Boardwalk

[alizesmom]

A little over 3 months and we will be at Boardwalk with 2 wheelchairs, 2 trachs, 2 feeding tubes, a vent and all of the stuff that goes with them. Will the rooms be big enough?

We plan to walk to Epcot. Our thoughts for the other 3 parks was:
Walk to the studios (how far is this?)
Walk to Epcot and take monorail to Magic Kingdom
Drive to Animal Kingdom
Any thoughts if these are/are not good ideas?

We also splurged with the DDP even though the kids won't really use them. How is room service at Boardwalk? Any of you order off of kids menus for yourself?

The goal is to make the trip as relaxing and non-stressful as possible. Any suggestions are welcome. Karen

 

[Mary976]

I have heard that the walk to DHS can be a bit on the long side. What about taking the boat?

I hope you have a great trip. BW looks very nice and being deluxe, the rooms should be on the larger side.

Mary

 

[JulieWent]

What type of room are you staying in at the BoardWalk? Are you in the Inn side or the villas? A one bedroom villa would probably be big enough for you. The studios are the size of a large hotel room (as are the rooms in the Inn side). If you can get a two bedroom villa, then that would be great, too.

The only thing that I noticed that I wanted to pass along was that I would definitely take the boat from BW to the Studios instead of walking. It's a long walk, and you'll be tired out by the time you arrive. The boats have plenty of room for wheel chairs and strollers and anything else you need to bring aboard and are very easy access.

We also find that bus service to MK is easier than going all the way through Epcot, but we have done that on occasion.

We love the BoardWalk. I hope you enjoy your time there!

Julie

 

[SueM in MN]

My first question is the same as JulieWent.

1) Which part of Boardwalk are you staying in, and if it’s the DVC villa part, what size room?

2) How many people are going and how big are the wheelchairs?

There is a nice pathway along the water that goes from the Boardwalk area to the Studio. It is a pleasant walk, but it is quite far - close to a mile. So, I agree that the boat is probably a better option. The wheelchair area for the boats is shared by people’s strollers and we have found they often fill it up with strollers - even to the point of my DD getting hemmed in by strollers all around her and one time no room because no one would fold or move their strollers. If you need help, ask the CM to have people move.

I would only walk tether Epcot to get to the monorail if you plan on spending a few hours at Epcot and then want to go to the MK. It’s too far otherwise.
If you find the bus service from BW to MK does not work out, you can also take a bus from the Studio area to MK.

 

[JulieWent]

A couple of dining suggestions for the BoardWalk area. The pizza window at Kouzzina's is GREAT for kids. (Our whole family likes it.) We really enjoy Big River Brewing Company because we can sit outside and watch what's going on. Kids can move around; we don't have to worry about noise; the food is good and kid friendly. It's right on the BoardWalk. We also love to go get sandwiches at ESPN club.

I can't help with BoardWalk room service. We've never used it. I also don't know what's on the dining plan, but I thought these suggestions might help a little. All three of these restaurants are right on the BoardWalk, provide entertainment, are fairly accessible, and have good food.

BoardWalk is our DVC home and my son (who has a variety of diagnoses) has pretty much grown up there. (He is about to turn 16! and we've been going there since he was little.) If I think of other things that might help you, I'll post as they come to me.
Julie

 

[Disneykidsdad]

We just got back from a week at the Boardwalk Villas. We travel with our DD who is full time in a wheelchair. Bus transportation can be a problem. With Downtown Disney and at least a couple of the other parks, the busses cover five hotels. They stop at the Swan, Dolphin, Yacht Club, Beach Club then Boardwalk in that order. So sometimes by the time the bus shows up, it's too full to get a wheelchair on. Last Friday night we waited oven an hour trying to get to Downtown Disney. Two busses came by but were too full for wheelchairs. I finally went to the front desk to see what could be done. They gave us a taxi voucher and called a cab with a wheelchair lift. It arrived in about ten minutes and took us to DTD.

 

[alizesmom]

We are staying at the inn. The wheelchairs are child sized, manual chairs but don't fold. There will be 4 of us. Two adults, two children (5 and 6). Brian cannot get out of his chair while Ciara can use a walker for short distances. We need her chair to transport her vent and oxygen as much as anything else.

I appreciate the suggestions. They make sense. I'll probably skip the boats though since I have a paranoia about water and trachs. LOL. Karen

 

[dclfun]

We are staying at the inn. The wheelchairs are child sized, manual chairs but don't fold. There will be 4 of us. Two adults, two children (5 and 6). Brian cannot get out of his chair while Ciara can use a walker for short distances. We need her chair to transport her vent and oxygen as much as anything else.

I appreciate the suggestions. They make sense. I'll probably skip the boats though since I have a paranoia about water and trachs. LOL. Karen

I have a trach and vent and take the boats all the time, if it makes you feel any better. The rooms are quite spacious at BW- we stayed at the Inn side once and loved our room there. There was plenty of space for four of us plus my power w/c and service dog. The view was so incredible though that I had trouble leaving the room- could've stayed there and enjoyed the view of the BW and sunrise/sunsets all day long.---Kathy

 

[popgfd]

If you are staying at the villas, then you can have we-go-shop or competitor deliver food , beverages etc as the villas have a reasonable kitchen. we stay at BWV and are very happy there. if you can cross the street there is a Hess mini-mart. there is a kiosk on the boardwalk that only takes cash but has a variety of hot dogs, meatball sandwiches with fries --very salty but good.

BTW BC has a very nice b-fast and dinner character buffet. the YC has a very nice b-fast buffet but without the characters.

if you leave the BW by the bottom floor pool exit you will cut off a quarter to third of a mile on the walk to the studios. that way is much faster than the boats -- or you can return that way from the studios.

hope this helps and enjoy

Pop

 

[Dan1]

We just got back from a week at the Boardwalk Villas. We travel with our DD who is full time in a wheelchair. Bus transportation can be a problem. With Downtown Disney and at least a couple of the other parks, the busses cover five hotels. They stop at the Swan, Dolphin, Yacht Club, Beach Club then Boardwalk in that order. So sometimes by the time the bus shows up, it's too full to get a wheelchair on. Last Friday night we waited oven an hour trying to get to Downtown Disney. Two busses came by but were too full for wheelchairs. I finally went to the front desk to see what could be done. They gave us a taxi voucher and called a cab with a wheelchair lift. It arrived in about ten minutes and took us to DTD.

Thanks for the heads up about the bus route Disneykidsdad.

I am going with my special needs adult DD next April / May. While we currently have reservations outside the World, I am trying to do something we can afford to stay on site. I would (knowing me) would not have the patience to wait over an hour for the bus in your situation (yes, my DD uses a wheelchair).

We stayed last year at OKW and thought the buses were great ... never an issue. I'm hoping something will happen so we can stay at AK because (A) it has several spots to view the animals and (B) more importantly it is from what I can tell the cheapest of the villas in terms of points.

Other than that I don't really care where we stay, if we stay, in MK but looks like BW is off the list for us.

Dan