Explain Split Stays to me...Please...

[DISNEYmooner2008]

We are looking into doing a split stay for an upcoming trip in April 2009 and are hoping to book soon, so I need to figure out our resort for sure!! We would love to do CSR or AKL for 7 nights, but since we are also doing deluxe dining, this just isn't an option. So i'm looking into doing POP for 3 nights, and then CSR or AKL for 4 nights. Tell me about your split stay. How to book the reservation - How to transfer luggage, ect... Thanks SOOOOOOOOOO much in advance!!!

 

[Perditamarie]

A split stay is really 2 (or more) reservations. You have a reservation at resort A and resort B. When it is time to move to resort B, call bell services and request that your luggage be moved to resort B. Luggage should be available in the late after noon, say after 3.

You will have to take time out of your day to check into the new place, which means getting over there on your own. Depending on your plans, you may be "homeless" until you check in, or you can check in first thing, but may not have a room assigned until official check in time anyway, so you still will be essentially homeless. Pack any items you may need while your luggage is in transit (pool stuff, etc).

Keep in mind since you are doing the DDP, you need a package at each resort, comprised of at least one days ticket purchase....so by doing a split stay your park tickets will be a bit more expensive as well.

 

[DISNEYmooner2008]

SO lemme get this straight... I HAVE to book a separate reservation for each hotel?? I can't just call and say I want 3 days here and 4 days here, along with 7 day tickets, and DxDDP??? Cuz that would be more expensive to have to book twice cuz of ticket prices.....

 

[luvdisney24]

Yes, you must do two separate reservations when you set up a split stay. There is no way around it. This also means two deposits. One per reservation.

 

[DISNEYmooner2008]

Thanks so much for the info - I believe that is what we will do. 3 nights at POP and 4 nights at CSR. I can book 2 rooms under 1 reservation though, right?? Providing they are at the same hotel?? Here's how I priced it online except I used the 2008 dates of course and not 2009

April 26th - April 29th
3 nights
POP
1 day base ticket
DxDDP

April 29th - May 3
4 nights
7 day base ticket
DxDDP


After pricing these two packages and adding them, it came out basically the same as staying 5 nights at CSR - so for the same price we can stay 7 if we do a split stay. I'm hoping the same discount comes out next april and we'll get the free ticket upgrade also!

Thanks for the help!!

 

[mickeybrat]

Thanks for the info. I was curious too. That seems like a waste of money on the PH tickets. I don't think it would be any cheaper to go no expiration either. Correct me if I am wrong please...

 

[donaldseeyore]

Thanks so much for the info - I believe that is what we will do. 3 nights at POP and 4 nights at CSR. I can book 2 rooms under 1 reservation though, right?? Providing they are at the same hotel?? Here's how I priced it online except I used the 2008 dates of course and not 2009

April 26th - April 29th
3 nights
POP
1 day base ticket
DxDDP

April 29th - May 3
4 nights
7 day base ticket
DxDDP


After pricing these two packages and adding them, it came out basically the same as staying 5 nights at CSR - so for the same price we can stay 7 if we do a split stay. I'm hoping the same discount comes out next april and we'll get the free ticket upgrade also!

Thanks for the help!!

You will need to put the 7 day tix at the first part of your ressie so you have admittance to the parks the entire first 3 days there. otherwise you will have only one day admittance for those 3 days and 3 days left at the end of your CSR stay.

 

[donaldseeyore]

Thanks for the info. I was curious too. That seems like a waste of money on the PH tickets. I don't think it would be any cheaper to go no expiration either. Correct me if I am wrong please...

IMHO PH is not a waste of money. You can go to as many different parks as you want in one day and if one park is too crowded you can leave and go to a different one. I have never done the no expiration option. Also, when you buy the one day base MYW ticket to get the DDP on the second half of a split ressie, you can save that ticket to apply to future ticket purchases.

 

[zoemurr]

We did a split stay last year. 5 nights POFQ and 3 Poly. (This was great.. but you can't go back.. this year it's 8 nights Poly.)
Anyway, your first reservation will be a package with Pop, tickets, and dining. Your 2nd will be room only AKL.

You will have 2 reservation #s, and need to leave 2 deposits ($200 for package, one nights stay for room only.)

You will use the same tickets the entire time.
The only hold up is that your dining is only for the days you are at Pop, unless you but a ticket attached to that ressie, and that would make it a lot more $$ I imagine. (Actually, they will expire at midnight the day you check out of there, so they will be good for one day when you are at AKL.) It worked fine for us as we had a lot of extra credits and bought sandwiches to keep in the fridge.

The move is very easy, Disney will move your bags for you. You will use the same tickets the entire time.

It was kinda a hassle to book it, but I had my heart set on the Poly, and couldn't convince DH it was worth the $$. Now he's convinced.

 

[disneynewbeemom]

We were planning on doing a split stay at POFQ and AKL, but we found out it was just about $150 more to stay at AKL all week because of having to book two packages to get the dining plan for the entire stay. Needless to say, I am thrilled to stay at AKL all week!

