Bonnet Creek, hotel vs condo?

Kremlar

Earning My Ears
Joined
Dec 14, 2012
Hi -

I'm planning a trip to Orlando in February for 1 week. I booked "Wyndham Grand Orlando Resort Bonnet Creek" through hotels.com which seemed like a good deal - $1172.22 + hotel fees for 7 nights. Room has 2 queens + a set of bunk beds which works out perfectly for us.

Now that I've been doing some reading on here, however, I see how popular the Bonnet Creek condos are and it seems a lot of people like the condos and, unless I'm missing something, they seem like a big upgrade over the hotel room I've booked (full kitchen, etc..).

I put some feelers out to a couple of rental places I've seen mentioned here (5starresortvacations.com and vacationstrategy.com) and it seems like I can get the condo for LESS money than the hotel room!

So, I'm a newb here - never used one of these rental agencies before and have never stayed at this resort:

- Is there something I'm missing, or is it a no-brainer to go with the condo?
- Any opinions on the rental agencies I mentioned above? Are they reliable and trouble-free?

Last thing I want to do is get to Orlando and have nowhere to stay, so I want to be confortable with whatever option I choose.

I would appreciate any advice!

Thanks in advance!
 
It really depends on what you like...hotel style or condo with extra space and a kitchen. For us, it's the condo. It's so nice to have a separate bedroom or rooms and a washer dryer and kitchen. WBC (condos) are accessible to the hotel as far as the restaurants, so it's a nice easy walk. There are quite a few avenues for condo rentals on disboards that have been very successful. An additional one is Vacation Upgrades.

There is also a parking fee at the hotel. Parking is free at WBC. Both have shuttles to Disney.
 
For some people it is a no-brainer, but it depends on personal preference.

Some people don't want to cook on vacation, like daily housekeeping, and want the ability to get a full refund if they have to cancel their trip. And they don't mind paying more for that upscale hotel vibe.

With the timeshare rental, you'll probably pay less and get a bigger space. You won't get daily housekeeping (which means you wash the towels, take the trash out, etc.), but you get a washer/dryer in the unit and a full kitchen to cook meals. With most rental places, you can't get your money back if you cancel. Vacation Strategy will at least give you a credit for a future trip if you have to cancel, but your money is still stuck with them.

I've personally used Vacation Strategy before and am using them again this year. If you check the We looooooove Bonnet Creek threads, you'll find several other reputable companies to rent from, like Vacation Upgrades and Farrell's Vacations, and many DISers who have used them and can vouch for them.

Good luck with your decision and enjoy your trip!
 
Its all a matter of personal preference - whether you prefer hotel amenities or condo amenities. We are a family of three so space is never a factor for us. whichever you decide will be the right choice.
 


Thanks for the info guys! We are a family of 5, with 2 kids 5 and under so the 2 bedroom condo definitely works for us. We would definitely use the full kitchen as well.

I booked with Stuart at 5starresortvacations(dot)com (sorry, can't post URLs yet). He was the quickest to get back to me, cheapest price, and had availability where others did not. We are going Wednesday through Wednesday so I think that was an issue for some of the others I tried to contact. He also seemed very knowledgable and picked up the phone right away when I called - which was nice.

Will follow up with any issues I might have, but hopefully I'll have none. Fingers crossed!
 
We love the condos over the hotels. You can try ebay or as I mentioned in an earlier post, if you have a friend or family member that already belongs to a timeshare you can use their login informtation to browse through the RCI web site. We get a 2 bed room @ Bonnet Creek in May for a little over $600 Canadian a week. That's really cheap :thumbsup2
 
I've been trying to get a condo for 5 nights during the spring break week in April but everywhere is sold out, including ebay, unless I wanna pay $200 a day for a 1 BR. So I settled with the last king bed with bunk bed room at the Grand Hotel for $129. I understand the additional fees are hefty but probably still better than a 1 bedroom with only a pullout full-sized sofabed at the timeshare, which my kids will probably hate. I hate traveling in the peak week. Price just shoots through the roof everywhere you go.
 


Just a follow up, our stay at Bonnet Creek went off without a hitch! No problems.

Great place, though we spent most of our time at the parks we did spend a couple evenings by the pools which were nice and our kids loved.

Everyone was very friendly and no pressure checking in, though they did offer us the time share breakfast/sales pitch.

Highly recommend Bonnet Creak and the broker we got it from (www.5StarResortVacations.com).
 
Thanks for following up! We just rented via 5starresorts today and there is good feedback but not a ton of info on the disboards! They had availability when the prevoius people we had used hadnt(sun and snow vacations and vacation upgrades).
 

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