Resort Thread Disney's BOARDWALK INN Resort

[Sandi]

We are going next month celebrating a 40th birthday! Excited for our first stay at the Boardwalk. Any reason to add the birthday celebration to the reservation? I don't want to call and add it and make it look like we are EXPECTING some kind of special treatment or anything. Maybe just better to wait and get a button when we check in?

I think it doesn't hurt to add the celebration in advance. They always ask if you're celebrating anything every time I call. We added an anniversary celebration once and had a card and balloon in our room when we checked in. Another time, we added that we were celebrating DD's HS graduation. BWI didn't do anything for that, but we got her a celebration button and mortar board mouse ears and she received lots of congratulations and a few complimentary desserts.

You are smart to not expect anything, that way you won't be disappointed. But, if they don't know about your celebration, there is no way for them to do anything were they so inclined. Just my two cents

 

[100acreHiker]

Thank you for sharing all of the photos of the resort decorated for the holidays--just what I hoped to see!

 

[WDWKOOK]

More Christmas photos are located in POST 17, the CHRISTMASTIME chapter of the thread

 

[WDWKOOK]

We're going to be staying in a one bed villa in January. Have all the rooms been renovated? That would be a major disappointment to walk into an old room.

We booked a cash reservation after finding that nothing was available with renting points.

I haven't heard about "un-renovated" villas since around mid-summer so I believe they are all done.

Once again waitlist came through. We originally booked BWV for 12/8 - 12, but it made more sense to fly in the night of the 7th. Added a waitlist for that night and it just came through yesterday.

WOOHOO for getting your night!

Kook No live TR from me....but I will be happy to come back and post details about our stay...which I am hoping will be as terrific as out last few ...We are especially looinkg forward to the CP at Epcot and trying that Yuletide Fantasy tour!

~Cannot seem to find anything about the Boardwalk Ballyhoo Tour on the Disney site..just wanted to check dates and times...?????????? I sure hope they have not discontinued it...there used to be info included where all of the tours are listed....

Looking forward to you posting about your stay. I also checked and found no mention any longer of the BW tour being offered after 2015. Since it's no longer mentioned by Disney, I suspect it's been discontinued.

Do most BWV room renovations seem to be done yet? I am heading there Nov. 25.

Yes, I believe they are all done.

Thank you for the reply. We stayed at the BC club level last trip. We enjoyed it very much but DH and I were always drawn to hustle and bustle of the boarwalk. We even had date night on the water with pizza and margaritas. I'm glad to hear about the wonderful cast members. That always makes for a wonderful trip.

I went ahead and upgraded but it's a surprise. No one will know until we get off the magical express

Let us know their reaction

Until what date do the Christmas decorations stay up at the BW? We check in on 07 Jan so just wondering if they will still be up.

Resorts start removing decorations the first week of January, generally about 2-3 days after NYD.

 

[mexi]

We are going next month celebrating a 40th birthday! Excited for our first stay at the Boardwalk. Any reason to add the birthday celebration to the reservation? I don't want to call and add it and make it look like we are EXPECTING some kind of special treatment or anything. Maybe just better to wait and get a button when we check in?

To add on to what Sandi said.... If you note your celebration the CM's in the park can see it and when you use your magicband for FP some will wish you a Happy Birthday. It's nice when some of them take note of that and say something to you as you walk by.

 

[kgoodb00]

I finally booked our stay for March 26th-30th at the BWI a few days ago. We stayed there for the first time back in 2015 and we are sooo excited to be heading back (even if it is during the heavy crowds of spring break!!)

 

[Tess]

Just checking in with our recent stay and an update that may or may not have been posted already from others.

Hurricane Matthew was a breeze compared to other hurricanes and tropical storms we have dealt with over the years (our third hurricane and we have also been through three tropical storms--over a 25 year period--not such awful luck and a matter of perspective). Some guests were really in a panic on Wednesday, but for the most part everyone weathered it well. We were prepared with sandwiches and sweets from Les Halles prior to EPCOT closing.

The Belle Vue Bar opened on Friday at 11:00 a.m. and Mickey bought us a Bloody Mary which was lovely. Belle Vue offered its normal continental breakfast prior to 11:00 a.m.

