I want to be in Florida as long as possible and be able to stay at the Poly. The five of us are staying off property at Reunion for 6 nights and then our favorite Poly for 5 nights with a 30 percent discount. .
I agree with you I cannot see ever wanting to do a split stay. PITA for sure. I want to unpack once when I get there and pack up once when I leave. I have stayed 11 nights once and didn't change resorts during that stay. I have actually seen people change resorts 3 times on a 10 day trip. Talk about PITA ridiculousness.
I like split stays if its a long vacation. Get to experience more resorts that way. If we're going to do a split stay we travel light and don't unpack except for toiletries and hanging up some clothes, so packing up is quick and easy. I buy tickets separate from room so problem with tickets. Last long vacation we stayed 3 nights CSR, 3 nights Poly Club, 3 nights AKL 1 BR villa. We spent time at each resort and it was just great. Updated to say: we've also stayed for long vacations in 1 spot, really settled in the room, have had christmas trees, decorations, presents, food. To me those trips are fun too, but oh, the packing up! We've been to WDW many times and don't have to be at the parks day and night any longer, a few hours is good! And I like value for my money! I wouldn't stay for a long vacation at a deluxe without a very good discount as I know I can be very happy at a moderate or value
I am a DVC member. Unfortunately most of my trips are booked last minute or with little notice so I have to split based on room availability. On longer trips it isnt bad and it is nice to stay in different areas of WDW. I do agree that is much easier to unpack once though!
We did our first split stay last year, and have another planned. For us, we wanted a longer vacation last year, but could not afford BC the entire time, but could afford doing a split. We also really wanted to experience a Deluxe. It was like 2 vacations in 1 and amazing! This year, we have a triple split planned and will be there for 18 nights. DH is only going to be there for the later half, so the kids and I are going to experience two resorts we would not have the opportunity to as a family of 5. We don't do the parks the entire time, and try to enjoy the resorts, too.
We've done split-stays twice, and the reason was simple - money. In 2009, we had a chance for a longer vacation, and wanted to go to the Space Coast, Clearwater, and Sea World. That's three full days not at Disney, so what's the point in paying the Disney resort premium?? We were staying at SSR and loved every minute of it when we were looking for Disney stuff to do, heading to the parks, my son and I played a (horrible) round of golf, but when your Disney agenda is completed, but the vacation isn't, why pay the extra $$? If some folks don't like that idea, hey, that's cool. C'est la vie. But we got three (four? Don't remember at the moment) extra "post-Disney" days at a fraction of the on-property price, and stayed at the Residence Inn Seaworld that offered a free buffet breakfast every morning. It was super! Packing up everything to move one time was not nearly such a big deal.
Comes down to price and convenience! Would love to stay at monorail resort for the entire trip, but at a premium per night that tops Ritz Carlton, just don't see the value... We can fit in the Fort Wilderness cabins, but fear the complaints about transportation will put a damper on our last trip to WDW for a good while...so we'd do 4 nights at FW cabins and look forward to finishing it out at Contemporary where we'll hit the monorail resorts those days... It's not a hassle for us, we live out of our suitcases and are low maintenance...no one blow dries their hair, wash and go...so we just have the backpacks closed up and they'll move them for us, we just head back to the new resort and check in The negative is if free dining comes out, not sure how that will affect this split thing...not an easy way?
This is what we do, with our kids it just works best for us. Plus, Disney makes it super easy since they do all the transferring for us. We don't unpack so we just zip up the suitcases and call the front desk. They come and grab our luggage and we are off to the park. That night, we just head to the new resort. Easy peasy!
I'm actually doing this in October, but doing a "double split". I'm doing a Dad/Daughter (DD5) only trip and have enough reward points for a week at the Swan. But since I can't get Magical Express (and really need this because I'll have 2 bags and a stroller arriving before noon), I'm doing my first night at Art of Animation, then 5 nights at the Swan, then back to AoA for the last night. The price of the room at AoA isn't much more than what I'd be paying for transfers, and since ME will take my bags right to my room I don't have to collect them while pushing a stroller. On the last day (we leave at 7pm), I can do resort airline check in, drop off my bags, hit one of the parks in the morning, hop back on ME, and not have to deal with them till I'm back home. No, I'm not looking forward to the "resort jumping", but I do think I'm better off on this trip by doing it that way.
