This was a short stay at OKW prior to boarding the Disney Dream on Jan. 5.
We are a family of 4-Me, DH, DD14, and DD17. We have been DVC members since 2008, with AKL being our home resort. Also along for this trip are my parents, DM 62 and DF 68.
We reserved our room approx. 6 months out after we purchased our airline tickets since we didn't know exact dates prior to that point. We stayed at OKW on a previous trip, so we knew we liked the resort. We mainly chose it over AKV for this trip because of convenience getting to the room. We have had some long walks to the room at Kidani, and we knew my mom wouldn't be able to handle that. We reserved a 2BR near HH, and requested a ground floor unit for mobility issues.
We personalized our magic bands on-line and received them approx. 1 month before our trip. We also checked in on-line a couple weeks prior to our trip.
The day of our departure, there was a serious snow storm happening. We had booked a limo to pick us up at my parents' house and take us to the airport since none of us have a vehicle that can transport 6 people plus luggage. The limo was to pick us up at 8am. We live an hour from my parents, and we left our driveway at 6:20 that morning. The roads were so bad that it took us an extra half hour to get there. We were leaving our car at DH's parents' house. Since we were running behind schedule, we drove straight to their house and my dad met us there, we transferred the luggage, and headed back across town to meet the limo driver at my parents'. We were still in DMil's driveway when the driver called to say he was there. I told him we were just dropping our car off across town and would be there to meet him in a few minutes. Meanwhile, my mom was inside finishing up a few last minute details and had no idea our ride was already waiting in front of her house!
We were back to my parents' by 8:05, and got the limo all loaded up. Not all of the luggage fit in the trunk, but there was plenty of room for the rest in the back where we were sitting. An old friend of mine from high school owns the limo company, and his dad was our driver.
Our flight was scheduled to leave from Chicago-Midway at 12:05. It should have been about a 90 minute car ride. Due to the weather, we finally arrived at the airport at 10:50. We had been checking the status of our flight on Southwest during the ride, and it was still listed as being on time, and we could see that other flights that morning had left on time. When we got up to the counter with our checked luggage, we were told that we were delayed until 1pm. We relaxed a little bit then, since we had been so rushed and were happy that we now had a chance to grab a bite to eat.
We found a seat at our gate and took turns going to get food. They made occasional announcements updating us on the status of our flight. At 1:20 we had a plane, but no pilots as they were coming in on a different flight. At 2:45, our pilots were on the ground, but they were 3rd in line waiting for a gate. Once they got off their plane, they had to complete the safety checks on our plane before we were allowed to board. We finally took off around 4pm.
We got to Orlando around 7:30, and it was close to 8 by the time we made our way to the buses. Since we were one of the first ones on the ME bus, we sat for over 30 minutes before we got to head to the resort. Thankfully OKW was the first stop!
We were assigned to room 1312, a great location directly across from HH. We had to tap everyone's magic band to the door before we opened it for the first time in order to link each band to the room. Everyone's magic bands worked except for my dad's, but we still had KTTW cards for back-up, so he just used that. By the time we got to our room, it was after 9:30 and we were starving! I went to the resort shop and got bread, lunch meat, cheese, mayo, and some chips and dip for a quick dinner before bed. DD17 has allergies to wheat, corn, soy, and egg, so I had packed some special things for her that I knew we couldn't buy once we got there. We had originally planned for dinner at Earl of Sandwich, but the flight delay forced us to change our plans. I stayed up waiting for our luggage which was delivered around 11. I think everyone else was asleep or close to it by that point, so I just left the luggage in the hall and went to bed.
We are a family of 4-Me, DH, DD14, and DD17. We have been DVC members since 2008, with AKL being our home resort. Also along for this trip are my parents, DM 62 and DF 68.
We reserved our room approx. 6 months out after we purchased our airline tickets since we didn't know exact dates prior to that point. We stayed at OKW on a previous trip, so we knew we liked the resort. We mainly chose it over AKV for this trip because of convenience getting to the room. We have had some long walks to the room at Kidani, and we knew my mom wouldn't be able to handle that. We reserved a 2BR near HH, and requested a ground floor unit for mobility issues.
We personalized our magic bands on-line and received them approx. 1 month before our trip. We also checked in on-line a couple weeks prior to our trip.
The day of our departure, there was a serious snow storm happening. We had booked a limo to pick us up at my parents' house and take us to the airport since none of us have a vehicle that can transport 6 people plus luggage. The limo was to pick us up at 8am. We live an hour from my parents, and we left our driveway at 6:20 that morning. The roads were so bad that it took us an extra half hour to get there. We were leaving our car at DH's parents' house. Since we were running behind schedule, we drove straight to their house and my dad met us there, we transferred the luggage, and headed back across town to meet the limo driver at my parents'. We were still in DMil's driveway when the driver called to say he was there. I told him we were just dropping our car off across town and would be there to meet him in a few minutes. Meanwhile, my mom was inside finishing up a few last minute details and had no idea our ride was already waiting in front of her house!
We were back to my parents' by 8:05, and got the limo all loaded up. Not all of the luggage fit in the trunk, but there was plenty of room for the rest in the back where we were sitting. An old friend of mine from high school owns the limo company, and his dad was our driver.
Our flight was scheduled to leave from Chicago-Midway at 12:05. It should have been about a 90 minute car ride. Due to the weather, we finally arrived at the airport at 10:50. We had been checking the status of our flight on Southwest during the ride, and it was still listed as being on time, and we could see that other flights that morning had left on time. When we got up to the counter with our checked luggage, we were told that we were delayed until 1pm. We relaxed a little bit then, since we had been so rushed and were happy that we now had a chance to grab a bite to eat.
We found a seat at our gate and took turns going to get food. They made occasional announcements updating us on the status of our flight. At 1:20 we had a plane, but no pilots as they were coming in on a different flight. At 2:45, our pilots were on the ground, but they were 3rd in line waiting for a gate. Once they got off their plane, they had to complete the safety checks on our plane before we were allowed to board. We finally took off around 4pm.
We got to Orlando around 7:30, and it was close to 8 by the time we made our way to the buses. Since we were one of the first ones on the ME bus, we sat for over 30 minutes before we got to head to the resort. Thankfully OKW was the first stop!
We were assigned to room 1312, a great location directly across from HH. We had to tap everyone's magic band to the door before we opened it for the first time in order to link each band to the room. Everyone's magic bands worked except for my dad's, but we still had KTTW cards for back-up, so he just used that. By the time we got to our room, it was after 9:30 and we were starving! I went to the resort shop and got bread, lunch meat, cheese, mayo, and some chips and dip for a quick dinner before bed. DD17 has allergies to wheat, corn, soy, and egg, so I had packed some special things for her that I knew we couldn't buy once we got there. We had originally planned for dinner at Earl of Sandwich, but the flight delay forced us to change our plans. I stayed up waiting for our luggage which was delivered around 11. I think everyone else was asleep or close to it by that point, so I just left the luggage in the hall and went to bed.