Hello and welcome to my Dopey Challenge 2025 trip report! Today we’ll consider Disney’s Old Key West Resort in its function as a runDisney race weekend accommodation. Read all the entries in this report here. Onward!
There’s more than one way to reserve a Disney resort hotel room. Maybe you can’t afford Disney Vacation Club’s buy-in costs (I know I can’t). That’s okay – turns out you can rent DVC points!
And depending on which room and resort you want, it can be quite the deal. When selecting a room for Dopey 2025, I priced out some DVC points rentals and then started to do the same for regular resort rooms… only to find that even All Star resorts were so close that the question was immaterial. Add to that the fact that DVC resorts are deluxe tier (Hot tubs! Full-service restaurants! Extended evening hours!), and points rental felt like a no-brainer.
We originally had hoped to find our way into the new Fort Wilderness Cabins, but not enough people even owned points to rent yet. After some discussion, we ultimately landed on a one bedroom villa in Old Key West. Split between four people the price was reasonable, and we’d have lots of space.
But how does it do as a runDisney race hub? Glad you asked! Let’s start with a bit of a resort overview, and then we’ll dig into what it all means to the race weekend runner.
THE ONE BEDROOM VILLA AT OLD KEY WEST
I’m not going to do a 1000% comprehensive, totally granular review of the rooms at Old Key West. (I bet Disney In Your Day will so make sure you give her a follow!) In order to make the re: running portion make sense, however, I feel like a top level overview will provide necessary context. We’ll do a quick-run through first:
Old Key West’s one bedroom villa is essentially an apartment. You enter via a short hallway that opens up to the living area. This part of the unit is open plan, combining seating and a full kitchen. The couch and armchair unfold into a queen bed and twin bed respectively. The loveseat is just a loveseat. The television is mounted to the back of the kitchen island.
The other main area is the bedroom, the setup of which is pretty pedestrian. You do get a king bed, and in our unit you also got direct access to the balcony. For some reason there’s also a chair here in a space that could’ve easily been a fold-down twin bed. Anyone else feel like Disney discourages larger groups staying in rooms that could easily accommodate them? Although in the case of Old Key West, at least you get the sleeper chair.
The one bedroom villa has its own en suite laundry room, which is pretty sweet.
There’s also a weird sort of double-bathroom-but-not-really situation. There is a bathroom, and then there is what we dubbed the Bath Room. The spacious bathroom has a walk-in shower, toilet, and counter with sink.
(Dash it all, Tibbs, I seem to have neglected to photograph the toilet. Ours was to the left of the shower and looked like a toilet.)
The Bath Room has a jacuzzi tub, counter with sink, and the closet (find blankets and pillows for the foldouts here). For some reason Disney does not see fit to bless us with a second toilet. Also, there’s no door between the Bath Room and the bedroom? Very curious. (I’m told not all units have two bathroom exits; perhaps this is related.)
Finally, there’s a lovely balcony/patio area with a table and chairs if you care for al fresco dining. We had a fantastic view of the lake, plus one of the holes of the golf course. I found entertainment in watching golfer guys hit their balls into the water, walk up to the edge to confirm that yes, it was irretrievably in the water, and walk away again.
TRANSPORTATION
Trip cohort Kate is a DVC wiz and called in some room requests for us. As such, we were lucky enough to enjoy a room in a building extremely close to the main resort building(s). This includes the restaurant, gift shop, bar, and primary bus stop.
I say primary because Old Key West is one of those sprawling Disney resorts that is too big for a single bus stop. There are I believe three additional internal bus stops before the bus reaches the main resort area, after which you will continue on to your destination.
In addition to potentially adding some time to your transport, this means that you’re rarely climbing onto an empty bus. Hopefully you shed as many people as you add, but that’s probably not the case during prime morning and evening park hours.
This also means that if you’re on the opposite side of the resort, you’ll end up with a hike to the main pool, Olivia’s Cafe, etc. You can always wait for a bus, but depending on circumstances that may not save you much time.
On the flip side, there is both a walking path (albeit a long one) and boat launch transport to Disney Springs! Normally I’m an avid believer in walking paths, but the boat launch showed up with such frequency and was right by our building; it seemed like a no-brainer to stick with that. I would say the average trip was around fifteen minutes. Bonus ride!
AMENITIES
Old Key West has just about anything you’d expect from the average Walt Disney World deluxe resort. They don’t have anything remarkable (like, say, the Grand Floridian does), but they play you all the hits. You have a sit down restaurant, fitness center, and most importantly, a hot tub.
They do have a few less common features as well. Next to the hot tub is a sauna, for starters. Since it’s a DVC resort, there’s a community hall with activities like tie-dye and similar crafts throughout the day. I also saw bike rentals advertised, although I never saw that perk used. Oh, and as I mentioned above, there’s an on site golf course if that’s your sort of thing. Please hit a ball into the water in my honor.
