Split Stay Advice

[Kims09]

Hi there,

A DVC newbie here with only one trip under our belt in February at BWV. My DH, DD, and I are taking our next DVC trip in October and we're taking my parents with us. My parents are driving their Prius down and DH, DD and I will be flying there for a glorious 9 days- the first 2 days at OKW and then 7 days at AKL. The whole concept of a split stay is new to me and there wasn't anything available for the whole 9 days- so I took what I could get. So I have some questions regarding the split stay concept.
Sorry in advance if these questions are rudimentary, but like I said, I'm new to this...

1) Any travelling tips to get from OKW to AKL? My parents could drive us, but I can't imagine all 5 of us plus luggage are going to fit well in one trip in a Prius. However, is this something we could use Disney Magical Express for?
As my parents are transporting us from the airport to OKW, we wouldn't need DME prior to then. Or any other ideas someone may have? Of course, I'm trying to do this as inexpensively as possible.

2)I'm assuming once we check out at OKW, we won't be able to access our room at AKL right away. Will we be able to store our luggage somewhere at AKL to go meander at the parks or something until our room is ready? I'm mostly concerned about cold groceries we might have with us.

This next question is probably the most basic of them all, but if I don't ask, it'll keep nagging at me...

3)We have will be using the dining plan for the whole 9 days we are there. I guess I have a thought in my head that since we have a split stay, that we have to use up two days worth of dining while at OKW, and then the other 7 while at AKL. For example, let's say we don't use all 6 snacks (3 people, 1 snack per day at 2 nights) while we're at OKW for those two days while we are there. Can we "roll them over" and use them while we are staying at AKL?

Thanks for your help!

Kim

 

[jrtoastyman]

Had asked a different question a while back, but some of the responses will likely be helpful to you. Bottom line is that it's actually much easier than you might think -- basically check out, give your bags to the bell desk, go about your business, and get your bags back when you check into the second resort after doing whatever you like for the day. Check out this thread:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2749366

 

[NicoleLarson]

I too have that question about cold stuff....actually I didn't really even think of it until you asked it. Will bell services keep stuff cold, while they have our bags? I'm sure someone has run across this before.

 

[hollis]

1) Magical Express only transports between the airport (MCO) and the WDW. There are shuttle buses within WDW that you can take between any resort and any of the parks. But these buses don't run directly between resorts.

So if you plan to check out of OKW and head to the parks, like you implied in the second question, you can take the shuttle. Then catch another shuttle from the parks to AKV at the end of the day.

3) Will your parents stay in your room? If so, your dining plan would be for 5, not for 3.

Yes, you do need to use up all the meals (6 table service, 6 quick service, and 6 snacks assuming the standard dining plan) by the end of the third day. I believe you will get new keys with the second dining plan for 7 days when you check in to AKV. Note that the meals are good from the morning of the first day through midnight of the last day. So your first dining plan will be good morning of day 1 through midnight of day 3, and your second dining plan will be good morning of day 3 through midnight of day 10.

You could also ask member services to segment your days so you get dining plan for, say, only your first day at OKW. And your second dining plan for your 7 days at AKV. Member services may tell you to plan ahead next time so as to segment your days according to your desired dining plan days when you made your reservation. But so far, they always split the days up for me if I need to split dining plans even though they tell me every time they may not do that again for me in the future.

 

[castleri]

If your luggage will fit from the airport to OKW it should fit from OKW to AKV. Why not just use DME and meet the parents at OKW? You can either do as others have suggested - give the bags to bell services and get them at the next resort or put them in the car and a couple of you go and check in at AKV leaving the cold stuff with bell services if your room is not ready and the rest in the car until you can get in the room. You will want to check into the AKV early so you have the use of the dining credits if you need them. They are based on nights but will cover two days for every night. You do need to use up the credits by midnight of checking out of OKW that you have for that part of your stay so be sure to keep track of which key is which since the ones from AKV will start when you check in there. I carry an insulated bag to put the cold stuff in when we are changing resorts like that. It folds flat and fits in the luggage - carry on if we plan to go to a grocery store before we get our luggage.
Do you have your name of the waitlist so you could possibly stay at OKW for the whole trip? That would make things much easier for you. You might just get lucky since you still have over a month before your trip.

