How big of a pain is a split stay?

[Tigger's ally]

I have done it many times and we love it. We also plan ahead. We pack clothes for both sites. We plan our agenda's, ADR's and fast passes by our site. Never had even the slightest bit of a problem (other than getting upgraded at BWI on the first leg and not wanting to leave that room and the CL lounge ). We always just think of it as two different vacations. Always nice to get the "new" room halfway through....

 

[ELSA711]

We do them. Great way to mix resorts up ( mod then deluxe) to save money. This year we are doing POR then BC. Now if I had an infant, toddler, strollers, pack n plays etc. no way!! But with just standard luggage it's ok. We also have a car so for us it's easier tossing in the car and heading to new tesort to check in, drop luggage off and head to park. Takes one hr!! Plus we do alot of shopping and it's nice being forced to get our chaos together earlier and lessen the morning of final check-out stress. We have multiple suitcases. So those on switch day get packed and stay locked until home.

As a tip do the package first and buy enough park days to cover whole trip. These stay valid for 14 days. Only dining needs to be used up by midnight of check-out day

Would you ever do the opposite... deluxe to moderate or is that spoiling the deluxe? Always end with Deluxe?

 

[Ensusieasm]

Would you ever do the opposite... deluxe to moderate or is that spoiling the deluxe? Always end with Deluxe?

I've done it either way....if the Moderate I'm going to is Port Orleans Riverside I have no trouble looking forward to that no matter what fancy Deluxe I started at.
Have a great vacation!

 

[mousefan73]

Would you ever do the opposite... deluxe to moderate or is that spoiling the deluxe? Always end with Deluxe?

We are almost forced to do deluxe after the mod. The reason is we usually do a FD package with tickets for the longer portion. Deluxe FD room rates ( rack ) are too high. Since tix are park of the package we add park days to cover entire trip. We also save a dining credit for the first evening of new resort ( valid until midnight of check out). We are doing POR to BC. BC perfect at the end as we plan a pool day on check out at SAB until later MDE pick up

 

[mousefan73]

I've done it either way....if the Moderate I'm going to is Port Orleans Riverside I have no trouble looking forward to that no matter what fancy Deluxe I started at.
Have a great vacation!

That would work for us too! But let's say GF or Poly and then AS sports etc. would be tough!

 

[ELSA711]

That would work for us too! But let's say GF or Poly and then AS sports etc. would be tough!

Thanks! We are thinking AKL to CBR
We have a lot of resort time built in for AKL, as we fell in love with it just during a dinner visit.

We are hoping to rent DVC for the first week and then either hop to another DVC resort or CBR.
Trying to figure out the studio situation at GF/Poly or WL vs CBR. Does it really make a difference, they seem to all have the pull down Murphy beds to sleep 5.

 

[DisBuckMan]

If you're driving or renting a car, I wouldn't hesitate to change resorts. You get up in the morning, load all your luggage into your vehicle, go to a park, get texted your room number while you're at the park (assuming you did online check-in), then go straight to your new resort room once you are done at the park.

If I were using DME and didn't have access to a vehicle, I personally wouldn't fool with it. Your mileage may vary.

 

[loves to dive]

I do it all the time now, I drive down so it is a tad easier. I pack two bags, one for each leg but if you didn't want to do that, a lot of people use packing cubes. I always go ahead and do on line check in for both resorts before I leave home. On move day, I just pack up my bag, go down to the front desk and check out and take my bag to the car and go to resort #2. I'm an early riser, even on vacation so I'm usually at resort #2 by around 7:30 am. I go ahead and check in, rarely is my room ready and even though I've done on line check in I go through the on line check in line, just to let them know I'm there in case they can get the room ready early. I leave my bags in my car but when my son and DIL were with me, we left them with BS. I go ahead and go to the park for the day and just head back to the resort either when I get the text my room is ready or whenever I want after that. I grab my bag from my car and go to my room. You can either call bell services and have it delivered or even stop by bell services and pick it up yourself if you are in some sort of hurry. I don't have the ticket issue because I have an AP.

 

[Stacey Faria]

We did a split stay only once on site but have done a few nights outside of WDW. The one year we did it we went from the GF with the whole family to the AKL and just us. Mostly we did it because we were dying to see what AKL was like. I personally try to avoid it, its a hassle packing and repacking, moving luggage etc but Disney does a great job moving your stuff and simplifies it as much as possible.

