split stay luggage transfer question

[Lisa F]

On the day I am transferring resorts, my plan is to go to epcot in the morning and then transfer from BWV to poly with dinner at Narcoossees and then to MK for the evening.

my question is whether we have to be in the room on the poly to receive our luggage or whether it will just be there. i can keep out some stuff to freshen up with for narcoossees if our stuff isn't there by 4pm but will we have to wait in the middle of the day to get our luggage or worse after a long night at mk?

thanks for any help understanding the process.

 

[tjmw2727]

We have done this quite a few times - you will need to bring your bags to bell services at BWV and request the transfer and then pick them up from bell services at the Poly. You don't have to wait for them but you will have to get them from bell services yourself or call and request that they be delivered to your room after they arrive.

Most times our bags were at bell services at the new resort when we checked in (usually after 5) once we had to wait until closer to 7 for them to show up so be aware it can take all day. I doubt it will be much later than 7 but it may not be in time for dinner.

If you need items prior to dinner I would either grab a cab to the poly and transfer the bags yourself or pack a "day bag" to store in a locker while your at the parks so you have what you need if the bags don't arrive at the poly until later.

 

[Lisa F]

We have done this quite a few times - you will need to bring your bags to bell services at BWV and request the transfer and then pick them up from bell services at the Poly. You don't have to wait for them but you will have to get them from bell services yourself or call and request that they be delivered to your room after they arrive.

Most times our bags were at bell services at the new resort when we checked in (usually after 5) once we had to wait until closer to 7 for them to show up so be aware it can take all day. I doubt it will be much later than 7 but it may not be in time for dinner.

If you need items prior to dinner I would either grab a cab to the poly and transfer the bags yourself or pack a "day bag" to store in a locker while your at the parks so you have what you need if the bags don't arrive at the poly until later.

i actually will have a car and am debating walking through the international gateway to my 10am garden grill breakfast or driving to the poly in the morning and taking the monorail back to epcot, this way when it's time to go to the MK /poly my car is in the right place. it seems feasible both because you can walk to ttc and because i plan to be in future world that day for as long as we end up staying on epcot. so maybe the thing to do is keep my luggage in my car and move it in the morning. if we leave by 9 it should be enough time.

 

[bumbershoot]

Don't leave luggage in your car. That's not necessarily safe. If you're driving over, give yourself time to at least leave bags with bell services if not also go and check in.

We always have a car for split stays and we either leave bags with first hotel Bell then go back and move over later OR move to second hotel and leave bags with Bell and then move on with our day. I wouldn't give bags to be moved if I had a car.


The only time Bell is supposed to leave bags IN your room without you there is when they are delivering bags from the airport when you signed up for DME. Their tip is somehow included with that so they will leave the bags. In any other circumstance their tip will be coming from you, and they want to give you that opportunity to tip them, so you need to be there.

 

[Lisa F]

Don't leave luggage in your car. That's not necessarily safe. If you're driving over, give yourself time to at least leave bags with bell services if not also go and check in.

We always have a car for split stays and we either leave bags with first hotel Bell then go back and move over later OR move to second hotel and leave bags with Bell and then move on with our day. I wouldn't give bags to be moved if I had a car.


The only time Bell is supposed to leave bags IN your room without you there is when they are delivering bags from the airport when you signed up for DME. Their tip is somehow included with that so they will leave the bags. In any other circumstance their tip will be coming from you, and they want to give you that opportunity to tip them, so you need to be there.

got it.

so you would suggest that i go to car with luggage, drive to poly to check in, leave luggage with bell services then move car to parking lot and monorail to epcot? i did want to physically check in to confirm my high floor request (I have Lake view dvc booked) and also to get the check in experience with leis etc and that might be better off earlier on the day than later. then I could drive my car to poly parking and walk from there to to TTC (it is on the parking lot side). then when my room is ready i can just go to the room (also on the TTC side of the resort) when it is ready and call for my bags. it shouldn't take too long to get them if i know they are at the resort already, right? and we'd have time to change and get to a 5:35 narcoossees ADR even if room is not ready until 4?

does that all sound right? any idea how long i should allow to drive from BWV to poly, check in, dump luggage, move car and get to epcot for a 10am garden grill ADR? I am thinking maybe 8:30am.

