Disney's BOARDWALK INN Information & Questions

[klacey1]

I think the layout seems more confusing than it really is. I had no problems with it. Walk to DHS May be a little longer, but IMO, even a longer walk is better than a bus, and you have the boats! QS, the bakery is decent as is the food stand on the Boardwalk, BUT, you have endless options at Epcot a especially with food and wine. If I remember correctly, I think I had the same concerns before staying there and never even thought about them when we were there. It is our favorite resort. Enjoy your trip!

Thank you for the reassurance!! I'm sure I'll enjoy it, I just need to get there!

 

[PeakSeason]

Leaving for the airport in 7 hours. We love staying at the Boardwalk and usually stay in a villa. This trip we are trying a Garden Cottage with Club Level access. Excited!

I'm glad that some of you posted about the change in the walk to HS. I knew the bus stop moved but never considered it would make a difference to us since we always walk. I think the first day that we head over there we'll do a taxi or Minnie Van so that we can check out the changes.

 

[Best Aunt]

I'm glad that some of you posted about the change in the walk to HS. I knew the bus stop moved but never considered it would make a difference to us since we always walk. I think the first day that we head over there we'll do a taxi or Minnie Van so that we can check out the changes.

Just pay attention when you get out of the taxi or Minnie Van at DHS. I took an Uber and when I got out of the vehicle I walked straight ahead, looking at my phone so that I could rate the driver and tip. Then I realized I was going in the wrong direction. There happened to be one other guest there to ask which way to go. It did not seem obvious to me and was not marked. If you are in a Minnie Van, ask them to point you in the right direction; since Minnie Vans are driven by cast members, they should know.

 

[KerryCM]

Leaving for the airport in 7 hours. We love staying at the Boardwalk and usually stay in a villa. This trip we are trying a Garden Cottage with Club Level access. Excited!

I'm glad that some of you posted about the change in the walk to HS. I knew the bus stop moved but never considered it would make a difference to us since we always walk. I think the first day that we head over there we'll do a taxi or Minnie Van so that we can check out the changes.

Looking forward to seeing what you think of the Garden Cottages. In all my stays at the BWI, we have never stayed in them, but I have 2 stays coming up next year. We will be in them in February and April. You will love the Club Level there. Please tell Chef Redgie Kerry says hi!

 

[AngiTN]

Just walked back from HS to BWI.
Turned on the tracking on my watch as we walked out of the ticket gates to get some numbers for folks
For reference, DH and I are 55 and by no means in shape or fit. The only exercise we get is walking at Disney. We are both at least 50 lbs overweight but otherwise have no health issues or mobility problems. We walk at a moderate to slow pace.

First, the numbers waiting on the boat are at least quadruple anything I've seen before. And this is supposedly a crowd level of "1" according to touring plans. So you'll likely wait for at least 2 boats, likey more. And this was at 2:00 in the afternoon, not even park closing. I can't fathom what park closing lines would look like

Anyway, took us 12 min to walk around the entire detour and reach what I call the original path area. Before any detours that have been put in (remember this is at least the 2nd change). It was .5 mile exactly

Next mark was the Luna pool
18 min, .75 mile

We made it to the Boardwalk boat dock 20 min after waking out of the HS gate. It measured .9 mile

 

[Best Aunt]

Just walked back from HS to BWI.
Turned on the tracking on my watch as we walked out of the ticket gates to get some numbers for folks
For reference, DH and I are 55 and by no means in shape or fit. The only exercise we get is walking at Disney. We are both at least 50 lbs overweight but otherwise have no health issues or mobility problems. We walk at a moderate to slow pace.

First, the numbers waiting on the boat are at least quadruple anything I've seen before. And this is supposedly a crowd level of "1" according to touring plans. So you'll likely wait for at least 2 boats, likey more. And this was at 2:00 in the afternoon, not even park closing. I can't fathom what park closing lines would look like

Anyway, took us 12 min to walk around the entire detour and reach what I call the original path area. Before any detours that have been put in (remember this is at least the 2nd change). It was .5 mile exactly

Next mark was the Luna pool
18 min, .75 mile

We made it to the Boardwalk boat dock 20 min after waking out of the HS gate. It measured .9 mile

Thank you for doing this.

