Split Stay-check out/in day

[disneydreamingdebby]

We are doing a split stay at AKV, BCV and BWV (10 days). I am curious what others do for a split stay and WHY you do it the way you do.

We are commando - we are still new to Disney (first DVC trip) and still try to absorb as much as we can.

I am trying to decide if we should check out of AKV and drive to HS for EMH; then drive to BCV when we are finished at the studio or do we go to the studio, then return back to checkout?

I am interested in hearing others ideas because I feel like I am not thinking of variables I should be considering...

Thanks!!! Debby

 

[daisyduck123]

We always do split stays now that we're in DVC.

We have always made our "switch" day a POOL DAY..... we head over to the new resort early (about 9am), check-in at the desk, & go hang at the pool until our room is ready (usually anywhere from 2:00-4:30pm).

 

[my3mice]

we are doing a split stay on our upcoming trip - first BWV then moving to OKW. on our check in/out day we are packing up the car early then doing the whole morning at epcot. After lunch we will exit back out through the international gateway, grab the car and heading over to spend the early afternoon swimming at okw while we wait for our room to be ready. I think this strategy would work best when your first resort is extremely close to a park (BWV, BCV, and Contemp would work best)

We actually have used a split stay several times.. sometimes right in the middle of the trip to force us to take a swim/rest day mid trip. Once we switched resorts on our last day in the world, which worked out great for us as we were able to pack everything early the day before, and only unpacked a small overnight bag with the bare essentials for our last day. As a perpetually disorganized person this simplified the process so that way we were able to check out quickly the last day and have almost the whole day in the park before catching our plane.

Alternatively switch days are great days for a late character brunch, especially if you are moving to a resort that hosts one.

 

[florep1]

We did a 3 way split last summer. We started at the Dolphin for 2 days. On day 3, I woke up early, walked to BCV, and checked us in around 7 so we could get out KTTW cards with DP loaded and access to SAB. I then got breakfast from BC Marketplace and carried it back to the Dolphin to wake everyone up for the transfer. We drove to the BCV, and hung out by the pool till I got the text around 10ish that our room was ready so we went to our room, unpacked, and to EPCOT we went. After 7 days at BCV, we moved to Kidani. We let bell services transfer our luggage, had character breakfast at BC, checked in at Kidani, and went to Jambo house for lunch. We were checking out the savannah at Jambo when we got the text that our room was ready. Pretty painless.

 

[Tamar]

I am not a fan of split stays. On one trip, we moved from BCV to BWV mid-trip, and my cell phone disappeared, along with the velco purse that it was in (nothing else was in the purse but some little candies from my office's lobby). This was about 4 years ago when the cellphone was for emergencies instead of an appendage (it was a StarTac, if that tells you anything).

No way to tell where it was "lost" because there were 2 rooms and 2 bell services involved. We did find one of the very little candy wrappers on the walkway between our new room and the BW busstop, that almost certainly came out of that purse.

Anyway, I like to unpack my suitcase instead of digging through it all trip, and once I'm unpacked, I like to stay put. DH always likes to end our trips at BWV, so if we don't stay there for the whole trip we end up with a split stay.

 

[lilpooh108]

We did a 3 way split last summer. We started at the Dolphin for 2 days. On day 3, I woke up early, walked to BCV, and checked us in around 7 so we could get out KTTW cards with DP loaded and access to SAB. I then got breakfast from BC Marketplace and carried it back to the Dolphin to wake everyone up for the transfer. We drove to the BCV, and hung out by the pool till I got the text around 10ish that our room was ready so we went to our room, unpacked, and to EPCOT we went. After 7 days at BCV, we moved to Kidani. We let bell services transfer our luggage, had character breakfast at BC, checked in at Kidani, and went to Jambo house for lunch. We were checking out the savannah at Jambo when we got the text that our room was ready. Pretty painless.

Is your parking pass from the 1st resort good for use at a park that day, or do you have to check into the 2nd resort and get another parking pass to use at the parks?

 

[vicki_c]

Is your parking pass from the 1st resort good for use at a park that day, or do you have to check into the 2nd resort and get another parking pass to use at the parks?

I answered your question in another thread, but your parking pass will be good for all day on your check-out day, no need to go get the 2nd one in the morning.

To the OP -- what we always do (and we do many split stays) is leave the first resort (and give Bell Services our luggage to transfer), drive to resort #2 (we always have a car), check-in, then go to a park. We have no problem making rope drop if that's our intent. Once we even forgot something at WL, had to drive back there, deal with lost & found for 20 minutes to get it, and we still made rope drop at the park. We just get up and leave early - we try to leave resort #1 around 7-7:15 AM. It works for us.

 

[ML_LovesDisney]

I'm doing this in August, and like someone else said, I am going to make it a pool day since I'm moving over to BCV, we will try to get to SAB early.

