Bonnet Creek Resort?

[Empress Room]

Just returned from WDW today and noticed the Fairfield's new "Bonnet Creek Resort" off of Lake Buena Vista Drive adjacent to Disney's Carribean Beach. My question is: isn't Bonnet Creek Resort located on Disney property? It's clearly not a Disney resort. Does anyone have any details concerning this property and how it ended up being built on what appears to be WDW land?

 

[Nemo14]

As I understand it, there are a few parcels of land that are located within the borders of disney property that were not purchased when the original land was, and this happens to be one of them.

 

[bgraham34]

I saw that yesterday. I did not realize it was that close.

 

[MeTa]

I think the deal is that there are certain appearance things that they havae to keep up with so it stays with Disneys Appearance. Not that I think it does....I also remember a CM telling me once that it was the only hotel not owned/operated by disney.

 

[saltmom1]

Just returned from WDW today and noticed the Fairfield's new "Bonnet Creek Resort" off of Lake Buena Vista Drive adjacent to Disney's Carribean Beach. My question is: isn't Bonnet Creek Resort located on Disney property? It's clearly not a Disney resort. Does anyone have any details concerning this property and how it ended up being built on what appears to be WDW land?

Swan and Dolphin are not owned by Disney and they are on Disney property.

 

[saltmom1]

I think the deal is that there are certain appearance things that they havae to keep up with so it stays with Disneys Appearance. Not that I think it does....I also remember a CM telling me once that it was the only hotel not owned/operated by disney.

Swan and Dolphin are not owned by Disney and they are on Disney property.

 

[lewisc]

SOG, S/D and the DTD hotels are on Disney property but not operted by Disney.

BCR is the only resort surrounded by Disney that's not on land owned by Disney.

I think the deal is that there are certain appearance things that they havae to keep up with so it stays with Disneys Appearance. Not that I think it does....I also remember a CM telling me once that it was the only hotel not owned/operated by disney.

 

[Empress Room]

Swan and Dolphin are not owned by Disney and they are on Disney property.

True, but they are on Disney property under license or other agreement with Disney that allows them to operate with Disney's permission. (I believe that both the Swan and Dolphin were designed - at least in part - by Disney.) Disney chose, for financial reasons present at the time, not to manage the hotels but rather sell those rights.

I do not believe (at least I have no information to affirm) that the Bonnet Creek Resort is under the same arrangement. It appears quite peculiar because it is surrounded by Disney land parcels and would otherwise appear to be a missed opportunity for Disney to retain the exclusivity of its property and resort locations.

 

[MickeyTigg]

The Bonnet Creek Resort is not on Disney property. It was a piece of property at the edge WDW that sat vacant for years, until somebody finally decided to develop it. They fought Disney and won finally for an access entry-way on Disney property since the only other way in would be I-4.

 

[Pioneer Hall]

When Disney was purchasing land way back when there were a few patches they were unable to obtain. The Bonnett Creek Resort is not owned by Disney but due to this was able to build in an area surrounded by Disney. If you notice though, the directional sign is a bright red so you know that it does not belong to Disney. Remember though it is techincally not on Disney property.

As far as the other non-Disney hotels. Shades of Green and The Swan and Dolphin are on loan from Disney I believe. While I think the S/D contract expires in 2099 the hotel still technically belongs to Disney. I was told that this was a test concept from Disney's mismanaged days in the 80's that never panned out. They were thinking of building more hotels and leasing them to other hotel companies.

 

[Empress Room]

As far as the other non-Disney hotels. Shades of Green and The Swan and Dolphin are on loan from Disney I believe.

Shades of Green, in fact, is not even in the same category per se as The Swan and Dolphin. It was built as a Disney resort and run as a Disney resort for many years, under the name "The Golf Resort" and later "The Disney Inn." It was built, I believe, to appeal to guests who wanted to stay "out of the way" in a more relaxed area, surrounded by golf courses etc. Shades of Green and its current management system/military resort niche were later developments.

 

[dumboflyer]

Shades of Green (formerly the Disney Inn) is operated by the US Army. Only army families (retired and active) can stay there. It's a pretty decent rate. The higher rank you are in the army, the higher the rate is. I think that is a very interesting concept---the more you make, the more you can afford to pay. So for a young person (or someone just in the reserves), it is SUPER affordable. My stepdad is in the reserves and it is pretty nice (although the decor is kinda odd).

Swan/Dolphin were designed by Michael Graves (the guy who makes cool products like coffeemakers at Target with the blue and yellow accents). It is rumored that while they were doing this experimental thing with outsiders making hotels, Graves made the hotels too big (since you can see them from Epcot which ruins theming). Eisner and the board didn't want to make their first outside designer angry so he didn't object to the size. I think they are ugly and from the inside, they are really ugly.

