I want to start off my Disney trip series with a review of our resort , Old Key West. It was the first part of the Disney Property that we saw and spent time at. It was a great home base and we loved the resort so much!
My friend, Mary Ellen, surprised me a month or two before the trip with this resort. We were originally going to stay at the All-Star Music and I was hyped up to stay there because of all the pictures I’ve seen with the incorporation of the classic Disney characters that I grew up with being prominently featured. Honestly, I didn’t care that much where I stayed because it was only going to be the place where we slept and recovered from our days at the parks (I was so wrong with that assumption, but more on that later!). However, through tons of research and reading some tips and tricks, Mary Ellen was able to book us at Old Key West Resort. I ended up loving Old Key West so much more than I would have All-Star Music!
Here’s how we ended up at one of Disney Resort Villas:
To book Old Key West, we used a DVC (Disney Vacation Club) points rental service to rent points that a DVC owner wasn’t going to use. They just happened to live in Europe and a combination of a newborn baby in the family and just coming out of strict travel restrictions with COVID meant they weren’t going to use their points before they expired. The renter booked the resort in Mary Ellen’s name and everything was smooth sailing from there. The reservation showed up in our trip itinerary on the app. We were able to do mobile check in to bypass checking in at the front desk and use our apps to unlock the door. The best part is that we got to stay at a deluxe resort for a value resort price!
Pro tip: If you do decide to rent DVC points to book a Deluxe Resort stay, make sure to use a rental service so that the renter is vetted (we recommend David’s DVC Rentals).
As soon as we stepped into Old Key West, it felt like we were at a lovely beach resort in the Keys. We were transported to another world! We were still close enough to the parks–we were close enough to Epcot to see the Fireworks from their nightly show from our patio. The Lake Buena Vista Golf course weaved through the resort property as well. We saw golfers from our patio and on the walk from the front of the resort to our suite. The entire resort was open and even had cute picnic tables set up by the lake where you could take a ferry over to Disney Springs.
The rooms themselves were very spacious and airy. The bathroom was had a coastal feel and, honestly, design goals. Between you and me, I definitely took a picture for inspiration for when I started looking for a house to buy after the trip. We each had a comfortable queen bed and shared a sitting area in the corner across the room that we used to put our souvenirs and purchases on to keep them out of the way from us getting ready in the mornings and evenings.
Housekeeping only came once during our stay at the resort because of Covid restrictions and the fact that we were staying at a Disney Vacation Club resort. I felt was very environmentally friendly as I wasn’t feeling like I was wasting towels with only one shower per towel and it felt more like I was actually living there instead of being there temporarily as you feel in other hotels.
This hotel also featured four pools on the property. There’s the main pool that has a 125 foot sandcastle slide with a kiddie pool nearby. There are also three other smaller ones throughout the property. We ended up only enjoying the main pool because that was the one that was closest to our room. Plus, we wanted to go down the slide! That slide was one of the smoothest slides I have ever gone on outside of a big name water park. We never got stuck on it at any time and is the perfect size for all ages. I also loved that the design at the slide opening was in the shape of a Mickey Mouse. The fact that the pool was salt water added another element of luxury and wasn’t harsh on my skin. Even though there were a few groups at the pool with us, we had no issues with the area feeling crowded or noisy. The pool was very spacious and allowed us to have our own area to relax.
Old Key West Resort does have an on site table service restaurant called Olivia’s Cafe. The food was so good! I saw on Instagram that one of my friends that used to work at Disney World loved the fried chicken there and both Mary Ellen and I have to agree. Its a southern fried chicken lathered with white gravy paired with green beans, mashed potatoes and a biscuit making it the perfect Southern meal.
Reservations for this cafe filled up very quickly, so we did a mobile order at the to go section of the restaurant and took it back to our room after our day at Universal. We enjoyed the delicious food on the porch. Mobile order was such an easy process (that we used all throughout our trip) that we ended up doing the same thing for breakfast on the day that we decided to sleep in before going to Typhoon Lagoon.
We also purchased the $22 reusable resort mugs that ended up being our favorite “souvenir” purchase of the trip. With the reusable mugs, you get unlimited refills for the fountain machine at any Disney owned and operated resort (nor just the one you’re staying at!) every 20 minutes. We would fill our drinks up in the morning with Diet Coke before heading to the parks and would get a refill when we returned to the resort at the end of the day. We even used it for a much needed Diet Coke refill at the Grand Floridian resort on our last day at Disney World as well!
Overall I was highly impressed with this resort. The cast members were wonderful and we had great interactions with them, which ended up becoming a theme of our trip. If you’re looking for a nicer resort but also don’t want to pay the price of staying at a deluxe resort (particularly ones on the monorail or skyliner routes), I recommend this one. I will definitely want to make Old Key West Resort the main resort I stay at when I go back to Disney in the future.
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