 

[Ensusieasm]

That would work for us too! But let's say GF or Poly and then AS sports etc. would be tough!

Ouch! Yes, that would be tragical!

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

I've done it once and for me I thought it was a pain and I won't do it again.

I like to unpack and move into a room fully which meant re-packing all of my stuff and then unpacking it again at the new resort.
As far as moving my luggage, I did it myself since I had a rental car that time but Disney will do it for you too.

I also ran into an issue with magic band charging that trip - supposedly it was because I switched resorts. I don't know about that but I do know I couldn't charge to my room anymore once I switched resorts - I just charged direct to my credit card instead since it never got fixed.

 

[meggiemouse]

OK lots of questions!!

Due to adding a day and using a good Orbitz deal, I am doing a split stay... 2 reservations at the same resort (POP, 1 night + 6 night). How will check in/out work with that? Will I have trouble with tickets? Do I need both sets of magic bands or can I decline one set? Should I check out in person early am before hitting the park then check in at the same time?

I'm hoping to call the week of our stay to potentially keep the same room as we switch over to the other reservation. Even if we have to move rooms, it's not that big of a deal. I just want to make sure I do everything right and not screw up our tickets! What would you do in my situation?

 

[mousefan73]

OK lots of questions!!

Due to adding a day and using a good Orbitz deal, I am doing a split stay... 2 reservations at the same resort (POP, 1 night + 6 night). How will check in/out work with that? Will I have trouble with tickets? Do I need both sets of magic bands or can I decline one set? Should I check out in person early am before hitting the park then check in at the same time?

I'm hoping to call the week of our stay to potentially keep the same room as we switch over to the other reservation. Even if we have to move rooms, it's not that big of a deal. I just want to make sure I do everything right and not screw up our tickets! What would you do in my situation?

1. You can decline one set, though why? you can then get two colors and its free!!! MBs do not hold any information. it links to your Disney Profile. All bands have the same thing. They just need to be linked.
2. You can also use both... or more. whatever is linked and active in your profile works. I switch up based on outfits.
3. Me personally like going to the front desk and double checking.. when you check in, mention that tomorrow you are starting a new ressie. Staying in same room depends on many factors but does happen.. what might make it harder is if for the first night you say have a CL level, pool, preferred room and then 6 nights standard... by keeping you in the "same room" is basically giving you an upgrade.. so having the same room category helps.

4. If you bought your room and tickets separate there are no ticket issues.. These are separate things... Tricky is if you are buying a package and tix are part of a room, dining, hopper package deal. If this is your case.. you cannot technically start using the park tickets until you check into that package ( meaning second night). This is why we always book the Room only at the end,and get tix for the complete stay.. in a package you can make your park days longer than resort nights. Though you can technically activate your park tickets before a package start, .. there is a sticky some where here.


We did have issues in the past when doing split stays and with the bands.. not really the bands as these issues would have happened regardless of band or regular room key.. But sometimes their systems get crazy and in our case. we were checked out, and checked in.. but our dining credits didnt show up nor room credit privileges.. tickets worked though????? was strange.. we still go our credits... the server would call it in or something and then they fixed it. Was annoying but nothing so bad that we wont consider doing split stay again. I consider this isolated. but it helps to keep track of credits, room charges etc...


One more thing.. I would not leave my stuff in a trunk of a car while in a park.. I did this once and ruined alot of stuff. ( food I had packed ( there was chocolate), make-up etc... ) So if you have this stuff, or medicine, the cars ( in summer esp.) get crazy hot.. My clothes felt like they were straight out of dryer.. just keep this in mind.. the bells services are not really A/Cd but alot cooler than a car. This is also why if Bell services are holding stuff to put sensitive stuff in their cool room ( fridge)

 

[Princess Disney Mom]

Packing cubes are a must for a split stay.

 

[dmaxphil]

We do splits every time. For us it adds excitement. And we've done it with our 2 girls since the oldest was 2 (7 and 4 now). The only issue is what to do the day of the move. You need to stay occupied because you might be without a room til 4ish. We've been fortunate and have never had to wait too long for the "next" room.

