Split stay - do you book your top favorite hotel for the first or last part of your trip?

[kniquy]

I would book your high priority resort at the end of your trip. This way when you switch resorts you will not be disappointed or keep thinking about the better resort. The best thing you can do is to arrange your park days based on where you will be staying. For example - our April was a split between Poly and AKV - so our first 3 days at Poly were focused on Epcot and MK, the end of our trip was AK/HS and Epcot it worked out well and i felt that travel time was not an issue. I think i read that you are doing BC and poly so both deluxe resorts so how you figure out your time might just depend on how you want to arrange your park days.

 

[Childs1stTime2Disney]

I would definitely do it at the end. You then have something more to look forward to while you're staying at the other resort. It's a little trickier with parks. I like to do The Magic Kingdom near the end, but I know that some like to start there too.

i Feel the need to start at MK, for me and of course for my 2 young children.

 

[ninafeliz]

we split 4/4/4 YC/BC/CR, the BC was the only new resort for us. Because of that split we didn't do the MK until the end of the trip, with one day in the middle 4 nights and then 2 days while at the CR. That worked out best for our overall schedule, but I did find myself missing not going to the MK until a week into our trip. It worked out fine, and I don't regret it, I just noticed that and I would have liked to go to the MK once at the beginning maybe and then end with the MK heavy part instead of all at the end. We do have 4 young kids and the MK is everyone's favorite park, so that also plays into it. I have also read to book your favorite resort last, or if you have 2 different levels of resorts to book the better one last. I think it might be more important to book based on when you want to visit which parks, and try to lump MK with MK resorts, and Epcot/DHS with Epcot resorts, with AK being a wildcard. Both of your resorts are great, so I don't think you'll go wrong either way. The Poly is our favorite, as are the MK resorts, but with the walkability to 2 parks and SAB I highly doubt you'll dislike the BC and it's quite possible you'll like it better.

 

[otten]

We booked based on which parks. So we’re at the Poly during the first part of the trip when we’re doing a lot of MK and Epcot, then AKL when we’re doing AK and HS and since we just extended our trip, finishing at Bay Lake to end with MK.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

We do the resort we’re most looking forward to at the end. I plan Park days around our location.

Last trip was Poly and then BC. They were both new to us.

This trip is POFQ and then BWV. Both new to us.

 

[Childs1stTime2Disney]

we split 4/4/4 YC/BC/CR, the BC was the only new resort for us. Because of that split we didn't do the MK until the end of the trip, with one day in the middle 4 nights and then 2 days while at the CR. That worked out best for our overall schedule, but I did find myself missing not going to the MK until a week into our trip. It worked out fine, and I don't regret it, I just noticed that and I would have liked to go to the MK once at the beginning maybe and then end with the MK heavy part instead of all at the end. We do have 4 young kids and the MK is everyone's favorite park, so that also plays into it. I have also read to book your favorite resort last, or if you have 2 different levels of resorts to book the better one last. I think it might be more important to book based on when you want to visit which parks, and try to lump MK with MK resorts, and Epcot/DHS with Epcot resorts, with AK being a wildcard. Both of your resorts are great, so I don't think you'll go wrong either way. The Poly is our favorite, as are the MK resorts, but with the walkability to 2 parks and SAB I highly doubt you'll dislike the BC and it's quite possible you'll like it better.

Thank you for this! I see you "get" me!

 

[ninafeliz]

I also wanted to add, just for thought, is that when you book the favorite last you may find yourself looking forward to that, and as a result wishing your (already lightning fast) vacation away. Not to say I wouldn't book that way, it's just something I've noticed. I think it's also personality based, not everyone ends up doing that. I've just always been one of those "first full day ... not half over yet... only half over...2 whole days left...one day left, last day " type of person, so I don't want anything to make me look more toward the end. That kind of happened with us having the MK resort last, even though i still loved our Epcot resort time.

I guess in my ideal vacation we don't change resorts, I like to unpack and get comfortable, but at WDW with kids and the entire MK vs Epcot area resorts and trying to avoid busses and folding strollers I've decided split stays can have their benefits.

 

[Silvermist999]

I also wanted to add, just for thought, is that when you book the favorite last you may find yourself looking forward to that, and as a result wishing your (already lightning fast) vacation away. Not to say I wouldn't book that way, it's just something I've noticed. I think it's also personality based, not everyone ends up doing that. I've just always been one of those "first full day ... not half over yet... only half over...2 whole days left...one day left, last day " type of person, so I don't want anything to make me look more toward the end. That kind of happened with us having the MK resort last, even though i still loved our Epcot resort time.

