The we loooooove Bonnet Creek thread Part 3

[EMHDad]

I know that as I am just trying to figure out which tower can see the Epcot fireworks. That is all the info I need.

I would like to know this as well please.

 

[Calirya]

And would the owners agree to raising the MFs for the benefit of the non-owners?

No, I would not. But I would agree to a free shuttle service for members. I pay monthly maintenance fees.

 

[skylizard]

No, I would not. But I would agree to a free shuttle service for members. I pay monthly maintenance fees.

Neither would I. I pay my monthly maintenance fees as welll.

 

[skylizard]

I know this had been mentioned earlier, but is it really true that I can't call in ahead of time to request a room (if I already have a reservation)? What if I'm an owner at BC?

 

[Calirya]

I know this had been mentioned earlier, but is it really true that I can't call in ahead of time to request a room (if I already have a reservation)? What if I'm an owner at BC?

ONLY if you are a platinum, silver or gold member will they take room requests. Trust me I called on this about 6 times hoping to get someone to say different.

 

[eeyoresnr]

this question may have been answered already in one of 3 threads but can someone tell me if they have cribs or pack-n-plays (preferably the pack-n-play) and if so how do i get one for our stay? also what do people with little ones do in place of a high chair? my grandson is 2 but he still sits in his high chair to eat? thanks

 

[DCTooTall]

As a fellow Wyndham Smokey Mountains owner (who is going to WBC for the first time next weekend), I must respectfully disagree with you.

Yes, the paid shuttle service is a major disaster. And DH is upset that the change happened after we made our reservations (back in December, the ten month mark). He thinks we should have been grandfathered in. And he has a valid point.

Nonetheless, the shuttle service, utilized by all, but paid for by the owners' association (through the owners' MFs) is a money pit. And it's not like other hotels with free shuttles to the parks. Hotel shuttles aren't really free; they're paid for by the costs of the rooms. WBC's owners' association can't do that. It's either recoup the costs of the shuttles by charging for them, or increase the MFs. And would the owners agree to raising the MFs for the benefit of the non-owners?

more importantly... would they agree to raising the MF's enough to pay for the frequency and quality that the current shuttle service obviously costs? If they went back to a completely free shuttle, It's highly likely you would see a dramatic decrease in the frequency and flexibility of the current shuttle system and become much more like the 2-3 trips to a single park in the morning, and another 2-3 trips at closing returning to the resort.... similar to the "free shuttle" that you find at many other offsite hotels and resorts.


I'll admit that the entire implementation and way information was made available regarding the change from the free shuttle to a paid shuttle was a complete trainwreck.... and I'm kind of surprised there wasn't more advanced notice given to the resort owners, even in the form of it being on the agenda at a board meeting.... But I truly can't fault the motives behind the change, and the timing does seem to hint strongly that the shuttle was being either completely paid for, or heavily subsidized by Wyndham during the sales phase of the resort. (For those not in-the-know... It's not uncommon for a developer to subsidize the Maintenance Fees of a resort during the sales phase to make it more attractive to potential buyers. After the primary sales phase ends, they will remove the subsidies and you can see a 'significant' jump in the annual MF's. [compared to 'normal' MF increases you would expect to see]).



** DISCLAIMER: I own a WBC Contract, so the resort costs and their impact on the MF's are things I'm directly impacted by.

 

[sb682]

My wife and I will be checking in to the resort this coming Wednesday for 12 nights and I know they don't take requests for specific towers, But I am going to see if I can ask and hopefully get the tower that my wife and I want. Can anyone tell me which tower is good for Epcot fireworks viewing? We will be staying in a 1 bedroom suite. Thanks in advance.

I would like to know this as well please.

At check-in, we asked if we could please have a room with a fireworks view on a high floor. We were told there were no guarantees, but we got a room on the 11th floor of Tower 4 with a perfect view of Illuminations and a great view of Wishes, too. Technically, the view was a "parking lot view", but if you're up several floors, you'll see more trees and resorts than anything else.

 

[erineab]

We have a 4 bedroom presidential booked for a week in March. I sort of seem to remember reading something about how, when booking 4 bdrm pres. units, you are assigned a specific room at the time of booking. Am I just imagining that or is this the case? I can't seem to find that info when searching now.

 

[squirrel4569]

For the first time in a long time I'm looking into staying off-site, primarily due to cost and the size of our group. We'll have 8 people, 6 of them female, so two bathrooms is a requirement. We could get two rooms at a value but we're cramped into a couple of tiny rooms for more than the price of a room at WBC, even when booked through Wyndham. We'll probably be driving our own car so ME isn't an issue, but we're hoping we can still get in on FP+ and MB.

