How inconvenient is it really to switch resorts during your stay?

[disprincess2213]

Hello everyone!! My husband and I are extremely excited to start using our points!! We have a short 6 day trip planned. We can definitely get all of the nights at one resort....but we think we want to hop!! We have been to Disney many times (last time only 3 months ago lol) and now that we are FINALLY DVC members, we want to try and see as many resorts/rooms as possible. It will probably stink to not get to unpack entirely, but other than that, is it completely insane of us to want to try 2 or 3 resorts if we could? Is it easY? Is it more trouble than its worth? Anyone who can give experiences, I would love to hear them!!

 

[jerseyduke]

If you plan and are prepped for it, it is not too bad. You can pack for two stays and leave the entire second stay unpacked until you get to your 2nd resort.

Having had to switch once because of a bad room (non DVC) since we were not prepared for it, we had already totally unpacked, it was a nightmare.

When we went down knowing we would be switching rooms, it was a lot easier.

One trip we did one night in VWL, 2 nights in AKV, and 5 in OKW.

I think it is easier to do one or two days, then switch, as opposed to switching the last day or two (assuming a long stay)

 

[bwvBound]

A 6-day visit for us would mean an expensive delivery of fresh food stuffs from Whole Foods Market. Moving refrigerated or delicate food (fresh greens) can make resort hopping a royal pain.

Beyond that ... it isn't so bad as long as you are 'ok' with being homeless for much of the moving day. Do consider that your room might not be ready at 4P ... we've been held up in the lobby until 7P waiting for our room.

 

[JoeA]

A 6-day visit for us would mean an expensive delivery of fresh food stuffs from Whole Foods Market. Moving refrigerated or delicate food (fresh greens) can make resort hopping a royal pain. Beyond that ... it isn't so bad as long as you are 'ok' with being homeless for much of the moving day. Do consider that your room might not be ready at 4P ... we've been held up in the lobby until 7P waiting for our room.

We've always had success with Disney moving our food, too (fresh, frozen, all of it!).

 

[com_op_2000]

On move day:
Call Bell Services and have them come pick-up your luggage and refrigerated items. Be sure to inform them that you have items to keep cold.
Tell them where you are transferring too.
Check-in to your new resort.
Go do whatever you want that day.
After getting your room text and you are back in it (items are not at your new resort until 2 - 4 PM), call Bell Services to have the items delivered to your room.
NOTE: You must be in the room for the pick-up and delivery.
If you want to go straight to the parks and not go to the resort first to check-in and not get the text, yes you can do that.
IMHO, for a six day one switch would be doable, by two switches within that time frame is a lot.

 

[bumbershoot]

Will you have a car? We've never relied on Disney to move our stuff as we almost always have a car.

We don't leave our bags in cars. On moving day we get our stuff over to Bell Services at the current resort, then go about our merry way until later on. Then we head back to the first resort, get our stuff, and move to the next resort. OR, if things work out better that way on that day (depending on breakfast, plans, etc) we go straight to the next resort, generally stash our stuff with their Bell Services and do the checkin process, and do whatever we're going to do.

Many people use moving day to swim, because you can swim at either resort; this is especially nice if one of your resorts is a DVC-pool-hopping-restricted resort. But for a 6 day trip (6 days, so 5 nights?) and the possibility of 3 resorts as you said, it's a bit short to spend days swimming.

 

[Breyean]

I'm in the process of booking a split stay for next summer. The MS CM to whom I spoke yesterday told me since I would have two three day reservations at different resorts, I would only be able to book dining and FP+ reservations for the first three days, then have to do it again a few days later for the second reservation.

He said I might have more difficulty booking some of the more popular attractions because of this.

This will be our first split stay, or even our first WDW stay, since FP+ was started, but this wasn't something we had anticipated.

 

[disneynutz]

You have years to experience all of the resorts. Moving can be a pain and you hope that the room is available at a decent time, clean, and without issues.

Why bother, enjoy your vacation and stay at 1 resort unless you like moving.

Bill

 

[cbnsoul]

I'm in the process of booking a split stay for next summer. The MS CM to whom I spoke yesterday told me since I would have two three day reservations at different resorts, I would only be able to book dining and FP+ reservations for the first three days, then have to do it again a few days later for the second reservation.

He said I might have more difficulty booking some of the more popular attractions because of this.

This will be our first split stay, or even our first WDW stay, since FP+ was started, but this wasn't something we had anticipated.

We ALWAYS do split stays, even for shorter trips and I have never found this to be the case. I have always booked both on the first day of the trip regardless of how many times we move. I have never called for dining reservations (always booked online), though. The 180+10 reservations are not working online right now. Don't know if it will make a difference but I'm calling on Saturday for next summer so we'll see.

We almost never have a car. We just bring our bags down to the porter and tell them where we are transferring to then go check in later that day at the new resort, pick up are bags and go off to the room. Gives us a chance to move to different areas in one stay. We then tend to go to the parks closest to the hotel thereby minimizing travel time on the buses.

