ValpoCory
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Feb 11, 2009
- Messages
- 2,861
We (myself, DW, DD5, and DS1) just got back from 8 nights at the Boardwalk Villas. 1/23 to 1/31/11. We rented DVC points from an owner and stayed in a Standard View Studio. The price was great. At $10 per point, that meant we stayed 8 nights for $860, or ~$108 per night. Very cheap. However, next time we will go with a 1 bedroom, as it was a challenge going to bed each night without waking the kid that was trying to go to sleep or had just gone to sleep.
I had a really nice time at the hotel.
We have always stayed at Moderate resorts, so the biggest adjustment for us at the BWV was the lack of a Food Court/Counter Service restaurant for Quick and Easy meals. Once we discovered the Belle Vue Lounge, things got better. I went there for breakfast 4 mornings and brought it back to the room. That lounge is also nice for filling up Refillable Mugs (you don't have to brave the rain/weather like you do if you fill them up at some other places on the Boardwalk), although the bartender readily admits this resort is not setup very well for the refillable mugs. At both there and the Seashore Sweets place, they wouldn't fill up the actual mugs, but would give us a new cup. The Lounge being open until midnight helped too.
I also liked the free washer and dryer at the BWV (not sure if this was supposed to be a DVC member only perk ... the front desk sent me there and only later did I find out there was a pay-for-use room on the BWI side of the resort).
I also loved the buses from the Boardwalk. My wife and daughter waited ~20 minutes for a SRO Downtown Disney bus around 8:00pm, but besides that, we never waited more than 5 minutes for a bus from the Boardwalk (no really). One time we went to the Yacht Club for breakfast (Captain's Grille was horrible by the way ... burnt waffles, fruit cups filled with cheap Cantaloupe and Melon) and the bus wait there was around 10 minutes. Still not bad. This was by far the best bus experience I have ever had. Go Boardwalk.
I also loved the elevators at the BWV. They were extremely quick. Less than 5 seconds most times. Uncanny. Also, although the BWV was at full capacity, at times the resort felt deserted. It was unexpectedly quiet and slow paced. We were expecting to be in the middle of all the action. I guess part of that can be chalked up to it being late January.
We also had an injury. My daughter fell down some steps on Tom Sawyer Island and scraped her face up pretty badly. Blood all around the eye, nose, and mouth. We went to the First Aid station near Crystal Palace and it was like pulling teeth to get them to provide us with even a bandaid. There was no compassion from the elderly nurse there, and she begrudgingly handed us a voucher for a free ice cream to placate us. We were nonplussed, saying to ourselves, "well, that was the least they could do". Tom Sawyer island is actually pretty unsafe when you think about it. And people are spending tons of money to come here. But we moved on. Other cast members were more compassionate, including one great one the next day named Margarita at the BWV. She saw my daughter, and a few minutes later found us and she and another Cast Member named Dylan said to my daughter, "Mickey heard about your fall and sent over some stuff for you", and handed her a Mickey doll and a Minnie doll and my son a Pluto doll. That was super sweet and made her and all of us feel special.
The parks were great. We are a Magic Kingdom family, so we spent most of our time there, but we enjoyed EPCOT a little more this time. As the kids get older, I assume they'll appreciate EPCOT more and more. We fast passed all the big rides, and my 45" tall daughter rode Space Mountain, Everest, and Thunder Mountain for the first times. Ended up on Thunder Mountain 10 times, as that became her favorite. My daughter also did the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique, and she loved it. She slept in her hair for 3 nights. She can't wait to do it on our next trip.
Overall, we had a great time. The Boardwalk seemed a little less family friendly than the Beach Club, especially from a dining perspective (can a guy get some chicken nuggets for his kids? ESPN wouldn't let us order theirs to go and even BWV room service doesn't have them). We saw mostly adults walking around the BWV and the boardwalk area. We'll most likely stay at the BCV next time. We really enjoyed Beaches 'n Cream, Cape May Cafe, and the Beach area when we went over there. The pool also looked like a lot of fun, although it was January.
