Dana Stanley 00:00:01  There are plenty of amazing Disney World resorts, but somehow we just keep coming back to Disney’s Boardwalk. Maybe it’s because I’ve been staying there for so long that it literally feels like a second home at this point. Or maybe it’s the location, or maybe it’s the vibes that make it feel like we get an extra vacation inside of our vacation. Whatever it is, this place has us in a chokehold in a good way. And today I’m sharing all the reasons why I think you should visit the boardwalk at least once. Hello and welcome to the Laid Back Magic Way podcast. I’m your host, Dana Stanley, creator of Laidback Magic. As a mom of three, I know how tough it can be to find time to plan a Disney World trip that doesn’t leave you feeling stressed or overwhelmed. That’s why I’m here to help moms like you create Disney vacations that feel even better than they look on paper. Here, we’re not chasing perfection, but creating our next favorite memories. So whether you’re brand new to Disney or looking to go deeper into the details, This podcast is your go to for simple tips, mindset shifts, real life trip recaps, and expert insights to make your trip magical and manageable.

Dana Stanley 00:01:08  New episodes drop every Monday, so be sure to subscribe so you never miss a moment. Okay, let’s dive in. If you listen to episode three, you already know that about 17 years ago, I married into a boardwalk going family. The kind of family who has memories of seeing just drawings of the boardwalk before it was built. That’s how my Disney World path started at the boardwalk. I have to admit that I’m partial to this resort because even just walking into the lobby, it does feel like a second home. And now for my kids to for our own trips without extended family, we naturally tried different resorts the Polynesian Animal Kingdom Lodge, etc. but whenever I’d be somewhere other than the boardwalk, we found ourselves kind of missing it. So the big question why? First, I’m going to give you the positives, and then I’m going to go over some of the things that I want you to know. If when you stay here or why you maybe wouldn’t want to stay here. Because while visiting over and over has made it a comfort resort for us, I’ve also learned all about its little quirks.

Dana Stanley 00:02:16  I want to start at the top. The top reason why we love the boardwalk, and that’s where it is physically located. In relation to the parks, I get asked a lot what’s the best resort for toddlers, what’s the best resort? And so on. But every resort is going to have its pluses and minuses from the cost, the restaurants theming. But and please hear me on this, the location of where you’re staying, in my opinion, should be number one. If you have toddlers, I want you to think of ways that you can make your life as easy as possible. And that’s what the boardwalk is easy. This episode is a deep dive into the Boardwalk Resort specifically, but I want you to think of this location part to include every resort in this area. The resorts that you’ll hear me talk about when I say, quote, around Crescent Lake or in the Epcot area would be Beach Club, Yacht Club, boardwalk, obviously the Swan, Dolphin, and Swan Reserve. These are all going to give you the same access I’m about to talk about in terms of transportation.

Dana Stanley 00:03:23  And then I’ll get into more details because some are a little closer than others, but not by much. When you’re staying at any of these resorts, you’re in the Crescent Lake area because the resorts are around a lake called Crescent Lake. If you imagine a circular body of water, half of it has a physical boardwalk like you’d see down at the Jersey shore. And that’s where you guessed it is the boardwalk side. So let’s get to the reasons why we keep booking this over and over. And to give you an idea, the last two trips we went on, one was that Animal Kingdom lodge and the other was at boardwalk. Now, we had a great time at Animal Kingdom Lodge, and arguably, I feel like that resort has some of the best food out of all the other resorts. The buses were great. It was very chill. Not a lot of crowds. There weren’t a bunch of stops on the buses. The price was really good and I would stay there again. We loved that trip.

Dana Stanley 00:04:16  But the following trip, being back at boardwalk and whenever we go back, just solidifies it for me that the location is at the top of our list. That’s the priority for me right now. And the ages of my kids who are eight, four and one when I’m recording this. I don’t want this to be an episode about why the boardwalk is the best. Because truly, I think you can love all of the resorts for different reasons and have a great time at any of them. But I do want to share how we see it through our eyes, because it’s not that there are things that are above and beyond, like from the rooms or decor or food. It’s how easy it feels when we’re there, and one of the things that makes it feel so dang easy is you’re able to use a different entrance into Epcot. It’s called the International Gateway, and it was created specifically for guests that are staying nearby or taking the Skyliner. And while yes, people have figured out how to use it, even though they’re not staying there, it’s still significantly smaller and less busy than Epcot’s main entrance, where everyone is either driving that way, parking or taking the bus or the monorail.

Dana Stanley 00:05:21  Those are all going to be at the front gate, so imagine skipping the crowded main gates and just walking into Epcot through this really charming pathway that leads you straight into the World Showcase. It puts you between the UK Pavilion and the France Pavilion. This is especially handy to ride Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure. This is a any height ride, meaning that even little babies can ride it and gets one of the longest lines in the park. Because of this, it’s also the first lightning lane to sell out. So whether you’re using early entry or you have a morning lightning lane, which is the route I go with your golden. Another great perk of the International gateway is if you stay for the fireworks, you can make an easy exit, completely avoiding all the people that are headed to the front for the buses, to their cars and the monorail. And this might not sound like a big difference, but I’m telling you, these little conveniences add up and make a big difference on how your trip feels as a whole.

