The we loooooove Bonnet Creek thread Part 3

[Fundytrail]

VS Deposit

$150 Single week
$300 Multiple Weeks or Villa

 

[ls3015]

Has anyone been though the vacation club sells pitch for bonnet creek, wondering how hard sell are they. Have a 3 nite 4 day sells pitch offer for $200.00. is it worth it?

 

[carlbarry]

Has anyone been though the vacation club sells pitch for bonnet creek, wondering how hard sell are they. Have a 3 nite 4 day sells pitch offer for $200.00. is it worth it?

VERY hard. No, let me correct that. VERY VERY hard. After the first salesweasel tells you you're stupid for not buying, they send in the closer. Then they send you to a guy who will supposedly take a satisfaction survey, but will try to sell you points for a vacation. When I refused there, he kept jumping up out of his seat and exclaiming, "You're just not thinking right!" And so on.

 

[ls3015]

VERY hard. No, let me correct that. VERY VERY hard. After the first salesweasel tells you you're stupid for not buying, they send in the closer. Then they send you to a guy who will supposedly take a satisfaction survey, but will try to sell you points for a vacation. When I refused there, he kept jumping up out of his seat and exclaiming, "You're just not thinking right!" And so on.

How long was your stay? Did you have the phone call invite, Did you finally buy? If not how were you treated after,

 

[carlbarry]

How long was your stay? Did you have the phone call invite, Did you finally buy? If not how were you treated after,

If memory sserves:
1. March 2006. I was at Star Island via a business gift, and suckered into going to the pitch. I think they kept me for 3 hours (I was clueless then). The pitch was very hard. But I looked around, and figured the people I saw there would never be able to pay the installments on their loan, and would have to re-sell at a lower price. I never could have conceived just how low, until I got home and looked on ebay.
2. Dec. 2006. I was obligated via above to go again on my second visit to Orlando. The sales pitch was even harder, with the young woman salesweasel showing cleavage (!), and telling me, "I know what it is, you just can't afford it, right?"
3. After that, I bought Wyndham, via Ebay, for $100, 49,000 points.
4. I went to Bonnet Creek in September 2009, and was offered a gift card to go on the "Owners Update." It made no difference that I told them I could buy on ebay for $1 what they were selling for $15,000. When I said it's been 90 minutes as they promised, and I'm not in Orlando to spend it at a sales pitch, they sent me to the next guy, who tried to sell me points that I could use for a vacation. But I did the math, and it came to about $175 a night! So I declined. He's the guy who kept jumping up and exclaiming, "You're not thinking right!" Then they sent me to a final guy, who pressured me to buy, I think, a vacation outright. When I said no, he looked disgusted, threw down the paper work, and let me go. They kept me 2.5 hours.
5. Last year I received an invitation, "as a Wyndham owner," to stay at their "beautiful new luxury hotel Wyndham Grand at Bonnet Creek," for a reduced rate, if I went to a "meeting." I bit. Once again there was a lot of pressure--and then the salesweasel angrily asked me, "If you knew you didn't want to buy more points, why did you take the offer"! But at least they kept me only an hour and 20 minutes.

 

[khertz]

VERY hard. No, let me correct that. VERY VERY hard. After the first salesweasel tells you you're stupid for not buying, they send in the closer. Then they send you to a guy who will supposedly take a satisfaction survey, but will try to sell you points for a vacation. When I refused there, he kept jumping up out of his seat and exclaiming, "You're just not thinking right!" And so on.

This about sums it up, and we are actually already Wyndham owners. We decided after our last awful experience that we will politely decline all further owners updates until we are actually ready to purchase more points. It's just not worth the incentives anymore to be made to feel like an idiot in the process.

 

[carlbarry]

This about sums it up, and we are actually already Wyndham owners. We decided after our last awful experience that we will politely decline all further owners updates until we are actually ready to purchase more points. It's just not worth the incentives anymore to be made to feel like an idiot in the process.

It's not worth BUYING anything directly from Wyndham when you see on ebay that sellers will pay closing fees and sell their timeshare for $1.

 

[JessB320]

This about sums it up, and we are actually already Wyndham owners. We decided after our last awful experience that we will politely decline all further owners updates until we are actually ready to purchase more points. It's just not worth the incentives anymore to be made to feel like an idiot in the process.

Agree!!! We are also wyndam owners. We will NEVER do an owner update in Orlando again!!! Now worth the hassle or headache.

 

[blessedby3]

Our was $300 for 2 weeks.

VS Deposit

$150 Single week
$300 Multiple Weeks or Villa

Thanks!