 

[bookwormde]

I get up early (7am) and drive to the new resort and check in (sometimes the room is even ready), that way they Just call when the room is ready. I take any items that need refrigerated and have the new resort store them. I then pack the car (or you can have bell services transfer luggage, but you may not have them till late afternoon) and by that time we are ready to head to the parks. Once they call that the room is ready we take our mid afternoon break and "move in". We do 3-4 resorts on each of our 15-16 day visits.
We also travel "light", or as light as possible with 2 kids and sometimes 4-8 extended family members.

bookwormde

 

[Sandisw]

We did a three way split last summer, and will be doing a split again this summer.

Last year, we checked out of BWV and went to BLT--we planned to hit MK that morning and then go back and do the pool if our room was not ready (luckily, it was when we checked in at 8:00 am!!!).

When we went from BLT to VWL, we went to AKV for a few hours, hit DTD to do the Characters in Flight balloon ride and lunch, and then headed back to the resort when we got the text that the room was done.

This year, we are not sure what we will do on the split day. For us, staying at the pool all day would not work as we are there in the summer, it is hot, and my DH is not one to sit in the sun for hours so we will always plan time at the park.

 

[lucyem]

We are doing a split stay for the first time next trip. We will have a car so I did not even think about having bell services move our luggage for us. That is worth a thought. It would certainly save us some time.

Our first 3 nights will be at AKV then 5 nights at the BC. We want to have the morning to explore AKV/L and maybe swim a little because my husband will be arriving that last night. Then in the afternoon swim at SAB or walk to Epcot. It is going to be a very casual day for us with room for change depending on the weather.

 

[mickeys girl 52]

I have done split stays before .I was wondering if the next time I would do online check in at both. I did this last time but we had a 4 day cruise in between.


In sept I am doing a split stay between BCV and BLT. I am thinking that I will just have bell services transfer my things to BLT and we will all go to Magic Kingdom as planned. No need to check in at BLT, just go at the end of our park day and everything should be ready since we did online registration. This should be okay, I hope.

 

[DisDaydreamer]

(it was a StarTac, if that tells you anything).

Anyway, I like to unpack my suitcase instead of digging through it all trip, and once I'm unpacked, I like to stay put. DH always likes to end our trips at BWV, so if we don't stay there for the whole trip we end up with a split stay.

We had a StarTac once... That was a chunk of equipment there. Reliable though.

We also like to "move in" to our accommodations and stay for the duration.

 

[disneydreamingdebby]

Thank you everyone for your posts. It is helpful to hear others' experiences and plans.

For those who love to move in, I think that in the future, we will do this. We orginally booked BCV and AKV but had to change our dates. When we changed I had to do a split stay including BWV to accomodate all our dates. Instead of trying to limit to two, I (and my family) are excited to try three resorts. We are new to DVC and it will allow us some "research" to cure our addonitis.

 

[3DisneyKids]

We are doing a split stay at AKV, BCV and BWV (10 days). I am curious what others do for a split stay and WHY you do it the way you do.

We are commando - we are still new to Disney (first DVC trip) and still try to absorb as much as we can.

I am trying to decide if we should check out of AKV and drive to HS for EMH; then drive to BCV when we are finished at the studio or do we go to the studio, then return back to checkout?

I am interested in hearing others ideas because I feel like I am not thinking of variables I should be considering...

Thanks!!! Debby

We always do split stays now that we're in DVC.

We have always made our "switch" day a POOL DAY..... we head over to the new resort early (about 9am), check-in at the desk, & go hang at the pool until our room is ready (usually anywhere from 2:00-4:30pm).

I'm doing this in August, and like someone else said, I am going to make it a pool day since I'm moving over to BCV, we will try to get to SAB early.

Interesting...we do the exact opposite! Sorry for confusing things even more, OP!

Like many DVCers, we always have (at least) one pool day during our trip. However, I would never make our pool day the same day that we change resorts. You have to assume that you will be without a home from 11am (check-out time) to 4pm. Sure, your room might be ready before then, but it is not guaranteed. And when we have our pool day, we like to pop back up to the villa several times...to refresh a drink, grab a snack or even lunch, whatever. For us, it is the hardest day to be without a room.

Our change days are always park days when we wouldn't be at the resort anyway.

Here is what we do--

Check out of the first resort fairly early (because we like to get to the park early, since the OP states they are commandos, I am guessing this is what they do, too). Leave our luggage with Bell Services and let them know it needs to be transported to the new resort. Then we drive over to resort # 2 and check in. Obviously, since it is before 9am, our room is not ready there. But that is fine since we won't need it. But we get our keys and do all of the check-in paperwork. Then we head to the park. At some point during the day, they text us with our new room number and let us know that our room is ready. Whatever time we happen to be done at the park, we just head back to the new resort--we already have our keys so we head right to the room. Call Bell Services and have them bring our stuff--and that's it. Super easy and we never really "feel" it when we are "homeless" for a few hours.

