The ultimate split-stay thread

[bbmassey]

This is a great post. Thank you to all who contributed, I had eery question that I had answered!

 

[jsantini]

Thanks for this great thread! I'm planning a trip with four adults and two toddlers for January and I'm considering a split stay to either 1)avoid buses as much as possible or 2)save money. The two don't work together--ha. We are going to rent points to stay in 2 studios (1 per family) or a 2 bedroom villa. It's so hard with prices not being out until Julu for January, but I'm fairly sure renting points is going to be the most economical way for our group to stay on the monorail.

Anyway, I am tempted to do 4 nights on a monorail and 3 nights at an Epcot resort because 2 people in our group hate the buses with a passion and it's easier to avoid them with strollers. Also, these locations would make it easier for our group to split up and rejoin as necessary and for us to take turns with date nights while the other couple keeps the kids.

On the other hand, I really love POFQ from stays before kids, as does my mom. The boat to DTD is appealing to us and doing 3 nights here in 2 rooms may save some money.

I know I'll have to keep our grocery order manageable of we do a split stay and find out whether my nephew could be flexible with his nap on moving day. My son is a great stroller napper, but not sure about the other little guy in our group. We will not be traveling with a car but would likely move or own luggage by taxi. Those are my musings. Wishing I had prices for late Jan--would make things *a little* easier.

 

[AngiTN]

I'm sorry if this has already been asked/answered. I only skimmed the previous posts. How does Memory Maker work with a split stay? Is it linked to your resort, park tickets, or just your MDE account? We have an upcoming split stay at ASSp 3 nights with 7 day park tickets, then WL CL RO for 3 nights. If I add MM to the ASSp reservation, will it be active throughout our trip?

MM is in no way impacted with where you stay as it is simply linked to your MDE account, nothing more. A resort stay isn't even needed to have MM, nor is a MB. Having a MB just makes it easier to scan photos as they are taken, or added automatically on rides. So your split stay and MM will cause no issues whatsoever.

I just found out that MM isn't active at all until you download the first picture. So say you are on a trip and have picture taken but decide you don't like any of them and don't want to download any. If you never download one your MM stays there waiting for a future trip.

 

[Sarah627]

MM is in no way impacted with where you stay as it is simply linked to your MDE account, nothing more. A resort stay isn't even needed to have MM, nor is a MB. Having a MB just makes it easier to scan photos as they are taken, or added automatically on rides. So your split stay and MM will cause no issues whatsoever.

I just found out that MM isn't active at all until you download the first picture. So say you are on a trip and have picture taken but decide you don't like any of them and don't want to download any. If you never download one your MM stays there waiting for a future trip.

Thank you so much for your thorough and thoughtful response!

 

[Whitney Springer]

Thanks so much for all of the useful information! This doesn't seem so far out of the question now!

 

[hopeful4fl]

Ladies and Gentlemen,
Thanks. Loads of great information here. I have a question that may be a very targetted one. I am a newbie as a DVC member and will be booking (or will try) AK 1/9-1/12 and then GF 1/12-17. What we ABSOLUTELY need to have is a booking for Crystal Palace before Rope drop and from all I have read, it is best if we can do it on 1/9, at 7 am EST, starting at 1/16 and working backwards.
With the split stay, (from what I have read here), my only options seem to be to wait till 8 am EST and talk to a CM to try to get a CP reservation, which means I lose an hour and all reservations may be gone.
So..... is it possible if I book an entire trip 1/9-1/17 at AK, and get a CP reservation, then call 1/12 to get the split stay and still "keep" my CP reservation, or if I do the split, my reservation will automatically get whacked and I will need to call in again and be in the same boat as before of losing that key reservation to CP?

 

[TinkFan74]

In a moment of sleep deprivation and flakiness, last night I decided that changing my reservations for my August vacation would be a good idea, so onto the DVC website I went.I now have a split stay with 7 resorts booked over 13 days; the resorts are AKL (2 nights), BWV (2 nights), VGF (1 night), BLT (1 night), VWL (1 night), SSR (2 nights), OKW (4 nights). There are only three of us on this vacation, myself, DD 17, and her friend 17, so there will be no small children to uproot (thank goodness), but will a rental car be necessary? I was thinking of using Uber to travel between resorts the morning of a resort switch, this seems to be less expensive than a rental car, but will I want a car of my own? Has anybody taken the buses from SSR and OKW? Is it frustrating or are they convenient? the last time I stayed at OKW we had a car, so we didn't use the buses.
TIA

