Split stays?

[mcuoghi]

Talk to me about split stays. Dh, our ds and dd and I were thinking of staying 4 nights at a value resort and then 2 nights at the contemporary. But after a little research this doesn't seem like such a great idea anymore. How would we work tickets and dining--we were planning on a dining plan? Would I have to book two separate packages? Any help would be great. Thanks!

 

[redrosesix]

Talk to me about split stays. Dh, our ds and dd and I were thinking of staying 4 nights at a value resort and then 2 nights at the contemporary. But after a little research this doesn't seem like such a great idea anymore. How would we work tickets and dining--we were planning on a dining plan? Would I have to book two separate packages? Any help would be great. Thanks!

It is 2 separate packages, so it doesn't work as well with dining (since you have to have 2 sets of tickets to make it a package).

However, if you had a RO reservation for your 2nd resort, you could still use the tickets from your 1st reservation (and add as many additional days to the park tix as you think you will use while at the contemporary). Or you could buy a 1 day park ticket on the 2nd reservation, not use it, and save it for a future trip. That also makes it a package so you can add your dining.

Other than that, split stays are quite painless since they move your stuff for you and it miraculously appears in your new room. But I'm not sure I'd do it for a shorter trip -- anything less than 7 days and we prefer to not move. Having said that, if it's a choice between a 3 day trip staying in the contemporary or your 6 day trip, it's probably worth it.

 

[sndral]

You could just do a RO @ the CR and just pay OP for dinning for the last 2 days and add the extra days on your park tickets from your package at the value resort. Your dinning credits would be good until midnight of your check out day @ the value, btw, so you could use any remaining credits on the day you move into the CR.
I did a 3 night, 10 night split w/ dinning, but I booked annual pass packages, which does not require you to buy park tickets to add a paid for dinning plan. You could also look into renting points for a DVC studio @ BLT next door and I believe then you can book dinning w/out having tickets.

 

[Masonmj84]

I recently did a split stay at Poly and BC where we had dining plans at both resorts.

The way I did it was to book ticketless annual passholder + dining packages at both resorts (if the lead guest on a reservation is an annual pass holder, then you don't need to purchase at least one day of park tickets for every person on the reservation at each resort).

Later, when annual pass discounts came out, I applied those to our existing reservations (these were, in essence, an additional 5% discount over the general public discounts offered over the same period and the resulting savings difference was roughly equal to the cost of upgrading one MYW ticket to an annual pass).

After that, I bought everyone's park tickets (to cover our stay at both resorts) at a discount from Undercover Tourist.

All of the above purchases (as well as our air fare) were done on my Disney Rewards Visa (right before heading to WDW, I transfered all of the points to the Rewards Redemption Card).

Once at WDW, I then attempted to upgrade my ticket to an annual pass by price bridging it first (to get credit for the current gate price) and then using my Disney Rewards Redemption Card to pay most of the difference (this is the one area where I had a headache as the CM overcharged me for the upgrade - there's a whole thread on these boards about that saga, which was ultimately resolved after I returned home).

In short, aside from the price bridging headache (which, I suppose could have been avoided had I just bought the tickets directly from Disney), it worked out great.

 

[lsenquiz]

The way I did it was to book ticketless annual passholder + dining packages at both resorts (if the lead guest on a reservation is an annual pass holder, then you don't need to purchase at least one day of park tickets for every person on the reservation at each resort).

So you paid out of pocket for the dining plan right? Meaning it was not a free dining promo?

 

[Masonmj84]

So you paid out of pocket for the dining plan right? Meaning it was not a free dining promo?

Yeah, we paid out of pocket for the dining plans (there was actually a free dining promo going on then, but the room discounts saved us more).

We were actually on the deluxe plan at both resorts and part of the reason we did it was because we were treating my parents, who never would have paid (or let us pay) OOP for those meals. And, given this was in 2012 when the DxDP was $85 per adult per day instead of $100 and we had two Disney kids (for whom, IMO, the DxDP is still a good deal), we still saved some versus what those meals would have cost OOP.

 

[lsenquiz]

Yeah, we paid out of pocket for the dining plans (there was actually a free dining promo going on then, but the room discounts saved us more).

Bummer, I thought for a minute there was some way to get the annual pass room discount and a free dining package.

We were actually on the deluxe plan at both resorts and part of the reason we did it was because we were treating my parents, who never would have paid (or let us pay) OOP for those meals.

This is actually the only reason I would ever get DDP. I would rather pay more for the dining plan than eat all counter service meals which is what my parents would want to do.

 

[momto3gr8boys]

Bummer, I thought for a minute there was some way to get the annual pass room discount and a free dining package.

No I tried last year, but like the PP, my AP discount ended up being cheaper than FD.

To the OP, we are doing our first split stay this summer. Do you already have a FD package from a BB? Otherwise, I wouldn't let the hopes of FD guide you too much as it does not seem to be happening this year.

For our reservation, (I used ***, so a little different than booking direct) we are doing the BC for 5 nights as a package with 8 day PHs and a water park bonus and then moving over to the Poly for 4 nights at RO (rack rate right now). If a discount or FD promotion comes out before I'm 45 days out, I can apply it. What I would do is take it for the BC, but then pay 1 day for tickets to get it at the Poly, or just pay OOP, depending on the numbers.