We sometimes go for 12-14 days and I want to experience new things. This August we're doing a split stay - 6 nights at POP and 6 nights at ASMu. We have our own car so it's pretty simple for us. On our trips that are just 5-6 nights we wouldn't do a split stay.
Our last visit in May/June 2012 was a packing nightmare. Thanksfully, we drove so we didn't have to have everything we needed packed and moved from place to place. We live in the Austin, TX area but spent a few nights before our long road trip in the Houston area where hubby's family is. So stop 1. We spent 2 nights along the way in a beachfront hotel on Fort Meyers Beach. Stop 2. My sister is a DVC member and we wanted to try some new resorts and there were not 4 nights available (sort of a last minute trip) so we ended up with 2 nights BWV, stop 3, followed by 2 nights BLT, stop 4. My SIL owns a timeshare and we were able to get a week offsite at Marriott's Harbour Lake through Interval International Getaways. So stop 5. We spent 2 to 3 days at Universal Studios so we also got an on-site Universal room just for 1 night at Hard Rock Hotel so we could get Express Pass for 2 days. So stop 6. We only packed a small overnight bag and kept most of our stuff at the Marriott. After our week at the Marriott we started our drive back to Texas. We spent 1 night in Biloxi, MS. Stop 7. And then a night or two in Houston before FINALLY going home! I've got to say that I am a bigger fan of staying in one resort the whole time. But I am willing to be flexible.
I think I would only do this if I were going for 10+ days, otherwise I personally would feel too stressed, having to pack, unpack, pack, unpack lol too much hassle! But I do get why people do it, I would love to experience as many of the resorts as possible!
We are doing a split stay for the first time I had the Poly CL booked for a week, but my Dad is bringing my niece and nephew to WDW also. As our vacations are overlapping we decided to switch to POFQ where they are staying for the first 3 nights. When they leave we are headed to the Poly CL!!
Yup. We like 'em both too much to choose. Splitting is only a big deal if you make it one in your mind. If you think it is a PITA, then don't do it but, unless you have tried it, you really don't know if it is or not.
Ill tell you why we are doing split stays and it comes down to two things availability via DVC bookings and splitting the meal plan to be part deluxe and part regular. By staying at two different rooms or resort categories we can do the meal plan deluxe and tapper down to the regular meal plan since one has till midnight the last day of checkout to use all the meals on the plans.
Couldn't get all 7 nights at BLT so added on 2 nights at AKV. We're saving our AK day for when were at AKV and that's the only park well visit while at AKV. I've done split stays a few times but prefer not to do them. Sometimes it's necessary so I try to theme it or work it to our advantage as far as transportation. Well only need bus transportation 2 times this trip. 1 to DHS from BLT and to AK from AKV.
We have done split stays to save money. One year we stayed at the contemporary and also wanted to visit cocoa beach. I won't pay deluxe prices to not even be there so we stayed 4 nights off site then the contemporary. One year we wanted my niece to have the Disney experience but could not afford it for 10 nights so we stayed 3 nights at a Disney resort and 7 off site on reward points. Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards
I'm doing my first split stay this June. The reason I'm doing it is to save some money. I don't want the dining plan the first night i get there b/c we aren't getting there until late in the evening so basically I am checking into AoA for the night prior to my weeks package starting at AKV to save a few bucks, plus I really wanted to check out the new resort but didn't want to stay there for 9 nights.
We like them because it gives us a chance to experience 2 resorts in a single vacation. We have only done it twice and it's not a big deal. Last trip, we stayed at AKL for 3 nights. Then early on check out morning, we packed up, checked out, dropped the luggage with Bell Services, DH took a cab to our new resort - CSR - and the kids and I took a bus to our park. DH then took a bus from CSR to the park, and we met there. Took less than an hour, and still at park for rope drop. Went back to CSR at lunch time, ate at Pepper market, got a text that our room was ready and went to our room and showered. Super easy.
