Give me the Pros/Cons of doing a Split Stay

[Snoopygirl]

We are going in 2013....probably in the end of May right after the kids get out of school. We are planning on doing about 11-12 days. So I started thinking about doing a split stay because I can't decided which resort I want to stay at....I'l like to do them all!!

I don't really know much about a split stay so I was hoping some of you could give me so ideas about it. Maybe list some pros and cons. My 1 question is.....do we have to move our bags from one resort to the other or will Disney do that??

Thanks!!

 

[Deb & Bill]

We are going in 2013....probably in the end of May right after the kids get out of school. We are planning on doing about 11-12 days. So I started thinking about doing a split stay because I can't decided which resort I want to stay at....I'l like to do them all!!

I don't really know much about a split stay so I was hoping some of you could give me so ideas about it. Maybe list some pros and cons. My 1 question is.....do we have to move our bags from one resort to the other or will Disney do that??

Thanks!!

We like to check in, move in, unpack and stay put. When you do a "split stay" you are pretty much homeless on the day of your change. You have to be out by 11AM and you might not be back into a villa until after 4 or 5 PM.

 

[Simba's Mom]

I've never felt "homeless" on the day of the move. Sometimes I pack, bring my luggage to bell services on my way out to the park, then at the end of the day (or whenever), I just take the bus to the new resort. Last time I scheduled "Lunch with The Animal Keeper" on the day of the move, then off to the new resort. I've found that I feel like I got two vacations. I often split BCV woth AKV. At BCV, I do Epcot and DHS; then at AKV, I do AK and MK. DTD or anything non-park I do as time allows from either resort

 

[MrShiny]

We love split stays when going for 6 days or more. It's like 2 vacations. We normally try for two contrasting areas and resorts (like BLT/THV, BCV, VWL).

We don't unpack that much normally, so it isn't a big deal. On switch day, one of us goes to the new resort to check in, someone else packs and gives the bags to Bell Services. Then we meet in the park closest the second resort. In the afternoon, we head over to the new resort.

 

[wdrl]

Disney Bell Services will move your luggage for you from one resort to another. Bell Services will even move cold items from your refrigerator. Bell Service will forewarn you that your belongings might not be delivered to your new resort until 3:00 PM.

We've done several split stays. Like Deb & Bill says, there is a lot to be said about being able to unpack just once and staying put. However, there are some good things about doing split stays. We like being able to try out all of the DVC resorts, so doing split stays lets us try out the resorts a little quicker.

By doing a split stay, we can sometimes maximize our Park days as well. For instance, when staying at BLT, we spend more time at the Magic Kingdom; then, when we move to BWV, we spend more time at Epcot; and we spend more time at the Animal Kingdom when we stay at AKV.

As Deb & Bill also mentioned, you might be homeless until 4:00 PM (or even longer, sometimes). So on the day of our move, we plan on being at a Park or Downtown Disney for most of the day. Keep in mind that even if your room isn't ready yet, you can still use all the facilities, like the pool at your new resort as well as at your old resort.

 

[DenLo]

Getting out of the villa in the morning isn't any problem. It's exciting knowing we're moving, it's like having a vacation within a vacation. But I think we've adapted to returning to the villa in the heat of the afternoon. So it seems like we're homeless on the day we switch resorts because that is almost always the day that we don't get into the second villa early and it's usually me who's tired and hot and ready for the AC in the villa. Even going to the pool doesn't distract me. Maybe it's a good thing we don't have hot and tired kids too.

But otherwise, there's really no problem. Bell services will move everything from one resort to the other. And you can easily go to a park and from that park return to your new resort via the Disney transportation system.

I have heard people complaining that their luggage and groceries do not arrive to the new resort until after 3:00 PM. But we haven't experienced a delay like that. I know that once we moved from BLT to BWV and our room was ready at 11:15 AM and our luggage was there when we returned to the resort at 12:30 PM. Most of the time the villas have been ready around 3:00 PM or there about. But sometimes it's later--4:30 is not unheard of for a check in time.

When I think about it, if we were a family of four and I was the only one who packed and unpacked, it would be more trouble than it was worth to move. Because we'd either be living out of suitcases (not my idea of a DVC vacation) or I'd spent way too much time packing and making sure nothing was left behind.