Dana Stanley 00:06:20  Speaking of conveniences, here’s a big one because the Disney buses are great, but they can be a bit of a hassle, especially with strollers. Tired kids I remember when my oldest was, I want to say between one and a half and two. She hated the buses. She would just scream and cry the whole way to any of the parks, and it really made me appreciate the boardwalk even more, because this area has the most options for walking to the parks, so both Epcot and Hollywood studios are within walking distance. So yes, when you think about there being four parks in Disney World, that means you’re avoiding the bus. For half of them, you can walk or you can take a boat. So if you don’t feel like doing that walk, which we prefer, but sometimes, especially on the way back, your feet are tired. You have a boat ride option, which is better between 10 and 15 minutes. Kids love it. Get out in the fresh air and you can do that for both Epcot and Hollywood studios.

Dana Stanley 00:07:24  And then from the boardwalk, you also have a short walk to the Skyliner station. So that opens up the whole gondola system to Disney’s Riviera Resort Caribbean Beach. So that makes it really easy to get to that morning breakfast reservation at Toledo’s to see Mickey and get that French press coffee. I know I’ve said it before and I’m going to say it again. Things can be very unreliable. So anything that you have a walking Capability just puts you in so much more control of getting around. Another reason why I like this area is because the restaurants there are very easy to get reservations for, and it has some hidden gems that aren’t super popular. So you may have heard of Villa Napoli and Epcot. It’s very popular for its pizza and Italian, and it’s good. It’s fine, but it’s very hard to get a reservation for and it’s very busy. But Trattoria Al Forno on the boardwalk has, in my humble opinion, some of the best Italian food on property. Now, I’m not saying I’m going to fly to Orlando when I’m craving Italian, but it’s always a solid meal and it’s a really easy dining reservation to get, especially the day that we get to Disney.

Dana Stanley 00:08:33  And you’re tired of all those, like, snacks and airplane food. Just nice to sit down and have a hearty meal that you know was a two minute walk from your room. Pre 2020, they had a character meal called the Bon Voyage Adventure Breakfast. It had Rapunzel, Flynn Rider, Ariel, Prince, Eric and I’m putting it out in the universe that this makes a comeback soon. They still have a regular breakfast without characters there, and it’s great. You can sit out on the boardwalk and people watch. It’s perfect for a resort day. Or maybe you have an afternoon flight. I love that spot, but I really hope that the characters come back soon. And speaking of character dining, you have just a short walk next door to the beach club, has Cape May cafe, and this is a really a hidden gem of a breakfast. It has Minnie, Donald, Daisy and goofy and I want to say it’s the cheapest character breakfast. To which pro-tip if you have a breakfast reservation there, you could easily get dropped off at the beach club and then mosey on over to Epcot for your park day.

Dana Stanley 00:09:37  You won’t get an early start, but it’s a great option for like, a laid back Epcot day where you have some lightning lanes waiting for you when you get there. When you’re on the boardwalk, you’ll see a booth called Joe’s Margaritas, and they’re nothing special. It’s fine. But when you’re staying at the boardwalk, you have access to the pool bar, leaping libations, way better margaritas, sunshine, Marg with salt. There’s just nothing better than that. On a check in day with the kids playing in the pool. There’s also the brand new Cake Bake shop, which I haven’t eaten at yet, but I’ve actually heard really good things, so I’m just happy to have more dining at the boardwalk. We’re going to talk a little bit more about one of the problems with the boardwalk at the end that has to do with dining, but even if you’re booked at just the boardwalk, you do have all of the other dining options that are around. So you have a lot of restaurant options between the Beach and Yacht Club, Swan and Dolphin, the newer Swan Reserve, and they’re all within walking distance, which is really nice.

Dana Stanley 00:10:37  Now let’s talk about a little Disney hack that’s not really a hack and that’s running Disney Vacation Club points or DVC points. The Boardwalk Inn has a dedicated section for DVC members, but you don’t have to be a member to stay there by renting points from DVC owners. We’ve managed to book our stays for 40, sometimes 50% less, on Disney’s website. And even hearing myself say this, it sounds like a scam. It isn’t. It’s a legit normal thing. And if you see us in Disney World, nine times out of ten were renting points. Our go to resource is the confirmed reservation section on the DVC Rental store website, which I will link in the show notes for you. There’s usually a ton of boardwalk stays there, and I’m telling you, when the stars align, you can find incredible deals that make staying at the boardwalk really budget friendly. And sometimes we’re able to stay in a bigger one bedroom with extra room, a washer and dryer for the same price of a small studio that was through Disney’s website.

