Resort hopping.....love it or hate it??

[escriven75]

Thinking and planning way ahead to take some 'new to Disney' friends and fam in a year or two. I was thinking it MIGHT be fun to stay a couple nights at Pop then a couple nights at a mod (probably either POFQ or Caribbean (never been there) and then the last few nights at AK (never been there, always wanted to). So I ask those that stay at multiple resorts during one stay.....does this sound like a nightmare or fun way to try each level of resort and end with a new one?? Does packing up and moving your stuff eat up way too much time? Does Disney help move baggage from resort to resort on property or are you on your own? If we plan rest days for the 2 days we move to the next resort, does that make it worthwhile?

 

[Mrs.AMC]

Yes, Disney can move your bags for you. They take all day, like don't have them to the next resort till after 5:00 pm in most cases, so plan accordingly.
2 days hop? That does sound like a bit too much for me. And we love hopping
4 is more like what I prefer.
It doesn't eat time but you are homeless for better part of a day most of the time. You can get a room early at the new resort but it's hit and miss. Can't be counted on for certain. Obviously, at least for us, hopping trips are live out of suitcase trips. No unpacking at all. So no repacking needed.
Moving days are never rest days. Those are park days. Cause what else are you going to do, you have no room to rest in. We pack up, send bags off, head to park, and leave to new resort when we get room notice. Or when ready if not ready to go when room is ready.
Rest day is between moves. That's why I prefer more than 2 nights most of the time. I've done 2 nights but it's not my favorite way. I don't think I'd do it for a first time

 

[Her Dotness]

Have you asked your traveling companions if they're up for moving that much? That's essential, IMO.

As wearying as the electric WDW atmosphere can be for us veterans, I'd hesitate in this situation to book any split for people who aren't familiar with WDW.

Clearly, you know these people. Even so, I'd propose this to them, giving your reasons why you feel they might enjoy it.

Because even after multiple trips to WDW, I'd detest the prospect. I prefer to settle in and stay put, knowing I'm not obliged to move elsewhere until time to leave WDW.

 

[loves to dive]

3 stays in one trip might be good, depends on how long your trip is. I almost always do split stays, 1 or 2 nights in a value or moderate then move to a deluxe or Swan/Dolphin for the rest of the stay. I've done this even for short 4 night stays. Caveat - I always have a car so switching resorts and packing isn't a problem. I just pack a small suitcase, tote or even a packing cube with the first stay stuff. I have a hanging toiletry bag so I put it and my laptop in a separate tote bag and then I don't have to repack those into my bigger suitcase. If I used a packing cube, I'll either throw that in the back of my car or if I plan on re-using anything in it, just put it in the tote bag. On move day, I get up early (I'm an early riser all the time even on vacation) finish packing, go have breakfast, check out and move my car to resort two. I go ahead and go into the lobby of resort two and check in. I've had some luck of them finding a room early in the morning but I've found it helps if they know you are there. Then I just go off to a park until I get the room ready text.

A lot of people who do split stays either don't unpack (my son just uses one suitcase and doesn't unpack) or use packing cubes and just take the cube out and open it in the drawer and live out of it. Yes, Disney will transfer you luggage but don't guarantee it will be there until late in the afternoon.

 

[PalmettoPath]

I hate having to move even once. Sometimes it's necessary if you can't get a full week somewhere and you are forced to divide it up into two. But I would never proactively make the choice to do this for any other reason. Having to check out at 11:00 a.m. and then you cannot check in until 4:00 p.m. at the earliest (and these days it's often much later than that) really puts a damper on our days. We've spent hours wasting time sitting in a hotel lobby waiting for our room because we were exhausted and ready to go to the room and refresh--but oh wait, we don't have a room yet. That sort of thing. So for us this is a very rare thing and only by necessity. Your mileage may vary, but it's not for us. I agree with @HerDotness that it would definitely be wise to make sure everyone you are traveling with is in agreement with that kind of strategy, for those reasons.

 

[Minnie1222]

I probably will hate it. Almost did a split stay with our recent 9-night trip. So glad I didn't. The thought of packing and moving stresses me out.

 

[Mle8308]

I would never do split stays with only 2 nights at each resort because really, you end up only having one day there. You may not get a room until 3pm on check in days and you need to be out by 11am. And even if you get your room earlier, your bags may not arrive until later. You are paying a lot of money for time you are sort of homeless. I guess if you are going to the parks on those days it might not matter, I would not want to be that unsettled, not enjoyable to me. I want to get to my room, organize my stuff, then enjoy my vacation.

 

[gatormom2tots]

We are not fans...but many love it.

Our stye is early park mornings followed by imprompto rests, naps, pool, eating, etc. depending on how we feel at that particular moment in time. We then head back to the parks at night. It always seems when we have hopped, we really just wanted to crash in our room for a little while and maybe nap or shower...but instead had to wait for the 2nd room to be ready or wait for luggage transfer.

As someone said, you are basically "homeless" from about 11 until 3-4 (and maybe luggageless). If you are in a park all day, its probably no big deal. But we didn't like how it interferred with middle of the day plans for us.

 

[ktink]

We did our first split stay this past January. 3 nights @ BWI and 2 nights @ GF. I loved it! Thought that was the only way we would stay moving forward. I had this upcoming September stay as a split stay but decided I'd rather not move this time. It's a great way to get stay at the many different resorts.

