The Boardwalk Inn Information Thread

[dbail2]

The lifeguard is there and slide is open till 10pm but the pool is open 24 hours.....This was when we were there....

 

[hightown]

I'll be at the BWI for the first time in November w/DD(8) and DM(69). CAN NOT WAIT!

My main concern is a location central to main elevator, bus and boat for Mom. She's going through some mobility problems now. Do any of the standard rooms closest to lobby have EPCOT views?

Course a comp'd upgrade would be terrific. We'll be checking in there after the NJ, soap people and Vet day people leave. I don't think it will be a packed house. Don't know if I have the guts to ask but do any of you know how liberal BW is at upgrading on their own?

Also, has anyone been offered an upsell or manager's special to go concierge here? I've seen that at other resorts. If so, how much? Is BW's concierge service really good? passable?

Thanks for your help....Sharon

 

[hightown]

We'll be at the Boardwalk 11/12-16 on the 2nd leg of our trip. Our first time there. The first will be Wilderness Lodge 11/9-11, repeat customers.

We've gotten two different pretrip mailers from the Wilderness Lodge. Not a lot of information but nice advertisements going thru the W/L highlights. A nice touch and gets the excitement/anticipation up.

We haven't received anything from the Boardwalk. Do they send out anything in advance of the trip. Would think since they are a higher delux than W/L they would do something.

Thanks!

 

[Mississippian]

We're staying at Boardwalk Inn next month, having stayed at the Villas a couple of years ago. Info about this resort is sorely lacking, the the FAQ page is great to see.

 

[hightown]

BUMP

Mississippian, Have you gotten any kind of mailer from Boardwalk? 'looking for ward to seeing you' sort of thing? 'here's what do to' info???? We've gotten nice stuff from Wilderness lodge and I'm really surprised that BWI does nothing.

We leave in 18 Days!!!! Will be at the BWI 11/12-16. When will you be there?

I wish there was more activity on this board from BWI fans. ARE THERE FANS OUT THERE???

 

[Mississippian]

No mailer from Boardwalk, but we only booked our Disney trip about a month ago, and were originally at the AKL. We switched to Boardwalk when I saw it was available on the Disneyworld Internet site, maybe two weeks ago.

To be honest, the Poly was my first choice, because of our young children (2&4). However, my wife and I will enjoy the Boardwalk much more. In fact, wife has already told me she wants to eat every meal at Chefs de France. I wouldn't be at all surprised if we eat there three times, twice downstairs and once upstairs.

The Boardwalk Inn sounds a little less frenzied than most of the other resorts, which suits us just fine.

 

[vicb]

I remember getting a mailer last year before our trip to the BWI but don't remember if it was a generic Disney one or from the BWI. I'm thinking it was generic.

I agree that the BWI is less frenzied than some of the resorts appear to be, haven't stayed at too many so don't know first hand. I did think the Poly was lovely when we stayed there four years ago but we really fell for the BWI. It was my push to stay there so I've told DH and kids they can pick the resort next year and so far they all seem to want BWI. I thought the lure of SAB at YC would do it but not so far.

 

[dbail2]

We stayed at the BWI July of this year. We received no mailers from the Hotel before we went. It is now my favorite resort in Disney. We had a wonderful time there.

 

[Glenn]

Has anyone been at BWI lately. Would love to hear about what you thought. Being as small as it is not many postings out here about it.

 

[hightown]

Hopefully, we'll find out when we get there that the Boardwalk is the best kept secret on site! I wish there was more board activity too. W/L board has a couple of hotel cast members that post regularly lots of activity there.

At least the negative I've read so far about Boardwalk hasn't been much. Most folks love it, love the location, the rooms are recently renovated. There are only two things on the negative side. One is the distance of some rooms to the lobby/elevators. The map does show the layout is sprawling. We're going with my 70yr old mother and I'm pleading for a convenient room for her sake.

The only other negative I've seen (and this seems to be for YC and BC as well) is that the front desk folks can be less than genial to down-right snooty. That certainly hasn't been my experience at all the other Disney Resorts I've been to and hopefully those negative impressions are not the norm!

