Boardwalk Inn...Did we make a good choice?

[MrToad]

Hello,

My wife and 3 kids (ages 9, 7, and 4) will be making our 5th trip to Walt Disney World. This will be our nine year old's 3rd trip, our seven year old's 2nd trip, and our youngest's 1st!

We have stayed at the following resorts (ranked in order of our experiences there...first to last):

1. Polynesian - Location and monorail access was superb. Loved Ohana's dinner and Tonga Toast. Customer service was average, but unimpressive. We did like the atmosphere, the pool, and overall the feeling of the resort.

2. Port Orleans - This was a trip my wife and I took alone. It was fun. We liked the proximity of everything on the hotel grounds. Seems you are close to everything (lobby, restaurants, buses, etc). The riverboat ride to Marketplace was nice and romantic at night. Service was very good and friendly.

3. Carribean Beach - Was private and relaxing. We were a LONG ways from the hotel restaurants, etc. however. Made getting coffee a real pain in the morning. Service was pretty good. We liked the tropical setting and the feeling of "island solitude".

4. All-Star Sports - Our first trip. Our oldest son was only two when we visited here. He loved the football helmets, etc. Rooms were very small, basic, and noisy. Location was not to our liking as it took forever to get to the theme parks. However, it is an affordable place to stay for a young family. Young kids definitely love it.

Anyway...this year we found what we felt was a very nice price for the Boardwalk Inn. It was about $500 cheaper than another affordably priced Grand Floridian stay. My wife and I loved Monorail access during our last trip to the Polynesian. It made accessing the MK and Epcot a breeze. That is our one concern about staying at the Boardwalk versus the Grand Floridian option (no monorail). However, we felt the Boardwalk may be more enjoyable for our younger kids?

We have always liked visiting the Boardwalk area and are hopeful that we made a good choice. Any feedback on the Boardwalk Inn would be much appreciated! We only booked a standard view room, but if anyone knows of a way to get upgrades, etc. at the time of check-in we would appreciate that information as well.

We will be visiting in mid-May of this year (2005). Trip was really a last-minute thing we planned a few days ago. The kids have NO IDEA that we are going. We are going to wake them up on the day of the trip and take them to the airport!

Thanks for any and all feedback or tips on visiting the Boardwalk Inn with younger children! Did we make a good choice?

Thanks!

 

[Tigger113]

Yes you did make a good Choice!! The Boardwalk is a wonderful resort with loads of activites!! In fact I am going back to stay at the Villas in December!!

 

[DisneyMomx7]

I think BWI is great. We thought of splitting our stay there (we're at GF) for an Epcot resort but one of our dd has an issue with clowns so we were worried about the clowns mouth pool - kids!

 

[jjohnson]

I think BWI is great. We thought of splitting our stay there (we're at GF) for an Epcot resort but one of our dd has an issue with clowns so we were worried about the clowns mouth pool - kids!

I'm almost 40 & have an issue with that clown mouth

 

[TerriBelle]

I think you will really enjoy staying at the BW. We have stayed at the BW and BC many times with our kids. Here are a few things we like...

1) You can walk back to the resort after the evening shows at MGM and EPCOT. No waiting for transportation! You can take the boat if you want but we usually get back quicker walking. (Tip - If you take the boat from MGM, it is quicker to get off at the Swan/dolphin )

2) Use the monorail access in EPCOT - We usually go to the MK early and then when it gets busy we take the monorail back to EPCOT. The kids enjoy the ride. Then we hit some of the rides on our walk back to the hotel. We do the opposite later in the week and make it to the MK for the afternoon parade & fireworks. This allows us to break up the days between EPCOT & MK.

3) Lots of meal options between the BW, YC/BC and EPCOT!

4) The kids love hanging out on the BW at night watching the performers!

We really enjoy the location of the BW.

 

[BigOnDis]

Boardwalk is definately a good choice. Good transportation to MGM and Epcot and a lot of food choices. You can choose between the main pool and the quite pools, depneding on your taste. Hanging out there at night is fun to watch the performers and spectators as well.

The only downside I had was the bus ride to MK, several stops on the way.

Have fun and enjoy.

 

[zurgswife]

We are DVC owners and Boardwalk is our home resort....we love the area. Easy access to Epcot and MGM is high on our list. While the clown is disliked by some I love the BW pool....Our kids are 13,12,11,7 and we have been staying at BW for 6 years now and have always love it....

 

[JandT'smom]

We have stayed at both the Poly and BWI. While we like the Bw area we found they Poly to be much more to our likeing. Poly pool is much easier to get to and my kids like the poly pool and beach area the best. Like the zero depth entry, the slide,the beach right there, and we like the ease of renting boats. While it is nice to walk into the back of epcot it is a real disadvantage to my 12 and 14 year old to get up to mission space and test track first thing in the morning. Even though we were first a the turnstile and no matter that they jogged there was already a crowd building a wait for those rides. The distance is just to great to make up front at park opening. The ease of the monrail can not be beat. That being said there are alot of food choices at the BW area and the boat to MGM is great!