I made my first DVC reservation for the Disney Boardwalk Villas before my purchase even closed, booking a one bedroom unit for a visit in late August. It isn’t my favorite time of year to visit Walt Disney World, but the last two weeks in August are a lot less crowded than the other summer weeks. It is just stunningly hot! The Boardwalk Villas are located in the same building as the Disney Boardwalk Inn. Resort categories at the Boardwalk Resort include studio, 1-bedroom, 2-bedroom and 3-bedroom Grand Villas. And then each of those unit sizes are reservable for various views. There’s standard view, and then Boardwal and Preferred views. Boardwalk view, naturally enough, provides a view of the Boardwalk from the room. Preferred view provides views of the garden, pool or water. I do not know why anyone would want a pool view as that would also mean more noise. I booked standard view. The other two views require more points, between six and eight more per night depending on what time of year it is.
I think the Walt Disney World Boardwalk is one of the best locations in the WDW complex. You are within walking distance of Epcot and a short ferry ride to Disney Hollywood Studios. In addition, there are also plenty of Disney Boardwalk restaurants to choose from and there is entertainment on the Boardwalk in the evenings. All in all, this is a very fun spot and my family really enjoyed the trip. My dad would prefer to stay at the Boardwalk Villas for every trip, but since I don’t own there the 7 month booking window doesn’t always provide me with an opportunity to get it. This is a very popular resort and I strongly recommend that you Buy Boardwalk if you want to stay here on a regular basis. Otherwise you will be taking your chances with the 7 month booking window.
As for the my review of the unit, firstly I apologize for not having my own photos of our villa. At the time, I didn’t have this website yet and it never even occurred to me to take pics of the room for Disney Vacation Club reviews! This photo here is of the “model unit” that you can see at the DVC Open House at Boardwalk though and it provides a very good approximation of what you can expect.
The accommodation is quite nice, but not fancy. There is a jacuzzi tub in the large bathroom and you can shut the door and shutters between the bathroom and the bedroom, so the tub can be enjoyed in privacy without removing access to the bedroom for anyone else who needs to get in there. There are two doors providing access to the bathroom, one in the living area and one in the bedroom. At time I stayed there was no flat screen tv in the room, but it looks like they are updating units with them now. I don’t know, however, if all units have been updated yet, so it is probably the luck of the draw.
1, 2 and 3-bedroom units also have a washer and dryer in the unit which is extremely convenient and the kitchen has everything you need to cook. All you need to do is get the food.
My only complain about Boardwalk Villas, and this is something that applies to most of the DVC resorts, is that you can expect some very long walks from the lobby to your room or from your villa to the elevators unless you specifically request something close by. The resort is quite large and you may find yourself at the end of a very long hall!
If you are looking to buy timeshare points at Boardwalk Villas, you should note that they have been SOLD OUT for a long time. However, I believe DVC does have a waitlist for it. Since they exercise ROFR fairly frequently to keep the resales prices and value fairly high, but if you do waitlist keep in mind that Disney will be happy to sell you Boardwalk at their current prices today for it. If you want to save money, you should look for a Disney Vacation Club resale. They only exercise Right of First Refusal to maintain a certain floor price so as long as the resale price for the Boardwalk points is reasonable, you should have no problem buying it for about a 25% discount on what you would pay directly to Disney for the privilege.