The we loooooove Bonnet Creek thread Part 3

[Upatnoon]

Hi, Do people Decorate their front doors? If so, just wondering if the front doors of the condos are metal? If not, what are they made of?

I've never seen anyone decorate their front doors. One thing to consider is that very few people will see your decorations. Unlike a hotel, there are far fewer rooms on each floor of the tower. When I stayed at a Disney value I must of walked past dozens of rooms each day. At Bonnet Creek, It is likely just a handful.

 

[Upatnoon]

Can you request a crib or pack-n-play at WBC?

The have pack-n-plays and high chairs. Request them when you check in and they will be delivered to your room very quickly, in my experience. No charge..

 

[CinderellaCastle]

...I believe I've also read about a good family owned Cuban place there. Anyone know the name and where it's located?

Columbia Restaurant. Check their website. Celebration is small any residents get around using golf carts and other small electric vehicles), about 15 minutes from BC.

And make sure to order a mojito!

 

[aubriee]

Hi, Do people Decorate their front doors? If so, just wondering if the front doors of the condos are metal? If not, what are they made of?

We didn't see any decorations when we were there and we were the next to the last door on that hall. That doesn't mean anything though, as we never entered any other halls.

Columbia Restaurant. Check their website. Celebration is small any residents get around using golf carts and other small electric vehicles), about 15 minutes from BC.

And make sure to order a mojito!

Thanks! Sounds good! Just about a month from now!

 

[WendyZQ]

Got my kids school calendar today and of course our school board made last minute changes, including moving mandatory standardized testing to the week we had booked for WBC (3/18-25). I have a call in to VS, but wondering:

1. Has anyone been able to switch weeks with VS? Was it hard to do?

2. What's the Disney scene like in late February? Now looking at 2/25-3/4. Any chance we could still swim? And crowds?

Fingers crossed that this works (and so glad I didn't book flights yet!). Bonus: We'll be there a whole month earlier!

 

[skateshome]

Got my kids school calendar today and of course our school board made last minute changes, including moving mandatory standardized testing to the week we had booked for WBC (3/18-25). I have a call in to VS, but wondering:

1. Has anyone been able to switch weeks with VS? Was it hard to do?

2. What's the Disney scene like in late February? Now looking at 2/25-3/4. Any chance we could still swim? And crowds?

Fingers crossed that this works (and so glad I didn't book flights yet!). Bonus: We'll be there a whole month earlier!

I had no problems at all changing dates with VS. Hopefully your experience will be the same.

I've heard February is an ideal time to go. Check outs a crowd calendar for specifics.

 

[eeyoresnr]

I just put a deposit with VS for Dec...the email confirmation came right away but my email said this below the sender info "



" Be careful! This sender failed our fraud detection checks."

has anyone else had this happen?

 

[ibob52]

I just put a deposit with VS for Dec...the email confirmation came right away but my email said this below the sender info "



" Be careful! This sender failed our fraud detection checks."

has anyone else had this happen?

No I did not have any such email alert.
Possibly a function of your email/security settings or Internet Security System.

My transaction with VS (May 2013) went well without any unwanted incidents.

 

[aubriee]

I just put a deposit with VS for Dec...the email confirmation came right away but my email said this below the sender info "
" Be careful! This sender failed our fraud detection checks."

has anyone else had this happen?

No I did not have any such email alert.
Possibly a function of your email/security settings or Internet Security System.

My transaction with VS (May 2013) went well without any unwanted incidents.

We also used Vacation Strategies for our May 2013 trip and did not have any unwanted incidents. I am using Shelby Resorts for my Sept trip and Aaron Washburn for our Dec trip, but only because their quotes beat Vacation Strategy. Otherwise, we'd be using Vacation Strategy again. They've always received good reviews here on the DIS.

 

[suemom2kay]

I just put a deposit with VS for Dec...the email confirmation came right away but my email said this below the sender info "

" Be careful! This sender failed our fraud detection checks."

has anyone else had this happen?

Most likely your mail security software it is phishing or spam. That us a warning designed for when you don't know the sender. You know the sender so your good to go.

 

[badiggio]

I just put a deposit with VS for Dec...the email confirmation came right away but my email said this below the sender info "



" Be careful! This sender failed our fraud detection checks."

has anyone else had this happen?

