Is a split stay a good choice??

[houseofmouse]

My DH and DD6 and I are going to wdw for 2 wks in july and because it is our first time I thought it would be fun to check out two different dvc resorts. I was thinking BCV and WLV. Does anyone have any experience switching hotels mid stay and what is your opinions?

TIAFYI

 

[Lora]

We have changed rooms within the BW and have stayed at OKW and BCV with a change to the BW during those trips.

We spent just one night at BCV and moved, but I think if you have at least 5 nights in one resort, it's definitely worth it if you want to enjoy another resort. WLV will be great for the boat to MK, etc. BCV will be great for SAB and the quick walk to Epcot. If you plan your schedule around where you'll be, that will make life easier in the long run.

Sounds like fun to me!

 

[SSRex]

I have not done this yet and WDW and based on our experience trying this at another amusement park, my DW has said no way will we ever be doing the switching resorts idea again.

This past summer, we spend 5 nights at Cedar Point in Sandusky Ohio. We really wanted to stay in their cabins that appeared to be very much like at WDW Fort Wilderness that we liked in 2002.

Of course, there was only a single night available. I booked it & after that we moved to the suite hotel, also on site, for the next 3 nights.

The fifth and final night, we moved again to what Cedar Point calls a cottage. It is right on the shore of Lake Erie, nice views.

All 3 accommodations were very nice and the resorts did handle their part very well, in fact when moving for the second night our suite was available at 8am before we went into the park at 9am.

The problem was the feeling of never being settled in and having to pack and unpack. Now that we have tried all three, we know which one to call earlier for and be able to spend the entire trip in one place.

Cedar Point will never be close to WDW, but for Ohio it is turning into a nice resort and with 16 roller coasters, it beats Universal.

As far as moving from one hotel to aother, whether at WDW or anywhere else, we learned the hard way, never again for us.

So our next WDW trip will be at SRR or BCV, but not both, no way.

 

[The VWL Five]

Too funny.....we have a 2wk trip booked in July... and guess what? We are doing half at VWL and the other half at BCV. Sounds like a good plan to me. Why not? You can experience two different environments and not get sick of one room for two weeks. Plus all the other good stuff at each resort.

See ya there!!!

 

[SamS]

Wife and I will spend 6 nights with son and his family at BCV in June, the move to VWL for six nights when they return to PA. We're really looking forward to it. This past June we moved to OKW for last four nights after 8 nights at BCV (our first trip home). We found the change of pace and new experience to be very rewarding. I highly recommend the "moving" experience. (Pun intended)

 

[Caskbill]

Since you're going for 2-weeks I would think you would enjoy changing. It would almost be like two different vacations, getting to enjoy two different resorts.

Changing one time during a 2-week period is one thing. Changing 3-times during a 5-day period is another.

DVC will move your luggage. You'll really only be without a 'home' for 5-hours. Plus a little extra time to pack and unpack. Depending on how you initially pack you can minimize this. Plan on washing clothes at the resort and minimize what you bring in the first place. Or put items that you know you'll only need for week-2 in a separate bag that you don't even unpack while staying week-1.

Have a great trip.

 

[JimC]

We have done two resorts in a trip. The switch has been easy in each instance. Disney is great about the luggage transfer.

We are doing a two resort trip this february -- AKL and OKW.

 

[Happy Birthday Cat]

We are leaving for a two week stay in a few days and are going to be at the VWL first followed by a week at the BCV. (A short stay at the Hard Rock in between for our US fix). It is a lot of fun to switch resorts if you are staying long enough like you will be.

HBC

 

[BigTigger]

We did two resorts last August. The first was offsite for a week at the new Marriott Residence Inn at SeaWorld (which had a free shuttle to SeaWorld, Universal and IOA) followed by eight days at BWV. Both weeks were in two bedroom units. We are OKW owners since 1996, had never stayed anywhere else, and wanted to try out BWV or BCV last trip. We also had a rental minivan to make moving around easier.

We loved the lengthy vacation with two distinct weeks. It was nice to check out of week one's place and then check in to week two's place. We loved BWV so much, we bought 350 points from DVC so we could do the two week visits all the time and be at a DVC resort the whole time.

Next August we will again stay for two plus weeks, first at OKW from the 4th to the 13th and then move to BWV for the 13th to the 21st. As my oldest daughter starts college in Florida on the 21st, we will be able to spend one last family trip together at Disney to mark our tenth straight year of family trips to DisneyWorld. In future years, I'm sure we'll be visiting DVC (and our daughter) a lot more than once a year for shorter lengths of time. Of course, we may add more points and just visit more and keep our summer two week vacation intact.

