Is this Crazy? Kind of split stay?

[robinb]

The other thing you are missing when you bookend room-only reservations is your meal plan. At the very least you should keep your room at POR at the end so you can have the dining credits.

 

[lockedoutlogic]

If you're gonna take on the cost of extra nights... I would hang around at least half the day on Saturday and get some time in...I mean - if you're there, I would try to work it out.

Flying in late and then switching hotels early might counteract the benefit of flying in late in the first place. At least part of your day will be eaten up with the switch.

 

[Masonmj84]

I'm generally a big fan of split stays and have no problem with your idea of tacking on one night at a value resort at the beginning of your vacation.

However, I personally wouldn't do a split for one night at the end of your vacation, especially if you are having bell services transfer your luggage and plan to leave early the next morning. If there is any problem with the luggage transfer, you may have a huge headache with not having a bag on the day you need to fly home (I've never had this problem with bell services but I've heard that it occasionally happens).

I'm also not a big fan of an early flight on my departure day, especially if using Magical Express. With the 3 hour departure cushion, it's too early to get up and I like being able to check my luggage at the resort.

 

[dprincessmom]

I appreciate the reply... like I said I've never done this before so I honestly don't know what to expect!

I've considered that option as well... My original plan was to stay at the Art of Animation in a Little Mermaid Room but I was woo-ed into a Royal Room at Port Orleans. I think honestly I'd be happy at either and I posted an thread a few days ago asking for opinions on both resorts and overwhelming people suggested the moderate was the way to go. Since we got free dining with our POR room, and wouldn't with a Little Mermaid room at AOA the cost of the
trip was pretty much the same at either hotel (once we added the dining plan to the AOA room that is!).

So I don't know what to do! We set a budget for the trip and agreed not to go over because it's so EASY to say oh it's only a $100 more for this or $50 more for that and before you know it you are $500 over budget! So my husband is already ready to kill me for adding nights on, but I'm trying to make the most of the vacation!

Could you do a standard room at Port Orleans. We love POR and are perfectly happy in the standard rooms. We have stayed in the mansions and in Alligator Bayou. I would be willing to guess if you stepped your reservation down to a regular room, you might be able to cover most of the costs of the two nights in the savings. I like the other suggestion of staying at the airport hotel on arrival day and just hitting MDE early the next morning.

 

[myrheille]

I personally don't get the Moderates. I think for a first visit, where you know you will be in the parks a lot, a value is way better, well, value, for your money. They are perfectly fine hotels and you can then spend the money on a nice meal at Flying Fish or something. But that's me, I know Moderates have their fans.

I think your main question depends on your party. You don't mention if you have young kids who need to nap or if everyone can do their own packing, etc. I think moving after the first night is doable - you keep everything for your first day in your carry-on and don't unpack in the first room, but doing it for the last night is very tiring. Maybe you're underestimating how exhausting a WDW vacation is, but by the end, packing twice might seem out of your reach

Why did you go for a moderate in the first place?

 

[robinb]

I like the other suggestion of staying at the airport hotel on arrival day and just hitting MDE early the next morning.

I've certainly done that before,but at $80 for the All Star Movies she is not really saving enough money to make it worthwhile to stay at the airport. If she stays at at ASMv she can have the luggage fairies move her bags and get a start on her day in the parks.

 

[loves to dive]

I'm a big fan of split stays and just did one with 3 rooms over 6 nights, but to be fair the last change was an add on. Original plans were 2 nights at AKV and 3 nights at BWV, 5 nights/6 day plans. On the day we moved to BWV we decided we really weren't going to have enough time to enjoy so I asked at the front desk if I could extend another day. No go since that leg was booked through Orbitz. So that night, got on the phone with Disney, booked another day at BWV but in a different room. So 3 rooms 6 nights. We drive down so we transfer out luggage ourselves but that last transfer we called bell services early in the morning and had them store the luggage, went downstairs and checked out and back in, it was early around 7 am so not busy at all. Room was not ready, no biggy we went to breakfast and to Epcot. Around 2 got the text room was ready but didn't end up going to it until around 5:30, called bell services and they had our bags to our room in about 10 min. All went smooth and no problems.

Can you do two nights on the front end in a Value then transfer to POR for the rest? I've done that before as well, two nights in Pop and the rest in BW. It really depends on your tolerance for moving, if you are organised enough you don't really unpack or repack the day of the transfers, in my case I take two suitcases and leave one in the car but again, I have a car with me.

 

[Crystal824]

I would not "book end" the days on the vacation. IT is a lot of hassle and things can go wrong. For example, we did a split stay recently and our room was not ready for our second hotel until 6pm. This created a huge problem for getting ready for a dinner ADR. Packing is time consuming.

If you want to save a little money just stay the first night at All Stars and the rest at your main hotel. You can put everything for the one night in your carry on and just leave the rest packed. I know you may not want to hear this but it really is not as easy as it seems with switching hotels twice in such a short period of time.

You could always try to reduce your room category at POR to save money. Four nights is not very long to settle in. If you really feel stretched on budget and are spending a majority of your time in the parks you may want to consider just staying at the value the whole time.

I don't think some people understand that you are switching hotels twice in six days. I believe they think you are just staying a All Stars the first night.

I've done split stays, and things did not go easy for me. It may be easier now that you can do online check-in and get a text with your room number. That was not the case when we last did a split stay. We spent a long time checking in at the second hotel. With that said, if I were going to do this, I would do stay at the All Stars for one or two nights at the beginning of your trip instead of doing one night at the beginning and one night at the end. I would have a separate bag for all the things you need for those days and not unpack the rest of my suitcases at all. That will make it easier to move hotels. Staying at a different hotel at the end would be a pain for me. During our stay, we often have thing everywhere in the hotel room (plus all the stuff we buy). It takes a while to pack up the night before we leave. You would have to do that and then check into a different hotel and figure out what you need for that night. I just think that would be a hassle. With that being said, I don't know if you have little kids. I do. I have already told my husband that while they are little, we are never doing a split stay again. It is just too much stuff to deal with.

 

[baler31]

I've done split stays, and things did not go easy for me. It may be easier now that you can do online check-in and get a text with your room number. That was not the case when we last did a split stay. We spent a long time checking in at the second hotel. With that said, if I were going to do this, I would do stay at the All Stars for one or two nights at the beginning of your trip instead of doing one night at the beginning and one night at the end. I would have a separate bag for all the things you need for those days and not unpack the rest of my suitcases at all. That will make it easier to move hotels. Staying at a different hotel at the end would be a pain for me. During our stay, we often have thing everywhere in the hotel room (plus all the stuff we buy). It takes a while to pack up the night before we leave. You would have to do that and then check into a different hotel and figure out what you need for that night. I just think that would be a hassle. With that being said, I don't know if you have little kids. I do. I have already told my husband that while they are little, we are never doing a split stay again. It is just too much stuff to deal with.

We did online check in and our room was still not ready. Now this seemed to be a resort problem as a lot of unhappy people were standing around with the same situation. We do splits frequently, but I am moving away from them for any trip shorter than 9-10 nights.

 

[Lynzer4]

So I might be missing something but it seems it's Magical Express which is causing the issue. For the same price as a hotel stay why don't you just rent a car or book a private airport transfer. That will have you to the hotel faster and get you into the parks and you don't have to change your travel dates/ hotels.