One of our beloved underappreciated restaurants at Walt Disney World is closing out a new era. Olivia’s Cafe, which we long before tenderly dubbed the DVC Family Kitchen, is refurbishing its dining areas. The images from years of visitors that have been collected over the years may be taken and relocated as part of this task.
The Hospitality House at Disney’s Old Key West Resort is where Olivia’s Shop is located, essentially. It’s one of our top hidden gem restaurants at Walt Disney World, right across the way from Papa’s Den ( pictured above ), which is one of my favorite not-so-hidden quiet spots in all of Walt Disney World. ( PSA ) Southernmost Buttermilk Chicken is Olivia’s ‘ recommended fried chicken for Walt Disney World’s# 2 franked dish.
When it first opened in 1991, Disney’s Old Key West Resort was known as Disney’s Vacation Club Resort. As in, it was the only one and evidently intended to stay that way given the name. That immediately changed, and as DVC embarked on a period of explosive growth that never really ended, it was renamed Old Key West in 1996. In any case, OKW has a different feeling than most other accommodations, and its long-standing DVC members are incredibly safe of it.
One of the very obvious way that Disney’s Old Key West Resort varies from other components is the big” Family Album” of DVC Member images from over the years, which is generally located inside and outside Olivia’s Cafe. Olivia’s Cafe is regarded as Disney Vacation Club’s Family Kitchen in large part due to this fact. It includes the foods and Olivia Farnsworth’s history, but it also includes those images.
While some additional DVC hotels have a several part images on screen, Old Key West is the only hotel that actually embraces this, and the Family Album is on full screen at Olivia’s Cafe. In the hall and the entire furniture area, there are also over one hundred associate photos on display.
These date back to the club’s beginnings, when Old Key West was the Disney Vacation Club Resort. My favorite of these are those from the 25th Anniversary of Walt Disney World, where you can view the Cinderella Castle Cake in its whole, Pepto Bismol-glory!
The dining area at Olivia’s Café recently closed for a few months for a regular renovation, while the rest of the establishment may be available.
The image set at Olivia’s Café may be deliberately relocated to fresh tracks at Conch Flats Community Hall, the hotel’s gathering spot for Disney Vacation Club Users and Guests, as part of this work. This move will help maintain these special recollections are preserved and remain available for Members and Guests to enjoy for years to come.
Some of these photos have gotten older and started to fade over the years, which is likely a result of Walt Disney World moving them to photo albums for viewing. Additionally, it’s possible that Walt Disney World intends to add a different layer of thematic window-dressing to the interior. Disney has dubbed this a routine refurbishment, but there’s a decent amount that could be changed fairly simply.
With about 3 % of you, this news will be very contentious. It will be met with a collective shrug from the other 97 %.
It reminds me a bit of when Walt Disney World removed and relocated the Leave a Legacy tiles from the central plaza of EPCOT’s entrance back in 2019-2021. Because I received so many reader complaints during our coverage of that, I actually stopped calling them the EPCOT Tombstones in honor of those who lost in the Battle of the Body Wars (yes, it was both a war and a battle ). Although I think it was a harmless and entertaining bit, I don’t think it was worth the trouble.
The point, though, is that Disney’s decision to remove Leave a Legacy was met with a lot of backlash. For our part, we’ve heard from people who were upset about having the tombstone ( sorry, monolith ) removed. You wouldn’t have known from the online reaction that this was a vocal minority, and the EPCOT entrance plaza now looks so much better ( the area in front of Spaceship Earth, not behind it ). Guests with photos on Leave a Legacy had more of a vested interest to comment than those who were liked the idea of a cleaner courtyard.
It’s going to be a somewhat similar story to the DVC” Family Album” at Old Key West Resort and Olivia’s Cafe.
However, I’d argue that there are a few fundamental differences. The first is that Old Key West is, as the original name suggested, the OG Disney Vacation Club Resort. Although it is accessible to the general public, EPCOT’s demographics are disproportionately geared toward the younger, more traditional Walt Disney World fans. the type of people who enjoy sentimentalization and small details like this.