 

[sleepymouse]

Ladies and Gentlemen,
Thanks. Loads of great information here. I have a question that may be a very targetted one. I am a newbie as a DVC member and will be booking (or will try) AK 1/9-1/12 and then GF 1/12-17. What we ABSOLUTELY need to have is a booking for Crystal Palace before Rope drop and from all I have read, it is best if we can do it on 1/9, at 7 am EST, starting at 1/16 and working backwards.
With the split stay, (from what I have read here), my only options seem to be to wait till 8 am EST and talk to a CM to try to get a CP reservation, which means I lose an hour and all reservations may be gone.
So..... is it possible if I book an entire trip 1/9-1/17 at AK, and get a CP reservation, then call 1/12 to get the split stay and still "keep" my CP reservation, or if I do the split, my reservation will automatically get whacked and I will need to call in again and be in the same boat as before of losing that key reservation to CP?

I booked dining reservations and then cancelled my hotels and rebooked different hotels. There was a period of a couple of days with no linked hotel reservations, and nothing happened to my dining reservations.

 

[mickey2minnie1]

In a moment of sleep deprivation and flakiness, last night I decided that changing my reservations for my August vacation would be a good idea, so onto the DVC website I went.I now have a split stay with 7 resorts booked over 13 days; the resorts are AKL (2 nights), BWV (2 nights), VGF (1 night), BLT (1 night), VWL (1 night), SSR (2 nights), OKW (4 nights). There are only three of us on this vacation, myself, DD 17, and her friend 17, so there will be no small children to uproot (thank goodness), but will a rental car be necessary? I was thinking of using Uber to travel between resorts the morning of a resort switch, this seems to be less expensive than a rental car, but will I want a car of my own? Has anybody taken the buses from SSR and OKW? Is it frustrating or are they convenient? the last time I stayed at OKW we had a car, so we didn't use the buses.
TIA

Wow! I cannot imagine. This is my first split with POR for 4 nights and Poly for 3 nights. That is already freaking me out, lol. It looks like you will cover a lot of ground during your visit. Have fun!!

 

[TinkFan74]

Wow! I cannot imagine. This is my first split with POR for 4 nights and Poly for 3 nights. That is already freaking me out, lol. It looks like you will cover a lot of ground during your visit. Have fun!!

It was not a well thought out plan, more of a 3am decision made during a night shift, but I think it will be an adventure. You enjoy your trip as well, I have always wanted to stay at POR, maybe someday I will get there.

 

[chocolateavocado]

We're booked for a stay over Thanksgiving. If r/o discounts come out (similar to last year & previous years), part of our trip may qualify for a discount. If we are able to get r/o discount for part of our trip, we'd do a split stay. We have purchased disney's travel insurance. Would the travel insurance still cover our whole trip (both parts of split stay) or just the 1st part?

 

[thisismyusername]

In a moment of sleep deprivation and flakiness, last night I decided that changing my reservations for my August vacation would be a good idea, so onto the DVC website I went.I now have a split stay with 7 resorts booked over 13 days; the resorts are AKL (2 nights), BWV (2 nights), VGF (1 night), BLT (1 night), VWL (1 night), SSR (2 nights), OKW (4 nights). There are only three of us on this vacation, myself, DD 17, and her friend 17, so there will be no small children to uproot (thank goodness), but will a rental car be necessary? I was thinking of using Uber to travel between resorts the morning of a resort switch, this seems to be less expensive than a rental car, but will I want a car of my own? Has anybody taken the buses from SSR and OKW? Is it frustrating or are they convenient? the last time I stayed at OKW we had a car, so we didn't use the buses.
TIA

Wow; you are even more adventurous than we are! If you guys plan to spend your days in the park and not go back to the hotel until after 4 or so, I wouldn't worry about the car. Let Bell Services move your luggage and enjoy the ease of the move. But if you plan to spend less time in the parks and more time at the resorts, I'd get a car or use a taxi/Uber. You can plan to spend about $20 per trip for resort changes (maybe a little less for your close moves, like VGF to BLT and BLT to WL). Good luck with your split stays--it'll be a great adventure!

