Split Stay—Changing Hotels

[have2getaway]

have2getaway, we have actually done what you are asking about on two separate trips. Now, the last time we did it was six years ago so maybe it has changed. But, all we did was check out of the POFQ, take our luggage to bell services, ask them to send our luggage to the Contemporary, then headed over to Universal for one night. Next day, came back, checked into the Contemporary went to bell services there, handed them our slip, and had our luggage in 5 minutes....... no problem. Like I said, we have not been down there for a while, so maybe they have made changes to bell services since we last visited, but we have never had any issues sending luggage from resort to resort and having them sit there for 1 day.

Hope you have a great trip.

Badgerfan, I know you said it was a while ago, but do you recall if it was worth doing? The split stay at Disney and adding one night at Universal—were you glad you did it?

 

[tjmw2727]

I would do Universal first and actually stay at the onsite hotel and enjoy the parks for 2 days, this way you can see do more as well as enjoy a nice meal and maybe even the pool!

As for luggage - I am a single mom so I understand not wanting to drag around bags for 5 people so I use a town car and find the price well worth it. I book a round trip, first leg MCO to Universal and second leg Universal to WDW resort to get the r/t discount and grocery stop. Driver will meet you at bag clam and help with bags and most offer a complimentary 30 minute grocery stop - great for water, fruit, snacks and for us breakfast as well.

As for the Disney hotel I as much as I love the Polynesian I would go with the BC and not split. You can walk/boat to two parks and the pool is amazing. IMHO the Epcot resorts are hard to beat - our first choice as a family is Boardwalk.

We end up moving resorts almost every stay because our party size changes and we don't need (or want to pay for) a larger room when we don't need it anymore. Disney does make it easy by moving bags but you are still without a room all day - it just makes it more complicated to go back for a swim or a rest.

Have fun planning

 

[Badgerfan]

have2getaway, we did not think it was too much of a hassle. We actually did this on two separate vacations, and I know if it had gone poorly the first time I would not have had us do it on another trip. We did enjoy being able to stay onsite at Universal and take advantage of the express passes. We just took one duffel bag with one change of clothes and our toiletries to Universal so it was very light and very easy over there. As long as you are OK with packing and unpacking at Disney twice along with the check-in, I say go for it. I know some just prefer to stay at one hotel and be done with it (which is fine, I guess you will have to decide for yourself.) However, we felt having several different experiences during the same trip outweighed the minor inconvenience of packing and unpacking a couple of times. There really is no wrong answer, you're on vacation with your family at either one or two of the best theme parks in the world. Whatever plan you choose, I'm sure you will have a wonderful time and I hope you're experience is very enjoyable.


P.S. (as I stated in the first post, we have not done this for six years, so if you go this route please check with Disney to make sure they still do this. I would hate for you to try this if they have changed policy, and have to make last second adjustments to you're trip). Hope you have a great trip!

 

[Smittolis]

While we haven't done the Disney then offsite then back to Disney, we split stay every time we go. We usually just move from one Disney Hotel to another so use the internal transfer process. This year we are offsite first, then to Contemporary then to the Poly over a 2 week stay. I can see why some people prefer the 'one location' strategy, but for our family we like the adventure and variety in staying at different places and we tailor our park visits based upon our stays.... Contemporary we focus on MK as we like walking there. Poly we utilize any of the parks as we use the monorail and the TTC to get to where we want etc...

We did it for the firs time around 6 years ago because they had no availability at where we wanted to be, and we found it to be so cool to experience different things and perhaps staying somewhere you couldn't necessarily afford for the full duration. Our family enjoys it and we are staying at 3 different hotels this coming trip! We are looking forward to it, so don't be worried about it, its actually pretty easy!

 

[have2getaway]

have2getaway, we did not think it was too much of a hassle. We actually did this on two separate vacations, and I know if it had gone poorly the first time I would not have had us do it on another trip. We did enjoy being able to stay onsite at Universal and take advantage of the express passes. We just took one duffel bag with one change of clothes and our toiletries to Universal so it was very light and very easy over there. As long as you are OK with packing and unpacking at Disney twice along with the check-in, I say go for it. I know some just prefer to stay at one hotel and be done with it (which is fine, I guess you will have to decide for yourself.) However, we felt having several different experiences during the same trip outweighed the minor inconvenience of packing and unpacking a couple of times. There really is no wrong answer, you're on vacation with your family at either one or two of the best theme parks in the world. Whatever plan you choose, I'm sure you will have a wonderful time and I hope you're experience is very enjoyable.


P.S. (as I stated in the first post, we have not done this for six years, so if you go this route please check with Disney to make sure they still do this. I would hate for you to try this if they have changed policy, and have to make last second adjustments to you're trip). Hope you have a great trip!

Just curious which resort you stayed at while at Universal? Will we be happy with RPR? It is the least expensive and fairly convenient, which is why we picked it.

I’m hoping they will still allow it. I started to think more about it and, I would think Disney would rather hold our luggage one night than to have us finish our stay at Universal? I’m hoping that’s the case anyway! It also occurred to me that, if we wanted to, we could splurge and do Deluxe our last leg of the trip...not sure if we will though since it was too much food before, but the option to do it for a portion of our stay is there.

 

[Badgerfan]

We stayed at the Royal Pacific Resort. We liked it. The room was big enough, clean and nice. We spent most of the day in the parks, so we were only in the room a bit before dinner, and then when we turned in for the night. I thought it was a good value for what it was (especially compared with Disney pricing). As for ending your trip at a Deluxe, if you can afford it I would say do it. It is a nice way to end your vacation. We try to this when we can afford too. We usually start at a Moderate and end at a Deluxe. It gives us something to look forward to towards the end of our trip, rather than being bummed that our trip is nearing its end.

 

[have2getaway]

We stayed at the Royal Pacific Resort. We liked it. The room was big enough, clean and nice. We spent most of the day in the parks, so we were only in the room a bit before dinner, and then when we turned in for the night. I thought it was a good value for what it was (especially compared with Disney pricing). As for ending your trip at a Deluxe, if you can afford it I would say do it. It is a nice way to end your vacation. We try to this when we can afford too. We usually start at a Moderate and end at a Deluxe. It gives us something to look forward to towards the end of our trip, rather than being bummed that our trip is nearing its end.

Thank you! This is exactly why we booked this resort, so I feel better about the decision.

Sorry! I misspoke when mentioning “deluxe”. We are staying at deluxe resorts at beginning and end, but that’s only because we got a really good rate at both—a bit better at Beach Club. I meant we are considering Deluxe Dining for the last few days at the Polynesian, but I doubt we will. We did the Deluxe dining on our first trip and it was way too much food.