Disney’s BoardWalk Inn is a resort many of us have heard of, primarily because it shares a name with (and sits on) Disney’s Boardwalk—one of Disney’s premier dining, drinking, and recreation spots. As we’re fans of the Boardwalk, we obviously give high marks to the BoardWalk Inn for location—but how does the rest of the resort stack up? Read on to find out!
The Basics and Booking Disney’s BoardWalk Inn
The BoardWalk Inn is a deluxe level hotel at Walt Disney World in the Epcot Resorts Area. Deluxe resorts are Disney’s best hotels. If you’re considering BoardWalk, you may want to read some of our other posts. We have a ranking of the best Disney World deluxe resorts. We also have a guide to all the hotels of Walt Disney World.
And here are our reviews of all the deluxe resorts (links open in new tabs):
Review of Disney’s BoardWalk Inn (you are here)
And if you’d like to see where this resort falls overall, check out our complete Disney World hotel rankings.
Most recently, we stayed in a Garden View room with a nightly rate of $486.77. We booked through our choice travel agent, Lauren Quirk of Travel With Character LLC using a 35% off Annual Passholder offer rate.
Rack rates for standard rooms at Boardwalk Inn in 2024 range from $641 to $1118 per night. Honestly—I’m not sure why the hotel gets a premium over Yacht Club and Beach Club, which start at $567. Boardwalk has the newest rooms, but Yacht Club’s rooms are also good, and the pool at Yacht Club / Beach Club is better than Boardwalk. Boardwalk has a shorter walk to Hollywood Studios, but none of this amounts to ~$70 per night of difference in my opinion. We have a post comparing these three resorts.
Between standard offers and maybe discounted prices at Expedia or Priceline, there may be times when rates get down to $550 range. Alternatively, you can rent Disney Vacation Club points to stay at BoardWalk Villas.
Staying at Boardwalk Inn, you get the perks of any Disney stay. You’ll have access to free transportation to and from the parks and Disney Springs. You’ll also have access to Early Theme Park Entry and the ability to book your individual Lightning Lanes at 7AM (as opposed to when the parks open). Boardwalk is a deluxe hotel, so guests have access to Extended Evening Hours, granting these guests extra time in select parks on select nights.
BoardWalk’s biggest perk is its location, which leaves you within walking distance of Epcot (7 minutes), several resorts, and Hollywood Studios (15 minutes or 12 by boat). If you have a trip specifically focused on these two parks (common during Epcot festivals or just for groups without young kids), BoardWalk is a particularly good option.
Arrival and Check-In at BoardWalk Inn
If you’re flying in, you’ll need a plan to get from Orlando International Airport to the hotel (no more free option from Disney).
Our past few stays we haven’t been greeted immediately upon entering the hotel, as sometimes happens at the deluxe resorts. Two stays ago, we walked in and hopped in the check-in line, waiting only a few minutes. Most recently, we just used online check-in to bypass the desk entirely.
When we were staying club level, we told the Cast Member as the desk that. She escorted us up to the Innkeeper’s Club—BoardWalk Inn’s Club Level Lounge, which we have reviewed separately.
Generally, we’re fans of online check-in. It’s common that rooms aren’t ready if you arrive before 3PM, but from BoardWalk, you can easily drop off your stuff with bell services and walk over to Epcot or Disney’s Hollywood Studios for lunch and some afternoon rides.
BoardWalk Grounds and Theming
BoardWalk Inn claims the entire Boardwalk as part of its grounds. If you’re not familiar, the Boardwalk is a semi-circle boardwalk around Crescent Lake that has a variety of restaurants, bars, stores, and entertainment venues. In case you’ve lost track, that’s:
BoardWalk Inn and BoardWalk Villas (capital “W”) — hotel on the Boardwalk
the Boardwalk (but also sometimes “BoardWalk”) — the semicircle boardwalk around Crescent Lake that is home to BoardWalk Inn and Villas, as well as a variety of dining and entertainment venues
boardwalk — “a promenade along a beach or waterfront, typically made of wood”
Obviously, since the Boardwalk is easily accessible from Yacht Club, Beach Club, Swan & Dolphin, Epcot and (with a bit of a walk) Hollywood Studios, we need to take this with a grain of salt. This isn’t to say it isn’t a fantastic location—it is—but there are other options that have just as good a location.
