Bonnet Creek?

As a preface, please do not flame me for not buying resale and saving a bundle or for buying into BC and not DVC.

We have actually had contracts with BC twice. The first time we bought, it was the lowest package they had (and it took them about 2.5 hours of selling to even offer it to us) which was something like 168,000 points every other year on the even years. It was somewhere in the neighborhood of $12,000. Definitely not a bargain by any means. But we did receive 216,000 bonus points along with it. Then we ended up basically buying the other half of our points (for odd years) so we now have 189,000 points every year. I'm not sure of the price breakdown because we did something in between that gave us 300,000+ bonus points, and we ended up not paying for it because the money was put towards the larger sale of the yearly points.

Even though we did not buy through the resale market, I don't regret our purchase. With all of our bonus points, we have basically taken 4 vacations and have only used our yearly points once.

Definitely did not post the question with the intent to flame or question your decision. I think it's great that you have shared the information and I also think your advice to others to look at the resale market should be listened to strongly. We consider ourselves lucky that we discovered tug before making a decision to buy. As you said, you own at one of Wyndham's prime locations and the best way to enjoy your ts is not to question the decision to buy but to enjoy your stays. Thanks for sharing.
 
I have stayed at the dvc resorts, bonnett creek and others. The best comparison to draw is bonnett creek to Old Key West. The on site perks are nice at OKW, but frankly, the bus seems to take 45 mins everywhere you go. Bonnett Creek does have shuttle service, not every 15 mins, but probably 12 times a day to each park, so with a little planning, not bad. We typically drive to the parks anyway, and BC is better placed to the 4 parks and DTD than any of the DVC resorts, so that is a plus. The rooms are about 30 percent larger than OKW, with leather sofas, chairs, and very upscale rooms. I do like the restaurant at OKW and the BC restaurant won't open for another month, I think. The pools and activities are light years ahead at BC so my kids choose that hands down. The store at BC is very limited, but you are near grocery stores and super walmart nearby, but that does require a trip there. Any spec. questions, I would be happy to address.

Drew
 
I am interested in learning more about Bonnet Creek and what there is to do there. Our original plan was to stay at Beach Club Villas in a studio during the early part of May. It is just me, my husband, and our daughter will be 22 mos. at that time. We plan on spending a lot of time onsite at the resort - swimming, shopping, dining, etc...and not a lot of time at the parks due to our daughter's young age. The main draw for us at Bonnet Creek is that my parents own an RCI timeshare and have offered to let us use it to stay there. And compared to Disney's Beach Club...we will save a ton of $$$ plus Bonnet Creek rooms are a whole lot bigger and that helps with a small child! My main fear is that there won't be as much to do at Bonnet Creek and we will have to spend more time driving to find things to do and places to eat. It sounds like a lot of you have stayed at Bonnet Creek already so any help you can provide will be appreciated!!
 
I am interested in learning more about Bonnet Creek and what there is to do there. Our original plan was to stay at Beach Club Villas in a studio during the early part of May. It is just me, my husband, and our daughter will be 22 mos. at that time. We plan on spending a lot of time onsite at the resort - swimming, shopping, dining, etc...and not a lot of time at the parks due to our daughter's young age. The main draw for us at Bonnet Creek is that my parents own an RCI timeshare and have offered to let us use it to stay there. And compared to Disney's Beach Club...we will save a ton of $$$ plus Bonnet Creek rooms are a whole lot bigger and that helps with a small child! My main fear is that there won't be as much to do at Bonnet Creek and we will have to spend more time driving to find things to do and places to eat. It sounds like a lot of you have stayed at Bonnet Creek already so any help you can provide will be appreciated!!

Check out the other older Bonnet Creek thread. The OP included pics of the daily activities. We too take off-park days, and those activities were definitely one of the reasons we picked BC :thumbsup2

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1402846&highlight=renting+bonnet+creek

To dsanner106: Do you have specific info on the restaurant? It's the first I've heard mentioned. We're going at the end of APril, and am interested to know what new amenities there will be :)
 


The main draw for us at Bonnet Creek is that my parents own an RCI timeshare and have offered to let us use it to stay there.

If you plan to stay at Bonnet Creek by exchanging in, via RCI, then this is not likely to work. Wyndham very, very rarely deposits anything from this resort to RCI. Other Wyndham owners who are trading a Wyndham RCI deposit and requesting this resort would likely get any of these confirmations. And, honestly, I haven't read of anyone succeeding in doing this (on TUG and TS4M forums) in a couple years now.

Do you have specific info on the restaurant? It's the first I've heard mentioned. We're going at the end of April, and am interested to know what new amenities there will be :)

We walked around at Bonnet Creek when we were in Orlando last week. I'm not sure what restaurant has been referred to above. They've only just broken ground on building the new Wyndham high-end hotel at this property. When finished (in a couple years), it will have a full-service spa, several restaurants and shops and another large pool area. It will complete the walking path that circles the lake. Across the road, the designer golf course will be completed as well. But this is all a couple years off.

Currently, there's limited food service near each of the two open pool areas. The first pool area, located behind Puerto de Leon (the main recreation building and lobby), has the large zero-entry pool (24 hrs, respecting quiet hours), floating river, hot tub and children's water play area. This building has the resort's indoor activities (kids' play room, adult game room w/pool table, arcade room, computer library). Outside, under cover, there's table tennis and some table seating. And inside, there's a small shop w/a few food items available. I didn't see the hours.

The second pool area, located between Torre del Viento and Torre del Mar (2 condo buildings), offers a pool (24 hrs, respecting quiet hours) w/slide (10a-5p, w/lifeguard). The mini-golf, sand volleyball and playground are all very nearby. Next to this pool, there's a bar & grill. This is open 11am-12MN w/room delivery service 11:30am-11pm, 7 days, per the menu card that I was given. Their menu apparently changes frequently. The regular menu card included whole 14" pizzas ($12-$16 depending on toppings), caesar salad ($6, add $2 for chicken) and beverages. The changing dry erase board included a pasta nicoise salad, tomato-mozzarella salad, several wraps (tuna, italian, chicken caesar), and dessert slices (choc cake, Reeses pie, apple pie) from a refrigerated glass case. Everything looked fresh and tasty but I didn't try any. This counter service area has a bar counter with stools as well as some table seating, all under cover. There are more seating tables w/umbrellas by the pool, only a few feet away.

The whole resort is very walkable. It's nicely landscaped, with softly piped music by the pools. I saw a lot of families having a great time there - very festive feeling. To see the layout, go to the Wyndham Resorts website, select "Explore Resorts" and click on Florida to find the Wyndham Bonnet Creek Resort. There, you'll see a link to the Resort Map for this place. You don't need to be a Wyndham owner to be able to access the resort map.

While this map lists the places I've mentioned as "future," they're actually open now. The Torre de la Luna building is mostly built on the exterior and expected to open this summer. They've just barely broken ground on the Torre del Sol building and the hotel building. Torre de la Luna, Torre del Sol and the new hotel are ALL supposed to be tall buildings, adding many new rooms. EACH of them is also supposed to add a new pool area, for a total of 5 pool areas at this resort at completion. :) While there was construction, I didn't hear or see anything that I would consider disruptive to a fun, relaxed vacation while I walked the grounds. HTH! :) Have a fun visit.
 

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