Resort Hopping?

morrow4

Earning My Ears
Joined
Jan 24, 2003
Messages
73
First, thanks to all of you involved with this board. I found it last spring when planning our first family trip to WDW and it really helped make oure trip awesome!
Now for my question. How hard is it to move from one resort to another during your stay? I am ready to make reservations for July 2003 and am really interested in splitting this stay between a couple of resorts. Any info would be appreciated. (Do cm send your luggage over? ... Do the check-in times remain the same or do you maybe get "priority" at your consecutive resorts?... If you want to swim before your room is ready is there a place to change?... etc)
Thanks.
:D
 
Hi and welcome to the Dis. I can't answer your question for "Resort Hopping," but I can answer this....most, I would assume all resort, would have some place to change by the pool. The POFQ, where I stayed at the last two times I've been to WDW, has a changing room with showers right next to the pool. So I would assume that other resorts would be the same. Although I could be wrong, and if I am someone please correct me. Have fun in planning your trip, for me that's the fun part of the pre-trip.


Steven
 
We stayed in two resorts last fall. Because of how much DVC points run on the weekend vs. weekdays, we spent Saturday night at ASMu, then moved to BCV on Sunday morning for the rest of the week.

First, I will have to admit, in theory it sounds like a great idea (splitting resort, that is). But take the time to organize for each resort stay. We actually didn't arrive to AS until 1am Sunday morning. I wasn't as prepared as I should have been and we unloaded more than necessary. Therefore, we had more organizing to do the next morning and more loading up the van than I would have liked to. So follow the wise advice of packing separate bags for each resort. (If you're flying in and not renting a car, then you'll have to take it all with you, though.)

Second, you may ask for someone to pick up your bags and transfer them to the next resort. This service is available at no charge. You should arrange this the day prior to checking out. We requested someone to pick up and when they weren't there when we were ready to leave, they said that it would be fine to just leave the bags in the room. I (being a little distrustful) reluctantly did so and everything arrived at the next resort just fine. We left a $20 tip on top of our luggage for our 10 bags and I think that helps (wink, wink) to ensure your luggage is taken care of.

When we left ASMu for BCV I kney there was a good chance we wouldn't be allowed to get in our room until late afternoon, so we kept out our swim wear, a change of clothes, hairbrush, makeup, etc. We also kept a few snacks with us. (This is the part about organizing. I should have packed a separate bag for all this long before we set out on our trip.) As I guessed, we weren't able to get into our room until about 3:30 and we had HDDR ressies for 5pm, so we were cutting it very close. There are bathrooms by SAB and we could have changed there, but we were really wanting a bath after swimming in the sand-bottom pool. So my advice here is plan little to nothing in way of ressies on your "moving" day if at all possible, or head out to the parks for the whole day. The stress of not knowing we would get into our room before dinner was a little unnerving for our family of 6. Our good fortune was they my brother and his family had checked in to BC the day before and would have let us shower and change there if necessary, but I couldn't see that happening with one bathroom and 6 people.

So, I guess what I'm saying is BE ORGANIZED. Changing resorts midway (especially if you have small children) can be stressful if not planned out. Always save the most desirable or more deluxe resort for last so your last impression of your vacation is more memorable (hopefully). And be flexible on moving day in case you're not "settled in" until late in the day.

Good luck.

PS. Would we do it again?? Not if I can help it. I would select the most desired resort for our family and stay put. But in the case of our last stay, I was not about to pay out the nose for our first night when I knew we wouldn't arrive until very late Sat. night.
 
On our last visit we stayed at the Poly for 3 nights, and the Yacht club for 4 nights. I think it is a great way to experience two different atmospheres. Also, when we stayed at the Poly we took advantage of the monorail and visited the Magic kingdom, when we were at Yacht club we spent more time at Epcot and MGM. Because we did not have a car, we simply asked the front desk to have our bags sent to the YC on the day we checked out, and they were waiting for us when we arrived, around 2:30 in the afternoon so we were able to change and go for a swim. I was very glad we did not spend more than 3 nights at the Poly because I did not like that resort and will not stay there again. I would however switch resorts mid-stay again if our stay is 6 or more days. Under 6 days I would just stay put.
 

Keep in mind that you may be without a room between check out and check in. If you think that will be a problem for your family, don't do it. Personally, I would not even consider it if I had small children or lots of luggage.

There have been many posts that report moving between Disney resorts is not a problem. There have also been posts that report the opposite.

VickiVM has posted a lot of good advice IMHO. If you do decide to split your stay, I highly recommend you take note of it!

Enjoy your trip!
 
Thanks for the views on splitting stays between resorts... especially the guidance on being organized as far as separating personal items as much as possible so they don't all have to be lugged into the first resort if they won't be used until later. I'm not sure we will split our stay... I just thought it would be a fun way to experience multiple atmospheres AND I would like to try a deluxe but don't know if doing that for an entire trip would be good for our budget.
Thanks again for the insight.
 
We've done it frequently, and I think it's a great way to experinece two different resorts. They move your luggage, and as long as you do a little thinking ahead it's not a problem.
 
I did the same as VickiVM-stayed at ASSports Saturday nite (arriving late), then to BCV. I can speak from personnal experience though about her suggestion-I packed a small bag just for Saturday nite and put it in my luggage. The whole changing resorts thing was very easy. Also, rather than having bell services come up, I dropped my luggage off at the front bell services before I went over to the bus stop. I just feel better watching them put the tags on my luggage as to where to send it. Then I hopped the bus to AK, at the end of the day, I hopped the BCV bus. Very easy, and for me I thought it was kind of fun to see different resorts.
 
My only suggestion would be to pack different suitcases for different resorts. This way you don't have to carry all your luggage into each room. Have the one small suitcase with all your personal items & then the others for the different resorts.

We DID NOT do this the first time we resort hopped & although the bellhops transferred the luggage & brought it to the rooms it would have made it much easier if we could have left some of it in the rental car. Of if you don't have a rental car at least you wouldn't have to rummage through each suitcase looking for things.

I have learned since then to pack differently. :D
 














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