How hard is it to change resorts?

[LauraLap]

I'm thinking of trying a split stay next year.....I'm just wondering with two young kids if it would even be worth the hassle? Do you lose a whole park day to do this? Is there a service to transfer the luggage?

 

[bookwormde]

I am down with my wife and kids so I just get up early and go over and check in shortly after 7am while they are getting ready for the day. If the room is not available I just call to get the room number later, I already have the card keys so it is easy. Of course I like to do split stays.

bookwormde

 

[twinklebug]

I'm thinking of trying a split stay next year.....I'm just wondering with two young kids if it would even be worth the hassle? Do you lose a whole park day to do this? Is there a service to transfer the luggage?

We've done a number of split stays and it's very easy. Dedicate a few hours in the morning to packing up everything & making sure you haven't left behind anything that would be sorely missed. Mark your refridgerables clearly as "FRIDGE" and double check with the bell hop when he comes to take your bags where they are going, when you can anticipate them arriving there and that your FRIDGE bag must be kept chilled.

You can also use a taxi and transport all your luggage over on your own, but I love having the service do it for me.

You are then free to do as you please, although I like to head right over to the next resort and get the check-in process underway before heading out to a park. This gives me the chance to look over the room (if available) and bring to light any issues there may be with it before the day gets too far along.

 

[Deb & Bill]

We did a split stay once or twice, mostly because we decided to arrive earlier than originally planned and stayed at a non-DVC resort for the first night.

Since then, we usually check into our DVC resort and stay the entire time there. No homeless feeling if you have to check out and check into another resort. Sure you can check in at 7AM (I did it once or twice), but once the other room wasn't ready until almost 6PM. That could be tough with small children.

They will transfer your luggage for you, but will not bring it to your new room until you are in the room.

 

[BevS97]

We have done it a few times, almost always from an offsite resort to onsite, although once between PORiverside and POFrench Quarter (We didn't like the room at Riverside so they moved us to FQ but I digress)

Out of all the times we have moved, only once have we had bell services move our stuff, the other times we have just put it in the car and moved it ourselves. I pack up the night before, and then in the morning we just put everything in the car and head around to the new resort, We check in early and get our room key, but usually not a room number, then go to a park for the day. Around 3pm you can usually call for your room number and then go straight to your room, you are already checked in.

If you use bell services from the room to your car, and vice versa then it's really not much hassle and we like to experience different resorts. Pre-DVC we couldn't usually afford 2 weeks onsite, so we would start offsite and then move onsite later in the trip, it has always worked well for us.

 

[BevS97]

just to add to that, if you did decide to buy BLT now, and then for some reason you stayed there and hated it, these points will have a good resale value for some time to come so it would be relatively easy to sell them (but I very much doubt you will want to do that)

 

[OKW Lover]

IMHO the problem with split stays are the extra pack/un-pack cycle right in the middle of your vacation. Add to that the fact that you'll be "homeless" for most of the swap day means no opportunity for a mid-day nap or pool time.

 

[Terry S]

I have to say that Disney makes it very easy. You can just pack up in the morning, call bell services, tell them where you want your luggage to go, than you go to a park and later go to your next resort and check in, your luggage will be waiting there or will arrive there shortly. Having said that, even though it is easy, I don't like to do it. I like to unpack, even if it is for 2 or 3 weeks and stay at one place. I really hate packing and unpacking so once I am done, I don't want to do it again.

 

[Deb & Bill]

...Around 3pm you can usually call for your room number and then go straight to your room, you are already checked in.....

Check in for DVC isn't until after 4PM, so there is a good chance your room might not be available until anytime after 4PM.

Just to add to that, if you did decide to buy BLT now, and then for some reason you stayed there and hated it, these points will have a good resale value for some time to come so it would be relatively easy to sell them (but I very much doubt you will want to do that)

If you decided to resell your points if you didn't like them, you could lose a lot of your initial investment especially if DVC was still selling the points for BLT at the time you wanted to sell. You'll pay the reselling agent 10% or more of the sales price in commission. If you couldn't offer the same sales incentives that DVC was offering, you'd have to lower your price to make sure you'd get a buyer.

 

[della]

I have to say that Disney makes it very easy. You can just pack up in the morning, call bell services, tell them where you want your luggage to go, than you go to a park and later go to your next resort and check in, your luggage will be waiting there or will arrive there shortly. Having said that, even though it is easy, I don't like to do it. I like to unpack, even if it is for 2 or 3 weeks and stay at one place. I really hate packing and unpacking so once I am done, I don't want to do it again.

I have to agree with Terry. I have 5 kids and must say Disney makes it very painless. Still I am the one who hangs the clothes in the closets and puts the snacks in the cupboard. So changing resorts is not such a big deal but I would just as soon stay in one place for my whole vacation.