As we emphasize repeatedly, all of Yacht Club, Beach Club, BoardWalk Inn, and the Swan & Dolphin are within walking distance. One loop around the Boardwalk, which takes you past all those hotels, is 0.8 miles.
BoardWalk Resort consists of two sides (joined by a central building)—the Inn and the Villas. The Villas are the Disney Vacation Club Villas, which we’re not reviewing.
The Inn is the regular hotel. Both sides have rooms facing the Boardwalk. The Inn side consists primarily of hotel rooms, in addition to a small secondary pool. The feature pool is on the Villas side, but is accessible to all guests. The Villas side also has its own secondary pool.
BoardWalk is among the smaller of the deluxe lobbies (though, to be fair, this isn’t to say it’s small). BoardWalk, Beach Club, and Yacht Club all have smaller lobbies that are easily contrasted with the grandiose, open lobbies of Wilderness Lodge, Polynesian, Grand Floridian, and Animal Kingdom Lodge.
BoardWalk is more whimsically themed than nearby Yacht Club and Beach Club. Evoking the fun of an east coast boardwalk / Coney Island / Atlantic City, the hotel is peppered with carnivalesque details.
I’m particularly taken in by the chosen art. I’m sure I haven’t seen it all, but both in our room and in the shared spaces, there was art that reimagined the Boardwalk as it may have looked in its fictional historical state. Beautiful!
The feature pool at BoardWalk is Luna Park Pool. Although it’s not as famed as nearby Stormalong Bay at Yacht & Beach Clubs, it has a slide and is pretty big. The “Leaping Horse Libations” bar is just off the pool. Nearby you’ll also find an small wading pool for small children, along with a playground.
Rooms at Disney’s Boardwalk Inn
We’ve finally had a chance to stay in the new Boardwalk rooms that debuted in mid-2023. Let’s start with my big-picture thoughts on the changes. Here’s what I wrote years ago, before the rooms were redone:
What I’d say about the BoardWalk rooms is that while I prefer the more modern design of the Yacht Club rooms, I’ll be really nervous when Disney gets around to refurbishing BoardWalk. These rooms are cute, colorful, and whimsical in an unoffensive way. I hope they never lose that.
My big picture thought about the new rooms is that that they lost their whimsy, but they’re still really good rooms. let’s start with a video walkthrough.
Now, here’s a gallery of the bedroom area:
There are some nice details around the room, but the color palette feels much flatter to me than it did before the refurbishment. Functionally, the room has plentiful outlets, USB ports, and storage. The couch easily converted to a twin bed, which is where Zoe slept.
My overall attitude is pretty similar to what I felt about the Animal Kingdom Lodge refurbishments—it’s nice to bring the rooms into the modern era, but it would have been nice to keep some more character. I am a big fan of the artistic recreations of the Boardwalk:
The vanity has space for two people. The toilet and shower shared a small room off the vanity. The provided toiletries were minimal, and (as is standard at Disney hotels now), shampoo, conditioner, and body wash were in bulk packaging.
Location & Transportation at BoardWalk
BoardWalk has one of the best locations on property. Along with Beach Club, Yacht Club, and the Swan & Dolphin, this is one of the few hotels you can actually walk to two parks—Epcot and Hollywood Studios—from.
Epcot’s World Showcase is about a seven-minute walk from the BoardWalk lobby. Hollywood Studios is about a 15-minute walk from the BoardWalk lobby.
Keep in mind that when visiting Epcot, you’ll be using a different entrance than other guests. the World Showcase entrance is between the U.K. and France pavilions. We briefly discuss this in our Epcot Rope Drop Strategy.