 

[Snoopygirl]

Thanks for all the replies. Ya, I didn't think about the packing....obviously that would be done by me mostly. I'll still have to give it some thought. It is nice to know that bell services will move everything for you, though. That makes it more convenient. But it does seem like a good way to try the resorts since we live in AZ we don't get there but every 2-3 yrs.

I'm torn betweent BLT, AKV & BCV. I guess it will depend on what's available at 7 months since our home resort is SSR.

 

[MrShiny]

Just do 4 days at each one!

 

[daisyduck123]

I'm torn betweent BLT, AKV & BCV. I guess it will depend on what's available at 7 months since our home resort is SSR.

You sound very similar to me.

Our home resort is SSR, but our favorite resorts (in order) are: BCV, AKV, & BLT.

We always try to do a split stay with at least one of these resorts. You can tell from my signature how often we've stayed at them. Our absolute favorite is a BCV/AKV split. We've got one coming up for this July. Can't wait!

We always make our "switch" day a pool day. We wake up & head over to the new resort wearing our swimsuits/cover-ups. We swim & enjoy the pool area until our room is ready. On switch days, we never make a dinner ADR for earlier than 7pm, because one time, years ago, we did not get our new room until 5:30pm. Lesson learned!

* I see your planning 11-12 days. IMO, that is way too long for one resort. During one of our trips, we were at BCV for 8 or 9 days before switching to AKV. DH & I both found ourselves saying..."Wish we were switching earlier. Let's get to AKV already". Now we always switch by Day 7.

 

[tkillini99]

We enjoy split stays, especially when going for a longer trip. For an 11 day trip, I would definitely do a 2 resort split. You could do 3, but I think having to repack twice would be a bit much.

There are 2 different things that I do with a split stay. The first is that I try to get all my laundry done up the last day and repack. That gives a better start to the 2nd part of the stay. The second thing we do is that we do not usually do a park day on the day of the move. We are used to taking a mid-day break on our park days, so on the move day, we sleep in, finish up packing, and then have Disney pick up our bags around 10-10:30. Then we usually go to lunch at one of our resorts and we either go over to the new resort to swim or we head to DTD to do some shopping. This way, we don't get hot and grouchy and needing a nap during the afternoon. We then might plan to do a park in the evening afte we get into our new room (if we have plenty of park days or annual passes).

 

[JWG]

We manage our membership with split stays. Have points at BWV and BLT. BLT is the smaller contract so we can't get a long stay there without banking and or borrowing. This past trip we did 8 days at BWV and 2 at BLT (had to use up some unexpected add-on points). Next December we're doing 5 nights at BLT with 4 at BWV (2 on each side of BLT).

We'll try to get the last two nights at BWV at BLT at the 7 month mark, but if we can't, oh well.

We've had a car the times we've done this so far, so we just packed it up in the AM on our way out, swung by the new resort to check-in (room hasn't been ready) and then moved on to do whatever we were going to do for the day. No different then any other day. At the end of our day we just go back to the new room.

We don't find split stays that hard since you get your KTTW card at check-in and can just go straight to your room when ready. Outside of having to tip Bell Services for a luggage transfer, NOT having a car and switching is as easy (if not easier) than having a car.

We were hesitant to do it at first, but it wasn't a bit deal.

 

[DisneyStarWisher]

I've always thought I would hate split stays, but I just did one last month. It was a short trip. I stayed at a value studio at AKV for 2 nights, then moved to BWV for 1 night. I did this so that I could get the DxDDP for just the 1 night. It wasn't a big deal, but I've decided I don't want to do a park day the day we move. We ended up getting to the park later than I wanted. So here's my plan for October:
AKV Value 2 BR (4 people total): 2 nights
VWL 2 BR (hopefully): 3 nights
We only have enough points for 5 nights unfortunately; I would love to stay 6 or 7, but oh well.
We are going to do the parks the first 2 days that we are AKV and have the DxDDP (which we love!). The value room also saves us lots of points! Then the third day we are going to sleep in, be out of the room by 11:00, check-in to our new resort, and then head out to a nice TS restaurant and then on to either Disney Quest (AC included) or a water park. We will return when our room is ready. As far as luggage, I'm going to pack separate suitcases for the two stays, so that we aren't hauling tons in, just 2 suitcases into AKV and 2 different suitcases into VWL. We will be able to use the remaining DxDDP credits that first day at VWL, which will include the TS lunch and hopefully dinner at Artist Point. We will pay OOP for the rest of the trip. I'm kind of excited about trying it this way. We will see......

