Long stay, changing resorts, groceries?

[MineeBaby]

Hi everyone! My hubbie and I will be doing our first extended stay with our DVC membership this coming September. We will be changing resorts twice and I am unsure of the best way to transfer our refridgerated items between check out and check in. I am sure that I am not the first person who has had this issue, or who has asked this question! Any experts care to share some advice?

Thanks!
Heidi

 

[dianeschlicht]

I guess I would try to keep left over refridgerated items at a minimum and try to shop seperately for each resort. You might also go buy a small styrofoam cooler when you grocery shop and place your items in there with a lot of ice. One of the reasons we hate to change resorts during a long stay is that grocery issue.

 

[newholidayx2]

We pack a collaspible (sp?) cooler. Never had a problem w/cold food when changing resorts. This Aug we're staying 5nights VWL, 3nights AKL and 6nights BCV. The resorts supposedly put our cold items into cold storage until everything is moved into our room. I use the cooler for more peace of mind.

We've changed resorts w/bags of food too and never a problem.

 

[slp87]

We switched resorts during our March stay and we just bagged up our things that needed to stay cold and the bellhop made note of the bag when he got our things. We had milk, bacon, cinnamon rolls and juice. All were very cold when they arrived at our room that afternoon. They even refrigerated our soft drinks that we didn't even request be kept cold.

 

[MineeBaby]

Do you all leave your bags with someone at the new resort when you are changing? We were planning on throwing everything into our car until check in time, but if we can leave things with the front desk or someone else, that would be excellent!

 

[spiceycat]

after you have packed up call bell services tell them the new resort - then you leave after they come and get it. (give him/her a tip)

bell services moves everything....

 

[slp87]

Just like Spicey said. They'll take everything and move it to the new resort. We planned a water park on our move day so we weren't as rushed getting out the door and since we were at BCV and moving to BWV, we walked on over and checked in before catching the bus. Once we arrived back that afternoon, we called down to bell services and our stuff was brought up. It's so easy!

 

[MineeBaby]

No kidding! That really is easy! Now for my real silly question--what is a "good" tip for a bell hop? We have never used valet parking or bell hops or anyone to help us before. We are using DIY people for EVERYTHING and I would hate to undertip the poor fellows.

Thank you all so much for your help This changing resort thing is going to be a breeze!
Heidi

 

[spiceycat]

$1 per bag.

 

[crisi]

Consider carefully how much you need for groceries. Our first DVC trip was an exercise in having far too many groceries. If you are going to cook - that's great. We imagined snacking (didn't happen), frozen pizza (didn't happen) and needing far more pop than we used. Particularly with the logistics of switching resorts. It may turn out you just need to swing through whatever little store is at the new resort and replace a half gallon of milk.

(It isn't saving a dime to spend $100 on groceries for the week and throw out $90 worth of it).....