Split stay between 2 DVC resorts?

[maxtomsmom]

Are you able to split your stay between two DVC resorts? DH and I are planning our first trip. We just bought a resale and are waiting to be in Disney's system. We closed last Monday. We currently have 180 points - some were banked from 06, some were from 07 and some were borrowed from 08. Our UY is August. Since we do not want to borrow any more of our 08 points, we were thinking of doing a split stay for our end of April/early May trip. We would be staying at two different resorts (if both are available that is). We are hoping to do a split stay at our home resort which is SSR and getting a 1 bedroom. We would stay for 3 or 4 days then switch to a studio at AKL for the remainder of the trip. If possible we are looking to stay at club level.

So all that being said here are my questions:

1. Can you do a split stay?

2. Would you do it to save on some points? (We would like to do a much larger trip in two years and plan on banking as many 08 points as possible)
I know checking out and in can be time consuming, but planning it into our schedule might help this.

3. Is the process simple, difficult?

Any advice would be helpful. Thanks!

 

[disneynutz]

Are you able to split your stay between two DVC resorts? DH and I are planning our first trip. We just bought a resale and are waiting to be in Disney's system. We closed last Monday. We currently have 180 points - some were banked from 06, some were from 07 and some were borrowed from 08. Our UY is August. Since we do not want to borrow any more of our 08 points, we were thinking of doing a split stay for our end of April/early May trip. We would be staying at two different resorts (if both are available that is). We are hoping to do a split stay at our home resort which is SSR and getting a 1 bedroom. We would stay for 3 or 4 days then switch to a studio at AKL for the remainder of the trip. If possible we are looking to stay at club level.

So all that being said here are my questions:

1. Can you do a split stay?

2. Would you do it to save on some points? (We would like to do a much larger trip in two years and plan on banking as many 08 points as possible)
I know checking out and in can be time consuming, but planning it into our schedule might help this.

3. Is the process simple, difficult?

Any advice would be helpful. Thanks!

1. Yes
2. Yes
3. Simple

Last I checked, AKV is booked pretty solid. We tried to add some days to our 4/11 trip and nothing was available.

Good luck,

Bill

 

[Lynne M]

Split stays are easy, you'll just make two separate reservations. On your checkout day at SSR, just ask them to transfer your luggage to AKV. Or, if you'd prefer, you can take it over to AKV yourself.

The one fly in the ointment....you're not going to get a concierge studio at AKV for April/May. There are very, very few of them, and people book them at 11 months out. You may even have difficulty getting any villa at AKV on such short notice.

 

[La2kw]

Split stays are easy, you'll just make two separate reservations. On your checkout day at SSR, just ask them to transfer your luggage to AKV. Or, if you'd prefer, you can take it over to AKV yourself.

The one fly in the ointment....you're not going to get a concierge studio at AKV for April/May. There are very, very few of them, and people book them at 11 months out. You may even have difficulty getting any villa at AKV on such short notice.

I just booked a concierge studio for three nights in July at 5 month out. They are not all booked at 11 months. I also had a choice of a value 1br, a savannah view studio, and a standard studio. I have no interest in Jambo house with the exception of concierge, so I didn't care about those rooms.

To the OP- split stays are possible, but remember you will possibly be homeless when you check out of one resort and into another. Check out time is 11 am and check in time is 4 pm. Your room may not be ready until after 4. IMO, split stays are not worth the trouble if you are staying a week or less.

 

[Goofy's apprentice]

We do split stays often and really enjoy the feel of two different vacations. The most common one for us is 3 - 4 days at Vero and the smae amount of time at a WDW resort. We also have done first part at BWV for F&W and then a restful stay at SSR of OKW to recuperate !

The comments that you may be homeless are very valid. When switching we usually get up very early that morning and drive over to the new resort to check-in. Of course the room is never ready but then we return to the previous resort to check out.

As long as you plan for the switch over day...say do a park or hang out at the pool, it can be fun. However, I probably wouldn't do it if we had a large party and a lot of luggage pack up and transfer.

It works best for stays of 3+ nights. If it is only 2 nights then you really only have one full day at the resort.

As well, I should say that we don't really spend much time in the parks. Our enjoyment is of the resort itself and the amenities.

 

[maxtomsmom]

Thank you to everyone who replied. We appreciate your advice and something to consider.

 

[edk35]

Last Aug. was our first ever DVC trip and we split our stay between SSR (home resort) and BWV. We stayed 5 nights at SSR followed by 3 at BWV. We enjoyed trying both however....now that we have stayed at SSR for an 8 night trip (this past Nov.) we found it is really nice STAYING PUT. So this summer when we go in July we are staying only at BCV. IT is fun to try the various resorts but it also steals a day from you almost. You pack up, move and you have to wait til 4:00 to check in (well you can still visit a park but you still lose time). SO since we have done both.....we prefer to stay put but we plan to try the different resorts if we can get the ressie. Food for thought. I know that you are so excited about your trip and all and trust me I know that feeling especially as a new DVCer...we are still new too, so enjoy your home resort and maybe save another trip for AKV.

 

[BirdsOfPreyDave]

I read a lot of posts on here from people who check out early, and head right to the other resort to get the cream of the crop of room choices. We have a split stay coming up next summer. We're staying in a 2-bdrm at VWL for the first week (invited some friends to join us), then we're moving to a studio at BCV for the second week.

I'm not all that particular about snagging any particular room. (I wouldn't even know what to ask for at BC.) I plan to check out at WL and leave the bags with bell services in the morning, head to a park for the day as if nothing out of the ordinary were happening that day, and then take the BC bus back in the early evening to check in, claim our bags, and get settled into the new room.

I wouldn't necessarily have wanted to pack up the bags and deal with moving just for the sake of trying a second resort, but since we were moving from the 2-bdrm to a studio anyway, we decided we'd really like to visit Storm-Along Bay this year. Our friends were really keen on staying at WL and being so close to MK.

 

[lmb]

We just did a split stay and I am looking forward to staying put in the future. We have a 1 and 2 1/2 yr old and the day we switched we didn't have a room for the kids to nap in which threw the day off for them. Also, we didn't feel settled in the first 2 nights.

 

[Cindie-rella]

We are also doing a split between AKLV & OKW. I originally had 7 nights at AKLV but needed to add a night due to our flights and nothing was available at AKL. So we are now doing 3 nights at AKLV & 5 at OKW. As you can see when I made the switch 4 of the nights I canceled at AKLV opened up for someone else. The point being, keep trying. You never know what might open. But AK really is booking fast these days. They better hurry with that new DVC section!

 

[maxtomsmom]

Thanks again to all who replied. We've decided to stay at our home resort SSR for the duration of the trip and borrow more points. We made our decision based on what all of you had said plus we started to look into our Sept. 2009 trip. I just love planning that far ahead. Once our next trip ends we've got something else to look forward to After figuring all that out when we would go and the points it would take it should be enough.