I never thought I would do a split stay but..

[jjohnson]

I'm about to call today & split between Polynesian LV & YC. I know there have been numerous threads on the subject but I never read them. I tried a search & all kinds of other posts are coming up. Most have nothing to do with split stays.

So can someone tell me any disadvantages to doing this? Also do you have to sit in your room & wait for bell services to pick up your luggage? or can we drop it off at the front desk when we checkout.

Thank you for all of your input.

 

[Laurajean1014]

We've done this once or twice. Yes, you tell bell services to take your bags and if your room is ready, they place them in the new room, while you take a cab or a bus to DTD to your new resort.

Many people do this, although, I do not think it's worth it.

Besides, I would keep getting on the wrong bus!

 

[msmayor]

I personally can't ever see myself splitting a stay. Taking time to re-organize and re-pack my stuff just to move to a new resort is not how I want to spend any of my vacation time.

When I get somewhere, I just want to unpack and enjoy.

 

[opal]

We have only done this once and we didn't move far. We split between Yacht Club and Swan due to room availability issues. It really wasn't much of a hassle but I probably wouldn't do it again unless I had to. Pack separate suitcases for each hotel so you don't have to unpack, pack and again unpack everything!

 

[dbanzai]

I've been wondering what the big deal is about resort hopping. I can't picture myself splitting up my time at Disney resorts, it seems unnecessarily hectic.

 

[jjohnson]

I always thought the same way as all of you but when I looked at our "tentative" schedule we will be in the MK/Epcot area exclusively for the first 3 days of our trip. I also thought we might do better staying in 1 room (5 of us) if things switched midway.

Did you have to wait in the room for the bags to be picked up?

 

[SnoWhiteRabbit]

Wow...nothing that you wanted to hear, I'm sure. We split our first stay out of necessity (added a few days, and nothing was available where we were) and now I split my stay every trip! I love it. Our trips are on the longer side (10 - 14 days) and it is fun to see another resort and enjoy its perks.

I find it very easy! You pack the night before the split (I usually plan this as a down evening in the itinerary - everyone needs an early night mid-trip anyhow), and in the am you call bell services and ask to have your luggage transported. You do not need to be in the room.

You go off to the parks, enjoy the day, as usual, and when it's time to return to your room, you hop the bus to your new resort. When you get there you check in and ask to have your luggage sent to your room. Voila - you are transferred! SMooth and easy - in my opinion.

Yes, you have to think about timing. If you come back too early your room might not be ready, but then you can just spend some time checking out the new resort. If you would want to swim, you could keep a small beag with suits with you that day, and swim until your room is ready. We usually eat, have a drink, wander the grounds, check out the gift shops, whatever....

Some people say the waiting for luggage is a hassle, but we don't mid and have never had a problem. Of course, I've read a few stories about luggage getting lost for a few hours, and it *can* happen, but most of the time it's smooth. If you think you would enjoy seeing more than one resort, go for it!

 

[SnoWhiteRabbit]

Did you have to wait in the room for the bags to be picked up?

No, definitely not, pack, call, and go! Enjoy the parks...then just return to your new resort.

 

[Grumpy'n'Goofy]

We did a split stay on our last trip and had no problems whatsoever. It was in no way inconvenient or a hassle for us...I was going to type up how easy it is, but SnoWhiteRabbit's post above pretty much sums it up!

One more thing, I think you will love splitting between the Poly/YC, you get the best of both worlds...monorail/boat access to the MK at Poly and walk/boat to Epcot and MGM (and the boardwalk area) at YC.

Have fun whatever you end up deciding!!

 

[jjohnson]

Wow...nothing that you wanted to hear, I'm sure. We split our first stay out of necessity (added a few days, and nothing was available where we were) and now I split my stay every trip! I love it. Our trips are on the longer side (10 - 14 days) and it is fun to see another resort and enjoy its perks.

I find it very easy! You pack the night before the split (I usually plan this as a down evening in the itinerary - everyone needs an early night mid-trip anyhow), and in the am you call bell services and ask to have your luggage transported. You do not need to be in the room.

You go off to the parks, enjoy the day, as usual, and when it's time to return to your room, you hop the bus to your new resort. When you get there you check in and ask to have your luggage sent to your room. Voila - you are transferred! SMooth and easy - in my opinion

Yes, you have to think about timing. If you come back too early your room might not be ready, but then you can just spend some time checking out the new resort. If you would want to swim, you could keep a small beag with suits with you that day, and swim until your room is ready. We usually eat, have a drink, wander the grounds, check out the gift shops, whatever....

Some people say the waiting for luggage is a hassle, but we don't mid and have never had a problem. Of course, I've read a few stories about luggage getting lost for a few hours, and it *can* happen, but most of the time it's smooth. If you think you would enjoy seeing more than one resort, go for it!

Your right I was surprised at the responses but I asked for it.

I'm pretty sure I'm going to do it. The thought of seeing Wishes from my balcony every night is too hard to resist.

 

[SqueakyMouse]

Split stays can be both fun and aggravating. On our May trip, we didn't do a truly split stay; but we did switch levels of rooms on our first full day. I don't think I want to do this again when we have our 3 children along. We checked-out of our standard view room early in the morning and headed to the parks. Since we were not changing resorts, we knew that we'd at least have access to our luggage all day. Also, since we didn't make any location requests, we expected to get into our savanna view room fairly early in the day. Well, we did not get into our new room until after 4; and our luggage didn't arrive until a couple of hours after that. Not fun with a cranky 2 and 4 yo and hot, sweaty parents. That being said, dh and I decided to fly into MCO the night before our originally planned arrival in July. We're going to spend our 1st night at Pop then switch to WL the next day. At the moment, we're planning on taking a taxi with our bags from Pop to WL.