Abracadabar opened at noonish and there were buffets on Thursday and Friday at Flying Fish/Tratoria. It is my understanding the first dinner buffet was rather nasty for the price ($23.99 adults) and fairly inedible. As I said, we had yummy sandwiches and didn't need anything on Thursday evening. The Friday morning breakfast buffet was priced way lower at $15.99 (adults) and lunch at ($18.99). Breakfast was the usual fare and lunch included pizza and sandwiches. While the food was not particularly on par (from other guest reports--we had our own food ) with either restaurant offerings--people survived on it. ESPN opened around 5:00 p.m. and the Boardwalk was alive by 6:00 p.m. on Friday.

We had characters in the lobby, board games, etc. for families--people were sprawled out there and it seemed the BWI/BWV were able to accommodate those who were unable to depart as scheduled and needed to extend stays. Obviously, not everyone, but for the most part--there were no disgruntled guests in that regard.

Now to backtrack a bit. We arrived around 11:00 a.m. on Wednesday, October 5, 2016. Beautiful weather and a lovely room at BWI (3286--standard with CM discount) before our transfer over to BWV. The room was fine and we enjoyed our one night there (we have stayed on the Inn side many times before and have had the same experience).

There has been much consternation about the construction, noise, etc. and we witnessed it near the leisure (quiet) pool on the Inn side. We watched a painting crew paint the pergola over the entrance to the pool every. . .single. . .day while we were there (but for the 24 hour hurricane). The fence is completed around all pools with gates as well. The gates are accessible from the outside and no need for a magic band to open them--not sure how it works after hours, but we did watch people swimming in the clown pool (during our Villa stay) very late at night and early in the morning so I guess you can open the gate all hours despite the "pool closed" signs.

When we arrived at BWI on Wednesday, nearly all sod was removed from the courtyard area and the plant areas were being replanted. By the time we left on Friday, October 14, 2016, the sod was replaced and plantings, for the most part, complete--the painting did continue throughout our stay on said pergola and quite a few balconies in the center courtyard wing.

I will take a break and hopefully get back with our Villas portion of the stay--pretty uneventful but for a few water issues (general maintenance).

 

[mexi]

Thanks for the review and pics @Tess. I'm glad the hurricane didn't have much of an impact on your stay. Good thinking to grab some goodies from the French Bakery before they closed. I think I would have done the same thing.

What are your feelings on that fence around the Inn quiet pool? I do understand the need for safety but it looks like it takes away from the beauty of that pool area just a bit.

 

[Tess]

Thanks for the review and pics @Tess. I'm glad the hurricane didn't have much of an impact on your stay. Good thinking to grab some goodies from the French Bakery before they closed. I think I would have done the same thing.

What are your feelings on that fence around the Inn quiet pool? I do understand the need for safety but it looks like it takes away from the beauty of that pool area just a bit.

I agree with your thoughts about the fence--it is a bit of a distraction especially the huge gates at the entrances. Disney really has no choice--apparently it is Florida law.

 

[gometros]

We're here! Made the move from CSR painlessly. We checked out, spent the day at Typhoon Lagoon and by the time we left got notified or room was ready. Coincidentally the same room number we had in March at Poly. We're right above Big River. I want to drop a line down and steal somebody's beer

OMG sitting on our balcony. There's a delightful breeze and the weather is delightful. Wish it were like this all year.

 

[ShelbyWagon]

Just got back from our stay at BWV. Absolutely loved it! It's definitely on my list of favorite resorts. We stayed in a preferred studio on rented DVC points. I requested upper floor and near lobby and we got just that. Our room overlooked the main pool but fortunately for me, a tree blocked the creepy clown It was so nice having all the food options on the boardwalk and being within walking distance of two parks. All the CMs we ran into were very friendly and helpful. Overall a wonderful stay.

 

[gometros]

Sitting on our balcony with a cup of coffee and a piece of leftover cornbread from last night's dinner at Boatwright's Dining Hall, watching the morning foot traffic on the boardwalk while my wife sleeps = heaven

 

[gometros]

If anybody ever wants a concierge experience without paying BWI rates, I highly recommend Coronado Springs business class. The building is closest to El Centro, lovely rooms with two queen (not twin) or one king bed. The lounge is open 7 to 10 in the morning for breakfast (cereal, bagels, pastry, fresh fruit) and 5 to 10 for evening snacks.

 

[marie8461]

If anybody ever wants a concierge experience without paying BWI rates, I highly recommend Coronado Springs business class. The building is closest to El Centro, lovely rooms with two queen (not twin) or one king bed. The lounge is open 7 to 10 in the morning for breakfast (cereal, bagels, pastry, fresh fruit) and 5 to 10 for evening snacks.