Besides the two parks, you can also walk to all those other hotels. And of course, you have the entirety of the Boardwalk at your fingertips.
Besides walking, you can take a boat to Hollywood Studios (approximately 16-minute trip, running every 15 minutes) and Epcot (about 2 minute trip).
For the most part, we stopped using the boats years ago (we walk), but we occasionally ride them just to keep tabs on them.
From BoardWalk, we endorse always walking to and from both Epcot and Hollywood Studios. Hollywood Studios is a bit of a trip, but shorter than the 20-minute walk from Yacht Club.
Particularly when leaving Hollywood Studios at close, the line for the boat can get quite long. The Hollywood Studios walking path is a good option that now offers bathrooms just outside of Hollywood Studios.
To reach Magic Kingdom (15 - 20 min), you’ll have to rely on bus transport. Keep in mind that although you can walk to Epcot, you use a different entrance than the main entrance, so it isn’t practical to walk to Epcot and take the monorail to Magic Kingdom.
And, as always, to Animal Kingdom (15-20 min), Disney Springs, Typhoon Lagoon, and Blizzard Beach you’ll rely on bus.
Keep in mind that if you’re flexible, you can always hop on a bus for Yacht or Beach Club and walk back to BoardWalk from there. Swan & Dolphin also works. This won’t always save you time, but particularly in the middle of the day (when bus transport is at its worst), if you see a bus to one of those hotels, hop on.
We always recommend you also consider using Uber at Walt Disney World when you’re in a hurry. There’s also Minnie Vans, the more expensive but “Disney official” option.
If you’re bringing your car to Disney World (or renting one), you’ll have free parking at BoardWalk. Guests of Disney hotels also have free parking at the theme parks.
Finally, Boardwalk is seven minutes from the Epcot Skyliner station and 15 minutes from the Hollywood Studios station. This would allow you pretty quick visits to Caribbean Beach, Riviera Resort, Pop Century, and Art of Animation if you had cause to visit those places.
If you are a slow walker or wanted to avoid the unscenic walk to Hollywood Studios, you could walk to the Epcot Skyliner station and take the 20-minute journey to Hollywood Studios.
Food and Dining at BoardWalk
In case you forgot, BoardWalk Inn is on the Boardwalk, which has a ton of dining options. We remind you once more that you can also visit the dining establishments nearby at Yacht Club, Beach Club, Epcot, Swan & Dolphin, and Hollywood Studios. In this post, we’ll simply be covering the dining options at the Boardwalk
Quick Service Food at BoardWalk
This is the part of the review where I throw a fit about deluxe resorts’ lack of quick service options. I don’t get it. You can get all manner of quick service food at the value and moderate resorts, but you’ve got very limited options at the deluxe resorts. BoardWalk offers three quick service restaurants, but stick with us before you decide it’s a quick service paradise.
Leaping Horse Libations is the pool bar at BoardWalk, adjacent to Luna Park Pool. Leaping Horse Libations serves hot dogs and sandwiches during the day.
Pizza Window is a pizza window on the Boardwalk between Boardwalk Deli and Trattoria al Forno. It serves sandwiches, salads, beer, and sangria. It also serves pizza. At Pizza Window, service is through a window. The designers of Pizza Window must have taken naming advice from the designers of BoardWalk Inn.
There are a limited number of tables and chairs, in the immediate vicinity. Pizza Window is open for lunch and dinner (roughly noon to midnight). The biggest problem at Pizza Window is that long waits are common because its central location—combined with the fact that it’s often the only good option—makes it quite popular.
BoardWalk Deli (formerly BoardWalk Bakery) is a small shop specializing in quick bites. They also have sandwiches and salads throughout the day. It offers limited quick service options for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
Boardwalk Ice Cream (formerly Ample Hills Creamery) is an ice cream shop. And there is a funnel cake stand on the Boardwalk as well.