Yes,mine says{said} the same thing.It's just the security settings,I'm sure.I've dealt with VS many times and never a problem.We're off to WBC next thursday.

 

[johnus43]

Has anybody used vacation-times.org for Bonnett Creek reservations? I know there are other places to go thru but I have called them and they don't have available what I need. They have an A- rating but I can't find much other information.

 

[eangel12]

So, we were set on booking Bonnet Creek and then I started reading about the new Magic Bands. We are traveling next August and are deeply concerned that not staying on property will put us at a disadvantage.

Normally I would make plans but not super plan. With a 4 and 2 year old in August heat, planning is a must and fast pass is a must.

I am not debating paying the extra $$ and staying on site.

Any thoughts?! From what I understand, on site guest can get fast passes 60 days in advance of their trip!

 

[DCTooTall]

I just put a deposit with VS for Dec...the email confirmation came right away but my email said this below the sender info "



" Be careful! This sender failed our fraud detection checks."

has anyone else had this happen?

I wouldn't worry too much about it. Because of the way email works, and the core design of the system predates any sort of mail security concerns, the popular mail security/anti fraud systems in use can very easily flag something by accident that is perfectly legit.

A couple of the more common methods of "verification" used by these programs would be to verify that the origin IP of the email belongs to a SMTP server or IP address owned by the sending domain. This is at it's core, a system that is subject to a lot of false alarms. to own the IP, the reverse DNS lookup for the IP must be configured for the IP. It also means that they must have a static IP. For companies the size of most vacation rental brokers, It's highly unlikely they will have static IP's on dedicated hosting servers and mail servers. They are more likely utilizing shared hosting resources at a major web hosting company (such as Godaddy).

Many residential or small business ISP's as part of their efforts to prevent spam will block port 25, which is the port used to send emails. This means that you cannot connect to any outgoing mail server except the ones provided by your ISP. Since the outgoing mail servers act very much like just a mail drop slot and can be labeled as originating from any Domain/email address, This can cause the fraud detection programs to trigger because they see the return address in the Sender field as being one domain, but the mail server belonging to another. (In traditional mail terms..... It's like you write a letter to send to your friend, and have your return address on the envelope.... but instead of putting it in your mailbox for the mailman to pick up, you drop it in the outgoing mail slot at your office. It's still from you, and still gets where you are sending it, but you just got it to the postal system thru a location that was more convenient to your physical location at the time).


Ultimately, Those fraud detection systems are going to be much more effective in general in verifying email appearing to be from a major company which would need/have a large online infrastructure. For smaller operations or companies which have no need, or the resources devoted to a full scale online presence, it's nearly impossible for those protection programs to be 100% accurate.

So, we were set on booking Bonnet Creek and then I started reading about the new Magic Bands. We are traveling next August and are deeply concerned that not staying on property will put us at a disadvantage.

Normally I would make plans but not super plan. With a 4 and 2 year old in August heat, planning is a must and fast pass is a must.

I am not debating paying the extra $$ and staying on site.

Any thoughts?! From what I understand, on site guest can get fast passes 60 days in advance of their trip!

I haven't been up to date on the whole fastpass+ and magicband deals, But my understanding is that the ability to reserve fastpasses 60 days in advance isn't a perk of being onsite, but one that comes from having your tickets. If you purchase your tickets in advance and have them in hand you would still be able to make the fastpass reservations at the 60 day window.

 

[eangel12]

I haven't been up to date on the whole fastpass+ and magicband deals, But my understanding is that the ability to reserve fastpasses 60 days in advance isn't a perk of being onsite, but one that comes from having your tickets. If you purchase your tickets in advance and have them in hand you would still be able to make the fastpass reservations at the 60 day window.

We will be AP holders by that point on our trip but my mother in law would not be--although we will be ordering her ticket from undercover tourist in advance. Back to researching!!!

 

[leahkay]

We are planning our first Disney trip for June. This will not only be the first trip for my 3 kids (8, 6, 3) but also a first trip for the hubby and myself as well. We are staying at WBC using my in law's Wyndham points (FREE!!) for 7 nights in a 2 BR Presidential. We were interested in trying to add on 2 more nights. I hate to ask the inlaws to add an entire second week to our stay just for those 2 nights since it is my understanding that Wyndham owners can only book full weeks at a time, SO we are looking at booking the last 2 nights ourselves.

