Split Stay Tips

[Milla]

Thank you for all the tips here! I'll have 4 split stays on my next vacation, so it is great to know that we can just leave our bags with bell services and head to the parks! I really didn't want to lose my precious park time!

I just have one more question.. how about check-out? Can we check out early, leave our bags, head to the parks and then get our lugagges at the end of the day?

 

[Shellyred8]

We do ours sans a car but really, they don't impact our days at all.
I plan our longest park days for moving day.
We get up, send our bags off to bell services for moving, head to the bus stop, get on bus to park.
Stay in park all day, hop, etc. Whatever our park plans are.
When we are done for the day, we get on the bus for our new resort and head to the new room.
By this time our bags have made it to the resort so we just call for them and settle in.
This way, we loose no park time at all and we aren't missing or needing our bags while they are moved.

This is pretty much how we do our split stays too.

 

[loves to dive]

Thank you for all the tips here! I'll have 4 split stays on my next vacation, so it is great to know that we can just leave our bags with bell services and head to the parks! I really didn't want to lose my precious park time!

I just have one more question.. how about check-out? Can we check out early, leave our bags, head to the parks and then get our lugagges at the end of the day?

Yes

 

[Chancery8]

We just did our first split stay. We actually did a "triple" split at three different resorts over 7 nights! We did a split of 2-3-2 nights. It worked out really well for us and the only one who was a little inconvenienced by it was me, as I was the one packing up from resort to resort. But because of a great tip I read, I was super organized so it wasn't much of a problem. We would just wake up on check-out day, DH took kids to get breakfast while I packed up and took luggage to bell services, and then we went to the parks and waited for the text with our new resort's room number. As people have already said, using bell services to move luggage is great. But the best tip that I got (and I can't remember where I read it, but it was somewhere on this forum), was to use packing cubes and to pack per day instead of per person.

So in our case, I had three separate suitcases, one for each resort. For resort 1's suitcase, I packed 2 days worth of clothes for the whole family - each person got their own packing cube within the main suitcase. When we got to the first resort, I immediately "hid" suitcase 2 & 3 so that we wouldn't open them. We used suitcase 1 and when we were about to check out, all dirty clothes went right back into suitcase 1. Then when we got to resort 2, we used suitcase 2 and so on. The best thing about the packing cubes was I was able to take them out and place them directly into the drawers in our room without having to "unpack", and packing up was as simple as zipping the cube back up and putting it back into the main suitcase. I felt this organizing tip really saved us any headaches when moving our luggage from resort to resort. I also had a small book bag for toiletries/chargers/other things that needed to be used at all 3 resorts. Doing a split stay and packing as if we were doing 3 different vacations really made our trip better. It was a great feeling each time we got to a new resort. It felt like we were starting our vacation all over again. And with online check-in, it was even more hassle free as we could go directly to our new room at the next resort once we got the text.

 

[elaine amj]

So in our case, I had three separate suitcases, one for each resort. For resort 1's suitcase, I packed 2 days worth of clothes for the whole family - each person got their own packing cube within the main suitcase. When we got to the first resort, I immediately "hid" suitcase 2 & 3 so that we wouldn't open them. We used suitcase 1 and when we were about to check out, all dirty clothes went right back into suitcase 1. Then when we got to resort 2, we used suitcase 2 and so on. The best thing about the packing cubes was I was able to take them out and place them directly into the drawers in our room without having to "unpack", and packing up was as simple as zipping the cube back up and putting it back into the main suitcase. I felt this organizing tip really saved us any headaches when moving our luggage from resort to resort. I also had a small book bag for toiletries/chargers/other things that needed to be used at all 3 resorts. Doing a split stay and packing as if we were doing 3 different vacations really made our trip better. It was a great feeling each time we got to a new resort. It felt like we were starting our vacation all over again. And with online check-in, it was even more hassle free as we could go directly to our new room at the next resort once we got the text.

Pretty cool way of doing it with 3 separate suitcases!

I keep packing simple. One trip i did multiple split stays so it was easiest for me to hang everything up on hangers, lay it in my suitcase. At each resort, unpacking meant unzipping the bag, taking 2 seconds to move the clothes (still on hangers) into the closet, and done. To pack, i just did it in reverse. Also, my clothing was packed per day so I only ever needed the top layer.

One note - I did my last split stay as a waterpark day. Personally, I wouldn't do that again. We had passports, wallets, cameras, phones, cash that we didn't feel comfortable sending with bell services. We ended up having to bring ALL of those to the waterpark and renting a locker(which is what? $12? $15?). If we weren't switching, we would have just left them in the room safe. We were going to Animal Kingdom later so after the waterpark we took the time to stop at the resort and go to our rooms to offload all those valuables before heading out again.

We wouldn't have had these issues if we were just doing a regular park day. Next time we do a split stay, i'll do a sleep in park day. Leave the room about 10/11am after sending my stuff off with bell services.

