First Time at Disney World - Questions about CSR, GDT or Split Stay at CBR?

[Typeo]

Hi,

We are planning a 6 night trip in late May / Early June this year and were trying to decide on the resort. Currently, we have all 6 nights in a CSR Standard room as it's the cheapest at $211 (with the discount). However, I keep coming across posts about how great the new GDT rooms are, but were looking at about $70 more per night with that. Was curious if they were worth the extra $400 for the upgraded rooms?

Another thought we had was a split stay. We currently have the 6 parks booked as follows AK, MK, MK, Epcot, HS, HS. Was wondering if it might be worth it to do 3 nights at CSR (or GDT) and then switch to CBR for the last three nights to change things up and make use of the Monorail system to Epcot and Hollywood studios?

Is switching hotels midway through a pain, is that still possible with Covid restrictions? Would doing this make things more complicated than is needs to be specially since it is our first time going to Disney World?

Thanks!

 

[CynBeth]

Sorry can’t answer your hotel question never stayed there but I would not do a split stay on your first trip and with only 6 nights.

 

[lovewdwdvc]

I agree to not do a split stay. It is time consuming. I would stay inexpensive as you probably will not spend much time in your room.

 

[Dug720]

I wouldn't do a split stay period much less on a first trip. The idea of packing up and moving in the middle of a vacation when it's not something like a European tour has ZERO appeal to me.

 

[Marthasor]

Hi,

We are planning a 6 night trip in late May / Early June this year and were trying to decide on the resort. Currently, we have all 6 nights in a CSR Standard room as it's the cheapest at $211 (with the discount). However, I keep coming across posts about how great the new GDT rooms are, but were looking at about $70 more per night with that. Was curious if they were worth the extra $400 for the upgraded rooms?

Another thought we had was a split stay. We currently have the 6 parks booked as follows AK, MK, MK, Epcot, HS, HS. Was wondering if it might be worth it to do 3 nights at CSR (or GDT) and then switch to CBR for the last three nights to change things up and make use of the Monorail system to Epcot and Hollywood studios?

Is switching hotels midway through a pain, is that still possible with Covid restrictions? Would doing this make things more complicated than is needs to be specially since it is our first time going to Disney World?

Thanks!

I would not do a 3/3 split on a first stay, unless it was, perhaps, between MK and EP resorts. Personally, I would consider just switching to 6 nights at CBR to take advantage of the Skyliner to EP/DHS.

 

[Disneylover99]

I’d choose one resort or the other for a 6 day trip.

The CSR standard rooms can be a bit of a hike to the main building, but if that is not a concern, or if you’re not really planning to go to the main building much then you might as well save your money and stay standard.

Of choose CBR for the skyliner.

Which theming do you prefer? Caribbean or Mexican?

 

[cmhall]

I prefer to not split our stays. It is too much of a hassle to repack the room unless you are a light packer!!

 

[kirby428]

No mention regarding travel method. We use split-stay often, but we drive our car. With On-line check in, it is possible to ditch bags in the car after parking at the next resort and make it to rope-drop. Bags go to the room after we break for a nap at 3PM unless we get a text that the room is ready sooner. Oh, this works best if the all resorts are within walking distance to the park (except the AK). For AK, we just camp in the woods

 

[Typeo]

We recently read about people staying at the Swan/Dolphin hotel as it is just as close to the resorts as the Coronado and a lot of the extras you used to get with the resort hotels are no longer happening such as transportation from airport, early fast pass bookings, magic hours, etc. The main downside I am seeing is no magic bands, but all that means is keeping a credit card on me during our trip.

Has anybody had experience at this resort? I ask mainly since my wife is a teacher we would get 25% off, bringing the room rate to $120 a night saving almost $650 from the Coronado. Is there a major downside I am missing to staying at the Swan/Dolphin ATM? Would we be hosed if we booked there and they brought fast pass back before our trip date of late may?

Thanks and I appreciate all the input from everybody!

 

[Dug720]

extras you used to get with the resort hotels are no longer happening such as transportation from airport,

Magical Express is running through 2021.

 

[loves to dive]

We recently read about people staying at the Swan/Dolphin hotel as it is just as close to the resorts as the Coronado and a lot of the extras you used to get with the resort hotels are no longer happening such as transportation from airport, early fast pass bookings, magic hours, etc. The main downside I am seeing is no magic bands, but all that means is keeping a credit card on me during our trip.

Has anybody had experience at this resort? I ask mainly since my wife is a teacher we would get 25% off, bringing the room rate to $120 a night saving almost $650 from the Coronado. Is there a major downside I am missing to staying at the Swan/Dolphin ATM? Would we be hosed if we booked there and they brought fast pass back before our trip date of late may?

Thanks and I appreciate all the input from everybody!

We stay at Swan/Dolphin almost every trip, usually doing a split stay with the first night or two at a value then moving over there for the rest of the trip. We love it. Right now they are not using Disney buses, they are using Mears so they do not drop you off where the Disney buses do. You can not charge back to your room but when it's available (pre-Covid) you can have your packages sent back to the resort.

