My review of W. Bonnet Creek

[snowangel72]

Overall a definite thumbs up! It's a beautiful resort. We are def. converted and will stay there every time we go from now on. Keep in mind this report is from HIGH season. The resort was FULL, not a spare room in the place.

I made a pro-con list because that's what I do.

Pros
- the lazy river at tower 5. my kids wanted to be in it all day long. the floor is FINE. I bought my kids water shoes and they never wore them.
- the pool and bar at tower 4. this pool isn't zero entry which we actually really liked. the bar is social and a lot of fun.
- the pirate ship at tower 6 (and the saltwater pool. I am almost certain this pool is salt water! LOVELY!)
- the walking path around the lake. lovely. everyone walks and it's beautiful in the mornings and evenings. gorgeous vegetation. friendly community
- the grounds and maintenance staff. truly wonderful. these are the people you see every day and they are the first ones to say buenos dias with a smile in the morning. they hold the doors for you and are always happy. you can tell the company looks after their employees and that they are happy. this is a sign of an excellent resort.
- unlimited warm pool towels
- not one sales call
- not one pizza brochure
- BBQ's - this is def. one of the best features! EVERYONE grills. I wish we would have known because we would have picked up some nice meats. This is "the thing to do" at BC. next time we will bring the meat and the walkie talkies!
- DVD player in TV cabinet. a nice surprise for my sick kid who was stuck on the couch for 2 days with a fever
- laundry, dryer and detergent. a WONDERFUL surprise for my puking kids (yes we had a sick trip)
- big closets
- lots of dresser space
- if you want to see fireworks they open up a room in one of the buildings for you to go to (we didn't care). wouldn't have known this if I didn't ask.

CONS
- pillow SUCK. I got a sore neck. Bring your own pillow!
- no cups for kids. bring sippy's or cups with lids.
- check in at 4pm is ridonculous. people were at the front desk LIVID. I felt sorry for them, kids tired from traveling are not fun. plan for this. they will not bend.
- no map of the resort given to us. I still don't know where everything is there. this should be given at check in with an overview of the lay of the land. no map in the room either.
- no schedule of events. found one online but never got to the computer. oh well. should be given at check in
- front desk is useless and biotchy. I am sorry but they are. the lines are long and they feel like they are doing YOU a favour. We only saw them at check in and out, thank goodness. The groundspeople really are the face of the resort
- ran out of pool towels at our tower. called the front desk and were told in a VERY biotchy manner that they are waiting on their delivery.
- parking. too busy. at night the only spots left are on the top of the ramp. no big deal but lousy when I was along with 15 grocery bags. Thank you to the NYCers who helped me carry.
- jacuzzi too crowded. couldn't even use it in the evening. no room in there.
- can't choose your tower or room. you get what you get or go home (we had a choice of tower 4 lake view or tower 5 parking lot view). We took the lake view. It was LOVELY. I would have been very very unhappy with a parking lot view (don't care to see fireworks. we just go to MK for that)
- no pool chairs available after 10am.
- our phone in our room didn't work. once I finally called the biotch front desk they reset it and it worked. but honestly they don't always answer the phone there and it was a PITA. we had to use our google phone on the laptop.
- no scissors, no tongs for the BBQ and no KETTLE (last one is big for me. I NEED TEA and had to boil like a pioneer)
- our ice machine in our fridge kept clogging up. we had to constantly unclog it. not a huge deal
- need to bring your own router. again not a huge deal for us.
- annoying doorbell that freaked us out.

The cons look long but most of them are really minor things that wouldn't stop us from staying at BC again. We still loved it.

 

[KellyWasHere]

Thanks for the honest review. All those are very good to know. I hope to stay there in September!

 

[ez]

love it there too! We were given an activity schedule at check in and all the staff we encountered were friendly and helpful. Got there at 3:30 and checked right in, I was next in line when I walked up, and our suite was ready. We were in building 4 and our trip was overlapping with a friends of ours trip and they were able to put us right down the hall from each other(we had called a week before to request this) Had a 3 bedroom suite it was huge. Never had a problem parking. Both lazy rivers are awesome...cooked ribeyes out on the grill for 2 families...just fabulous! Pool chairs are taken early but later in the day it clears out again. It's one of those deals where everyone puts towels down to reserve seats but they might not actually be there, we always had that same experience on Disney property too and it is frustrating. At night though, had the whole lazy river to ourselves...quite magical! Can't wait to return.

 

[Monorail Bob's dd]

Hey, Mel! I was just asking you on TBB for an indepth BC review and here it is! Glad to hear so many positive things about the resort, the negatives sound relativley minor. Had you tried putting in a building/view request prior to arrival? Just wondering if it is worth calling ahead. Glad that other than the sickies you had such a nice trip!

-momathome on TBB

 

[dtum]

You said check-in was 4 and strictly enforced. That doesn't mean you can't check in later than 4. If you have a ressie, you should have a place to stay. Most places have that 4 check-in time. That's our time at Windsor Hills this trip too. Thinking of WBC next trip and gathering info now. I thought when you booked a place you got what you wanted. On e-bay some of the places say where they are so I'd think that was where you were going. So much to learn here. Thanks for the great review.

