Switching resorts mid-stay?

[sunnydays28]

We are staying on-site 8 or 9 nights in mid May, me, husband and our almost 5 year old daughter, we are going to celebrate her turning 5 and me turning 40. He is letting me do all the planning but has suddenly decided he wants some kind of suite so we can spread out a little more, have some privacy, maintain some normal sleep patterns for her. But we really really had our heart set on getting the Mermaid room for this special trip. So we are thinking of switching resorts after a few days.

So how should we go about this? Will they transfer our stuff to a new resort? (I can't imagine putting the luggage and all we have collected on a bus, transferring and then getting to another resort, just call a cab?) And should we do the Mermaid first, or the not-as kid friendly suite first? How long at each resort? And what resorts do you recommend for an adult's first time and little girl's big trip? (I have been several times, stayed at BC, Animal, Pop, Sports, Boardwalk)

Any advice for switching resorts would be most appreciated, or point me to the right thread for this idea.

 

[mericletwins]

We have done split stays several times and it is super easy. We usually start with the lower priced hotel and end with the higher priced hotel. By the second part of the trip we are ready to take things a little slower and spend more time enjoying the resort. The higher the category of hotel, the more amenities at the hotel.

On the day you are switching resorts, you pack up your stuff in the morning and call bell services. They will tag it and transfer it to the other resort. Then you go off to the parks and in the afternoon go to the second hotel and check in. When you are in your room, you call and bell services will bring your luggage. As a side note, you will not have access to your luggage until about 4:00 in the afternoon.

You can also pack up in the morning, take your stuff to the front and hop a cab to the second resort. You can check in, store your stuff with bell services and the. Just get it back from them when your room is ready. That way you don't have to wait for your luggage if your room is ready early and you decide you want to swim and your bathing suit is packed in your suitcase.

I don't think you are allowed to take your suitcases on the regular Disney buses.

As far as which resort, it depends on your budget and what theme appeals to you. My family has stayed at more than half of the resorts and there is only one that we didn't care for and we have no desire to go back there. I really don't think that you can go wrong with whatever you pick. Depending on your needs and your "style" of vacationing, someday be a better fit than others, but I think you will find you will have a fabulous time no matter where you go. Planning is half the fun!

 

[DisneySherrill]

I recently did a split stay. It was great just packing and having Disney handle the luggage transfer. However, we had major problems with the card system. We had a 9 day stay where we stayed Sat to Wed in one resort and changed on that Wed over to the new resort until Sun. Everything was great with the first resort - card worked well at parks, dining, room etc. Then we moved over to the second resort mid-stay. Our reservation was set up with the correct amount of days at each resort with the dining, BUT for some reason our park tickets were set up differently. We had 8 day parkhopper on the first resort and a one day reg ticket on the second resort. Talk about a mess. The day after we checked into the second resort, we went to Animal Kingdom and then left after lunch to head over to DHS and found out the key card we were carrying for our dining would not let us into the park since it was just the one day/one park ticket. We didn't take our previous resort key card with us because we didn't want to get confused but I wished we had. It took over 30 minutes to get the situation fixed so we could get into that park. Luckily they gave us a parkhopper because we had dinner ressies at EPCOT that night. Be very careful with each part of your package if you plan to split. Very confusing.

 

[redrosesix]

We are staying on-site 8 or 9 nights in mid May, me, husband and our almost 5 year old daughter, we are going to celebrate her turning 5 and me turning 40. He is letting me do all the planning but has suddenly decided he wants some kind of suite so we can spread out a little more, have some privacy, maintain some normal sleep patterns for her. But we really really had our heart set on getting the Mermaid room for this special trip. So we are thinking of switching resorts after a few days.

So how should we go about this? Will they transfer our stuff to a new resort? (I can't imagine putting the luggage and all we have collected on a bus, transferring and then getting to another resort, just call a cab?) And should we do the Mermaid first, or the not-as kid friendly suite first? How long at each resort? And what resorts do you recommend for an adult's first time and little girl's big trip? (I have been several times, stayed at BC, Animal, Pop, Sports, Boardwalk)

Any advice for switching resorts would be most appreciated, or point me to the right thread for this idea.

