Beach Club & Boardwalk Veterans...I need your opinions please!

[TowMater92]

If you want the best pool on property then go with the BC. Cape May is a good buffet, Beaches and Cream had great ice cream and great burgers. If a balcony is a must you might not want BC, a lot of the rooms don't have balconies big enough to sit on. The Villas are away from the main building/pool and they don't really have a good view for the most part.

The BW has a lot of things to do at night. Performers on the Boardwalk every night, midway games(carnival games), shopping, bike rentals, the pool is still fun with a slide, ESPN club, dueling pianos. But you can do all of that except the pool if you stay at the BC, its a few minute walk to the BW from the BC. Also the halls can be a long walk if your at the end, there is only one set of elevators in the middle of the resort.

You can walk to Epcot from either one in about 5 minutes tops. The BW is closer to DHS if you want to walk there by about 5 minutes.

You can't go wrong with either one they are both our favorite resorts

 

[Cynister]

I don't know that SAB is going to be a huge draw for my son. When I first saw it I thought it would, but then i watched a few videos of the enclosed tube part & it seems really long & dark. I don't know that he'd do that without getting nervous about it.

The pool at the Boardwalk that is made to look like a rollercoaster looks open on the top & I think he'd easily enjoy that. Any details on that one?

 

[Wood Nymph]

Oh btw, is it true that there isn't daily room cleaning/service in the villas?

Thanks

If you are renting points through DVC, then there is limited mousekeeping. If you have a cash reservation through Disney then you would have the same kind of daily mousekeeping services that you would get if you were in a regular resort room. There is a lot of information about the BCV's in this post from the Beach Club thread:

http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=49346340&postcount=10

 

[carissa1970]

What does the i mean at the end of bwi or bci?

 

[Wood Nymph]

What does the i mean at the end of bwi or bci?

bci stands for Beach Club Inn - the main resort

bwi stands for Boardwalk Inn

the villas would be bcv and bwv

 

[MUFFYCAT]

If you have kids and will be using the pool it's BC
If not I'd go with Boardwalk.

 

[thisismyusername]

I don't know that SAB is going to be a huge draw for my son. When I first saw it I thought it would, but then i watched a few videos of the enclosed tube part & it seems really long & dark. I don't know that he'd do that without getting nervous about it.

The pool at the Boardwalk that is made to look like a rollercoaster looks open on the top & I think he'd easily enjoy that. Any details on that one?

In my experience, all of the slides at most of the deluxe resorts are about equal in terms of "thrill" factor. I think the only reason the slide at SAB is enclosed is because it's free standing over the sidewalk.

My kids like both slides equally. As a parent of three kids of different swimming abilities, I prefer the pool at BW. I can actually relax and keep an eye on all three of them. At SAB, it's very difficult to find a decent place to sit unless you show up very early, and it's impossible to keep an eye on all of three of them since one wants to be on the slide, one wants to be in the sandy-bottom middle area, and one wants to dig in the sand in the shallow end. My husband and I don't sit (even if we could find a lounger together), and we spend hours criss-crossing the pool trying to find our kids and keep an eye on them. Obviously, that's different for you since you only have one to keep an eye on, but, if your son likes the slide and you want to sit, just keep in mind there's no way to sit and keep an eye on him the entire time.

At BW, I am able to sit and have a drink and relax and keep an eye on all three of my kids. I can find them in the line on the slide, and then easily scan the pool for anyone who's swimming. It's also a lot less congested, IMO.

FWIW, I'm not slamming SAB. My husband and I did an adults only trip and chose Yacht Club so we could enjoy SAB. If my kids were all proficient swimmers, I would probably enjoy it a lot more. It's a very unique pool, but I like going to the pool to relax after the hustle of the parks, and I don't find that I relax at all at SAB.

 

[mickeym422]

Youve picked 2 of my favorite resorts!!

Weve stayed at the Beach Club Villas, Beach Club and the Boardwalk Villas (in a garden/pool view studio, as well as a boardwalk view studio) many times.

In terms of cleanliness, we have found all 3 to be clean. Usually our room requests were granted too, which was great.

The closest resort to Epcot would be the Beach Club (or the Beach Club villas depending on where your room was located). I would say its about a 5 minute walk to the International Gateway.

The Beach Club has both quick service and table service restaurants. The Marketplace is the quick service restaurant, and Cape May Café is a table service restaurant. Cape May Café offers a character breakfast and then a New England clam bake buffet at dinner time. You can also go to Beaches & Cream (another TS) which just started to take ADR's.

All of the Boardwalks restaurants are out on the Boardwalk. The nice thing about the Beach Clubs restaurants is that they are all inside the hotel.

You can walk along the Boardwalk each night (shops, entertainment, etc) by staying at either resort.

The views all depend on which room you get. On one of our trips to the Beach Club villas, we had a view of spaceship earth (we were on a high floor). Our Boardwalk Villas- Boardwalk view room featured an awesome view of the Boardwalk. On our last trip to Boardwalk Villas, we were on the 1st floor and had a view of the Keister Coaster (Clown pool).

I like the décor of the Beach Club better than the Boardwalk, but that's just my opinion. Both have great theming!

Also, I don't know how much time you'd be spending at the pools, w but we prefer Stormalong Bay at the Beach Club. It's like a mini water park!