And since the OP is new to DVC and said they want to experience several resorts, here is another thing we do. During one of our Pool Days, we actually DVC-hop. Our kids love, love, love pools and water slides. So they love to experience all of the different ones--they even have a very elaborate rating system for the pools and a separate one for the slides! So they get to sample different pools and my husband and I sample different pool bars. We also sample the restaurants. So we might have lunch and one DVC resort and use the pool a bit, then hop to two more pools, then have dinner at a 4th DVC resort, etc. Thus, we spend a couple of hours at each resort--walk around, use the pool, have a drink or a meal--and we really get the "feel" of each resort without having to move multiple times. Plus, it is a really fun, relaxing day!

FYI--you cannot hop to BCV pool, though you can certainly walk around the resort and have a meal there. Also, this plan really only works if you have a car. Trying to hop from resort to resort using only Disney transportation would NOT be fun or relaxing.

 

[disneydreamingdebby]

I get up early (7am) and drive to the new resort and check in (sometimes the room is even ready), that way they Just call when the room is ready. I take any items that need refrigerated and have the new resort store them. I then pack the car (or you can have bell services transfer luggage, but you may not have them till late afternoon) and by that time we are ready to head to the parks. Once they call that the room is ready we take our mid afternoon break and "move in". bookwormde

I was asking DH how much milk he thinks we need for four days to avoid the storing issue, but I know we will have creamer and who knows what else. I like the idea of checking in early to drop off those items. I like the idea of the call to say - okay, we are ready for you... If we finish at the park before the call, we can just hang out at the pool!

Interesting...we do the exact opposite! Sorry for confusing things even more, OP!
Whatever time we happen to be done at the park, we just head back to the new resort--we already have our keys so we head right to the room. Call Bell Services and have them bring our stuff--and that's it. Super easy and we never really "feel" it when we are "homeless" for a few hours.

I didn't think about having room keys and just being able to go straight there. (There's one of those variables...)

And since the OP is new to DVC and said they want to experience several resorts, here is another thing we do. During one of our Pool Days, we actually DVC-hop. Our kids love, love, love pools and water slides. So they love to experience all of the different ones--they even have a very elaborate rating system for the pools and a separate one for the slides! So they get to sample different pools and my husband and I sample different pool bars.

Is the rating system on paper that you can share? This is something my daughters would totally be into!!! We stayed at Poly and CSR, so they could rate those and on this trip, they could rate AKV (Jambo and Kidani), BCV and BWV. I think we will take advantage of the pool hopping in a future trip (one that doesn't include three different resorts already.) Although, I did try to pencil in a swim at the Poly for one day.

To the OP -- what we always do (and we do many split stays) is leave the first resort (and give Bell Services our luggage to transfer), drive to resort #2 (we always have a car), check-in, then go to a park. We have no problem making rope drop if that's our intent. Once we even forgot something at WL, had to drive back there, deal with lost & found for 20 minutes to get it, and we still made rope drop at the park. We just get up and leave early - we try to leave resort #1 around 7-7:15 AM. It works for us.

I love the idea of the luggage "magically appearing." I was thinking before we would just handle our own, but letting the hotel take it is a nice option.

I am glad to hear that getting to the park for rope drop is not far-fetched! Toy Story Mania EMH is a must for us!

 

[ADAMANDLISA]

We've done the split stay thing and actually really liked it! It's more work, but it's like taking different vacations! We didn't drive back then, so we went to the parks until it was nap time, then headed to our new resort. Now that we drive, I don't know what we would do.Guess I'm no help!!!


Have a great time! It's so much fun to experience staying at all of the different resorts. We still have 2 more to try (in WDW) and I may do a split stay at those next year.

 

[pickles]

I guess I am the rebel.

I use online check in

I check out, let bell services do their magic and then I go to a park and stay out until I feel like coming back. I dont use a car while at disney, so I dont need to drive it to the next resort. from whatever park I am at I take a bus to my new resort and collect my keys and head to my room (usually like 10 pm)

works well for me and I dont waste anytime traveling back and forth. really there is no point in going to your new resort at 9 am, odds are you cant get into your room until after 4 anyway.

 

[florep1]

If you do online check in on split stays, how do you know when your room is ready? Is there an option for texting/phone call?

 

[pickles]

If you do online check in on split stays, how do you know when your room is ready? Is there an option for texting/phone call?

I dont worry about it. my room should be ready after 4. never had a room not ready after coming back from the parks. the only pia for doing it this way. is bell servuces will have your luggage and when you get there you would need to call them and have it brought up. not usually a problem but one night at SSR took like an hour.no biggie except it was like midnight by the time our luggage arrived and we were tired waiting