Need info on split stays, good and bad

[10drum]

We are thinking about splitting our stay on our next trip, between the csr and bc, mainly to save money and we have heard alot of good things about the csr. I know they will move your luggage. I was wondering, is it a pain to check out and check back in, and is there a problem with ultimate park hopper passes? All replies with be appreciated. Thank you

[Ityldu]

We love splitting and do it every time we go. It feels like two totally different vacations and has allowed us to stay at resorts we normally couldn't afford if we had to pay for the whole trip there.

Switching resorts is very easy. We always have a rental car, so we transfer our luggage ourselves. Check-out has always been very quick and painless as is Check-in. Sometimes we transfer on off-park days and other times, we just check-in early and leave our luggage in storage. We call from the park to see if our room is ready and return when it is (or we're ready)

You cannot get one Ultimate Park hoppers for your entire visit, and most people recommend getting reg. hoppers or AP's instead, b/c you lose money on the deal with the switch, but others can explain it better.

The other slight drawback is you have to put down two sep. deposits, one for each resort. That doesn't bother me because I like having more of the resorts paid off.

[all4wdw]

We switched last Nov. with our 3 kids and had no trouble. It made the vacation seem like 2 different vacations and it also seemed longer. Disney moved our luggage and we got it around 5:00 p.m. Next time I would probably use a taxi (we never rent a car) as our room at Poly was ready at 1:00 when we checked in but we only had the clothes on our backs and a backpack of bathing suits--no big deal but next time I would just use the taxi and have my luggage.

Try it!

[ducklite]

I have done it a half dozen times, and really do'nt like to.

I don't like packing and unpacking. I do'nt like checking out and checking in.

I don't like the possibility of not having a room in the afternoon if I want to relax for awhile.

I don't trust them to move my luggage. I did it once, it was lost for several hours, and I missed my dinner reservation. Not to mention we had gotten caught in a downpour and were soaked and cold.

Just because check-in is at 3:00 doesn't mean you'll get into your room then. There are times when rooms aren't ready until after 4:00, or even later.

Anne

[jaguar9748]

I did it once and enjoyed it. We moved from the WLV to AKL. We moved our own luggage. Packed up and moved out of WLV by 11 AM. Moved into AKL and since we were only going to be there one night, we only brought in the luggage we needed. We were fortunate because there was a room ready immediately so we just checked right on in! We unpacked, ate lunch and continued with our activities. We used our move as a "down" day from the parks which worked out great. The kids swam in the afternoon and we enjoyed the resort. Then, it was back to "business" in the evening! We're going to try it again this summer. ;)

[goofyfordisney]

You didn't say how long your trip is...

If you are staying longer than a week, I would say go for a split--anything shorter I would say no.

We split our stay and I didn't really like it. We never really felt "at home" at either resort.

We had our own car, so that part wasn't hard--I just didn't like not knowing if we were going to have trouble checking-in early at the next hotel, etc. The packing issue alone was a big hassle!

JMHO!
Sue :)

[Tina26]

I asked this same question here a couple of weeks ago and was talked out of switching LOL! We are only staying six nights though, so that had a lot to do with it. We were going to stay three nights at CB and then three at AKL and most everyone said that for only six nights it would be too much of a hassle. We just decided to do either five or six nights at AKL instead of switching. A lot of people said they never really felt settled in until they got to the second resort and never really unpacked at the first one which made the vacation seem shorter.

So I guess what I'm saying is, if you'll be there for more than six or seven nights it might be fun to switch.:)

[Ityldu]

Lilke everything else in Disney, it's all very individual. Personally, I'd even switch for one night. We did that and it was great. The packing doesn't bother us, because we're light packers and we always do laundry midtrip, so we try to set that up on the day we're switching.

I can absolutely see how people would hate it, I thought I would. Like everything else, you should try it once and decide for yourself. There are many different reasons for switching resorts, so that should factor into your decision also.

If you've always wanted to try a resort that's out of your price range, try switching from cheaper to more expensive.

If you can't decide b/w two diff. resorts, if your #1 preference doesn't have all the nights you need, etc.

[corvair]

Hello, we were also thinking of splitting up our 7 nights. 4 nights CBR and 3 nights WL. We got the ultimate hopper. What did you mean when you said you lose alittle money? I don't understand. We booked through a travel agent . Can you help explain what you meant. Thanks

[ChesireMeg]

Hello!! We love splitting our stays! We've only had one problem that happened several years ago when we split our stay from the CBR to the Contemporary--they lost our luggage! We didn't get it back until 11 at night several hours after we checked in at the Contemporary! It was ok though--the CM's were real nice about it--it's just one of those things that happens once in a while. :) When checking in at your second resort be careful when you plan your day because you might not get into your second room til after 3. Hope you have a great trip!! Enjoy both your stays!! :) :bounce: :)

[Janet2k]

10drum, we usually resort hop. Over the holidays we hopped six times. To see my resort hopping itinerary, here's the link to Janet2k's Resort Hopping Thread (http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=146155). We have never had a problem switching resorts. We enjoy experiencing new places. By the way, I have stayed at CSR and really enjoyed it. I have not stayed at the BC but have stayed at the YC and really enjoyed it. Whatever you decide to do, I hope you have a wonderful vacation.

