My viewpoint is kind of different from most as we see a lot of our holiday plans through the eyes of an autistic child.
I also haven't stayed at or viewed several of these resorts.
We did stay at the Boardwalk in 2006 and liked the location, proximity to the Beach Club and EPCOT especially, plus the fantastic ESPN Sports Bar.
However, Joshua never settled here and hated the pool and
that clown.
The room was the letdown, as it looked in dire need of a re-fit. I just don't or didn't at the time see it as a resort for kids.
Beach Club looked to me more aimed at the younger teenage audience, especially the packed pool, strange then why I liked it so much
The pool is quite open with it being at the front of the resort but the interior looked fresh and well 'beachey'! I have heard that some of the rooms here may need attention too and also that the view from the standard based rooms isn't the best.
Saratoga Springs Resort we had the full tour at a time when we thought about DVC purchase, it's a real classy resort and the pool area's personally I think suitable for a young child, especially the Grandstand with the water play area.
For our next stay, hopefully August 2010 we are looking at a few nights at Bay Lake Towers before the usual off site villa stay. Mainly as ours and Joshua's favourite park is Magic Kingdom by a mile, and having had a good look around the Grand Floridian and Polynesian last month having both these on your doorstep has to be a major plus too.
Both the GF and Poly do excellent character dining for the young boy and are a very short monorail journey away. You are touching distance from MK and EPCOT can be reached fairly easily by monorail too.
Having 2 deluxe resorts/MK and a short walk across to the existing Contemporary - even though I have never liked the look of this hotel having it so near has to be a massive plus. Chef Mickey's anyone?
I must admit when we did pass by the BLT last month en route to MK, it just looked like a standard high rise hotel - it didn't remotely look Disney-like in anyway and I shook my head as we passed by, now we are thinking of staying there! ...still the rooms look good the location is perfect (for us anyway) and it has a kitchen, something that is a must for us.
So maybe some resorts do not have the best restaurants and bars, fair enough but what about the needs of the little fella?
SSR and BLT in my opinion would offer the best balance for you AND your son. They also have the massive advantage of being new, I mean BLT isn't even open yet so you can't get any better than that. It can sometimes be a balancing act getting what's best for you and best for your child, after all you want to make sure everyone is happy.
I just wish they hadn't called it Bay Lake Towers - I can't get 'Bacon/Lettuce/Tomato' out of my mind now.