OLD KEY WEST ELEMENTS RE runDISNEY RACE WEEKENDS: THE PROS
Now you have the shape and feel of Old Key West – but how, specifically, does it function as a runDisney race weekend home base? I’ll approach this question through the lens of the one bedroom villa, as this is what we had. Check the website for other room types and their associated amenities.
Let’s start with the pros: there is a lot of space. Depending on whether you like to split rooms with others and how many, this may be a selling point. We had four people and never felt like we were in each other’s way. Plus you can fit an additional person in the pullout chair, either giving more people their own bed or allowing for a fifth occupant.
Similarly, there are plenty of mirrors and counter space. One of my complaints about regular Disney rooms is that many to most of them have one mirror in the bathroom and that’s it. If you have a group that needs to get ready concurrently – particularly in a race situation where time is of the essence – more mirrors and counter space are a boon.
You get a full kitchen, complete with anything you might find at home. No mini fridges or hot plates here! If you’d prefer to have complete control over your nutrition, you could easily cook like you were in your own house with the provided appliances, cutlery, etc. Even if you don’t want to cook, having a regular size fridge with freezer is great for leftovers, and it’s nice to have a table to eat them at too.
Here’s a big perk of upgrading from a studio: an in room washer and dryer. It was absolutely lovely to be able to clean our dirty running clothes right in our room and pack them away clean. You could even reuse items during a challenge if you’re trying to cram everything into a carryon.
With the combination of the walking path and boat service, it’s exceptionally easy and pleasant to get to Disney Springs. Suddenly discover you need athletic socks or running pants? Not a problem – head to Uniqlo, or Lululemon, or Fit2Run, or Fabletics, or…
Similarly, you have the breadth of Disney Springs restaurants available for your prerace meals, no park ticket required.
I was pleased with the race bus situation at Old Key West. After my experience staying at Wilderness Lodge for last year’s Princess Half, I had sort of assumed sporadic busses were a deluxe resort thing. However, there was a long line of busses waiting for us every morning. To be fair, OKW is a much larger resort than Wilderness Lodge, but it was still reassuring.
Old Key West also had some small touches scattered around the resort expressly for runners. At one point there was a table set up by the race bus drop off where a Cast Member was handing out beads and crazy straws and pins. There was also a runner area by the hot tub, featuring fruit, yoga mats for stretching, and some cute photo op props.
Lastly, Old Key West is generally pretty quiet. There wasn’t a ton of foot traffic. I don’t actively remember hearing loud voices at any point. Of course, we were on the second floor, but that never stopped sound leaking at the All Stars or Pop.
Which is a solid segue to…
OLD KEY WEST ELEMENTS RE runDISNEY RACE WEEKENDS: THE CONS
On to the cons, because while Old Key West quiet, it’s not completely quiet. The resort is near Epcot, which means at 9pm you can both see and hear the LuminoUS fireworks. Quite nifty on the balcony if you’re hanging out! Not ideal if it’s the right before a race and you went to bed at 8pm. This isn’t an Old Key Wesy-specific problem – most resorts are within hearing distance of some park’s fireworks – but if you’re concerned, you might want to pick a hotel closer to the edges of Walt Disney World.
This isn’t much of an imposition, but Old Key West shares its race busses with Saratoga Springs. The morning busses went to both resorts for the 5K and 10K, OKW to Saratoga. For the half and full marathons, the morning busses headed straight to Epcot from OKW, but the return busses went to OKW first and Saratoga second, a similarly giant resort. Yay, we’re first both times! It does, however, mean that return bus lines can be long.
I adored Old Key West’s transportation options to Disney Springs, and the comparatively quick hops to the expo and race staging area. That being said, I never once stepped foot in a park. As noted above, the bus system at this sizable accommodation is multifaceted. If I planned to do a lot of park touring on top of my race, I might look for a room that’s a little more central to the main gates. What can I say; I’m a Skyliner snob.
On a related note, Old Key West needs those internal bus stops because it’s so darn big. Race weekend participants are already racking up tons of steps during their events. They may or may not have much enthusiasm for additional cross-resort treks to get to the race busses from their room and, perhaps more so, back.
WOULD I STAY AT OLD KEY WEST FOR A RACE AGAIN?
I was exceptionally pleased with our stay at Old Key West. The relaxed vibes were just right for the Dopey Challenge trip I envisioned. For a more parks-centric itinerary, I’d probably select a different command center. When the races are the star events, though, Old Key West is stellar.
Don’t forget, you can follow FRoA on Threads @fairestrunofall and on Instagram @fairestrunofall. If you have any questions or thoughts, leave a comment or email fairestrunofall@gmail.com. See ya real soon!
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