Multiple resorts on one trip

[kes601]

I hope the CCV 1BR is after the Tower Studio!

This brings up another point about split stays: avoid 'downgrading' your room any time you move. If you strongly prefer XYZ over ABC, make sure to do ABC then XYZ. Otherwise there's a little bit of "ugh, we should have stayed in the prior room" lingering over the split stay.

Yep, starting in the TS and them moving to the 1 BR. No way we would do that the other way around.

To add to your XYZ over ABC equation one should also look at location. It's not just the room type that should be looked at, also think about what you want to do on the trip. We'll plan on park heavy while in the tower studio (hence trying out the tiny room) and then while in the 1 BR @ CCV we plan to have a more relaxed, down visit.

 

[fumanchu2488]

Hijacking this thread quickly. My ADR date is in 12 days. We are doing a weird 'split stay' where we have 1 night in a 1 BR at RIV, 4 nights in a studio at RIV and 3 nights in a studio at Poly. So I technically have three different windows for ADR.

Is there a work around to have access to the entire duration? I was even thinking of booking a cash room for the entire length with just deposit and then cancelling it once I was in the window for all the ADR. But I am not sure if their system would catch that and cancel everything when I cancelled the cash room.

 

[jvalic33]

We did our first split stay ever and I was really worried about it, but we loved it!

It actually felt like this trip was twice as long as the others for some reason and after night 5, when we checked into AKV, it felt like a whole new stay.

I did try to pack accordingly and as we used clothes the first few days that I knew we wouldn't need again (maybe a certain themed shirt we packed for a certain park we weren't returning to, I just washed them and put those in a separate bag that once full went into the car to not come out again. As I used things I wanted for our last two days that went into another bag.

We did have our car, which really helped because I didn't use bell services and have lots of hands to help so we moved in and out ourselves and it took no time at all.

The morning of our check out day I had everything almost packed the night before, we planned to drive to a park, had our stuff in the car and when we left the park checked into our new resort.

It was really no big deal at all.

I wouldn't hesitate to do it again, but it helps to plan your parks around where you are staying. Because we were at BWV the first 5 nights, I did all my Epcot, HS days there and ate at all the restaurants over that way. Then when we did AKV, I of course took advantage of Jiko and other parks that are easier to drive to and park for.

I only ended up doing a split stay because the 50% point borrowing thing has left me all messed up with points so it was a good way to use points from different contracts.

 

[CarolynFH]

Hijacking this thread quickly. My ADR date is in 12 days. We are doing a weird 'split stay' where we have 1 night in a 1 BR at RIV, 4 nights in a studio at RIV and 3 nights in a studio at Poly. So I technically have three different windows for ADR.

Is there a work around to have access to the entire duration? I was even thinking of booking a cash room for the entire length with just deposit and then cancelling it once I was in the window for all the ADR. But I am not sure if their system would catch that and cancel everything when I cancelled the cash room.

There have been some reports on the Restaurants board from people who called the dining reservation line, and the CM was able to book ADRs for their entire stay. However, it doesn’t seem to be something to count on. Others have booked the single resort reservation that you mention, booked ADRs, then cancelled the single reservation after the 60 day mark had passed for each of the ADRs and not had any problem. My belief is that ADRs aren’t linked to resort reservations once made, other than the resort reservation opening the booking window.

 

[TinkB278]

Hijacking this thread quickly. My ADR date is in 12 days. We are doing a weird 'split stay' where we have 1 night in a 1 BR at RIV, 4 nights in a studio at RIV and 3 nights in a studio at Poly. So I technically have three different windows for ADR.

Is there a work around to have access to the entire duration? I was even thinking of booking a cash room for the entire length with just deposit and then cancelling it once I was in the window for all the ADR. But I am not sure if their system would catch that and cancel everything when I cancelled the cash room.

I just tried to book a cash room to get around this split stay issue with making ADRs and the reservation would not got through. I have no idea if this was an IT glitch or if it’s because I have a dvc stay already tied to my account for those dates.

 

[Simba's Mom]

The most I would do is a two resort visit going forward. A MK resort and an EPCOT resort, IMO, would be perfect. Three is too much.

Same here. In the past I've enjoyed split stays, but that was when I moved just once. Then I decided a stay where I had to move twice would be OK. Nope, only one move from now on.

 

[sethschroeder]

You are losing half your trip almost.

I know some do it but it sounds terrible to constantly be getting things out of your suitcase one day and 48 hours be putting it all back in.

Not only the pack and unpacking but it means for 3 out of your 7 or 8 days you essentially won't have a room from 11am until 5pm potentially. Meaning no mid-day breaks easily at the pool.

Then you need to deal with moving your suitcases between resorts as well and if Disney moves them you lost access to your luggage for a period.

 

[iheartglaciers]

You are losing half your trip almost.

I know some do it but it sounds terrible to constantly be getting things out of your suitcase one day and 48 hours be putting it all back in.

Not only the pack and unpacking but it means for 3 out of your 7 or 8 days you essentially won't have a room from 11am until 5pm potentially. Meaning no mid-day breaks easily at the pool.

Then you need to deal with moving your suitcases between resorts as well and if Disney moves them you lost access to your luggage for a period.

