It’s the top of an period for one in all our favourite underrated eating places at Walt Disney World. Olivia’s Cafe, which we way back lovingly dubbed the DVC Household Kitchen, is refurbishing its eating rooms. As a part of this challenge, the pictures from generations of friends which have been collected over time will likely be eliminated and relocated.
As fundamental background, Olivia’s Cafe is positioned within the Hospitality Home at Disney’s Outdated Key West Resort. It’s one in all our high hidden gem eating places at Walt Disney World, proper throughout the best way from Papa’s Den (pictured above), which is one in all my favourite not-so-hidden quiet spots in all of Walt Disney World. (PSA: Southernmost Buttermilk Hen because the #2 fried rooster in all of Walt Disney World, and the dish to order at Olivia’s.)
Disney’s Outdated Key West Resort was initially named Disney’s Trip Membership Resort when it opened again in 1991. As in, it was the one one and seemingly supposed to remain that manner given the identify. That rapidly modified, and it was renamed to Outdated Key West in 1996 as DVC launched into a interval of explosive progress…which by no means actually ended. In any case, OKW nonetheless has a distinct vibe than most different resorts, and longtime DVC Members are fairly protecting of it.
One of many very seen ways in which Disney’s Outdated Key West Resort differs from different properties is the massive “Household Album” of DVC Member pictures from over time, which is essentially positioned inside and outdoors Olivia’s Cafe. This can be a large a part of the explanation why I contemplate Olivia’s Cafe to be Disney Trip Membership’s Household Kitchen. The meals is a part of it, as is the backstory about Olivia Farnsworth, nevertheless it’s principally these pictures.
Whereas another DVC resorts have a number of member pictures on show, Outdated Key West is the one resort that actually embraces this, and the Household Album is on full show at Olivia’s Cafe. There are properly over 100 member pictures on show within the foyer and all through the seating space.
These date again to the early days of the membership, again when Outdated Key West was the Disney Trip Membership Resort. My favourite of those are these from the twenty fifth Anniversary of Walt Disney World, the place you may see the Cinderella Fort Cake in its full, Pepto Bismol-glory!
At the moment’s information is {that a} portion of the eating room at Olivia’s Café simply closed for a number of weeks for a routine refurbishment, throughout which the remainder of the restaurant will stay open.
As a part of this work, the picture assortment at Olivia’s Café will likely be thoughtfully relocated to new albums at Conch Flats Neighborhood Corridor, the resort’s gathering place for Disney Trip Membership Members and Friends. This transition will assist guarantee these particular reminiscences are preserved and stay accessible for Members and Friends to get pleasure from for years to return.
A few of these pictures have aged and begun to fade over time, which is probably going at the very least a part of the motivation for Walt Disney World transferring them to picture albums for perusal. It’s additionally doable that Walt Disney World is planning to offer the inside a distinct layer of thematic window-dressing. Disney has dubbed this a routine refurbishment, however there’s a good quantity that might be modified pretty merely.
This information goes to be extremely controversial with about 3% of you. From the opposite 97%, it’s going to be met with a collective shrug.
It jogs my memory a little bit of when Walt Disney World eliminated and relocated the Depart a Legacy tiles from the central plaza of EPCOT’s entrance again in 2019-2021. Throughout our protection of that, I really stopped referring to them because the EPCOT Tombstones honoring these misplaced within the Battle of the Physique Wars (that’s proper, it was each a conflict and a battle) as a result of I received so many reader complaints. I keep that it was a innocent and humorous bit, nevertheless it simply wasn’t definitely worth the trouble.
The purpose, although, is that Disney’s choice to take away Depart a Legacy was met with numerous backlash. For our half, we heard from individuals who have been upset concerning the tombstone (sorry, monolith) removing. This was a vocal minority, and the EPCOT entrance plaza appears to be like so a lot better now (the world in entrance of Spaceship Earth, not behind it), however you wouldn’t have recognized from the net response. Friends with pictures on Depart a Legacy had extra of a vested curiosity to remark than those that have been preferred the concept of a cleaner courtyard.
It’s going to be a considerably related story with the DVC “Household Album” at Outdated Key West Resort and inside Olivia’s Cafe.