 

[crazyfordisney2000]

Thanks for your review, we'll be there soon too!!

 

[verlee]

Our experiences with the front desk were fine although not disney quality. We asked for laundry det. twice one time they had it delivered to the room. We asked for bedding once as ds had an accident. They were prompt with the delivery. We did get a call a day about the timeshare presentation but I did not pick up the phone until the last day. I was waiting for a call about something else....The lady was a little pushy "Tell me WHY can't you come in and talk with us??" hmmmm, I am on vacation and don't want to waste my time with you. Any way that was the only snarky person we encountered.

Over all we love this place too. We will have a tough time staying on site again as this felt like on site at half the price and twice the ammenities.

 

[snowangel72]

Hey, Mel! I was just asking you on TBB for an indepth BC review and here it is! Glad to hear so many positive things about the resort, the negatives sound relativley minor. Had you tried putting in a building/view request prior to arrival? Just wondering if it is worth calling ahead. Glad that other than the sickies you had such a nice trip!

-momathome on TBB

YAY! Thanks for finding me Now I have a friend on here too. Enough trips under your belt hon?

I did request tower 6 because it's the newest and apparently just gorgeous but it was just too busy for them to accom. us. However I LOVED tower 4 so all was well I liked tower 4 because you walk out to a regular pool and 2 jacuzzi's and a bar. Then you walk like 20 feet and you are in tower 5's lazy river. I just really really wanted a lake or pool view. The views are lovely. A parking lot view would stink.

Here are a couple of pics. I didn't take many because I was sick in bed for 2 full days of the trip. oy.

 

[Monorail Bob's dd]

YAY! Thanks for finding me Now I have a friend on here too. Enough trips under your belt hon?

I did request tower 6 because it's the newest and apparently just gorgeous but it was just too busy for them to accom. us. However I LOVED tower 4 so all was well I liked tower 4 because you walk out to a regular pool and 2 jacuzzi's and a bar. Then you walk like 20 feet and you are in tower 5's lazy river. I just really really wanted a lake or pool view. The views are lovely. A parking lot view would stink.

My list of trips is deceiving since many of them took place when I was a kid. I had a 10 year Disney drought between 1997 and 2007 - '97 was the last trip my parents paid for. We started taking the girls in 2007 and have only missed 2008 since then. I am a full-fledged Disney nut.

 

[ClanHarrison]

...cooked ribeyes out on the grill for 2 families...just fabulous!

This is my plan! Ribeye's on the grill. We did ribeye's on the grill in June (at a villa) and they were absolutely FABULOUS! Got them on sale at Publix and they were the prettiest, freshest I have seen. Is there something different about Orlando meats because I've NEVER enjoyed a ribeye at home as much . They were so big (and did I mention, pretty )that 3 steaks (cut them in quarters and sixths?) and it fed our group of 12, with leftovers...we had tons more food too).

But, my question is, where are all the grills located? Does each building have a set of grills or something? They are charcoal grills...right?

 

[ez]

We were in building 4 and there were grills right outside our building next to a shuffleboard court, with picnic tables and a semi covered area. I know they have them throughout the resort but can't tell you the exact location. Grills are gas. Very easy for us to get there and start cooking, we could actually see the grills from our balcony so just waited till they weren't in use. We ate there on St Pattys day night and I cannot tell you how fun/delicious it was. Got 8 beautiful ribeyes from publix, salads and Irish soda bread Then went swimming at the main pool in the lazy river, had the whole thing to ourselves....magical!!!

 

[ClanHarrison]

We were in building 4 and there were grills right outside our building next to a shuffleboard court, with picnic tables and a semi covered area. I know they have them throughout the resort but can't tell you the exact location. Grills are gas. Very easy for us to get there and start cooking, we could actually see the grills from our balcony so just waited till they weren't in use. We ate there on St Pattys day night and I cannot tell you how fun/delicious it was. Got 8 beautiful ribeyes from publix, salads and Irish soda bread Then went swimming at the main pool in the lazy river, had the whole thing to ourselves....magical!!!

Ohhh...coool! That's very convenient & sounds FABULOUS! I can't wait.

I see you know what I mean about those Publix ribeyes. Delicious! SOUNDS magical!

And I'm happy that the grills are gas. I really didn't want to deal with buying charcoal & fluid but I love the taste. The gas sounds safer in this setting anyway.

Thank you ez.

 

[Lifeangel1]

Thanks for the review Snowangel. We just got back from there after our 1st stay also. I totally agree with your assessment of the place. We were in tower 5 with a parking lot view. Not terrible, as we were on the 10th floor and could only see the parking lot if we chose too. We could see the disney offices and downtown disney in the distance. We did not receive any sales calls.

The transportation to the parks was adequate. They gave us a bus schedule and we took it with us everyday. Good thing too because we missed the last bus back to the resort from EPCOT and just hopped monorail to MK and caught a bus from there. I wish they had busses going to Downtown Disney during the day, not just at night. We love to go there for shopping on our last day. We took the bus to MK and walked to Poly and caught DTD bus from there. We had to catch a cab back to resort. Airport shuttle service would be nice but we made it there and back. I would stay there again!

