you really aren't giving us enough info to be of much help... have you been to the parks before, that would be helpful to know .
She said "We are regular Disneyland attenders and have never been to WDW as a family."
I've stayed at both! (and I'm a regular DLR visitor...well, I was, until the budget went towards WDW and Universal, LOL) I fell madly in love with OKW just from the pictures, and the reality isn't much different for me. Hubby liked the thought of the AKV, but surprised himself with his love for OKW.
It's very calm and relaxing. The "quiet" pool in the turtle pond area is actually quite lovely. We have rented a car for the length of our two WDW vacations (something we've only done once at Disneyland), and sometimes we take the buses, sometimes we don't. I quite recommend a car, because it allows you to do pretty much *whatever* you want, without having to arrange for extra transportation. We like going off-site for dinner, to Sweet Tomatoes, and like the ability to go elsewhere.
During our last visit, we stayed one night in a studio at Boardwalk, because we had a weird points situation and that worked. I didn't think I'd like it much at all. And totally surprised myself by falling madly in love with the place!
The architecture just spoke to me, the lobby was wonderful, and the clown slide wasn't anywhere near as big and scary as the pictures made it seem, and the slide was fabulous. The pool was great too.
We're going out to Universal in February, and the night we get in we don't want to pay Universal hotel prices AND we need to wash some clothes, so we're getting a 1 bedroom at the Boardwalk...we just want to be there even though we're not going to WDW.
OKW studio is going to be bigger than the BWC studio. I can't directly compare what they'll be like, because we've had a 1 bedroom, and a
dedicated 2 bedroom at OKW. The dedicated 2 bedroom's second bedroom doesn't have the kitchenette that the stand-alone studio would have, so I don't actually know what it would look like there. But it was adorable and lovely to my eyes at Boardwalk.
What's close to one park isn't close to another. I have a hard time choosing based on that.
Honestly, with the ages of the kids, with the fact that they are close in age and both boys and probably won't mind sharing either a bed or the pullout (which my 7 year old LOVED and slept all night in, when even at home he tends to wander and find the "big bed" b/c he considers it more comfy (though we have the same exact sort of bed, just a size bigger)), I think you'll be happy in either place.
Both are light and bright and pretty. I don't think you can really go wrong with either.
