would you recommend BWI? why or why not?

[yaya74]

Trying to decide if it is worthwhile to spend $400 more to stay at Broadwalk Inn on next August with the BB offer. Currently have booking at AKL which we recently stayed. We went to Cape May Cafe last week during our vacation at WDW and really like the walking path around the lake. Also like how close the resort is to Epcot and DHS. Ideally we would like to stay at Beach Club but BWI is the only resort in that area with availability.

I have heard of the limited parking situation there, the hike from the lot to the lobby, as well as the freaky clown in the pool. I am not too keen about the room decor (the stripes on the wall and the green carpet) shown in the pictures. But these are issues that we can deal with. How about the foodcourt there?? Noise level?? Cleanness of room and friendliness of the CMs?

If you have stayed at BWI, I appreciate your feedback so to help me make an informed decision. My kids will be 9 and 5. We will stay for 5 nights in next August. TIA!

 

[ShirikiUtundu]

BWI is a great resort; I have had two stays there. You are not wrong about the walking distances there and the hallways are quite long. There is no food court there; in fact no food that you don't have to travel outside to the Boardwalk for, so consider if that is a dealbreaker. But the convenience factor to 2 parks is almost unbeatable. I didn't find the hotel room to be noisy, but we were at the end of one of those very long hallways, and the cottages are very quiet.

 

[yaya74]

BWI is a great resort; I have had two stays there. You are not wrong about the walking distances there and the hallways are quite long. There is no food court there; in fact no food that you don't have to travel outside to the Boardwalk for, so consider if that is a dealbreaker. But the convenience factor to 2 parks is almost unbeatable. I didn't find the hotel room to be noisy, but we were at the end of one of those very long hallways, and the cottages are very quiet.

Where do you go for refill mug drinks? Are walkway to restaurants covered in case of rain??Thanks for the quick reply

 

[ShirikiUtundu]

I didn't get mugs there, but I believe the Belle Vue lounge will refill your mugs and that is the only option without going outside of the hotel. I think they have continental type breakfast there in the morning, but no hot foods.

The Boardwalk itself is open, no coverage from the weather.

 

[Hopefully]

As stated, there are no food courts at any Epcot Resorts. The food options at BWI are on the Boardwalk & they do not have covered walkway access. I believe you can fill your mug at the Boardwalk Bakery & the pool.
The access to 2 theme parks can not be stated highly enough. But if a food court is important to your family this is not the resort for you.
The rooms are clean. The CMs are wonderful. Boardwalk view rooms can be loud but otherwise it is quiet.
We love it. But to be fair we do not like food courts.
Good Luck

 

[terri33inne]

I LOOOOVE BW... Only stayed there one time, and our room was 2nd to last at the end of one hallway... I've walked MUCH further at POR, or AofA LM rooms. Also, we were right near a stairwell that led out to the quiet pool. We're happy with quiet pools so the clown pool was a non factor.

Personally I liked the decor, and found it fairly subtle & muted (I had to go back & look at pics to see the striped wallpaper)

I do find the biggest drawback to there (and BC for that matter) is the lack of food court. BW does have the BW bakery (where you can also refill your mugs), and the pizza window which we got one night & brought back to our room.

We loved the BW especially at night with the street performers, etc. I loved the whole resort... there were so many little nooks with tables & chairs you could sit & people watch.

Also, the biggest factor is the proximity to two parks can't be beat.

 

[yaya74]

thank you all for the reply!! I guess we are staying at BWI next summer. Fingers crossed that there is still availability.
l

 

[AngiTN]

You'll love it.
I was going to say that the long hallways at BWI have nothing on the long hall ways at AKL
If you can deal with them you can manage fine at BWI.
It's easily my favorite deluxe resort. Used to be my "home" till I stayed at POR. Still love BWI

 

[yaya74]

You'll love it.
I was going to say that the long hallways at BWI have nothing on the long hall ways at AKL
If you can deal with them you can manage fine at BWI.
It's easily my favorite deluxe resort. Used to be my "home" till I stayed at POR. Still love BWI

Long hall way at AKL.... yes, it was a hike from my room to Mara... but we handled it well. so I think we should be okay at BWI.
About POR, we were gonna stay there originally. I have heard so many good things about POR. But after last week's trip, I was kinda glad to stay at AKL instead. I don't know how I could handle that 5 minute walk between my room and the foodcourt everyday outdoor in the summer heat. At least at AKL I walked indoor...

