Disney's BoardWalk
Disney's BoardWalk is a hotel and entertainment complex at Walt Disney World in Bay Lake, Florida. Opened on 1 July 1996, it occupies the southern shore of Crescent Lake in the EPCOT Resort Area, between EPCOT and Disney's Hollywood Studios. The complex combines a quarter-mile waterfront entertainment promenade with two resort hotels, Disney's BoardWalk Inn and Disney's BoardWalk Villas.[1]
History
The BoardWalk was designed to evoke the seaside amusement promenades of the early 20th century, particularly Atlantic City, New Jersey, and Coney Island, New York. Its architecture, led by architect Robert A. M. Stern, presents a romanticised turn-of-the-century coastal village of clapboard hotels, striped awnings and midway games along a wooden boardwalk.[1]
The entertainment district and the Inn opened together on 1 July 1996. The Villas, a Disney Vacation Club property, formed part of the same development, making the BoardWalk one of Disney's first mixed hotel and timeshare projects.[1] From the outset, the promenade was intended as an evening destination in its own right, with restaurants, shops, street performers, surrey bike rentals and nightlife venues open to guests from across Walt Disney World, not only to those staying at the resort.
The entertainment district
The promenade runs for about 0.25 miles (0.40 km) along Crescent Lake.[1] Dining has included the Flying Fish restaurant, Trattoria al Forno and the BoardWalk Deli, which replaced the former BoardWalk Bakery in 2022. Midway games, street performers and the FriendShip boat dock, connecting the Crescent Lake resorts with EPCOT and Disney's Hollywood Studios, line the waterfront.
Two of the BoardWalk's best-known original venues were its nightclubs. Atlantic Dance Hall, a large dance club at the western end of the promenade, opened with the district in 1996. Jellyrolls, a dueling piano bar, was also a fixture of BoardWalk nightlife for nearly three decades; it closed in April 2025.[2][3]
The ESPN Club, a sports bar and restaurant that was another opening-day venue in July 1996, closed with the rest of Walt Disney World in March 2020 and never reopened; Disney confirmed its permanent closure in March 2022.[4] Its building was redeveloped as The Cake Bake Shop by Gwendolyn Rogers, a table-service restaurant and bakery that opened in October 2024.[5][6] Other recent changes include the closure of Big River Grille & Brewing Works in January 2024.[1]
The resorts
Disney's BoardWalk Inn is a deluxe hotel themed to an early-1900s Atlantic seaside inn, with a lobby modelled on period boardwalk hotels and a waterfront pool area whose Luna Park Pool once featured a wooden-roller-coaster-style slide. Disney's BoardWalk Villas, its sister property, contains Disney Vacation Club villas ranging from studios to grand villas, arranged around the BoardWalk Green and along the promenade. Both share the entertainment district's facilities and are within walking distance of EPCOT's International Gateway entrance.
Guests can walk or take FriendShip launches to the other Crescent Lake resorts — Disney's Yacht Club and Beach Club Resorts and the Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin — as well as to EPCOT and Disney's Hollywood Studios.
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 "Disney's BoardWalk Resort." Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disney%27s_BoardWalk_Resort
- ↑ "This Disney World Hotel Is Screaming for Help." AllEars.Net, 27 July 2025. https://allears.net/2025/07/27/this-disney-world-hotel-is-screaming-for-help-and-no-ones-listening/
- ↑ "Disney's BoardWalk Hit With Major Changes." Mickey Visit, September 2026. https://mickeyvisit.com/changes-disneys-boardwalk-september-26-2026/
- ↑ "ESPN Club Permanently Closes at Walt Disney World's BoardWalk." WDWMagic, 11 March 2022. https://www.wdwmagic.com/dining/espn-club/news/11mar2022-espn-club-permanently-closes-at-walt-disney-worlds-boardwalk.htm
- ↑ "Disney World Makes Progress on New BoardWalk Addition." Mickey Visit, 28 October 2026. https://mickeyvisit.com/disney-world-boardwalk-progress-changes-october-28-2026/
- ↑ "ESPN Club Details." The WDW Expert. https://thewdwexpert.com/dining/espn-club/