Bonnet Creek Resort

[Zachmom]

We were at WDW in December and I noticed an entrance road marked Bonnet Creek Reseort. What is this?

 

[DukeStreetKing]

It is a non-Disney timeshare. It's not on Disney property, just looks like it is.

 

[Horizons16]

OOOOOOHHHHHH


Thats what that is....

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

We were at WDW in December and I noticed an entrance road marked Bonnet Creek Reseort. What is this?

For the basic details, see http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=566618

For a long, interesting thread from 2004, see http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=665452

It is a non-Disney timeshare. It's not on Disney property, just looks like it is.

Yes. It's surrounded on three sides by Disney property. Walt Disney's real estate team couldn't buy that property when they were secretly acquiring land in the 1960s.

A few years ago, the property's owner, the estate of the late Taiwanese investor Ling Kai Kung, formed a joint venture with Orlando-based Brooksville Development Corp. Brooksville brought in architect Guy Butler, who developed a master plan for the 482-acre Bonnet Creek Resort. The plan called for four deluxe hotels, a timeshare resort, and an 18-hole golf course.

The plan failed.

The plan envisioned hotel brands such as Four Seasons and Mandarin. But deluxe hotel developers didn't come.

Fairfield bought only about 10% of the property for a timeshare resort. The Fairfield timeshare resort takes up just a small part of the 482-acre Bonnet Creek Resort — 46 acres, with an option for 12 additional acres. Fairfield does not own the rest.

According to MousePlanet's WDW Update for June 28 through July 4, 2004, the joint venture partnership put the property on the market. According to the article, "It is expected that the tract will go for at least $1 million per acre."

If the Walt Disney Company had wanted to, they could finally have bought the property (except for Fairfield's parcel). However, there was no reason for Disney to pay "at least $1 million per acre," when Disney still had many thousands of acres of undeveloped land that they bought around forty years ago for about $300 per acre.

Has anybody read any other news about the Bonnet Creek Resort? Or will it remain undeveloped for another four decades, except for the Fairfield resort?

 

[mitros]

We had only
been back there when they first started building. After checking out the Fairfield videos on their website, I was sort of impressed with what they have done there. Have to take another look next week when we go next week,

 

[skr8pn]

I've stayed at many other Fairfield resorts and they are very nice. I passed up 2nd phase construction prices about 2 years ago. When we went to Disney in Sept we tried to trade into it (Dad's Fairfield points) but was unable too, booked solid. We ended up at Cyprus Palms, very nice, not quite as close but still very close.