Dana Stanley 00:11:43  So we’ve gone over the location of the boardwalk. The fact that you can walk through the International gateway. Some of the chill dining options, and the fact that you can save money there by renting DVC points. And the next thing that I love about the boardwalk is just the feeling, especially at night. That’s, to me where the boardwalk really shines. It’s got twinkling lights reflecting off of Crescent Lake. You hear the little kids laughing, running around on the grass. There’s like street performers, like jugglers, magicians. You could have a whole night just hanging out on the boardwalk. One of our favorite things we’ve been doing lately is one adult goes and grabs pizza from the pizza window. Then we switch off and the other one goes and gets some to go cocktails from Abracadabra, which is right next door, while the kids are just kind of like running feral on the grass right there, have like a little picnic, then we can walk over and watch the boats, grab some ice cream, and then they also do movies on the lawn with the kids.

Dana Stanley 00:12:49  Like a projector. They have little blankets out, little lights. The kids love that. Even if you’re not staying at the boardwalk, you could still go to the boardwalk for free and just do. That whole night, I just said, I promise you, the kids are going to love it and it’s going to be like one of their favorite nights of the whole trip. I mentioned that every resort is going to have its pros and cons, and while I do love the boardwalk, there are two main things that, for lack of a better word, annoy me a little bit. The first thing is that there’s no splash pad at the pool, so I want to say every other deluxe resort has a splash pad for like toddlers and little guys. And unfortunately, the boardwalk just doesn’t have one. The main pool has a water slide. My kids love it. It’s fantastic. I really like the main pool because it’s easy to keep an eye on everybody. You know, my kids are very spread out in an age, so I feel like the sight line is really good.

Dana Stanley 00:13:50  And again, the kids love the slide, but I would love like a dedicated little splash area that I could let my toddler run around. There is a smaller pool that I want to say maybe goes up to 12in. Kind of like just a little splash pool for the little guys, and there’s a playground behind it, like a plastic normal park playground. It gets super hot. It burns their butts on the slide. So maybe if it wasn’t super hot, but then why would I be at the pool? I don’t know, I feel like they should just get rid of that, put a little splash pad. I’m hoping again, putting that out into the universe. Nobody from Disney is listening to this, but if they were, we need a splash pad, we need chicken nuggets, and we want the Bon voyage breakfast back. Okay. All right. And while we’re on the topic of complaining, there are so many dining options on the boardwalk. But there is not a lot of just easy, quick options.

Dana Stanley 00:14:48  There’s the Boardwalk Deli. You have your sandwiches, there’s tomato soup, which again, not usually in the mood for when it’s hot. In Orlando they have the pizza window, but these are all outside. So like if it’s pouring rain, which is 50% of the time I’m looking at my husband like, Will you go out and grab pizza for us and bring it back to the room? It’s just a pain. There’s no dining that you can stay dry if it’s raining. There is carousel coffee in the lobby. Really love it for the coffee and like quick breakfast options. They have bagels and muffins, a few grab and go things, but just nothing like warm if you want just to grab chicken nuggets and fries for the kids, that’s really what the boardwalk needs. I’m hoping maybe that they’re recognizing this. They added a corndog booth recently, but it used to have chicken nuggets back in the day, and I guess I’m still a little salty about it, no pun intended. Now, if you are staying at the boardwalk and you feel this and it’s a little annoying, remember that you can walk next door to the beach and yacht club.

Dana Stanley 00:15:58  They have their pool bar. Hurricane Hanna’s has chicken nuggets and fries. Sometimes we’ll just make a night out of it. Walk over there, get some food, and the kids will play in the little beach area. So I’m being picky here, but I did want to tell you some of the things that are downsides. You may have noticed that I haven’t touched base at all about the rooms or the decor or the lobby, and that’s because I don’t care that much. I feel like the rooms are important to a certain extent, but it’s Disney, the rooms are nice and the rooms are going to be clean and well taken care of. So again, for me, I’m trying to look at things to make our trip feel as easy as possible. And for that, the boardwalk is in just the perfect spot, and that’s going to be at the top of my list. If you’re considering staying at the boardwalk and you’re still on the fence, or I miss something that you’ve been curious about messaged me on Instagram, I’m at at somewhere worthwhile and I’m happy to chat about it with you.

Dana Stanley 00:17:05  The boardwalk might just become your family’s go to spot, just like it has for hours. Thank you so much for joining me on this episode of the Laid Back Magic Way podcast. If you enjoyed today’s episode and it was helpful for you, it would mean the world to me if you’d write a quick review. Your reviews help more moms like you find the show, and I read every single one of them. Seriously. Thank you in advance. You can find me on Instagram @SomewhereWorthwhile, and I’d love to hear from you there. DM me if you have any questions about this episode or what you’d like to see in future ones. Until then, keep planning for your next favorite memory and I’ll see you next time.