I seem to remember some weird rumor about Bonnett Creek Resort was owned or operated by the Japanese government or the Japan's royalty or some connection to Japan. Does anyone know anything about that?

 

[Epcot82Guy]

I seem to remember some weird rumor about Bonnett Creek Resort was owned or operated by the Japanese government or the Japan's royalty or some connection to Japan. Does anyone know anything about that?

Never heard that one. I just heard the land parcel issue.

Just my legal instincts talking here, but I would guess that Disney has some sort of agreement worked out for the entry easement that includes appearance standards. Since they would likely want that moreso than money on maintenance of the roadways and whatnot, that would be my guess as to where the appearance authority would come from. The othe possibility would be a value argument that a gaudy hotel in a less-than-Disney state would be detrimental to their property value. However, that would be a pretty tough sell in that I doubt this resort would look THAT much different than other Disney hotels even without Disney requirements. Otherwise, because this land is technically not Disney's, they cannot really control it.

 

[fredtom]

Bonnet Creek Resort

Here is a thorough explanation from "Anita Answer" at AllEars.net :wave:

Bonnet Creek Resort is not owned or run by Disney. It is a timeshare resort owned by Fairfield Resorts (not to be confused with the Marriott's Fairfield hotels), which owns and runs timeshare properties around the world. The resort was built on a small parcel of land that borders Disney property on three sides and I-4 on the fourth side, but is not actually on Disney property. The Walt Disney Company was required to give the resort access to Buena Vista Drive, hence the signs you've seen.

Guests of Bonnet Creek Resort are not afforded any of the perks or privileges of Disney resort guests. They would have no Disney buses to or from the parks, no Extra Magic Hour admission, no free parking at the theme parks, no delivery of merchandise back to the resort, and no charging privileges through their resort ID.

 

[ThreeCircles]

The Swan and Dolphin are owned by Disney but operated by another company. If you look up the parcels on the Orange County Property Tax website you'll see the value of the hotels and that they are indeed owned by the Walt Disney World Company.

The reason as to why they are managed by another company is complex. It involves the Tushman family and early agreements between them and Disney. As it stood, the two companies had entered into an exclusive contract to allow the Tushman Co. to build and operate all future hotels at WDW. When Eisner came along and saw the potential losses from such a deal, he agreed to a contract that allowed the Tushman Co. to build and operate two hotels to Disney specifications but which allowed Disney to actually retain ownership of both the land and the buildings.

From then on Disney built and operated their own resorts.

(This info comes from the book: The Disney Touch.)

 

[Lynx04]

Bonnet Creek Resort sits on land that was never sold to Disney by the original owner. When the owner died the land was sold by the family. If I remember correctly there was a family dispute over the land. I am sure Disney tried to purchase the land, but fairfield was willing to pay more.

If you read Disney War, there is a part in the book where they discuss reason for the S&D resort, pretty much what was stated above.

 

[Disneygirl86]

I've stayed at the Bonnet Creek Resort. (My family owns timeshare there.) It's really nice!! You can see the EPCOT globe from there, and if you're on the tower on the side that faces epcot, you can watch illuminations! I'm going to be staying there again in May. If you want to see pictures, let me know. I have several resort pics and room pics. (if anyone can pm and let me know how to post pics where you can see the pics on the forum and not have to link pics that would be helpful, too.)

I heard that there's a possibility of Disney buses going to Bonnett Creek but it's just a rumor as far as I know.

 

[Metallica_Band]

Trivia time:

How much money, under their contract with Disney, does Swan/Dolphin Resort have to pay Disney just to be on Disney property?


I know the answer but forgot so I will have to ask my source for the answer again to remind me...

- Metallica_Band

 

[Mori Anne]

Shades of Green (formerly the Disney Inn) is operated by the US Army. Only army families (retired and active) can stay there. It's a pretty decent rate. The higher rank you are in the army, the higher the rate is. I think that is a very interesting concept---the more you make, the more you can afford to pay. So for a young person (or someone just in the reserves), it is SUPER affordable. My stepdad is in the reserves and it is pretty nice (although the decor is kinda odd).

I realize this post is a little old in days, but I want to correct this statement. YOu don't just have to be Army to stay at Shades of Green, as with any base Military Hotel, you can be from any service; you just have to hold a valid military ID. The price is higher after you pass the E5 rank. It is almost always true in the military that the higher you are on the chain, the more money you are expected to shell out for things. It is just the way it is.

Hope this helps anyone that became confused with this.