 

[AngiTN]

Just saw that there is a make your own ear activity at Belvue Lounge (on Sunday, there's a second one on Wednesday's somewhere else). Has anyone done this? Wondered what the ears are like

(Sorry if this has been discussed already and I missed it)

 

[ksromack]

Just walked back from HS to BWI.
Turned on the tracking on my watch as we walked out of the ticket gates to get some numbers for folks
For reference, DH and I are 55 and by no means in shape or fit. The only exercise we get is walking at Disney. We are both at least 50 lbs overweight but otherwise have no health issues or mobility problems. We walk at a moderate to slow pace.

First, the numbers waiting on the boat are at least quadruple anything I've seen before. And this is supposedly a crowd level of "1" according to touring plans. So you'll likely wait for at least 2 boats, likey more. And this was at 2:00 in the afternoon, not even park closing. I can't fathom what park closing lines would look like

Anyway, took us 12 min to walk around the entire detour and reach what I call the original path area. Before any detours that have been put in (remember this is at least the 2nd change). It was .5 mile exactly

Next mark was the Luna pool
18 min, .75 mile

We made it to the Boardwalk boat dock 20 min after waking out of the HS gate. It measured .9 mile

I really appreciate the effort! I have a torn meniscus in my left knee but i'm loading up on ibuprofen for the trip as there's no way I feel good about having this relatively minor surgery a month before a disney trip. I imagine we'll walk too. The girls and I are staying at BWV so this is our plan coming home from DHS.... maybe wl take the boat going or maybe we'll take it clear from Epcot to DHS. Our first day we are spending the early afternoon at EPCOT then we have a 3:50pm ADR at Brown Derby. Do you think leaving Epcot by 3pm gives us enough time if we take the boat from IG to DHS? Maybe we should allot at least an hour?

 

[AngiTN]

I really appreciate the effort! I have a torn meniscus in my left knee but i'm loading up on ibuprofen for the trip as there's no way I feel good about having this relatively minor surgery a month before a disney trip. I imagine we'll walk too. The girls and I are staying at BWV so this is our plan coming home from DHS.... maybe wl take the boat going or maybe we'll take it clear from Epcot to DHS. Our first day we are spending the early afternoon at EPCOT then we have a 3:50pm ADR at Brown Derby. Do you think leaving Epcot by 3pm gives us enough time if we take the boat from IG to DHS? Maybe we should allot at least an hour?

I have not seen the lines at IG yet so this is based on guesses right now but yes, in think you'll be fine. Plus, HBD will be ok if you are running a few min behind, they aren't that strict

We did take to boat to HS, got on at YC (we are at YC tonight, move to BW tomorrow). There was not anyone else boarding with us at YC at about 1:30. The boat was about half full so there must not have been all that many at Epcot.

 

[djc9699]

Just walked back from HS to BWI.
Turned on the tracking on my watch as we walked out of the ticket gates to get some numbers for folks
For reference, DH and I are 55 and by no means in shape or fit. The only exercise we get is walking at Disney. We are both at least 50 lbs overweight but otherwise have no health issues or mobility problems. We walk at a moderate to slow pace.

First, the numbers waiting on the boat are at least quadruple anything I've seen before. And this is supposedly a crowd level of "1" according to touring plans. So you'll likely wait for at least 2 boats, likey more. And this was at 2:00 in the afternoon, not even park closing. I can't fathom what park closing lines would look like

Anyway, took us 12 min to walk around the entire detour and reach what I call the original path area. Before any detours that have been put in (remember this is at least the 2nd change). It was .5 mile exactly

Next mark was the Luna pool
18 min, .75 mile

We made it to the Boardwalk boat dock 20 min after waking out of the HS gate. It measured .9 mile

I have a question about the walk. My daughter (15) and I are staying at BWI 15 Dec - 1 Jan. This is our first time at any Epcot area resort. HS and Epcot are our favorite parks at Christmas. Is the walk to HS marked (or obvious). I am directionally challenged and can get turned around easily.

 

[AngiTN]

I have a question about the walk. My daughter (15) and I are staying at BWI 15 Dec - 1 Jan. This is our first time at any Epcot area resort. HS and Epcot are our favorite parks at Christmas. Is the walk to HS marked (or obvious). I am directionally challenged and can get turned around easily.