 

[Sandisw]

We just came back from a split stay. WE sent the luggage through Bell Services and it was easy. We did keep a bag out that held our electronics and our swim suits so that we could use the pool at BLT (we came from BWV) if our luggage was not yet there by the time we were ready to swim.

We then took a taxi so that we could check in to the 2nd resort and have access to the dining credits for that part of our stay. Since your parents have a car, there should be no issue just driving.

As far as dining credits, those will expire at the end of each segment. So, your OKW credits will only be valid until midnight of day 3 (check in day at AKV). What I did this time was bring a Sharpie marker so I could mark the card which still had credits.

 

[Golden Rose]

We have done split stays in the past, and are doing another in October because we decided to add two additional nights to our trip. I prefer not to do them often, simply because I don't like being "homeless" in the middle of day with a small child, and now a baby. That said, they do make it pretty easy. You just call bell services and tell them where you need your bags delivered, and which ones need to be kept cold. When you get into your new room, you call bell services at the new resort and request that the bags be sent up. It costs a little extra in tips to bell services, but it is really worth it to us to have the convenience.

We've generally just gone to one of the parks after sending off our bags, and then headed to the new hotel in the late afternoon or evening. We've kept a few snacks and our swimsuits with us, so that if the rooms aren't ready when we get in, we can relax at the pool. It's worked reasonably well for us in the past, and that's our plan for our upcoming trip.

 

[HotdogDncrs]

3)We have will be using the dining plan for the whole 9 days we are there. I guess I have a thought in my head that since we have a split stay, that we have to use up two days worth of dining while at OKW, and then the other 7 while at AKL. For example, let's say we don't use all 6 snacks (3 people, 1 snack per day at 2 nights) while we're at OKW for those two days while we are there. Can we "roll them over" and use them while we are staying at AKL?

Thanks for your help!

Kim

During our last trip in May we stayed at BLT for 4 nights, and then moved to BWV for 4 nights. We had the DDP for the 8 nights (same plan no changes to type). When we moved to BWV we were told that our food credits would roll over since we were continuing with the same plan, and had 1 reservation number for both resorts. One thing that we learned the hard way though was that once we checked out of BLT our cards were cancelled. Therefore when we tried to use our snack credits at Epcot on the way to BWV we were told that there were no food credits available. When we checked in at BWV we had the right amount of credits left. They provided us with a chart outlining how many credits we had for each type of meal.

I think that when you segment your trip so that you can use different types of DDPs, or have nights where you don't have the DDP then that is when the credits expire, but if you are using the same type of plan for all 9 nights and have 1 reservation number for both resorts then they should roll over like ours did. Good luck!

 

[Kims09]

Thanks for the replies! I didn't know Bell Services existed! It pays to ask

 

[Stinger5]

My fam just did a similar split stay last week and it wasn't too stressful. Bell services was great and they refrigerated the items i asked them too!

I'd give them a call 30 minutes before you want your bags picked up.

Parks/pool to kill some time before your room is ready? My DD5 fell in love with the Jambo house pool! Enjoy your stay!

 

[mouseaider]

We are also doing a split stay in October 5th - 12th, starting at OKW for two nights and moving to BWV for five.

We plan on calling OKW Bell Services at check out in the morning, give them our bags to transfer for us, and then my DW and I will hop a bus to DHS. When we are done there we will walk to BWV and check in. We plan on walking to Epcot for our first F&W visit that evening.

It all seems so easy to do it this way. No worries at all.

Good luck with your trip and have fun.

 

[2SiameseCats]

We've done split stays many times. Bell services will transfer your bags for you to your next resort. Just go to the parks and head back in the afternoon. Check-in and ask for your bags to be delivered to your room. It's that easy. Have a great trip!