 

[kberries86]

If one of our split stays is at the same resort, can we just leave our bags at the front desk instead of with bell services so we don't have to wait as long to get them back?

 

[hammie59]

Our last trip was a split stay with a car. We chose to have bell services transfer our belongings, including the refrigerated items, while we drove to the new resort and spent the day at the pool (which in theory was a good idea).
Plan on being without your stuff for most of the day. What you can't be without, put in the car. Our luggage was supposed to be delivered by 3pm at the latest (they took it at 10am), but didn't arrive until well after 5. It had to be hunted down after I called 3x. Be prepared for mistakes and delays. My kids were trapped in their swimsuits all day and we went to dinner later than planned. My mistake. I should have packed a change of clothes for them and left it in the car. Live and learn.

 

[Sue M]

When we do split stay, on moving day everything is packed and ready to go first thing in the morning. I call bell Service to bring our bags to the front, and call us a cab. We prefer to check in to new resort first thing in the morning. Often our room is ready. If not we check in and leave our luggage with bell Service and head to the park. We usually can make it for rope drop! And when we get back to new resort for mid day break I know our luggage is there.

 

[Mopedmom1]

Our last trip was a split stay with a car. We chose to have bell services transfer our belongings, including the refrigerated items, while we drove to the new resort and spent the day at the pool (which in theory was a good idea).
Plan on being without your stuff for most of the day. What you can't be without, put in the car. Our luggage was supposed to be delivered by 3pm at the latest (they took it at 10am), but didn't arrive until well after 5. It had to be hunted down after I called 3x. Be prepared for mistakes and delays. My kids were trapped in their swimsuits all day and we went to dinner later than planned. My mistake. I should have packed a change of clothes for them and left it in the car. Live and learn.

What's is your reason for not putting all of your luggage in your car? We rarely have a car so we are at the mercy of Bell Services. I would much rather be in control of my luggage if at all possible.

 

[dansdad]

If one of our split stays is at the same resort, can we just leave our bags at the front desk instead of with bell services so we don't have to wait as long to get them back?

Yup.

 

[hammie59]

What's is your reason for not putting all of your luggage in your car? We rarely have a car so we are at the mercy of Bell Services. I would much rather be in control of my luggage if at all possible.

We had a lot of luggage including a special chair for my husbands back. Our car already had a bunch of stuff in it for the other half of our vacation at the beach. We just wanted to get up and go, not deal with reloading and arranging the car only to have to unload and drag it all back to the new room the very same day. I would definitely do a few things different if I did it again.
(I didn't mention that we had to switch rooms after at our first resort on the 2nd day, so we were really sick of loading and unloading our car).

 

[TowMater92]

We send our bags with bell service and either drive to the park we're going to for the day or to our resort. We're going from SSR to the BW this time and we're going to Epcot that day so it makes sense to just drive to the BW and walk to Epcot. We also send our bags with bell service because there's 11 of us so its just easier to never deal with luggage, ME to the resort, bell service between resorts and check in at the resort for the flight home. All our food that needs to stay cold has been cold and they haven't lost anything yet.

 

[AllThingsMickey4]

My fiancé and I are doing our first split stay in April. April 26-28th at the GF before our wedding on the 28th and then April 28th-May 3rd at the BC. Yes we will be switching hotels on our wedding day Our ceremony is at 9:30 AM at the Wedding Pavilion and then our reception is in Epcot from 10:30-3:30 PM then we have a fireworks dessert party in Epcot that night. We are most likely driving down with my parents who will be at the BC April 26-May 3, so we don't have to worry about moving our car and I will be packing a day bag to keep in my parents room in case we don't get our luggage until late.

The plan is to have Bell Services collect our luggage before the ceremony. Can we call for them to come get our luggage and then leave the room or do we have to be there when they get to the room? If everything goes smoothly we can walk or boat to the BC after the reception, check into our new room, and call for our luggage. I'm just worried about having to deal with the luggage transfer in the morning...

 

[Mopedmom1]

We had a lot of luggage including a special chair for my husbands back. Our car already had a bunch of stuff in it for the other half of our vacation at the beach. We just wanted to get up and go, not deal with reloading and arranging the car only to have to unload and drag it all back to the new room the very same day. I would definitely do a few things different if I did it again.
(I didn't mention that we had to switch rooms after at our first resort on the 2nd day, so we were really sick of loading and unloading our car).

UGH to having to switch rooms. That's a real pain!

 

[Chancery8]

My fiancé and I are doing our first split stay in April. April 26-28th at the GF before our wedding on the 28th and then April 28th-May 3rd at the BC. Yes we will be switching hotels on our wedding day Our ceremony is at 9:30 AM at the Wedding Pavilion and then our reception is in Epcot from 10:30-3:30 PM then we have a fireworks dessert party in Epcot that night. We are most likely driving down with my parents who will be at the BC April 26-May 3, so we don't have to worry about moving our car and I will be packing a day bag to keep in my parents room in case we don't get our luggage until late.

