....and tried real hard not to hate it.
Please keep in mind that this was our experience at this particular point in time. We are DVC members who ran out of points. We used our American Express points to add on 5 nights at Bonnet Creek (not a small number....there are 6 of us and we had a 2 bedroom unit).
We had an early flight down and checked into the resort around 11:00 am. We did not expect our room to be ready and it wasn't. They said they would call us when it was ready. Great! Not a big deal as we had a rental van and annual passes; we headed to Magic Kingdom. As the day goes by, we periodically check the phones....no message from Bonnet Creek. We leave MK before the fireworks to avoid the rush. We get to check in around 10:00. The store is closed, which surprised me because I'm used to DVC resort stores being open later. I was hoping to get milk for breakfast the next day, but not a big deal. We check in and asked why we didn't receive a phone call. The lady at the desk had no answer and apologized. Okay. We had to go over to the other desk for our parking tag. No pressure to sit through a time share presentation, thank goodness. She did ask if we were interested in more information and I politely declined. That was the extent of the discussion.
Our room was in Building 6....Terra Sol. We were told to use the parking garage if we couldn't find a ground level spot. We wind our way around and sure enough we need to used the parking garage. The sign on the gate says use your room key. Um, no, that doesn't work. We swipe it multiple times and have to press the call button twice to get someone to manually lift the gate. We park, unload, and head into the building. We were never told there was a hotel part to building 6 and a timeshare part to building 6, and the signage was not helpful. I head to the lobby which turns out to be the hotel part. The desk clerk there says to walk back the way we came, go down a level and into the other building. At this point, it's close to 10:30 and I'm tired. I gave him a look and he walked us to where we needed to be. I double checked the signs to see if I missed something. No, I read the signs correctly...there is nothing saying "time share building this way."
We head to our room - 6104 - first floor. Yeah! No waiting for elevators. Boo...it's right on the parking lot and we hear cars and see headlights. <sigh> I unfold the sofa bed to set it up for DD17. I find the sheets, or so I thought. There is a mattress pad for a twin sized bed, 2 pillows with no cases, and a blanket. No sheets. I head to the front desk to ask for some (why call when I can walk a few feet). I told the gentleman at the front desk that I needed sheets and a correctly sized mattress pad. I also asked how long it might take. He had no idea. I explained that I was very tired and that this was the third problem with the resort since we arrived that morning, could he please try and find out for me. He did...we were 3rd in line to have linens delivered. When he found out there were 6 of us in the unit, he got additional toiletries without being asked. That was very thoughtful of him and I thanked him. The linens were delivered quicker than I expected, we make the bed and get some sleep.
We sleep in the next day and head out for breakfast around 10:00. We tried for the buffet place but no one was at the podium. There was a family in front of us who had already been waiting. The restaurant was only 1/3 full with no employees to be seen. We gave up and went to Starbucks. DH was happy with the coffee, but I was hoping for more than a muffin. I figured it would just be an early lunch in the parks. We get in our van and try to leave. The room key still does not work in the parking garage machine and we have to press the button for service. Someone answers on the first buzz and we escape, I mean leave....
We get back to the room that night and find a parking spot in the regular lot. Yeah! The room is fine and we decide to just get breakfast out for the duration of our time at Bonnet Creek. The next night, we need to park in the garage and the room key still does not work. We get buzzed in and stop at the front desk to ask why our room key doesn't work. Apparently, the time share side needs a separate parking garage key; the room key only works for the hotel guests. What?!? Why weren't we told that when we checked in??? They knew we were staying in the timeshare portion. How hard can this be. Very annoyed and not happy.
The next to last morning, we get a phone call at 9:00 am. I'm still dozing because I've been out late at the parks and I'm on vacation and don't have to walk 2 dogs early in the morning. The phone call was the front desk asking if I needed bell services to help us with our luggage before checking out. What? I responded by saying that I was under the impression we were checking out the next day. The man on the other end checked his records and apologized...he called the wrong room. The next morning when we really were checking out, no phone call to offer bell services. We didn't need bell services because we pack pretty light, but it showed me how inconsistent the front desk was.
On a general note, we really didn't get a map of the resort. They gave us a really bad photocopy of the overall layout of the resort (lots of flyspecs, if you know what I mean) that only took up half the page. It basically showed us where we checked in and where our building was located. I had no idea where the pool was (we never used it). We did eventually see it through a door, but on the next to last day. We only tried to find restaurants that first day and decided it was easier to eat on Disney property.
The other thing that bothered us throughout our entire stay was the general behavior of the staff. No one was rude, but they weren't friendly either. We would be the only ones in the lobby (there are 6 of us), walking right past the front desk staff (on both sides), and everyone was busy staring at their computer screens. It didn't matter if it was morning, afternoon, or evening. No one looked up, said hello, asked how our stay was. Nada, zip, nothing. By the third day, even the kids said they didn't want to stay there again.
I will say that our room was clean and I didn't directly pay for it out of pocket. I actually kept repeating that to myself. Bonnet Creek used fewer American Points than staying on Disney property so we were able to stay more nights. We ended up renting a van for 5 days because we didn't want to rely on Bonnet Creek transportation to the parks. In retrospect, I could have stayed on Disney property (probably the cabins at Ft. Wilderness) using my Amex points, paid out of pocket for the extra nights, foregone the rental van, and had a more pleasant stay.
I'm glad there are those of you who like Bonnet Creek. I think the nice part of the Walt Disney World Resort and surrounding area it that there is something for everyone. Lesson learned, at least for the vacation experience our family prefers.
I would be happy to answer any questions. For what it's worth, we stayed at Bonnet Creek from July 16 - 21 and then checked into OKW from July 21 - 27.