As far as split stays, we do them every trip, even on 4 night trips. We are two adults and have our own car. I either pack two suitcases or use a packing cube for the first one or two nights of the split, then put my dirty clothes back in it and keep it in the car. On move day we just go ahead and drive to resort #2, if it's Swan/Dolphin go ahead and check in and let them store our bags and head off to a park. We love being able to walk to both Epcot and HS. We use the first day or two of the split to go to MK and AK. My son just uses one suitcase but he isn't an unpacker so it's just a matter of either putting his dirty clothes back in his suitcase on the bottom or putting them in one of the laundry bags Disney provides in the room and leaving them in the car. I always have a separate tote/carry on bag that has toiletries and my laptop/kindle and drugs in it. I have a hanging toiletry bag that doesn't have to be unpacked, just hang it on a door or hook and use stuff out of it and put it back in it, that way countertops aren't cluttered.

 

[Disneylover99]

We recently read about people staying at the Swan/Dolphin hotel as it is just as close to the resorts as the Coronado and a lot of the extras you used to get with the resort hotels are no longer happening such as transportation from airport, early fast pass bookings, magic hours, etc. The main downside I am seeing is no magic bands, but all that means is keeping a credit card on me during our trip.

Has anybody had experience at this resort? I ask mainly since my wife is a teacher we would get 25% off, bringing the room rate to $120 a night saving almost $650 from the Coronado. Is there a major downside I am missing to staying at the Swan/Dolphin ATM? Would we be hosed if we booked there and they brought fast pass back before our trip date of late may?

Thanks and I appreciate all the input from everybody!

I’ve never stayed at the Swan/Dolphin, but have visited plenty of times.
I would happily stay there for that price. You can’t beat the close proximity to HS and Epcot.

 

[Typeo]

We do not have our own car, flying in from another state, and we have a child. I think well hold off on a split stay this time, but might give it a shot next time to stay at the different resorts. The busses you mention that the Swan uses, the Mears busses. How are they compared to the Disney busses if you stay at a resort hotel? Any issues with them running throughout the park hours to get you back to the hotel from the parks? Basically, I am trying to figure out any/all downsides to see if the money saved is worth any potential extra hassle.

It looks like the Magical Express is one of them (I thought it was no longer running) and no Magic bands to charge back to the room.

 

[Marthasor]

We do not have our own car, flying in from another state, and we have a child. I think well hold off on a split stay this time, but might give it a shot next time to stay at the different resorts. The busses you mention that the Swan uses, the Mears busses. How are they compared to the Disney busses if you stay at a resort hotel? Any issues with them running throughout the park hours to get you back to the hotel from the parks? Basically, I am trying to figure out any/all downsides to see if the money saved is worth any potential extra hassle.

It looks like the Magical Express is one of them (I thought it was no longer running) and no Magic bands to charge back to the room.

The Swan is awesome. I would always choose Swan/Dolphin over a WDW mod. You will be able to walk/boat to EP and walk/boat/Skyliner to DHS. The beds are very comfortable and you will have a ton of great dining options not only at the resort, but within walking distance to the other resorts on the Boardwalk. You will just have to figure out your own transportation from MCO to the resort. I've never had any issues with buses at Swan/Dolphin. The nice thing about BC/YC and BWI being within walking distance to Swan/Dolphin is you can always just jump on one of those buses and walk back to Swan/Dolphin if there is a delay with your own resort bus. Swan just gives you a lot more options in terms of dining, recreation and transportation.

 

[amyamya]

Thanks everyone for the good suggestions. I am planning a first time trip and was planning a split stay but will now reconsider. If only I could pick what resort! There are soooooo many options!

 

[kylenne]

We do not have our own car, flying in from another state, and we have a child. I think well hold off on a split stay this time, but might give it a shot next time to stay at the different resorts. The busses you mention that the Swan uses, the Mears busses. How are they compared to the Disney busses if you stay at a resort hotel? Any issues with them running throughout the park hours to get you back to the hotel from the parks? Basically, I am trying to figure out any/all downsides to see if the money saved is worth any potential extra hassle.

It looks like the Magical Express is one of them (I thought it was no longer running) and no Magic bands to charge back to the room.

Magical Express is still running in 2021. It ends 1/1/22. The luggage service has not been available since reopening.

I can’t speak to the scheduling of the Mears buses but the biggest drawback to me is they do not drop you off at the main depot in front of MK where the Disney buses go, they drop off at TTC. That’s a dealbreaker to me, as much as I love those resorts.

 

[disneyfreak202]

My boyfriend and I did a split stay for the first time in October. We found it very smooth and not all that time consuming. We stayed at Pop 3 nights and then on day 4 (our switch day) we went to Epcot because we were changing to Beach Club Villas. We knew we would be spending time in the park until check in. Epcot opened at 11 so we knew we wanted to leave our room around 10. We called bell services at 9:45 to come get our bags to transfer them, went on our way to Epcot and waited for our room ready text from online check in. When we got it we knew we wanted a midday break so we finished world showcase up and went to the room, called bell services and they brought our luggage right up. Super easy and not an inconvenience especially with the short park hours. We packed up the majority of our stuff the night before since we were back in the room earlier than normal.

 

[summerlvr]

Swan/Dolphin has a resort fee that I believe just went up to $35+tax per night. Make sure you factor that into your costs.

 

[Typeo]

Ya, when calling, the Swan Dolphin to book and check reservations, the 25% off teacher rate is "up to 25% off" and the room price was going to end up being $146, then add on the $35+tax and paying for a bus ride from the airport. The saving dropped drastically from what I was hoping it would be to maybe around $100-$150 depending on the taxes for the entire trip.