Boardwalk Villas - post visit recap

Walt Disney World
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So as not to bury the lead, The Boardwalk Villas was the BEST CHOICE EVER, but it was not without its flaws.

First the pro’s:

We got our exact requested room, 5053. Top floor. Close to elevators. Overlooking Village Green. We LOVED it.

We could sit on our patio and watch the top of the Epcot FW’s, see the friendship boats coming/going, enjoy the terrific view. Easy access to/from lobby, to/from laundry, to/from bus depot. Boardwalk view in a Garden/Pool category. Ahh…mazing.

Proximity to Epcot and HS could not be beat. We enjoyed what turned out to be a huge advantage getting to the security line at HS before the ‘sky people’ and ‘bus people’ arrived. We were first at the taps twice on shockingly crowded days where rides started 15 minutes before official early entry start time.

LOVED the entertainment on the Boardwalk. So fun!

The 3 sleeping surfaces in the studio were key.

The functionality of the room could not be beat.
My ds10 loved his pull down bed under the TV.

It was great to have the couch during the day and then have the murphy bed be pulled down in the night.

The kitchen area was super functional.

The elevators were fast and responsive.

So glad we didn’t do a split stay. When I told my kids that was my original plan, they said that it would have been a real pain to move. I agree. We really SETTLED in.

Considerations:

The shower in the studios is ‘less than.” It is a postage stamp OG tub/shower combo, that felt narrow and claustrophobic, more so after long days at the parks, and especially so given its deluxe category.

And…I get it. The BWV’s are limited by the fact that 2 bedrooms are 100% lock offs so all studios would need to have a tub, ergo I understand ‘the why.”

But…given that you can go to just about any mid budget hotel nowadays and get a gloriously spacious stand up shower where the tub used to be, it is/was a vacation bummer.

Worse, The water temp is set way too low. If you enjoy a hot shower, which is beckoning after a 10-12 mile park day, this is not your place.

Seriously, even my boys, who can’t stand super hot water, had the dial cranked all the way to hot, and it wasn’t. We were there 8 nights so it wasn’t a fluke.

No matter when we took a shower, the temperature was regulated like a first time Mom who reads all the books about adjusting your water heater to a max temp of luke warm.

A lot of WDW policies were frustratingly rooted in the liability they hold in our ambulance chasing legal culture.

Finally, with only one elevator bay, there is a whole heap of rooms that are far from the elevator.

As I said. we were thrilled with our location.

My boys even high fived me after they explored the hotel looking for the ice machines. They had over shot the machine and walked to the end of the hall…and came back to tell me that it was really far.

With the above said, I would not have chosen a different hotel. The pro’s far outweighed the con’s.

We wwre quite happy!

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Great timing for a review! I have a 2BR at BWV booked for June and I’ve been on the lookout for the scoop!

I love this about DVC. The 2BRs are like a home! We spread out, unpack, and make ourselves comfortable for the 5-7 nights we spend. I love that feeling.

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Any sighting of the sea peoples, who are allegedly responsible for the bronze age collapse circa 1200 BCE? :zany_face:

That sounds like a missetting. My DW loves her showers scalding hot, and she’s only complained once, in CR’s Garden Wing. We talked with the front desk, and they had maintenance come by and fix it.

My biggest complaint with BWV is now far the parking lot is from the front door. And, like your kids noticed, the walk from the lobby to the far rooms is… well… far. Imagine having to walk that outside from the parking lot to the front door, and then doing it again inside back to the room.

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The vast majority of DVC studios have a tub & shower combo. I think the Poly, GF and Riviera have walk-in showers, plus a small number at CCV.

When the new Cabins at FW were revealed not to have a bath, whilst some were delighted others weren’t.

And when we stayed at the BC (regular room, not DVC) many years ago, there was only a tub & shower combo. I’m not sure if that’s been changed.

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In retrospect I should have talked to maintenance. Very unlike me not to do so.

A big reason we didn’t rent a car was how far the lot was. It was so great being picked up and dropped off at lobby from Lyfts, and the bus pick up spot was just off the lobby as well.

Although…the bus depots coming back from the parks were frequently SO far, so there was always walking no matter what. I was especially exhausted leaving Disney Springs and our depot required us to walk in a huge U, as they couldn’t let us cross the road and walk the way the crow flies.

