The Boardwalk resort is made up of two sections. The Inn which is a normal resort, and the Villas which are part of Disney's ever expanding vacation club.

I have not stayed at the resort, but I was able to go on a preview of it during its "open mouse" on June 30, 1996. Since then I have been back several times to see the resort and experience the boardwalk. Along the boardwalk you will find several different eateries and "nightclubs". One of our favorite is the ESPN Club (great food and more TVs than you can count, even in the restrooms)…

The one negative to this resort is that if you are staying over the boardwalk itself it may be noisy. I have overheard people saying it can seem loud, but then again its all up to personal preference… A lot of the rooms are over the entertainment section of the hotel. The first level is a restaurant, shop, or club and the next 3 or 4 levels are guest rooms. This looks and sounds fun, but I talked to cast members who stayed there and they said it was very noisy (and this was before most of the hotel was up and running).

The best advantage of the Boardwalk (as with the Yacht & Beach Club Resorts too) is its proximity to EPCOT, your literally a 5-10 minute walk. The Studios is a 15-20 minute walk or boat ride away only. Even the bus trips to other destinations such as Animal Kingdom and Disney Springs are substantially shorter than the Magic Kingdom resorts and many other resorts. The only long Bus ride is to the Magic Kingdom area. The other warning about the busses is they are shared with the Swan, Dolphin, Yacht, and Beach clubs.. so you are the last stop.. which is good heading out, but can seem like forever after a full day at the parks.

My thoughts from my December 2013:

• This trip was my first to the Boardwalk Resort. The Boardwalk Resort was nice. I am not sure what it is but it just does not have the same feel to it as the Yacht and Beach Clubs or some of the other Deluxe Resorts. It feels more laid back to me and less formal. I think the huge positive to the Boardwalk is its realively small size in terms of number of rooms and its location. I never found the bus to be over crowded and even with all the activity at the Boardwalk a few steps away the rooms always seemed quiet.
• I had not realized it but it had been 9 years since my last stay in the Epcot Resort area too. I have always liked this area because of the short walk to Epcot through the International Gateway and the relatively short walk or boat ride to the Studios. The other destinations are all bus trips which can be long since the buses are shared among several resorts (Swan, Dolphin, Yacht, Beach, and Boardwalk for some routes, or two or three for others).
• This was my first time staying in a Disney Vacation Club Villa. We had a one bedroom villa on the first floor. We were the second to last room which meant a decent hike from the lobby, but the walk from the Boardwalk or out the back door to the Swan was not bad at all. I joked we were closer to the Swan bus stop than the Boardwalk. The room itself was quite large with a lot of square footage. The extra space was great and came in handy when I came down with a cold and for visiting friends and relatives.
• I thought the room itself was showing a lot of wear and tear. I found myself unfairly comparing it to Aulani since that was my only other DVC data point. Comparing a 1 year old resort to one in its second decade is not quite fair. Seems they learned some leasons and little things like no springs on the pull out coach at Aulani were a vast improvement over the Boardwalk.

• Spoodles
• The Flying Fish
• The Belle Vue Room
• Atlantic Dance Club
• Big River Grille & Brewing Works
• Jellyrolls
• Boardwalk Bakery
• ESPN Club
• Leaping Horse Libations
  
  
  

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