I guess in my ideal vacation we don't change resorts, I like to unpack and get comfortable, but at WDW with kids and the entire MK vs Epcot area resorts and trying to avoid busses and folding strollers I've decided split stays can have their benefits.

This was definitely us for one of our split stay trips! We booked the first 1/2 of our stay at a new-to-us deluxe resort (non-monorail) and then for the 2nd half, a return to a favorite deluxe (on monorail). We found ourselves - even the kids, longing for the stay at the 2nd resort. After that trip, we try to make sure both resorts during a split stay are "equal".

 

[AussieNSW]

We split our stay between 2 resorts. Beach club and grand Floridian. We had never stayed at beach club before and tend to stay at grand Floridian. Our stay was split up by a Disney cruise. I did enjoy how easy it was to go to Epcot and Hollywood studios from beach club and the pool area. But there were things I really missed about grand Floridian that made me glad I had booked the new to us resort first. To some people these things may not have been a deal breaker but with our family they were.
A week before we arrived my teenage son damaged the tendons and ligaments in his ankle so was hobbling. Beach club was just to spread out for us. It took forever for him to get to the room and anywhere else due to the distance.
We also enjoy the 24hour food place at Grand Floridian. We have a member of our family who can only have small amounts of food at a time but has it regularly.

 

[mickeymom22]

I base our resort on which parks we will be visiting. Epcot/HS we go with Beach Club or Boardwalk. MK...Fort Wilderness...one day I want to stay at the Poly or WL...

Since we are a family of five, often our 2nd resort is POR, Alligator Bayou...convenient to Disney Springs...

 

[DisneyFansInNYC]

We usually end with a MK resort - usually the CR or the Poly. We love ending our trip at MK.

 

[Childs1stTime2Disney]

I also wanted to add, just for thought, is that when you book the favorite last you may find yourself looking forward to that, and as a result wishing your (already lightning fast) vacation away. Not to say I wouldn't book that way, it's just something I've noticed. I think it's also personality based, not everyone ends up doing that. I've just always been one of those "first full day ... not half over yet... only half over...2 whole days left...one day left, last day " type of person, so I don't want anything to make me look more toward the end. That kind of happened with us having the MK resort last, even though i still loved our Epcot resort time.

I guess in my ideal vacation we don't change resorts, I like to unpack and get comfortable, but at WDW with kids and the entire MK vs Epcot area resorts and trying to avoid busses and folding strollers I've decided split stays can have their benefits.

Great point about wishing the vacation away...we have decided we will do our favorite MK resort first. Because we just cant wait to go to MK. I worry if we didnt go to MK for let's say the first 4 days while at BC, that God forbid one of us or the kids got sick the second half of the trip the MK part would suffer. And for us that's the main part, the most important part that dont want to chance missing for any reason.

 

[ninafeliz]

Great point about wishing the vacation away...we have decided we will do our favorite MK resort first. Because we just cant wait to go to MK. I worry if we didnt go to MK for let's say the first 4 days while at BC, that God forbid one of us or the kids got sick the second half of the trip the MK part would suffer. And for us that's the main part, the most important part that dont want to chance missing for any reason.

Sounds like a good plan for you based on your posts! You can't go wrong either way though

 

[monorailsilver]

Favorite at the end just in case you don’t like the non favorite at least you have something to look forward too.

We are at the BC now til Monday and then will move to the Poly til Saturday, I like my last day where I can sit at the pool and see the castle and take in the sounds of the seven seas lagoon.

Granted, my kids who have never stayed stayed at the BC are going to miss the pool....next time!

 

[bluejasmine]

We have learned to do it last, that way we appreciate the other resorts better. We once did AKL after staying Poly CL and found we missed the Poiy. So this time we have 2 other resorts we are trying before moving on to our beloved Poly which is last and the most days on our 3 way split stay

 

[Catvondita]

We thought we would do our favorite or one we were looking forward to the most on the second half of the stay but we factored in other things. For our honeymoon we did Poly and Animal Kingdom Lodge. For our first half of the trip we always do MK and Epcot first so it made more sense to do that at the Poly since its on the Monorail line. So we did AK Lodge second.