What are your thoughts on Boardwalk Villas?

[jediking23]

Hello, I am fairly new here, but I am enjoying all the positive posts here. I have to say that it has helped my family out greatly for planning out our first ever trip to WDW!!! I wanted to get some thoughts/reviews on the Boardwalk Resort. I will be staying 6-4-08/6-09-08 with my wife & 3 kids (15, 13, 11) I wanted to get some recent stay info. from anyone who has stayed at this resort. Any help is appreciated. Thank You in advance.

 

[Illinois Mark]

One of my favorite resorts. In my opinion, this is the BEST location. You are within walking distance to both the Studios and Epcot. If you do not want to walk you can take a short boat ride. The themed pool has a nice slide that looks like a roller coaster. The Boardwalk has many activites at night. You can also rent 2, 4 & 6 seat bikes to ride around the Boardwalk. There are also many restaurants to choose from. This is a GREAT choice!

 

[MousekaMaddi]

great spot, location is lovely,plan so your fri and sat nites are park free evenings so u can eat at sppodles (make adrs) and walk the bustling boardwalk, its bustling on the weekends and not during the week(jmo) we loved it there.

 

[Quicklabs]

It's our home resort and we love it there! Location, location and location, the fun of the boardwalk itself, and you can't beat these views. (Taken from our balcony last month)
Have a great time!

 

[Hopefully]

We (DH and adult DS)stayed here in a one bedroom in October for the first time and we loved it. I was skeptical as I am a true lover of the BCV and wanted to stay there. I was pleasantly surprised.
This is, in my opinion, the PERFECT location in all of WDW. The ability to walk to both the Studios and to the International Gateway at Epcot is so convenient. There are many dining opportunities in the area with the YC/BC and the Swan and Dolphin, as well as the Boardwalk itself.
Epcot is our favorite park. We have park hoppers and ended most days with dinner in one of the International restaurants in WS. Walking home after Illuminations is priceless.
I loved the one bedroom unit.
You can not under estimate the value of having an in unit washer and dryer. I threw in a load of laundry a couple of afternoons when we returned from the parks and we always had clean clothes. It allows me to pack less, and we can freshen up and change for dinner in the evening.
Having a fully stocked kitchen and a full size refrigerator is also great. We were on the DDP so we did not "cook" in, but we had a quick breakfast each morning and had cold beverages and snacks for our afternoon break. It was great.
I ordered groceries to be delivered to the Villa from wegoshop.com and I highly recommend them. The cost is the cost of the items plus a $17 delivery fee. I feel we easily saved that over shopping at the Screen Door General Store at the Boardwalk. We ordered breakfast items, juice, soda, a case of water, cheese & crackers, snacks and beer and wine.
The unit was beautifully decorated. I had requested a balcony off the bedroom ( I am an early bird and will sit out here in the morning and read until the others wake up) and we had one long balcony that connected to both rooms, It was great. The new type sleep sofa was a vast improvement over the old pull out couch type and very comfortable, according to DS.
All in all we totally enjoyed it here. You will have a wonderful trip!
Just ask away if you have any questions.

 

[hoosll]

Location: Great with for kids of your ages. They will love the atmosphere on the bw at night - jugglers, magician. They will love the pool.

Room: If you can swing 2-bedroom it would be great. We thought the studio was very tight for 2 of us especially closet and drawer space. Longer the stay, more room needed! I thought the room could have used an update, small TV, worn bedding.

We asked for a room near the lobby on a upper floor. This worked great as it was close to the bridge to Swan/Dolphin where we would catch/leave boat for MGM. The upper floor was very quiet, near the elevators which are very fast. The walk to Epcot is substantially increased the further you are from the lobby.

Food: I found the food choices at BW very disappointing. I do not recommend a dining plan if you are staying at BW. There is no adequate counter service (I guess they expect you to go to Epcot) and the sit down choices are only OK.

 

[Nemo32]

Yay for BWV!! I'm staying there from May 4th to May 10th with my DBF.

I've stayed there twice before. When we had a balcony over the boardwalk it was great getting to watch the boardwalk at night. It's also fun during the day because there will be entertainers on the boardwalk. The boats are nice for transportation too, but I feel walking is faster.

My one complaint is that if you do an early morning at Epcot, there is no way to the front entrance. Transportation only brings you to the International Gateway, which is hindering if you're trying to be one of the first on Soarin'.

Besides that, I highly recommend staying there.

 

[DisneyBride'03]

Great reading all these comments!

We have a 1 bdr next month for one night...

 

[goodferry]

We loved the Villas! We stayed this past December in both the Inn and Villas (split stay) and it was wonderful. We had a two bedroom, which was a one bedroom with a studio attached, so the one bedroom had the King bed and jacuzzi tub, but the studio had its own fridge and coffee maker, it was great!
We love being able to walk or take a boat to the studios or Epcot, love the pool area (and pool bar!). We like the table service restaurants but agree that they need a counter service option on the Boardwalk.
Hope you have fun!