 

[janette]

We split our last stay between WLV & BWV. It was pretty easy and Disney does transfer the luggage but you are without a room for the day and have to repack. My DH requested that we not split our next stay in March, just didn't like to have a day without a home.

We also in the past have stayed at a Universal hotel at the end of our trip. Decided that we should definately do a hotel stay at the first part if at all. Moving from a 1bdrm villa at OKW to a hotel room was a bit of a letdown, we felt very cramped.

 

[BuffaloDisney]

Many peoble on the board seem to want to stay in one resort. Packing and unpacking is one of the major reasons.

My family usually takes a 9-10 day vacation and we usually stay at 2 or 3 resorts. We like to resort hop and take advantage of the goodies at each resort. We do laundry at each resort so we only half to pack half as much. I know this isn't for everyone, it just happens to work well for my family.

 

[MELSMICE]

We've done the split stay 2X & will do it again in April 2004. We have not had a any problem with it & have really enjoyed getting to experience different resorts in the same stay.

Disney will take care of all your luggage so it is very convenient. You may not need to do this because you will be in each place for one week, but if you don't need something the first week, leave it in the car (if you have one) or don't even bother unpacking it from the suitcase.

 

[CK1]

We were always adamantly opposed to moving around -- we wanted to grow where we were planted! But the main thing that duanted us was the grocery issue. We do good deal of cooking in the villa -- would that be a regal pain to move?

For our next trip, we will stay our first weekend at BCV -- no groceries yet, no cooking. Plan is to eat at Cape May and Beaches and the Boardwalk eateries! THen, we'll check in to BWV on SUnday, and load up on groceries. We'll stay there for the next 8 nights.

Hopefully, if I do my shopping right, we will need one last grocery run by the 8th day. At that point, we are losing our guests, too, and stepping down to a 1br. I am trying to convince dh to go to either OKW or SSR for those last 3-4 days. We usually spend our last day or two at DTD anyway, and I could load most of the unneeded "stuff" into our car. I detest a big messy "packing-fest" on the morning of check-out... I think it would be blissful to be mostly all packed up, and maybe enjoy a character breakfast or something fun before we hit the road, instead of engaged in two weeks worth of stuff to load into the car. (And having the car nearby, such as at OKW -- that would be so very handy from a packing perspective, too!)

So we have our fingers crossed that with planning, an "intentional" change in resorts can be a GOOD thing!

 

[houseofmouse]

Thanks for all the great info we decided to try resort "hopping" and will stay at WLV for 1st week and BWV the 2nd week! Now I need to change my signature again! Oh well what better reason then to add WDW trip info!!

 

[patsal]

We've been splitting stays for a while. We split out stay over Easter, and we split a stay last June/July. Over Easter we had a 12 day vacation so the switch was not bad at all. We had only a six night stay in June/July and did the first four days at OKW and the next two at BCV. It was simple and painless. I plan on doing a similiar thingin July of this year with 5 days at BCV, two days at POP C. and 5 days at OKW. We don't lose time witht he change overs since we pack up the night before, and check in before we head to our park of choice. We've only had one time when our room wasn't ready when we checked in.

 

[Bella2000]

We've been splitting stays for a while as well. So far it has been non DVC and DVC resorts. We like MK area on the monorail and then we go to BCV. I agree with Caskbill that VWL and BCV switch (especially given your length of stays) will be like 2 separate vacations. If I could get DH off the monorail we would also be doing VWL and BCV.

 

[Disney-Kim]

Before DVC we stayed at 2 resorts on almost all of our trips. it gave us a chance to stay at deluxes and experience different themes.
I have been thinking that I will miss that a bit. We have been thinking of doing VWL and BWV on our next trip.
We will stay at studios and no cooking.
Since I know that Disney will move our luggage even as DVC members...I think it sounds pretty great.

 

[Lesley]

For your stay it sounds wonderful. We've overdone it in the past....as many as 4 resorts in 6 nights....and that is really too much. We're looking forward to a few visits without switching resorts for the first time since 1994 or so!

I'd say you can't go wrong though, if you're staying for 2 weeks and only switching once. As someone else said, it will be like having 2 separate vacations! Sounds like fun to me! And the VWL-BWV combination is just right....a nice variety of experiences. They are so different, but are equally wonderful.

 

[tvwalsh]

We will be staying at OKW in a two BR from Jan 11-23. We have split our trips between resorts in the past and have ALWAYS missed whichever resort we started out in!

In two weeks your resort becomes a second home. It is wonderful!

 

[Laurabearz]

If you can stay at least 4 days at each resort I would do it! Each resort is sooo different, with it's own flavor. You will love it!