[Ityldu]

I"ll try to explain why you lose money when you use the ultimate hoppers when switching resorts.

With the ultimate hopper, you pay for the day you check in until the day you check out. If you're checking into another resort, you now purchase another ultimate hopper from the day you check in until you check out. Therefore, you are paying for 2 passes for each person on the day you check out of your 1st resort and into your next resort.

This is the same reason why it's recommended not to get ultimate hoppers if you're arrive late or leaving very early. You have to pay for both those days, even if you can't use them.

I have heard of some people having luck getting the resort to drop one of the days, but you have to work it out at the desk when you check in.

I personally have not gone through these experiences, but they were the reasons I have decided against using ultimate hoppers. We'd be paying for two day, times 5 people, for tickets we couldn't use. That's a lot of money.

Hopefully I've answered correctly and hopefully it makes sense. You might want to ask this specific question on the resorts board to get a more specific answer, or do a search. It's been discussed fairly often.

[goofyfordisney]

We had alittle problem trying to work out our hopper passes. I was told that when we checked in to our first hotel (AKL) that we would just tell them to leave off one day (our departing day). But, they wouldn't do this for us.
I think what happened was the AKL charged us for 4 day UHP's and then when we checked into BC they also gave us 4 day UHP's but credited the difference back to us--got that?? LOL! We ended up getting a credit of the difference of the one day that we didn't need because of the overlap of one day on both ressies. It was kind of a hassle. Of course it wouldn't be a problem if you get an annual pass or some other kind of tickets--it's just the UHP's that seem to be a problem.

My husband had to be kind of forceful about explaining why we didn't think it was fair to be charged double for a day just because we were switching to another one of Disney's properties.

I think that they need to figure out some way to work this out since so many people want to resort hop.
Hope this helps!

[10drum]

Thanks for all the replies. Ityldu, you answered my main question about ultimate park hopper pass. We like the ultimate pass because dd & ds go to disney quest at least a couple of times and we usually hit pi once or twice. We are only staying 6 nights and I will probably just bite the bullet and stay all nights at the bc. Thanks again to everyone.

[corvair]

Are you saying that you pay the resort for your hoppers? I thought you just paid for hoppers up front for 8 days and that is how many days you had. We are getting to disney at ten in the morning and we are not leaving until 7:00 in the evening so that won't be a proplen. We were just kicking around the idea of going to WL because me DH had his heart on staying there and i have read so much about resort hopping on this board. We didn't want to spend that much to stay at WL for 7 nights because there are no codes out when we are going. Maybe if we want to resort hop I should talk to my travel agent about it. Maybe we could change our passes. This board is so great. I have learned alot about Disney thanks so much.

[Bob NC]

I will probably just bite the bullet and stay all nights at the bc

Did anyone else find humor in this statement?
lol

[Ityldu]

Corvair - Hopefully I understand you correctly and I'll try to explain, it all gets very complicated and from what I understand, a lot of times, even the travel agents don't totally understand it. What you must do first is figure out what's important to you.

This only applies to Ultimate Park Hoppers - no other tickets. It only applies if you're splitting your stay. If you're going for 8 nights and staying in the same resort and you're arriving early and leaving late, then the UPH's should be great for you. For example 10DRUM realized that since her family needs more then 4 plusses (they do waterparks, PI, and a few trips to DQ) park hoppers and AP's won't work, so they've opted not to split and get UPH's. My family doesn't do PI or waterparks and will only do DQ once, so we're going with AP's and splitting.

You cannot get all your hoppers up front if you're splitting, only if you're staying in the same resort the entire time. If you plan on switching resorts, you can only get a UPH for the amount of days you are at that specific resort. It expires the day you check-out, even if you're switching to another Disney resort. You must then purchase a new UPH the day you check into your next resort. Therefore, you've double paid b/c you already have a ticket from Resort #1 from the check-out day and now you have a ticket from resort #2 for the exact same day b/c it's starts when you check-in.

As someone mentioned, people have argued and a few have won. Most haven't and from what I've heard, even if you win, it was usually more work/frustration then it was worth.

Hopefully that helps. Any further questions, feel free to email me @ Dcjnwelch2@aol.com. We'll be leaving for the weekend, but I'll answer anything I can when I return. Yeah right, I'm so addicted to these boards, I'm sure I'll be hunting down a computer wherever I am. ;)

[Ityldu]

Sorry, I just reread everything and 10Drum didn't mention doing waterparks, but the point is, if you need more then the 4 plusses that a 7-day hopper offers you're probably better off not splitting your stay and getting a UPH.

[goofyfordisney]

I think that 10drum meant they were going to bite the bullet because they were going with the most expensive resort between the two that there were going to split (CSR & BC).

10drum--

I think you will be really happy at BC--we really liked it! We wanted UHP's too because of the water parks and DQ. We never ended up going to the water parks and we only went to DQ once so the other type of passes would have worked out fine for us afterall!:rolleyes:

Have a great trip!
Sue:)

[10drum]

Yeah, we do water parks, although not as much, when staying at the bc/yc.

