need advice on multi-property trips

[Indiana Dad]

Hello All,
we have an eight night trip booked next June at our Home resort VWL. For the first time ever, we are considering doing the first four nights at another resort (BCV) then moving to our beloved VWL for the last half of the trip. WE thought it might be nice to experience another property (and stormalongbay!). My question is this. MS said they would "help us move". If anyone else has done this sort of two property stay in the same week, can you please share your experiences...both pro and con? My wife likes to "settle in" and nothave to pack up mid-week. Also, moving a full fridge of perishables is tricky. And the kids think it will "kill a day we could be in a park". All valid points, but the allure of going to a new property and the proximity to epcot and mgm is interesting. Either way, thank you for whatever you can share.

 

[alldiz]

Hello All,
we have an eight night trip booked next June at our Home resort VWL. For the first time ever, we are considering doing the first four nights at another resort (BCV) then moving to our beloved VWL for the last half of the trip. WE thought it might be nice to experience another property (and stormalongbay!). My question is this. MS said they would "help us move". If anyone else has done this sort of two property stay in the same week, can you please share your experiences...both pro and con? My wife likes to "settle in" and nothave to pack up mid-week. Also, moving a full fridge of perishables is tricky. And the kids think it will "kill a day we could be in a park". All valid points, but the allure of going to a new property and the proximity to epcot and mgm is interesting. Either way, thank you for whatever you can share.

Lots of people call bell services they will take your luggage and deliver it to your new resort. You can then go to a park all day....go back at night check in and they will bring your luggage to your room.
I'm unclear about the fridge stuff.....I think they will store it but I am not sure.

I love split stays.....and I like for everything to go smooth...Which is Why...
I DO IT.
Family goes to a park.....I pack everything.....call bell services and they put my stuff in a taxi. I then bring my stuff and check into resort #2.
WLV to Epcot area.....no more than 15 dollars.

When I get to resort #2....Bell Services takes luggage....If room is ready I send for luggage and set room up before I head to park.
If it is not ready...I just head to park....and on my way home call for my room number.
Family thinks I am a genius for doing it all so "easily"
Happy planning
Kerri

 

[Deb & Bill]

Hello All,
we have an eight night trip booked next June at our Home resort VWL. For the first time ever, we are considering doing the first four nights at another resort (BCV) then moving to our beloved VWL for the last half of the trip. WE thought it might be nice to experience another property (and stormalongbay!). My question is this. MS said they would "help us move". If anyone else has done this sort of two property stay in the same week, can you please share your experiences...both pro and con? My wife likes to "settle in" and nothave to pack up mid-week. Also, moving a full fridge of perishables is tricky. And the kids think it will "kill a day we could be in a park". All valid points, but the allure of going to a new property and the proximity to epcot and mgm is interesting. Either way, thank you for whatever you can share.

I'm with the kids. Unless you must move to another resort after four days, I'd stay in one for an eight night stay. And then try the other resort next time.

You are homeless once you checkout by 11AM until after 4PM. When MS says they will "help you move" they mean you still have to pack everything up yourself, including the food. Then they will store and transport the stuff to the second resort. If you are like me, packing up is the least favorite part of my trip (and you will have to do it twice!!). And moving a half opened carton of OJ or partially eaten whatever is not as easy as either packing up a full carton (never opened) or throwing something away because it is nearly or fully used up.

 

[Inkmahm]

Lots of people call bell services they will take your luggage and deliver it to your new resort. You can then go to a park all day....go back at night check in and they will bring your luggage to your room.
I'm unclear about the fridge stuff.....I think they will store it but I am not sure.

I love split stays.....and I like for everything to go smooth...Which is Why...
I DO IT.
Family goes to a park.....I pack everything.....call bell services and they put my stuff in a taxi. I then bring my stuff and check into resort #2.
WLV to Epcot area.....no more than 15 dollars.

When I get to resort #2....Bell Services takes luggage....If room is ready I send for luggage and set room up before I head to park.
If it is not ready...I just head to park....and on my way home call for my room number.
Family thinks I am a genius for doing it all so "easily"
Happy planning
Kerri

I"m doing what you do next week except we have a minivan so I'll be driving our things from AKV to VWL. I can drop the family off at Epcot and meet up with them later after all the details are handled for the resort switch.

In my case, we're only staying one night at AKV first so I won't get the groceries until day #2 when we move into VLW. That eliminates the need for bell services to store anything for us in the refrigerator.

 

[msabol01]

I did a split stay because I wanted to see as many of the DVC properties to help decide where I want to add-on in the future. I ended up moving myself, which worked out very well. I started my week at VWL and moved midweek to SSR.

