What I always tell people who want to go to the boardwalk area (or any Disney resort) is to plan a theme park visit around this. For example, if you want to go to the boardwalk area plan on being either at the Studios or Epcot. From Epcot the boardwalk area is only 5-10 minutes walking. You can also take the Friendship boat but it will take you longer. From the Studios it is a longer walk (maybe 15-20 minutes), but you can also take the Friendship boat from there. Note the Friendship boats travel between the Studios and the International Gateway of Epcot throughout the day stopping along the way at the Swan/Dolphin, Boardwalk, and Beach/Yacht clubs. It's a slow but relaxing ride.
It makes no sense to me for anyone to travel from their resort to another resort without making a theme park visit. Since there are no direct resort to resort buses you have to go to a theme park first anyway (or Downtown Disney where the waits for resort buses are longer). You can save a lot of wasted travel time by going to a theme park first. Then take a break at either the boardwalk area or a Disney resort or go there after you are done at that theme park. The great thing about the boardwalk area is that if you are done with Epcot (for example) you can visit, eat, & shop at the boardwalk area and then proceed to the Studios.