Give me all your best Split Stay Tips!

[taurus8012]

We are doing split stay as well. July26-Aug 9th POR 2days;PVB 4days and AKL 8days. My wife hates splits; she rather spend the entire time at our home resort, she loves our AKL , but I need to see other resorts to see if I am missing anything. I tried every resort/hotel except for GF & AOA and I must say I love my AKL but it's fun to visit. Our carry on bags has the 1st 3-4 days of essentials . I use the heck out of Bell Services and have at least 3 resort days

 

[Tigger1]

We do split stays often. We call bell to pick up and transfer luggage. Things have changed and you now have to check out or your next reservation can not check you in. I have packed one bag for 1st stay, Works great. Carry a backpack for things you will need before your next hotel. We go to a park or to DTD and may not try checking in until after 4 to keep from waiting on room.
Great way to have two or more many vacations. Also can choose different meal plans this way will just need to use first one up by midnight.

 

[POTCfan]

We have grown to love split stays. We love seeing different resorts, and it is like getting a full cleaning without paying for it (restocking laundry soap, fresh sheets, etc). Our next trip this summer, we are doing three resorts (over 13 days). On our resort change day, we take our bags down to bell services early and have them move them over to our new resort. We plan on that being a park day. We take Disney transportation to the park we want to go to, and then return on Disney transportation to the new resort. We check in with Bell Services when we get to our room, and they have always had our luggage (though we are allowing them plenty of time to transfer it by dropping it off early). Transfer day has never been a problem, though we don't need to go back to the room for naps anymore, and haven't really tried to make it a pool day (where you would have to carry around extra luggage or possibly want to go back to a room to clean up). If we have a short stay of 1 or 2 days at the beginning of the trip, it is a great opportunity to add the dining plan to that portion. And if you are looking to really experience the resort and haven't stayed there before, I would agree with a previous poster and stay a minimum of 3 nights.

 

[Minniesgal]

In 2013 we did 3 nights at OKW, 6 nights Treehouse Villas, 2 nights AKV and 5 nights BLT was a fab trip.

Our next is in 2016 we are doing 5 nights VGC, 4 nights AKV, 3 nights on the Dream then 4 nights VGF.

i don't think we could just do 2 weeks in 1 room.

 

[jerseygal]

That's what I do when we have a 1n, then you don't have to unpack and repack all the luggages. Everything for the 1n + the next day is packed into a small luggage.

I would also suggest having all the swim gear in your carry-on so that you can go to the pool right away rather than wait for you luggage and room. If your room's not ready, I'm not sure they'd let you look for your luggage through DME.

We also LOVE split stays! Get to experience two resorts..
Doing a split stay during F&W in October..1st night, BWV, next 3 nights Poly Villas...CANNOT WAIT!
We do the same thing..pack swim stuff in carry on and hang by the pool first day!
Split stays are EASY when it it just DS and me! ENJOY!

 

[dvcfamily41801]

I feel like we have always done split stays! We used to do Friday or Saturday at a value before checking into DVC. But then we discovered add-ons! Now we do split stays between any resort and then we always end with Boardwalk as it is our favorite. For me, I feel like we have separate vacations and it just makes the entire trip feel longer. We most always rent a car for the first stay and we transfer our own luggage and groceries. We get the car from the airport and return it at the Dolphin. This way I know everything makes it over and I can make another food store stop if need be. This summer we are staying at GFV for 4 nights and move to Boardwalk for 6 nights. I try to book any dining at other resorts while we have the car just to make it easier and save our Epcot/Studios or Boardwalk resort area dining for when we are at Boardwalk.

 

[skier_pete]

We only once ever changed resorts during a trip. We had 9 nights at AKV (renting points) in 2010, and we needed one more night but couldn't afford another night at AKV, so we switched to Pop Century. In this case, we taxied over from one to the other - it was easy. We actually were able to check in at Pop Century by around noon - and then we went to the park.

This next trip we are booking the more traditional split stay. 6 nights at BCV, and 4 nights at the Poly. Our plan for the split day is to go to a water park, so that we are leaving the 1st hotel a little later but still can catch 10 AM rope drop at TL. We'll bring our valuables with us and get a locker at the water park, which we would probably get anyways. We'll let bell services transfer over the bags. We may or may not also stop at DTD before heading to the hotel...haven't decided yet. Hopefully the transfer will be pretty painless. Thanks much for the tip on making sure we are checked out.

I honestly am not a huge fan of the split stay idea as moving is a pain, but being new to DVC we wanted to check out a couple different resorts. For that longer length of time, of for one night at the beginning or end of a trip, I think it can work OK, just have to limit expectations.

 

[nalajms]

This summer we are staying at GFV for 4 nights and move to Boardwalk for 6 nights.

That might be a hard move .... we did BLT to BWV once, and BWV just looked really shabby. I'd try requesting a refurb room at BWV (higher floor?), might not be as bad.

 

[Miss Monorail 1971]

Biggest Tip about split stays..... Always book the nicest resort last. We went from Kidani to a royal room at Riverside. It was horrible. It was only for 1 night to appease my little princess. Never again. This trip we are going 1 night at BC then moving to GFV 1 bedroom for 6 nights. We will take what we call a Hotel Bag with 1 change of clothes for everyone and 1 toiletry bag with everyone's toiletries. The rest stays in the car. (we are driving) First day is EPCOT to take advantage of our location. Next day is MK day. We plan to check out of BC and head to VGF early and check in but not unpack. Then go to MK. Not booking FP till afternoon JIK. Then going to check in get settled and head over to Fantasmic. Hope this works!