Bonnett Creek or POP?

[nursesandy]

I can't decide what to do. We have 3 rooms booked at the POP with free dining. 10 people going. 6 adults and 4 children. They have now released military tickets that would cover our dates. If we do military tickets we lose free dining. So I looked at the option of staying at Bonnett Creek. They have availability for our dates in a 4 BR Presidential. This would work out at a difference of 1600 dollars less after we added in car rentals x 2 and parking at the parks. I think I could feed everyone for under 1600 dollars for 1 week. We are approximately 2 1/2 weeks away from leaving and have insurance that I know is non-refundable.

Is Bonnett Creek that much nicer than POP to justify changing everything at the last minute? Should we just keep the POP reservations? I am so confused. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[DCTooTall]

i'd say do it. From what I've heard, the rooms at the POP are pretty small, so you would be gaining a lot of space at Bonnett Creek. You'd also gain a kitchen so that with 10 people, if you wanted to do breakfast before heading out you'd be able to easily do it. (even if it's just cereal)

As for losing Free Dining, It would depend on your eating habits and plans, but a lot of people actually prefer having the freedom to eat when they want and what they want w/o feeling like they have to eat X number of times per day and what their limited options are in order to get the full value of the dining plan. You'd also be free to head off property to eat if you wanted too.


One other cost you may want to figure into your cost analysis would be parking. If you planning to drive to the parks include the $14/day parking fee. BC does have a shuttle available, but sometimes the extra freedom that a car gives you could be worth it.


(Depending upon your ticket costs, you may also consider if an Annual pass for one of your party would be worth it. Free parking is available with the AP, and if you have Table Service reservations, you can get the Tables In Wonderland card which would give you (and up to 10 guests) 20% off your bill...including alcohol.)

 

[asmit4]

How much time do you plan to spend in the room? Do the kids need naps? I ask b/c POP rooms- even 3 side by side give you less than 800sq. feet TOTAL and 3 basic bathrooms. BC will give you I'm guessing over 2000sq. feet with lots of room to spread out, watch movies as a family, hang on the balcony while kids sleep etc. What do you envision your trip to be?

edit- make that 2400sq. feet which is over 3 times the space of POP

 

[Upatnoon]

A 4 bedroom at bonnet creek is 2,400 square feet of luxury. 3 rooms at pop (240 each) are 720 square feet.

Bonnet Creek is an awesome resort, you won't regret switching at all.

 

[DisneyWisher]

Are you allowed to buy military tickets at Disney or only on base, just don't understand why you would lose them? I'm a FL resident and for our tickets I just upgrade a regular 2 day ticket to a 4 day FL pass. It's tclosest in price. Does it work differently with Military?

 

[Upatnoon]

From mousesavers.com: From 10/24/10-9/28/11, active or retired US military personnel may purchase up to a maximum of six 4-Day Military Promotional Tickets with your choice of either the Park Hopper or Water Park Fun & More option for $138 per ticket.

You can pre-purchase the tickets (in the form of an exchange voucher) at Shades of Green or at a military base (MWR/ITT office), TAX-FREE! The exchange voucher is then taken to a Main Entrance theme park ticket window, where it is exchanged for the actual ticket (activated).


To qualify for free dining on Disney property you have to buy tickets. The tickets as part of the package are a lot more than the military offer, about $304 per ticket vs. the $138 ticket. With 6 adults, that's almost a $1,000 savings!

 

[HeatherC]

If you stay at Bonnet Creek, you may never want to go back to POP again. The resort is really beautiful.

 

[LuvDisney09]

I just came back from a week in the 4 bdrm Pres Suite and it is AWESOME. Bonnet Creek is a great place. I say go with Bonnet Creek.

 

[chrisann]

We've stayed at Bonnet Creek twice now and love it there. The shuttles are pretty good, so you may not even need a rental car other than arrival and departure days. Have fun!!

 

[chrisann]

We've stayed at Bonnet Creek twice now and love it there. The shuttles are pretty good, so you may not even need a rental car other than arrival and departure days. Have fun!!

 

[Rosiekins]

I may be wrong but with 2 and half weeks out wont you incure a cancelation fee? Are all the rooms under one package or are they seperate? That would matter for the fee. Just a thought.
I would stay where you are, everything is planned and it may add stress to change it. Plus I think there is something so magical about staying on property.