 

[TheSouthernBelle]

Thinking and planning way ahead to take some 'new to Disney' friends and fam in a year or two. I was thinking it MIGHT be fun to stay a couple nights at Pop then a couple nights at a mod (probably either POFQ or Caribbean (never been there) and then the last few nights at AK (never been there, always wanted to). So I ask those that stay at multiple resorts during one stay.....does this sound like a nightmare or fun way to try each level of resort and end with a new one?? Does packing up and moving your stuff eat up way too much time? Does Disney help move baggage from resort to resort on property or are you on your own? If we plan rest days for the 2 days we move to the next resort, does that make it worthwhile?

So to me, three resort stays sounds like a lot inside of a short time, for a couple nights each. The homeless factor portion of the day is a negative for us so that's typically a reason we don't do it but we have done them. We will only do it on days when we know we're not coming back midday to the resort. You can bring some swimsuits/change of clothes with you and just use the next resort pool/amenities that you're checking into but again, I like to have a room and my own bathroom even if we swim. We have our own car so we can move our luggage on our own but that to me is another negative since we don't usually drive our car once we get to WDW, we rely on ride share/disney transport.

The other negative is Disney essentially has two separate trips for you reserved so if you do plan to book any dining reservations, you'll only be able to book on your booking window for the first part of your trip and then wait until your next trip's booking window opens for your next stay and so on.

All relatively small things in the grand scheme of split stays so if that stuff doesn't bother you, then I say go for it. If it's me, I'd need a min of 3 nights in each resort otherwise I'd just feel like we're packing and unpacking way too much. I will add that if you end up at a deluxe and do a split, try to tie it into any extended evening hours if offered so you can at least get that perk. We've considered doing that on a few occasions.

 

[nursejackie]

We've done it quite a few times, but not always because we fancied a split stay, but because around December 22-23rd rented DVC points increased tremendously so we often moved before then (checking out of Disney on 26th). I actually enjoyed staying in two resorts but packing up, checking out, then unpacking again was the downside.

 

[_19disnA]

Staying at 3 different resorts in one trip would be a LOT of wasted time moving/packing/unpacking as well as being 'homeless' for some part of each move day. We like to unpack when we arrive and only pack up when our vacation is over. Things like dirty clothes stay in a drawer away from the clean things until the end of the vacation. Jumping between resorts isn't something we would ever want to do. I agree as someone else said to make sure to discuss your plan with the others who will be traveling with you to see if everyone is on the same page.

 

[escriven75]

You all are making me think I (and our travel mates) would not like this plan after all. After reading your experience, the hassle of pack / unpack and moving our luggage doesn't sound worth the benefit of staying at a couple new resorts in one trip. Maybe I'll just save and save my dollars and stay at AK the whole time and plan more resort days. We usually hit parks every day (or close to it) when we go. Thanks everybody!!

 

[Skippyboo]

You can always visit other resorts while you are there. I am doing 3 resorts on my next trip. I booked the Drury Inn by Universal for 3 nights and a week at Yacht Club. I have to burn my excess PTO so I added a extra day to my vacation. Found a super cheap rate for a Flamingo Creek hotel on my drive down to Orlando day. Basically going to pack a Disney suitcase and a smaller universal one. I have my car so don’t have to worry about storing my stuff during changeover.

 

[Dug720]

Not for me. I like to unpack and settle in. Not only get so much out, then pack it to be moved. Much less to repeat that twice. I'm a pick one and stick to it. (Once I'm there that is. Up to about a week before I might change the resort. But once it's final, it's final.)

 

[CynBeth]

I would just stay at one resort for the first timers to get used to being on Disney property and how everything works with ADRs and Genie+.

 

[Wood Nymph]

We hopped a few times, once from POR to YC, once from GF to BC and once from WL to BC. It was nice to be able to eliminate a bus trip by including an Epcot resort in the hop, but otherwise it was too much of a hassle. We like to fully unpack into the resort room. Packing up and moving takes too much time.

 

[tguz]

I am not a fan of split stays. I like to settle in to my resort for the time I am there. However, I do like to resort hop to check them out or to eat at different resorts......thinking of the GF Cafe and Capt Cooks at the Poly.

 

[Katie Trott]

We always do split stays. Often between 4 different resorts (we come from UK so tend to come for 2 weeks). We do 1 or 2 nights in a value or moderate, then normally a week at boardwalk/yacht/beach, 3 nights animal kingdom and 3 nights at a monorail resort. We then pretty much only go to the park(s) nearest the hotel we are staying in, so cuts down on travel to parks.

We tend to move first thing in the morning - move our luggage ourselves but leave with bell service at the new hotel until the next room is ready, then hit the parks until the new room is ready. I don't find packing takes much time at all (probably less than an hour to pack and unpack which I tend to do while the kids get ready). We love the opportunity to experience different hotels in one trip and focus on one or two parks at a time.

 

[nursejackie]

As another Disboarder suggested you can always visit other resorts. We have a 'monorail resort night' where we dine, snack, shop and explore the Contemporary, Polynesian and Grand Floridian. If you don't have a car, catch the bus to MK and walk to the Contemporary to start your evening.