Hi, This is my first post on this board, although I have been lurking for a while. My family is in the process of planning our second visit to WDW. Our first trip was when my twin boys were just shy of their 3rd birthday. We stayed at the contemporary. While not the most "disney" of resorts, we loved being on site of Chef Mickey's (where we ate 3 times) and, especially, being able to walk back and forth from MK when the boys were tired or cranky, or asleep in their strollers. On our coming trip, the boys will be 5.5 and our dd will be almost 3. We know that walking will not be an option with only one child in a stroller, as the additional walking, on top of all the MK walking, would just be too much. We have narrowed our resort choices down to AKL or GF. Obviously, the attraction for each is very differnt than the other. The AKL is all about the animals. My kids, especially the boys, will love seeing all the animals, especially since we are considering staying on the conceirge level and will go on the sunrise and sunset safaries. The attraction to the GF is all about location. Being so close to the MK with 3 small children just seems like a wonderful luxury. I know that to get back to the resort involves going all the way around the circuit, as the monorail only goes in one direction, but the kids are so fascinated by the monorail, that it shouldn't be a problem. I feel like I am comparing apples and oranges. Each resort has something that seems so special. The other night it occurred to me that perhaps we could just stay at both. Is there any downside (other than moving) to doing this? Is their a financial implication (ie, does the per night go down with longer stays, or is the cost per night set based upon season)? Will disney help you with the move, such as internal transfer of baggage or any such assistance? If you have done a split stay, please let me know your experience. Thanks Brina
Hi there... yes I like the split stay.. last time it was BC & AKL It is really easy to do... we asked BC to send our luggage to AKL for us, checked out and went to the parks... that afternoon when we arrived at AKL our luggage was there waiting for us and our room was ready. Very easy switch.. as long as you realize you are roomless from 11am - to 4 pm.
We done quite a few split stays. our honeymoon - WL and AKL september 2004 - POFQ and Royal Pacific Resort (Universal resort) December 2004 - Beach Club and AKL this january - Fort Wilderness Cabins and AKL (can you tell we like AKL?) We've had a car with us for 2 of those split stays - so we move our luggage ourselves, this past december we called a cab...took us from BC to AKL for around $20. (not a bad deal for 6 people) I vote do it - if you really want to get a taste of everythign at WDW!
Just wanted to comment on the monorail for GF - it is the first stop to the MK, on the way back we usually take the Ferry Boat since GF is the first stop going back. We're trying our first split stay this July YC and GF. BTW you might want to use a double stroller. It's quite a lot of walking even for a 5 year old. Have a wonderful time.
We have done several split stays as well and its very easy. We usually stay in a resort on the weekends using our AP discount and then move over to our DVC resort but you could just as easily move to another resort with or without an AP discount. Personally I think the kids would like AKL best, mine would. The boys love animals and our last stay there on the Arusha savannah was great. We saw animals all the time. They have feeders fairly close to the resort encouraging the animals to come in closer. You could stay at the GF for 2 or 3 days, do MK stuff then move over to AKL. Disney will take your luggage over and when you check in just go to bell services and they will get it out for you. Even if you dont have your own car just take a bus to your new resort. Its very easy.
I did a split stay last August from POP to YC. It was myself and my 8 yo at POP for three days, then we met up w/ Dad and 4 yo at YC for five nights. It was alot easier than I thought it would be. Disney was great with the transfer. I was even able to stop off at the YC on our way to Epcot and check in early so when my family was reunited, our room was all set! Decisions, Desicions....Maggie
We're doing our second split stay this coming April. Last time it was very simple. Disney moved our bags & all we did was show up at the new resort later in the day & checked in. This coming trip, I will be transferring my own luggage via cab/town car because I have a large-ish case of meds that need to be refridgerated. Since I'll have to hand deliver those, I might as well move the bags at the same time. I really enjoyed our last split stay for the 2 different experiences (Poly / CSR) and am looking forward to having 2 vacations in one this trip too (Dolphin / AKL).
I did my first split stay this past year. It wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. The only thing I didn't like was having to pack it all up and unpack again. Even then it wasn't a big deal. We stayed 4 nights at POP and 5 at ASSports. We took our own luggage to the new resort because it was just easier for us (we drove down there).
Was it time consuming? How early can you check in? We may be doign a split stay yet, we have ressies at FW Cabins for 10 days then a few more at AKL, do you trust your luggage being moved FOR you? Or did you want to do it yourself because you didnt trust them?? THANKS!! D.D.
I did a split stay between CBR and AKL in October and it was very easy. We called bell services and they came tagged our luggage and said it would be delivered at AKL between 1:00pm and 3:00pm that day. We actually went over to AKL after that to check-in and get my sister her ticket for the parks and were able to check in to our room at 9:30am which was great! When we got back from the parks we called down and had our luggage sent up. (you do have to be in your room for them to send you luggage up) The only downside was having to pack everything up at CBR for the move. It was wonderful and I would do it again.
time consuming? No...not at all. We "checked in" early at AKL (around 9ish?) but our room was not ready yet. They stored our luggage for us and they delivered it after we got into our rooms. We would totally trust our luggage being moved for us...but I think DH just wanted to get all 6 people and 15 bags (don't ask) over to AKL in one fell swoop, that's why we had a cab move us. (when we had the car - it was just easier to do it ourselves)
