So disappointed with Bonnet Creek

[MaryS222]

We recently returned from BC and I was just so disappointed with the whole experience. I guess all the positive posts here had my expectations set too high. Thought I'd pass along my thoughts.

Some positives,but mostly negatives...

Positive- very nice looking resort with nice selection of pools
Positive- very close to wdw
Negative- "sleazy" vibe from the sales/time share/ parking pass staff. We avoided even getting the parking pass, but the main lobby area has lots of these sales people milling about. It's very easy to distinguish the sales staff from the desk employees. The desk employees are all very nice, professional, courteous while the sales staff just aren't. My sister commented she felt surrounded by leering, sleazy, used car salesman in the main lobby and wouldn't go back in. I agreed.
Negative- room selection. Being that we were only lowly renters, we had no say as to room selection which is a big deal since your room location will be the difference between a good stay, an ok stay, or a horrible stay. Our first room was in tower 1, third floor, parking lot view. "Luckily" after two days our Hvac unit stopped working which got us a relocation to a lake view unit in building 5. It was nice to see the lake but the way the building is shaped(like an 'L' )it was very dark in that corner and your view out your balcony is of the other half of the building looking back at you.
Negative- cleanliness. Admittedly I'm a bit of a neat freak, but I think just about anyone would be disgusted with the lack of housekeeping we encountered.
Negative- uncomfortable seating. Our second unit was much more updated than the first but the sofa and chairs in both were very hard and uncomfortable. Probably wouldn't have been such a big deal on a short stay, but we were there for 6 days and spent a good bit of time in the living area.
Negative- noise. The walls are paper thin. In both units we could hear our neighbors like they were in our room.
Negative- restaurants. The restaurant at the pool by building 6 had mediocre, overpriced food, with subpar service. The pizza bar was so-so, but $20 for a medium pizza.
Positive- parking wasn't bad. At building 1 it was great, at building 5, just ok, but still only a 50 yard walk to the parking garage.

So overall I wouldn't go back. They need to improve or hide their sales staff, improve housekeeping, soundproof their rooms, and allow specific room reservations. Doubtful all of that or even any of it will take place. Shame, because it is really a beautiful resort. I'll be going back to vistana or Windsor hills.

 

[Rosebud123]

That's too bad! I love WBC. I've stayed in both a yucky, parking garage view in Tower 5, and a gorgeous, lake view in Tower 2. Although I much preferred the room with the view, I think the resort itself is so gorgeous and the price can't be beat!

 

[tanyaandallie]

We had a great trip to WBC 2 years ago but I will definitely agree about the sales staff. I think it's just how a time share works but I am not at all a fan. I had read enough here to know how to mostly avoid them but it was VERY annoying. We never went back to the main building after we checked in.

 

[Disneychick75]

We were lowly renters who were put in Tower 3 with both a view of the lake and the Epcot fireworks. The only sales people we encountered were at check in and when I firmly said we weren't interested, we never had another problem.
Don't forget Disney has DVC sales people spread throughout their parks and resorts. They're easily distinguished too.

 

[kiki02]

We were lowly renters who were put in Tower 3 with both a view of the lake and the Epcot fireworks. The only sales people we encountered were at check in and when I firmly said we weren't interested, we never had another problem.
Don't forget Disney has DVC sales people spread throughout their parks and resorts. They're easily distinguished too.

Same op. It was still not bad for me in terms of location though. I do think they are having problems (financial) and things are in a bit of a weirdness now. Hope it's better next time (was very messy too on last visit - pool, floors, crowd, restaurants ). I might give them one more chance.

 

[eangel12]

The cleanliness part bugs me. I'm hoping it was a fluke. A non-clean room will put me over the edge!

 

[kiki02]

The cleanliness part bugs me. I'm hoping it was a fluke. A non-clean room will put me over the edge!

Just to clarify, our room was fine, very nice. But....

the on site restaurants had tables sitting outside and inside for hours without being cleaned .. where were all the employees?

the pool was a mess, garbage laying around, used up towels, no one picking up or cleaning up.

Not to say the staff was lazy or not working (i have no idea), there was just NO STAFF doing this.

Not ok for us, fwiw, Not for that price we paid!

 

[Fundytrail]

Sorry to hear about your experience. We stayed at WBC for the first time last year and are returning again this year.

We avoided the time share sales pitch so that did not bother us. We had a lake/fireworks view and the room along with grounds and pool were spotless.

We entered into the WBC experience realizing we were not staying at a hotel but at a time share resort.

 

[Fundytrail]

Double post :-(

 

[summabreeze85]

Clever how they have you pick up your parking pass from the sales people. Once they offered a $100 prepaid American express we signed right up! They were very nice to us and didn't seem sleezy at all. We had no itentions of purchasing so just said no the whole time. Enjoyed the tour of the 4br presidential suite, and loved getting the $100 which I took straight to the outlets.
We were also renters, and got our room dirt cheap off of eBay. For the price we paid, our view of the parking lot in building 1 which also included a view of the epcot fireworks, the size of the room and the amentities...BC can't be beat!

 

[spiceycat]

Don't forget Disney has DVC sales people spread throughout their parks and resorts. They're easily distinguished too.

they are not at the front desk area.

most to even see a dvc guide (sales) you have to ask. Or go to the marketing center where you can see the new dvc units at SSR.

they are only at SSR - they use to be at BWV too - but don't think they are now.