 

[mickey2minnie1]

got it.

so you would suggest that i go to car with luggage, drive to poly to check in, leave luggage with bell services then move car to parking lot and monorail to epcot? i did want to physically check in to confirm my high floor request (I have Lake view dvc booked) and also to get the check in experience with leis etc and that might be better off earlier on the day than later. then I could drive my car to poly parking and walk from there to to TTC (it is on the parking lot side). then when my room is ready i can just go to the room (also on the TTC side of the resort) when it is ready and call for my bags. it shouldn't take too long to get them if i know they are at the resort already, right? and we'd have time to change and get to a 5:35 narcoossees ADR even if room is not ready until 4?

does that all sound right? any idea how long i should allow to drive from BWV to poly, check in, dump luggage, move car and get to epcot for a 10am garden grill ADR? I am thinking maybe 8:30am.

I would leave by 700. Never know about traffic, length of check in, checking in luggage, walking and waiting for monorail, running into EPCOT and waiting to get through, and then dashing to reservations. That is a lot to do and you would rather have time then to be running and rushing and be stressed on vacation.

 

[Lisa F]

I would leave by 700. Never know about traffic, length of check in, checking in luggage, walking and waiting for monorail, running into EPCOT and waiting to get through, and then dashing to reservations. That is a lot to do and you would rather have time then to be running and rushing and be stressed on vacation.

there is no way I am giving myself 3 hours to do that. I would deal with it after breakfast if it will take that long. I figure an hour with an extra half hour for unknowns lol. getting up at 6am is not happening on vacation... you want to talk stress? if it is completely unrealistic to drive to poly and get back epcot in 90 minutes i will do it in the middle of the day.

 

[GADisneyDad14]

Obviously haven't timed this exact situation but to drive to Poly, drop luggage at bell services, and check in should take around 30 mins. You'll be done and ready for the monorail to Epcot before you know it. I'd say your budget of an hour is a good one which leaves plenty of time for unknowns, a cup of coffee from Kona, or to just soak in the Poly lobby without rushing.

BTW, what you describe in your post #5 is what I would do if I were in your shoes. You could also just let bell services handle the baggage delivery, but since you already need to get your car to Poly at some point that day might as well do it yourself.

 

[tjmw2727]

I didn't realize you had a car ! Your plans as you described is a good one - pack and move to Poly via car pre-check in and leave your bags with bell services, then monorail to Epcot for breakfast. Not sure how much time to allow as we don't often drive when in WDW but I would say 90 minutes as I don't think traffic will be that bad in the am?

Alternately I would just put a day bag in your car trunk and have bell services transfer the bags if you don't mind the tip at both ends, head to breakfast and then move the car and check in after 3ish. This to me would be the least stressful scenario and well worth the tip involved.

 

[Lisa F]

I didn't realize you had a car ! Your plans as you described is a good one - pack and move to Poly via car pre-check in and leave your bags with bell services, then monorail to Epcot for breakfast. Not sure how much time to allow as we don't often drive when in WDW but I would say 90 minutes as I don't think traffic will be that bad in the am?

Alternately I would just put a day bag in your car trunk and have bell services transfer the bags if you don't mind the tip at both ends, head to breakfast and then move the car and check in after 3ish. This to me would be the least stressful scenario and well worth the tip involved.

well you didn't realize it because I didn't mention it, lol. so my fault there.

We are planning to be at the MK very late that night so I want to avoid the situation of having to get the bags late at night. I'd rather get them before dinner when we are freshening up, so I think the best scenario is to drop bags at poly and check in... I mapped it before and it should take 10 minutes to drive there and say worst case there is a huge line to check in right at 8:15am (there shouldn't be... it is going to be on a wednesday so probably not a lot of checkins that day and it is early for planes to be arriving yet, or at least arriving and getting to the resort by then even if an early morning flight).

I THINK given everything said that I should drop my bags myself at poly bell services for the knowledge that they will be there when I need them and then head to epcot, maybe head to MK for a while and then head back to the room 4ish at the latest - have them bring my bags to the room if it will be less than 30 minutes to do so or do it myself if it is a huge wait and then change and head to dinner at narcoossees. I moved my narcoossees dinner a bit later to give me time to be in the room and get bags in a worst case scenario of being unable to check in until right at 4pm (DVC rooms can be ready that late). Hopefully it will be ready earlier than that as again I don't think Wednesday is the biggest check in/check out day either so they are not dealing with huge numbers of rooms turning over.