 

[mommascrapbooker]

Yeah it was going to cost us an additional 400.00 to do the split (AKL and WL). So we are saving 250.00 and just staying at AKL in September(ALK is 50.00 more a night than WL). Next time we will try the split ressie again and do a value/moderate and a deluxe. It would be worth it then for us.

I would have loved to split, but 250.00/400.00 is spending money. They need to find a way to fix the glitch.

 

[zoemurr]

We were planning on doing a split stay at POFQ and AKL, but we found out it was just about $150 more to stay at AKL all week because of having to book two packages to get the dining plan for the entire stay. Needless to say, I am thrilled to stay at AKL all week!

You don't need to book 2 packages though you can do room only for the 2nd hotel... but yes, you would not be on the dining plan the last few days. We just made sure we did our $$ places the first part of the week. Your dining credits go 'till midnight the last day of the first ressie, so you really do still have it the first night of your 2nd hotel. We bought boxes of cookies/doughnuts with our snack credits, so they lasted through our stay as well. It's do-able, but No, Disney doesn't make it easy.

 

[Lynne M]

I would have loved to split, but 250.00/400.00 is spending money. They need to find a way to fix the glitch.

It's not a glitch, it's the way the resorts operate as semi-independent businesses. It's been like that since before the dining plan came along, and I wouldn't expect it to change.


Let's say there are two Marriotts in one city, and you wanted to stay at Marriott A from Sunday -Tues, and in Marriott B from Weds-Fri. Even though both hotels are owned by Marriott, they're two separate businesses. You couldn't make one reservation that covered both stays. You'd need to make one reservation at Marriott A, and a completely separate reservation for Marriott B.

It's been like this at Disney for as long as I can remember. No one really cared until the dining plan packages came along, and you needed to purchase two separate packages with tickets if you wanted to do a split stay. Even if Disney were inclined to somehow change the way they operate the resorts division, they wouldn't do it just to save people from having to buy a second set of passes...not when it works to their advantage financially.

What they COULD do would be to drop the requirement that you buy tickets in order to get the dining plan. Again, they have no financial incentive to do that.

 

[clkelley]

What they COULD do would be to drop the requirement that you buy tickets in order to get the dining plan. Again, they have no financial incentive to do that.

If you have an annual pass they HAVE dropped the requirement to purchase tickets for the dining plan. I don't know any more than that, though, don't know if everyone in the room has to have an Annual Pass or just the primary room holder.

 

[solgent]

We used the split stay dining rules to our advantage. Knowing that we did not want to eat fancy meals throughout the trip, we got the DDP for our reservation at CR for the first 2 nights and front-loaded our TS reservations for that time. Credits last until midnight of the last day. So we started with lunch on Fri & the credits carried us through dinner on Sunday, by which time we had moved to BCV.

We took the luggage to bell services when we were ready to head to the parks on Sunday. When we were ready for a late afternoon break, we just went to our new hotel, checked in and had the luggage delivered.

 

[triplefigs]

FYI, you can now book Room Only tickets and add the dining plan WITHOUT buying 1 day base tickets. Completely takes the sting out of split stays! There is a thread on it on the Resorts board, and it's been verified by a TA. HTH!

 

[luvdisney24]

FYI, you can now book Room Only tickets and add the dining plan WITHOUT buying 1 day base tickets. Completely takes the sting out of split stays! There is a thread on it on the Resorts board, and it's been verified by a TA. HTH!

This is not true. What they TA who posted did not do was get to the end of the reservation where it asks for the AP number. Only AP holders can get a room only reservation and add the dining plan to it.

 

[episode]

Yeah it was going to cost us an additional 400.00 to do the split (AKL and WL). So we are saving 250.00 and just staying at AKL in September(ALK is 50.00 more a night than WL). Next time we will try the split ressie again and do a value/moderate and a deluxe. It would be worth it then for us.

I would have loved to split, but 250.00/400.00 is spending money. They need to find a way to fix the glitch.

No. It doesn't cost you an additional anything. You are paying a DEPOSIT which then goes toward the cost of the room. Money you would then have to spend on the room anyway. Paying it up front is the only difference.

 

[hammie59]

We're doing a split stay also. 4 nights at CSR then 3 at ASMo. (I know, we're doing it backwards...long story) Anyways this is how we did it: I booked a package with the CSR ressie. Basic dining for 4 days, but got 7 day parkhopper w/ water park fun and more. Then I booked room only ressie at ASMo. We'll be winging it for food, but our park tickets will be good for 14 days after first use, so that's why we got them with the package. I havent crunched all the numbers, but I think it's cheaper getting the tickets in one stretch. Every time you add on a park day, the ticket price per day gets cheaper.

 

[MsStinkerBelle]

We've done split stays but we usually have a rental car so I've never used bell services to transfer my luggage. We'll be doing this for the first time in December when we transfer from POP to the Poly.