Boardwalk Information

[sm4987]

I haven't been on the resort board a lot lately, but am coming to the place that has a wealth of information.

I switched my reservations from CB to Boardwalk on the AP rate. I read through the thread on the Boardwalk. I just wanted to know......

What do you like about the boardwalk?
Is the noise loud over the Boardwalk ( we paid for a water view room)?
How did you like the room?

I've wanted to stay here a long time, but just would love to hear of the good and the bad of staying here

 

[Ladyhawke10]

Well, I didn't stay in a water view room but I have heard that some people with a water view room over ESPN thought it was loud. It might be loud if you are over Jellyrolls. It's a fun atmosphere though (a fun noise, if there is such a thing...not like construction or something ) so if the assurance of quiet is something important, I'd ask for a quiet water view location at check-in. It's not guaranteed, but I've had great luck w/ Disney for our room requests, so far.

As for what I love about the resort, the first would probably be the decor and the fact that its on the Boardwalk. There are plenty of other resorts in the MGM/ Epcot vicinity which all share the great location (on the lake with access to water transportation, and there's nothing like that comfortable walk back to the resort at night after Illuminations--while everyone from the other resorts are standing in lines to get on buses to go home!--I've been there, too! )., but the Boardwalk Inn is my favorite resort in that area because of the theming. The lobby is so beautiful and reminds me of a scene from the Great Gatsby. The quiet pool is surrounding by pretty landscaping and rose bushes and we had it to ourselves (and the quiet pool's jacuzzi) on many occasions--even during spring break! The antique furnishings and accents are beautiful and a relaxing stroll around the Boardwalk is great fun. We love to browse in the shops and watching the people on surrey bikes. Its such a nice atmosphere. My son loves the pizza slices and I like those white chocolate dipped rice crispie squares at the candy shop.

The pool area is great (my son loves Dumbo), especially the carousel designed bar area. We've had better service at other deluxe resorts (like AKL and GF, and have never come across an unhappy CM at the Poly either) but its the look and feel of the Boardwalk that is so attractive. Our room was drop dead gorgeous, the prettiest of any other deluxe hotel rooms we've had, and I loved our huge balcony.

I'm a big fan of AKL and GF as well, but in the Epcot area, the Boardwalk Inn is my favorite. We would never hesitate to stay there! It's great !

 

[gogoofygo]

Hi- Just back from our first trip to BWI. We loved the location- we could not hear any outside noise, but we could hear the family next to us. The only drawback, In my opinion is the lack of a food court area- my kids are teenagers so it was not a problem- but I am glad that my prior visits to WDW were at resorts that had a food court. The theming is beautiful- the CM's are great.

 

[dcmbshafe]

We enjoyed staying at the Boardwalk (although we were at BWV). We thought the best part about it was that you could walk to Epcot or MGM, plus there were a lot of dining options very close. Also, Fantasia Gardens mini-golf is within walking distance. We walked almost every time to MGM and Epcot as it was generally faster than taking the boats (unless you are walking onto the boardwalk and a boat is just pulling up). We personally do not like the Disney buses, so if we had it to do over again, we would have driven to MK. Our two trips via bus to MK was the most negative aspect of staying at the Boardwalk.

Sorry we can't help you on the noise aspect, we were next to the pool which wasn't very noisy.

 

[WDWDennis]

We've only stayed there once and it was in a 3-bed Grand Villa. We had a BW view, which was absolutley awesome!! I wouldnt want any other location.

We really enjoyed the pool area also. The slide is one of my favorites at WDW. Obviously the location is great and could see Illuminations AND Wishes from our balcony.

The only thing I don't like is not havine a restaurant inside the building. You have to go onto the BW to dine. Its not really a big deal, but I don't really care for any of the places there. We would usually take a boat to the Y&B or head to Epcot for a sit down meal.

 

[sm4987]

Thanks for the reviews. I was wondering if not having a restaurant inside would be a big deal, but DH is big on room service plus he says he doesn't mind running out and getting us food if we need.

I know about the bus and boat service. This summer was interesting when staying at the Dolphin. This christmas we are driving down and will have our own car, which I won't hesitate to use

 

[Ladyhawke10]

I never noticed that there wasn't a restaurant inside. We ate at the Flying Fish cafe and it was close to the entrance so it didn't really seem outside of the building... I guess because the candy shop, bakery, pizza place, Flying Fish, etc. are all on that strip that was right below our room it wasn't noticeable that they were technically part of the Boardwalk--I found them as convenient as I would going to Boma, for instance, in AKL (while staying in AKL, of course ).

I refilled my coffee in the morning at the Bakery and sodas from the Boardwalk's bar which was right by our room. I missed the caffeine free diet soda which is only at AKL, and bought cans of diet sprite at the Green Door market for a buck fifty a piece. I find AKL the most user friendly of all the deluxes (at least for my needs, because they have caffeine free diet on tap and their coffee machine makes the nescafe stronger, which I prefer), but I didn't find the Boardwalk any less convenient in comparison to the Yacht or Beach club or the Swan/ Dolphin (in terms of amenities, etc). At the Swan, refills were only in the Dolphin and quite a walk from our room, as well as the refill places for when we stayed at the Yacht Club. At the Boardwalk, like I said, the bar was right down the hall from our room, and going to the bakery in the morning was about the same as going to refill the mug at the Yacht Club. Room location makes a diff, too, of course--considering all of these resorts are pretty spread out. By now, we've stayed enough places we know where to request our room to be in the best place for the things we like to be close to .