Obviously haven't timed this exact situation but to drive to Poly, drop luggage at bell services, and check in should take around 30 mins. You'll be done and ready for the monorail to Epcot before you know it. I'd say your budget of an hour is a good one which leaves plenty of time for unknowns, a cup of coffee from Kona, or to just soak in the Poly lobby without rushing.

BTW, what you describe in your post #5 is what I would do if I were in your shoes. You could also just let bell services handle the baggage delivery, but since you already need to get your car to Poly at some point that day might as well do it yourself.

I assume to check in at the Poly we can stop near the main entrance and offload luggage, then park closeby to check in and then move the car to a permanent spot. In fact doesn't bell services meet you at the curb? I seem to remember that from all of my other deluxe/dvc stays.... So I shouldn't have to wait on more than one line (unless something has changed) then go in, check in physically and then head to Epcot. if I leave at 8:30 I should have time for all of that I'd think. I was going to walk to TTC just because the poly parking lot is sort of more toward that side of the resort property anyway. I don't THINK I am setting myself up for stress that way!

I had originally planned to walk to Garden Grill for breakfast then stay til we are done and go back to BWV and move the car to poly and then figure out where to go from there but it seems like a LOT of extra walking since I would be coming in from the international gateway... I try to avoid extra walking when we're walking so much already. But then I started thinking maybe I should just move my car to the poly before breakfast when things are quieter in the 'world and then just not worry about my car in the middle of the day and have the freedom to monorail wherever.

 

[GADisneyDad14]

I assume to check in at the Poly we can stop near the main entrance and offload luggage, then park closeby to check in and then move the car to a permanent spot. In fact doesn't bell services meet you at the curb? I seem to remember that from all of my other deluxe/dvc stays.... So I shouldn't have to wait on more than one line (unless something has changed) then go in, check in physically and then head to Epcot. if I leave at 8:30 I should have time for all of that I'd think. I was going to walk to TTC just because the poly parking lot is sort of more toward that side of the resort property anyway. I don't THINK I am setting myself up for stress that way!

I had originally planned to walk to Garden Grill for breakfast then stay til we are done and go back to BWV and move the car to poly and then figure out where to go from there but it seems like a LOT of extra walking since I would be coming in from the international gateway... I try to avoid extra walking when we're walking so much already. But then I started thinking maybe I should just move my car to the poly before breakfast when things are quieter in the 'world and then just not worry about my car in the middle of the day and have the freedom to monorail wherever.

You have a busy day planned! I guess some would say it's counterintuitive to check out of an Epcot resort, check in to a MK resort, and then head straight back to Epcot to eat, but Poly's location and quick access to the TTC makes that pretty doable. I am a fan of GG so I'd probably do the same thing if that's the day I had pegged to eat there. I'm sure you have your reasons for the late breakfast, but any way you'd want to do it earlier? Like PPO?

To answer your question, yes, what you describe should be pretty easy. It's been a few years since we've actually driven and self-parked so I don't exactly remember if they will let you park off to the side for a few minutes while you go check in, but they probably will or you can drop your bags with bell services then self-park before you go check in. You can also valet but it's a pretty steep daily charge (like $20+ I think). We had a rental for our July trip and I have to admit I did do valet because I just didn't want to mess with self-parking and wanted to get on with our day, but it was overkill.

If you'll forgive me while I map out the times (mainly just want to make sure this works).... this is roughly what it looks like I guess.

8:30 - Leave BWV
8:30-9 - Drive to Poly, Drop Bags, Park
9-9:30 - Walk to TTC, Monorail to Epcot
9:30-10 - Security, tapstiles, walk to GG

To me, this all looks like you'll be good. Not a ton of room for error (mainly concerned with something like a big monorail delay), but there's enough fudge time in there I 'think' you should be fine. If you want to be very comfortable maybe leave more on the 8 side of things than 8:30.

 

[TowMater92]

You can leave your luggage with bell service at the BW go to Epcot for your reservation then when its time to leave Epcot just walk back to the BW. Then have bell service load it in your car for you and drive to the Poly/check in then go to your dinner then the MK. You can also have bell service come to your room to get your luggage and store it for you until you're ready to go to the Poly. It saves you a trip to the Poly. Or just keep a bag you need, put it in your car and have Disny transfer the rest, then you can still leave your car at the BW and drive over to the Poly after Epcot. Either way you aren't rushed and it saves a lot of travel time that you don't need to waste.

