Split stay with toddlers

[JonT36]

Hello we are going for 8 nights with a 2.5 and 1 year old. We were considering a split stay of 4 and 4 or 5 and 3 between bay lake tower 2 bedroom since grandparents coming and 2 studios at poly. Doing a split stay would save some money and basically cover the price of 1 ticket so reason we are considering. Is this going to be too much and should we just stay at bay lake the whole time? Or is a split stay really no big deal?

 

[marchingstar]

I loved split stays before kids.

I don’t do them anymore. My toddler does best with consistency, so staying put is worth it for us. I think I would try to find an alternative way of saving some money in another part of your trip, or reconsider your hotel options.

Would you save $ if you booked studios for your whole trip at bay lake?

 

[StitchesGr8Fan]

There is no way I would want to pack up all of the stuff and move midway through. I swear, young kids triple the amount of stuff you need to bring.

 

[buzznina]

You flying or driving? We drive, and like PP, when we had our DD's our luggage quadrupled the van is packed! This makes split stays a LOT more difficult. When we fly anywhere, we usually only have 1 suitcase each and a few backpacks, so it would be much easier to pack up and move.

 

[Hopefully]

No way I would. Too much stuff to move

 

[GoingSince1990]

I’m always baffled by how many people seem to love split stays. I love to unpack and settle in for the entire time, even more so when you’re loaded with baby and toddler stuff. Worrying about checking out on time half way through your stay and becoming temporarily homeless, along with doing all that repacking and unpacking, just strikes me as a way of creating unnecessary stress. Especially when you’re doing it between two MK resorts as opposed to something like BLT followed by BC.

 

[Disneyfan754321]

We do for a few days and move off property for the rest of the week to do other things in central Florida. I really enjoy the Sheraton vistana for the money. We get two bedrooms and a living room for not much than our value hotel.

Its really not bad moving hotels if you have a car. Other wise you have no where to put your things in between.

 

[Best Aunt]

Do your kids need to nap in the room? If you do a split stay you essentially are homeless from the time you check out of room #1 until the time room # 2 is ready. DVC rooms take more time to clean; I have had to wait as late as 5:30 for my room to be ready.

Also don’t know how well two pack and plays fit in a studio. I assume that’s what kids would sleep in.

A two bedroom would give you a different room to hang out in after kids go to sleep.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

We love split stays for longer stays, but I, personally, would not split between two MK resorts. If I were to split, I would do BLT and then move to BCV or BWV (it sounds like you are only looking at DVC resorts?). I then design our park touring around where we are staying on our given days. That way I substantially cut down on transportation time to three out of four of the parks. On the days we check-out/check-in, we always do a later morning to take advantage of the 11 am check-out time. That way we are only "homeless" for 5 or 6 hours.

 

[MrsDuck]

I wouldn't do it.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

I wouldn't do it with kids those ages. Toddlers require too much extra luggage. Also with kids those ages I wouldn't want to take a chance that someone ends up not feeling well or is cranky or needs a nap while we are homeless. Toddlers are unpredictable.

I've done split stays twice. My kids were 9 and 15 the first time and then DD was 12 the second time. I like them because you get to see a resort but I despise packing and unpacking and then packing and unpacking again. It also creates an extra incident that you could forget something or leave something behind. When we go as a family of four again we will not do a split stay. My kids and SO don't like them.

 

[Wood Nymph]

I agree that I wouldn't do a split stay with children that age, but if you want to save money then I would split with an Epcot resort, not two monorail resorts. You can avoid a lot of time messing with buses if you split between an MK and an Epcot resort, since you can walk or take a boat to two parks from there.

 

[DisneyJade]

Thank you for this thread! I actually came here today to ask the same question as the OP, and now I have my answer. Based on the advice here, we won't be doing a split stay. So now I'm back to my resort spread sheet trying to pick just one. *sigh*

 

[Deb & Bill]

Being homeless for most of the day isn't fun.