So Tell me about Boardwalk...

[colleen costello]

HI everyone. I am thinking about a stay at BWV and hoping you all could give advice. I have read a lot about it here on the Boards and I have some concerns I thought you veterans might address.

I obsess about location and it seems that Boardwalk has a huge variety of possibilites -- good AND bad. I would like a pool or garden view but not a parking lot or Boardwalk view (noise) and it sounds like a lot of people here have been assigned to views that displeased them.

I have also heard there are limited elevators and this means TONS of walking. We often travel with my Mom, who uses a cane, and she needs to be near elevators or at least the handicapped parking spots to mimimize steps. This makes me fear Boardwalk may not be for us.

It also seems that some folks here have been assigned to rooms that were "shabby." Is this the case? Is there a renovation that's going on?

Boardwalk sounds like it has a lot of real pluses but I have been leery of booking there for the above reasons. Perhaps we might stay for a night or two and then head over to the safety of OKW! What do you all think?

 

[Richyams]

Any prefered view room will not be of a parking lot.

The walks to the elevator and the tiny rooms are the reasons I won't waste my points there. An occasional weekend with just the wife in a studio, maybe, but never a full vacation.

You can make a medical request to be near an elevator.

The room we stayed and the room that we have visited people in have never been shabby, tiny, but not shabby. I think the rooms even look smaller after the 1.2 mile hike to the room....you could always tell mom that you did it for her, you felt she needed some cardivascular exercise.

 

[ilovebwv]

Head over to the safety of OKW for the entire vacation and leave the shabby boardwalk villas with the tons of walking to the rooms, the noise and the 2 elevators for those that like to live on the edge and enjoy such a shabby, noisy resort.

 

[Dancind]

You probably know this, but only a handful of the buildings at OKW have elevators. You might want to request a first floor room there. Another option, if you can book it, would be BCV. It's a smaller resort than BWV, and the parking lot is more convenient. Diana

 

[mickeyc]

We stayed last year at a standard BWV studio located on the third floor. It was very convenient to the elevators, trash, and laundary. There was no noise and we had a view of the front of the BWV. This did not bother any members of our party. We all enjoyed the activity of the BWV. We had two studios adjacent to each other.

Later in the trip we stayed at OKW and there are no elevators. We had a third floor room, which required a lot of walking. To get to the convenience store we had to take the car. Also, if you wanted to get any ice you had to walk to the bus stop to get it. I am sure there are locations in OKW that are more convenient and the next time I plan to request something closer to the main lobby. Overall nothing wrong with OKW it just does not have the convenience of the BWV & BCV area. Enjoy!

 

[Granny]

Colleen...

We stayed at BWV this summer and booked a 1BR at the 7 month window. We requested non-smoking, upper floor, near an elevator.

We received a wonderful non-smoking, top floor 1BR overlooking the quiet pool and Community Hall.

And outside our balcony we had this view:

I don't think there are many bad views at BWV at all. This one we were very excited about because DW loves ToT and we could hear Fantasmic every night very clearly.

I won't tell you not to obsess about views...to each her own on that....but I don't think there is much to worry about at BWV.



Granny

 

[Caskbill]

Remember that there is no parking anywhere near the villas themselves. You're looking at a 'hotel' type set-up as opposed to a 'condo' type set-up at OKW. Self-park at BWV is a fairly good walk to the entrance. You can valet park for free (but tips would still be appropriate), but that still leaves you a fairly good walk from the entrance even to the elevators. (all the way to, then through, then past, the lobby.

BWV is convenient to Epcot and MGM, but for an elderly person both of those could still be a long walk. Even to the bus stop is a longer walk than I think any villa at OKW would be to it's respective bus stop.

If your mom doesn't object, you might consider a wheelchair for the trip. Then BWV would't be a problem no matter what room you got.

The room are of course smaller than those at OKW, but I've never received one I would call shabby.

Don't forget that for a 'preferred' view, it will cost more points than a standard view, or an OKW villa.

 

[colleen costello]

Thanks you guys! I have a friend who LOVES Boardwalk, and it interested me, but I had some real concerns based on some posts I had read. OKW is "safest" for us as they will give us a ground floor for medical reasons and we can park very close to the room. But there are some folks here who just LOVE Boardwalk and I personally would love to try it. The walking doesn't bother me a bit, but if renovations are going on I would just as soon wait. We met a man on July 4th who was staying at BWV as that is his home resort. He was very disappointed in the condition of his room. I would hope his experience was just a fluke.

Thanks for the info all of you! Perhaps we can try out the BWV on one of the trips Mom is not with us.

 

[jcodespoti]

The BWV has many plusses, it is my favorite resort. However, considering whom you are traveling with you might want ot choose another resort. Without a wheelchair it might be very tough to get around as was stated in the previous posts. BWV is a 10 minute WALK to MGM or about a 5 minute walk to Epcot. Its alot of walking.
Rich is wrong however in stating that some of the rooms are "1.2 miles from the elevators" actually it is 2.1 miles from the elevators, must have been a typo

Joe in CT