Accessible Villas at Disney’s Old Key West Resort

By Dave Shute

In mid-May 2013 I made my fourth visit since this site opened to Disney’s Old Key West Resort.

This time, I was assigned an accessible One-Bedroom Villa, and what follows are some of the differences between these spaces and standard rooms.

(There’s a full review of standard villas at Old Key West here.)

ACCESSIBLE VILLAS AT OLD KEY WEST

I noted three spaces with differences: the entry door, the kitchen, and the bath.

The entry has a buzzer which presumably provides both audible and visible signals for both the hearing and visually challenged. (I was visiting solo, so did not have a chance to test it.)

The kitchen has multiple differences compared to standard villas.

The items of the work triangle–sink, fridge  and stove–are pushed to the ends of the kitchen, so that the kitchen island presents fewer access problems.

The sink now is set up so a wheelchair can pull up underneath it.

The countertops are at 34 inches tall, rather than 36 inches tall–at the upper end of the sensible range of such accessible counters.  Moreover, the bottoms of the wall cabinets are only 16.5 inches above the counters.  These two changes together put the lowest shelf of the wall cabinets 3.5 inches lower than in standard rooms.

The fridge in this room gains accessibility by being side-by-side, rather than over/under as in standard rooms.

The bath has a couple of features making it much more accessible.

The bath sink has clearance for a chair below it, and note both the safety bars and fold-up seat in the shower.

The toilet area also has multiple safety bars.

My room was a lock-off One-Bedroom Villa on the ground floor.

I imagine that since only three Old Key West buildings have elevators, and because a lock-off is the most flexible type of space, that most other accessible villas at Old Key West are also first floor and lockoff.

For more on Disney’s Old Key West Resort, see this.

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