Split Stay...good Or Bad?

[Jordan2007]

We are planning on doing a split stay at POP and CSR over Christmas. We were looking at the POP from December 21st-24th and then CSR from Dec 24-27 or the 28. Has anyone ever done a split stay? If so, was it incredibly inconvienent? My daddy is sort of against the whole "changing hotels" thing since we have such a large group including both of my parents, my grandmother and her husband, my sister, my brother in law, my 2 year old nephew, my two other sisters, my boyfriend, and me, of course.

I would really like to do the split stay since it will allow us to stay until the 28th, rather than the 27th. We were also wondering how different the preferred room at the POP were than the regular rooms, and if the water view is absolutely necessary at CSR to enjoy the view.

Thank you so much for any input.

 

[scmouse]

We enjoy a split stay, but there are only two of us so it's not much work packing and moving. It's like a vacation within a vacation.

 

[OKW Lover]

This may not be what you want to hear, but you did ask. We don't care for having to change resorts in the middle of a stay. Its an extra pack/un-pack cycle that eats into your vacation time. You're also "homeless" for most of the transition day, making that afternoon swim/nap time difficult.

 

[PolyKat1]

I LOVE splitting our stay! We split once between the Poly and Beach Club with my elderly in-laws in tow, and it worked out fine. We found it much easier to do all the MK area stuff while at the Poly, then all the Epcot area stuff while staying at the Beach Club. Much less time travelling around.

You will love the CSR! We did not have any special kind of view there, and we had a great time!

 

[MickeyNicki]

We did out first split stay in Oct, 4 days YC and 4 days at the Poly. It is super easy if you have your own car. We are doing another split stay at the end of this month, 4 days OKW and 4 days YC and again in Oct, 4 days AKL and 4 days BW.

We found that it was like 2 vacations in one....it was awesome!

 

[NMAmy]

If it were just DH and I, then, sure I'd do it. But the only time we've done it was when we were with my teenage dd and her friend. And, I will never do it again when they are travelling with us! We ended up losing pretty much a whole day of park time by the time I nagged them into packing and unpacking again.

With as many people as you have travelling with you, I personally would not do it.

 

[shellybaxter]

We've done several (at least 4 that I can remember) split stays and LOVED every one of them. I didn't think they were too much hassle because I really wanted to stay in as many different resorts as possible. Now that we've done that I'm starting to appriciate the idea of staying in one spot. I guess the answer is - the split stay is only as inconvienent as you think it will be. If you really want to split stay you'll love it and if you don't you'll think its a pain

 

[Candice30]

not sure i would do a split stay with so many people going. it was just 2 of us when we did it and the process was very easy. we split our stay between beach club and grand floridian over christmas. we stayed 2 nights at both. i definitely wouldn't do it for such a short trip again.

 

[dvc at last !]

This may not be what you want to hear, but you did ask. We don't care for having to change resorts in the middle of a stay. Its an extra pack/un-pack cycle that eats into your vacation time. You're also "homeless" for most of the transition day, making that afternoon swim/nap time difficult.

I agree.
We have done the split it is a hastle.
Staying in one place is much nicer.

 

[dvc at last !]

We did out first split stay in Oct, 4 days YC and 4 days at the Poly. It is super easy if you have your own car. We are doing another split stay at the end of this month, 4 days OKW and 4 days YC and again in Oct, 4 days AKL and 4 days BW.

We found that it was like 2 vacations in one....it was awesome!

We did not have a car and it was a loss of a day.

 

[monica31671]

I like the split stay.
We moved around last summer and loved seeing different resorts. There were four of us and it didn't seem bad at all. Only two of us did most of the work. Being organized helps, but we didn't "pack and unpack" as much as we "scooped it all in" and moved it.

I've stayed at CS but didn't have a water view. We weren't in the room much, so the view didn't matter to us. I can't remember the view we had, but there is so much landscaping, it's never a bad view.
I've stayed in preffered at Pop and was soooo glad. We were close to the food court and bus stop. Well worth the money in my book.

 

[Amy&Dan]

I enjoy a split stay but not sure I would want to one for that big of a group. Also, do you have cars? That makes it easier. I never trust Disney to move my stuff since the time Boardwalk managed to misplace our bags. They found them, gave us a $100 credit for our trouble but it still stunk and ruined that night's plans.

Still, if doing this is the only way to extend the trip by that last day, I would go for it. Just make sure that you have anything essential (like meds with you).

It can make for almost two vacations in one which is nice. Just be organized so that the packing and unpacking doesn't take too much time on either end.

They are both wonderful resorts!

P.S. I would never pay for a waterview at CSR, you can have a pretty decent view from any room. I enjoyed our Ranchos 7B location, it was facing the quiet pool and quite lovely.

Preferred rooms at Pop are no differnt in anything but location. And nothing at Pop is too far out from the main area. I do enjoy preferred for the ease of refilling my soda mug but then again, saving money is nice too! I have been in the 80's in Pop (one of the more outlying sections) and it still wasn't a bad walk to the food court and main pool. You'll do far more walking at CSR which isn't a bad thing since its a lovely resort. I would pay for preferred (and have) but not waterview.

 

[I Love Pluto]

We love split stays - it's like getting two vacations in one.

However --- I would question the ease of transfer with such a large group.

 

[Tinkerbelll]

I would consider the fact that splitting your stay with that many people may require the loss of that day, anyway. Trying to pack and move that many people from one resort to another will probably require some degree of time/effort. Therefore, splitting a stay in order to gain an extra day at the end of your stay may be an unsuccessful trade.

We have done a few split stays and, honestly, I'm not a huge fan. Unless I'm moving from POP to Poly, I don't see the benefits. I would go with one day shorter and guarantee that you will be able to make the most of each and every second there, as opposed to having to pick up and move mid vacation.

Just my 2 cents. Enjoy your vacation, whatever you decide!

 

[dacky041208]

I think I would base it on how many people there are, and how long the vacation is. I wouldn't want to stay in one place any fewer than 4 days, cause then I don't think it would feel like a vacation, you unpack, and then a few days later packing up to move.

 

[BuzzLiteyear]

We liked the idea of our split stay. The mistake we made was going from CR (first onsite visit) to ASMo. The kids loved both. I hated ASMo. If we had been to the value first and then CR, my impressions may have been different. I think you'll be ok doing POP first.

 

[Jordan2007]

I really appreciate everyone's insight!! This has made us strongly reconsider the split stay. We would be moving on Christmas Eve, and we think that it will just end up too stressful in the end. Maybe when I drag my boyfriend back sometime next year, he'll let me stay in the POP and the Contemporary.

I just love the DIS!

 

[daryle330]

I've done a split stay and it's not that bad. The only problem is that check out is around 11 and check in is at 4. They will hold your luggage for you. It's not that bad at all I would do it again if i had to.