Decisions about driving/luggage transfer/schedules AKV & POP

[MoeJ]

I have not been to Disney since January 2010 and I know that a ton of stuff has changed. I've done my best to use the search function so I'm not clogging things up, but I have a choice here that I think people more familiar with the way things work now, transportation-wise, may be able to give advice. DD16 and I are staying 5 nights, June 2-6, departing on June 7th. We live in Florida, so we're driving and will have a car.

I have a room-only reservation for our first night at AKV Kidani (little splurge before we transfer to POP, and doing a Starlight tour that evening). The next morning is our first park day at Epcot and we have a PPO reservation at Akershus.

Question is how we deal with my car/our luggage/etc. Options I've looked at:

• Load bags in car, drive to Epcot, park and trek through Future World to PPO Akershus reservation. Hike back to car at some point, drive to POP and check in and freshen up. Take bus from POP to MK for dinner reservation/evening EMH.
• Give bags to bell services at AKV for transfer to POP. Drive to Epcot, park and trek through Future World to PPO Akershus reservation. Hike back to car at some point, drive to POP and check in and freshen up. Take bus from POP to MK for dinner reservation/evening EMH.
• Load bags in car, drive to POP and check in, leaving bags at bell services. Take Skyliner to Epcot for PPO Akershus reservation. Take Skyliner back to POP and freshen up. Take bus from POP to MK for 8:45 dinner reservation/evening EMH.

What would y'all more experienced folks recommend? If anybody has alternatives I'd love to hear them!

I am perfectly prepared for this to be cancelled, it is what it is. Just trying to distract myself by learning what I can.

 

[DisneyDreaminDee]

To me option 1 makes the most sense and is the least amount of hassle.

 

[Wild4Walt]

I'd do option 3 - what I like about that option is it kills 2 birds with 1 stone, I have dropped off my bags and I'm checked in. So, hopefully, by the time you are ready to come back to your room you already have access.

 

[glocon]

Personally I would rather not leave my bags in the car, especially in the heat, if I had another choice. Also, what Wild4Walt said.

 

[nkereina]

You can leave your car at AKV even though you've checked out - I believe its good there until midnight of your check out day. What if you stored your bags with bell services at AKV, bus to Epcot, and then later in the day when you're done at Epcot, you bus back to AKV, collect your bags and car, drive to Pop and get settled, then bus to MK. It would avoid the heat and security concerns of leaving your bags in the car and should allow for a later start on your Epcot morning. Plus less walking from the Epcot parking lot.

Personally, I would avoid having Disney transfer your bags. I have heard horror stories where it can take 12+ hours and there's not efficient tracking of them. Issues with transfers seem more common than any issues with DME luggage delivery, so it would just make me nervous. Also, with option 3, I'm not sure how early the Skyliner is running but it may be cutting it close to make a PPO reservation.

 

[Dave006]

Personally I would rather not leave my bags in the car, especially in the heat, if I had another choice. Also, what Wild4Walt said.

Yet another vote for not leaving luggage in the car in Florida's heat & humidify. Personal items like electronics, makeup, bath & hair items and medicines often don't fair well in the car.

I would just drop your bags with bell services at AKL, enjoy your morning and just take the bus back to AKL to grab your bags and car and head to POP when you are ready.

Dave

 

[loves to dive]

We do split stays often, although without early morning PPOs. 80% of the time we get up early and drive to resort #2, check in and where we are staying determines what we do with our bags. If we are staying at a value or moderate, we just leave the bags in the car, yes even in summer. We have nothing in there that the heat is going to bother and we have had no problems doing it. If we are staying at a deluxe we leave them with bell services, the reason for that is it's just easier at a deluxe to have bell services deliver them to your room or to take them to your room from bell services then it is at a value or moderate. The only time we drive the car to a park early morning is if we are going to AK, early morning parking there tends to get you almost as close as the bus parking and since we tend to leave about mid-morning the traffic isn't horrible leaving there and are bags are in the car there. We have checked into resort #2 as early as 6 am. the room isn't ready but the car is there and it's one less thing to worry about.

 

[epcotobsessed]

We always do split stays and nearly always transfer our own bags, so I would choose option #3 of the ones you outlined. As someone said above, bag transfer between resorts is completely unpredictable - some people will get them as soon as they check into the new room, some people won't get them until 10pm or later (I speak from experience). Since you'll want them when you freshen up for dinner, #3 is your best bet.

 

[DevonsDisneyMom]

option 3 has always worked the best for us whenever we do a split and has proven to me the easiest for us

 

[Sue M]

I’d go with option 3. This is what we’ve always done. Do early resort check in and leave bags with Bell Service. Occas our room has been ready. I would not leave bags in car.

 

[MoeJ]

Thank y'all so much! I was kind of stressing about driving all over WDW, honestly. I just want to deal with the car to get there and use it minimally while I'm there because I haven't been in so many years and the driving landscape is totally alien to me. I like to know where I'm going and even though Google maps street view makes it easier to visualize, I'd still prefer to use internal transportation as much as possible.