my vacation spot as a kid and we wanted them to be able to enjoy it now with their grandkids. But, I’m trying really hard not to ask them to pay.

We are still waiting in the queue for BLT for now. David’s said there is still availability for a 2 bedroom at both resorts, but they don’t have owners at either at this point.

Thanks again!

 

[bobbiwoz]

SSR does have elevators in all buildings. I know it is not what you are asking, but it is a reasonable alternative to OKW. I prefer it over OKW.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Thanks for all if your replies.

I did not consider possibly walking up stairs just to get into the room (and we would be dragging a stroller with us). I’m definitely concerned about the bus situation especially with the internal buses. I have no experiences with the buses at Disney. I have been to Disney many times as a kid and we either stayed off site and drove everywhere, stayed at moderates and drove, or we stayed at the Polynesian and Contemporary and either walked/monorailed to MK and Epcot and drove to MK and HS (MGM!).

The other factor is we are trying not to ask my parents to pay anything towards the resort so that extra cost could be the deciding factor, unfortunately for me because I really do love BLT. Originally it was just my family of 4, but we decided to invite my parents since Disney was my vacation spot as a kid and we wanted them to be able to enjoy it now with their grandkids. But, I’m trying really hard not to ask them to pay.

We are still waiting in the queue for BLT for now. David’s said there is still availability for a 2 bedroom at both resorts, but they don’t have owners at either at this point.

Thanks again!

The bus service is operated the same for all resorts - a bus to each park approx. every 20 minutes. They run into traffic, needs to assist people etc so it can get off but generally is pretty close to that. So in that way OKW is no better and it's no worse than BLT for bus service or anywhere else. The benefit of BLT is you can walk to MK and if that's the park you'll spend most of your time then it's a huge benefit. If you'll go to MK equally with other resorts then IMO OKW might beat out BLT for transportation for 2 reasons. It is centrally located to all parks while BLT is as far away from AK as you can get plus the buses to AK and DHS also are often shared with another MK resort so there's an extra stop. And - the monorail to Epcot can take a long time. We've had it be well over an hour to return from Epcot to BLT. That length of time would be an oddity for bus service to OKW.

As mentioned, SSR has the standard view category which is similar cost to OKW and they have elevators in all buildings there. But OKW does have ground floor rooms in every building so odds are good of getting a request for one of those met although it would not be guaranteed.

 

[Afabena]

Thanks for the SSR suggestion. I feel like we might like the theming better at OKW (we are from the northeast and not far from NY), but I know people also really like SSR. Is that bigger than OKW or about the same? While we want to enjoy the parks we also want to enjoy the resort for an early evening or a few afternoon swims. I am probably way over thinking all of this.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Thanks for the SSR suggestion. I feel like we might like the theming better at OKW (we are from the northeast and not far from NY), but I know people also really like SSR. Is that bigger than OKW or about the same? While we want to enjoy the parks we also want to enjoy the resort for an early evening or a few afternoon swims. I am probably way over thinking all of this.

SSR is the largest resort by far and you can walk to Disney Springs from there or take a boat across the water should that be your preference. So a plus there if you plan on DS. It's not quite double the size of OKW but almost. 1320 possible villas at SSR vs 761 possible villas at OKW.

 

[zavandor]

SSR has two feature pools, OKW one.
Walking to Disney Spring is very convenient at SSR. It is so much better than the Downtown Disney you might remember. Some of the best restaurants at WDW are in DS now.

 

[Afabena]

All of you have really given me some good points to think about, thank you. I didn’t think about the MK location actually being further away from the other parks. I love, love the MK, but we will definitely be visiting the other parks. I like that there is a kids activity center at both SSR and OKW, and the grounds do look lovely. Heres another bus question: what do you people do with their strollers on the buses? Leave them in the aisle? My stroller is a double jogger and folds up, but it folds up much larger than an umbrella stroller. My kids will probably be over the weight limit for an umbrella stroller, but they will still fit in the jogger.

 

[Deb & Bill]

All of you have really given me some good points to think about, thank you. I didn’t think about the MK location actually being further away from the other parks. I love, love the MK, but we will definitely be visiting the other parks. I like that there is a kids activity center at both SSR and OKW, and the grounds do look lovely. Heres another bus question: what do you people do with their strollers on the buses? Leave them in the aisle? My stroller is a double jogger and folds up, but it folds up much larger than an umbrella stroller. My kids will probably be over the weight limit for an umbrella stroller, but they will still fit in the jogger.

