Disney's Boardwalk

Disney's Boardwalk, situated behind the International Gateway Plaza between France and the U.K in Epcot and directly across from the main entrance to the Disney Sudios, serves essentially three functions. It is primarily an entertainment complex with restaurants, bars and a night club. Its second function is that of a small, but high-end, shopping area. Its third function, although not obvious, is that of being a Disney Deluxe accommodations destination.

Boardwalk is open to walk, jog or run around (using the connecting paths to the Yacht and Beach Clubs Complex on the opposite side of Crescent Lake) from very early morning. As the restaurants and stores open, the traffic changes from the exercise seekers to those looking for breakfast and/or an early entrance to Future World in Epcot through the International Gateway entrance. The Boardwalk Bakery and Spoodles both see a lot of visitors looking for some early morning sustenance. As the day progresses into night-time, the ambience changes from a sunny dock-side vista to that of an Atlantic City-style Boardwalk with strung lights and side-shows. This is probably when Boardwalk is at its most attractive. It is definitely worth the walk to go around to the YC/BC side of the lake and take in the full vista of what is Disney's Boardwalk.

Boardwalk has various eating and drinking establishments that vary from a window that will sell you a slice of pizza from Spoodles; through wings, burgers and other bar fare (of surprisingly good quality) from ESPN, right the way through to a very nice full-service seafood restaurant call the Flying Fish; from a beer while watching your team on one of the 70+ TVs in ESPN, through sipping some interesting micro-brews at the Big River Grille & Brewing Works to a dueling pianos bar that will take you well into the night hours.

Interspersed among the bars and eating places, you will find the Boardwalk version of a Disney hotel store (the Boardwalk Inn and Villas do not have a shop inside their lobbies like most other hotels). The merchandise here can sometimes be exclusive to that store or only located in one of the specialty stores in Downtown Disney Marketplace. You will also find a James Wyland gallery. Wyland is famous for his murals of ocean-scapes such as the one that currently adorns the Long Beach, California Convention Center walls. The ESPN Club of course has its own logo offerings revolving round sporting themes.

The Boardwalk is also the location of the Boardwalk Inn and Boardwalk Villas. The Inn represents an East Coast Boardwalk hotel of the early 1990s whereas the Villas are more representative of East Coast beach cottages of that same period. The Villas are primarily a Disney Vacation Club property but un-occupied villas will be made available to non-DVC members on a per night basis. Although the Inn and Villas essentially occupy the same building structure, the room types are significantly different. The Inn is essentially a hotel room, whereas the Villas are built like a condo and run the whole spectrum from a studio right through to a three-bedroom villa with a full kitchen and even a laundry room.

The greatest benefit of staying at Boardwalk is the proximity to a vast number of varied places mostly no more than a walk away. Epcot, the Yacht Club and Beach Club Resorts and the Swan and Dolphin complex is an easy walk away while the Studios are a reasonable walk or a boat ride away. Typhoon Lagoon and Downtown Disney are a short bus-ride away. Only the Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom areas are a decent distance away and they too can be reached by bus.