I've looked at vrbo and ebay and it looks like their prices are much better than Wyndham direct, but I'm a little leary about booking that way. Also, should I book closer to the trip or as soon as possible so they don't get booked up? We're planning on going June 7-14, 2014, which includes SWW and is the beginning of the peak season. My biggest concern, obviously, would be to arrive and not have a reservation. Credit card companies will fight fraud and will get my money back if someone scams me, but I'd hate to make an 18-20 hour drive into Florida, be ready to drop my stuff at the room/bell desk and find out I've got to scramble to find a room during peak season. Obviously by the popularity of this thread this is a pretty good option for staying off-site and even at Wyndham's prices it's a good deal compared to staying on property but if I can get more bang for my buck I'm game for it, just don't want to get scammed.

Thanks in advance for any advice!

 

[SYLVESTER7577]

I would like to know this as well please.

My experience for Epcot fireworks view is from the uppers floors of towers 4 & 5. The west wing of tower five if possible in tower 5. For sure from the top couple of floors you can also see Wishes off in the distance and the castle. DTD view is to the east from at least tower 5 as well.

 

[SYLVESTER7577]

We are hoping if anyone there can post (if WBC has posted) activities for October 31st, Halloween. We will have our 6 year old twin grand nieces and are trying to make plans for that evening. We will have already gone to MNSSHP earlier in the week.

 

[Anita123]

Woo hoo! I got my confirmation letters confirming my reservation next week. I got two letters as I guess the reservation used points from two different owners.

Next Thursday I'll be there. We can't wait.

We'll actually be down in Florida a few days early, so we are staying at the Hawthorne Suites before we check into BC.

 

[Spanky]

squirrel 4569 - read through these pages and you will see the names of several different ways to rent at WBC. vacation upgrade and vacation strategy are the two that are mentioned the most. Go to their web sites and follow the instructions to receive a bid. My family has used vacationupgrades.com and highly recommend them. I am a Wyndham owner but have limited points so we used vacation upgrades to supplement with a second rental or to secure a 4 bedroom 4 bath rental as none are ever available when I can rent at 10 months before a trip. Others on this board have successfully used ebay. Just be sure and check the track record of the person offering the rental. Good luck !

 

[asmit4]

Do the 2 bedroom deluxes have a DVD player? My son is an elmo, bubble guppies, barney freak and without having access to lots of toys- dvds will be our friend

 

[jlhill4444]

this question may have been answered already in one of 3 threads but can someone tell me if they have cribs or pack-n-plays (preferably the pack-n-play) and if so how do i get one for our stay? also what do people with little ones do in place of a high chair? my grandson is 2 but he still sits in his high chair to eat? thanks

They have pack n plays and high chairs for you to use. Just ask at the front desk when you check in and they will send them up.

 

[ibob52]

Do the 2 bedroom deluxes have a DVD player? My son is an elmo, bubble guppies, barney freak
and without having access to lots of toys- dvds will be our friend

2 Bedroom deluxe ... DVD player is in Living Room ... Entertainment Center

 

[Upatnoon]

As a fellow Wyndham Smokey Mountains owner (who is going to WBC for the first time next weekend), I must respectfully disagree with you.

Yes, the paid shuttle service is a major disaster. And DH is upset that the change happened after we made our reservations (back in December, the ten month mark). He thinks we should have been grandfathered in. And he has a valid point.

Nonetheless, the shuttle service, utilized by all, but paid for by the owners' association (through the owners' MFs) is a money pit. And it's not like other hotels with free shuttles to the parks. Hotel shuttles aren't really free; they're paid for by the costs of the rooms. WBC's owners' association can't do that. It's either recoup the costs of the shuttles by charging for them, or increase the MFs. And would the owners agree to raising the MFs for the benefit of the non-owners?

There seems to be two camps of Wyndham owners on the bus service at WBC.

Camp 1: Owners who want to maintenance fees as low as possible, even it if means degrading service by charging fees.

In this camp are the super renters who own lots of points and want to keep their costs down. Also, people who own at the resort but never use the bus service, and owners who may own at the resort but never actually stay there. Also in this camp may be Wyndham itself, who probably still owns a chuck of points at the resort.

Camp 2: The people who wouldn't mind an increase in maintenance fees to keep the bus service free. These are likely mostly families who own at WBC.

Right now, camp No. 1 is winning. They are likely the most vocal of the camps.

 

[LadyBeBop]

Right now, camp No. 1 is winning. They are likely the most vocal of the camps.

Are they the most vocal, or are the the (much larger) of the two?