However…I did NOT like the fact that BW shared busses with Beaches and Yacht to/from AK and Disney Springs.

BW had the short straw, and we were dropped off last and picked up last.

When we were coming home from AK we literally passed the turn to BW, just to make our way around to Yacht and Beaches. 2 people got off at yacht, 4 at beaches, with 50 of us BW peeps still stuffed like sardines.

It was one thing to tack on an extra 12-15 minutes to your commute home after a long day in the parks if you had a seat, but it was brutal if you were standing.

On the way there, that meant bus was already packed, and couldn’t absorb all the BW peeps that wanted to board.

On our Disney springs night we didn’t make the bus boarding cut, so pivoted to an uber…which was unfortunate because Ubers drop off at very end of DS, requiring a 12 min walk to our destination. The busses drop off more to towards the middle

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The only last recommendation I have for anyone staying in a studio with kids is to bring those hanging clothes organizers. Theres only two drawers, (excluding the side table drawer) so I spent $8 each on two and hung those up in the closet and my kiddos put their clothes on those shelves.

Worked out great.

That sink area is where everyone changed so their clothes were super handy and out of the fray of the main studio space.

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I LOVE that our opinions differ and that Disney cares for most people in that regard. I must confess to being slightly disappointed with the BWV. Hotel room (1bed villa) was great. Location is amazing! So convenient but we felt it lacked atmosphere and food options. I couldn’t afford to eat in the Flying Fish that often! Amazing though it is. And the fact that you had to “mingle with the Commoners” if you wanted some food or to needed to refill your mug, not great. And what was the nonsense from the pool bar about not filling a resort mug??? They insisted on pouring into a glass then I had to put that into the mug. He must have thought me mad coz I assumed he was joking. Hilarious. Preferred the resorts that are spread out like SSR and OKW. Location though game changer. Trying beach Club next time.

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Love different perspectives!

I thought the ease of access to Primo Piatto (dinner) Bar Riva (lunch), Ale and Compass (bfast) and the cake bake shop was a big plus. We went to all of the above.

And my boys loved the corn dogs and boardwalk entertainment.

Granted, we didn’t do the refillable mugs. We just had wal mart deliver Diet Coke, sprite, and la croix to our room along with our grocery order.

The only place we went to that had the customizable Coke machines was Primo Piatti and we enjoyed that.

We weren’t there for a resort stay; we were full on in the parks and ate most of our meals at QS in the parks, so my review is geared towards that itinerary.

We were in and out of Epcot 4 times, and in and out of Hollywood studios 3 times, so our experience would have been very different if relying on the busses at other resorts. We were in and out of MK and AK just twice respectively.

I had a love/hate relationship with rhe WDW bus system, so any resort that avoided that mode of transportation was a win in my book.

Honestly, my crew was torn on whether the incremental effort (and expense) required for WDW was worth it vs DLR. I know, sacrilege on this forum.

DLR is easy. Easy to plan, easy to execute, easy to park hop, 4.5 days max time needed to get through rides and shows, even factoring midday breaks.

Yes, you don’t get the bubble, but you also don’t pay for the bubble.

I booked the BWV using rented points a full 11 months before our trip.

we booked a 5 night new years week trip to dlr for new years week ‘21 in October or November of 2020.

We stayed at a Hyatt (on hotel row) with adjoining rooms that cost something like 8k points/night each, that was a 15 minute walk to the front of DCA/DLR, but we also had the Anaheim public bus system with published pick up times we could take to/from.

We would have missed Animal Kingdom, which we loved.

And DLR was NOT a resort experience like WDW. But we were tired then as we were this last trip with our park objectives.

On this last trip to WDW, I was often the only one down at the pool at BWV most breaks as my family was simply exhausted by what I now know to be their 92 mile adventure! My ds10 would nap, my DS16 would watch football, and my mom would sit on the balcony.

Fwiw: I didn’t like the pool bar either. Worst margarita I’ve had in a long time! I hadnt yet had a joes marg, which was fantastic, so lesson learned.

Re: Beach Club. I require a balcony on all ‘resort
vacations” so beach club was not an option as I believe you aren’t guaranteed a balcony there.

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