Boardwalk Here We Come!!!! Tips?

[PersonalizedMouse]

This is our first time staying at Boardwalk Inn. We leave in two and a half weeks. We typically stay at a Magic Kingdom resort (Contemporary) but with all of the construction and refurbs we decided to give an Epcot resort a try. Does anyone have any Boardwalk tips for us? I'm a little afraid I will miss the monorail service, the view of the castle and the water parade at night but I'm hoping we have a new equally wonderful experience here. Can anyone give me any Boardwalk tips...Thanks

 

[bowbat]

We stayed at BWI in November, having previously stayed at CR, Poly & WL, and we LOVED it! The lack of monorail is easily made up for by being able to walk or boat to both Epcot & DHS. And we also found the bus service to and from MK quick and painless (it shares with Swan/Dolphin, but very few people ever got on or off there ). Our room also had a view of the Eiffel Tower & Illuminations -- if you're booked garden view, you can request that I think.

The atmosphere on the boardwalk at night is so fun & it's quite lovely with all the resort lights sparkling on the water.

I bet you're going to be really pleasantly surprised. Have a great time!

 

[jackemail]

I spent 25 years staying at only MK resorts, until I finally branched out. Now I am in love with Boardwalk Inn.

Go down the clown slide....very fun. Try the quiet pool---usually has few people in it, and the hot tub as well.

Enjoy the colors of the Boardwalk at night---beautiful. Catch all the entertainment on the boardwalk..very fun.

Enjoy a quiet stroll around Crescent Lake, day or night (but night is especially gorgeous).

Take a few minutes (or more) to get the "lay of the land" of Boardwalk...the layout can be confusing at first.

Enjoy the quick walk to EPCOT.

 

[DevonsDisneyMom]

We are staying at BWI too for the 1st time in May!!! So very excited. Love the atmosphere of the Boardwalk Area! I too would love any suggestions or must do's to make our stay that much more enjoyable.

 

[Discrazymama]

We leave in 3 weeks and also staying at BWI. We are SO excited! Ive really enjoyed staying by the monorail but we spend most of our time at EPCOT or HS... it just makes sense to stay near it

 

[PersonalizedMouse]

Thanks everyone, we are excited to stay there. It should be a good time.

 

[psac]

I'll give you some food related tips.

1) Seashore Sweets has good ice cream, and they are very generous with the size of the scoops for the hand scooped ice cream.

2) Flying Fish is a great restaurant (though pricey), and Kouzzina is very good if you like the style of food -- it's not for everyone.

3) You can easily walk (or quick boat) to any of the restaurants in the Beach Club/Yatch Club/Swan/Dolphin, and even Epcot if you have a Park Hopper or that's your park for the day. You can be creative with dinner plans.

 

[Debbie Jean]

We stayed at BWI in November, having previously stayed at CR, Poly & WL, and we LOVED it! The lack of monorail is easily made up for by being able to walk or boat to both Epcot & DHS. And we also found the bus service to and from MK quick and painless (it shares with Swan/Dolphin, but very few people ever got on or off there ). Our room also had a view of the Eiffel Tower & Illuminations -- if you're booked garden view, you can request that I think.

The atmosphere on the boardwalk at night is so fun & it's quite lovely with all the resort lights sparkling on the water.

I bet you're going to be really pleasantly surprised. Have a great time!

You must have gotten lucky... I would venture to say bus service is the most frequently cited complaint about BW.... not only does it share MK and AK buses with the Swalphin but often BC as well. The rides both to and from the parks can be long and crowded... you just need to be prepared to have a bit of patience... It's the price you pay for such easy access to EPCOT and HS

One absolute must that has not been mentioned is Beaches & Cream... my personal favorite is the No Way Jose

 

[msp2mco]

We love BWI too. We like the access to the 2 parks and the amenities of the Boardwalk and surrounding area. We also like the quite, intimate Belle View Bar. As for transportation, we often get off at the first stop and walk back to the hotel.

 

[erinscreen]

I will be there with my mom in 3 weeks (22 days!). It is my first time staying on-site and we are staying CL at BWI. I LOVE the theming of BW moreso than any of the other resorts. Cannot wait!

