Am I understanding how a split stay works?

[mamamelody2]

We are looking at perhaps going to WDW November 12-19 (Sunday-Sunday). In 2016, free dining was available for stays beginning November 15. If that happened again, I would want to do a split stay to take advantage of the free dining (if possible, I know it's not guaranteed at all).

SO, I would need to book the first 3 or 4 nights at one resort, then the rest (starting on the first free dining date) at another resort. I would need to buy our 7-day ticket with the 2nd stay, and then just have them activate the ticket when we arrived on the 12th. Is that correct??

Also, if we bought memory maker with the 2nd stay, would we be able to use it for the whole trip (activated with our tickets) or would it only be good for the 2nd stay?

And if we DID get free dining, say beginning on the 15th, when would the credits be available? Right away on the 15th? Later in the day?? Not quite sure how that works. We would just drop off our luggage early that morning to be transferred to the 2nd resort, then head to a park bright and early. Curious if our meal credits will be available at that point.

Anything else I am missing?

 

[DisneyWishes14]

You wouldn't necessarily have to switch resorts. If free dining comes out and you need to split the stay, the easiest thing to do is to book your free dining package for the last nights and then book the same resort/room category for the beginning of your trip. That way, you, most likely won't even need to switch rooms. If you WANT to split the stay between two resorts, sure! But you don't have to.

I would just buy Memory Maker separately so it isn't part of a package. It's the same price.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

A few things to note:

• If you bought 7 day tickets as a package on the second stay and activated your ticket on arrival on the 12th, you would be unable to book 60/30 FP+ for the 12th, 13th, or 14th. You could only book FP+ once the ticket was activated for those days. For the dates of the second stay, you could book at 60 days.
• ADR booking would be based on two check-in dates. You could only book 180+length of stay one, then 180+length of stay two.
• Your dining credits for the second stay would be available after you checked out of stay one, and into stay two. Online check-in usually works for the second part, but you would have to be checked out of your first booking.

The ADRs and the FP+ are the big things to understand about the approach you want to take.

 

[Amy M]

A few things to note:

• If you bought 7 day tickets as a package on the second stay and activated your ticket on arrival on the 12th, you would be unable to book 60/30 FP+ for the 12th, 13th, or 14th. You could only book FP+ once the ticket was activated for those days. For the dates of the second stay, you could book at 60 days.
• ADR booking would be based on two check-in dates. You could only book 180+length of stay one, then 180+length of stay two.
• Your dining credits for the second stay would be available after you checked out of stay one, and into stay two. Online check-in usually works for the second part, but you would have to be checked out of your first booking.

The ADRs and the FP+ are the big things to understand about the approach you want to take.

How would it work if you were booked at one resort with the dining plan and then move to another resort, also with the dining plan? Would all credits from the first stay/resort have to be used by midnight of that checkout date or will they all be "lumped" together (both dining plans from both reservations)? My parents are in a situation where they have to do a split stay, as of right now, because there is no availability the first 2 nights of our stay at Coronado Springs (I think Disney is holding back rooms for some reason. I would find it hard to believe that the resort would be sold out already for a stay at the beginning of June).

 

[_auroraborealis_]

Would all credits from the first stay/resort have to be used by midnight of that checkout date or will they all be "lumped" together (both dining plans from both reservations)?

You would have to use all the credits from stay 1 by 11:59PM of your check-out day, AND you would not have access to ANY of your second stay's credits until all of stay 1's credits were gone, whether via use or via expiration. So if you checked out of stay 1 and had 3 snacks left, you couldn't access the TS credits of your next stay until those snacks were gone, or 11:59PM had passed and your snack credits turned into pumpkins.

Coronado Springs (I think Disney is holding back rooms for some reason. I would find it hard to believe that the resort would be sold out already for a stay at the beginning of June)

There is a large convention at Coronado the first week in June ("Scaling New Heights: Face the Yeti" NOT KIDDING. I think it gets about 1500 participants). Coronado is also in refurb, and they are closing 1-2 buildings completely at a time for the refurb work. So it's not that Disney is "holding back" rooms so much as they're booking for a convention, and some cannot be booked at all because they're jackhammering in those buildings.

 

[mamamelody2]

You wouldn't necessarily have to switch resorts. If free dining comes out and you need to split the stay, the easiest thing to do is to book your free dining package for the last nights and then book the same resort/room category for the beginning of your trip. That way, you, most likely won't even need to switch rooms. If you WANT to split the stay between two resorts, sure! But you don't have to.

I would just buy Memory Maker separately so it isn't part of a package. It's the same price.

I did wonder if we could do 2 "stays" but both at the same resort.
I didn't realize you could just buy Memory Maker totally separately. Does it "activate" when the tickets are activated or how does that work??

 

[mamamelody2]

A few things to note:

• If you bought 7 day tickets as a package on the second stay and activated your ticket on arrival on the 12th, you would be unable to book 60/30 FP+ for the 12th, 13th, or 14th. You could only book FP+ once the ticket was activated for those days. For the dates of the second stay, you could book at 60 days.
• ADR booking would be based on two check-in dates. You could only book 180+length of stay one, then 180+length of stay two.
• Your dining credits for the second stay would be available after you checked out of stay one, and into stay two. Online check-in usually works for the second part, but you would have to be checked out of your first booking.

The ADRs and the FP+ are the big things to understand about the approach you want to take.

That's right, I forgot I read something about the FP+ situation. I think I'm ok with only having FPs set up for the 2nd stay, as it will only be DH and I so we should be able to get some decent FPs day of with compulsive use of the "refresh" button on MDE.

