Split Stay- is it difficult?

[eegulz]

I am currently planning a trip to Disney in January 2019. Since the resorts I would prefer to stay at are not available for all my dates, I am thinking of doing split stays. I am thinking of doing 8 nights - 2 at Boulder Ridge, 3 at BLT and 3 at Kidani. Can anyone tell me, in their experience, how difficult is it to move from one reset to another? Does Disney move your bags for you? Any advice would be appreciated!

 

[jodybird511]

Split stays are very easy, IMO. Disney will move your bags for you. The way we do it is that we drop our bags with bell services on our way out to the parks in the morning. Then, when we're done, we head back to the new resort and request our bags. The only proviso to be aware of is that your bags won't be available at the new resort until later afternoon, and you have to be in your room to get them delivered (unlike with Magical Express, where they will deliver whether you are there or not). I'm not sure that I'd do three diff resorts in just 8 days, but really, split stays are easy peasy!

 

[tjmw2727]

We do split stays often because our party size changes and we can downsize after a few people leave (or visa versa). I don't mind it much and Disney will move your bags as the pp said but your also without a room for a large part of the day and sometimes that's inconvenient.

Given a choice I wouldn't move twice - once would be my max!

 

[eegulz]

Thanks for the info!

 

[FCDub]

People love doing it, but I never will. I want to be in one place.

 

[loves to dive]

We do it every trip but it's usually just one move. We did have to do two moved one trip when we booked an extra night while there and while we were in the same hotel, we had to move to a different room. We drive down so we don't have them move our bags for us but otherwise they are pretty easy to do. We just get up early in the morning, check out of resort #1, drive over to resort #2 and go ahead and check in. There are varied opinions as to whether you need to check out of resort #1, I usually do it by a phone call but have had to go down and physically do it a few times. The only reason I go ahead and check into resort #2 is to let them know I'm there in case they can get a room ready earlier. Then we just head to park. Sometimes we come back when we get the room ready text, sometimes not.

 

[Jfsag123]

We just got back from a triple split - 2 nights CSR, 6 BCV, 3 AKV- Jambo. This was our 3rd split stay, but first time doing more than two resorts. It was super easy. Each time we sent our bags with bell services, then went to a park and headed to our next resort after the room was ready. We love splits because we get to experience different resorts/areas of WDW and each resort feels like another mini trip.

 

[Amanda999]

We just got back from a triple split .... Each time we sent our bags with bell services, then went to a park and headed to our next resort after the room was ready. ...

Do you give all your luggage to bell services - like your purse, iPads etc.? I am wondering if it would be prudent to take those to the park with us (and stow them in a locker at park entrance)?

(Not that I've ever had anything go missing with bell services, but not sure its a great idea to hand over my purse and the kids iPads. And I am bag-less in the park - only take credit card/ID/cash/phone, in my cargo shorts pockets - to the parks ordinarily.) TIA

 

[morganms22]

I don’t think it’s difficult, but it can still be a hassle as you have to repack.
Plus, if you need or want to go back to your room you will not be able to until the other is ready. I think three different resorts is a lot for one trip. If you do decide to split, I would try to just do two and at least three nights at each location. Make sure you book the tickets with the first reservation as you won’t be able to use them or book fast passes for when you arruve if they are connected to your second one.

 

[rosiebean]

I've never done a three resort split stay (though I sometimes dream of 3 days at AKL, 4 at Poly, 4 at BC/YC). I have done two resort splits, and I find it super easy. Our first resort is usually a 2 night stay, so I just pack a small suitcase of clothes for that resort. Dirty clothes go into a bag and into that suitcase at the end of our two nights. Toiletries are packed in a smaller backpack and are really the only thing we need to pack up at the end of our stay.

We also schedule a park day/resort night on the day we move. We just take our bags to bell services in the morning and head out to the parks (I have packed my laptop in a locked suitcase without a problem...smaller electronics go into our daypack). We head to our new resort anywhere between 3:30 and 5 to check in (I haven't yet received a room ready text for the second resort, but our room has almost always been ready when we go to the desk after 3:30). Once we're in our room, a call to bell services has our bags up quickly. After unpacking and a quick nap, we hang out at our new resort for the evening, playing in the pool, going to dinner, etc.

 

[Jfsag123]

Do you give all your luggage to bell services - like your purse, iPads etc.? I am wondering if it would be prudent to take those to the park with us (and stow them in a locker at park entrance)?

(Not that I've ever had anything go missing with bell services, but not sure its a great idea to hand over my purse and the kids iPads. And I am bag-less in the park - only take credit card/ID/cash/phone, in my cargo shorts pockets - to the parks ordinarily.) TIA

I don’t know on the purse. I leave my usual purse at home and have a crossbody bag I use as a purse at WDW and I take it to the parks with me. I just put the iPads in our large suitcases and haven’t had a problem with it, though I guess if I was worried about it I’d probably put them and my purse in a locker at whatever park we went to for the day.

