Am I crazy?? Switching hotels nightly!

[4orm]

A friend of ours has left over DVC points and since we're trying to do our fall trip as inexpensive as possible I thought I'd take them off her hands. The only problem is there is NOTHING available. One room will pop up here or there but never two nights together. At first this bummed me out - then I saw a BLT pop up our first night. Perfect I though - we're going to MNSSHP our first night so that would be convenient. Then an AKL savanna view for the following night which I snagged. At this rate we'll be switching rooms each night! If we did how bad would that be? As long as I pack well so it's easy to pack up when we leave I can't imagine it to be a major issue since between the hours of 11a-4p we'll be at the parks anyhow. We're planning of making this trip an invite from Captain Hook for our pirate loving daughter so I thought we could incorporate our nomadic hotel hopping as part of some scavenger hunt or something.
Anyone a the crazy mattress hop like we're planning?

 

[The_Princess's_Mommy]

Well the good news is, you'll see lots of different resorts in a short period of time! So if you have a bad room, all you have to do it wait until the next night

I think the big drawback is going to be packing up your stuff every morning before the parks. Probably not a huge deal, just a pain in the butt. How do you plan on getting your suitcases from resort to resort?

Good luck and enjoy your mega-resort-hopping experience!

 

[jrtoastyman]

We're DVC members, and I've considered doing this as well from time to time as sort of a different way to experience a trip. If you could set it up right, you could probably even save yourself some travel time. For example:

-Check in at BLT, go to MK
-Wake up, check out, drop bags at bell desk, head to EPCOT
-Spend day at park, check in to Beach Club
-Wake up, check out, drop bags at bell desk, head to Animal Kingdom
-Spend day at park, check in to AKV
-Wake up, check out, drop bags at bell desk, head to Hollywood Studios
-Spend day at park, check in to Boardwalk

etc.

Packing efficiently would be key, but it could end up being a lot of fun. Major downside, as I see it, is that if you wanted to go back to your room for a midday nap or break, it could be problematic, since DVC resorts are notorious for taking that 4 pm check-in seriously.

 

[SyracuseWolvrine]

I would recommend keeping your park tickets separate from your room keys. The more times you exchange tickets onto different room keys, the more opportunities for something to go wrong, and cause you delays and/or frustrations.

On a similar note, I'd also recommend not using the dining plan for this particular trip. Your dining plan allotment is tied to your resort reservation, and leftover points can not be transferred to the next reservation. (On a similar note, "future" dining points can not be borrowed to your current reservation)

 

[jrtoastyman]

How do you plan on getting your suitcases from resort to resort?

You can give it to the bell desk, and they'll deliver it to your next result, gratis (plus tip).

 

[4orm]

We have a car rental so it's a non-issue. I was thinking of leaving the bags with bell the first day after we check out of BLT and getting them after we dine at CG that evening.
I'll pack according to outfits so we can easily lay out what we're wearing the night before and have most everything packed up before we go to bed.
We've done a lot of split stays in the past but this will be a new adventure lol.

 

[4orm]

Jrtoastyman - that's exactly what we're thinking. To make it easier on ourselves we might even tip bell well in the mornings to come get our bags from our room and store for the day.
The only worry I have is if illness creeps up on any of us.

 

[Singinglizzie]

Wow you are doing (or maybe doing) what I've always wanted to do and that is stay at a different WDW resort every night! Just note that you could continue to check back with the DVC folks to see if any "pair" of nights open up - as that might be easier for you. Have fun!!!

 

[jlk806]

We are doing 3 resorts over 10 nights in 2 weeks! Switching resorts EVERY night would be wayyy too much switching for me. But we really like to settle into the rooms, get comfortable at the resort, etc. Bell services always delivers our luggage to our new resort when we switch. With some planning, it could work though!

 

[bumbershoot]

I like split stays, but your plan would be a challenge even for me!

It'll be all about efficient packing, not taking too many extras, and being SURE to have a set bag to keep important things in that you might need, like bathing suits, etc. Don't let that get mixed up in the bags!


With the rental car, you have some freedom. We sometimes have the Bell people at the hotel we're leaving hold our bags, if it's simple to swing back by there to pick them up, when it's time to check in to the next hotel. And other times we'll leave the hotel, take the bags to the new place, do the checkin process, and either put bags in the room if we get in early or have Bell hold onto them there at the new hotel. Just depends on our plans for that morning and day!

You do get to budget a bit more for Bell Services, but in the grand scheme of things it's not that bad.

 

[MMS1125]

I'd just live out of my suitcase for this trip but it sounds fun!

 

[Micca]

While I love the positive attitude expressed by others, this sounds like an awful plan. Surely there's a better way?

 

[Mich Mouse]

It seems like there will be a lot of time lost on your vacation. Even packing light you will still be spending time rounding up your toothbrush, bags, etc. when you may have just enjoyed the morning on your balcony with a cup of coffee. It sounds stressful to me and I love to split our stays. We just did four nights at BC and three at BLT.

Has your friend placed you on a wait list? Each DVC membership can have two active wait lists and I have had much success with matches.

