Disney's Boardwalk Inn — Hotel in Bay Lake

We are very familiar with this resort. It is my husband's favorite. He loves booking a balcony room with the Lagoon View and Club Level. This time, our trip was planned in a shorter time than usual, and we were not able to get Club Level, but we did book a room with Boardwalk/ Lagoon View. The last two times we booked this resort, we were very surprised at the way luggage is handled between valet services/parking services and Bell Services. We're not new to Disney resorts at every level, and the luggage service here is just off, in my opinion. We decided to once again drive as it happened the last time we parked in the front, and a valet/parking attendant offered to help once again with our luggage. Basically, they help you load it into the cart, push it a few feet unto the sidewalk, and tell you to leave it there until Bell Services comes and gets it, completely unattended and unsupervised. The last time we received very condescending answers when inquiring as to why our cart was left by the sidewalk unattended just to be told that Bell Services will come get it when they could. I asked him if this was the same process again, and he said yes. I told my husband there was no way this I was leaving our cart unattended on the sidewalk, our room was ready, and there was no reason for it to just sit there. While my husband parked the car, I tipped the valet/parking the attendant and stood by our cart waiting for Bell Services just to be told I need it to go inside and let them know that our room was ready. We just came back from Disneyland, Bell services is located right by the parking area, so you can go immediately to them and if your room is not ready you can leave your luggage there and go on with your day. He said that was not what they were doing and that I needed to go inside and let them know my room was ready, once I was in my room, then they would call, verify and bring over. There were four other carts left unattended, including one with two purses hanging. Our Bell Services attendant was super friendly, and in no way we're we upset with anybody, that's is just what the resort has in place. Not only do you tip the parking attendant for basically helping load luggage into a cart pushing it 5 ft to the sidewalk, making you go inside letting bell services know is there and then either waiting for them to come get it if you're not comfortable leaving it unattended or pushing it there yourself. I thought that was very awkward for a deluxe resort. I don't mind tipping, but I feel that is a system in place to create a reason to tip the parking attendant. We didn't have that much luggage we could have done it ourselves, we thought the cart would come in and at least be delivered to Bell Services rather than be told leave it, there go inside, let them know, they'll come get it when they can and you can just go on to your room. I wasn't going to leave it there again. As far as the room, we had a newly remodeled room. It is an improvement from the previous well past their prime rooms. I have to agree with some reviews that it was sparsely furnished and with a utilitarian feel. The chairs in the balcony are the most uncomfortable chairs we have ever encountered. They are basically made out of sheet metal welded to a thick metal frame. There is no ergonomic shape to them, hard and got cold at night. The top of the backrest kept digging into our shoulders where the sheet metal met the frame. Just FYI, if you experience back, shoulders, or neck issues. I do disagree with other reviews, it is inconvenient, but they are options as far as food. I don't think it was ever meant to be as a regular resort with a full-blown cafeteria built in if going along with the theme. The bakery/restaurant is very, very good and the trendy thing to do, it is very expensive and perhaps not family budget friendly. We do like the resort and we'll book it again, in part because we visit frequently and we do take time away from the parks to just hang out at the resort, otherwise I'm not sure that it's worth...

