Review: Disney’s Old Key West Resort, Continued
(To return to the first page of this review, click here.)
MORE ON DISNEY’S OLD KEY WEST RESORT
There are currently 7 official Disney Vacation Club resorts at Walt Disney World.
However, I have come to count them as nine, because two of the resorts–Saratoga Springs and the Animal Kingdom Villas–have two very different areas.
In order of their appropriateness for first time family visitors to Walt Disney World, they are:
- The Villas at Disney’s Wilderness Lodge
- Disney’s Animal Kingdom Villas–Jambo House
- Disney’s Animal Kingdom Villas–Kidani Village
- Bay Lake Tower at Disney’s Contemporary Resort
- Disney’s Beach Club Villas
- Disney’s Boardwalk Villas
- Disney’s Old Key West Resort
- Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort and Spa, main resort
- Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort, Treehouse Villas area.
These resorts are available to anyone to reserve through the regular Walt Disney World website or resort reservations phone number at 407-939-7675.
They also are available to the general public at great discounts through renting points from a Disney Vacation Club member. (They are also of course available to these members themselves.)
All Disney Vacation Club resorts have studio rooms, One-Bedroom Villas, and Two-Bedroom Villas.
Most have Grand Villas as well.
Old Key West floor plans of all but the One-Bedroom villa are on this page; One-Bedroom villa floorplans are on the first page of this entry.
At Old Key West, studios sleep 4 and have a microwave and a mini-fridge.
The newly-renovated One-bedroom Villas sleep 5, including three on fold-out beds in a full kitchen/dining/living space. They also have large porch or balcony, and a separate master bedroom.
Two-Bedroom Villas add a second four-person bedroom to the amenities of a One-Bedroom and sleep 9.
Grand Villas sleep 12 in almost twice the space of a Two-Bedroom Villa, in three bedrooms plus sleeper sofas. At Old Key West, Grand Villas are two-story spaces.
(To each of the capacity figures above, you can add one more kid under 3 at time of check in who sleeps in a crib.)
Disney’s Old Key West Resort is described on Walt Disney World’s website as “an island hamlet of brilliant green landscapes, pastel-colored Victorian architecture and ornate gingerbread accents…nestled among swaying palm trees, shimmering waterways and… lush golf fairways.”
Its 156 acres include an area called the Hospitality House where you check in, buy tickets, and find shops, dining, bars, etc.
The main pool is nearby.
Beyond this area, the resort has several different sections with their own bus stops, and, for the more distant sections, quiet pools.
(“Quiet pool” is Disney lingo for a smaller, un-themed pool with no lifeguards, but a shorter walk than the main themed pool–which does have theming and lifeguards.)
There is no difference in theming among these areas, so use the material on the prior page on best and worst rooms to pick your building.
Disney’s Old Key West Resort opened in December 1991 as the first of the Disney Vacation Club Resorts–its first name was the Disney Vacation Club Resort! It expanded over the years until the current layout was completed–with buildings 62, 63 and 64, the newest, opening in 2000.
It is being fully renovated over the course of 2010 and 2011. 70% of the renovations were done by mid-November 2010; the rest will be complete in spring 2011.
The fact that it was the first DVC resort perhaps explains both some of its negatives and some of its positives…
Its sprawling layout, community (rather than hotel) feel, and large rooms perhaps came from Disney’s attempt to figure out whether it was building vacation homes in a community or a hotel. Perhaps it split the difference.
Later DVC resorts shrank the rooms and (with the exception of Saratoga Springs) shrank the layout into hotel footprints.
Among the DVC resorts, Old Key West’s strengths for first time visitors are its relatively lower prices and relatively larger rooms.
The principal negatives are its sprawl, absence of elevators in almost all buildings, awkward bath access in most buildings, and lack of convenience and kid appeal.
Returning visitors often find Old Key West to be a favorite. Its spaciousness can be a godsend for a boisterous family, and among the DVC resorts it is far and away the best value for money.
EXTERNAL LINKS FOR DISNEY’S OLD KEY WEST RESORT:
MORE ON WHERE TO STAY AT DISNEY WORLD
- For where to stay, see this
- For your next best choices, in order, see this
- For picking your resort based on appeal to kids, see this
- For picking your resort based on convenience, see this
- For where not to stay, see this
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- For what you get in each resort price category, see this
- For Walt Disney World resort price seasons, see this
- For resort reviews, see this
- For the value resorts, see this
- For the moderate resorts, see this
- For the deluxe resorts, see this
- For suites at the deluxe resorts, see this
- For the Disney Vacation Club (“DVC”) Resorts, see this
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- For a (geeky) overview of comparative room size, see this
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- Military/DOD families should look at this
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- Families seeking the most comfortable place to stay should see this
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