Disney's BoardWalk Inn

Disney's BoardWalk opened in 1996 as one of the resorts ringing Crescent Lake behind EPCOT, and it's a Deluxe, the top tier at Walt Disney World and among its more expensive hotels. What marks it out is the promenade across its front, a public boardwalk where families can spend an evening. The walk into EPCOT is quicker than the boat. The Disney Vacation Club villas, with their kitchens and laundry, share the crescent-shaped building with the standard Inn rooms.

With a young child, plan around two things: the Luna Park pool isn't the huge sand-bottom Stormalong Bay next door, and the western end of the resort is mid-rebuild through 2026. None of it rules out a stay.

Most of the eating is along the promenade, so you can dine well without leaving the resort. There's no in-room dining at the BoardWalk, so a late feed means the Pizza Window, food kept in the villa or the room fridge, or a walk to a park.

Flying Fish and Trattoria al Forno

Both are table-service and need booking ahead, since they rarely take a walk-in, so put the reservations in the moment your 60-day window opens. Flying Fish is the resort's signature restaurant, a contemporary seafood and steak room facing the promenade, open for dinner only. It's smart-casual, multi-course and not a natural toddler restaurant, so it works best as a parents' night with a second adult on hand or a sleeping baby; high chairs are there and the build-your-own children's menu covers chicken or pasta, but the setting and the signature prices make it an evening for the adults. Trattoria al Forno is the family sit-down, an Italian trattoria with a working kitchen you can watch, open for breakfast and dinner. The pizza and pasta being made hold a restless toddler's attention, the wood-oven pizzas are a reliable order and the early breakfast lets you eat a proper sit-down meal before the parks. The character breakfast that once ran here stopped in 2020, so its breakfast is a regular sit-down now rather than a character meal.

Where you'll eat most days

The counters are the opposite of the two restaurants: no booking, you walk up or order on the app. BoardWalk Deli is the main quick-service counter and the only spot open for all three meals, a New York and Jersey Shore deli with overstuffed sandwiches, a grilled cheese and tomato soup that pairs well for a child and a hand-piped cannoli reviewers single out, ordered on the app. The Pizza Window sells pizza by the slice or the pie with lakeside seating and stays open late, an easy toddler dinner after a park day. BoardWalk Ice Cream is a walk-up sundae counter seconds from most rooms, and Carousel Coffee in the Inn lobby opens early for coffee and pastries, including a raspberry danish, before park entry, so there's no trek to the promenade at 7am with a loaded pram. A hand-dipped corn-dog kiosk has a child-sized dog and made-to-order candy floss, an evening snack stand does popcorn and pretzels, and BoardWalk Joe's mixes margaritas alongside a non-alcoholic pineapple smoothie children like.

Three bars and the neighbours

Three themed bars sit along the promenade and off the lobby. AbracadaBar is a 1940s magician's-parlour cocktail lounge between Trattoria and Flying Fish, adult-led but a fun walk-through for a curious child since resort bars are all ages. Belle Vue Lounge off the Inn lobby is a quieter 1930s sitting room with vintage board games and old radio programmes playing, a calm spot for a continental breakfast or an evening drink. Leaping Horse Libations is the carousel-themed bar at the Luna Park pool, with a children's meal at good value so parents can eat without leaving the water. Beyond the resort, the independent Cake Bake Shop took over the old ESPN Club space in 2024, with elaborate cakes and a princess-tea-party look that children who love that world take to, though it doesn't use the Disney Dining Plan and its tables are among the hardest to book on property. EPCOT's World Showcase, a short walk through the International Gateway, and the neighbouring Beach Club and Yacht Club open up far more dining on foot, including Beaches & Cream Soda Shop at the Beach Club, a 1950s soda fountain doing burgers and sundaes that suits children, a walk around the lake.

A cot or travel cot is free on request, one per room, and high chairs are there in the restaurants. The Inn rooms have a beverage cooler and a coffee station but no kitchen. The villa's kitchen and washer-dryer (see the rooms above) is the main reason a family with a baby books a villa over a room, useful for formula, bottle-warming and washing nappies and swimwear. If you're in an Inn room or a studio, which don't have their own machines, there's a 24-hour self-service laundry room in the Villas building by the third-floor lifts, so a longer stay with a baby doesn't need a villa just to wash nappies and swimwear. Screen Door General Store on the promenade stocks the everyday basics, nappies in limited sizes, single-serve formula, baby food, wipes and children's medicines, all marked up, so a family tied to a particular brand can have a grocery firm or Amazon deliver ahead to Bell Services. The same shop now runs into Thimbles & Threads alongside it, so children's and infant clothing, swimwear and pool bits are on the promenade too if you forget a swim nappy or a sun hat. There's no baby-care centre at the resort, so feeds and changes happen in the room or a family restroom.

There's no first-aid station at the resort itself, so the round-the-clock front desk arranges any medical help. The nearest staffed first aid is inside EPCOT and Hollywood Studios, five to ten minutes away, and the nearest urgent care is AdventHealth Centra Care near Walt Disney World, both worth noting before you need them with a small child. You can't hire a pushchair from the resort, so families rent one in the parks or have a firm like Kingdom Strollers drop one to Bell Services to collect on arrival. The rooms are on the dark side, which suits a daytime nap, and a packable travel blackout blind over the window makes them darker still if your child settles best in full dark.

For an evening out, the resort has no kids' club of its own. One route is in-room sitting through Kids Nite Out, a vetted outside service whose carers take children from six months, booked ahead. The other is Camp Dolphin, the children's club at the neighbouring Walt Disney World Dolphin a short walk round the lake, which has taken children staying at Disney resorts including the BoardWalk; the Swan and Dolphin run it themselves rather than Disney, so check its current ages and opening direct before you rely on it. The Villas side has one lift bank near the lobby and long corridors, so a farther room is quieter but a longer push with a sleeping child, and a pushchair can't be left in a corridor under Disney's own rule.

Accessible rooms and special diets

There are accessible rooms across the Inn and villas with roll-in showers and hearing-accessibility kits, both requested at booking through Disney's accessibility line, which holds the full list of what each room type offers. Mobility scooters and wheelchairs come from third-party hire rather than the resort, since Disney rents them only inside the parks, so arrange one to be dropped to Bell Services if you need it for the resort itself. Every table-service restaurant carries an allergy menu with a chef on hand to talk it through, and for a complex or medically restrictive diet you can file Disney's Special Diets form up to 14 days ahead.