--Michelle
Please keep in mind that this was our experience at this particular point in time. We are DVC members who ran out of points. We used our American Express points to add on 5 nights at Bonnet Creek (not a small number....there are 6 of us and we had a 2 bedroom unit).
We had an early flight down and checked into the resort around 11:00 am. We did not expect our room to be ready and it wasn't. They said they would call us when it was ready. Great! Not a big deal as we had a rental van and annual passes; we headed to Magic Kingdom. As the day goes by, we periodically check the phones....no message from Bonnet Creek. We leave MK before the fireworks to avoid the rush. We get to check in around 10:00. The store is closed, which surprised me because I'm used to DVC resort stores being open later. I was hoping to get milk for breakfast the next day, but not a big deal. We check in and asked why we didn't receive a phone call. The lady at the desk had no answer and apologized. Okay. We had to go over to the other desk for our parking tag. No pressure to sit through a time share presentation, thank goodness. She did ask if we were interested in more information and I politely declined. That was the extent of the discussion.
Our room was in Building 6....Terra Sol. We were told to use the parking garage if we couldn't find a ground level spot. We wind our way around and sure enough we need to used the parking garage. The sign on the gate says use your room key. Um, no, that doesn't work. We swipe it multiple times and have to press the call button twice to get someone to manually lift the gate. We park, unload, and head into the building. We were never told there was a hotel part to building 6 and a timeshare part to building 6, and the signage was not helpful. I head to the lobby which turns out to be the hotel part. The desk clerk there says to walk back the way we came, go down a level and into the other building. At this point, it's close to 10:30 and I'm tired. I gave him a look and he walked us to where we needed to be. I double checked the signs to see if I missed something. No, I read the signs correctly...there is nothing saying "time share building this way."
We head to our room - 6104 - first floor. Yeah! No waiting for elevators. Boo...it's right on the parking lot and we hear cars and see headlights. <sigh> I unfold the sofa bed to set it up for DD17. I find the sheets, or so I thought. There is a mattress pad for a twin sized bed, 2 pillows with no cases, and a blanket. No sheets. I head to the front desk to ask for some (why call when I can walk a few feet). I told the gentleman at the front desk that I needed sheets and a correctly sized mattress pad. I also asked how long it might take. He had no idea. I explained that I was very tired and that this was the third problem with the resort since we arrived that morning, could he please try and find out for me. He did...we were 3rd in line to have linens delivered. When he found out there were 6 of us in the unit, he got additional toiletries without being asked. That was very thoughtful of him and I thanked him. The linens were delivered quicker than I expected, we make the bed and get some sleep.
We sleep in the next day and head out for breakfast around 10:00. We tried for the buffet place but no one was at the podium. There was a family in front of us who had already been waiting. The restaurant was only 1/3 full with no employees to be seen. We gave up and went to Starbucks. DH was happy with the coffee, but I was hoping for more than a muffin. I figured it would just be an early lunch in the parks. We get in our van and try to leave. The room key still does not work in the parking garage machine and we have to press the button for service. Someone answers on the first buzz and we escape, I mean leave....
We get back to the room that night and find a parking spot in the regular lot. Yeah! The room is fine and we decide to just get breakfast out for the duration of our time at Bonnet Creek. The next night, we need to park in the garage and the room key still does not work. We get buzzed in and stop at the front desk to ask why our room key doesn't work. Apparently, the time share side needs a separate parking garage key; the room key only works for the hotel guests. What?!? Why weren't we told that when we checked in??? They knew we were staying in the timeshare portion. How hard can this be. Very annoyed and not happy.
The next to last morning, we get a phone call at 9:00 am. I'm still dozing because I've been out late at the parks and I'm on vacation and don't have to walk 2 dogs early in the morning. The phone call was the front desk asking if I needed bell services to help us with our luggage before checking out. What? I responded by saying that I was under the impression we were checking out the next day. The man on the other end checked his records and apologized...he called the wrong room. The next morning when we really were checking out, no phone call to offer bell services. We didn't need bell services because we pack pretty light, but it showed me how inconsistent the front desk was.
On a general note, we really didn't get a map of the resort. They gave us a really bad photocopy of the overall layout of the resort (lots of flyspecs, if you know what I mean) that only took up half the page. It basically showed us where we checked in and where our building was located. I had no idea where the pool was (we never used it). We did eventually see it through a door, but on the next to last day. We only tried to find restaurants that first day and decided it was easier to eat on Disney property.
The other thing that bothered us throughout our entire stay was the general behavior of the staff. No one was rude, but they weren't friendly either. We would be the only ones in the lobby (there are 6 of us), walking right past the front desk staff (on both sides), and everyone was busy staring at their computer screens. It didn't matter if it was morning, afternoon, or evening. No one looked up, said hello, asked how our stay was. Nada, zip, nothing. By the third day, even the kids said they didn't want to stay there again.
I will say that our room was clean and I didn't directly pay for it out of pocket. I actually kept repeating that to myself. Bonnet Creek used fewer American Points than staying on Disney property so we were able to stay more nights. We ended up renting a van for 5 days because we didn't want to rely on Bonnet Creek transportation to the parks. In retrospect, I could have stayed on Disney property (probably the cabins at Ft. Wilderness) using my Amex points, paid out of pocket for the extra nights, foregone the rental van, and had a more pleasant stay.
I'm glad there are those of you who like Bonnet Creek. I think the nice part of the Walt Disney World Resort and surrounding area it that there is something for everyone. Lesson learned, at least for the vacation experience our family prefers.
I would be happy to answer any questions. For what it's worth, we stayed at Bonnet Creek from July 16 - 21 and then checked into OKW from July 21 - 27.
--Michelle
