First split stay

[Snarl]

My request to rent at Beach Club just came through! Now instead of 7 nights at Pop, we are doing our first split stay. 3 at Beach Club and 4 at Pop. Any advice?

 

[gillep]

Split stays are really easy and a great opportunity to check out other resorts. I just suggest that you plan your park days to take advantage of the walking distance to Epcot and DHS while you are at BC. Also, if you are planning on pool time definitely take advantage of planning it while you have use of SAB. Same with dinning, if you are planning on eating at any of the boardwalk, S&D or Y&BC restaurants it will be much easier to do while you are staying there.

 

[NicoleLarson]

Just FYI you can still use your resorts facilities until midnight even if you are checked into another resort. So you can use SAB all day on the day you check out.

 

[Snarl]

Split stays are really easy and a great opportunity to check out other resorts. I just suggest that you plan your park days to take advantage of the walking distance to Epcot and DHS while you are at BC. Also, if you are planning on pool time definitely take advantage of planning it while you have use of SAB. Same with dinning, if you are planning on eating at any of the boardwalk, S&D or Y&BC restaurants it will be much easier to do while you are staying there.

Thanks for the info! Great tips. We stayed at the swan in April and I loved being in walking distance to two parks!

 

[Snarl]

Just FYI you can still use your resorts facilities until midnight even if you are checked into another resort. So you can use SAB all day on the day you check out.

You must have read my kids' minds. I'm afraid they won't want to leave SAB once they see it. Kind of bummed we will be "downgrading" resorts, even though I'm super excited about the Pop portion of our stay.

 

[Catvondita]

Tagging on to this thread. Sorry to hijack but if you book two separate hotel rooms, does it matter which one you buy the tickets from. Normally I do the package deal when I book the hotel but if I'm doing two can i add my days on to the first hotel for the amount of days we are staying in that particular hotel and the rest on the other? Or add all park tickets to any hotel we book and then book the other hotel without tickets?

 

[Snarl]

Tagging on to this thread. Sorry to hijack but if you book two separate hotel rooms, does it matter which one you buy the tickets from. Normally I do the package deal when I book the hotel but if I'm doing two can i add my days on to the first hotel for the amount of days we are staying in that particular hotel and the rest on the other? Or add all park tickets to any hotel we book and then book the other hotel without tickets?

You can by tickets for as many days as you want and not have them actually tied to your hotel stay. They are tied to your MDE and are available on all active Magic bands. From my understanding you do have to book your fasspasses seperatly for each reservation.

 

[loves to dive]

Normally I tell people to do the value first then the deluxe, it's really hard to leave them. But since you are already booked, possibly ask for a renovated room at Pop. They look to be pretty decent.

I do split stays just about every trip. I always call down the morning we are transferring and check out then even though I have done on line check in, unless I get the room is ready text, I physically go to the front desk of resort #2 and check in. We do the transfer very early in the morning because I'm an early riser, we are normally at resort #2 by around 8 am. You can get your bags transferred by Disney. If you have a car this isn't necessary, if you don't have a car you are going to either have to bus/walk to a park then bus to Pop or Uber it. You don't have to go to Pop first, you can just head out to a park, we do it because we have the car and it's too early to go to a park. If you aren't driving, try packing cubes. Pack your stuff for the first stay in designated cubes, just pull those out and either live out of them or unpack (I'm an unpacker, my son lives out of the suitcase) and then repack the dirty stuff back in them, and just pull out the cubes for the next stay. Makes it a little easier, since we drive I actually pack two suitcases. If you store your stuff at bell services or have them transferred, you have to call down to get them once you are physically in your room, they will not bring them up until you are in your room. You can also just stop by and get them yourself.

You will get the option to personalize two MBs, it isn't necessary unless you just want two, you can decline one of them.

Enjoy BC, YC is our favorite resort but we love all the Epcot resorts, and even stay at Swan/Dolphin if they are less. I agree to plan your Epcot/HS days while you are at BC, the walking/boating between them are great.

