Split stays - how do they work?

[JDis1015]

I've been to WDW several times but have always stayed at one resort, even as long as two weeks. I'm interested in a split stay for may 2014. I'm planning on going for to the World for 10 days but need to price everything out to decide. I tried to do a mock up online and became very confused with airfare, DDP and park tickets. Any help?

 

[mickeynut1]

I've been to WDW several times but have always stayed at one resort, even as long as two weeks. I'm interested in a split stay for may 2014. I'm planning on going for to the World for 10 days but need to price everything out to decide. I tried to do a mock up online and became very confused with airfare, DDP and park tickets. Any help?

If you want the DDP for both resorts, you would have to buy 2 sets of park tickets. You could get tickets to cover the entire stay on the first reservation and then get a 1 day base ticket on the second reservation and save that ticket for a future stay (a 2 day base is needed for free dining). Another option would be to get the DDP with the first resort and book RO for the second one and pay OOP for your meals. You would be booking 2 separate reservations, so you would price each resort out separately and then add everything together to get a total cost. HTH .

 

[P00H1010]

I've been to WDW several times but have always stayed at one resort, even as long as two weeks. I'm interested in a split stay for may 2014. I'm planning on going for to the World for 10 days but need to price everything out to decide. I tried to do a mock up online and became very confused with airfare, DDP and park tickets. Any help?

Split stays are considered 2 seperate reservations. You will have 2 confirmations numbers (1 for each resort). We have done a package once but have since switched to doing things seperately as we have found it saves us money. This is how we have set up our split stays:

* 2 Resort reservations
* 1 set of park tickets to use throughout our entire stay (we like going through Undercover Tourist)
* Book airfare on our own
* Set up Magical Express for arrival by using flight info into MCO and 1st resort confirmation number
* Set up Magical Express for departure by using returning flight info and 2nd resort confirmation number.

To switch resorts we have taken our bags to bell services and told them we need a baggage transfer and to where (we were told around 3 or 4pm our bags will be at our 2nd resort). Then we normally take a bus over to a park for a while and later take a bus from the park we are at over to the 2nd resort to settle in.

Park tickets can be used at both resorts. We have had our paper tickets tranferred to our KTTW card at resort 1 and then tranferred over to our 2nd KTTW card when arriving at the 2nd resort. We just had that done again a couple weeks ago but did run into some bumps in doing so with their new system... but the problem did get fixed.

We do not do dining plans so I can't help you much there but seeing as how it is considered 2 reservations I am almost possitive you can't transfer a dining plan to your 2nd resort. I would imagine you would have to do 2 seperate packages with 2 seperate dining plans which sounds like a pain and more expensive.

 

[POOHsie]

I gather info from websites online to calculate my stays, but I work in a text file to do my calculations.

Hotel: I use Mousesavers.com. Go to DW Resort Discounts. In a yellow box is a link to 2014 rack rate prices for each resort, each level, and pricing in the various Disney pricing "seasons." http://www.mousesavers.com/2014-disney-world-resort-room-rates-season-dates/

• Find the dates you want. Friday and Saturday nites will be charged the weekend rate. Add tax of 12.5% (room x 1.125). (All Star Resorts add 13% tax.) You will have your per-day total room cost. Based on the extra charge for Friday and Saturday nite, you might tweak your dates a little.
• Be ready to call Disney Reservations on the phone to change your reservation to include discount pricing when it appears. I can also get discounts from AAA (usually 15%) and Military Retiree Program (30-35-40%). Planning this far out, AAA might not have discounts published yet. Keep checking. Keep looking on the Disboards Forum, "Disney Discount Codes and Rates" for Disney discount specials as they are announced. http://www.disboards.com/forumdisplay.php?f=93​

Dining Plan: 2014 pricing is not officially published, but below is best guess pricing to roughly calculate your daily cost pp. Dining Plan nightly rate already includes Tax, so you do not add the room tax to it.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=3138911&highlight=2014+dining+plan
• Look in the coming months for a new sticky with 2014 pricing in the "Disney Dining Plan" area under the Disney Restaurants Forum. http://www.disboards.com/forumdisplay.php?f=116
​

Tickets: If you book room only, you aren't obligated to purchase tickets. Purchasing a dining plan means you will have to buy a minimum one-day base ticket for each person in a room. Free Dining means you will have to purchase minimum two-day base tickets for each person in a room, a minimum 3-nite stay, and full rack rate for your room cost. A split stay is considered separate reservations. Dining Plan for each stay will require minimum tickets for each reservation. Tickets also do not figure in your room tax calculation. They are taxed separately at 6.5%. Disney ticket prices are listed pre-tax. Undercover Tourist tickets are listed including tax and free shipping. Other 3rd party Resellers may or may not include tax and shipping in their price. You have to be careful to note that when comparing prices.

• You want to purchase tickets to cover your entire stay, not separate tickets for each leg of your stay. Disney's ticket prices are front-loaded, and get cheaper the more days you buy. For 10 days at WDW parks, staying 5 nights at one resort and 5 nights at a second resort, it's much cheaper to buy a 10-day ticket (Disney pretax $339) than to buy two 5-day tickets (Disney pretax $289 + $289 = $578 Total) for each person.
• With a split stay and a purchased Dining Plan, although you are obligated to purchase minimum one-day base tickets per reservation, buy all your park days with your first reservation. For the second reservation, purchase the one-day tickets and keep these tickets for another trip, or sell them. They never expire and they are completely transferable if unused.

• Some people, like me, purchase tickets for the entire trip thru Undercover Tourist or other authorized Reseller. Then the minimum Dining Plan tickets from each reservation are kept for later use.
• To calculate Disney ticket cost, use this current pricing list. This is from the Ticket Sticky, "Everything About WDW Tickets." It's Post #18. http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=33009006&postcount=18
• Add Disney Ticket price plus 6.5% tax (cost x 1.065) to get your total cost.​

Trip Insurance: It's up to you to decide about this. Disney Reservations may or may not place it on your reservation, based on your conversation. Be Clear if you don't want it, and look at your invoice to see if it's been added. There is only a certain time period to cancel Disney trip insurance. There's other sources of trip insurance that are a better buy than Disney's plan.
Airfare: Best to book your own, so you have immediate control of this at all times. Call Disney Reservations by phone, when your air plans are complete, to make your arrangements for Disney Magical Express service.