I want today I'm a Disney fan and I have stayed at many different Disney World hotels over the years and the service has always been amazing! BUT......I wont EVER be returning the Boardwalk Inn... The Inn is beautiful. We checked in smoothly. We arrived early in the morning so our room was not ready. We changed in the bathroom, they held our luggage and we were off to the parks!! We came back and picked up our 3 bags and took them to our room even thought the bellman offered. It was almost 11 pm were ear tired and didnt; want to wait so we jsut took our bags. Our room was clean, pretty and big. We had enough towels. The room was cleaned every day. So here are the issues. I wanted a cup of coffee one evening and the small lobby cafe close daily at 3:30. That is the ONLY place on property to get anything! The next option is heading down the stairs to the boardwalk and goign to the deli or bakery. IF you are trying to get. sick yogurt or coffee it is a process. I asked at the lobby, the young women had no idea it took her 5 minutes of lookin at the iPad to tell me I could go to the deli. She said down the stairs to the left... I asked twice she said yes to the left.. . so I went.. well its downstairs to the right!!! The day we left, the hotel held our bags as per usual at most hotels in the world. The night before check out, I stopped in lobby and spoke to on of the people with an iPad. She said they close out the account in the middle of the night , put in a later check out time and explained to me she count not tell me that I had to call housekeeping and they would lt me know in the morning. Well that doesn't really work if you are doing early entrance.. so we decide to jut pay up and drop bags at the desk before we went. We did early entrance to EPCOT as a perk of staying at this hotel. I got a text sign stop at from desk by 11 am. so while in EPCOT my daughter an dI went all the way back to the hotel because I got that text which made me wonder why.. well when I got back and it was hot out.. the person with the iPad said.. oh everything is fine.. he cousin not give me an reason why I needed to com back he said you really didn't need to.. I explained about the urgent tone of the txt an the said ohhh I'm sorry.. and that was that!! it took us 45 min in the heat to leave and go back to the park. SOOO next we took a break before going to airport to use the pool I asked bell man for our bags to get out suits. My suitcase was wet! I said something to the young woman and she said .." oh I don't know" and sort of shrugged at me .. And tht was it... We use the locker room after the pool the woman's room was HOT I saw a maintenance person and he said yes someone said something earlier and asked me if it was still hot.. umm YES! BTW otherwise the locker room was clean and they had plenty of towels. We had picked up our suitcases to shower and change for the airport.. Well I noticed BOTH of my bags were WET! Inside my large suitcase in the middle clothes were between soaking and damp.. I was so annoyed from the hot locker room and my wet suitcase and the ambulance and lack service from employees. I wan't be back to this hotel. It is not nice enough for the lack of service. BTW, while unpacking at home, the clothes in the middle of my suitcase are wet. This was not a small water bottle that fell on my suitcases and its a little damp... .. I'm thinking a BUCKET of liquid and someone had to know! ...

Pros: The hotel is beautiful. It's close to the parks. Lots of entertainment and things to eat on the boardwalk. The rooms are nice and spacious and clean. The staff is fantastic. |Cons: Our room was extremely warm. Even though the AC was set on 68, the thermostat never read below 72, but I don't believe it was ever that cool. It was cooler in the hallway than it was in our room. Our first full day there, we called them to check on it. They said we froze up the unit because we turned it down to 68 when we got to the room and we just needed to let it "thaw". Day 2. Still miserable. Called again. They came up and stuck their thermostat in the vent and said it was blowing out cold enough. He didn't show us the gauge so I can't say that it wasn't blowing out cool enough, but it definitely wasn't blowing out hard enough. We had to leave our curtains pulled 100% of the time just to help keep the room cool, so we didn't really get to enough the beautiful views of the lake and boardwalk. Trying to sleep was miserable. I contemplated on going to sleep in the hallway on one of their couches, but I didn't. |They also advertise a "beverage chiller" in their room. It wasn't cooling either. The drinks were barely colder than room temp. We asked about that during the second time they came to check the air and he said oh you have it too full, you can only put a couple drinks in there... Yes, we did have drinks on all 3 shelves because.. well.. it had 3 shelves. |There is no room service. Yes, you can walk down to the boardwalk and get food, but the lines are always so long and it was so hot - and it's not always possible to leave to get food when you have napping children. |And last but not least, we had a room for a family of 5. There is no private area to get dressed other than the very small room where the shower/toilet is. It's not fun trying to dry off and get dressed in about 2 foot of space in a damp (after a shower) room over a toilet. There is a nice area with double mirrors that would be great to get dressed if it just had a curtain or a door to separate it from the main area. So unless you are staying with people you typically run around unclothed in front of, this room isn't for you unless you want to straddle a toilet in a damp room to get dressed. |I personally would not stay at this...