I think it just depends on what kind of packer you are. I’m usually carry-on only and use packing cubes to organize, so I just live out of my suitcase. When it comes time to pack up, it’s mainly my toiletries and any new purchases I need to deal with. Then I drop off my suitcase with bell services on the way to the parks and pick it up at the new resort on my way back from the parks. Lately I put an air tag in my luggage so I can see when it’s at the new resort.

But on my last trip, I had to unpack my luggage because I was sharing a room with a lot of people and we needed the space (4 adults and a baby in one little Starcruiser room!). That was definitely more annoying to deal with, plus all the baby’s stuff, although we did 4 resorts (only because we stayed on property for a night before Starcruiser and then had an existing split stay planned afterwards with other friends).

 

[CSLucas]

I just tried to book a cash room to get around this split stay issue with making ADRs and the reservation would not got through. I have no idea if this was an IT glitch or if it’s because I have a dvc stay already tied to my account for those dates.

The cash booking hasn't worked for me the last two times - I always get the "unable to complete" page, but if I call it works just fine - maybe that is what is going on with yours? We are in the process of adding on via resale, but I wanted the cash booking in case the rooms were gone by the time it closed!

 

[TinkB278]

The cash booking hasn't worked for me the last two times - I always get the "unable to complete" page, but if I call it works just fine - maybe that is what is going on with yours? We are in the process of adding on via resale, but I wanted the cash booking in case the rooms were gone by the time it closed!

Thank you for letting me know! I’ll call tomorrow!

 

[sethschroeder]

I think it just depends on what kind of packer you are. I’m usually carry-on only and use packing cubes to organize, so I just live out of my suitcase. When it comes time to pack up, it’s mainly my toiletries and any new purchases I need to deal with. Then I drop off my suitcase with bell services on the way to the parks and pick it up at the new resort on my way back from the parks. Lately I put an air tag in my luggage so I can see when it’s at the new resort.

But on my last trip, I had to unpack my luggage because I was sharing a room with a lot of people and we needed the space (4 adults and a baby in one little Starcruiser room!). That was definitely more annoying to deal with, plus all the baby’s stuff, although we did 4 resorts (only because we stayed on property for a night before Starcruiser and then had an existing split stay planned afterwards with other friends).

I can do compartments. Traveled over half the year with daily changes in hotels with no issues for multiple years.

My issue is on vacation and paying so much for a room I am losing so much time.

Also I bring up the issues with packing as so many don't thing of it.

 

[KTownRaider]

Is there a work around to have access to the entire duration? I was even thinking of booking a cash room for the entire length with just deposit and then cancelling it once I was in the window for all the ADR.

I did exactly this for a split stay I had last December. Booked a cash stay at the cheapest resort I could find (All Star Music) for the duration of my split stay, and canceled later. No issues making any ADRs for my stay- worked like a charm…

 

[DVCSunDevil]

I may do a split stay again, but it will be limited to 2 resorts. We did a three resort split stay last year and it was rough. Having to repack twice during a vacation is no fun...at all. Then there are the two days of being in limbo. I thought we would just stay the day at a park during our transfer days, but the reality is that having a room to go relax in would have been nice. Two resort split stay...maybe. Three or more resort split stay...no way.

 

[fumanchu2488]

I may do a split stay again, but it will be limited to 2 resorts. We did a three resort split stay last year and it was rough. Having to repack twice during a vacation is no fun...at all. They there are the two days of being in limbo. I thought we would just stay the day at a park during our transfer days, but the reality is that having a room to go relax in would have been nice. Two resort split stay...maybe. Three or more resort split stay...no way.

I agree. We have young kids and one that still naps (preferably in the room).

The first 'split' is just moving from a 1BR to a Studio so no need to rely on bag transfer. One time we did that and our bags didn't get to our room until after 8 pm which was unacceptable in my opinion.

 

[kilik64]

Loved our two resort split stay that we did last year, will most likely try to do split stays every time we go, do 3 and 3. So nice being at MK resort for part and a epcot area for the other part.

 

[tom1944]

Loved our two resort split stay that we did last year, will most likely try to do split stays every time we go, do 3 and 3. So nice being at MK resort for part and a epcot area for the other part.

I think we will at least try that on a trip to see if we like it

 

[CarolynFH]

I think we will at least try that on a trip to see if we like it

Try with adults only the first time.

 

[kilik64]

Try with adults only the first time.

Naw did with 7 2 and 1 year old kids no problem. We drove so had a car, definitely wouldn’t have without one though.

 

[Simba's Mom]

I admit that all my split stays have been on solo trips-I'm not sure how I'd feel with others, especially young nappers.

 

[BrianLa]

We try to avoid split stays for shorter trips and prefer them when we have 10+ day trip. Minimum for the splits for us would be 4 nights at any resort. Exception was 1 night stay prior to Disney Cruise. Like others have said, I prefer to get up early and drive our luggage over to the second resort and have bell service hold them. Sometimes we plan that transfer day to be a pool day in the morning and then hit a park in the evening after we get our room. Currently we like doing some combination or BCV, RIV and BLT. Easter break we have 5 nights BCV and 5 nights RIV.