 

[standleyent1]

I stayed at the BWV 1 1/2 years ago with DD (8yoa) then and we loved it the villa had plenty of room and the poolside view was great. We had and, you can too if you rent the points to do so, free valet parking which made for an easy entry and escape when we were ready to go. All I had to do was call the valet desk and they would have the car in the portico waiting on us. The atmosphere is incredibly relaxing with the pool and the boardwalk you can't go wrong. If you rent the points to stay you get all the benefits that DVC members do plus discounted tkts to the parks if you have the owner buy them for you.
It's a wonderful place to stay!
Have Fun!!

 

[byoung]

I own DVC at BWV and can book standards rms at the 11 month time frame. But I always book the Boardwalk views because they are the best views in all of Disney IMHO. Well worth the extra points.

 

[tomerin]

we stayed at the boardwalk villas this past july and just fell in love with the place. we are a park hopping family so being able to enjoy a nice walk to epcot and MGM/DHS with my family was a great plus.

the atmosphere that the Boardwalk itself has is making us think of changing our plans to stay in a different resort each trip. i will definitly stay here again

 

[CharityLynn]

LOVE LOVE LOVE Boardwalk! We actually stayed at Beach Club this past trip and me and my husband both decided we prefer Boardwalk..I used to want to stay at every resort but I think I'd be happy staying just at Boardwalk

 

[Deb & Bill]

BWV is my least favorite DVC resort. We stayed there once and will not stay there again. If you need counter service food, you won't find much there. If you like a quiet atmosphere, you won't find it there. We prefer BCV over BWV of the two DVC Epcot resorts; much quieter and parking is way more convenient at BCV.

And don't get me started on that scary clown pool.

 

[DisneyBride'03]

Luckily for us the Clown is closed when we visit, lol if it is warm enough we will head on over to SAB...

 

[micki7337]

We love the Boardwalk......
It is close to MGM and Epcot. At Epcot you have a special gate and well less crowded at that gate both coming and going.
Also, I like the buses there they are constantly coming and wit only 1 stop at the hotel so it is faster. Yes I know that they stop at the Swan/Dolpin but still faster than a place like Saratoga Springs.
Als depending on park closing times you have a great area to explore on the boardwalk it self.

So Have a great time

 

[spiceycat]

no restuarant or counter service at BWV/I - now along the BW - but when it rains.

either be prepared and get some food in the room or get wet.

now it does have room service - but that is very, very expensive.

the bakery I think is listed as a counter service for the hotel.

Other than that it is a very nice place. Owner too - but happen to love the standard views - saving on points plus a great villa.

that the BW view once - didn't like being on display.

oh Soaring is just as close to the IG as to the front gate - especially with the security guards making you go through the loops that they do. Morning at Epcot - well the IG is definitely better.

Now if the security guards could make up their minds and each time the same thing - much, much, much less confusion. but I think that is asking too much of security guards.

 

[PKWallaby]

You will LOVE BWVs!!! We are a family of 4 and stayed in a stnd view one bedroom last spring who loved it so much we are returning in 3 weeks. Yes, the counter service choices are limited(we tried DDP last time but are not doing it for the next trip), but the feeling of being in the middle of the action(2 great parks within walking distance) supercedes any negative aspect of not finding food(we found plenty, believe me! ).

I loved that you could walk to MGM and Epcot not worry about being crowded or herded along with the masses in a bus.(and yet, the boat ride is an option for tired feet at the end of the day) We would often get to Epcot at opening, walked to Soarin' for FP and ate a leisurely CS breakfast in The Land until our FP time arrived. My kids did not mind the Scary Clown pool slide, course they were 6 and 9 and it was water!! We also walked over to Fantasia mini-golf twice...it was an easy walk down the BW and past Swan/Dolphin. These were areas we had never seen before staying in this location.

You will have a fabulous time...enjoy every second!!

 

[Snow Shoe]

This is our "Home DVC Resort" and we love it!!! From 12/26-1/2/08 we has a grand villa. The view, space, everythng about it was wonderful. Access to Epcot and Disney Studios by boat or walking is great, and bus services to the other parks was very good.

My wife and I are returning in June with a 1 bedroom and just can't wait.

You will reall like BWV!

 

[fla4fun]

I wanted to get some recent stay info. from anyone who has stayed at this resort. Any help is appreciated. Thank You in advance.

I'm here right now - if that's recent enough for you!

I have a 1BR on the 4th floor overlooking the quiet pool. It's a pretty far walk from the elevators, but not any farther than some rooms I've been in at BCV or VWL. Although the shops and restaurants are outside on the Boardwalk, it hasn't been an issue so far (although it's supposed to rain Sunday, so that could be less pleasant). One of the best things is the proximity of all the other Epcot resorts. You have so many dining options here without even going in to a park. It's also nice (provided you have the ticket to do so) to just go into Epcot in the evening for meals.

My room looks like it's had most of the furniture replaced recently. The sofa looks brand new, as does the living room chair. The bed is extremely comfortable. Everything is clean and in good repair (I know some people have said BWV is run down, but my villa doesn't reflect that). The villas have regular TV's in the rooms, not flat screens, and the TV in the bedroom is on the small side (I'd say a 19 or 20 inch). There is a combo VCR/DVD player in the living room (the other villas I've stayed in have DVD only).

So far as I'm concerned, the BWV come highly recommended. The location is wonderful, the rooms very nice, and so far every CM I've come across has been great!