If anything, it’s a warm touch that might make other non-owner guests more inclined to join DVC, not less. It’s the kind of thing that sends the message that Disney Vacation Club is just one happy family, not a sizable timeshare machine. It’s good marketing because it makes people feel warm and fuzzy.
Finally, family vacation photos on a wall are not ugly in the same way as tombstones ( sorry sorry, monoliths ) that greet guests as they enter an optimistic and upbeat theme park. Photos like those on this dining room’s wall are as you might expect; they’re charming and don’t leave you with a bad or strange impression.
Just to be clear, I don’t have a dog in this conflict. We do not have a family photo up at Olivia’s, so it’s not as if we’re biased towards this but against the tombstones ( sorry sorry sorry, monoliths ). I want to assume that I am a neutral third party observer in both situations.
And what I noticed was that there was a quality to these collection of family photos. They tug at my heartstrings, personifying the abstract concept of nostalgia. They emphasize the” club” aspect of Disney Vacation Club and make me think about the trips my family has taken.
Walt Disney World occasionally seems to be very good at manipulating emotions, but this comes across as real. Like something some long-since-retired manager of Old Key West decided to do on a whim, without layers of bureaucratic meetings and approvals. They simply carried it out.
Olivia’s resembles the resort itself, and it just radiates out of Walt Disney World. And it probably is, as I’d hazard a guess that the decision to display a Family Album was back in the early 1990s, as most of the photos on display are at least 20 years old. The majority of the Family Album, in my opinion, was pre-Millennium Celebration, which may be the ones my eyes gravitate toward.
These images of random families that appear on the wall really make a statement to me. It sets the tone for the ambiance at Olivia’s Cafe, and is a touch that I appreciate. DVC Members have a literal and figurative seat at the table thanks to Olivia’s Cafe’s personal atmosphere. It contrasts favorably with some of the more recent,” corporate” areas close to Walt Disney World.
Otherwise, the interior of Olivia’s Cafe feels a lot like the neighborhood greasy spoon that you might find somewhere in the Conch Republic, right down to the collection of nautical and ocean-inspired bric-a-brac adorning the walls.
Having said that, I can understand Walt Disney World’s decision to remove the photos.
Many of them are decades old, as noted above. I don’t know the background of the collection, but I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if it started in 1991. That’s 35 years old! Disney isn’t lying; many of its employees have aged, are stained, and have severely faded.
From Disney’s perspective, that’s probably a bad look that makes the restaurant look dated to first-timers. And I’d venture a guess that casual visitors to Old Key West already complain about it frequently about being “dated.” ( Not all DVC owners are DVC owners; Disney also rents out a lot of rooms at OKW. )
Given that, I get it. Although I don’t like it, I understand it. I’d prefer to see a refreshed Family Album solicit fresh guest photos, but I don’t understand why they would completely reject that.
Like I wrote at the beginning, it’s the end of an era for DVC’s Family Kitchen at Walt Disney World. After a successful, lengthy run, eras occasionally come to an end. I’m not angry about it because I’m certain those long-standing DVC members are those who actually have a family photo displayed on the wall. It’s just a little sad how small vestiges of 1990s Walt Disney World have been slowly chipped away.
Are you planning a trip to Walt Disney World? On our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page, learn more about lodging. For where to eat, read our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. Read our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post to learn how to save money on purchasing new tickets or decide which kind to purchase. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips post examines some clever travel items. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will help. The Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide is the best place to start for detailed information.
YOUR RESPONSIBILITY
What do you think of Olivia’s Cafe at Old Key West? Did you like the interior’s vintage” Family Kitchen” feel? Or do you believe it to be too quaint and pop-like, like you might find in any ordinary small town? Think this is different from the Leave a Legacy removal? Do you concur or disagree with our assessment? Any inquiries that we can assist you with? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
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