Disney's BoardWalk Inn
Disney's BoardWalk Inn is a deluxe resort hotel at Walt Disney World in Bay Lake, Florida. Opened on July 1, 1996, it stands on the southern shore of Crescent Lake in the EPCOT Resort Area, between EPCOT and Disney's Hollywood Studios, and forms one half of the Disney's BoardWalk complex alongside the Disney Vacation Club villas of the same name. The hotel recreates the seaside entertainment districts of the northeastern United States in the early decades of the twentieth century.
Design and theme
The BoardWalk complex was designed by Robert A.M. Stern Architects, the firm also responsible for Disney's Yacht Club Resort and Disney's Beach Club Resort across the lake. Stern drew on the boardwalks of Atlantic City and Ocean City, New Jersey, and on Coney Island in New York, producing a waterfront of pastel-coloured facades, striped awnings, flagged turrets and clapboard detailing. The intention was a self-contained village across the water from the Yacht and Beach Clubs, combining a hotel with a working entertainment district rather than a purely residential resort.
The Inn itself is the smaller and quieter side of the complex, arranged around courtyards and gardens on the landward side, with many rooms overlooking Crescent Lake and the boardwalk below. Its lobby is decorated with models and artwork relating to early amusement parks, including a miniature carousel and a model of the Luna Park amusement area that gives the main pool its name.
The BoardWalk
A quarter-mile wooden boardwalk runs along the lakefront in front of the hotel. It holds restaurants, bars, shops and street entertainment in the evenings, and is open to visitors who are not staying at the resort. Dining on the boardwalk has included the Flying Fish, a seafood restaurant present since the opening period, and Trattoria al Forno, an Italian restaurant, together with bakeries, ice-cream and snack outlets and the Atlantic Dance Hall nightclub. The duelling-piano bar Jellyrolls was a long-running boardwalk fixture until its closure in April 2025.
Because the boardwalk is a public promenade, the Inn has a livelier lakefront than most Walt Disney World hotels, while its garden side remains comparatively secluded.
Rooms and recreation
The Inn has 378 guest rooms, making it one of the smallest deluxe hotels at Walt Disney World. Rooms are offered in resort-view and water-view categories, with a club level, known as the Innkeeper's Club, providing suites and garden cottages as well as standard rooms with lounge access. A programme of refurbishment through the mid-2020s updated the rooms and public spaces in a lighter, more restrained version of the original seaside styling.
The main swimming area is the Luna Park Pool, named for the Coney Island amusement park, whose waterslide was long styled as a wooden roller coaster and fronted by a clown figure; the slide was reworked during the 2020s refurbishment. Two quieter leisure pools serve the Inn and the adjoining villas, and the complex also contains a health club, an arcade and a convention centre of about 20,000 square feet. The neighbouring BoardWalk Villas, opened at the same time, add more than 500 Disney Vacation Club units in a connected building.
Transportation
The hotel is within walking distance of EPCOT's International Gateway entrance and of Disney's Hollywood Studios by a waterside path. Friendship Boats cross Crescent Lake to both parks and to the Yacht Club, Beach Club and the Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin hotels. Buses serve the other theme parks, water parks and Disney Springs.