Questions:
Has anyone booked this way? Would we have to change rooms for the last 2 nights? I'm not opposed to it but would (obviously) rather stay put in the same room!

How is the best way to go about making this reservation? I've requested a quote through Vacation Strategies and I've looked on ebay but everything there seems to be for specific dates (and high).

TIA!

 

[DCTooTall]

We are planning our first Disney trip for June. This will not only be the first trip for my 3 kids (8, 6, 3) but also a first trip for the hubby and myself as well. We are staying at WBC using my in law's Wyndham points (FREE!!) for 7 nights in a 2 BR Presidential. We were interested in trying to add on 2 more nights. I hate to ask the inlaws to add an entire second week to our stay just for those 2 nights since it is my understanding that Wyndham owners can only book full weeks at a time, SO we are looking at booking the last 2 nights ourselves.

Questions:
Has anyone booked this way? Would we have to change rooms for the last 2 nights? I'm not opposed to it but would (obviously) rather stay put in the same room!

How is the best way to go about making this reservation? I've requested a quote through Vacation Strategies and I've looked on ebay but everything there seems to be for specific dates (and high).

TIA!

Wyndham owners can make reservations for periods of shorter than a full week, so your in-laws COULD attempt to make the shorter reservation for you to extend your trip, assuming you want to ask and they have the available points.


Outside of that, you can always try and look around and ask. Presidential units are going to be more expensive than deluxe units, so that's something to keep in mind. With the Ebay reservations, You can always talk to some of the people you see posting reservations for bid and ask if they would be willing to do the shorter reservation for you and how much it would cost.

As for needing to switch rooms.... as long as you have 2 back-to-back reservations in your name (via the Guest certificate) for the same size and classification of room, the resort will often try to manage the inventory so that your don't have to move. It's cheaper for them since they don't need to completely turn over the room, and easier for you. That being said, there is no guarantee that with multiple reservations that they will be able to keep you in the room the entire stay.

 

[teelee]

We are planning our first Disney trip for June. This will not only be the first trip for my 3 kids (8, 6, 3) but also a first trip for the hubby and myself as well. We are staying at WBC using my in law's Wyndham points (FREE!!) for 7 nights in a 2 BR Presidential. We were interested in trying to add on 2 more nights. I hate to ask the inlaws to add an entire second week to our stay just for those 2 nights since it is my understanding that Wyndham owners can only book full weeks at a time, SO we are looking at booking the last 2 nights ourselves.

Questions:
Has anyone booked this way? Would we have to change rooms for the last 2 nights? I'm not opposed to it but would (obviously) rather stay put in the same room!

How is the best way to go about making this reservation? I've requested a quote through Vacation Strategies and I've looked on ebay but everything there seems to be for specific dates (and high).

TIA!

Owners can reserve a max of 7 nights in one reservation, so a 9-night stay would require a separate 2 night reservation. If the two nights are any combination that includes a Fri *OR* Sat, the points for a 2BR Deluxe would be fewer than for seven nights in the Presidential. If those two nights are Fri *AND* Sat, there would be just a small increase in points. That could be a possible option to discuss with in-laws, if Deluxe is acceptable rather than Presidential. It would require the two separate reservations and additional housekeeping credits. Depending on their ownership, there could possibly be a fee for the additional reservation and/or a fee to change the existing reservation.

 

[leahkay]

That all makes sense. Thanks!

 

[bz8bls]

We stayed for nine nights. We are DVC owners who had ran out of points, but trip was last minute (I found some non-expiring Disney Park tickets while cleaning my closet)

I like the size of BC compared to DVC, however, we did miss staying on property to meet our transportation needs; also, it was a challenge to find parking spaces when returning from the parks. Some evenings we did not stay out past 8 p.m. due to the hassle of finding parking spaces upon our return. It seems the parking lot can't handle bigger crowds.

The grounds are lovely, guest service was great and we did not get hassled to attend a timeshare presentation.

Other than the parking situation, we would stay here again if we find we are short on points for DVC.