 

[Lynne M]

In terms of moving/logistics. a split stay is easy. You just give your luggage to Bell Services and go off to a theme park or whatever else you've planned for the day. When you're ready to leave, you take Disney transportation to the new resort. Or, you can take a cab/uber/Minnie van/lyft and go straight to the new resort with your bags.

The difficulty comes in being "homeless" for most of the day, which can be a problem if you have kids who need to nap or just like to take a mid-day break in the room. It's always possible that your room will be ready early, but since all your stays are at DVC resorts that tend to run at high occupancy, I'd assume that you'll be without a room until at least 4 PM on 3 days out of 8.

 

[Someluck]

I will do a split stay in November and plan to take Uber from AKL to CSR bringing my bags along myself. I will check into CSR and if no room is yet ready my bags will be held until the room is ready. I prefer not to leave my bags behind and trust they will show up, but in fairness I have no reason to believe they won't.

 

[DCL_Wonder]

I am currently planning a trip to Disney in January 2019. Since the resorts I would prefer to stay at are not available for all my dates, I am thinking of doing split stays. I am thinking of doing 8 nights - 2 at Boulder Ridge, 3 at BLT and 3 at Kidani. Can anyone tell me, in their experience, how difficult is it to move from one reset to another? Does Disney move your bags for you? Any advice would be appreciated!

Wow! That seems like a lot of changing resorts. IMHO, that would be a lot of extra time not enjoying the parks and the resorts.

 

[Amanda999]

I will do a split stay in November and plan to take Uber from AKL to CSR bringing my bags along myself. I will check into CSR and if no room is yet ready my bags will be held until the room is ready. I prefer not to leave my bags behind and trust they will show up, but in fairness I have no reason to believe they won't.

FWIW POFQ did lose track of our luggage: transferring them to POR! Seriously. I gave them to a bell hop about 7am who came to the room, gave me a receipt (thank goodness). Then..... nothing. Around 6pm I called to inquire and.... they had no record of it at all. I described our bags, and a few hours later they did show up.
Probably rare mix up - something's bound to happen with the volume they do.

 

[mcall12]

For our wedding and honeymoon trip we did 2 nights at the contemporary, 2 nights at the Grand Floridian, 4 night cruise on the Dream and then 8 nights at AKL. Disney was seamless in transferring our luggage and it was a smooth process. That said when we got to AKL I was glad to be able to relax a bit more and not stay relatively packed for a move in just 2 days.

 

[Miffy]

The difficulty comes in being "homeless" for most of the day, which can be a problem if you have kids who need to nap or just like to take a mid-day break in the room. It's always possible that your room will be ready early, but since all your stays are at DVC resorts that tend to run at high occupancy, I'd assume that you'll be without a room until at least 4 PM on 3 days out of 8.

^^^This is the main possible difficulty with your split-stay vacation. For 37.5% of the time that you're there, you might not have access to your resort room until 4 in the afternoon or later. If that, and packing and unpacking three times during your trip are okay with you, then go for it. My own personal minimum threshold for a split stay is a 10-day trip--5 days at each place--and even then I might not want to do it. I prefer to unpack, settle in, and not deal with my luggage or bell services until I check out. If you are concerned about your purse and iPads, etc., I would definitely take them with you and put them in a park locker. Alternatively, you could Minnie van or uber/lyft it over to your new resort in the morning and use their safe while you're at the parks.

 

[buzznina]

We would have no interest in changing resorts every couple of days, that just does not sound very relaxing and we really could not enjoy a resort that way. Since we drive, it is much more difficult since we bring a LOT more stuff, so repacking/unpacking would be time consuming and we would much rather use that time to enjoy ourselves. I am sure we will do more split stays in the future but it would be only 2 resorts and a minimum 4-5 nights at each, so that the day we move would be a non-park day

 

[Moliphino]

FWIW POFQ did lose track of our luggage: transferring them to POR! Seriously. I gave them to a bell hop about 7am who came to the room, gave me a receipt (thank goodness). Then..... nothing. Around 6pm I called to inquire and.... they had no record of it at all. I described our bags, and a few hours later they did show up.
Probably rare mix up - something's bound to happen with the volume they do.

Last trip they forgot to transfer our bags (ASMo to CSR), but they never lost track of them. Once we called and they discovered it they drove them right over, it only delayed our bedtime about an hour (we didn't get to CSR until after 10pm) and they gave us three anytime fastpass+ each for the next day.

 

[DLgal]

We did our first (and last) split stay in July. We did 4 nights followed by 7 nights. While it wasn't difficult, per se, it was annoying having to pack up the room after 4 days and then be "homeless" for 5 hours, since our room at the second resort wasn't ready until almost 4. I even planned a TS lunch at 2pm to try and mitigate the amount of time we would be doing nothing, and we still had to find a way to kill time. We could have planned pool time, but that would have required hauling around a change of clothes for 4 people and all the pool stuff, and because the pool closed that day around 3pm due to a storm, we would have been sitting around in the lobby in our wet swimsuits for another hour (so glad we didn't go that route). I might do it if we were traveling during a cold weather month and planned to just be In the parks all day anyway, but in the summer, not happening again.