First DVC trip / CRV pics

[Anal Annie]

We just returned Thurs. night from our first ever DVC trip. We stayed in a studio at OKW for 7 nights. The unit was just OK...not quite as nice as we expected - definitely not what we would call a "deluxe" room. We just didn't walk in and say "WOW this is nice!" like I'd expected we would. The unit we had was starting to show its age. The grounds were well kept & beautiful but we found it odd that there wasn't always a sidewalk between our room and the bus stop. When we checked in & they showed us our room (in Bldg. 22) on the map which was just past the Miller Road bus stop and I asked if there was anything ready that would be closer to the main pool & the woman at the desk said she only had one other room ready (we were early) near the Pennisula Road stop but that it was the same distance. Having never been there before we took her word on it & kept the room at Miller Rd. Uhhh. NOT the same distance at all we came to find out. So we were irked all week about the walk to the store & pool since we could've changed rooms. We didn't realize just how BIG OKW would be and got very tired of the walking after spending so much time walking at the parks too. We had a great time but it just wasn't our favorite place to stay.

We found the whole Disney transportation system to be a mess this time around and I plan to write a letter to both Guest Communications and the Transportation Dept. to complain. This may have affected our overall feel for OKW too. We waited forever it seemed almost every time we were trying to go somewhere. We had dinner ressies at BOMA at the AKL on Sun. eve. at 7:30. We left our room at 6:05. Caught the next water taxi to DTD to transfer since they at least run on a fixed schedule - then we waited & waited on a bus there. Did not arrive at the AKL until after 7:40!! It took almost 1 hour and 45 min. to get there!! We were REALLY pissed . Thankfully, dinner at BOMA was once again near perfect and worth the hassle of getting there! One evening we waited an hour for a bus to the Magic Kingdom! We waited AT LEAST 45 min. for a bus to go from Typhoon Lagoon back to OKW while 4 buses came & went for Port Orleans! Going anywhere really ate into our time & made park hopping a dreaded experience. We don't recall it ever being this bad before.

Misc. notes - we went to the Princess & Pirate Party on Sat. night - GREAT fireworks which were visable from all over the park...it was fun & we really got a lot of rides in with the lower crowds - worth the money we felt! We purchased the DDE card and I haven't added up all of the receipts yet but I think we probably broke even & paid for the $65 with this trip (we're only a family of 3 so it would pay off quicker if we were more people). Loved that it was good all over in the Animal Kingdom. We used it for lunch at Cap N Jack's in DTD on our first day - which was excellent BTW (crab melts and awesome coleslaw - yummmmmm!)

We went over to Saratoga on our last day while we were waiting around & saw the models - the AKV ones are just gorgeous - the pictures that I've seen posted don't do them justice!! Can't wait for the whole resort to be done so we can see what the availability is like! (At least until I can talk DH into an add-on!)

OK, finally, here are a couple of pictures I took on Wed. of the CRV construction from the monorail. There is most definitely a large 'C' shape taking shape...

 

[Disney MAINEiac]

Oh great thanks for posting the pix!

 

[SLM]

Thanks for posting-It sounds like you had a great vacation-we've only stayed in a 1BR and it is HUGE- and nicely decorated-it must have been recently renovated. I've been told the studios at OKW are not quite as nice as the studios in the other resorts-if you have a chance, check out the 1BR at OKW at allears.net and you will see what I mean.

 

[jemiaule]

Thanks for the pictures!

Sorry to hear you had such bad transportation problems. Something like that can put such a damper on things if you like to do a lot of park hopping and eating at different resort restaurants.