ADRs aren't a really big deal for us either as we are looking to go "value" so will only have QSDP if we get free dining. We will do a couple OOP TS meals, but shouldn't be too hard to get.

 

[pens4821]

As far as when your credits are available, I would go to the resort to let them know you are there and would like to start using them (unless you get a text saying your room was ready). We had two rooms, one of us got a text saying room was ready, one didn't. When we were finished eating it was showing that we had no credits (we were the ones without the room ready text the ones that got the text were fine). Now, it wasn't a huge deal. The server got the manager, who called the resort, and got it taken care of, but I felt bad making them go out of their way. I wasn't aware that evidently your credits don't begin until you're checked in (I've read some people haven't had issues too though).

 

[cassie58]

If you split your stay w/room only nts., you would want to request a continuing reservation so you can hopefully stay in the same room. Then you can do online check-in the night before the package reservation with earliest time possible, like 6 am, so you will be set to start the day with credits. When you check in the first time, you can ask them about second check in to verify process.

Just an FYI, you will not be able to get tickets activated early at the resort unless things have changed. It used to need to be done at Disney Springs, but I have heard it can now be done at Guest Relations at the parks.

You can prepurchase memory maker for the lower price before your trip, I think up until til 3 days prior, and it activates when you take the first picture with a Photopass photographer and is linked to your MDE account, so doesn't matter if you do a split stay, even if is at different resorts. You have 45 days from then to claim photos, edit, and download. Don't forget to ask for Magic Shots!

 

[mamamelody2]

Thanks everyone for the info! It is complicated, but if we can get free dining for part of the trip, it would be worth it!

 

[Amy M]

You would have to use all the credits from stay 1 by 11:59PM of your check-out day, AND you would not have access to ANY of your second stay's credits until all of stay 1's credits were gone, whether via use or via expiration. So if you checked out of stay 1 and had 3 snacks left, you couldn't access the TS credits of your next stay until those snacks were gone, or 11:59PM had passed and your snack credits turned into pumpkins.



There is a large convention at Coronado the first week in June ("Scaling New Heights: Face the Yeti" NOT KIDDING. I think it gets about 1500 participants). Coronado is also in refurb, and they are closing 1-2 buildings completely at a time for the refurb work. So it's not that Disney is "holding back" rooms so much as they're booking for a convention, and some cannot be booked at all because they're jackhammering in those buildings.

Thanks for the info!!! How would it work if they booked two reservations in hopes that a room at Coronado comes available later. For example, book June 4-11 at Pop Century and June 7-11 at Coronado (those are the dates that are currently available there). I am assuming that they can cancel the one they don't want and get their $200 back, correct? This would be a gamble on Coronado opening up more rooms for June 4-6. I hope this makes sense!

 

[mamamelody2]

SO, should I book the week, then if free dining comes up for part of it adjust the booking? How? Shorten the original booking and switch it to room only, then add a 2nd one with tickets and free dining??

And I had not idea you could do a split stay in the same resort. How exactly does that work??

 

[loves to dive]

SO, should I book the week, then if free dining comes up for part of it adjust the booking? How? Shorten the original booking and switch it to room only, then add a 2nd one with tickets and free dining??

And I had not idea you could do a split stay in the same resort. How exactly does that work??

Just be careful with your expectations on this. While they will try to let you stay in the same room, it's not guaranteed and it's possible you are going to have to change rooms. If you heart isn't truly set on FD, you might look into room only discounts. If you are only getting the QS free dining, you might come out better with room discount and just paying out of pocket for your food.

 

[mamamelody2]

Just be careful with your expectations on this. While they will try to let you stay in the same room, it's not guaranteed and it's possible you are going to have to change rooms. If you heart isn't truly set on FD, you might look into room only discounts. If you are only getting the QS free dining, you might come out better with room discount and just paying out of pocket for your food.

I would be fine moving rooms. No problem with that at all.
Since we are probably looking at a value resort, free dining, even just the quick service plan is a much better savings than the room discount.

 

[Hopefully]

SO, should I book the week, then if free dining comes up for part of it adjust the booking? How? Shorten the original booking and switch it to room only, then add a 2nd one with tickets and free dining??

And I had not idea you could do a split stay in the same resort. How exactly does that work??

No. it no longer works this way. You can not simply add or drop nights from an existing reservation. You would have to book 2 new reservations, if available, & cancel the reservation you have.

 

[PixieLily]

That is what I thought too.

 

[Amy M]

We are staying one night at Pop Century (room only) and then moving to CSR for the week. The room at Pop is due to fining a great deal on flights a day earlier and no room being available at CSR. We are planning to take the bus straight to MK the morning we check out of Pop and into CSR. Will this work? I want to be able to use my dining plan and of course park tickets that day. I don't want to have to go to CSR before heading to MK.

 

[dansdad]

We are staying one night at Pop Century (room only) and then moving to CSR for the week. The room at Pop is due to fining a great deal on flights a day earlier and no room being available at CSR. We are planning to take the bus straight to MK the morning we check out of Pop and into CSR. Will this work? I want to be able to use my dining plan and of course park tickets that day. I don't want to have to go to CSR before heading to MK.

Whenever we have done this we have physically checked out of resort #1. We make sure we do Online Check In for resort #2 and give an estimated time of arrival of 7:00AM. When we get to the parks our tickets have been good and we've been able to use our dining credits. We've done this 3 times now. I don't know if this is how it has to be done, but it has worked just fine so I'll keep doing it this way when we have that situation.