And the ticket issue - mousefan73 had the correct info in point #4. If you are booking through WDW, book the first hotel as a package. So for instance, you are staying at BC for 3 nights but then you plan to move to Poly for 4 more. Book the BC stay as a package and get tickets to cover both stays (7-8 days). Then book a room only at Poly. Since we've been doing APs since buying DVC we haven't had to do this in a while.

Our routine changes depending on whether we have access to a car.

If we have a car: We drive our bags and check in to the next resort early in the morning around 7:30-8 and then have breakfast on property. Several times we've received the room ready text before bkfast ends. If not, we go about our day. Our bags are in bell services at our final destination if we need them. We'll normally carry swimsuits in a backpack just in case we end up waiting for the room longer than expected.

If we don't have a car: We take a cab and follow all the steps as if we have a car. We've done the bell services resort transfer thing and have been awarded an early-ready room only to be left waiting til 5-8pm for luggage. Never again. Cabs are relatively cheap; I'm thinking it's never been more than $30.

Another benefit I haven't seen mentioned... But starting the trip with a short stay 2-3 days at one resort makes it pretty affordable to do the dining plan (with kids). We'll do a deluxe dp and spread those credits out over the first part of split + day 1 of the second part. You get the mugs to start trip that will be good until the end, and you can really load up on the expensive character meals if you like.

 

[jodybird511]

We are doing a split stay for our upcoming trip, due to getting a great deal on a flight--we added a single night (getting in at 11pm) at Wilderness Lodge onto the front end of our Contemporary package. So all of our package stuff is on our Contemporary stay--if we check-in online for Contemporary, theoretically, our tickets, dining plan, etc. should be activated for the first day of our Contemporary stay, yes? We were hoping to go directly to the park upon checking out of Wilderness Lodge that morning.

 

[pinkvol7]

Last year we stayed at SSR for 7 nights and then 2 nights at CBR. I did online check in for both. Got our room number text about an hour out for SSR (we drove) and the morning of check out, I received our room number text about 7:30 am for CBR. We left SSR and drove over to CBR and went straight to our room. Did not physically check out of SSR. We took smaller bags with us and we filled those with what we would need for the 2 nights at CBR and left the rest of the clothes in the car. This June, we are staying the first night at Pop and then 7 at SSR. I'm bringing our clothes for the first night in our carry on (we are flying) so we won't have to unpack the big suitcase until we get to SSR. We will be cabbing it over to SSR and leaving luggage if our room isn't ready and then heading to Disney Springs. We have dinner at 5 at 50's PT so I'm hoping our room will be ready before we go so we can freshen up.

 

[mousefan73]

We are doing a split stay for our upcoming trip, due to getting a great deal on a flight--we added a single night (getting in at 11pm) at Wilderness Lodge onto the front end of our Contemporary package. So all of our package stuff is on our Contemporary stay--if we check-in online for Contemporary, theoretically, our tickets, dining plan, etc. should be activated for the first day of our Contemporary stay, yes? We were hoping to go directly to the park upon checking out of Wilderness Lodge that morning.

Normally yes, but I still always take a copy of my reservation with ..( or saved email on Iphone) There is always guest services at the gates to help in case Mickey stays red. I would go straight to MK and not waste time physically checking in.

 

[thebs19]

We're trying this for our first time in 2 weeks- first BC then AoA suite. Never done it before- we have 2 young ones and never pack light and it may be a logistical nightmare but I am so looking forward to trying 2 resorts (plus BC was booked solid for part of our trip so this was our only option).

If it's a disaster we'll chalk it up to experience but hoping for the best. Plan is to go to DHS early on check out day with my son and sign up for JTA and do a few rides quickly. Wife will be packing. Well go back to BC, check out and give luggage to bell services, hang at SAB one last time (tear...), take the boat to DHS and then when we're done drive our car over to AoA that night where hopefully our bags are at front desk, check in and hang in our new suite.

I'll check back and let you know it's as great as it sounds or a total nightmare!

 

[jerseygal]

We do split stays "by design". We LOVE experiencing different resorts. We take a cab over to the second resort, bringing our luggage instead of "waiting" for luggage to make it to 2nd resort. I have heard it may not arrive till after 5, so we prefer to take a cab.
We usually head to the second part of the split stay in the morning, usually by about 11...guess we have been lucky as we usually can check in by about 1pm.
ENJOY!