My fiance was born and raised in the general Orlando area and worked for Disney for a summer. She also often had a yearly pass and is a big fan of Disney. I had never really been (at least not that I remember) so just recently she planned a trip for us to visit Disney. We stayed at two Disney properties, this being the first.

The best think I can say about the Boardwalk Villas is the location is great. But the hotel itself...it is hard to even give it three stars. The place is in need of a serious update...the rooms anyway. Think like not updated since the 80s. But let me start at the beginning.

As I think with most Disney properties, service is excellent. Staff are immediatley out front to greet and assist you as soon as you pull up and then another person greats you at the door and escorts you to the check in counter to check in. We had some slight booking issues at check in but it was eventually fixed.

You can do valet parking or self park for free. I highly recommend self parking. Follow the signs...not at long walk at all. We took our bags up ourselves....it was a very, very long walk to get from the elevator to our room. There is nothing wrong with the room per se, but for the amount they are charging you, you are getting ripped off. I have stayed at highway hotels in middle of nowwhere that are more modern, updated, and nicer. The place is clean and comfortable, but again, the price is outrageous for the "room". It was spaceous and had plenty of amentities like refrigerator, microwave, kitchen sink, etc.

You will be happy, however, in the morning when you get up to go to the park. We headed to Hollywood Studios first and you have two options. Either take the sidewalk by the hotel straight to the park, which is about 1/2 a mile, maybe a little more, of a walk, or you can take a boat ride as well. We walked there in the morning and then took the boat back mid-day. Same goes with Epicot. You can definitely walk, as we did, or I think the boat will work as well. So, that is pretty much what you are paying for with this hotel...location, location, location.

The boardwalk area directly attached to the hotel is just ok. I had expected more. I think there were two restaurants, a piano bar, a couple shops, a little grocery/nick nack store, and some other places but nothing too great really. You probably could do the whole thing in an easy two hours and then be done with it. Although we never ended up using it, the gym looked outstanding. Also, the pool looked pretty nice as well but again, we didn't make use of it.

We did not eat any food at the hotel. We ate breakfast at a restaurant on the boardwalk called Kouzzina, a greek place, and it was really good...we'd highly recommend it for breakfast.

Well, that is about all there is to say about this hotel. Just know you are paying for location only and will be staying in a subpar room....as least for what they will charge you. I'd only rate the hotel Average, 3 stars, but bumped it up to very good, 4 stars, on account of the location.

Because the pool deck is being re-surfaced, rooms facing the feature pool will be within ear-shot of the construction noise. Ask for a room away from the noise. Our new room was positioned next to the croquet field which was much quieter but our neighbors came back to their room at midnight and slammed cabinet doors around in their kitchen. Disney couldn't help it.

The feature pool is closed but one benefit of the situation is that guests are given privileges to use Stormalong feature pool at the Beach Club and Yacht Club just across the lake. Boardwalk if providing golf cart shuttles from the Boardwalk Community Hall building to Stormalong Bay. It's the best pool on all of Disney property.

I love to stay at Boardwalk for two reasons, transportation to Epcot and Hollywood Studios by boat is so much better than the bus and entering through the Epcot back door is so very convienent and hassle free. The other reason I like this property is the Boardwalk Bakery but that was closed for remodeling this time. It is very nice to have the bus transportation but they really need to treat people less like cattle and more like walking money which is exactly what tourists are. Since the boat takes you to two of the parks, the only time you take the bus is for Animal and Magic Kingdoms and Downtown Disney or the water parks. They group 5 hotels for the same bus route. So there are times when you spend 30-40 minutes or more on or waiting for those buses when people could be gleefully spending money at one of the parks instead. Beware! If you are going to Downtown Disney during the coming weeks, the most convienent bus stop at the Marketplace is closed, so there is now only one bus stop and pick up at the Pleasure Island area. We did not know this until we were headed for a late light meal and some last minute shopping. We had been at Disney for the week before and never saw one sign indicating this closure, if so I would have shopped and eaten on the Boardwalk to avoid the crowd and hassel.

The location is great. Chalking distance from Hollywood Studios and Epcot's rear entrance. The room was not so great. We got a room which was in terrible need of maintenance. There were things broken or falling apart all over the 2 bedroom unit we had. The room was missing light fixes in the bathroom. There were pull handles missing from dressers. The wooden chairs were falling apart and looked unsafe to sit on. The privacy doors between the master bedroom and master bath were broken off their tracks. And then there is the plumbing. My wife used the master bathroom's toilet one late even after returning from the parks. The toilet overflowed and flooded the floor. Repeated calls to the from desk for maintenance and it still took well over an hour to get anyone up to our room. We literally had to wait up late at night for maintenance because of the lousy plumbing, when we should have been getting sleep to handle the next day at the theme parks. PS. The check-in was a nightmare.