 

[AngiTN]

I can't put my finger on exactly what it is but the whole thing seems unnecessarily complicated. Sounds like tons of back and forth over the same path several times in a day.
First, why are you stopping to check in that morning? If you just need to leave bags with bell services why not just do that? Why spend time at the desk? You mention wanting to get the lei but that's not guaranteed to happen. We've stayed there 3 times and not gotten one yet Never done straight to the room there either, always gone to the front desk, both in the morning and the afternoon.

I think all in all the idea of going from BWI to Epcot, then to Poly, is a much smarter path.

 

[GADisneyDad14]

I can't put my finger on exactly what it is but the whole thing seems unnecessarily complicated. Sounds like tons of back and forth over the same path several times in a day.
First, why are you stopping to check in that morning? If you just need to leave bags with bell services why not just do that? Why spend time at the desk? You mention wanting to get the lei but that's not guaranteed to happen. We've stayed there 3 times and not gotten one yet Never done straight to the room there either, always gone to the front desk, both in the morning and the afternoon.

I think all in all the idea of going from BWI to Epcot, then to Poly, is a much smarter path.

I kind of agree with you there @AngiTN. That's one of the reasons I was wondering if an earlier GG breakfast might be an option - that way she could have a leisurely stroll to GG for breakfast, back to BWI to pack up/grab bags/load car, then head off to Poly/MK and not need to backtrack back to Epcot at that point. ???

 

[Donna3271]

Hi Everyone! This thread has great info. We are doing a split stay for the Marathon in January. I am flying out early with my daughters ahead of my husband and son (in 9th grade now- so less school missed is best) to pick up our race bibs.

Our plan is to stay at Wilderness lodge. We are going to then check into the Poly. We have suitcases... I was planning on taking a cab, or the boat to the Poly. Then leaving our luggage with Bell service and checking it. I was planning to then go to directly to the Sports expo to get our numbers while waiting for the room to be ready.

So, according to this thread... I don't need to do that? We can check out of Wilderness lodge, let THEM transfer our luggage to the Poly, then we can just go DIRECT to the sports expo, then back to the Poly? I hope this makes sense. I am exhausted just typing it!!

 

[AngiTN]

Hi Everyone! This thread has great info. We are doing a split stay for the Marathon in January. I am flying out early with my daughters ahead of my husband and son (in 9th grade now- so less school missed is best) to pick up our race bibs.

Our plan is to stay at Wilderness lodge. We are going to then check into the Poly. We have suitcases... I was planning on taking a cab, or the boat to the Poly. Then leaving our luggage with Bell service and checking it. I was planning to then go to directly to the Sports expo to get our numbers while waiting for the room to be ready.

So, according to this thread... I don't need to do that? We can check out of Wilderness lodge, let THEM transfer our luggage to the Poly, then we can just go DIRECT to the sports expo, then back to the Poly? I hope this makes sense. I am exhausted just typing it!!

Yep, you call bell services, they'll take the number of bags you have and send someone up to get them. They'll give you a receipt, with the number, confirm where you are heading and take the bags away. You head off to whatever it is you plan for the day and then when you are done, go to the Poly. Call for the bags, if it's after 4 or so and they'll bring them right on up to the room. We tip on both ends, for pick up and delivery.

 

[Donna3271]

Yep, you call bell services, they'll take the number of bags you have and send someone up to get them. They'll give you a receipt, with the number, confirm where you are heading and take the bags away. You head off to whatever it is you plan for the day and then when you are done, go to the Poly. Call for the bags, if it's after 4 or so and they'll bring them right on up to the room. We tip on both ends, for pick up and delivery.

Awesome! Thanks! Have you ever had an issue with lost/delayed bags?

 

[GADisneyDad14]

^^ What @AngiTN said.

Just FYI, you mentioned boat but you can't take luggage on a boat (or bus, or monorail). If you don't use bell services to take your luggage like @AngiTN describes, a cab would be your only alternative.

 

[Donna3271]

^^ What @AngiTN said.

Just FYI, you mentioned boat but you can't take luggage on a boat (or bus, or monorail). If you don't use bell services to take your luggage like @AngiTN describes, a cab would be your only alternative.

OMG~~~ THANK YOU~ That would have been a hassle to drag my girls to the boat dock with the luggage and have to turn around!!! THANKS AGAIN!!! A cab it is!

 

[AngiTN]

Awesome! Thanks! Have you ever had an issue with lost/delayed bags?

No, not at all. We do a lot of split stays too. I always let them move our bags since I know we'll be at the park all day anyway, never matters to me how long it takes them to move the bags, they are always there when we return.