 

[DebbieB]

Originally posted by Ladyhawke10
I never noticed that there wasn't a restaurant inside. We ate at the Flying Fish cafe and it was close to the entrance so it didn't really seem outside of the building... I guess because the candy shop, bakery, pizza place, Flying Fish, etc. are all on that strip that was right below our room it wasn't noticeable that they were technically part of the Boardwalk--I found them as convenient as I would going to Boma, for instance, in AKL (while staying in AKL, of course ).

A couple of years ago when we stayed at BWV, there was a heavy rain storm one night. There was a guy in the lobby pitching a fit that there was no restaurant he could go to without going outside.

 

[Ladyhawke10]

Originally posted by DebbieB
A couple of years ago when we stayed at BWV, there was a heavy rain storm one night. There was a guy in the lobby pitching a fit that there was no restaurant he could go to without going outside.

Oh my gosh! Think of all the people who would LOVE to stay at the Boardwalk but can't afford to. When I was a little girl, I used to dream of staying at places like the Boardwalk or the Grand Floridian so I still remember what it was like to not be able to afford them. In a way, I'm glad I don't lose track of how wonderful it is to have luxurious vacations and never be like someone who would throw a fit over walking briefly outside to a restaurant (with great food, at that). What an empty perspective that suggests!

 

[sm4987]

Ladyhawke10, I guess we should always keep things in perspective. The restaurant thing doesn't bother me. I was hoping to hear more about the rooms, the mousekeeping, and the hotel in general.

 

[Ladyhawke10]

Originally posted by sm4987
The restaurant thing doesn't bother me. I was hoping to hear more about the rooms, the mousekeeping, and the hotel in general.

In my opinion, the rooms are the most beautifully decorated of any resort in WDW. They are very large and we had a big balcony with a great view. I really love the theming at the Boardwalk....it is elegant and fun at the same time. I found most things to be very convenient from room to lobby, refills, etc. I mentioned in an earlier post that I find AKL to be the most user friendly, but a lot of that depends on room location.

I did have some major mousekeeping concerns. Our room smelled really, really bad (it was gorgeous so it was quite a shame) and because it was spring break housekeeping told me that there were no other rooms available. They mentioned doing something about the filter in the room but during our stay the odor never really let up. We were told by mousekeeping that it was because we were over the Flying Fish cafe and that's what the smell was. There was also an issue of an overflowing ashtray on the balcony that was left from the previous guests. I had to wonder if at least part of the smell may have been cigar, because it smelled stronger than just cigarette smoke--maybe fish/ cigar. We stayed in the room as little as possible and I had a headache each morning when I woke up (we had a non-smoking room, BTW). The other mousekeeping concern was that the ashtray was never picked up, even though I called about it right when we got in the room. I wanted to enjoy our balcony without all the cigarette butts on the balcony table. Finally, on the second evening, I put the balcony table in the hallway after having no response to my calls. In the morning, the table had been removed (and the ashtray) from the hallway.


I have no idea if this had to do w/ the time of year that we stayed or not. The resort and parks were very busy. To be honest, these issues weren't the end of the world but they did effect the quality of our stay. I would return again, but would be less accepting of the situation if it were to happen again...and I am somewhat concerned about the lack of response in general by mousekeeping at the Boardwalk (we've never experienced it at any of the other deluxe hotels) but it may have been a one time thing. I'd be willing to give them another shot and I've read lots of posts where nothing like this happened of any sort. I think the hotel is gorgeous and would stay again, definitely.

 

[gogoofygo]

We returned from BWI recently- stayed on fourth floor-CL and also had a bad smell in our room. I thought maybe it was from one of the restaurants...but I was told that it is a phantom smell that moves about...they have done all sorts of tests and can not discover the cause. Housekeeping sent up a room air purifier- they could not move us as the inn was full. The purifier was ok for 2 days, but on the day we left the smell was very bad!!
Also, this was our first stay that did not include anything extra from mousekeeping...no towel animals, extra towels in room.
Also, a sundress hanging on the bath room door with a hotel robe was thrown in the laundry....we noticed that night, called housekeeping who told us to call lost and found..??? The next day the great staff at the CL took action for us- but they were also surprised that we would have been directed to "Lost and Found" Anyhow- we did have a great trip- but these 2 problems were surprising for such an expensive resort.

 

[Ladyhawke10]

I read somewhere awhile back on these posts that someone else had the bad smell in their Boardwalk room and was told that it moved around. Sorry that happened to you, too! That's so weird. Did it smell like fish/ cigar? ha ha--that's my best description of it, in case we were victims of the phantom bad smell as well (though we were told it was Flying Fish, and of course, I had the visible evidence of the overflowing ashtray from the people before us who were apparently heavy smokers). I remember when I first walked in the room I thought someone had left restaurant leftovers outside of the fridge that had gone bad...because gosh, it was pungent. I couldn't handle staying there in that smell again! If I got another Boardwalk room where it was like that, and they were full, I would tell them we'd already lived through it once before and need to go to the Beach Club or something. I hope they find out what it is! So weird.