Every stroller must be folded up and held by the owner. Meaning dad usually gets to stand and hold the stroller, maybe by the back door to the bus. So you need to empty the stroller of all the stuff you have in it, including the kids. Make sure your stroller is folded up and ready to go when the bus arrives. You don't get to wait until the bus arrives, move to the door of the bus and then empty the stroller.

 

[DduzDis]

I have not stayed at OKW yet. But, I do have small children and own at BLT. For us, it cannot be overstated how great that walk is from MK to resort at park close (or naps if you're still there) and the monorail is to EPCOT. We love our BLT trips with our kids because of the convenience of these alone...not to mention BLT and the Contemporary are just great by themselves.

 

[Donna M]

Some pluses about OKW; the price, the living room is much larger than BLT, the theming makes you feel like you're in Florida whereas BLT is very plain/modern to me. I only had issues with noise once at OKW.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

All of you have really given me some good points to think about, thank you. I didn’t think about the MK location actually being further away from the other parks. I love, love the MK, but we will definitely be visiting the other parks. I like that there is a kids activity center at both SSR and OKW, and the grounds do look lovely. Heres another bus question: what do you people do with their strollers on the buses? Leave them in the aisle? My stroller is a double jogger and folds up, but it folds up much larger than an umbrella stroller. My kids will probably be over the weight limit for an umbrella stroller, but they will still fit in the jogger.

As mentioned you do have to fold the stroller and hold it while riding. Whether you have to stand with it or can sit and hold it depends on how busy the buses are at the time you are going. I've seen quite a few strollers in recent years that do fold up even with items in them but if that can't be done you need to pull them out and hold them during the ride.

 

[Deb & Bill]

Since your kids are six, maybe you could just rent one stroller at the theme park if you need one and not bother with your big jogging stroller.

 

[Afabena]

I could possibly rent the strollers in the parks. We’re still debating resorts...so many things to consider!

 

[Nancyg56]

Some pluses about OKW; the price, the living room is much larger than BLT, the theming makes you feel like you're in Florida whereas BLT is very plain/modern to me. I only had issues with noise once at OKW.

I am at OKW now and am enjoying the resort. It is large, and the bus service has been sporatic, however we discovered Lyft. Game changer!

So on to the space. We are in a 2bdrm villa and HOLY SPACE! The layout is perfect for a family, with two bedrooms, both with spacious full baths. The laundry machines are in good shape and have been put to good use. The laundry room also is good storage, with a large upper shelf.

There is a large closet in the entry that my DGD that holds plenty.

The Libing room/kitchen is plenty large to accomodate all of my family of 7, with a full size refrigerator, stove and microwave. WE used all of teh appliances even though we were on the DDP. WE brought food back and had it later on, which we never were able to do in a resort room.

On to travel. It is not as convenient as the monorail or epcot resorts, but we were okay with bus service for the most part. When we had meals out we took a Lyft. This worked out well and the cost difference between the other deluxe resorts and OKW, well you can buy a lot of transportation!

WE have not experienced any noise. My nieces are both in law enforcement and both were in need of a rest. They loved coming back to the peaceful serenity of this gorgeous resort. The theme and the decor are conducive to relaxation, IMO, and are in direct contrast to the over stimulation of the theme parks. They visited many resorts on this trip and were glad we did not choose any of them. The contrast between OKW and the others was striking.

Since your kids are six, maybe you could just rent one stroller at the theme park if you need one and not bother with your big jogging stroller.

This is how we rolled when my DGD was young. WE rented a stroller in teh parks and ditched it when we were exiting. It is a bit pricier then taking your own, but you never need to find it, cart it, drag it. You leave it behind.

 

[The Jackal]

We drive down to WDW and when we stay at OKW we put the stroller in the vehicle when we get back from the parks and take it out of the vehicle when we leave for the parks. Parking is right in front of the villas so it is easy. I know this will not work for a lot of people because they fly. The other resorts it goes back to the room. We use a big stroller so it can carry the popcorn, umbrellas, ponchos etc...