Please tell me about Boardwalk

[jamsmu]

We're going in Sept and each time I think we've settled on a place to stay, DH decides to toss another resort in.

There will be 4 of us: DH and me, and our boys who will be ages 5 and 3.

Good age/bad age for boardwalk?

We definitely want 2 rooms. HAVE to have a fridge, due to allergies of DS5. Will this lead us to a Villa?

TIA for all of your feedback.

btw, we are also considering ASMu suites... but open to many ideas.

 

[Deb & Bill]

All the villas at BWV are lock offs. If you get a two bedroom villa (overkill for a family with two smaller kids), you would have a second entrance to the villa in the studio portion of the villa. A one bedroom would have a king bed in the master bedroom and a queen sleeper sofa in the living room.

Personally, I'm not a fan of the BW. No good places for counter service, but there are several table service restaurants. You can get some limited counter service at the Boardwalk Bakery, though. I don't like all the busy-ness of the BW. I much prefer a quiet location where I can relax. Parking is distant from the main building entrances. I like to park closer to the building.

Lots of kids love Luna Park pool. But I hate the scary clown slide.

 

[of the seas]

The resort is lovely and your kids will have a great time. They will love the carnival games and the "streetmosphere". But if you need 2 rooms, I would say get a villa. The 1 bedroom has a nice big bathtub!
The villa will have a kitchen and a washer/dryer.

 

[jamsmu]

thanks for the responses. how does the Beach Club compare? Is it quieter than Boardwalk?

 

[Deb & Bill]

The BC Villas are much quieter. But the BC itself would be a bit noisier. Stormalong Bay doesn't have a scary clown, but it does have some scarier aspects for families with smaller children. There are some areas that have a swift current and are about 8' deep. There is a wonderful children's play area with sandy beaches and a small slide. There is a much larger slide on the BC side of SAB. The children's area is closer to the YC side.

BCV isn't a large as BWV and there is a parking lot that is fairly close to the villas if you decide to stay in a villa. The hallways are not as long as those in the BWV. There are also two elevator banks vs one at the BWV.

Same problem with counter service dining - only the Marketplace at the store at the BC, but you also have Hurricane Hannah's at SAB. You have the Cape May character breakfast with Minnie Mouse and Goofy.

 

[jamsmu]

Wow! Those are great details. Thanks so much!!

 

[jbpatrice]

My husband and I are DVC members and BWV are our favorite resort. There is so much to do there. We just let friends of ours use our membership last September and there sons at the time were 5 1/2 and almost 2 and both boys had an absolute blast at BWV. BCV are also very nice with a lot to do there. We have stayed at the WLV which are really cool and would be great for kids. Good luck with your decision of where to stay. IMO there is not a bad place to stay at Disney!!!!

 

[IWISHFORDISNEY]

With children your kids ages I would recommend a 1 BDR villa across the lake at BC. It is a little quiter for afternoon naps. It has a zero entry pool. Kiddie slide. Beaches and Cream for a quick bite to eat. Your 1 bdr will have plenty of room. A king in the master bedroom. A queen pull out sleeper. A pack and play. Also a full size fridge, stove, microwave, sink dishwasher and washer and dryer. My favorite perk is the whirlpool tub and the huge shower that are seperate. I think a t 2 bdr would be overkill for 4 people. BWV are very nice also but I always think them better suited for teenage children or young adults. Just my opinion of course. I am sure you will have fun!!! It is a great resort area.

 

[LSchrow]

like many others, the BWV's is our favorite resort
transportation is a short walk (maybe 5 minutes) or ferry to EPCOT, a longer walk or ferry to DHS. (we even love the ferries, especially if you get mike the birdman as your skipper ).
buses go to AK, MK, DTD & the water parks.
while we find the resort one of the quietest (lobby, interior halls), the BW itself is a bustle of activity. there are: "street performers" (magician, fire-eater, etc), surrey bikes, hair braiding, arcade games (the water pistol one, basketball hoop, throw a stuffed lobster in a pot), etc. lots of dining options include flying fish, spoodles, pizza (from spoodles "take-out"), ESPN, big river (burgers & such, we love to sit outside, on the BW, to eat), the bakery (delicious baked goods & lunch paninis). or sometimes, we just walk over to EPCOT for dinner. the night-time view of illuminations, especially from a bridge that leads to EPCOT, is just beautiful .
there are 2 pools: luna park (aka scary clown pool lol), as well as a quiet pool (our personal favorite. no slide so its less busy, & a great place to sit & read, "play" in community hall, etc).
the one bedroom villa has a king in the master, whirlpool tub, large shower, living room with pull-out queen sleeper sofa. there is a full kitchen (fridge, stove, oven, microwave, disher), & a counter with stools. the 1 bdrm also has a stacked washer/dryer, & a balcony(s) off the L/R & bdrm.

some feel that the hallways are long , but we've never felt that was an issue in the many years we've been staying there.

btw, my kids, as well as my nephews & a few friends' children, stonglyprefer the BWVs to any other resort in WDW (mine are older now, but preferred them ever since their first stay years ago).
hth

 

[murphnjamie]

We stayed at the BWV there and absolutely loved it. I loved the atmosphere of it the best. It was just so relaxing to sit and do some people watching. The kids (ages 2.5 & 6)loved all the ducks hanging around and the boat rides to Epcot and MGM. We also loved the short walk to Epcot for fireworks and stuff. We spent a lot more time at the hotel than I thought we would and that was because we could just relax there. Decompressing a 2 year old takes some time.

I know some have said that it is noisy. I didn't think so, but we went in January. I never heard the music playing inside our room.

My complaints would be mostly food. I wasn't a big fan of Spoodles and the ESPN club (atmosphere there was fun but the food was average). I would have liked a counter service restaurant, too. But since we were so close to the countries at Epcot, we would just walk over there for a bite.

I would recommend stopping in at Jellyrolls one night if you decide to get a sitter. It is a dueling piano bar and it was GREAT!!

HTH!

 

[TLSnell1981]

I think you will be happy with a 1 bedroom at either BWV or BCV. My family loves both of these resorts. It was difficult to decide which one to buy when we bought into DVC. I don't eat a lot at the resort unless I'm "cooking" in the Villa.....that qualifies as not a lot....so the restaurants aren't that important to us. I have heard some with small children do not like SAB at BCV because it is so large.