 

[PSUGuy]

This Oct will be our 5th BW stay along with 6 at Swan/Dolphin, we won't stay elsewhere unless we have to. First, the bus issue. Only two times in all our stays did we catch a bus that hit all 5 epcot resorts, it's usually BW to S/D then off to the parks. Not looking to pick a fight, but POR, three separate stays, proved to be our worst bus experience, the Values, POP in particular, were the best. But we don't decide our resort pick on the busses, it's location, location, location. One can easily walk to half the WDW parks, no bus needed, 3/5 ths of the parks actually as Epcot is a 2 fer. BoardWalk itself is a 'park', IMHO, with street performers, great theming and I love starting my day with a leisurely stroll with a coffee and cigar. With 5 resorts right there, there are numerous dining options, we enjoy a cold brew at ESPN Club or a spicy Bloody Mary on the upper porch of the Belle Vue. By all means do a surry bike ride, but not on a crowded night, do it in the daytime. You're gonna love it.

Bill From PA

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

When walking to Hollywood Studios you can get to the walkway a lot faster by going through the Luna Park Pool area, so that will save you a couple of minutes.

The entertainers perform every night at random locations along the Boardwalk from 6:30 PM - 10:00 PM.

Seashore Sweets has very good Ice Cream and Milkshakes which you got to try.

The ESPN Club is a great place to eat at and it's become my favorite Table Service Restaurant.

Finally I always use to stay at the Contemporary and thought I would miss having access to the Resort Monorail. Well ever since I started staying at the Boardwalk Inn I honestly don't miss it and considering the problems it keeps having I say that's a good thing.

 

[Lisann]

My first trip will be in February to this beautiful resort; can't wait!

One of the best meals I've EVER had was at Flying Fish. Just WONDERFUL. And if you go, you MUST order the buffalo mozzarella and tomato salad, nothing like you get anywhere else. Oh, and a grape martini.

 

[catheren]

We use to stay at the Poly, when the kids were little and the MK park was the one we most frequented. Now they are older it's Epcot and DHS, so the BWI has the best location.

I love the BWI! So many restaurants and at night the improve shows.

Be sure to eat at the FF, it is now our favorite restaurant in WDW!

Tips: Order a pizza from the take-out pizza window and bring it to the porch of the Belle View Lounge, and people watch. The bakery is to "die" for, get a late night snack and coffee, and stroll around the resort. Take in a early morning walk or run around Crescent Lake, so quiet and peaceful. A non-park day you can view the "high" fireworks from the bridge. Seashore Sweets, for ice cream! Big River Grille for a beer and sit outside and people watch.

Enjoy!

 

[leeshiebean]

I stayed at BWI in Sept/Oct for my honeymoon. It was so convenient being able to walk to Epcot whenever we wanted! If it's in your budget, having a park hopper is awesome. We love Epcot and enjoyed being able to visit one park during the day then walking around Epcot at night.

If you're going to DHS and don't mind walking, it seems to be faster than waiting for the Friendships. We left BWI and didn't see a single Friendship until we were just about to DHS, and it was leaving.



The Boardwalk is entertaining at night; look out for street performers and boardwalk games.

Be forewarned, at least in our experience, that the hallways are COLD and long. Our room was facing the Boardwalk/water and we were down by the ESPN club. The only way to exit the hotel in order to say, walk to Epcot, was to either walk down the hallway toward the center of the hotel, or down a stairwell near the room, around the back of the hotel past the quiet pool, and then cut through the hotel toward the courtyard area. I'm not lazy (see walking, above), but it made for an annoyance when I needed to just "run up to the room real quick".



It's a great hotel and I think you're going to love being located so close to other resorts AND Epcot! It makes for lots of stuff to do!

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

Be forewarned, at least in our experience, that the hallways are COLD and long.

In my experience the hallways are only cold during the summer months and that's because of the way their air conditioning is set. When I have stayed there during the month of December I can honestly say they were not cold at all.

As for the hallways being long I honestly don't think that's a problem for me. The first time I stayed there I thought they might be hard to remember where my room was, however I got use to them very fast and today I don't find them long. Plus the OP could get a room that's close to the elevators and etc, so everyones experience with them is always going to be different.

 

[loganpaulsmom]

We did a split stay last May, bwi and the poly. I had been waiting almost 30 years to stay at the poly again, and although it was everything I could of asked for, I missed the Boardwalk area when we left. Also, I had deluxe dining but not until the poly part of the trip and I found that boardwalk area was lacking in the " grab and go category".. However, if u want signature or expensive restaurants they are everywhere.. espn zone is awesome but there was a line of no less than 20 people each time we walked by.. The pool area was great and even though the weather was in the 90's it never seemed overly crowded,where as the poly pool was insane every day..