As the pp's mentioned, changing resorts is very very easy, but we don't usually do it for such a short trip unless we can't get the resort we want on the day we arrive.

The only advice I'd add is that you should plan to go somewhere for the day when you change resorts -- we usually make sure bell services has our luggage, go over to the new resort and check in and then go to the parks. Your luggage probably won't arrive until sometime after 3 pm and you can't count on having your room until that time either. Otherwise, you'll be spending 4 hours homeless in disney. Better just to have a fun day and come back to your room with your luggage in it -- the front desk will give you a number to call to find out what your room number is but they will give you your KTTW cards when you check in.

 

[Sue M]

Just wanted to say, AoA has family suites. So to get a suite you wouldn't have to switch resorts, unless you wanted to.
Disney will transfer your luggage, thru Bell Services. Luggage isn't allowed on WDW busses. We usually opt to have Bell Service bring our luggage to the lobby, and call us a cab to take us and luggage to new resort, first thing in the morning.

 

[nkereina]

We have done split stays several times and it is super easy. We usually start with the lower priced hotel and end with the higher priced hotel. By the second part of the trip we are ready to take things a little slower and spend more time enjoying the resort. The higher the category of hotel, the more amenities at the hotel.

On the day you are switching resorts, you pack up your stuff in the morning and call bell services. They will tag it and transfer it to the other resort. Then you go off to the parks and in the afternoon go to the second hotel and check in. When you are in your room, you call and bell services will bring your luggage. As a side note, you will not have access to your luggage until about 4:00 in the afternoon.

You can also pack up in the morning, take your stuff to the front and hop a cab to the second resort. You can check in, store your stuff with bell services and the. Just get it back from them when your room is ready. That way you don't have to wait for your luggage if your room is ready early and you decide you want to swim and your bathing suit is packed in your suitcase.

I don't think you are allowed to take your suitcases on the regular Disney buses.

As far as which resort, it depends on your budget and what theme appeals to you. My family has stayed at more than half of the resorts and there is only one that we didn't care for and we have no desire to go back there. I really don't think that you can go wrong with whatever you pick. Depending on your needs and your "style" of vacationing, someday be a better fit than others, but I think you will find you will have a fabulous time no matter where you go. Planning is half the fun!

This! The unwritten rule of thumb and thing that most split-stayers will advise is to end with the "better" hotel, or the one you are more excited about. In your case, I'm not sure what that would be since your daughter will like the LM room so much. I would probably start with LM room and then switch to the suite.

You are not allowed to bring your suitcases on Disney buses (except ME) so you will have to do one of the two options suggested in the above post. If you think you'll need your luggage, better to call a cab. Otherwise, it's super easy to have them transfer your luggage.

 

[sunnydays28]

You all are awesome!! So much great advice and so, so helpful!

We decided to not do the Mermaid after all, we are going to start with 4 days in the Lion King Suite and walk over to see the LM area and swim some, then the next 4 nights in the Royal room at Riverside. We will like the boat to DD, the hot tub, the laid back more adult relaxing pace. And we will let Disney transfer our stuff while we plan on making bit a park day.

 

[cjsm&d]

You all are awesome!! So much great advice and so, so helpful!

We decided to not do the Mermaid after all, we are going to start with 4 days in the Lion King Suite and walk over to see the LM area and swim some, then the next 4 nights in the Royal room at Riverside. We will like the boat to DD, the hot tub, the laid back more adult relaxing pace. And we will let Disney transfer our stuff while we plan on making bit a park day.

Make sure to walk or boat over to POFQ! Your DD will love the serpent slide and you and dd make sure to try the beignets!

The order of your choices is the right way to go also IMO!

 

[sunnydays28]

That is the reason we picked POR, so we could use both of the resorts, and the French Quarter atmosphere and food!