We just got back from staying at the Boardwalk Villas June 21st - 25th. We combined our vacation with a 7 day stay at the Polynesian June 14th - 21st.
We prefered the Boardwalk hands down!! There are several reasons that BWV was better for us.
1. We loved having a full fridge and freezer in the room. When you're touring in June you have to take water, lots of water into the parks. It was a pain working with a small fridge at the Poly and walking every morning down to an ice machine.
2. We loved having a Washer/Dryer in the room. I tried once to do laundry at the Poly but when I finally found the laundermat the change machines were empty.
3. We loved having the extra room - putting the kids on the hide-a-bed and having our own bedroom. My wife and girls also loved the whirlpool tub.
Now I admit that reasons 1-3 are because we preferred a vacation villa over a resort room however the following reasons are particular to Boardwalk.
4. We thought Boardwalk was beautiful - much brighter and whimsical than the Poly.
5. We really loved our room. It wasn't a refurb but I thought it was great. Like you I wasn't impressed with the photos but I really did love the villa.
6. The hallways were covered and air conditioned. That's a huge advantage in June.
7. Believe it or not, we liked the transportation much better at Boardwalk than Poly. This may strike some readers as odd so let me explain why. To begin with, Epcot is my personal favorite park. It was great to be able to go to the International Gate rather than the main entrance of Epcot in the morning. There where no crowds to get through. No long walks to the entrance. No chaos. Just a peaceful boatride and short walk. After Illuminations, there's no comparison from being able to exit at the Gateway rather than dealing with everyone else exiting through Future World.
I rent an ECV when I'm at the parks so the morning walk from the International Gateway to Future World didn't bother me (I didn't have to walk:lol
![Smile :) :)](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
. I realize I might be a-typical in this assestment but I also thought that staying in a monorail resort would be really convienent. It's still a long walk to the entrance of either MK or Epcot and then a wait to rent the ECV. I also thought the boat station at DHS was nicer and closer than the bus stations. Bus transportation to MK and AK was very good. We never waited more than 10 minutes for a bus.
8. My daughters liked the pool better at BWV and there was a hot tub at the Boardwalk. No such luck at the Poly.
I can't compare BWV to BCV but I can compare BWV to a top ranked (and expensive) Disney Resort. For my family, BWV won hands down. Don't get me wrong - we also like the Poly but we're really glad that we ended our vacation at the Boardwalk. We rented points from a DVC member and we were able to get a good deal that way. Boardwalk has prefered and standard views as far as the points required. That's one advantage Boardwalk has over Beach Club. We were able to spend less points at Boardwalk.
My family came away saying that for our family, we found the perfect Disney Resort. We will never go anywhere else.