 

[Deb & Bill]

...* I see your planning 11-12 days. IMO, that is way too long for one resort. ....

To us, that's the reason to stay in one place. You can unpack and settle in and it does really become your "home away from home" instead of just a hotel room. Our longest stay was 13 nights at OKW two years ago and we loved it.

 

[333disneymom]

So here's my plan for October:
AKV Value 2 BR (4 people total): 2 nights
VWL 2 BR (hopefully): 3 nights
We only have enough points for 5 nights unfortunately; I would love to stay 6 or 7, but oh well.
We are going to do the parks the first 2 days that we are AKV and have the DxDDP (which we love!). The value room also saves us lots of points!

Sounds a little like our plan in that we are doing 5 nights BLT with DxDDP and the last two night at BWV without a plan. We didn't want the dining plan all 7 nights, but have a few 2 credit meals planned, so it works out well for us. My husband also said he won't do Illuminations unless he can walk home from it, so BWV it is. I hope you have a great stay.

 

[BWV Dreamin]

We have never done a split stay. Just way too much work. I do admire those that can. We can't really stay at WDW more than a week. So taking away 2 days for travel, that only leaves 5 full vacation days. Not worth a switch.

 

[RLRDA]

We have done a few split stays...they are usually reserved for longer trips (7+ days). We don't mind them at all. We usually reserve our changeover day for a pool day, waterpark day or a DTD day...anything non-park. With a longer trip we don't go into a park every day anyway, so it is easy to plan a down day.

I'm not sure if you mentioned what size villa you'll be staying in. We are always in a 1br or larger (with the 5 of us) so I wash as we go along and put the laundered clothes back in the luggage.

If you're contemplating a split stay, I'd say go for it. You may not do it again but you won't know until you try. Good luck and enjoy!!

 

[Sandisw]

Our summer trips have been split stays and we love it. We typically go 5 - 7 nights and like being able to stay in the Boardwalk area for the first part of the trip and then the last part at BLT.

It allows us to walk to 3 of the 4 parks as we prefer that to the bus system. We have never found it too bad. We have been lucky in that our rooms have been ready no later than 2:30 pm, which I am sure has helped.

But, another idea we have heard about was to do DTD the day of the move as lunch and shopping would take most of the afternoon.

In terms of packing, I simply pack for each segment. This way, we unload only one suitcase at the first resort and then as we use things, put them back in. This way, its not like we are complete unpacking/re-packing. I have even gone as far as to pack toothbrushes, shampoo, etc. in each bag so I didn't even have to repack that.

 

[DisneyStarWisher]

Sounds a little like our plan in that we are doing 5 nights BLT with DxDDP and the last two night at BWV without a plan. We didn't want the dining plan all 7 nights, but have a few 2 credit meals planned, so it works out well for us. My husband also said he won't do Illuminations unless he can walk home from it, so BWV it is. I hope you have a great stay.

Thanks! I hope you have a great trip, too. I have to say it was nice walking to BWV from Epcot the last night of our trip. Your DH is a smart man!

 

[JackDiznee]

both times we did this we went from OKW to SSR. On SSR check-in day, I made sure I was at the SSR check-in counter at 6 am. Room was ready since I was the only lunatic in the lobby. I took the keys and check-in materials back to OKW and slept a couple of more hours. We then got a luggage cart ride with our bags to SSR, put everything in our room, and went on with our day. OKW and SSR are sister resorts who share many of the same staff members, so I think that made it easier.

 

[Kidanifan08]

For as many days as you are planning on being there, I agree that a split stay would be fun to do. I would not think that you would have any problem getting AKV or BLT for late May -- BCV may be more difficult since it is smaller.

We did our first split stay in Oct 2011 and have two split stays coming up this year. Our second villa was ready for us the morning of our switch. Bell services moved our cold stuff and luggage without any trouble. We took a cab ($20) from AKV to BLT on the morning of our switch so we could move some of our more sensitive luggage (i.e. computers). We have an Owner's Locker and re-packing it at the end of 4 days was the biggest hassle, as our OL is quite full!

Our upcoming March stay is a split between BWV and GF (for a conference). In June, we are doing 4 nights at AKV on the concierge level followed by 5 nights at BLT.

We generally like to unpack everything and not have to live out of the suitcase. Since our up-coming trips involve two "unique" opportunities, we are looking forward to those split stays. With future trips, I personally would prefer to stay at one resort if the trip is 7 nights or less.