16 more days and we're off!

 

[josierac]

We are off to the BWI this weekend. I will post our view of it on Monday. We have stayed on the Villa side but never the Inn.

I can say that when we were at the villas, everyone there from front desk and beyond were wonderful and friendly.

 

[hightown]

Josierac, have a great trip! I'll look for your posts next week...

 

[vicb]

I must post to defend the front desk CMs at the BWI... in my week's stay there last Feb. I only encountered friendly, helpful CMs. One in particular who helped me with a dinner PS and my fantasmic pkg. They were kind to my children when they had a question. Some of the bellhops made balloon animals and hats! There was even a couple who were dressed like genteel folks of the BW old days who gave my DD a Disney beanie baby in the lobby on our first day and told her "this is your first magical moment, you will have many more this week". Also must add our housekeeper was friendly and did many cute things with our stuffed animals and the pool staff was very friendly as well.

I do believe that often you get back what you put out there and we were so thrilled to be at the BW for a week we were probably radiating positivity!

 

[hightown]

vicb, thanks for your post. You're right that you usually get back what you put in!

At other Disney resorts the front desk people I've encounter have all been great. Certainly a better experience than other travels/hotels outside of the world.

Everybody can have their off day so maybe caused isolated problems.

Really appreciate your sharing your family's experience! I've wanted to stay there for the last two years.

 

[Mississippian]

We stayed once before at the Boardwalk, on the Villas side but using a AP rate. Got upgraded to a one-bedroom without asking (and in fact didn't realize right away what had happened).

On baby stroller was lost by the airline and we needed to buy another. Did you know there isn't a stroller for sale in all of Disney? Anyway, one of the bellhops offered to give us a ride to the Wal-Mart. Sure, he wanted a tip, but it was a nice offer. We didn't take him up on it, but it was a very nice gesture. All of the other people at Boardwalk seemed very friendly.

BTW, this was back when Disney had the most god-awful strollers you ever saw. These old strollers forced the child to lay flat on his or her back and not be able to see anything. They were so low that the parents had to bend way down to push them, which caused a terrible backache.

We begged for a jogger stroller, but the surly park attendants refused, saying they were only for children weighing [40, 50, 60, pick one] pounds or more. I ended up grabbing an adult wheelchair, which worked just fine.

I've digressed. The Boardwalk desk and other people were very friendly on our last visit. I'm sure they will be fine on our next trip in November. And we're carrying our own stroller.

 

[josierac]

Here are pictures of the BWInn that I took during Oct 24-27, 2002

BWInn pictures

 

[hightown]

Josierac, saw your pics! Really nice. I like the style of the room and you had a nice view. Was your booking for Standard?

How was everything?

Does the Bellvue Room sell contential breakfast stuff in the mornings or do guest have to go out to the boardwalk for that?

Any nice housekeeping surprises?

 

[josierac]

Originally posted by hightown
Josierac, saw your pics! Really nice. I like the style of the room and you had a nice view. Was your booking for Standard?

How was everything?

Does the Bellvue Room sell contential breakfast stuff in the mornings or do guest have to go out to the boardwalk for that?

Any nice housekeeping surprises?

Yes, we had a standard room booked. Everything was very great.

The Bellvue Room did have continental breakfast in the mornings. Bagels, sweets, etc. The same things from the bakery just not as large of a selection but enough. From 5pm-midnight it was open for cocktails.

No housekeeping surprises though.

We really enjoyed our stay. It was our first trip without the kids and even though they were missed it was nice to just be there. We only went on a few rides the whole weekend. We really just enjoyed the resort and the food and wine festival.

 

[Glenn]

Nice pictures. Was your room a non smoking room and has the contruction there at the Boardwalk been finished yet? Im there in Dec for the first time.

 

[josierac]

Originally posted by Glenn
Nice pictures. Was your room a non smoking room and has the contruction there at the Boardwalk been finished yet? Im there in Dec for the first time.

Yes our room was a non smoking room. There was some construction still going on but not much. It was only on the villas side.