 

[Magic3forme]

we did 3 resorts this summer over 9 days. The hardest part was waiting for the room to be done. The one wasnt ready until almost 4 pm.

It was interesting to get to see a new home resort. (SSR).

It wasnt too bad, but I wouldnt want to switch every night.

 

[4orm]

Update! We were able to snag two night in a row at both BTL lakeview and AKL savanna view! So happy my incessant checking paid off! I can deal with checking out ever second day no problem. We've backpacked around Europe before a few times staying two days at the most at any given place so this will be no problem. Still going to wait list other days to maybe get an even longer stretch. The online DVC system changes constantly. I'm lucky to have the time to do all the checking required to get the odd day that pops up.

 

[Magic3forme]

awesome--- we love BLT and AKL!!

 

[herb102211]

We've done this before and actually really enjoyed it. We scheduled a last minute trip in May and it was slim pickings. We got BLT for one night, OKW for 2 and then BCV for another. We got to see resorts we haven't stayed at (other than BCV) and it was really fun. We made our itinerary around where we were staying. We went to MK when we were at BLT, DTD and Typhoon Lagoon when we were at OKW and Epcot when we were at BCV. Luggage wasn't an issue. We would check out of the room early in the morning, head to the parks, then come back and check in at our resort in the afternoon and our luggage was waiting for us. Have fun resort hopping!

 

[Masonmj84]

At one time, I'd actually dreamed up the following 8 nights at 8 resorts mega split stay:

Arrival Day: 1st resort: Poly (dinner at 'Ohana);
Day 1: MK; 2nd resort: WL (dinner at Artist Point);
Day 2: MK; 3rd resort: AKL (dinner at Jiko);
Day 3: AK; 4th resort: YC (dinner at Yachtsman);
Day 4: EP; 5th resort: BWI (dinner at Flying Fish);
Day 5: HS; 6th resort: BC (dinner at HBD);
Day 6: EP; 7th resort: CR (dinner at Cali Grill);
Day 7: MK; 8th resort: GF (dinner at Citricos).
Departure Day: fly home

What I loved about this plan is that:
(A) you get to check out (and compare) each of the 8 deluxe resorts (& swim in all of their different pools, etc.);
(B) you always wake up at a resort that's convenient to the park you're visiting that day;
(C) you get to eat dinner at a different (usually signature) restaurant every night, with the restaurant being in (or within walking distance of) the resort you're staying; and
(D) you only have to ride the bus 3 times (from MK to AKL, from AKL to AK, and from AK to YC).

What I hated about this plan is that:
(A) you have to pack up and change resorts every day;
(B) checking out of resorts every morning essentially negates the advantage of being close to the parks;
(C) since you're changing resorts so often, you never feel "home"; and
(D) all of the logistics involved makes Murphy's Law a virtual inevitability (especially expecting Bell Services to perfectly pull off 7 consective luggage transfers).

Ultimately, I decided I could experience most of the above advantages by simply doing a MK resort/EP resort split stay (for which we'd only have to change resorts once).

But part of me still thinks the 8 resorts in 8 nights split would be kind of cool to try (at the very least, it would make for an interesting trip report).

 

[notaclue]

Just curious, when are you going?

 

[Singinglizzie]

At one time, I'd actually dreamed up the following 8 nights at 8 resorts mega split stay:

Arrival Day: 1st resort: Poly (dinner at 'Ohana);
Day 1: MK; 2nd resort: WL (dinner at Artist Point);
Day 2: MK; 3rd resort: AKL (dinner at Jiko);
Day 3: AK; 4th resort: YC (dinner at Yachtsman);
Day 4: EP; 5th resort: BWI (dinner at Flying Fish);
Day 5: HS; 6th resort: BC (dinner at HBD);
Day 6: EP; 7th resort: CR (dinner at Cali Grill);
Day 7: MK; 8th resort: GF (dinner at Citricos).
Departure Day: fly home

What I loved about this plan is that:
(A) you get to check out (and compare) each of the 8 deluxe resorts (& swim in all of their different pools, etc.);
(B) you always wake up at a resort that's convenient to the park you're visiting that day;
(C) you get to eat dinner at a different (usually signature) restaurant every night, with the restaurant being in (or within walking distance of) the resort you're staying; and
(D) you only have to ride the bus 3 times (from MK to AKL, from AKL to AK, and from AK to YC).

What I hated about this plan is that:
(A) you have to pack up and change resorts every day;
(B) checking out of resorts every morning essentially negates the advantage of being close to the parks;
(C) since you're changing resorts so often, you never feel "home"; and
(D) all of the logistics involved makes Murphy's Law a virtual inevitability (especially expecting Bell Services to perfectly pull off 7 consective luggage transfers).

Ultimately, I decided I could experience most of the above advantages by simply doing a MK resort/EP resort split stay (for which we'd only have to change resorts once).

But part of me still thinks the 8 resorts in 8 nights split would be kind of cool to try (at the very least, it would make for an interesting trip report).

This is what I'm talking about! Would love to do something like this and change hotels everynight - I think it would be a real WDW adventure!!!