Staying at Old Key West – My Honest Review

During our recent Disney cruise vacation, we had the pleasure of staying at Disney’s Old Key West for the third time. Our dear friend Cara was amazing and treated us with her DVC points to two nights in the Grand Villa!  This is the SECOND time Cara has asked us to join her in a grand villa – the first time was Bay Lake Tower.  Guys, these places are amazing!!!!! Seriously, it’s bigger than my house!

Our villa had a full-size kitchen, laundry room, dining area, living room, balcony, three bedrooms and four bathrooms! It was crazy huge! It would be a great place to spend an extended period of time at Disney World! For our short trip, we didn’t get to really enjoy it for long, but there were 10 of us that were able to stay together, so that was incredible!

Here are a few photos from the downstairs area of the room:

As for the resort itself, there are some things that are incredible and some things I didn’t love. A lot of people call Old Key West home, as it was Disney’s original vacation club resort, and they love it so much. I think a lot of that is the nostalgia is brings. Don’t get me wrong, it has a lot of cool things, but it’s not my favorite Disney resort, mostly because of the way we do Disney.

Reasons it is a great resort:

1. First and foremost, ROOM SIZE. Every room on property is considered a villa, so even their smallest room has a lot of room in it. It is also offers the only studios to have two queen beds instead of one queen and a sleeper sofa. That makes sharing a room so much easier, particularly if you’re sharing with other adults!
2. The boat to Disney Springs. It’s a quick 15 minute boat ride over to Disney Springs, where you can enjoy shopping and dining, along with other activities! It’s so much more convenient than waiting for a bus, or even driving if you have a car.
3. Atmosphere. It is by far the most “Florida” you will feel at a resort. It really has that laid-back Key West ambiance to it! And the Gurgling Suitcase bar – the perfect place to end (or start?) every day!

Things I didn’t Love:

1. The Size – this is a huge resort, so there are many bus stops. We were near the main building area so we waited there for a bus — for almost an hour — before realizing that all the buses were full before getting to us so they were skipping us. We had to walk to another stop in order to get on a bus!
2. Lack of “Disney” – this is by far the most important to me. While you feel like you’re in Florida, you definitely feel like you’re in the keys, not in Disney! Even the rooms don’t feel “themed” and “Disney” since the theme is Florida! It loses just a little bit of magic for me!
3. Dining options. The other deluxe resorts offer some of the best restaurants in all of Disney World. Olivia’s at OKW is definitely lacking. While the food is OK at best, the prices are still on par with other restaurants and it is nowhere near as good. Even staying there, I would just head to the quick service and save yourself the money!

All in all, Old Key West offers Florida nostalgia that you can’t find anywhere else on Disney property. The room size and easy access to Disney Springs make it a great choice for larger families. For our party of 10, it was great! It’s also one of the cheapest deluxe resorts, so you can usually get a really great deal!  Would I stay here again? Absolutely!! Would I stay there if I had the choice between this and a few other deluxe resorts, probably not!

Have you ever stayed at Old Key West?  What do you think?