 

[Marypoppins11]

Boardwalk is lovely.

 

[UnderTheRialto]

Request a room by the Bellevue Lounge which is an extremely convenient location. They have coffee and continental breakfast every morning and also had hot croissant egg sandwiches. We loved the location and rooms were quiet.

 

[rwdavis2]

Look into renting points if possible. We are staying at BWV this November for $243 a night.

 

[loves to dive]

I've stayed at all the deluxe resorts except WL and each has it's own draw and worth staying at. Having said that, I'm a YC fan and will stay there every trip if something is available and has a discount. Of the Epcot resorts, BWI is my least favorite. Why? It's hard to say, it might be just because YC is my favorite so anything not YC isn't going to appeal. Given a choice though, if I can get a better deal at BWI than I can at YC, I'm at BWI. You might look into Swan/Dolphin, their rates are often on the moderate level (make sure you factor in the daily resort fee with comparing though) and they often have deals for AAA, nurses and teachers. I've learned to go ahead and book wherever you find a rate you can live with then keep looking up until the cancellation without a fee date, you might find a better rate and where you wanted. As far as food courts, none of the deluxe resorts have a traditional food court, some do have a QS restaurant but the Disney Epcot resorts don't. That could be because of the proximity to Epcot. Swan/Dolphin do have one so you can always walk over there, they are not on the DP if you use that.

 

[L&Lfan]

We love the Boardwalk Inn and are staying there again in 3 months. We always get a boardwalk view, as far away from the lobby as possible. We love sitting on the balcony at night watching the action and enjoying adult beverages. We've never even noticed the long hallways in the deluxe resorts, but then, we don't have mobility issues (or kids!). The Belle View Lounge is one of our favorite watering holes (hi Tim!). We aren't food court guys so we're content making do with the Boardwalk Bakery, the Screen Door shop and the Boardwalk Pizza Window.

 

[nikkid1]

It is a wonderful resort. We have stayed there three times. The Epcot area is our favorite area to be in and we never felt there was a lack of food options. The Boardwalk Bakery has amazing sandwiches and lobster rolls, there is a pizza window, and a food stand where you can get the standard Boardwalk fare ... chicken tenders, motz sticks, etc. There is a new ice cream place as well. Yes, you need to go outside to get there, but we never found it to be an issue. Also, the Belle Vue lounge is open for continental breakfast type foods and you can fill your mugs there.
We loved the pool and the slide, although the clown is a bit creepy, is a more adventurous slide then AKL.

AKL is our favorite resort, but we have found a very strong love in BWI, especially since my kids are still stroller age. One now, but when I had two in a double stroller, dealing with the bus for every park was too much and led us to find a resort with better transportation options. Now the ability to walk to two parks cannot be beat and we just do a few nights at AKL at trips end to relax! We never felt that it was too big or too far from the lobby. We always had great views even in standard rooms.

We also had great CM's. One even opened the shop for me at 12:15 am to get cream when my daughter had developed some intense diaper rash! That to me went above and beyond!

Give it a try, I hope you love it as much as we do.

 

[disneygolfer1985]

The Boardwalk is my home resort and absolutely love the location. I grew up going to the Beach Club and loved the pool. I personally think the location is the best on property because you can walk to 2 parks and are not reliant on transportation. I also think it depends on the family, and if you would spend a fair amount of time in Epcot. Even when I was younger, we still always ate dinner at the World Showcase so it was nice to walk over eat and then stay for the fireworks and then walk back. The slide at the pool is pretty good, but it is nothing like Stormalong Bay. I personally think the Epcot resort area can't be beat for location.

 

[Libby6]

We stayed at Boardwalk in April. Loved it! The walk into Epcot was so nice and the boardwalk bakery was really good. I loved the pool area- the clown slide was super fun. It's expensive but with discounts (we stacked an orbitz discount on top of the Disney discount, so that helped a lot) it was doable for us.

 

[peteykirch]

I stayed at the Boardwalk Villas last January/February and it was amazing. I lucked out, and some how snagged a studio that overlooked the Village Green which netted me this view;

I also lucked out that I could go from my door, to the bus stop, in about 3 minutes.