After two nights with 4 adult-sized people in a single hotel room, we were excited to move on to a condo-style resort. We had debated the benefits of staying on-site at a Disney resort when we were planning this trip but ultimately decided we had outgrown both the themes and the room size of the Disney resorts. Unwilling to pay outrageous prices for any of Disney’s multi-room options, we turned to the Bonnet Creek resorts.
Bonnet Creek is not owned by Disney but is as close to being on property as you can get, with Disney land surrounding it on three sides. All of the major hotel chains have resorts there – Hilton, Marriott, Wyndham. We weighed the perks of staying on Disney property (early entry, extra magic hours, free transportation or parking) against the extra space that a condo-style property offered and the extra space easily won out. We wouldn’t have looked at resorts any further away, but Bonnet Creek was so close that the only real downside was having to pay for parking. (The upside of which was that we actually had much more flexibility to come and go as we pleased and never had to wait on line for a shuttle crammed with people – worth the money in my opinion.)
The Wyndham property actually has both a hotel (Wyndham Grand Orlando Bonnet Creek) and a timeshare property (Club Wyndham Bonnet Creek). We stayed in a two bedroom, two bath condo at Club Wyndham and it was perfect for our family. (One, three, and four bedroom options are also available.) It had a small kitchen, dining room, living room, laundry closet, master bed (with king) and bath, and a second bedroom with two full size beds and a bath in the hallway. Perfect for a family of four.
The resort grounds are beautiful. The 6 buildings (referred to as Towers 1-6) surround the lake, with a path around it connecting the buildings and all of the resort amenities. There are 5 pools featuring everything from pirate ships to water slides to lazy rivers.
Barbecues, picnic areas, playgrounds, and even a miniature golf course are also spread throughout the property. There is no shortage of outdoor space or things to do here.
And people aren’t the only ones enjoying the resort’s beautiful lake. There are lots of birds and ducks around the property, including some ducklings and a breed of white duck that sports a fancy Victorian-looking hair-do.
We loved this resort and had no regrets at all about staying off Disney property. The resort is so close to the parks that I honestly think it was faster to drive ourselves than to wait for shuttles from a Disney resort. We came and went as we pleased without waiting on lines, worrying about when the next shuttle was coming, if it would be full, etc. It was actually pretty liberating and I thought well worth the $30 per day parking fee. (The resort does offer a shuttle service but it has very limited runs and charges a fee so it ended up being much easier and more economical to just drive ourselves.)
The grounds are beautifully landscaped and maintained. The pools are great and with so many options, if one seemed crowded, we just walked over to the next. Towels are readily available (scan your bracelet to get them from cabinets throughout the property) and there always seemed to be chairs available. The nice thing about a resort in Orlando is that no matter how booked it is, it never seems too crowded because a large subset of the guests are always out and about at the parks.
The condos themselves are a great space. There seem to be two different sets of furnishings (one gray and one beige) and both had more of a corporate apartment feel than a homey one, but the layout was great and the space was wonderful. We saved money by having a kitchen, cooking two easy dinners and eating all our breakfasts there, as well as packing lunches for two park days. Between hot park days and wet bathing suits, the laundry was a life saver. And I think this trip made us realize that two bedrooms and two bathrooms are a game changer for us now that the boys are teens.
We would absolutely stay at Club Wyndham Bonnet Creek again. In fact, I’m not sure we would ever go back to a Disney property. This resort offers all the amenities we wanted, tons of space, and plenty of convenience.
