By the co-author of The easy Guide to Your Walt Disney World Visit 2020, the best-reviewed Disney World guidebook series ever.

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Review: The Hilton Orlando Bonnet Creek in the Bonnet Creek Resort Area



By Dave Shute

THE HILTON ORLANDO BONNET CREEK

The Bonnet Creek Resort is an enclave with five hotels, surrounded by Disney World but not on Disney property.

Located adjacent to Disney’s Caribbean Beach and Pop Century Resorts in the area circled in the image, you’ll find in the Bonnet Creek Resort a Wyndham, Wyndham Grand, Hilton, Waldorf Astoria, and a JW Marriott.

Guests staying at two of these five hotels—the Hilton Orlando Bonnet Creek and the Waldorf Astoria Orlando—are eligible for Disney World’s Early Entry program.

Because of this, I cover these two hotels, with this review of the Hilton Orlando Bonnet Creek  now complete, and a review of the Waldorf Astoria available here.

Note that there are four other Hilton-flagged properties in or near Disney World that all have access to the same perks–the next door Waldorf Astoria, and over in the Disney Springs Resort Area, the Hilton Orlando Lake Buena Vista, Hilton Buena Vista Palace and the Doubletree Suites by Hilton.

The Hilton Orlando Bonnet Creek offer rooms with a king bed, or with two queen beds, in a long mid-rise block.

The best features of the Hilton Orlando Bonnet Creek are its pool complex, reasonably central location especially close to Epcot and Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and the broad range of strong amenities it offers.

Weaknesses include the un-divided baths, absence of balconies, and park transportation–its buses have too many stops, and run too infrequently.

My full review of the Hilton Orlando Bonnet Creek has four pages:

ACCOMMODATIONS AT THE HILTON ORLANDO BONNET CREEK

Rooms with a king bed and rooms with two queens are available in the Hilton Orlando Bonnet Creek.

There are also some bookable views–e.g. a fireworks view. You can see in the moderate distance the Epcot and Hollywood Studios fireworks, and far away Magic Kingdom fireworks.  The absence of balconies makes these views less fun.

The Hilton Orlando Bonnet Creek is a major convention hotel, and as in all such hotels, suite options are also available.

The bed side of Hilton Orlando Bonnet Creek two queen room.

The undivided bath includes in one space a single sink, a toilet, and a shower/tub combo. This makes the room less family-friendly than most Disney-owned options. There’s also no balconies.

A photo tour of a two queen room at the Hilton Orlando Bonnet Creek is here.

DINING AT THE HILTON ORLANDO BONNET CREEK

The Hilton Orlando Bonnet Creek has three table service venues, a snack/coffee shop, and both a lobby bar and another bar (and dining venue) at its pool complex.

Two venues, La Luce and Zeta, are more oriented to adults and the heavy convention crowds that you’ll find here. The downstairs Harvest Bistro is more family friendly, and you’ll find more of both high end and family-friendly dining at the next-door sister resort Waldorf Astoria.

There’s also a Disney gift shop offering souvenirs, park tickets and such off the lobby. Other typical amenities including a gym and a business center are also available.

There’s more on dining and the other amenities at the Hilton Orlando Bonnet Creek here.

THE POOL COMPLEX AT THE HILTON ORLANDO BONNET CREEK

The Hilton Orlando Bonnet Creek pool complex is in the top rank among the non-Disney hotels at Walt Disney World, clearly bested among them only by the pool complex at the Four Seasons.

The most distinctive feature of the pool complex at the Hilton Bonnet Creek is its lazy river, but it also has a pool slide–rare at the non-Disney hotels–a kids pool, two hot tubs, and a zero entry area.

For more on the pool complex at the Hilton Orlando Bonnet Creek, see this.

THEME PARK TRANSPORTATION AT THE HILTON ORLANDO BONNET CREEK

The Hilton Orlando Bonnet Creek shares buses with the next-door Waldorf Astoria.

These buses depart too infrequently, and have too many theme park stops, to be a good option–although are better than most off-property hotel transportation options.

For example, in my last stay, Magic Kingdom buses left generally every thirty minutes (there were a few 60 minute intervals) and went next to the Waldorf Astoria.  From Magic Kingdom half went on to Epcot, then to Hollywood Studios, and the other half went on to Animal Kingdom. Buses to the Studios could take 45 minutes. Moreover as is the case with all non-Disney buses, Magic Kingdom buses dropped off at TTC, not the park itself.

Having a rental car, or using cabs, Uber or Lyft is a better option.

In addition to the theme park buses, buses to and from Disney Springs run in the evening.

Having your own car or a rental is a much better option. Self-parking at the Hilton Orlando Bonnet Creek is $27/night and valet parking is $37/night. Parking at the theme parks is $25/day.

PRICING AT THE HILTON ORLANDO BONNET CREEK

Pricing at the non-Disney hotels is much less visible than that at the Disney-owned resorts, and multiple prices for the same room e.g. for non-refundable stays, stays by folk with AAA, etc. are common.  Discounts and deals are also common, and these hotels sometimes show up on the various hotel deal sites.

Pricing for most of them is also obscured by mandatory “resort fees.”  Resort fees are a mandatory extra cost added every night of your stay, whether you like or not. I personally find mandatory resort fees a misleading and unethical practice.  A fee that is mandatory, and charged each night, should simply be rolled into the nightly room price.

The Hilton Orlando Bonnet Creek resort fee is (after tax) $$50.63 per night–among the highest resort fees at a Disney World hotel.

Base prices at the Hilton Orlando Bonnet Creek (before any discounts you might find, but including resort fees and taxes) are generally ~$50/night higher than those for a Disney-owned moderate resort, and substantially less than those of a Disney-owned deluxe resort.

For families looking for queen beds, lots of dining options, a very strong pool complex, and other strong amenities, and ok with the absence of balconies, an undivided bath, and weak transportation, the Hilton Orlando Bonnet Creek can be a reasonable option, offering amenities somewhere between those of a Disney moderate and a Disney deluxe at a price commonly closer to that of a Disney moderate.

Among the five Hilton flagged properties at Disney World with access to Disney World’s Early Entry program, for families I would rank it second, after the Hilton Buena Vista Palace, which offers balconies and a divided bath.

Kelly, the long-time travel agent partner of this site, can book your Disney World vacation at the Hilton Orlando Bonnet Creek–or at any other Disney World hotel!  Contact her using the form below.

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PHOTO TOUR OF A ROOM AT THE HILTON ORLANDO BONNET CREEK

This review continues here.

MORE ON THE HILTON ORLANDO BONNET CREEK

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