Under the Boardwalk, out of the sun, under the Boardwalk, we’ll be having some fun.
You know the song, and you understand what it represents. Boardwalks were once an unmistakable part of a visit to the beach. Disney honors that legacy with Disney’s Boardwalk Villas, one of the most unique properties in the Disney Vacation Club lineup. Here are six reasons why you must stay at this hotel.
A trip back in time
Image: DisneyMany of the Disney Vacation Club hotels pay tribute to popular aspects of pop culture from prior eras. Perhaps the most memorable is Disney’s Boardwalk Villas. It hearkens back to Coney Island and other Atlantic Coast resorts of the mid-20th century. Back then, boardwalk areas embodied the beach lifestyle. They were happy hangouts for teens and vacationing families, rife with food and fun.
Disney Imagineers weren’t satisfied with building a resort in this style. They added a complete Boardwalk structure. Disney fans know that this is the place to go for food and shopping. Conveniently located just outside the back entrance of Epcot, it’s a gathering place for guests staying at either Boardwalk or Disney’s Beach Club Villas. Travelers from Walt Disney World’s Dolphin and Swan are also only a boat ride away.
Staying by the Boardwalk
Image: Disney
The rooms available at the hotel are diverse enough to suit any traveler’s needs. Basic Disney Vacation Club studios offer 359 square feet of space, with room to host four guests. Disney will allow a fifth guest if it’s a child under the age of three. The basic rooms feature a sleeper sofa, kitchenette area, and balcony with chairs.
The balcony is noteworthy since the hotel offers multiple views. The basic and standard room choices are in quieter areas of the hotel. Conversely, the Boardwalk view rooms deliver a stunning view of Crescent Lake as well as Disney’s Beach Club Villas across the water. The drawback is that the Boardwalk side has a tendency to get louder at night, especially on weekends. Some guests complain that they have difficulty sleeping on the Boardwalk side. Your mileage may vary.
Image: DisneyThe one-bedroom villa features more than twice the space, with 814 square feet. It also has a full kitchen, meaning that you can save money on food cost while you’re visiting Walt Disney World. That presumes you don’t mind cooking on vacation, though. The one-bedroom villa also accommodates four guests, so it’s not a way to increase the number of people staying in the room.
Image: Disney
For that, you’d need the two-bedroom villa, which is anywhere from 1,071 to 1,236 square feet. Disney allows up to nine guests in these rooms.
Eat and Shop at the Boardwalk
Image: DisneyYou’ll never go hungry at the Boardwalk. The strip features ESPN Club, an intimate sports bar where visitors can catch a game while they’re at Disney. Also, what good would a trip to the Boardwalk be without ice cream? Ample Hills Creamery fills this void with several tasty frozen treats. And Flying Fish Café offers a decadent seafood menu including Skull Island prawns, Chilean sea bass, and Hokkaido scallops. Meat lovers also have the option of succulent wagyu beef.
The Boardwalk Bakery has a sterling reputation for its tasty delicacies. Big River Grille & Brewing Works places guests side by side with the machinery that crafts the adult beverages that gets them drunk. The new star of the Boardwalk is Trattoria al Forno, which offers Italian cuisine at night plus a character meal breakfast with personalities from Tangled and The Little Mermaid.
Image: DisneyAs for the shopping, Dundy’s Sundries inside Disney’s Boardwalk Villas offers all sorts of fun Disney merchandise. ESPN Club also has a store full of licensed team gear and apparel with the ESPN logo on it. The real treat, however, is Wyland Galleries. It displays some of the highest quality art available for sale onsite at Walt Disney World. You should take the time to walk through it if you never have before. It’s absolutely breathtaking.
One final note about Disney’s Boardwalk Villas is that the restaurants aren’t technically in the hotel. Instead, they’re at the Boardwalk. While that’s a splitting of hairs to many, you might care if you mind the walk to dinner. Conversely, guests who love to rack up a few extra steps on the pedometer can boost their dining options dramatically. The hotel is only about 500 steps away from the World Showcase.
People willing to walk there will have the run of the place in terms of dining options, which means 11 nations of cuisine are up for grabs when you stay at Disney’s Boardwalk Villas. This is one of the reasons why the hotel books up so early for Disney’s Epcot International Food & Wine Festival. It’s a short walk away from the festivities. Folks who love to drink also have an equally brief return trip from Epcot when they’re….shall we say, tipsy.
The creepy pool
Image: DisneyHow do you feel about clowns? For no apparent reason, Disney’s Boardwalk Villas claims one of the true oddities of Walt Disney World. Their gorgeous pool area has a giant water slide. It’s so big that it looks like an old-timey roller coaster from a distance, which is probably the intent. If the hotel setting is Coney Island, the pool slide is the legendary Cyclone.
There’s just one catch.
The end of the slide sees the guest sliding out of a clown’s mouth. It’s the stuff of nightmares and possibly the inspiration for Stephen King’s It. Okay, those dates don’t line up since the book came out a decade before the hotel opened. What’s important here is that if you’re afraid of clowns, a perfectly reasonable conclusion, you shouldn’t look at the slide while you’re at the pool.
The Creepy Clown is real, and it is terrifying. Image: Disney
Thankfully, the area is large enough that you’ll have plenty of other distractions that might keep your eye from being drawn toward…no, I’m kidding. You can’t help but stare at the clown. Use the quiet pool at Community Hall instead if you don’t want to slide out of the clown’s mouth.
Hotel Tips and Hacks
Image: DisneySomething to keep in mind about Disney’s Boardwalk Villas is that the hallways are notoriously long. Due to the circuitous nature of the building design, many of the rooms are a looooooong way away from the elevator. The DVC portion in particular has this problem since the elevator hub is in a single location. Always request a room by the elevator when you stay here.
One advantage this hotel has over the rest of the DVC lineup is its location. In addition to being a few hundred steps away from Epcot, it’s also the only property within walking distance of Disney’s Hollywood Studios. It’s not a short walk by any stretch. Most folks can travel the walking path from the hotel to the theme park in 10-15 minutes. Whether that’s something you’re willing to do when you’re already walking a brutal amount at Walt Disney World is up to you. The good news is that Disney illuminates the walkway at night, which makes the journey something of a serene trip.
Finally, keep in mind that the Boardwalk offers a bit of nightly entertainment reminiscent of Pleasure Island from back in the day. Jellyrolls is a piano bar complete with dueling pianos. As far as Orlando nightspots go, it’s G-rated but lively. The bar also has a cover charge.
Image: DisneyMy favorite spot at the Boardwalk is Atlantic Dance Hall, at least back when it was a swing dancing place. Today, it offers the greatest dance hits of the 80s and 90s, which makes those of us in Generation X the target demographic. The interior of this place is spectacular, even by Disney theming standards. You absolutely must visit at some point. And you have no excuse, either. Atlantic Dance Hall doesn’t have a cover fee, so it’s free to walk in and look around.
Disney’s Boardwalk Villas offers a strong combination of location and convenience. The food and shopping nearby are tremendous, and it’s within a 15-minute walk of two different Disney theme parks. What really sells the place, however, is its style. You’ll feel like you’ve taken a step back in time when you enter the hotel lobby.
David Mumpower is the author of the Disney Demystified series, which you can buy here.
