Split Stay, free dining only at 2nd resort, get tickets early?

[luvallprincesses]

Assuming the rumored dates turn out to be correct for free dining, I am in a predicament in considering scenarios and would appreciate info on the following situation.

We plan to check into the Dolphin on Nov 22 and use 5 nights of points. That would mean on Nov 27 we would begin paying for our nights somewhere. If the Nov 27 check in date is eligible for free dining, I would consider making it a split stay and move to a Disney resort to take advantage. Am I able to book a reservation starting that day but be able to begin using my park tickets (which would have to be purchased as a package) on Nov 22, 5 days earlier?

Also, this would be our first split stay. I'm not a big fan of packing up mid trip but money talks too. Does anyone have experience/opinion if it would be a "difficult" move (emotionally) from the Dolphin to a value/moderate (since I don't know what might be available yet!) Certainly I would wish to do it in reverse order, but probably won't have the luxury of that option if the rumored dates are correct.

 

[sharadoc]

All speculation by me ...

Since you have to pay for a package in advance, then technically you own those tickets. So, the question is, are they "active" when you get your magic bands? I would assume they would be able to be used if you have those magic bands in hand, but I have absolutely no idea if that's actually true. Hopefully someone will have experience with it.

I think your split stay will be a little more difficult because you're not moving between Disney resorts, so you'll have to get a taxi or uber from the Dolphin to the Disney hotel.

If you're getting the quick service plan free, is it really worth the hassle? There's probably going to be a room discount available at that time too.

 

[luvallprincesses]

All speculation by me ...

Since you have to pay for a package in advance, then technically you own those tickets. So, the question is, are they "active" when you get your magic bands? I would assume they would be able to be used if you have those magic bands in hand, but I have absolutely no idea if that's actually true. Hopefully someone will have experience with it.

I think your split stay will be a little more difficult because you're not moving between Disney resorts, so you'll have to get a taxi or uber from the Dolphin to the Disney hotel.

If you're getting the quick service plan free, is it really worth the hassle? There's probably going to be a room discount available at that time too.

Thanks for trying!

I consulted the Tickets thread where Robo posted that purchased tickets can be activated up to 10 days before a package begins by having it done at Guest Services. Glad to know.

Swan/Dolphin handles luggage transfers like Disney resorts.

I would probably not do a switch for free quick service plan, you're right, too much hassle for that, but want to consider all options for when the deal drops. Still some figuring to do...

 

[CdnKayDee]

Did this last year (2016) you can activate park tickets on your package up to 10 days prior however you will not be able to make any fast pass resy for the first resy since you tech do not have park tickets yet. This took many cast members to figure out and got many different answers. But we did pick up park tickets 10 days prior to free dining package.