4 split stays over the course of one week - tips for the insane? ;)

Quick question for those of you who suggested we stay at the airport and still use ME...

If I stay at the Hyatt, where would I go to get the bus? They wouldn't come and pick me up at the Hyatt, right? Or drop me off there? I know the hotel's in (?) the airport; is it far to get from there to the bus area? Can you essentially board any ME bus as long as you have a valid reservation? Last time we flew, we rented a car, so I wasn't sure how ME all worked. Thanks!
IF you stay at the Hyatt upon arrival, for that first night, you will just head over to the B side of the terminal, in the morning, and go down to level 1...ground transportation. Very easy. As long as you have your reservation made, you're good to go.
If you are taking DME back to MCO, and staying at the Hyatt for your last night, you will get the DME bus at BW...I think that's your last resort, right??

If you take DME to WDW, you don't have to worry about which bus...you will be put into the appropriate bus line for your resort whenever you show up. For the ride back to MCO, you will be given a particular pickup time, from the BW. You have to be on that particular bus.
 
I know the hotel's in (?) the airport; is it far to get from there to the bus area?

The hotel is fully IN the airport. There are rooms whose doors look out over a main area of the airport just outside the secure areas.



Sometimes split stays have to happen! We're approaching one that is a little bit over the top even in my opinion.

Feb 5th, or really after midnight on the 6th, check in to WL (b/c the Hyatt has rates that are WAY too high those two nights, but we originally had MIL with us for the cruise and she *needed* to come in over a day early so that flight date is set in stone).
7th, check out and go to the Disney Dream.
10th, disembark and go to HRH at Universal.
12th go to Kidani.
15th go to SSR (that change was necessary b/c we're meeting up with extended family, and there's no 2 bedroom anywhere else).
18th, family goes home but the good flights aren't until the 20th (traveling on miles, and I waited too long for the "cheap" flights on the 18th or 19th), and we can't "afford" 2 more nights in the 2 bedroom so we're ending it at POP (my choice, always wanted to stay there!)



A split stay requires precision in packing and unpacking, and requires a plan. If you don't have a plan, you're just throwing things into bags and it's a big mess and takes ages. If you're organized about it, it doesn't take that long.
 
OP - I LOVE split stays so I think this sounds fun! And this coming from someone who has a carry on with all the clothes and could never ever decide ahead of time which outfit for which day - so you're already ahead on the little details! Of course, I have no kids so moving is pretty easy for us. That being said, have you thought about also staying in a Value on the first or last night? That extra savings could allow you to spend one extra night at the Deluxe? Just a thought, although I know you said the last night is alot more expensive since the deal is over.
Honestly though, your split stay is not that bad since the 2 hotels are right across from one another. I say enjoy and if it doesn't work, you know what not to do next time! :)
 
A split stay requires precision in packing and unpacking, and requires a plan. If you don't have a plan, you're just throwing things into bags and it's a big mess and takes ages. If you're organized about it, it doesn't take that long.

Amen! I think this is where I fail. Despite my best efforts, my bags get increasingly disorganized with every transfer. In June we did one night off site (free hotel with club points), 5 nights in a treehouse, one night in Daytona, and then 3 at the Boardwalk. It was definitely do able because it was a 10 night stay.

Anyway - to the OP - sounds like you are up for this adventure, so go for it. I think the Hyatt stay on each end is a great idea, but it sounds like you want to see POR too.

Have a great trip. All three are great resorts.
 


It's actually cheaper for us to stay at a moderate than a value. We have five (2 adults, 3 kids), so we would need either two rooms at a value or a family suite, and all of the pricing came up much higher for the value rooms. Go figure. :thumbsup2 I'm glad--personally, I'd much rather stay at POR than at one of the values.

Thanks for the advice with the Hyatt and ME.

Yeah, one of the reasons why the split stay appealed to us is that we were initially going to do Boardwalk for the full week (non CL level, but with the DDP). But I'm concerned we won't love it as much as we did the Yacht Club, and we'd be longingly gazing over at SAB and the hotels with regret. The deluxe CL stay at Boardwalk will allow us to have a great room there, so even if we don't love the resort quite as much, at least we will have a great room and amenities.
 
Hey all,

We've booked our March trip during the last week of the current promotion, and with crunching numbers and flight costs, it makes more sense for us to extend our Sunday to Friday trip and fly on Saturdays, but we have pretty lousy flight times, which means that we will essentially be coming into Disney very late at night on the first night, and leaving first thing in the morning on the day we depart. Since we're staying at the deluxe level, to me, it doesn't make sense to pay more money to sleep at Disney for those nights, so I've book-ended our trip with stays in POR (meaning, we will sleep there the first night we arrive, and the night before we depart).

