How to book a Split Stay?

[nannye]

How does it work if I wanted to spend a couple nights at one resort and a couple more at another.
Thanks
Erin

 

[ethanwa]

How does it work if I wanted to spend a couple nights at one resort and a couple more at another.
Thanks
Erin

Just make two separate reservations online, back to back. The will all appear under your one account.

If you need help or just want to make a $200 deposit on the first stay only (because you don't want to lock up $400), call Disney and have them do it for you. The can also split the travel insurance up to cover the whole trip instead of each stay if you'd like, but it really doesn't matter.

Either way, it's pretty easy.

 

[Sue M]

It's pretty easy booking split stays doing room only. As mentioned, It is 2 separate bookings. i always thought you had to put down a deposit for each resort. We've done a few split stays. But always on longer stays. Personally I wouldn't split a 4 day stay with only 2 days at each resort. You'd pretty much just be checking in & out. But that's me.

 

[nannye]

is it more expensive for park tix then?

 

[Sue M]

is it more expensive for park tix then?

No. If you are just booking a room only you can buy park tickets separately from a ticket broker. I've used Undercover Tourist, and have been happy with their service. They mail you real tickets, not vouchers like some other sites. And their posted price includes tax. Shipping is free. So when comparing ticket prices most sites don't post the complete price with tax till you go to check out, then you find out the total price with tax, and some sites charge for shipping.
You will save a little by ordering from them, depending on what specials they have.

If you book a pkg with WDW- room + tickets, you would just order lenght of stay tickets on the first res, if your entire stay is 4 days. then on second resort res, you would book room only. Your park tickets for all your days will be on your 1st resort KTTW card.

 

[nannye]

No. If you are just booking a room only you can buy park tickets separately from a ticket broker. I've used Undercover Tourist, and have been happy with their service. They mail you real tickets, not vouchers like some other sites. And their posted price includes tax. Shipping is free. So when comparing ticket prices most sites don't post the complete price with tax till you go to check out, then you find out the total price with tax, and some sites charge for shipping.
You will save a little by ordering from them, depending on what specials they have.

If you book a pkg with WDW- room + tickets, you would just order lenght of stay tickets on the first res, if your entire stay is 4 days. then on second resort res, you would book room only. Your park tickets for all your days will be on your 1st resort KTTW card.

Thanks!
If I get my tix from undercover tourist, can I get park hopper with them?

 

[aubriee]

Just make two separate reservations online, back to back. The will all appear under your one account.

If you need help or just want to make a $200 deposit on the first stay only (because you don't want to lock up $400), call Disney and have them do it for you. The can also split the travel insurance up to cover the whole trip instead of each stay if you'd like, but it really doesn't matter.

Either way, it's pretty easy.

Disney will not do this. I do split stays alot and always have to pay two deposits when I call. If it's a pkg you pay the $200.00 on each. If it's room only you pay the first night's fee. WDW will tell you they do not recognize a split stay and that they just consider it two separate reservations. Each reservation will have it's own confirmation number. Now if you are having to do a split stay at the same resort for some reason due to how room discount dates fall or if you want dining for part of the stay, they will link the reservations, so that hopefully you can stay in the same room, but you still get two confirmation numbers and still have to pay two deposits. I've had to do this several times due to the way AP discounts or bouncback dates fall.

For example this past Nov 26th-Dec 4th the bounceback dates didn't cover my first night, so I had to book the first night on the AP discount. I decided to get the DxDDP for that one night. I had to pay a $200.00 deposit for the first night, then a room only deposit for the next seven night stay, even though I was at the same resort and was even able to stay in the same room. WDW still considered them two separate stays and each stay had to meet the requirements of the deal I booked it under. Last Dec I did a split stay at CSR and YC using the AP discount for each and again had to pay two separate deposits. May 2009 I did the same thing for a stay at AKL and CSR, again using the AP discount for each. I go to WDW 4-6 times a year and always call to make my room reservations. I've never made a room reservation online. As soon as I say I want to do a split stay, the first thing the CM always says is that Disney recognizes those as just separate reservations and I'll have to pay a deposit for each resort and will have a different confirmation number for each.

 

[aubriee]

Thanks!
If I get my tix from undercover tourist, can I get park hopper with them?

Yes.

If you buy your park tickets from a third party, you won't be able to get a pkg (dining plan) through Disney though as they require the purchase of at least one day park tickets (two days for free dining) unless you are an AP holder, staying on DVC points, or have a military deal. You could book a split stay room only though, using whatever room only discounts are out there for that time period. They would still be two separate reservations though, requiring a one night deposit for each. We may call them split stays, but Disney just sees them as two separate reservations. I love doing split stays but know going in, that I'll be required to pay two deposits. In fact, one year I did a three way split stay, stayed at three resorts and had to pay three deposits. I would not do that again (not because of the three required deposits, but because of the time wasted moving and checking into each resort). I like doing split stays between CSR and POFQ or a moderate and an Epcot area resort.

 

[Megsie1000]

Make sure you don't want to do the dining plan because it will be more expensive (unless you have an annual pass). We tried to do this with our split stay and when you move, you have to buy a new one-day ticket for each person, which obviously bumps up the cost significantly.

Right now we're just skipping the dining plan, but if we do it, we'll just do it for the first part of our stay and not the second. We already have the more expensive dining ADRs for the first part of the trip, so that will work nicely.

We're doing split POR/BC. So excited.

You just give bell services your luggage after you check out and they take it to the next hotel. Awesome.

 

[Sue M]

Thanks!
If I get my tix from undercover tourist, can I get park hopper with them?

Yes, they have all combinations of tickets. Great service- mail was fast even to Canada!
http://www.undercovertourist.com/orlando/attractions/tickets.html
Right now you can get a 4 day park hopper for the price of a 3 day hopper.

As people pointed out, this is only good if you aren't planning on getting the dining plan, and booking room only.

We ordered from them when we booked a room only discount promo.

 

[Masonmj84]

If you're thinking about doing a split stay involving at least one deluxe resort and are also thinking about eating at a lot of sit down restaurants, I would highly recommend buying an annual pass (even if you only plan to make 1 trip to WDW using that pass).

This not only potentially gives you access to room discounts (or deeper discounts) than might be otherwise available (which can often, in and of itself, more than pay for the AP) but also allows you to either: (1) add dining to a room only without buying tickets; or (2) be eligible for a TIW card.

On split stays that include a dining plan (unless they are very long ones), you otherwise get hosed on tickets because, without an AP, you are required to buy MYW tickets for each stay and buying, for example, two sets of 3 day MYW tickets for each member of your party is much more expensive than buying one set of 6 day MYW tickets for each member.

The beauty is that you only need to buy one annual pass for one member of your party. Then, you can either add dining to a room only or get a TIW card (depending on your preference). Then, you can just separately buy 1 set of MYW tickets for each of the rest of the members of your party.

In addition, from what I understand, even if there are no announced AP holder room discounts when you originally book your trip, you can later add a discount, once it is announced (as long as you make the request to add the discount before it runs out).