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Suite Surrender

By Kevin Wing
Co-Host, Catch a Wave: A Journey to California’s 10 Best Beaches

Suite Surrender

(Editor’s Note: This is a new column about America’s best hotels and resorts, written exclusively for AArisings by Kevin Wing, an Emmy Award-winning San Francisco Bay Area-based television journalist who co-hosts Catch a Wave: A Journey to California’s 10 Best Beaches. Kevin also writes another AArisings column, Beach Trip, which began in early 2005. He is also a news writer/feature reporter at KRON-TV Channel 4 in San Francisco, and also does voiceover work in the Bay Area. In 2007, Kevin will host a new travel show, Suite Surrender: America’s Best Resorts. He is currently co-host of Catch a Wave: A Journey to California’s 10 Best Beaches. In this edition of Suite Surrender, Kevin takes you to the BoardWalk Inn, one of the many colorful and spectacular resorts located at Walt Disney World in Florida.)

Half the fun of traveling and vacationing is the opportunity to stay at a wonderful hotel. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a 4-star hotel, mind you, as long as it suits your tastes. So, if you’ve ever plotted out vacation time in central Florida with the notion that a multi-day visit to Walt Disney World will be the center of attraction, then you know everything there is to know about finding the right accommodations for you. There are tens of thousands of hotel rooms throughout the greater Orlando area. All of these hotels roll out the red carpet to greet you – and your business – during a stay in central Florida.

The Walt Disney World property is 43 square miles large – geographically, it’s about the size of the city of San Francisco. That’s a lot of area to cover. There are a lot of great hotels outside the WDW boundaries. But, in my opinion, if you really want to take in the Disney experience, you may wish to stay at a Disney resort hotel. There are 14 of them within the Disney complex (there are actually 16, but two of them – the Swan and Dolphin hotels – are not operated by Disney). All are in different price ranges to meet your budget.

One of the resort hotels is the BoardWalk Inn. I love this place. Over the years, I’ve stayed there about a half-dozen times. It’s one of my most favorite places to stay, anywhere.

The theme of this hotel takes you out of 2006 and into a bygone era. Situated beside Crescent Lake, this is an actual boardwalk with shops, restaurants and amusements that look a lot like something straight out of the pages of early Coney Island, around the turn of the 20th century.

Accommodations here evoke the charm of early Eastern seaboard inns. Most have private balconies or patios. There are 371deluxe rooms at the BoardWalk Inn. All are decorated with cherry-wood furniture, boardwalk-postcard-print curtains and light green accents. Guestrooms sleep up to five and feature two queen-size beds, or one king-size bed.

If you desire something with a little more privacy, romantic two-story garden suites each have a private garden enclosed by a white picket fence. These suites sleep four, and feature a living room on the first floor and a king-size bed in the bedroom loft.

The BoardWalk Inn is part of a waterside entertainment complex. Dining, recreation, shopping and entertainment venues line the clapboard boardwalk, and at night, twinkling lights trim the buildings and line the edge of the lagoon.

I’ve loved this place for years, which is why I keep coming back. I’ve stayed at several other WDW resort hotels, but I must say this is my all-time favorite. It’s not just because of the ambience of the hotel, but it has much to do with location. After all, location is everything.

It’s no secret to anyone that a day at Walt Disney World – which consists of four theme parks (the Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, Disney-MGM Studios and Animal Kingdom), two water parks (Blizzard Beach and Typhoon Lagoon), a massive entertainment and shopping district called Downtown Disney and recreational venues like Mickey Mouse-themed golf courses – will leave anyone exhausted by the end of the day. There’s a lot of walking to do. And on those days when you may wish to just hang around the BoardWalk Inn area, there is plenty to do. Take a cruise on the lagoon. Visit the shops and restaurants. Try your hand at the many arcade games lining the boardwalk. Get your kids to have their faces painted. Ride Surrey bikes around the water, and so much more.

One of my favorite things to do on vacation is to, well, eat. My favorite place to dine along the boardwalk is a place called Spoodles. It offers Mediterranean cuisine and is geared toward families. You can sit outside, too. And, how convenient is this: a walk-up window to order Spoodles’ famous pizza. I’ve visited that window many times in my day.

Okay, sports fans, I haven’t forgotten about you. Anchoring one end of the complex is the ESPN Club, a sports bar for the serious sports fan. It provides all-day dining and interactive sports video entertainment.

At the other end is a place called Jellyrolls. No, it’s not a bakery, but it’s the place to be at night if you want to hang around the BoardWalk Inn. Dueling pianos provide live entertainment in a casual warehouse atmosphere. Right next to it is the Atlantic Dance Hall, a waterfront club with an elegant flair for design.

For me, one of the lures of staying at the BoardWalk Inn is its close proximity to EPCOT. EPCOT is a short walk from the BoardWalk Inn. In fact, besides the main gate to EPCOT, BoardWalk Inn guests and visitors can utilize an entrance called the International Gateway. There are only two entrances to EPCOT, and this is one of them. If you don’t want to walk the short distance to the gate, you can board a boat which will take you there.

The BoardWalk Inn is also a major stop along the massive Disney bus transportation network known as The Disney Transport. Comfortable buses will take you anywhere you wish to go within Walt Disney World.

Enjoy your stay!

How to get there: From Orlando International Airport, head west on state Highway 528 to Interstate 4. Drive south on I-4 toward Tampa. As you know, Walt Disney World is a massive place of fun for the whole family, so follow the signs on I-4 to the Walt Disney World Resort, then watch for the directional signs for the EPCOT Resort Area. The BoardWalk Inn is located in the EPCOT Resorts Area. Its address is 2101 EPCOT Resorts Boulevard, Lake Buena Vista, FL.

Next time from Suite Surrender: Kevin packs his bags and heads back to California and a visit to the elegant, historic La Valencia Hotel in the exclusive La Jolla area of San Diego.

To learn more about the Catch a Wave television show and Kevin Wing, go to www.catchawavetv.com. You can email Kevin and the Catch a Wave crew at catchawavetvshow@aol.com.

Suite Surrender. Where the Destination is Paradise.
Copyright 2006
All Rights Reserved
Kevin Wing / American Travelers Television
Issue 2 / September 2006

Archive:
July 2006

Photo used by permission courtesy of Kevin Wing. Photo copyright by Kevin Wing.