OP - you are not the only one - from the build up here really expected it to be wonderfully. and it was not for me either. my big complain - have back problems and the tub did nothing for me.

 

[OldSpiceGuy]

First I will say that I like WBC. But.....I understand your view point. Pretty much all the advice given on this forum regarding room selection, calling ahead etc. etc. is worthless. They don't honor call ahead requests. I've stayed there twice. Its a beautiful resort and that is all we focus on. Customer service is average though, which is fine by me because I never need to talk to anybody after check in.

 

[infopurposesonly]

We have stayed at Bonnet Creek twice and are going back again. OP, I can agree with some of your points, but I still think it's a great value for what we pay, and any minor annoyances we have experienced are not enough to keep us from staying again. I've been lucky enough to get a lake view for both of our visits, but all of our family members traveling with us have had parking lot views, and they didn't mind. The landscaping is no pretty that even a parking lot view isn't so bad.

Check-in was a pain last year, but once that was settled we had no issues. I'll agree the food is mediocre, and we won't order pizza again. As for the pool area, when I see towels lying around I'm more likely to just think people are slobs. Maybe they do need to have more staff to pick up after people who can't seem to pick up after themselves.

 

[swilshire]

Unfortunately, you're describing half the resorts and hotels in the US. I spend a lot of time on travel for work, in addition to regular family vacations. I don't know why so many "nice" places have furniture you can't stand to sit on, marginal cleaning, and thin walls/floors/ceilings. I tend to clean the dishes and bathrooms at a minimum when I arrive (and I'm not a neat freak at all).

As for sales people, ignore them or greet them and move on. What harm can they do that would negatively impact your stay if you stay away from them? We actually attended one of their "pitches" once and I found the speaker objectionable. There were children in the room and he made off-color remarks more than once.

Sheila

 

[blessedby3]

We stayed at WBC in Oct of 2012 and loved it. We had a nice clean room, friendly check in staff…we went to get our parking pass and while they were a bit pushy about us going to the presentation, I was firm that we we did not want to go. No problems, we got the pass and never saw or heard from them again.
We had an awesome room (that we had to wait for…which was fine. We were offered another room at check in, but asked for a higher floor and so they said we could have that later in the day, fine with us) that had a beautiful lake view.
We loved the space and the location so much that we are staying there for 2 weeks this June
Sorry you had a bad experience, OP. We are hoping we have another awesome visit in June

 

[Portugal1000]

I'm so sorry your visit wasn't as good as you expected. We have stayed 5 times and I know its not for everyone but we love it. We have never been to a sales presentation and never been hassled. You don't even need a parking pass but if you do want to get one then I would advise going to the desk alone and saying that your husband or wife joining you later and that you will discuss with them.
The only time we didnt get the building we asked for was last year but ended up in a very new room in building 6. We had 2 rooms and they made sure we were on the same floor.
I can honestly say I have never heard any noise from anyone elses room. We have stayed in main building 3 times, tower 4 once and tower 6. I will request tower 4 next time. I love the location. The guy I rent from puts the request on my reservation and then I call 3 days before.
There is only housekeeping once a week which we like. Luckily my husband is the tidiest man in England so that helps.
We are staying a week at Tradewinds, St Petes Beach before arriving at BC and I just worry that it wont be as nice. Its double the price of BC and only a one bedroom suite, but its on the beach so I guess we should expect to pay more.

 

[nilseks]

Sorry to hear you had a bad experience, OP. It's a bummer and I totally understand. I'm on the flip side--we have had several bad experiences at Disney resorts, and our only experience with WBC was great. After our experience at Pop Century 2 years ago, I will never EVER stay at another Disney hotel. We were there during construction and had hammers banging overhead almost our whole trip. We asked several times to be moved, manager said not possible. It was during Pop Warner week and they were full. We were near a maid's 'closet' area and the maids congregated outside our door every morning jabbing away at 6 a.m. We asked them politely to stop, and they continued to do it. Finally my SIL got fed up and WENT OFF on the manager (not my style, but definitely her style lol) and they refunded half our $. However, I would have much preferred to pay full price and have peace and quiet.

Staying at WBC last year was like heaven in comparison. Maybe it has something to do with room placement but we never heard another soul in the other units. I found our room to be spotless. Yeah, the sales people were annoying, but my husband is in sales too and he's not afraid to say NO.

I hope your next stay, wherever it may be is better. And I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a second good stay at WBC in a few weeks.

 

[Silock]

I've stayed there many, many times, and I've never seen any of these unclean rooms people occasionally talk about. They don't send housekeeping every day unless you ask/pay for it. It's a condo, not a hotel.

I agree with everything else you said, though.

I may not stay there again, but it has everything to do with missing out on EMH and the absolutely horrid bus schedule.

 

[LetsDoDisney!]

OP we had a similar experience......we were so excited about it from reading the boards that we were a bit disappointed with the whole thing.

We didn't like the set up of the pools, and we didn't care for the restaurants there either.

Our room was ok, but our bed was broken and we never were able to get someone to come fix it even after stopping at the desk a couple of times.

It wasn't horrible by any means, but just meh for us. We like to have our own car and being inside the Disney property actually was an inconvenience for us as we love to stop at Dunkin on our way to the parks, and go to Walmart etc.

There are so many resorts to try out that I doubt we will stay at BC again though.