Split stay or no??

[bjcaed]

We have reservations at AKL with feee dining Nov 15-23. Thinking of changing and splitting the stay to do half at Wilderness Lodge since it is close to MK and we are dong 2 MVMCP at the beginning of our stay. How hard is it to do a split stay. We have stayed at WL several times and it feels like home. AK would be when the crowds get Thanksgiving crazy so we would spend less time on busses and more at resort. What do I do?? Decisions decisions!!

 

[Zooey72]

I am interested in this as well. I would like to do a split between yacht and beach (4) and poly (3) the week after labor day.

Free dining is great, but if it is a hassle I can just buy the dining plan and take the room discount instead. Does Disney have any issue with this?

 

[gillep]

We have split stays occasionally and they are very easy. You can bring your bags to bell services and they transfer them to the next resort for you (you cannot bring your luggage on the Disney buses), if you will be needing your bags before about 4pm I would suggest moving your bags yourself using a taxi or Uber/Lyft. Once you get to the new resort you can have bell services deliver your bags to your room (this is different from ME as they will not automatically go to your room, you need to request them). I do suggest that you physically go to the front desk of your first resort to make sure that you are fully checked out, to hopefully avoid crazy Disney IT issues, but otherwise it has always been an easy thing to do.

AKL is my favorite resort followed by Beach Club so any opportunity to stay at either of these resorts I personally would take.

 

[gonetowdw]

We have done split stays quite frequently. The last split stay was between The Contemporary and Wilderness Lodge which was in November 2016. We had absolutely no problems at all. The only minor inconvenience is packing your bags up to have them moved. Every time that we have done a split stay, we have called bell services to pick up our bags in the room, you do need to be there. They will give you a voucher indicating the number of bags. They tell you up front what time to expect the luggage at the next resort. We got to the next resort (Wilderness Lodge) later in the day and called down for our luggage. It was brought to our room in 10 minutes. It is a very easy process and I would recommend it.

 

[purple figment]

"Split Stay" is an informal internet term and not an official description of back to back stays at DW so to Disney you would be booking two completely separate reservations. As they are going to be treated as two separate reservations you will have a second deposit, two reservation numbers and two separate 180 days for booking dining reservations. The actual process of booking two resorts is no different than booking two separate stays.

It's usually not practical to get free dining for both stays since it would require a second set of tickets and room at rack rate. Instead look into booking WL with a room discount. If you really want a paid dining plan for the WL days you can book a ticketless package, but it can only be done on the phone. All the rules of a package apply ($200 deposit, final payment due date, penalties and fees for changes within 30 days of arrival), but you could see if a room rate discount is available.

As far as the logistics of transferring your luggage from WL to AKL that is easy. You can call bell services and have them transfer your luggage, but it usually doesn't arrive at the new resort until late afternoon so anything you need you should keep with you for the day. Or, you can drive or take a taxi or uber to AKL with your luggage and check in. If your room isn't ready you can store your luggage with bell services at AKL. Whether transferring your luggage with bell services or by yourself, you will need to call when you are in your room at AKL to have the luggage delivered.

Your free dining will only apply to the AKL stay and can only be used beginning with the first day of the AKL stay. If you decide to book WL for the first few days of your stay, your park tickets will be attached to the AKL stay. You will be able to pick up your tickets up to 10 days early, but will not be able to make FP+ reservations for those days until you arrive and actually activate the tickets.

Another option is to book the free dining package for the WL stay since that will be at the beginning of your vacation. Include tickets that will cover the entire stay at both resorts. This way you will be able to book FP+ for your entire trip at the 60 day mark. The dining credits will be good through 11:59 PM on your WL check out/AKL check in day. Book the AKL as a room only reservation and pay out of pocket for food or book a ticketless package with a paid dining plan if you want a dining plan for the AKL part of the stay.