Booked but can't split stay...

[Summer-Caitlin]

First of all

My husband and I are booked from Sept 9th 2010 for 16 nights at OKW with 21 day tickets and deluxe dining for the whole stay

However my original plan was to book 11 nights OKW and 5 nights WL but was told that I wouldn't be able to do this unless I bought 4 theme park tickets. I would need theme park tickets for my stay in OKW and seperate ones for WL as dining cannot be booked unless it shows I have theme park tickets for both accommodations I am quite annoyed by this as I really wanted to stay at WL but couldn't afford to do much more than the 5 nights. I can't believe there isn't a system that recognises that you have already purchased tickets for the duration of your stay, all I wanted to do was split my stay

Does anyone know if there is a way around this? I considered buying a 14 day pass, then a 5 day pass, but as you all know there isn't much difference in cost, so it would cost us almost another £400 and that is before adding on the stay and the upgrade to DDDP.

On the other hand we are booked for 16 nights OKW, that in itself is a reason to celebrate

 

[orangetiggs]

we had the same problem this year, we were going to split stay but had to buy tickets again and didnt want to pay extra for them

So glad your booked up, the offer is now extended! I'm glad it was as i forgot yesterday to book!

 

[UKDEB]

Who have you booked through? This has come up before and it's certainly possible, but it might be a case of convincing the person you're speaking to that it can be done. Others will either have direct experience, or will remember the detail of previous discussions (which I don't ).

 

[Summer-Caitlin]

I booked through Disney UK.

I was on hold for about 15 minutes but was determined to book.

We did a 3 way split stay for our wedding/honeymoon and had free dining. Stayed 3 nights CBR before wedding, then 4 nights POFQ after wedding, then 7 nights GF. We did have problems initially with the dining but was sorted by Disney very quickly. We booked that with a TA and they had told us it was possible but they didn't mention that we should have stayed 5 nights minimum in each hotel to be eligible for the dining.

I was sure it would have been possible this time...

 

[Claire L]

Different booking agents have different rukes, I know with VA for the free dining you cannot do a split stay. The best option is booking with US Disney as for the two stays you could get one day (non expiring passes) and then buy a ticket to cover the duration. With the non expiring one days you can use then as credit towards tickets direct from Disney in the future.

Claire

 

[EvertonCJ]

The exact same problem happened to our family. We booked last September for a holiday this August. We originally wanted to do a split stay at AKL and YAB, booking the whole holiday through VH. We were originally told we could do this, then we were told we couldn't. We got totally different answers depending on who we spoke to. VH were quite happy with us doing the split stay holiday, but one of their reps spoke to Disney who said it could not be done. Eventually we were told we couldn't do this as we would have to book seperate park tickets for each hotel. One of the problems that I find with Disney is the lack of flexibilty and common sense when dealing with requests. We are now staying at SSR from August 3rd for 17 nights with the free DDP. Ironically, we are spending less money on the holiday by visiting SSR than we would have done with the split stay holiday. .

 

[Summer-Caitlin]

EvertonCJ - Exactly, we are spending about £400 less by not going to WL, fine for me, although I did want to stay there. You think there would be something in place to allow for split stays...

 

[wayneg]

Quite a common problem, I can't think I have ever seen anyone get around it. Your free DDP ends the day you check out, only way to get it again at a new resort is buy more tickets.
Would be interesting if anyone has done it.

 

[tubtruck]

Quite a common problem, I can't think I have ever seen anyone get around it. Your free DDP ends the day you check out, only way to get it again at a new resort is buy more tickets.
Would be interesting if anyone has done it.

Only way to get around it is by being a DVC member staying on points. You can book dining for the length of stay at each resort. No tickets are required at all for DVC members (or their guests i.e rentees) to book the dining plan.

 

[Claire L]

Only way to get around it is by being a DVC member staying on points. You can book dining for the length of stay at each resort. No tickets are required at all for DVC members (or their guests i.e rentees) to book the dining plan.

Very true but then it is not free DDP, I am sure with the regular hotel stays at full price for DDP you only need to buy a one day MYW regardless of length of stay to qualify for DDP!

Claire

 

[wayneg]

Only way to get around it is by being a DVC member staying on points. You can book dining for the length of stay at each resort. No tickets are required at all for DVC members (or their guests i.e rentees) to book the dining plan.

An expensive option compared to free DDP & 42% discount offer though. Costing us £91/night this August for 3 of us, DDP would cost almost that before starting renting points, its probably a good option when free DDP/42% offer ends.

 

[UKDEB]

I'm sure someone posted with the same issue and was finally able to get someone at Disney UK to see sense.

 

[Summer-Caitlin]

Am still yet to find anyone that has managed this. I am happy to be staying at OKW, but would have liked to try WL. Anyone? I am definitely not buying another 2 tickets, not at that price!

 

[orangetiggs]

not the best option but what you could do is book wl seperatly and then you stll have the room at OKW and stay a couple of days at WL, then you have your tickets a ddp

 

[Summer-Caitlin]

Hmmm, that is another option. I thought WL was doable but it seems like it would cost so much more to stay there. There must be something in the system that knows you are staying and doing a split stay. I refuse to believe I am the only one on free DDP that wants to do this!

 

[minniemarie]

I'm in the same situation, did you manage to sort it out?

Dec 12-17 POR free QSDP then moving to POP (17-28) and buying full dining plan, 14 day tix on each reservation needed to purchase both!! Can't be right....

 

[scojos]

we are in the same boat too, so if you do find a solution let us know!
we have booked for 14 days at ssr with free ddp and the 42% discount, so for us a real bargain (a family suite at pop without dining was more than double the cost
we were looking a splitting in the campsite (i think ds would love all the animals and space) but the quote we got was too good an offer to refuse, the rooms are massive at ssr 1000 sq foot, last year we stayed at pors and had 300 sq ft - which with 5 is doable but i wouldnt recommend it...
when in enquired about a split stay, i would have had to do a new booking, buy park tickets again, it just wasnt worth it, maybe another stay will try a split stay. plus at the dvc we have washing machine, full kitchen etc. so whilst we are on the ddp, it gives us the option of snacking in room before going to park and keeping the cs / ts for lunch and dinner
hope you find a solution
tx

 

[Lizzybear]

It is a pain that it's nigh on impossible to split stay with free dining now... If it was doable I would have booked 2-3 nights at AKL at the end of our stay but I guess Disney doesn't want our money!! I think we should all E-mail them with our thoughts on this, maybe if they find out enough people want to do it they'll consider making it easier!

 

[Summer-Caitlin]

I really wish I could say that I managed to split my stay. I would still love to do this as WL is definitely a place I wanted to stay, was really hoping to add this on as a surprise to my husband. It does seem the only way to do this is by purchasing additional tickets, which seems really unfair. I think that dropping them an email might help.

I did a split stay when I was on free dining last time, but there was a huge mix up with and on the eve of my wedding, so certainly could have done without the stress!! However we split 3 ways and only did 3 nights CBR, 4 nights POFQ then 7 nights GF. Looking back on it, we were very lucky Disney stepped in and sorted it as we had booked with Going Places so it wasn't Disney's responsibility to sort.

So again if anyone does figure out how to get around this, let us all know!

ETA Does anyone have an email address for them? I checked my invoice and there isn't an email.