Table Service Restaurants at BoardWalk
BoardWalk has four table service restaurants. We’ll provide brief overviews of them and link to reviews we trust. Our limited experiences with them (and our limited food knowledge generally) don’t qualify us to really speak to their quality.
Flying Fish is the signature restaurant on the BoardWalk, requiring two table service credits for those on the Disney dining plan. As you might guess, the specialty is seafood. The always-great Disney Tourist Blog has a review of Flying Fish.
ESPN Club has closed and is being replaced by The Cake Bake Shop Bakery. Beginning January 22, 2024, Big River Grille & Brewing Works is permanently closed. A rotating selection of food trucks will be available at the Boardwalk to provide more dining options.
Trattoria al Forno is a casual Italian restaurant. It used to offer a character meal, but that has been discontinued. (Here’s a list of the current character meals at Disney World.)
Bars at BoardWalk Inn
Adults at Disney World can’t do much better than this location, as the Boardwalk is perfect for a bar crawl, with gems like AbracadaBar and the dueling piano bar, Jellyrolls. Let’s discuss the options…
We discussed the pool bar—Leaping Horse Libations—above. The Boardwalk has four other bars.
Belle Vue Lounge is the main bar inside the hotel. This lounge, which you’ll recall serves continental breakfast, also operates as a bar from 4PM to midnight. It’s a cozy spot within the hotel, easy enough to pass by without taking notice. There’s ample seating, particularly outside.
AbracadaBar is on the BoardWalk between Flying Fish and Trattoria al Forno. It’s one of our favorite bars at Walt Disney World, with beautiful theming around the idea of magic. Honestly, they could do so much more with the concept (sometimes they don’t even mix the miraculous color-changing drinks in front of you), but the tasty beverages and sharp design make up for any shortcomings.
Jellyrolls is a 21-and-over piano bar on end of the Boardwalk, right by Atlantic Dance Hall. This is more piano bar than Disney bar. It’s pretty nice if you want to try something different while in the neighborhood, but cover is $12.
Atlantic Dance Hall is a 21-and-over dance bar on the end of the Boardwalk, right by Jellyrolls. Unlike Jellyrolls, there’s no cover charge.
The Boardwalk also has a margarita stand, BoardWalk Joe’s Marvelous Margaritas.
Recreation at the BoardWalk Inn
Like every Disney hotel, BoardWalk Inn maintains a decent schedule of activities, including pool games, campfires, and nightly movies under the stars. Additionally, the Boardwalk has additional activities, including Surrey Bike Rental ($) and a few small carnival games ($). There’s also an included fitness center.
Shopping at BoardWalk
BoardWalk has four stores. Just off the main lobby is Dundy’s Sundries. This is a small shop specializing mostly in Disney Vacation Club gear. Out on the Boardwalk you’ll find two attached stores—Thimbles & Threads and Screen Door General Store. Screen Door General Store sells mostly snack food.
Thimbles & Threads has a decent selection of general Disney merchandise. There’s more here than at other resort stores because of the location on the Boardwalk. If there was some item in the parks you forgot to grab, you might check here. There’s also a good selection of BoardWalk hotel gear.
Finally, there’s a high-end art store, Wyland Galleries selling Disney and non-Disney art. It’s a bit hidden, just around the corner from the general store in the nook by the BoardWalk entrance.
Disney’s BoardWalk Inn — Conclusions
As with the other hotels in the area, you start thinking about Boardwalk by thinking about location. Do you want to pay a premium to be near Epcot, Hollywood Studios, and all these bars and restaurants?
This location makes it a good hotel for adults visiting Disney World, along with families with older kids. But families spending more time at Magic Kingdom won’t find much value in the location here.
Then it comes down to Boardwalk vs. Yacht Club vs. Beach Club. Personally, while we like BoardWalk a lot, it’s hard for us to justify the higher price than Yacht & Beach Club. But if BoardWalk has the lowest prices, or if something about it just appeals to you, you’re getting a great hotel.
Overall Rating — 4.5/5
For more on the other Disney hotels, check out our Disney World hotels guide!
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