 

[Sur]

We prefer splits and plan park days around which resort we are in. The monorail has not been as reliable as years past, so we like to remain at either Epcot/ HS for a few days, AK for a few days, and MK for several. Bell services and Owners Lockers make it easy.

 

[Breyean]

We ALWAYS do split stays, even for shorter trips and I have never found this to be the case. I have always booked both on the first day of the trip regardless of how many times we move. I have never called for dining reservations (always booked online), though. The 180+10 reservations are not working online right now. Don't know if it will make a difference but I'm calling on Saturday for next summer so we'll see.

We almost never have a car. We just bring our bags down to the porter and tell them where we are transferring to then go check in later that day at the new resort, pick up are bags and go off to the room. Gives us a chance to move to different areas in one stay. We then tend to go to the parks closest to the hotel thereby minimizing travel time on the buses.

The CM said the FP+ system is tied to the length of stay, not the length of a ticket. Since we'd have two three day stays and a 5 day ticket, he said we'd be limited to selecting attractions within each of those three day periods.

I have no idea if this is true, because as I said, we haven't been to WDW in about 3 years (DLR is our "home" resort). But it has me curious if it is true since split stays are something people do and I was surprised Disney hasn't figured them into the FP+ system. If h was right, that is.

 

[hakepb]

I've done split stays for points and/or availability reasons (booking <5 mo out)
I'd reccomend a minimum 3 night stay. Otherwise it seems we are unpacking some stuff the 1st night, then we start packing up before the 2nd night and never have a night to enjoy.

 

[twoj]

We did it on our last trip... It was ok. I went in excited too. We started at BWV and moved to VGF. We just felt like we lost a day having to pack and unpack. It always takes longer than you think. Plus by the time we figured out BWV, it was time to move. As I am staying at resorts the first time I would prefer to stay at one... Maybe do splits later... Unless I was going for 10+ days...

 

[SpaceMountain77]

This past August, we experienced our first within-resort split-stay. Our first 6 nights were in a studio standard and our last 2 were in a 1-bedroom standard. This Saturday, we will begin a 12-day stay with the first 10-nights in a studio lake and the last night in a studio standard.

Personally, I thought it was a pain to pack and repack at the end of our trip. Moreover, this time, we will be doing it for just one night. Our reservations were planned according to airfare and the hassle was/is worth the savings. If possible, I would rather have one continuous stay.

Unless it is seamlessly planned, you may spend more time hopping from resort to resort than actually enjoying your trip.

Also, if you are someone that likes to charge to your room, it can be a little problematic because you are checking in and out each time. We settled our bill twice in August, on the 7th and 9th days of our stay.

 

[quinnc19]

Me, too. I would would rather move than use the buses.

We prefer splits and plan park days around which resort we are in. The monorail has not been as reliable as years past, so we like to remain at either Epcot/ HS for a few days, AK for a few days, and MK for several. Bell services and Owners Lockers make it easy.

 

[donaldbuzz&minnie]

When we first joined DVC we loved doing split stays. We wanted to experience as much as we could of the different resorts. Because we were so excited, packing up and moving resorts didn't seem like any big deal at all. Several years in, we like to settle in and stay put. If I were you, I'd split stays until/if you don't want to anymore, It was fun!

That being said, when we brought our kids and grandkids, moving wasn't fun at all. We used to try to save points by staying someplace less expensive the first night when everyone was just coming in from the airport. Never doing that again! It was a tremendous hassle.

 

[bumbershoot]

The CM said the FP+ system is tied to the length of stay, not the length of a ticket. Since we'd have two three day stays and a 5 day ticket, he said we'd be limited to selecting attractions within each of those three day periods.

I have no idea if this is true, because as I said, we haven't been to WDW in about 3 years (DLR is our "home" resort). But it has me curious if it is true since split stays are something people do and I was surprised Disney hasn't figured them into the FP+ system. If h was right, that is.

It's possible it has gone this way now for FP+. Before you could book everything, but it seems to be changing. I've heard of phone CMs telling people you cannot book 180+10 if you don't have a reservation that lasts those 10 days. So you have to book 180+3 for the first one and no further until it's time for that second reservation's 180+ booking window.

 

[Minniesgal]

We love split stays but we tend to stay 10-18 nights and I prefer not to stay less than 6 nights at one resort. We have done it so many time packing and moving is easy. We tend to move on our down day, sleep in pack slowly check out then go to the new resort check in and swim or play mini golf while waiting for the room. Check out is at 11 often the next room is available between 2 and 3 so we never have long without a room. I don't think though that would do this on a short trip or without a car

It feels like we get three trips in 1 as we tend to stay in vastly different places.

 

[sanibel93]

Did a split stay this year. Did not find it bad at all. You can have the first resort you are staying at transfer your luggage if you want and take a bus to your new resort, none go direct. Instead we took a cab and took our luggage with us. It was around $10 with the tip. Real easy. Going to be doing the same thing in February.

 

[DougEMG]

I like split stays when going for at least 5+ days at each resort. It makes it seem like each stay is a separate vacation. Our last trip we stayed at 4 resorts with the shortest stay at any one being 5 nights and it was a lot of fun.