 

[jjohnson]

Not to sound completely stupid...After we call bell services do we leave the bags in the room?

 

[*Fantasia*]

We stayed at POP. Ask the front desk if they can move our bags to WL. They said no problem, just touch the luggage dept and they will pick up the bags from the room. They wanted the bags sitting by the window. They said WE DIDN'T HAVE TO BE IN THE ROOM. I called the luggage dept. And they said the same thing. So we left the room, went to MK, checked in around 3. We got to our room, and called the luggage dept to send our bags in.

From WL (this is all from one same trip). Ask the front desk if they can moveour bags to Poly. They said no problem, just call the bell hop service and let them know and told us WE HAVE TO BE IN THE ROOM for them to pick up our bags. I called and they picked up our bags while in the room. We went to MK to catch the monorail to Poly. We checked in in the AM, the room was ready. We went to our room and changed to our swimsuit. We had a "day bag." We didn't ask for our bags to be sent to our room not until about 6pm! We were too busy enjoying ourselves.

So both times... THEY DIDN'T AUTOMATICALLY SENT THE BAGS TO OUR ROOM. They didn't know our room number I guess. And I think they wanted to make sure that we get them personally.

 

[JESW]

We split ALL our stays now and really like it. I know that it is not for everyone but for our family (kids are 6 &10) it is no big deal.

We start off with a MK resort and go to the MK & AK while we are there. Then off to an EPCOT resort for the end of the vacation. EPCOT is our favorite park and we like to spend the most of our time there. It is convenient to MGM & EPCOT.

We also go to the water parks and DTD.

Splitting is no problem as we pack up our luggage, give a call, they come and take it and we are off for the day. Then on to our new resort! For us it is like two separate vacations.

In august we are doing 3 resorts in 9 nights and we are really looking forward to that! I have dinner, shows & day care reserved for all the diferent places - I wanted to coordinate it that way so we weren't all over the place. (Ex.: going to Hoop Dee Doo and Whispering Canyon Cafe while we are at the WL)

Try it and see if you like it. I know there are many people who come on with negative comments when this thread comes up, but everyone likes different types of vacations. You might just like it!

Jill

 

[pirateofthecarolinas]

We love to resort hop and do it every visit. My 3 children love doing this. It feels like we are on 2 different vacations.

When you stay in a deluxe, you do have to be in the room when bell services picks up and delivers your luggage. At the values (luggage assistance) it isn't necessary. I did leave a tip on top of our luggage for the handler at Pop. We had 19 pieces and everything was delivered to the GF. I feel that it pays to tip!

Lori

 

[MissK]

I just want to thank you for starting this thread, I'm probably going to be splitting my stay between a moderate and deluxe and wasn't sure how it worked A question though, can split stays be booked online if you're getting a MYW package or would it be better if I called WDW directly?

 

[funcinderella]

I always thinking calling for your ressies are better; that way if you want to change anything you can just call. When you book online, if you want to change something, you can't do it over the phone; the two systems don't "speak". I don't like the online booking system at all (and I am one that likes to do EVERYTHINg on-line; just not booking a Disney hotel.!)

 

[dizkidz2]

We will be splitting our stay in Aug. between CSR & POFQ.

We have split our stays before and never had any problems. The only part of it that I don't like is the packing and unpacking. So this time we are going to try something different.
We will be staying at CSR for the first 4 days, and POFQ for the next four.
I'm going to try and pack 4 days of clothes in one suitcase and 4 in another. Also we will try the over-the-door shoe thingy for all the tolietries (sp?)

Also in the past when we have split, if we were moving between moderate and deluxe, we have planned the moderate for the beginning and moved "up" to the Deluxe for the last half.

 

[missypie]

We did a YC/CR split - 5 nights at each. I am the packer/unpacker, but it wasn't too bad. I'm glad we got to experience both resorts. I did pack one suitcase for the YC clothes and one for the CR clothes. It takes a bit of extra organization, but no big deal. We had a car, so we didn't have to wait for our luggage to arrive.

The only down side to consider is the possibiliy of horrible weather on the day you do your split. We left YC at 7:30 am in light rain. By the time we got to CR it was raining so hard that we drove right past the CR the 1st time (almost zero visibility). I felt stupid for having given up my room at YC and having no room in the pouring rain. As it turns out, a room was available for us that early. It was not the view I had requested, but we ended up loving it...and the rain let up, so we still got to MK at rope drop.

But you do need a plan for what you will do if it is horible weather and you have to give up your room. (Note that you can ask for late checkout and they'll let you stay until 1 pm without charging you.)

 

[4greatboys]

I dont think we have made a trip yet that we have not split our stay. We always stay 2-3 at one resort then move over to our DVC resort. Its so easy and hasnt been a problem so far. We just take our luggage to bell services and they deliever to our next resort, or you can have them come to your room and get it. Though I wouldnt just leave my luggage, I would wait for them to come, they need to give you a claim check.
I do all the packing for my family and I still dont think its a hassle.