Boardwalk Village — Hotel in Celina

We have stayed at Boardwalk Village several times since they opened less than two years ago. We can not say enough good things about Boardwalk Village and we believe it is a wonderful hidden gem of Ohio. We drive a little over an hour from our house and once we are there we feel like we have been transported to Florida. It is kind of wild to get the key west experience in the middle of Ohio, but that's exactly how it feels and it's amazing!

Our first visit was when our youngest child was only 2 months old and it was the best little getaway for our new family of 5. We wanted to go somewhere but didn't want to go far. We happened to stumble upon boardwalk Village and it checked all those boxes off and more. During that time I loved that my husband could take our two older children to the pool while I stayed in the condo or on our porch with our newborn. It was such a short distance to the pool, that I could still watch our boys swimming with their Dad at the pool. I loved that it was set up that way because I was still freshly postpartum and not able to do all the activities I wanted while nursing and caring for our newborn. We made wonderful memories that trip and I couldn't wait to come back the following year.

The next year we had 3 visits. One with our friends, one with my in laws and one of our family pups, and one with our whole group of 30 plus family members. Each trip was excellent and I think my favorite moment of all, was watching my family members of that group of 30+ walk around in awe of the resort, from the second story balcony of our town house. I knew exactly how they were feeling! They too, felt like they had been transported to Florida, and all within an hour or so drive from their homes. Everyone had a smile on their face, the sun was starting to set that evening and I was so happy everyone was as happy with the place as my family was. Our family booked our second family vacation for the following year, a week later. Everyone loved it and couldn't wait to go back! Now, I don't know about everyones family dynamics, but for a place to please every single one of my extended family members is hard to do.

So again, Boardwalk Village is a hidden Gem of Ohio and I don't know how anyone could come here and not have a wonderful time. I personally know 40+ people, family and friends who all love it and they all want to go back again, and most of them have already booked another trip. We feel they have top notch everything, wonderful staff, modern, beautiful and clean condos, an adorable tropical vibe, with all kinds of cool amenities already and more being added. You can tell the whole team wants the boardwalk experience to be great for everyone who stays or visits the public areas. I'm so thankful we stumbled upon this hidden gem when we did. We love Boardwalk Village! We hope to keep...

Here are my thoughts on Boardwalk Village in Celina since I had a lot of people ask me where we went for our trip. We saw it on social media and it looked amazing on so we decided to try it out. We didnt have plans for a big vacation this summer and this sounded great because it’s less than a two-hour drive. Boardwalk Village has a strong social media game, but I wanted to share our family’s experience from our POV…

Positives: ☀️The cottages are very, very nice! They are new and it has everything you need. They are clean and smell nice also. The entire site is very nice ☀️The pools are perfect! Lots of space to sit, they have a little pool house you can sit in with fans, they have pool toys and floaties everyone can use. The hours are 8 am - 10 pm. ☀️they have cornhole and other yard games as well as pickleball, sand volleyball, and bucket pong. It was so hot during the day but we went in the morning and night to hang out and play ☀️when it’s open, the coconut hut was a fun space to hang out ☀️we ate at The Anchor for dinner, The Bay for breakfast/lunch, and got coffee from Hazelnut - all great!

Negatives: 👎you can’t really do anything in the lake because the water is nasty. You can rent a pontoon for the day. But there is no swimming. We did kayaking but like no one else was out so it was kind of weird to see no one on the water… 👎don’t go during the week - everything on site is closed on Mondays. Hours are weird the other days of the week. The ice cream shop was open 2-6…the other places 4-9…just weird hours for summer season. 👎other than the pool, there isn’t anything to do…so as long as you have pool time and pool time only in mind, you’ll be fine 👎they advertise a gym but you have to drive there and also the hours were not accommodating. We paid for the gym access and did not go. They also advertise a restaurant there but it was closed for renovation.

If you’re planning a 2 night getaway, it would be perfect. If we went back, it would be a long weekend. Hope this gives you an idea of what it’s like at...

We stayed at the Hive Sunday through Tuesday for a short birthday trip. This unit has a hot tub which was nice. It was nicely decorated and cute.

Five of us stayed and the teenagers slept in the loft areas with no problem. I saw some older people reference concerns with the stairs and ladder. I would be hesitant to sleep in the lofts if steep stairs or a ladder will be a problem for you.

We ate every meal outside because space is at a premium (bar seating for 4 at the kitchen island). The weather was nice so this worked out well.

Supplies felt minimal (one roll.of toilet paper, expired individual bags of Folgers coffee for coffee pot for example) so had to make a trip to Walmart. I didnt realize this unit did not have a dishwasher (my bad for not noticing in it's description). All the checkout instructions reference to have all dishes washed in dishwasher .... So wasn't totally clear what we were supposed to do upon leaving. I washed and put away all the dishes and you also have to take out all the trash upon checkout which is down steps and at other end of parking lot. It felt like work I shouldn't have to do for a rental at this price point in Celina.

I would also remind your cleaning crew with lofts, we can see the top of cabinets so keep that area clean too.

I like the vibe they are trying to create overall but for me the whole thing comes off feeling a bit cheap, maybe too fake? It's like it looks cute but it's just a fascade. Which I guess is the whole point right? It's a tropical setting in Ohio so maybe I'm expecting too much! For example, the pools. Each one is only 3 feet deep. The village area is cute but it sits right next to a busy road so you hear constant traffic noise. I think I'd be more ok with all of that if they weren't charging what they are for it.

Since it was summer, I wrongly assumed that everything would be open at Boardwalk Village, but even in peak season, the grill, bar and ice cream shop are still...