Your post make me smile since I doubt I will ever be able to afford BWI - CL. Your suggestion may be a good way of getting a glimpse of what the CL experience is like. But, I love the location of BWI!

 

[GOOFY4DONALD]

What a wonderful surprise for your family!!

I hope I can keep my mouth shut until them. That brings up another question....
What documents, paperwork, ME tags....basically anything....would have club level next to our room type?

 

[Tess]

I'm back with the BWV portion of the stay. We checked in bright and early on Thursday (10/6/16) morning--7:00 a.m. to be exact using rented points. We knew our room wouldn't be ready but we wanted to be sure our MBs would have charging privileges. When we arrived at BWI on Wednesday, we stored our luggage and went straight to EPCOT since I had not received a room ready text. Unfortunately, because we had not stopped by the concierge/check-in desk, our MBs did not yet have charging privileges. What is the point of online check-in, having your CC tied to your MDE and a PIN # if you can't charge until you have stopped at the desk? We felt our stopping early prior to park entry would be the answer to our MB charging issues--sadly, that was not the case. During our stay, we made four trips to the desk to "reset" the MBs so we would have charging. One day mine would work and one day my husband's would work, but neither worked at the same time and it required the aforementioned "reset" each time. After visit #4, both worked and we did not have any additional problems throughout the trip. I have to admit that it was rather annoying to make so many trips to the desk to fix what, according to the CMs, did not appear to be broken AND having our bands denied for charging--good thing I have never trusted them and always carry alternative payment methods. Our bands worked fine on our room doors and park entrances--it was simply a charging issue for us.

Our BWV room was ready fairly early--prior to 1:00 p.m. and one of our two requests was granted. We had requested Village Green view on lobby floor--we got the lobby floor but overlooked the clown pool. We were placed in room #2054 and initially I was a bit disappointed, with the balcony view, but it really was nice and dry when Hurricane Matthew was kicking up a bit of a fuss.

As mentioned in my prior post, it appeared most of the painting, planting and sod replacement was ongoing in the BWI courtyard area. I didn't see anyone working on the Villas side of BW and no activity on the Boardwalk itself other than workers moving from BC to the access gate next to ESPN.

The only maintenance type issues we had with our room was the water pressure in the shower and our entry tap lock was very loose. With regard to the water, we would turn the water on and be blasted out of the shower but within minutes the pressure would drop to a trickle that would barely rinse our hair. We would have to turn the shower off completely and restart it to gain the pressure back and occasionally that didn't work. There was also constant standing water in the tub--it never fully drained due to the shape of the tub. The water also found a way to escape and completely soak the floor behind the toilet stool. I pulled the shower curtain tight to the wall, plastered the liner to the wall and it still would flood. Finally, near the end of our trip, the entire resort went through routine water maintenance where no water was available between 1:00 and 6:00 a.m. When we did have water (6:00 a.m.), it was nasty brown and we had to run all faucets to clear the lines before showering--we were warned to do this as well. I liken it to routine fire hydrant flushing--when the city does that the water is often rusty for a period of time. Minor inconveniences.

We have stayed at BWI and BWV on many occasions and have never been disappointed. CMs were lovely and we enjoyed Abracadabar and ESPN after Matthew blew through on Friday. I can't say enough about the poise and caring exhibited by all of the "hurricane crew" who worked long hours from Wednesday evening through Friday evening. Patient, caring and bending over backward for the guests.

It was another wonderful stay and I look forward to returning at some point although our next two trips we will be at BCV (May) and BC (October). After that, who knows--guess I will worry about that when we return from the May trip and decide if we want to return the following May.

 

[gometros]

Just had a nice talk with the nighttime duty manager. They have to have the carpet vendor code back. There are bleach spots up and down the hallway and the new carpet was supposed to be bleach proof.

 

[mexi]

Enjoyed reading your BW reviews and pics @Tess. I always wondered about the balconies with the circle cut out so it was nice to see pics from inside those rooms. We always seem to have trouble with our bands at BW for some reason too. It's usually with the door and we always need to go to the desk at least once to reset them.

Thanks for posting.

 

[2golftoday]

We have a standard CL room booked for September 2017. This is our first time staying at BWI. Do all of the CL rooms have balconies? Also, does the lounge close for some period during the day? We have stayed at BC CL where the lounge closed in between food offerings. We're so excited for our trip! I'm off to the Club Level Thread for more info!

 

[gometros]

We're at the Luna Pool now. When did the fence go up around the pool? It wasn't here when we were last here in December? I assume they'll eventually set it up for magic band access?