[corvair]

Ityldu, Thanks, I think I understand now. We want the UHP because we will be going to the waterparks alot. Maybe we will not split. thanks corvair

[10drum]

Bob nc,
It does sound funny. Yup, we're gonna have to suffer six nights at the beach club, maybe I'll need a shot whiskey to get me through the pain. We love the bc/yc, so we're going spend the extra $("bite the bullet'), and stay where we like. I'm sure the csr is great, and maybe we'll get there next year.

[jabrown40]

We are going in August for 9 nights, and will be hopping 3 times - 4 nights BC, 2 nights GF, and 3 nights HRH at Universal. I plan to pack two large suitcases, and one carry on with toiletries. The first suitcase is for the 4 nights at the BC, and the other will be for the remainder of the trip. That way, you don't have to completely unpack everything. We also rent a car, so I plan to take the bags myself.

[Disneyfan08]

Just my 2 cents. There is no right or wrong answer on whether you should switch resorts during your stay. It all depends on the size of your family and how willing you are to pack and unpack. And most of all how many days/nights you will be there. We once split our 7 night stay stay 5 nights at PO Riverside and then 2 nights at the Beach Club. We transported our own luggage. We stayed at the POR (then Dixie Landings) first. I thought this way we would save our "treat" of staying at the BC until the end of our stay. The day we were switching resorts we all sluggishly left towards our car and bid a sad goodbye to POR. We did the pre-check in stuff at the BC which took incredibly long and then went to Epcot. We really had our hearts set on trying out Stormalong Bay so we called and checked occasionally to see if our room was ready. Finally at 3 p.m. we decided to walk back over to the BC because we really wanted that pool time! We sat in the lobby until 4 when our room was finally ready. I am not complaining about our room not being ready at 3 pm....really! It was just that we were so used to a routine at POR and that already felt like "home". We wanted to check in to our new "home" before we could feel really relaxed. Now I preface what I am about to say with.... the Beach Club is fabulous! I have nothing bad to say about it but with only 2 nights there we felt like we were just really settling in when we had to pack up and leave again. 2 nights was just not enough to ever feel at "home" there. DH said never again would he want to switch resorts unless it was a longer stay. He even tried to extend our stay as a surprise to us but everything was booked there due to a convention coming in. Again, it depends on YOUR situation. There's 5 of us to move when we move lol! It was just our experience that once you find your "home on vacation" you'd be surprised how attached you can become to it!

[Rock'n Robin]

Here's another question--we are hopping twice during our next stay, doing 5 days BWV, 2 days Poly, 2 days VWL. I was going to have Disney transfer our stuff but it's not acceptable if it doesn't get there until 4--our first "switch" day is almost all resort pool, etc. AND we dont' rent a car.
Should we just rent a car for those 3 days? How much is a taxiride between resorts? Can we take the stuff on the bus? (Yes it's a pain but I'm CHEAP)
Robin M.

[Ityldu]

If it were me, I'd take a taxi to the next resort - I think it might be around $10. It could be a nightmare taking a bus, getting all your luggage on if the bus is crowded and figuring out which bus gets you from resort to resort.

The other thing you should remember is just because you room might not be ready until 3 or 4pm, you can still use the pool and other amenities all day. Just check-in as early as you'd like, we usually do it at 7:30am. The room may not be ready, but we let them store our luggage and deliver it to the room when it is ready. Then we go on about our business and head back to the resort when we're ready. If the room still isn't ready, we hang out by the pool or get lunch.

[heymagic]

Thank you all for the information. We were considering splitting between the Poly and YC for our next trip, Nov 29th-Dec 8th 2002.
There are three of us, my grandson is 10. The taxi suggestion seems like good one, and maybe with 4days in one resort and 5 in the other, it would work out? Is anything changed by going concierge? Has anyone split between these two?

Thank You
Magic

[ehagerty]

We have often switched resorts. As a WVC member, we usually stay in the moderate resorts for any beginning or ending Fri/Sat to minimize point consumption.

Last year, with the great AP discounts, we decided to try resorts just for the fun of it. Based on a suggestion from these threads, we even had the bell service move us for one leg of the trip (even though we had a rental car).

That said - to the person who asked about using a cab - I would suggest considering having the hotel bell service pick up your luggage (we even had groceries to move) from Resort "A" and not worry about it until you arrive at Resort "B" for checkin. What we did was to prepare the "stuff" for the move - called bell service. When they picked it up, we drove to a park. At the end of the day, we drove from the park to resort "B" and checked in - later in the day when the lines at the checkin desk are short. Our luggage was brought to the room by the bell service at Resort "B". In all, I think we tipped $5-$6 dollars for the bell service at each hotel. It was worth it for the convenience - not having our car jammed with stuff during the day - not wasting park time checking into a new hotel during busy time (when the rooms aren't ready anyway), etc. This is even more useful if you don't have a car - just substitute "take a bus" for "drive/drove" and you see the time you can save - and vacation "time" has a monetary value.