 

[aubriee]

How is this resort for solo travelers? I'll be down there May 10th-20th and it looks like I can get a one bedroom through Vacation Strategy for almost exactly what a room at Pop would cost me, when the Annual Pass discounts come out. When I emailed VS they gave me a quote of $896.00 for the ten nights and if AP discounts stay about the same as they have been, I should be able to get a standard room at Pop for about $879.00 for the same ten nights.

I'd be renting a car regardless of where I stayed. What would be a good location for a female solo visitor? Is the second lazy river next to tower 4 or 5? I've just found this thread today and haven't finished reading it yet. I usually stay onsite and have just never considered Bonnet Creek.

 

[JayhawkFans]

We stayed at WBC in Sept for the first time. I would have no problems with staying there as a solo female traveler.

 

[SYLVESTER7577]

How is this resort for solo travelers? I'll be down there May 10th-20th and it looks like I can get a one bedroom through Vacation Strategy for almost exactly what a room at Pop would cost me, when the Annual Pass discounts come out. When I emailed VS they gave me a quote of $896.00 for the ten nights and if AP discounts stay about the same as they have been, I should be able to get a standard room at Pop for about $879.00 for the same ten nights.

I'd be renting a car regardless of where I stayed. What would be a good location for a female solo visitor? Is the second lazy river next to tower 4 or 5? I've just found this thread today and haven't finished reading it yet. I usually stay onsite and have just never considered Bonnet Creek.

Tower 5 has the lazy river and tower 4 has a pool and two hot tubs. The resort itself seems very secure and relatively peacefull. Tower 4 & 5 both offer nice fireworks views from the upper floors. I am not sure if one bedroom units are in the upper floors though. The parking garage is also right between them. You are right next to Caribbean Beach and Pop Century can be seen from the upper floors. The resort itself is perfectly located for Disney options and Downtown Disney.

 

[momof1+1+2]

I have just left BC today after always staying on site. My vote would be for Pop. I will post my review of BC later but I would never stay there again.

 

[aubriee]

I had to pay a $300 deposit to VS, but that was deducted from my total. I would use VS again in a heartbeat, they were awesome!

I only had to pay a $150 deposit for our rental (from VS last month). Have they changed the amount? Thats double....
What have others had to pay?

Our was $300 for 2 weeks.

I wonder where the cut off is? I emailed them this morning for a quote for a one bedroom for May 10th-20th (so ten nights/eleven days) and was told the deposit would be $150.00.

They also said the balance would not be due until I got a confirmation from WBC, about 20 days out. I prefer to have everything prepaid. Would they let me pay the total now?

 

[rileyroosmom]

Add me to the list that loooooves Bonnet Creek! Just returned yesterday from a 7 night stay. I booked through Vacation Strategies in the spring and they were quick and easy to deal with. Called BC about a week before arriving and requested upper floor lake or fireworks view.

Arrived 11/17 at 1:30. Checked in but room wasn't ready. Received a call within 1 hour saying room was ready. Had to get back in line to receive key (which was kinda a pain). Gentleman checking me said he had my request and my unit was both a lake view and firework view! Tower 1 room 626.

Elevator was super fast (and was all week). Room was first on the left. The view was perfect. Could see Epcot ball through the trees and great fireworks at night. The unit was great. I traveled with myself, fiance and 2 kids 11 and 15. They shared the 2nd room with 2 full beds, flat screen and a nice size closet with hangers. They didn't unpack but there were plenty of draws to do so. There was a door to the bathroom through the room and it was a nice size bathroom. Master bedroom was big with a king size bed. Gigantic bathroom. There were 2 closets in the bathroom. One for hanging and one like a linen closet. This unit did not have the half wall separating the tub, it was a full wall which I liked better. The room with the shower, toilet and sink was huge. Shower was great, glass doors and very roomy. Tub with jacuzzi was deep and big enough for two. There is a dresser in the room with plenty of draw space, but I didn't unpack.

The unit could have used a little sprucing up I thought. It was painted all yellow which was drab and the carpet had some stains, but I've seen worse in hotels. Couch looked new. Had granite counter-tops in kitchen. The kitchen was a nice size and had everything you could need. I never cooked, but it was great to have fridge and microwave. Used the washer almost daily. It was so nice to have. Threw stuff in the morning and dried it at night.

Balcony was very big. 4 chairs and 2 side tables. Sat out there and ate breakfast and at night if we were back, drank hot chocolate and watched the fireworks. Could see Pop Century as well as Carri bean Beach resort. Spoke to the pizza guy on site who said that right above our unit was an observation deck for the fireworks. Never checked it out, but he might have been right since I always saw flashes coming from above during fireworks.