The plan is to have Bell Services collect our luggage before the ceremony. Can we call for them to come get our luggage and then leave the room or do we have to be there when they get to the room? If everything goes smoothly we can walk or boat to the BC after the reception, check into our new room, and call for our luggage. I'm just worried about having to deal with the luggage transfer in the morning...

I'm pretty sure you need to be in the room to open the door for bell services to pick up your luggage. But you can take your luggage to bell services yourself before you leave. I found it was quicker to do that instead of calling them and waiting for a pick up. You could also pre-schedule a pick up by calling the night before. I never did that though because I didn't know what time I'd be done packing in the morning.

And congrats! Good luck with the rest of the wedding planning!

 

[rosiebean]

But you can take your luggage to bell services yourself before you leave. I found it was quicker to do that instead of calling them and waiting for a pick up.

That's what we did a few weeks ago during our split stay between Pop and GF...just took our luggage to bell services at Pop ourselves around 7:50 am, then hopped onto a cab to Poly, where we had a 8:30 am ADR at 'Ohana (that was a very early morning for my family...I figured I'd save time by going to bell services directly...AND the taxi stand is close to bell services, so it worked well).

We went from 'Ohana to MK until mid-afternoon. We were in our room at GF before five, and our luggage was delivered less than 10 minutes after our call to GF bell services.

 

[kniquy]

We are doing a split between Poly 3 nights and then AKV for 4 nights - We are making our transfer day our AK park day. We will have everything packed up mostly at night and then have bell services pick up our luggage by 7am. We will head to AK park in the morning then just go to AKV later in the afternoon, if our room is not ready we will just relax and soak up the resort.

I guess as long at you don't have food that has to be kept cold you could easily just pack up the car in the morning -- either go to the new resort and check in or you just go to your park then head to the new resort in the afternoon. If you have food bell services might be able to hold your food in refrigeration.

 

[AngiTN]

Thank you for all the tips here! I'll have 4 split stays on my next vacation, so it is great to know that we can just leave our bags with bell services and head to the parks! I really didn't want to lose my precious park time!

I just have one more question.. how about check-out? Can we check out early, leave our bags, head to the parks and then get our lugagges at the end of the day?

You don't really have to "check out" at Disney. At least I've never checked out. It's all done automatically. We don't have a dining plan or anything like that so it's nothing that needs to be "activated" like the dining credits. And we have an AP so no tickets to worry with. Just a room. We are never at the 2nd resort early so we never have to worry about accessing a room till we've gotten the room ready text. If we are ready to head back and haven't gotten a notice that we have a room ready text we'd stop by the desk to check and see if something is available and go from there. At one time it was worth checking at the desk to be sure your band opened the new room but over the past year or so they've greatly improved the MB system and we've not had the issues with it. As long as we've gotten the room ready notice, our band has worked. But if you are concerned about it you can always pop by the desk at the next resort and ask them to confirm your MB will open the door. They have a way to look up the serial number off the back of the band in their Resort system and see if it will recognize the band and they can reset it in case it doesn't. Saves you a few steps back to the lobby if there is an issue.

 

[MisplacedUnderwear]

Good morning all! Thanks for the great tips in this thread so far, I'm sure at least a few of them will come in handy! I'm looking at the potential for a "bridge" night at POR before a short stay in Villas at GF. I'm thinking about doing Blizzard Beach on the check-in/check-out date -- yes I did see the note above but I don't foresee having quite those same issues as we always get a locker anyway plus we're americans so we won't have those additional concerns like excess cash and passports. In the evening of check-out/check-in day I have a fireworks-timed reservation at California Grill. So, at the risk of sounding like I'm asking y'all to plan my trip for me, do you have any tips? I'm leaning toward taking a Lyft between hotels and it won't be much trouble to carry luggage ourselves as we pack light -- we fly without checked bags usually -- but I'm open to other ideas. If that were the framework of your plan, would you be more inclined to go straight over to GF first thing in the morning before hitting the waterpark? Would you trust bell services to get your luggage to you before you need to get changed for dinner? (I know CA grill doesn't have a strict dress code, but I don't want to look sloppy and they actually do forbid swim trunks which is what I'd be wearing if I get stuck in my waterpark clothes b/c my luggage has been lost!) Thanks in advance for any advice!

 

[AngiTN]

If your dinner is fireworks timed I assume you mean it's pretty late? Like after 7:00? If so, I'd say your bags will be at your next resort by then and you'll have everything you need to shower and clean up for dinner. If it's any earlier than that I would bring what I plan to wear for dinner with me and leave it at the resort or store it in a locker at the water park, whichever works best. Your bags could arrive as late as 5:00. So you'll want to plan that it could be that late till you can access them and start getting ready for dinner.