 

[olwyngdh]

I think the dining is connected to your room rather than to your tickets--at least when you are paying for it. We are getting the dining plan with our room at OP, and military tickets. I would check with MWR or call Disney and ask.

 

[abouley]

We just got back from our 3rd trip to WDW a few weeks ago (we live in CA so go to DL all the time though). On this trip we stayed one night at a value and then switched over to the villas at the WL. I told my husband after our 1 night at the value that I would MUCH rather stay off-site in a condo (like we did 2 years ago) than in a value. The room was so small and I am NOT a huge fan of taking the buses, I'd much rather drive to the parks. Also, while the food court option was nice it was so crowded in there and we had a hard time finding a table.

We did the dining plan this trip and while there were parts I enjoyed, I missed feeling like I had the option of just grabbing a bite (drive through or grab pizza or something) on the way back to the condo than I did having to find somewhere on-site to eat. I get so sick of the crowds and waiting in lines. Now, I loved our sit down meals but even 4-5 of those would have been PLENTY over our 8 days.

My vote would be to switch

 

[swilshire]

I love the theming at Pop but that's about all it has going for it. The rooms are TINY. 2 adults and 2 kids in a room was awful. The same four (only older) stayed in a 2 br at Bonnet Creek and were comfortable and happy.

It would be no choice at all for me. I'd pay much more to stay at Bonnet Creek than in a room at the Pop.

The balcony alone would be worth it to me. I hate being confined to a single room and a tiny bathroom.

And how many bathrooms does the Bonnet Creek unit have? Probably four, which would speed up the getting ready in the morning compared to one in each hotel room.

Plus you'd have a car and have better options for eating and shopping.

Sheila

 

[ttfn3]

If you can change your reservation without a huge penalty, I would most definitely recommend you change to Bonnet Creek. Much, much nicer resort. You will absolutely LOVE the 4 bedroom. So much more room - and way nicer rooms than the POP. Bonnet Creek's pools are also much nicer plus there are activities are Bonnet Creek such as FREE minature golf, inexpensive ice cream socials, pool games, etc. I'm a big fan of being able to have a kitchen, so that we can eat breakfast in the room while we are getting ready for the day. So much quicker and healthier! Plus, with kids, I like that the kids can go to bed earlier, and the adults can stay up later without keeping the kids awake.

I would definitely recommend renting a car - to get to/from the hotel and give you flexibility to eat offsite and drive to the parks, if you wish. The shuttles at Bonnet Creek are good. We actually used them when we stayed there to stagger our start times for the day. DH likes to sleep in - and DS and I like to start early. One of us ended up driving to the park, so we could leave when we wished.

Check out the Bonnet Creek thread for more info on Bonnet Creek.

 

[LuvLDM]

Bonnet Creek is a lovely resort in a great location! If you are able to cancel Pop w/ minimal penalty I would do it in a heartbeat.

 

[mrs.basil]

We just left Bonnet Creek this morning. It was fabulous. We'll definitely stay there again.

Having the space was so nice, and we loved the kitchen and washer/dryer. Our kids had a blast at the pool.

I'd vote Bonnet Creek, too.

 

[Fall1]

Can anyone tell me what the pool is like at Bonnet Creek. Do they have a wading pool or a zero entry part for kids?
Thanks!!!!

 

[shalom]

Is Bonnett Creek that much nicer than POP to justify changing everything at the last minute? Should we just keep the POP reservations? I am so confused. Any help would be appreciated.

I would change if I could. I've done group vacations in hotels, and I've done them in condos, and having that living/dining space makes things soooo much easier. But we're also good with eating at the condo - feeding ten for less than the DDP costs is easy, but if you want to eat out for every meal then that's a different story.

 

[Alexander]

I am so not a fan of the value resorts. To put it mildly, I hate them and refuse to stay at them. I LOVE Bonnet Creek.

However, given the plans you already have in place, I would stay at Pop. Having free dining vs. having to plan meals for that many people this late in the game would be my deciding factor.

If you aren't going to spend a lot of time at the resort, Pop is the better place. We spend a lot of our time at our resort and very little (3-4 hours a few days) in the parks, so we definately choose the villa resorts.

You are looking at rearranging so many people, resort, meals, tickets, transportation....I know $1600 is a good amount of money, but by the time you feed everyone and the hassle of the last minute work, I just don't see it being worth it.

And this is coming from a value resort hater and BC lover!