Split stay for late check-in?

[SugarSweetLee]

We have a trip coming up in May for which the only flight available has us getting in around 9pm to the resort. Initially I had us at OKW for one night (10pts) before switching to our home resort RIV for the rest of the trip. I waitlisted and received RIV (19pts) for that arrival night, but now I'm rethinking whether or not it's "worth" it lol

Also, if we did a split stay we could get the water park benefit for our switchover day...

Would you rather split stay with a cheaper resort on your checkin day if you were going to miss most of it, or is it worth the extra point cost to you to avoid the hassles of switchover day? (We did a split stay in January and our luggage didn't show up at the second resort until almost 7pm).

ETA: Decided to split bc husband wanted to water park

 

[MerlinandtheMouse]

We’ve done both for various reasons but 9pts is 9pts and switching after just a night isn’t too bad. Have your necessities and next days clothes at the front of your luggage so it’s easy to repack and leave the next morning.

If your whole trip is a bit short though, I’d probably prefer to stay in 1 resort. For me, the hassle of unpacking and repacking multiple times so close together isn’t worth those few points. It just doesn’t feel like I’ve settled in at all on a trip if I’m constantly moving.

 

[sndral]

If you’ve paid for a ticket/entry to the parks on your first full day, then I’m not sure the water park entry would have any value for you. If, OTH, you planned to visit a waterpark at some point & did not intend to visit a park until the evening or not at all on that first full day, then moving after your first night might be worth the hassle for the ‘free’ water park entry .

 

[thanxfornoticin]

If you do OKW day 1 of your trip, and then have a new res at Riv starting day 2 through the end of your trip, you'll be eligible for a water park OKW day (which would be useless, obviously!), and also your check-in day at Riv. If you opt to not switch resorts, you'll lose the free water park option but won't have the issue of changing resorts day 2. And as mentioned above, you would miss some of your first park day, though! You have to decide which is more important to you.

We'd probably pack a small bag to our overnight at OKW, not unpack most of our stuff, move our bags to Riv the next morning (we usually drive, but you can have Disney move them), enjoy the day at the waterpark, and then head back to Riv to finish checking into our room.

 

[Genie+]

I used to be team split stay and save the points. The last few trips we’ve decided paying the extra points even when arriving late is worth it for the convenience and extra time you get staying in the same room.

Choices A and B both have their upsides.

A) Save $100 or $200, etc. That part is great! But then we also need two checkins, leave the first room by 11am, spend time/energy packing correctly for this, plan our first park day around this, and cart our stuff around an extra time. We like getting our room snack/drinks on the way in from MCO, and this makes that more complicated too.

B) Spend the extra and settle in. Not have to deal with anything else related the next day.

 

[Headless]

For us it would be a question of if we would use the waterpark day. We have a trip in august and coming from the west coast arrival day is always a waste of a day. We couldn't red eye this time so instead I got another one night reservation for when we arrive in a studio on top of the primary reservation for the entirety of our stay. the waterpark, while not the sole reason, was still a big part in that consideration.

If you have a park day instead and don't care or would force the waterpark in then I would just go with the Riviera for the length of the stay and not have to think about the logistics of switching resorts.

As for the luggage bit. When we do split stays (which I love doing) The morning of the split first thing I uber us over to the new resort, check in and leave our baggage with them then go on our merry way. I know once we get the 'room available' we have our bags and won't have to wait for anything/anyone. it's like 10 bucks and maybe an hour, hour and a half of time.

 

[Sandisw]

We would split for the waterpark day if that is what we wanted to do.

If not, then no!

 

[SugarSweetLee]

Ah, I realized that I did not mention that we have APs so accounting for park days/tickets isn't part of this particular equation.

As it stands, I gave the options to my husband and he decided he really wants to try out the water park, so here we are Dropped the arrival night at Riv and switched back to OKW. I'm thinking we will likely take the advice to Uber our stuff over to Riviera first before departing for the day's activities though!

 

[Aussie RJ]

Split stay and purchase the dining plan for one day. You can make it work easily for one night and boom! You now have resort mugs for the length of your RIV stay.

 

[3 DD love princesses]

Think you made a good decision since you wanted to try the water parks the split stay is worth it. If you know you won’t need anything from your luggage then I’d let Disney transfer it but if you might want something before 4 then I’d just leave it at Okw bell hop or take it to the Riv bell hop. Most of the time we have let Disney transfer the Luggage and it arrives before the room is ready.