At Bonnet Creek right now....

[mom22boys]

and it is an absolutely beautiful resort. It is amazingly close to all of the Disney attractions. The pool areas are wonderful. The rooms are spacious, clean, and new. The grounds are beautiful. There is still some construction going on, but it has not bothered us. We have not used the shuttle service, but have enjoyed having our rental car. Having our own car has actually made the trip more enjoyable for us. In the past the Disney buses get pretty old pretty quickly for us. We are on the ground floor, lakeside in building #1. The location has been great. We are in between the two pools. We have a short walk to either pool and we are right next to the playground and mini golf. We have had a limited view of Illuminations, but have enjoyed it none the less.

Let me know if you have any questions before we leave!

 

[bonzarella]

Thanks for the info, we will be there in two weeks

 

[Ariel70]

We will be there in December! I know you have a rental car, but I am really interested in the transportation that they offer. We will be there for 2 weeks and I do not want to get a rental for the entire time. How do the afternoon hours look from the parks? I am a big believer in the afternoon rest/naps and returning to the parks in the evening. Can we do this with Bonnet Creeks shuttle?

I hope you are having a wonderful time...I am soooo jealous!

TIA

 

[mom22boys]

We will be there in December! I know you have a rental car, but I am really interested in the transportation that they offer. We will be there for 2 weeks and I do not want to get a rental for the entire time. How do the afternoon hours look from the parks? I am a big believer in the afternoon rest/naps and returning to the parks in the evening. Can we do this with Bonnet Creeks shuttle?

I hope you are having a wonderful time...I am soooo jealous!

TIA

Ariel70, that is exactly why we have a rental car. We wanted to be able to come back to the resort for an afternoon break/swim. The earliest return times for the shuttle are 5:00 p.m. for MK, 5:15 p.m. for EP, 4:00 p.m. for MGM, and 4:15 for AK.

We have rented through Dollar using the code KISS2. We got a great rate. Good luck!

 

[bnf2]

We will be there in December! I know you have a rental car, but I am really interested in the transportation that they offer. We will be there for 2 weeks and I do not want to get a rental for the entire time. How do the afternoon hours look from the parks? I am a big believer in the afternoon rest/naps and returning to the parks in the evening. Can we do this with Bonnet Creeks shuttle?

I hope you are having a wonderful time...I am soooo jealous!

TIA

Hey! We'll be there in December too! And have the same questions about their shuttles. We'll have a 12 passenger van or a mini van and car (there will be 12 of us), but we were wondering if we'd be able to (want to) use the shuttles they offer and maybe save on parking some of the days. We've never stayed off-site, and are so used to the convenience of Disney's trans.

 

[robynv]

I'm so glad you are having a great time! We will be there in July and I just can't wait!! I see that you have stayed on site as well. Are you missing any Disney magic or are you thrilled to have the bedrooms and kitchen?

 

[DisneyKaw]

We stayed there in April. It really is GREAT. We did the Bonnet Creek Transportation and rented a minivan. There were 11 of us. By the third day, we decided to rent another car so we could all come and go when ever. BC Transportation good but limited on times. We, too, used the KISS code at Dollar and got a great rate and also a nice upgrade! Rented the second car from the Dollar Lake Buena Vista - Grosvenor Resort. Within walking distance of Downtown Disney. Have fun. Can't wait to go back again!

 

[Ariel70]

Ariel70, that is exactly why we have a rental car. We wanted to be able to come back to the resort for an afternoon break/swim. The earliest return times for the shuttle are 5:00 p.m. for MK, 5:15 p.m. for EP, 4:00 p.m. for MGM, and 4:15 for AK.

We have rented through Dollar using the code KISS2. We got a great rate. Good luck!

Thanks mom22boys! I would have thanked you sooner but I am still new to message boards and I had to figure out how to quote and post.
I have never been interested in message boards until I discovered DIS so I am still learning.

There is going to be 12 to 15 people in our party. I am going to suggest splitting costs for a minivan or 2 and I am definitely going to check out Dollar using the code.

Another question....is DTD or Epcot in walking distance of Bonnet Creek?

 

[Brian Noble]

Nothing is really within walking distance, I'm afraid.

 

[rie4630]

Mom22boys,
How did you go about reservicng a room at Bonnet Creek and do you have to stay a full week?

 

[horseshowmom]

Mom22boys,
How did you go about reservicng a room at Bonnet Creek and do you have to stay a full week?

I've noticed that Bonnet Creek is coming up on ebay more and more often now, but I think all the ones I've seen have been weekly rentals.

 

[Brian Noble]

How did you go about reservicng a room at Bonnet Creek and do you have to stay a full week?

You'll need to find an owner willing to make a reservation for you. It needn't be a full week, but just as with DVC, Friday and Saturday nights are more costly than Sun-Thu.

 

[cnids00]

We'll be there end of Sept for a week and we're 8 all together, we'll be staying in a Pres. suite and we're very excited. We've called about the shuttle service and at least now you don't have to sign up for it 24 hrs ahead of time. I'm also a believer in going back to resort for nap, pooldip etc and recharge batteries & feet, still staying off property for me, Dh and dd will be hard..transportation is key to move around however wanted. Someone said you could rent a van and drive to CBR to get on Disney transportation but how would you get in if not staying on resort?