It's too bad they don't sell Boardwalk-specific clothing anymore in the stores. We saw a few folks wearing some things that were better than anything they were selling now.
Thanks for reading.
Cory
I had a really nice time at the hotel.
We have always stayed at Moderate resorts, so the biggest adjustment for us at the BWV was the lack of a Food Court/Counter Service restaurant for Quick and Easy meals. Once we discovered the Belle Vue Lounge, things got better. I went there for breakfast 4 mornings and brought it back to the room. That lounge is also nice for filling up Refillable Mugs (you don't have to brave the rain/weather like you do if you fill them up at some other places on the Boardwalk), although the bartender readily admits this resort is not setup very well for the refillable mugs. At both there and the Seashore Sweets place, they wouldn't fill up the actual mugs, but would give us a new cup. The Lounge being open until midnight helped too.
I also liked the free washer and dryer at the BWV (not sure if this was supposed to be a DVC member only perk ... the front desk sent me there and only later did I find out there was a pay-for-use room on the BWI side of the resort).
I also loved the buses from the Boardwalk. My wife and daughter waited ~20 minutes for a SRO Downtown Disney bus around 8:00pm, but besides that, we never waited more than 5 minutes for a bus from the Boardwalk (no really). One time we went to the Yacht Club for breakfast (Captain's Grille was horrible by the way ... burnt waffles, fruit cups filled with cheap Cantaloupe and Melon) and the bus wait there was around 10 minutes. Still not bad. This was by far the best bus experience I have ever had. Go Boardwalk.
I also loved the elevators at the BWV. They were extremely quick. Less than 5 seconds most times. Uncanny. Also, although the BWV was at full capacity, at times the resort felt deserted. It was unexpectedly quiet and slow paced. We were expecting to be in the middle of all the action. I guess part of that can be chalked up to it being late January.
We also had an injury. My daughter fell down some steps on Tom Sawyer Island and scraped her face up pretty badly. Blood all around the eye, nose, and mouth. We went to the First Aid station near Crystal Palace and it was like pulling teeth to get them to provide us with even a bandaid. There was no compassion from the elderly nurse there, and she begrudgingly handed us a voucher for a free ice cream to placate us. We were nonplussed, saying to ourselves, "well, that was the least they could do". Tom Sawyer island is actually pretty unsafe when you think about it. And people are spending tons of money to come here. But we moved on. Other cast members were more compassionate, including one great one the next day named Margarita at the BWV. She saw my daughter, and a few minutes later found us and she and another Cast Member named Dylan said to my daughter, "Mickey heard about your fall and sent over some stuff for you", and handed her a Mickey doll and a Minnie doll and my son a Pluto doll. That was super sweet and made her and all of us feel special.
The parks were great. We are a Magic Kingdom family, so we spent most of our time there, but we enjoyed EPCOT a little more this time. As the kids get older, I assume they'll appreciate EPCOT more and more. We fast passed all the big rides, and my 45" tall daughter rode Space Mountain, Everest, and Thunder Mountain for the first times. Ended up on Thunder Mountain 10 times, as that became her favorite. My daughter also did the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique, and she loved it. She slept in her hair for 3 nights. She can't wait to do it on our next trip.
Overall, we had a great time. The Boardwalk seemed a little less family friendly than the Beach Club, especially from a dining perspective (can a guy get some chicken nuggets for his kids? ESPN wouldn't let us order theirs to go and even BWV room service doesn't have them). We saw mostly adults walking around the BWV and the boardwalk area. We'll most likely stay at the BCV next time. We really enjoyed Beaches 'n Cream, Cape May Cafe, and the Beach area when we went over there. The pool also looked like a lot of fun, although it was January.
It's too bad they don't sell Boardwalk-specific clothing anymore in the stores. We saw a few folks wearing some things that were better than anything they were selling now.
Thanks for reading.
Cory
