BWV or AKL

[Nicole722]

Advice needed:

We are planning 5 night trip in December with our 4 children 17,13, ,7 & 3.
Our hope was to secure a 2 bedroom villa at BWV by renting points however, the first night of our stay is unavailable. We are debating on taking the reservation for the 4 nights and staying the first night in 2 rooms at POP. Would it be difficult to switch resorts or would it be pretty easy with 6 people?

Our other option is take a 2 bedroom Savanna view at AKL which is available for our whole stay. My concern with AKL is that it’s far from everything else.

Looking for any input you may have. Torn because we love the BW and Skyliner but I am concerned about the split and it messing up somehow or being difficult,
Thanks!

 

[HiStitch626]

We love AKL, but it is not as convenient for transportation, and the food options are more limited than the Boardwalk area. Transferring is not an issue. Bell services will collect your bags at POP and move them to BWV for you.

 

[Olaf Myfrenzargay]

I do splits all the time. Never a problem. You have a bigger crew but it’s only a problem if you make it one.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

I’ve done two split stays. I despise packing and unpacking so they annoy me (and I don’t feel “settled” until I get to the second resort) but it is worth it. Bell services takes your bags and you’re done.

I’ve done 5 nights each at Poly and BC. It was great to try both resorts. Last trip I rented points at BWV and decided to add two nights so we did POFQ. It was worth it. Next trip I’m going to avoid the split stay.

In your situation I would do Pop then BWV.

 

[cutigerlady]

I would do the split stay because I think BWV would have more options of things to do/transportation. I love AKL, but prefer to stay here when we aren’t going to the parks. I’ve heard so many discussions of kids not wanting to leave watching the animals and it seems to take awhile to get anywhere from here.

 

[NJ Goofy]

I would do the split stay also, it's not a big deal to move. I guess you tried to get two studios or one studio & a one bedroom for the first night at BWV ? Did you waitlist ? Also maybe by then the BWI will be open and you can try to grab two rooms there. If you do get lucky and get two rooms, you'd have to put your name on one and your spouse's on the other (someone in room has to be 18).

 

[Dakota731]

When we stayed at BWI it was nice to be able to walk to two theme parks. We always park hopped back to Epcot for dinner and fireworks too. We had teens at the time so now and then they wanted to go off on their own and it was safe and easy

 

[RanDIZ]

Split stays are great! It’s like like 2 separate vacations. The biggest issue I guess would be inconsistent check-in times at the new resort. I’ve had great experiences checking in before 10a. I’ve also heard horror stories of late ones. If the check-in day is going to be a resort only day, I wouldn’t worry too much about it.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Advice needed:

We are planning 5 night trip in December with our 4 children 17,13, ,7 & 3.
Our hope was to secure a 2 bedroom villa at BWV by renting points however, the first night of our stay is unavailable. We are debating on taking the reservation for the 4 nights and staying the first night in 2 rooms at POP. Would it be difficult to switch resorts or would it be pretty easy with 6 people?

Our other option is take a 2 bedroom Savanna view at AKL which is available for our whole stay. My concern with AKL is that it’s far from everything else.

Looking for any input you may have. Torn because we love the BW and Skyliner but I am concerned about the split and it messing up somehow or being difficult,
Thanks!

JMHO but I would do the split stay. AKL is just soooo long of a ride to MK.
I would pack separately for the 1 night in either individual carry on bags pp or depending on luggage configuration, put everyone's PJs and first morning's clean clothes all in one suitcase. This makes it easy to be able to get dressed that first morning with minimal unpacking. (At least, this is what we do for short pre-cruise hotel/WDW stays and don't really want to dig through our suitcases for something to wear. It also gives a separate place to put all the dirty clothes you wore for travel day without it mixing with the clean stuff. Also just me being being easily grossed out but I skeeve having to use a toothbrush, then pack it to travel again so I buy cheap toothbrushes from the dollar store (2 sets) so we can toss the ones we use at our first stop. Then when we unpack at our next room, we have new toothbrushes again which we toss at the end of our trip. We never have to worry about leaving one behind in our morning rush or unpacking a wet, used toothbrush.

As for our split stay, we just packed up our bags and asked Bell Services to move the bags to our next resort, went to the park, and returned to the next resort at the end of the day. Stopped at Bell Services to get our bags and then fully unpacked. It's easier when one of the 2 stays is very short. I think it would be more disruptive in the case of let's say a 10 day trip spending 5 days in one resort, then 5 at another. Again, JMHO.
We love the BW/BC/YC area.

 

[Deb & Bill]

AKL/AKV is only about 13 minutes to Epcot, a bit longer to MK, a bit less to DHS and even less to AK. Nearly everything is far from DS except for OKW and SSR. Currently dining at AKL-Jambo House isn't open and I'm not sure it will be open in Dec. Maybe someone else will know. Mara is open for breakfast only. Sanaa is open for quick breakfast and dinner, plus take out. Kidani Village will have an extra bathroom near the entry to the villa. So a two bedroom would have three full bathrooms. A dedicated two bedroom would have two queen beds in the second bedroom, a twin sized sleeper chair and queen sleeper sofa in the living room. Plus the king in the master bedroom. Jambo House villas are converted hotel rooms, so a two bedroom would be a lockoff.

 

[iheartglaciers]

I love split stays (Disney makes it really easy and we stay in the parks all day on the transfer day), but I know a of people would rather stay in one place the whole time. Boardwalk is great for walking to Epcot and Hollywood Studios. However, I don't feel like AKL is far from everything. It's super close to AK (and MK resorts are far from AK) and I've always found their bus service to be great.

Another consideration, BWV only has lock-off 2 bedrooms (a studio attached to a 1-BR), so the second bedroom has one "real" bed and a pullout sofa. As deb & Bill said, AKV Kidani has a dedcated 2-BR (with 2 queen beds in the second bedroom) and three bathrooms! (AKV Jambo are all lock-off 2-BR with only 2 bathrooms).