I think it will be a "wing it" trip for us, the rest of family going have never been to WDW, they have no clue what to expect, still we're excited about staying in the beautiful suite..4 br's and 4 baths..can't get any better!

 

[swilphil]

We'll be there end of Sept for a week and we're 8 all together, we'll be staying in a Pres. suite and we're very excited. We've called about the shuttle service and at least now you don't have to sign up for it 24 hrs ahead of time. I'm also a believer in going back to resort for nap, pooldip etc and recharge batteries & feet, still staying off property for me, Dh and dd will be hard..transportation is key to move around however wanted. Someone said you could rent a van and drive to CBR to get on Disney transportation but how would you get in if not staying on resort?

I think it will be a "wing it" trip for us, the rest of family going have never been to WDW, they have no clue what to expect, still we're excited about staying in the beautiful suite..4 br's and 4 baths..can't get any better!

cnids-
My in-laws were in the Pres. suite during Christmas Week, while we were right below in a 2 bedroom suite. While we were very happy with our suite, the Pres. Suite was absolutely stunning. I wish we could LIVE there. (Speaking of where we live, I'm right down the road from you in Shawnee.)

As far as transportation, 10 of us shared one SUV. I would definitely recommend a rental of some sort, if nothing else to get to and from the airport. We did take the shuttle several mornings, but never did take it back to the resort in the evening, though we had it reserved. If we couldn't catch a ride with someone in our group, we just took a taxi from the park or a nearby resort (the Contemporary if we were in MK and Boardwalk if at MGM or Epcot). We found the cheapest rental cars by going through Costco Travel if you are a Costco member. Also book NOW, we already have our March 2008 rental car reserved. I don't really like driving around Disney World, but Bonnet Creek is right off the highway and it was nice to be able to run to the store. I don't see the point in going over to CBR, you might as well just drive to the park. If you want to avoid paying for parking, you could combine your park trip with a meal at Grand Floridian or the Boardwalk.

 

[robynv]

Glad to hear that the pres. suite is so great! We are staying in the on in Build. 2 in July! Very Excited!

 

[celerystalker]

We just got back from a stay at Pop and took a quick tour of Bonnet Creek - WE LOVE IT!
The employees are sooooo sweet and nice and the place is incredible!
We used the shuttle service to get from bonnet creek to MGM - it's ok, but as others have pointed out, it only runs a few times a day. Plus it was about ten minutes late from the scheduled time.
Also, we had to share a bus with people going to animal kingdom.

 

[mom22boys]

I'm so glad you are having a great time! We will be there in July and I just can't wait!! I see that you have stayed on site as well. Are you missing any Disney magic or are you thrilled to have the bedrooms and kitchen?

We are home now.

I have to admit that while we were at Bonnet Creek I did miss that "Disney feeling," but DH thought I was crazy. I couldn't list anything major that was missing; it just wasn't Disney. That being said, we loved all of the extra space. Having a kitchen and family room made the vacation soooo much more relaxing. It was great to put the kids to bed in a bedroom and then still have space for ourselves. It will be very hard to go back to a regular hotel room. I honestly do not think we will unless it is for four nights or less.

Mom22boys,
How did you go about reservicng a room at Bonnet Creek and do you have to stay a full week?

We have friends who are Wyndham/Fairfield owners. They needed to rent their timeshare this year, so we volunteered!!!

I am off to get organized and do some laundry!

 

[cnids00]

We're doing the same thing, a friend of DH at work are owners and we rented from them. I looked into renting a bigger van and it would be almost $400 for a week... I don't think that's something we want to do as we're only paying $500 per family for the stay, already have the parktickets (no exp) and our flight with SW is 376 for us 3.

The only problem we will have is adjusting to transportation imo, if we add more costs we might as well just stay on property and get free dining..

It's supposed to be a not so costful trip and I doubt the others would want to add $400 for a van, even if it might be just a little more practical.

 

[Brian Noble]

The shuttles could work out okay if you are watching pennies; just augment them with the infrequent cab ride as needed. You are super close to all of the parks, so the cab rides will be modest in cost.

 

[mom22boys]

We're doing the same thing, a friend of DH at work are owners and we rented from them. I looked into renting a bigger van and it would be almost $400 for a week... I don't think that's something we want to do as we're only paying $500 per family for the stay, already have the parktickets (no exp) and our flight with SW is 376 for us 3.

The only problem we will have is adjusting to transportation imo, if we add more costs we might as well just stay on property and get free dining..

It's supposed to be a not so costful trip and I doubt the others would want to add $400 for a van, even if it might be just a little more practical.

As long as you are okay with this....

The earliest return times for the shuttle are 5:00 p.m. for MK, 5:15 p.m. for EP, 4:00 p.m. for MGM, and 4:15 for AK.

you should be okay. It is just impossible to get back to the resort for a midafternoon break/swim relying soley on the shuttles.