 

[thisismyusername]

We're booked for a stay over Thanksgiving. If r/o discounts come out (similar to last year & previous years), part of our trip may qualify for a discount. If we are able to get r/o discount for part of our trip, we'd do a split stay. We have purchased disney's travel insurance. Would the travel insurance still cover our whole trip (both parts of split stay) or just the 1st part?

Yes, it will. And we had to use it during a RO portion during a split stay, and had no problems with the claim.

 

[chocolateavocado]

Yes, it will. And we had to use it during a RO portion during a split stay, and had no problems with the claim.

THANK YOU!! This was my biggest worry - travelling from the northeast w/ potential weather issues ....and you never know if an illness can happen.
Thanks again!!

 

[disny_luvr]

We have a split stay coming up in three weeks and this thread has been very helpful. Thank you!

 

[TinkFan74]

Wow; you are even more adventurous than we are! If you guys plan to spend your days in the park and not go back to the hotel until after 4 or so, I wouldn't worry about the car. Let Bell Services move your luggage and enjoy the ease of the move. But if you plan to spend less time in the parks and more time at the resorts, I'd get a car or use a taxi/Uber. You can plan to spend about $20 per trip for resort changes (maybe a little less for your close moves, like VGF to BLT and BLT to WL). Good luck with your split stays--it'll be a great adventure!

Thanks for the advice, I think I will try out Uber.

 

[brighteyes]

I really hope this makes sense to someone...It is giving me a headache lol I have waited almost 7 years to go back and was so excited to get free dining booked. Now with having to change my dates I am so stressed trying to figure this out. I am ready to just cancel altogether...so I am really hoping for some help from you experienced split stayers

I have read a lot of this thread but still cannot figure out the best, least expensive way to do this. I am considering a split stay because my 16 day free dining trip has to be changed as I need to come home a few days earlier than planned but don't want to lose time at the parks.

Here is what I have, RO Summer Discount Offer - Aug 14-15 POP food out of pocket
Aug 15-29 POP Free Dining with PH and WPF&M - Upgraded to the Disney Dining Plan, which was cheaper than staying at a moderate resort, Cost 3,600.00 roughly dont have the exact number on me.

Here is what I need to do - arrive on the 11th and leave on the 26th of August. So we love POP but if it doesn't add too much more to our trip I wouldn't mind trying out CBR for part of our trip.

So POP or CBR Aug 11-15 do I do room only with the summer offer? and then
Aug 15-27 FREE DINING at POP with upgrade to Disney Dining Plan
So where do I book my tickets? We would like 10 day with PH and WP&M, and don't mind having some non park days for waterpark and Downtown Disney and being at the Resort.

I have no idea how to price this to compare if it is feasible to do a split stay whether at POP the whole time or switch to CBR. Just looking for the best way to price this out and most cost effective.

Thanks in advance...

 

[Monykalyn]

Just completed our onsite portion of split stay- was awesome! 3 notes at CBR, 3 nights at Beach club. The packing tips are spot on (since we just did 2 resorts- each resort stuff in different bags, toiletries, swim suits in a third bag). Would definitely recommend starting at the lower value resort and end with higher (if splitting between categories like we did). And our Beach club room was ready (with pool view upgrade free!) when we checked out of CBR so no "homeless" time either. Would definitely do this again.

 

[Metz172]

Just completed our onsite portion of split stay- was awesome! 3 notes at CBR, 3 nights at Beach club. The packing tips are spot on (since we just did 2 resorts- each resort stuff in different bags, toiletries, swim suits in a third bag). Would definitely recommend starting at the lower value resort and end with higher (if splitting between categories like we did). And our Beach club room was ready (with pool view upgrade free!) when we checked out of CBR so no "homeless" time either. Would definitely do this again.

I agree with doing the higher category at the end of your stay. We did 6 nights at CBR and 3 at AKL club level. We had done everything we wanted to do in the parks the first part of the trip so we were able to really enjoy the amenities of the resort and club lounge and spent time in the room enjoying the animals outside the room. I felt we really got our monies worth out of the deluxe hotel.

 

[FosterLovesMickey]

Has anyone done a split stay with a night at a Universal resort in the middle? Any tips for doing this? We're trying to budget for the express pass & it seems that 1 night at a Universal Hotel will get us an unlimited express pass for 2 days at Universal. Thanks for any help you can give!!

I may have overlooked it - but, i didn't see a response to this. I'm considering a similar strategy for my Jan 2016 trip… Does anyone have any tips?? Thanks!