 

[janni518]

We are going to have to deal with this during our next stay. Since we are coming in late (SSR) and moving the next day (BCV) our plan is to not unpack at all, or at least as little as possible.

Is it best to go right over to the new resort to check in early in the am? We are going during the dreaded spring break so I doubt that there will be much room shuffling as we'll be packed in like sardines.

 

[melissac]

I was very scared to do this our first time too. I was unable to book a studio at OKW for our entire stay and only option was a 1 BR at SSR for one night. I was traveling alone with my DS age 5 at the time. It all turned out great though. We woke up early and called to have our bags moved for us and called for a cab to take us to OKW. Which only cost about $6. We arrived at OKW at about 0800 and checked in but our room was not available and we went to one of the parks and called around noon and it was and when we came back the bags had not arrived yet but I remembered to pack our suits in a smaller back we carried and left with bell service and swam for awhile and our bags arrived around 3. It turned out great and I would do it again if I needed to but, I wouldn't book that way if I could get away with it.

 

[jekjones1558]

Our next trip is split. I wouldn't have booked that way if I could help it. I want to unpack once and settle in. We don't spend very much time at the parks anymore, so we don't care for the "homeless" feeling. That being said, this has given me the chance to try another resort and that is fun.

 

[bobbiwoz]

Because of the two young children, I wouldn't do it. just my thoughts, of course. I would want to have change of clothes, meds, a room to rest in available to me all day.

Disney does move the luggage, and for 2 adults it was very easy earlier this September.

Bobbi

 

[PIERCEDRN]

I love our split stays, my DW hates them. We will always try to have a car if we are doing one, to avoid that homeless feeling. We also noticed we had to pay more attention to the dining plan with our 3 dining plan cards we had on an 11 day VWL, AKV and SSR extravaganza. We were always wondering if we were using today's or tomorrows credit .
Overall, I didnt feel hassled at all, as I just did the heavy lifting. My wife likes to empty her suitcases, set up her arsenal of toiletries, and she spends 20 min. cleaning and disinfecting a seemingly already clean room . Multiply that times 3 and she cleaned an hour on her vacation, more than what mousekeeping does the whole trip.
My favorite thing about it, besides the variety, is having a clean room when we switch!

 

[crisi]

It IS really easy, but you are roomless for the day - so if you have nappers, that can make it really hard. My kids would never nap in the room anyway - it was useless to attempt it - but they would sleep on the monorail or the bus or the boat - so we'd just let them sleep on us while we rode the monorail in a loop for an hour or two, or the train around the Magic Kingdom, or any other moving vehicle.

We've always done it with one night at one end or another - so packing and unpacking is minimized.

 

[Tiger926]

It's very easy - we have done a lot of split stays, in fact, almost every stay is a split stay. Our last trip in May a few months ago we did...5 resorts in 15 days with a 10 month old and 5 year old!

We love the luggage fairies as they do a great job of storing and transferring luggage!

Happy split stay, Tiger

 

[TosaTrio]

We just did a split stay and with a 4 year old and it was "OK". We were moving from BCV to CBR. We packed in the morning, Bell Services was right on time and we were off to enjoy the day at a park. We went to lunch, went on a few rides and then caught the bus to CBR. Here is where it took some time. CBR is a big resort so it took time to actually check in, find someone to grab our luggage from storage (it was there) and transport us to our room. (Our room was ready). That probabaly took us 2 hours from leaving the park at least.

I would do a split stay if necessary in the future (not my first choice) but I would be wiser about the resort I was going to. I would try for a resort that is "hotel" connected rather then spread out.

 

[photobob]

IMHO the problem with split stays are the extra pack/un-pack cycle right in the middle of your vacation. Add to that the fact that you'll be "homeless" for most of the swap day means no opportunity for a mid-day nap or pool time.

These mirror our thoughts. I have stayed at Pop on Saturday before checking in at BWV the next morning, that was OK but may not even do that in the future. We like to completely unpack and use the dresser drawers for our clothes instead of living out of the suitcase. I don't want to lose precious vacation time moving from one place to another. I can see the attraction though, it would make a stay like two vacations. We usually just stay Sun-Friday, so it doesn't make sense for us.

 

[tkillini99]

We did a split stay for the first time in May, and it was very easy. We were lucky enough to have our room ready when we got to BCV at around noon, so that was a plus. My little one was able to go right down for a nap.

One thing I did to minimize the unpacking/packing problem was I planned out everything in advance. I split our clothes up into the 2 separate stays when I was packing, so I only unpacked for the first part of the trip at the first resort, and just had to repack that stuff. With my 2 girls, I put each outfit into a gallon ziploc bag, so that makes it even easier.