 

[fish.bowl]

So glad you had such a nice trip! We went in January and had a lovely time too...even though we had a sickie trip as well. Don't think I've ever done as much laundry on a trip as those 2 weeks! (Yes, we were there for 2 weeks...we travel from Alaska and it takes 24 hours to get to Florida, so we really save and make it worth it!).

We weren't there in high season, mid I think (1/3 was check-in, and we were there over marathon weekend), and the front desk staff was wonderful...they let us check in at 8 am! Again, we had been traveling since 8am the previous day, so we were exhausted (I have 4 young kids). It was one of the best parts of our trip, haha. The last time we flew to FL three years ago, we stayed at a Sheraton, and had similar flights, and we couldn't check in early. So we camped out in the parking lot and napped in the car; only had 3 kids then. This time we got to settle in, shower, grab a quick lunch, and nap for like 5 hours. Truly wonderful. So, no harm in asking to check in early

We were in building 5, 2nd floor and parking lot view. It didn't bother me at all. 3 bedroom unit since my sister and cousin stayed with us as well. It was a bit chilly but the pools were heated and my kids are true Alaskans I guess, so they swam often. We did get harassed by sales calls- one gal told my husband that they'd keep calling us until we agreed to come to a presentation- so we turned the volume off. Saw the daily calls and messages though. And we got pizza fliers some days.

Didn't mean to hijack this thread, just thought I'd throw in how things were slightly different for us. Parking at night for us was pretty bad too, but fine if we didn't close the parks down. We would gladly stay at WBC again, though I think it will be years until we get another Florida trip. The price we paid and the location was fantastic.

 

[DCTooTall]

Glad to hear your trip was a good one.... though saddened to hear everybody was .

On the bright side... if you are going to get sick on vacation, WBC is awesome. The rooms are nice, and the view out your window or on the balcony is nice... so not as bad or cramped as many other lodging options in the area.

 

[snowangel72]

So glad you had such a nice trip! We went in January and had a lovely time too...even though we had a sickie trip as well. Don't think I've ever done as much laundry on a trip as those 2 weeks! (Yes, we were there for 2 weeks...we travel from Alaska and it takes 24 hours to get to Florida, so we really save and make it worth it!).

We weren't there in high season, mid I think (1/3 was check-in, and we were there over marathon weekend), and the front desk staff was wonderful...they let us check in at 8 am! Again, we had been traveling since 8am the previous day, so we were exhausted (I have 4 young kids). It was one of the best parts of our trip, haha. The last time we flew to FL three years ago, we stayed at a Sheraton, and had similar flights, and we couldn't check in early. So we camped out in the parking lot and napped in the car; only had 3 kids then. This time we got to settle in, shower, grab a quick lunch, and nap for like 5 hours. Truly wonderful. So, no harm in asking to check in early

We were in building 5, 2nd floor and parking lot view. It didn't bother me at all. 3 bedroom unit since my sister and cousin stayed with us as well. It was a bit chilly but the pools were heated and my kids are true Alaskans I guess, so they swam often. We did get harassed by sales calls- one gal told my husband that they'd keep calling us until we agreed to come to a presentation- so we turned the volume off. Saw the daily calls and messages though. And we got pizza fliers some days.

Didn't mean to hijack this thread, just thought I'd throw in how things were slightly different for us. Parking at night for us was pretty bad too, but fine if we didn't close the parks down. We would gladly stay at WBC again, though I think it will be years until we get another Florida trip. The price we paid and the location was fantastic.

Wonderful! I think you are the only one in human history who was ever able to check in early. Now that's a loooooooooooooooooong trip.

 

[snowangel72]

Glad to hear your trip was a good one.... though saddened to hear everybody was .

On the bright side... if you are going to get sick on vacation, WBC is awesome. The rooms are nice, and the view out your window or on the balcony is nice... so not as bad or cramped as many other lodging options in the area.

Thanks dude. We must be feeling better because we are already thinking of returning, not as fast as you, mind you, but at some point.

 

[DCTooTall]

Thanks dude. We must be feeling better because we are already thinking of returning, not as fast as you, mind you, but at some point.

one of the advantages of owning there..... and probably also being single.

I own enough points to make the 2nd trip this year... so nothing out of pocket to make another trip there. I knew I'd make another trip, so I got AP's for Disney and Universal.... so nothing out of pocket for park tickets on the next trip.... And since I'm single, I basically just need to make sure I budget enough for a single round trip ticket, and my rental car to get me around while down there. After that, it's just food... which I'd have to eat anyways.

It also helps that I have more flexibility in when I go, so I can enjoy going in the non-peak season since I don't have to worry about school breaks.

 

[marvel]

Thanks for the review, we are still tossing up between BC and Sheraton Vistana.

Is this peak season for it to be so full? Is that normal?


Love the idea of BBQing with some American families, anyone going OCT ??

 

[texasteacher35]

Great info! We just bought 1,000,000 points at BC...Can't wait to stay there...