The units were very quite, never heard outside noise and music played at the pool till at least 9 if not later. Tower 1 is next to bus stop. Didn't use buses but always saw people there. My kids played ping pong a few times, 25 cents for a ball and one night we did mini golf which was free. There was a pool table and an x-box in the rec center. I know you could also rent movies. Used the pool only one time. It was very nice. There are lots of activities at the resort. Was given a schedule at check in. Face painting, ice cream social, karaoke, balloon making, bubble activities and more that I can't remember. We didn't take advantage of any of it. Thanksgiving morning there was a turkey trot type thing around the race. Didn't know about it, but lots of people did. Watched them run for awhile, admiring their stamina! LOL

When we checked in, the guy never sent us for the parking pass. I unplugged the phone and when I plugged it back in when leaving I had 2 messages. 1 welcoming me and 1 with an activity time check. No calls about a presentation.

My negatives are few. The night we played golf, a bunch of preteens were playing. No parents in sight and they were running around there crazy. I don't know if that happens a lot of if it was a one time thing. We took our garbage to the garbage room two times. Both times people just left there bags next to the shoot, didn't put them in. Annoying. The people in the units across the hall from us did a lot of cooking and you could smell the food in the hallway; Not a big deal, reminded me of apartment living. Could never find a luggage cart the whole time we were there. Drove around the property one night. I liked our locations, the other side, towers 5 & 6 looked very busy and there was a parking garage. Didn't like the look of that side, but that's just me. Tower 1 seemed much quieter.

My positives: Unbelievable price for the accommodations. $650 for the week. I doubt I'll ever stay on site again. Why cram 4 people into a tiny room? No washer/dryer, balcony, king bed, kitchen....just doesn't make sense to stay in a hotel. BC is on Disney property. Stacy was on tv which made kids happy! Took minutes to get to the parks. Stayed for Wishes one night and was back, in bed, in less than 1 hour. Thought that was great. Amenities were great, wish it was warmer to of had pool time. I just really enjoyed the place and would go back for sure. Parking was never a problem and it was steps away from from door of building.

Thanks for this thread. I never would have known about Bonnet Creek if it wasn't for this thread.

 

[Photobee]

We stayed at Bonnet Creek for the first time Nov 9-16, using my dad's timeshare. We arrived late at night check in night (around 9:30-10pm). Apparently our reservation wasn't in their system, but was on the mainframe computer (or something like that, it was confusing). My dad is a high up owner, and had booked us a presidential unit at the earliest possible time. I had my printed confirmation and after a LONG wait, finally got us booked into a room. (apparently he had to call around to see what was available, since there was, "little availability right now"). I reminded him of my request for a fireworks or even lake view, and that our room was supposed to have all 3 bedrooms together (there are 2 floor plans, one where all 3 bedrooms are together, and the other where 2 bedrooms are together and the master is on the opposite side of the unit). He basically blew me off saying, "yeah yeah", checked us in and sent me over to get our parking pass.

Of course we weren't in the computers yet, so she just took down our name and asked if we were owners. After I said no, she went through a little spew about wanting us to see the amenities and having a "tour", I quickly said I wasn't interested and she gave me my parking pass and a special gift- a sample packet (with a coupon attached to one of the items that expired in 2010! oops!) she was about to dismiss me, when I asked if she had a map of the area or a list of activities available. No to the map- you'd have to check on a disney property (we never did get one of these), and the activities list was available at the activities counter.

Parking was a pain. We were at building 6, which shares a parking garage with the hotel (I believe). since we arrived so late, everything was filled up. Your best bet is level 2 or 3 in the garage. Just know, you'll have to park, take an elevator to level 1 of the parking garage, THAN walk through the hotel to go up the resort elevator.

We arrived at our room, and you guessed it...nothing was as it should be! We were on level 15 (out of 19...I asked, i wanted to make sure we weren't on the very top floor!) We had a view of the parking area and could see Downtown Disney (which our girls thought was cool). The bedrooms were split apart- not the best with small kids, but nothing much we could do!

Aside from all our check in issues, we loved the resort! The girls and I explored one afternoon, while my hubby napped. We went to the lazy river and pool near us, and walked not even half way around the resort. The girls would have loved more time spent at the resort to play, but there's always next time! We loved having to go onto Disney property to enter or leave the resort! We didn't feel removed from the Disney magic, but a part of it! It was super easy getting everywhere, and we had a great vacation! It started out rough and frustrating, but ended up as a wonderful getaway!