You cant go wrong with either resort, but this is how I'd rank them

Beach Club
Boardwalk Villas (if you can get a pool or boardwalk view)
Beach Club Villas
Boardwalk Inn (only because Ive never stayed in a BWI room)

Either resort puts you at a prime location if you're spending most of your time at Epcot and HS.

Have a great trip!

Going in april for our first visit and stay at boardwalk.....my dream hotel since we have been going the past 15 years. we have a
Disney's BoardWalk Villas-Deluxe Studio - Garden or Pool View
can you give me more info on these rooms ? I am wondering what kind of view we can expect ? I mean I know it wont be the boardwalk but I am hoping its not the parking lot. totally excited to be able to walk to Hollywood studios, we did that one year after dinner at yachtsmans and we loved it so excited to be so close. thanks

 

[miblue]

Judging by your wanting a balcony and view of fireworks, I'd do BW. Request a room facing Epcot. You can see my post in the BW thread below but I just posted pictures from last week of our stay and the fireworks we saw from our room. We never had any noise issues but we weren't facing the actual boardwalk. Lots of shops and restaurants, etc. with things to do at night.

That said, you can honestly walk between both hotels very easily. We went over to BC at least 2 times I think maybe even 3. They only have one quick service place that I know of and BW had a few. There's a stand that served things like pulled pork and chicken nuggets/fires, a walk up pizza counter, bakery with sweets and sandwiches, etc. so lots to choose from in addition to the sit down restaurants.

The pool at BC looked neat, mainly just because of the slide. Although BW has a cool slide too. We let the kids play on the beach a few times and we didn't even stay there so it's not like you couldn't use it even if you stay at BW instead.

 

[MisterGoofy1]

Everything has pretty much been covered in here. both resorts are excellent choices. We just prefer the BW by a slight margin. Last month we rented a 1 BR villa with a BW view and it was nice to see the fireworks from Illuminations.

Here is the daytime view we had. this was from room 5001.

 

[Ofinn]

Hi there, OP here.

I love reading about all of your experiences & suggestions. I can't thank you enough, especially those of you who took the time to break it down. From one person who needs a list or a spreadsheet for just about everything (me) to another, you are singing my tune. For the poster who showed pictures, those are great & help to visualize what it might be like. You are all helping a lot! Please keep the experiences, opinions, & photos coming! I'd love to hear more!

Oh btw, is it true that there isn't daily room cleaning/service in the villas?

Thanks

My boys 10 and 11 prefer BC. I don't think either one of them has been down the slide more than once. What they like about the BC is floating on the lazy river, the whirlpool, the sandbar, and probably what the enjoy the most is playing volleyball with the other kids. We have stayed at BW several times. The slide is a lot of fun, but the rest of the pool area doesn't have much to offer. I don't think you can wrong with either resort.

Just curious why you left out YC? Of the three YC is my favorite. You get SAB, a quieter lobby, a guaranteed balcony, and overall better views.

 

[wiigirl]

If you want the best pool on property then go with the BC. Cape May is a good buffet, Beaches and Cream had great ice cream and great burgers. If a balcony is a must you might not want BC, a lot of the rooms don't have balconies big enough to sit on. The Villas are away from the main building/pool and they don't really have a good view for the most part.

The BW has a lot of things to do at night. Performers on the Boardwalk every night, midway games(carnival games), shopping, bike rentals, the pool is still fun with a slide, ESPN club, dueling pianos. But you can do all of that except the pool if you stay at the BC, its a few minute walk to the BW from the BC. Also the halls can be a long walk if your at the end, there is only one set of elevators in the middle of the resort.

You can walk to Epcot from either one in about 5 minutes tops. The BW is closer to DHS if you want to walk there by about 5 minutes.

You can't go wrong with either one they are both our favorite resorts

 

[cleophus12]

We just returned from our first stay at BW and we loved it. We were in a Deluxe Studio Villa 5060 overlooking the pool and it was great. Close to the elevators and very quiet. We stayed at the BC several years ago in a standard view room and loved that too. We had a room on the Epcot side facing the woods and the convenience to Epcot was amazing. My family never wants to stay anywhere other than the Boardwalk area now. We have also stayed at the Dolphin and enjoyed that as well. The whole are is just delightful and so convenient to Epcot and DHS. You can't go wrong with either BW or BC, but the BC pool gets the win. If your DS is afraid of clowns the BW pool may not be his thing. Even my 20 year old DD is a bit creeped out by it. We couldn't see the clown from our room, so the pool view was beautiful especially at night. I will say that all the lights from around the pool did make the room a bit bright at night, but that is nothing to complain about. It was a great stay and we can't wait to go back.

 

[Marthasor]

We've stayed at BC twice and BWI twice (we were just at BWI last week!). While I like BC, I LOVE BWI! It's super fun at night - performers, carnival games, restaurants, great quick service food - very lively! It's also closer to DHS than BC, so it's super easy to walk there and back. My DS actually preferred the pool at BWI because the slide was a lot more fun than the one at SAB. Of the four choices you have down, I would choose a BWI standard room.

 

[TeamSy]

Beach Club (we stayed on the hotel side, I think it was a standard view, but I don't remember): http://www.adashofluxury.com/disneys-beach-club-resort-our-mini-moon/

Boardwalk: http://www.adashofluxury.com/disneys-boardwalk-inn-villas/
(I have to say, you really should consider a Boardwalk view - it really is worth it!)