As the previous posted mentioned I was concerned about being "Homeless" for a morning/early afternoon. So, the night prior to our move I called the SSR front desk (used the direct line not the 800 number, front desk can help with this) and asked about the likelihood of checking in and getting into a room first thing in the AM. The CM told me it wasn't likely because they were at capacity, but to check in the morning anyway.

So at 7am the next morning, I drove (had a rental car) over to SSR to check in. This way we would be in the queue if a room wasn't ready. As luck we have it, a unit was available . So I rushed back to VWL and told the family and our friends staying with us. And we were in our new diggs by 9 am.

Had the room not been ready, I would have had bell services move our items in the fridge to the new resort and have them hold it in the cold locker until we had a room available. And we would just go to the parks.

I agree with the notion that doing it yourself will ensure things go well. The biggest trick is whether a room is available when you check-in.

If I were to do a split stay in the future, I would do my move on a non-park day in case things do work out with room availability during check-in.

I have not relied solely on Disney to handle the move, most report much success with it.

Hope that helps.

 

[BostonDisneyKid]

We've done many split stay trips and honestly it isnt difficult at all. Our first time doing it we were nervous but since we did our first split-stay we realized just how easy it was and enjoy doing this. We find it exciting and adventureous to do this and think it makes for a great trip to take in multiple resorts on a single trip. WVL & BCV would be great resort split IMO. Such extreme contrasts in themeing, layout, location and amenities. I'd say go for it!!!

If you want specifics on strategy feel free to PM me as we have done this a few different ways but all have worked out well with very little, if any, disruption to "park time".

 

[CarolAnnC]

I think the resort you are moving to will have some bearing on whether or not your room may be ready, too. For instance, SSR and OKW probably have a better chance of a room available since they are such large resorts, whereas BCV and WLV are smaller in size. I had once split stay once with early check in available and that was at OKW.

 

[starbox]

We've done many split stays because I was anxious as a new member to stay at all the DVC resorts. My favorite way to do a split stay is to start at a Disney DVC, go to VB for a couple of nights, then return and stay at a second Disney DCV. I've done the split-stay from Disney area resort to Disney area resort and it's not quite as enjoyable - but with planning it works well.

I'd suggest that you start at VWL and and at BCV - get the initial excitement of park-visiting out of your system and then move to BCV for the primary purpose of relaxing and swimming.

I find it easiest to organize and pack so that I can load up the car after my first check-out and just take a smaller suitcase into the last part of the stay resort. I'll also typically add the dining plan (or even the deluxe DDP) if I have a 1-2 night stay somewhere so that I can take advantage of some specialty dining.

If you stay, say 6 nights at VWL - you could move into BCV with just a couple of bags and with the DDP those days - you could ditch the opened food and take advantage of all the good dining/snack options at EPCOT. That way, your check in day - you could just wear swimsuits under your clothes and swim at SAB until your room was ready at BCV.

 

[BostonDisneyKid]

I'll also typically add the dining plan (or even the deluxe DDP) if I have a 1-2 night stay somewhere so that I can take advantage of some specialty dining.

Great strategy and advice!!!

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

I wonder if the new online check-in will be a benefit in a split stay?

 

[CarolAnnC]

I wonder if the new online check-in will be a benefit in a split stay?

Since the resorts' method of assigning rooms is not changing, it would seem that the new online check in will just save some time waiting in line by taking in the credit card information beforehand.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Since the resorts' method of assigning rooms is not changing, it would seem that the new online check in will just save some time waiting in line by taking in the credit card information beforehand.

So the online check in does nothing more gather more information and doesn't get you a room assignment until you arrive at the resort? That's next to nothing compared to most hotel's online check in.

I was thinking that with the online check in at least you wouldn't have to run over to the resort in the morning. It seems like most times a room won't be ready and if you use bell service to transfer luggage it could save a person that trip to get the check-in started.

I also thought that perhaps you could you check-in online and then call the resort in the morning and see if your room is ready.

 

[bookwormde]

I like to do multiple split stays all the time, but I usually do 2-5-2 or 3-5-3 and set up my packing so I only do partial unpacking at the beginning and then move into a 1br/2br or GV in the middle for 5 days do main packing at the end of that and work out of a couple of bags for the last few days. It sure makes the last day packing a lot easier. I know this is not what most people do but it works well for us (me DW DS9 DS6 and sometimes extended family on GG visits). WDW and DVC make moving easy. Yes you do have to be ready to be homeless but in my experience if you get up first thing and check into the new resort at 7 am most of the time I have not been homeless for very long, but I do travel during the less busy times.

bookwormde