You can't miss it. Your only other place to go is in the lake, lol

 

[djc9699]

You can't miss it. Your only other place to go is in the lake, lol

Well it will be dark when we walk it in the morning. Thank you.

 

[disney food]

this is by far the worst bus service we have ever experienced. I alwAys read reports of people complaining about buses at various resorts, and I figured they were exaggerating.

This is not the case. we’ve yet to have less than a 25 minute wait for any bus, and it’s more like 35 min plus. This is from the resort and from the parks. Other guests have found the same, and I think from speaking to CMs, this is unusual or this resort.

I've been back about a week and am trying to catch up before reporting on our trip but for us the buses at the Boardwalk were horrible. I loved the feature in the ap telling you when next bus would arrive but so many times the time would keep increasing a minute or two as it got closer and then it would disappear and simply say busses aprox every 20 minutes. at least once we waited 40 minutes for a MK bus. Our friends had a similar experience with buses at the all stars for what its worth. The buses from parks back weren't bad and we took a swan/dolphin bus once which is a nice option if you want to just get some A.C. and get moving.
I asked at the club level desk about the buses and she said "well you know how these buses are" and recommended using the minivans which by that point we already had started doing. I especially recommend using Lyft to go to the water parks. Only time we paid extra for minnie van was when going to MK to avoid being dropped off at the TTC.
And rereading how i wrote that let me say the woman at the desk was not being dismissive. She fantastic and helpful. Her name was either jackie or linda and she was great. she meant since this wasn't our first time at Disney...
Hope to write more soon, had the exact location i wanted on the INN side with easy access to the quiet pool and our stay on Villa side was great too. Cant beat that boardwalk view!

 

[AngiTN]

We've only used the bus one day so far, to AK. It came quickly and exactly as the app said it would. We'll see how the next couple of days go. Just realized that we've been here since Thursday morning but today was our first time to use a bus from any of the resorts. Hadn't even planned it that way

 

[ksromack]

Where does it give you the bus situation? In MDE? I guess this wasn't available 3 years ago on our last visit.

 

[KSR0330]

I just saw on the Disney Food Blog that the villas at Boardwalk are getting laminate flooring. Does anyone know if this transition has begun?

 

[CarolynFH]

I just saw on the Disney Food Blog that the villas at Boardwalk are getting laminate flooring. Does anyone know if this transition has begun?

That transition for the Boardwalk DVC villas was completed a couple of years ago.

I don’t know whether similar changes are planned for BWI rooms.

 

[Best Aunt]

Where does it give you the bus situation? In MDE? I guess this wasn't available 3 years ago on our last visit.

There are electronic signs at tge resort bus stops. After you arrive at Disney, MDE will tell you when a bus is scheduled to arrive at your resort but not when a bus is scheduled to arrive at a theme park.

 

[Dave006]

Well it will be dark when we walk it in the morning. Thank you.

It is very easy to find the walkway to HS from the BWI / BWV resort. Just head toward the Swan and stop before you walk across the pedestrian bridge to the Swan. The walkway is on your left and is well light after dark / early in the AM.

From the actual Boardwalk: walk along the Boardwalk toward Jellyrolls and Atlantic Dance and the Swan / Dolphin, turn left as soon as you pass Jellyrolls, it is really your only choice as the boardwalk ends after the end of the Atlantic Dance building. You will walk thru what looks like a circular driveway, the Luna Park pool is on your left. As soon you see the wide walkway on your left, turn left. Note: the path to HS runs along side the waterway to HS. The Swan will be across the waterway on your right.

You can also get there from the front portico (car drop area), let me know as you can also get to the HS walkway without going down to the actual Boardwalk if that is more convenient. And there is a short-cut by the Luna Park Pool but you will be exposed to the Clown.

Dave

 

[AngiTN]

Where does it give you the bus situation? In MDE? I guess this wasn't available 3 years ago on our last visit.

There are monitors at the resort bus stops and in MDE in the info details for your resort. Same place you see room number and room charges

That transition for the Boardwalk DVC villas was completed a couple of years ago.

I don’t know whether similar changes are planned for BWI rooms.

Nothing planned for Inn at this time. Eventually they'll switch them out like they are everywhere on property. Just not on schedule yet. I asked