 

[Photobee]

Oh, noises....I think that level 15 may have had the showroom units, since we had a LOT of activity on our floor, but it seemed to be salespitch activity. We could hear a truck or 2 from outside, but it wasn't a huge issue. Suitcases and water was another issue. If the unit above us rolled their suitcase along the floor in the living room/ kitchen/ dining room area, we could hear it. This only made us more aware to not roll ours around at bad times. We could also hear water from their bathroom. But since all of these sounds only occured early morning or around the time we were going to bed, it was fine.

elevators were super fast and never crowded. Building 6 had 6 elevators and even being on level 15, we hardly ever had to stop at another floor for anyone!

We thought our unit was beautiful and would have lived there, had they let us!

 

[DCTooTall]

I'm sure this topic has probably come up before but I was not able to find an answer when searching. Looking into booking at the WBC and I see included with the quote from what seems to be a respectable outside source a significant confirmation fee. Is this a legit fee?, am I being duped?, or is it just the price of doing business and is something you just have to bear? Thanks

Others have mentioned their experience with one renter.

In general though, different renters will do things differently. Since this isn't a deal like a hotel with multiple resellers like Hotels.com/Orbitz/Expedia, etc who just work with a set rate set by the hotel.... and is instead owners basically using the time they own to rent and therefore set their own rental fees (based off their cost of business), you see different owners/renters charging different rates based off their costs, desired profit margins, and whatever other policies they may have in place. Ultimately, when renting a reservation at Wyndham Bonnet Creek, You will end up shopping between commercial renters for both price, as well as their policies (such as payment schedules, deposits, refund/cancelation policies, etc).

That said, Wyndham does charge several fees to owners that depending upon the renter, they may end up passing along the costs to you. The 2 direct fees that are most likely to end up being passed along would be the Guest Confirmation Certificate fee (owners receive some guest confirmations free with their ownership, based upon their level of ownership), and the Reservation transaction fee (The cost to actually book the reservation....Again, Owners get a certain number of transactions free with their ownership, with owners with larger ownership interests getting more transactions included free).

How is this resort for solo travelers? I'll be down there May 10th-20th and it looks like I can get a one bedroom through Vacation Strategy for almost exactly what a room at Pop would cost me, when the Annual Pass discounts come out. When I emailed VS they gave me a quote of $896.00 for the ten nights and if AP discounts stay about the same as they have been, I should be able to get a standard room at Pop for about $879.00 for the same ten nights.

I'd be renting a car regardless of where I stayed. What would be a good location for a female solo visitor? Is the second lazy river next to tower 4 or 5? I've just found this thread today and haven't finished reading it yet. I usually stay onsite and have just never considered Bonnet Creek.

I'm a guy, but I stayed there solo several times, either for the entirety of my trip, or just a part of it until friends were able to join me. I've never had any issues or felt out of place.

The 2nd lazy river connects to the zero entry pool from Tower 5, but there is a stairway entrance by the tower 4 pool area entrance. Tower 4's pool area is a bit more "adult" than tower 5 since it's not a zero entry pool, has a couple hot tubs around the pool, and of course.... is home to one of the pool bars.


Parking Garage is between Tower 4 and 5. I always park in the garage when I'm in either tower since it's easy to find a spot someplace in the garage no matter what time of night I get back to the resort, and it keeps my car out of the direct sunlight in the morning so I don't come back to an oven.


As for staying at the POP or WBC.... i'd probably vote for WBC just because it's a much nicer/larger room than the POP. Then again, I'm the type who just can't justify the onsite experience for the costs they charge. [the "disney magic" at the resort isn't enough to me to justify the extra cost, especcially since I don't normally spend a ton of time around the resort]. I do like the in-room kitchen and laundry at the WBC too, even solo. It makes it much easier to store leftovers if I can't eat all my dinner and then just reheat it later.... or pack less and then just run the laundry while I'm out and about since I don't have a ton to wash with just me.

 

[DSLRuser]

but I brought my laptop and I used a hardwire to the port on the telephone in the kitchen. I don't like public WiFi anyway. .

Just so you are aware, from a security standpoint, the wired connection on the phone poses a greater risk to your computer than the wifi does.

When I was there a few years ago (2009) we had a great time browseing other peoples computers on the network. All the internet ports for each building are connected to 1 big subnet. So any public folder on you laptop, or any shared folders are easily visible unless you take the time to correctly set up your firewall.

I can tell you this, most people do not know how to properly lock down their pc for a public network.

We always bring our own hardware router (for wireless). Gives us an extra firewall between our stuff and the public network, and allows our own full strength wifi.

 

[The Iron Giant]

Is there a hair dryer in the bathrooms at WBC?

Thanks!