We own two timeshares, a week in the Virgin Islands (bought in 1994), and a week every other year at Wyndham Smokey Mountains (bought in 2000). Since buying, we've stayed in those two resorts a total of 0 times.

We bought into our timeshares to trade into other timeshares. This will be our second trip back to Disney since buying into timeshares (we also went with my in-laws on their timeshare week).

I think most buy into timeshares to trade, not for staying at the same resort year after year.

 

[Kemorr]

So, I thought I'd come here and do a trip report of my stay at WBC. A little history - I was traveling solo with my 3 kids and was originally booked in a 2 bed villa at BLT, for $1000 per night. When the Fall discounts came out and BLT wasn't included, I decided to switch to a 4 bed at WBC for a total of $2500 for 8 nights. We could afford BLT, but it was hard to see the "value" and I also wanted my kids to each have their own room so they could sleep better (they don't sleep well when sharing a room, even if they have their own beds). However, right before my trip I found I was really regretting the loss of MBs, FP+ and the dining plan (I like the convenience and it save me money because we do a lot of character meals), so I booked an 8 night ghost reservation at Pop with a room discount for $800. My total room cost was still well below what I would have paid for BLT, even if you took the rental car ($400) into consideration (I would not have rented a car at BLT).

1) Check In at WBC - I was super worried about this, given stories of long waits, rooms not ready etc. However, we checked in at about 4:15 and there were only 3 people in front of us in line. It took maybe 10 minutes to get through the line, then another 5 minutes to actually check in. Room was ready, got Tower 6. She sent me to the parking pass desk, but there was a line, so I skipped it.

2) Check in at Pop - did online check in before I arrived, so it was quick. Checked in, got my dining plan credits and ate dinner at the food court there (only OK). SO GLAD not staying at Pop, that place was crowded, noisy and overwhelming, just like the parks. Requested no housekeeping. Guy said he could make a note on the reservation but I should put up a do not disturb sign. I didn't do that, never went to the room.

3) Returned to WBC. No problem getting in without the parking pass. There was plenty of parking available in the lot near Tower 6 at 6 pm, however the next morning there were several cars parked along the curb in places that weren't actually spots. We never had a problem with parking except for the night we went to the halloween party, when there were no spots available and had to go to the garage. Also, the Saturday before we checked out (Sat 12th) was definitely a LOT busier than the prior week had been.

4) When I went into Tower 6, I just went to the desk there and asked for my pass (no line). The guy gave me that piece of paper to fill out, I didn't even fill it out. I just said I can't do your tour because my husband isn't with me. He took it away, gave me the pass and I never heard a peep from them the whole trip.

5) The room. Spacious and nice. Great view of lake, Swolphin, Tower of Terror, Expedition Everest in the distance, Pop etc. Room is "surface clean". IE, all the surfaces that I would expect to be clean were, but it was actually quite dirty if you looked closer. There were large dust bunnies accumulated on all the finials of every curtain rod, the lamps were extremely dusty inside, the walls and doors of one bathroom had some interesting stains etc. I think the rooms probably only get surface cleaned and they could definitely stand from being deep cleaned. Everything else was fine, lots of towels, toiletries etc. The room wasn't dirty enough for me to not enjoy staying there.

6) Location - The location is definitely good. 5 minutes to HS and DTD, 7 to Epcot, 15 to AK and MK. I had a huge stroller and didn't want to bother with getting it on the tram at the TTC, so I valet parked at the Contemporary for each of our MK days (completely legal) and walked into MK. The location of BLT can't be beat. There were 2 days that I wished we were staying there - the night of the Halloween Party when one of my kids fell asleep in the stroller and another MK day when we wanted to leave the park at 1:00 but had a dinner res in the park at 5:00. We ended up canceling the res and going back to the resort, if we had been at BLT we could have just gone back into the park for dinner after an afternoon at the pool. Still, I can't imagine lugging that huge stroller on the bus from BLT to HS, Epcot and AK, so for all but MK having the rental car was preferable.

7) Pool - We spent 2 afternoons at the pirate pool. My kids had so much fun there they wouldn't consider trying out any of the others. I do wish we had more time to explore the rest of the resort, we limited ourselves entirely to our room and the pirate pool.

8) Ghost Reservation - Absolutely no problems with this at all. Used charging to room, FP+ and dining credits all week without an issue. When I checked out of Pop, nothing was said, just "did you enjoy your stay?"

9) In summary, I would stay at WBC again, but ONLY with a ghost reservation if MBs and FP+ aren't available to offsite guests. Once my kids are older, however, and there are less bedtime shenanigans when sharing a room, I think we'll stick to DVC villas, if our plan is entirely Disney.