Nonetheless, I’d argue that there are a number of elementary variations. The primary is that Outdated Key West is, as the unique identify urged, the OG Disney Trip Membership Resort. It’s open to most of the people, however not like EPCOT, its demographics skew disproportionately to old style Walt Disney World followers. The sort of people that recognize private little touches and nostalgia like this.
If something, it’s a heat contact which may make different non-owner friends extra inclined to hitch DVC, not much less. It’s the sort of factor signaling that Disney Trip Membership is one large completely satisfied household, as opposed to an enormous timeshare equipment. It makes folks really feel heat and fuzzy; it’s good advertising and marketing.
Lastly, household trip pictures on a wall will not be ugly in the identical manner as tombstones (sorry sorry, monoliths) that greet friends as they enter an optimistic and upbeat theme park. Images on the wall of a eating room like this are one thing you may anticipate; they’re charming and don’t make a detrimental or odd first impression.
Simply to be clear, I don’t have a canine on this combat. We should not have a household picture up at Olivia’s, so it’s not as if we’re biased in the direction of this however in opposition to the tombstones (sorry sorry sorry, monoliths). In each instances, I’d prefer to suppose I’m a impartial third celebration observer.
And my commentary is that there’s one thing about these gallery of household pictures that I really like. They tug at my heartstrings, personifying the summary idea of nostalgia. They make me consider the journeys my household took, and emphasize the “membership” facet of Disney Trip Membership.
At instances it appears like Walt Disney World is admittedly adept at emotional manipulation, however this comes throughout as actual. Like one thing some long-since-retired supervisor of Outdated Key West determined to do on a whim, with out layers of bureaucratic conferences and approvals. They simply did it.
Very like the resort itself, Olivia’s simply exudes old style Walt Disney World. And it in all probability is, as I’d hazard a guess that the choice to show a Household Album was again within the early Nineteen Nineties, as most of the pictures on show are at the very least 20 years outdated. Possibly it’s simply those my eyes gravitate in the direction of, however I’d say the vast majority of the Household Album predates the Millennium Celebration.
These pictures of random households on the wall actually resonates with me. It units the tone for the ambiance at Olivia’s Cafe, and is a contact that I recognize. It makes Olivia’s Cafe really feel private, giving DVC Members a literal and figurative seat on the desk. It’s the antithesis of a number of the newer, extra “company” areas round Walt Disney World.
In any other case, the inside of Olivia’s Cafe feels so much just like the neighborhood greasy spoon that you just may discover someplace within the Conch Republic, proper all the way down to the gathering of nautical and ocean-inspired bric-a-brac adorning the partitions.
With all of that mentioned, I may also perceive Walt Disney World’s choice to take away the pictures.
As famous above, a lot of them are a long time outdated. I don’t know the background of the gathering, however I wouldn’t be in the least stunned if it began in 1991. That’s 35 years! Disney isn’t mendacity–many have aged, are discolored and badly pale.
From Disney’s perspective, that’s in all probability a nasty look that makes the restaurant look dated to first-timers. And I’d hazard a guess that “dated” is already a standard grievance about Outdated Key West amongst informal guests. (Bear in mind, it’s not all DVC house owners; Disney rents out numerous rooms at OKW, too.)
Provided that, I get it. I don’t prefer it, however I get it. I want the answer have been to solicit new visitor pictures for a refreshed Household Album, however I may also perceive why they’d transfer away from that fully.
Like I wrote at the start, it’s the top of an period for DVC’s Household Kitchen at Walt Disney World. Typically eras finish after a very good, long term. I’m not mad about it, as I’m certain these longtime DVC Members will likely be who even have a household picture up on the wall. It’s just a bit unhappy how small vestiges of Nineteen Nineties Walt Disney World have been slowly chipped away.
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YOUR THOUGHTS
What do you consider Olivia’s Cafe at Outdated Key West? Did you just like the outdated “Household Kitchen” vibe of the inside? Or do you suppose it was too quaint and mother & pop, like one thing you’d discover in any random small city? Suppose that is completely different from the Depart a Legacy removing? Do you agree or disagree with our evaluation? Any questions we might help you reply? Listening to your suggestions–even once you disagree with us–is each attention-grabbing to us and useful to different readers, so please share your ideas under within the feedback!