For the bulk of our trip, my husband and I and our kids couldn't decide between staying at Beach Club and Boardwalk (both new to us--we stayed at Yacht this past summer), and, to complicate matters, we couldn't decide between staying club level or getting the dining plan (but we agreed it would be silly to get both). So, we decided a split stay was the ultimate compromise and would allow us to experience both, so we've decided to spend three nights at Beach with the dining plan, and two nights at Boardwalk at deluxe club level without the dining plan. Insane, right? ;)

So, essentially, we are getting in very late at night on a Saturday, sleeping at POR, transferring to BC in the morning and staying through Wednesday, and then going to BW for two nights, and then transferring to POR once again on Friday night to sleep and catch our flight first thing Saturday morning. (In case you're wondering why we don't just stay at Boardwalk, the promo ends on Friday night, and the room rate is double. I'd pay it if we weren't staying deluxe club level and leaving very first thing in the morning...)

Since we're flying, I usually pack us all a carry-on so we (hopefully) don't need to check any bags. My plan with that is to divvy our clothing up by day and pack them separately: I'll have one carry on that I'll use for POR, two for Yacht, two for Boardwalk and one with pajamas, bathing suits, undies, etc. That way, I will only have one little carry on that will need to be packed for each transfer.

Since my kids are old enough that they can man their own carry on, I may take the extra step to not have Disney move the luggage for us. Even if we can't check into our room when we arrive, at least I'll know where the luggage is.

Crazy? Should I consider an alternate plan? Any tips to ensure this goes as smoothly as I hope?


I did three way split last month. I didn't have any problem transferring but I had a rental car so I could drive over to the new resort with my luggage easily and just check in then go to the park. I was there 7 nights. I didn't have any problem and I'd do it again. If you can do it with minimum fuss and your daily plans are such that the transfers fit in without special or out of the way trips I say go for it.
 
We are here right now doing a 3way split we started at the Swan(free nights with SPG points) then we are moving to POP so we can check out AoA and then heading to WL CL
 


I think your idea of having a suitcase for each of the hotels + your "undies/toiletries" suitcase is what will make this do-able.

I also think having a car will make this more do-able---I read the thread & I didn't see any info about rental car but I could have missed it. Disney transferring luggage can take some time, so make sure that if you don't have a car and need to have them transfer 5 bags between the various hotels that you have some kid of bag that you carry stuff in on transfer day that you might need at the new hotel before your luggage arrives there...for example, bathing suits in case you guys want to swim.

With a rental car and the separate suitcases, you just grab the suitcase you need for the hotel you're in + your toiletries etc. suitcase & leave the rest right in the car. I'd go one step further and get one of those roll up toiletries bags for the actual toiletries. That way you use the toiletry, put it back in its pocket in the bag. Keeps the sink area neat, and the next day you just roll it up and it's ready to go.

The key is keeping everything neat and very well oragized so you can get in and out of each hotel quickly.

Do you have a bag for souvenirs?
 
I get that split stays aren't for everybody, but I don't think you're crazy at all. We always do splits now because we get to experience more resorts and not miss out on our old favourites. I also don't really get the idea that you'll lose time by moving. We have always found it to be very quick and easy-wake up in one resort and go to bed in another! In between we spend a full day in the parks like we always do. I think it depends on how people "live" in a hotel room. If people unpack and stretch out and kind of organize things like they do at home, it probably would take a lot of time to pack up and unpack again. We have each person's clothes for each day in a separate large freezer bag labelled with the date, which might sound strange but really cuts the time for unpacking and even dressing 3 kids in the morning. This year we are doing multi "splits"; 2 nights in Daytona Beach followed by 2 nights at Portofino Bay at Universal, followed by 3 nights AOA, followed by 4 nights Kidani. I hope you will enjoy your split stay as much as we always have!
 
You're not crazy. I've been going to WDW over 23 years and never had a trip where we stayed all in one place, except the upcoming one in March. We usually do split stays because of pricing and promotions or we decided to go down one night earlier and the original hotel wasn't available that night. As long as you keep things organized like you said, I don't think you would have any problems. We drive ourselves down, so having our own car really makes it easy to switch resorts. We also don't unpack our suitcases when we stay so its just a matter of rearranging more than packing when its time to leave. Have a great time and be patient. I've found patience to be key to fully enjoying our trips.
 

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