 

[Shanti]

My request to rent at Beach Club just came through! Now instead of 7 nights at Pop, we are doing our first split stay. 3 at Beach Club and 4 at Pop. Any advice?

I recommend starting with Pop and getting your most intensive theme park days in while there. Then switch to Beach Club for resort days and/or half-days at the theme parks. I personally wouldn't worry too much about making your Epcot days Beach Club days. Yes, you can walk there from Beach Club, but that's not that big of a deal, given that Pop has good bus service. If it works to schedule Epcot that way, great, but if not, don't press it. And Hollywood Studios isn't even that convenient to BC. You can walk it, but it's a 15-20 minute walk, or an equally slow boat ride. The bus from Pop might even be more efficient than that.

The bigger concern is to maximize your longest theme park days while staying at Pop, which is the less desirable resort to hang out at for several hours of your day. Try to schedule things so that most of your downtime occurs at Beach Club, which has a great pool complex, many good eateries in walking distance, mini-golf in walking distance, the Boardwalk, Crescent Lake boats, etc. You'll get the best value for your Beach Club money if you have some real time to enjoy the resort amenities there.

 

[Snarl]

Normally I tell people to do the value first then the deluxe, it's really hard to leave them. But since you are already booked, possibly ask for a renovated room at Pop. They look to be pretty decent.

I do split stays just about every trip. I always call down the morning we are transferring and check out then even though I have done on line check in, unless I get the room is ready text, I physically go to the front desk of resort #2 and check in. We do the transfer very early in the morning because I'm an early riser, we are normally at resort #2 by around 8 am. You can get your bags transferred by Disney. If you have a car this isn't necessary, if you don't have a car you are going to either have to bus/walk to a park then bus to Pop or Uber it. You don't have to go to Pop first, you can just head out to a park, we do it because we have the car and it's too early to go to a park. If you aren't driving, try packing cubes. Pack your stuff for the first stay in designated cubes, just pull those out and either live out of them or unpack (I'm an unpacker, my son lives out of the suitcase) and then repack the dirty stuff back in them, and just pull out the cubes for the next stay. Makes it a little easier, since we drive I actually pack two suitcases. If you store your stuff at bell services or have them transferred, you have to call down to get them once you are physically in your room, they will not bring them up until you are in your room. You can also just stop by and get them yourself.

You will get the option to personalize two MBs, it isn't necessary unless you just want two, you can decline one of them.

Enjoy BC, YC is our favorite resort but we love all the Epcot resorts, and even stay at Swan/Dolphin if they are less. I agree to plan your Epcot/HS days while you are at BC, the walking/boating between them are great.

Thank you!!! Great information. I was curious about the transferring part. Haven't decided if we are driving yet, so it's nice to know either way is pretty easy. If we do drive we will make sure to move the car early like you recommended. We are having our first MK day of the trip and one less stop to worry about sounds good!

 

[Snarl]

I recommend starting with Pop and getting your most intensive theme park days in while there. Then switch to Beach Club for resort days and/or half-days at the theme parks. I personally wouldn't worry too much about making your Epcot days Beach Club days. Yes, you can walk there from Beach Club, but that's not that big of a deal, given that Pop has good bus service. If it works to schedule Epcot that way, great, but if not, don't press it. And Hollywood Studios isn't even that convenient to BC. You can walk it, but it's a 15-20 minute walk, or an equally slow boat ride. The bus from Pop might even be more efficient than that.

The bigger concern is to maximize your longest theme park days while staying at Pop, which is the less desirable resort to hang out at for several hours of your day. Try to schedule things so that most of your downtime occurs at Beach Club, which has a great pool complex, many good eateries in walking distance, mini-golf in walking distance, the Boardwalk, Crescent Lake boats, etc. You'll get the best value for your Beach Club money if you have some real time to enjoy the resort amenities there.

Thanks for the tips. That makes a ton of sense. I wish we were able to do BC second, but our dates conflict with Princess Half Marathon. We will have a nice relaxing beginning to our trip. Honestly planning to stay in the Crescent Lake, Epcot, HS area those first 3 days of our trip. Kind of just wander around where we feel.