Split stay wwyd?

[cjbcam]

Starting to figure out how we are going to book our trip for Easter 2021. (April 2-11)
Option 1: pay for two rooms for two nights at pop, then do 3 nights in a 2 bedroom at BW, then 4 nights in 2 bedroom at SSR.
Option 2: 9 nights in 2 studios at SSR
Option 3: 3 nights in 2 studios at AKL, then 3 nights in 2 studios at BW, then 3 nights in 2 bedroom at SSR.

Our home resort is SSR. It will be my husband and I and 6 “kids” 19,18,16,15,13, and 10 year olds. We would love the adventure of switching but don’t know the chances of actually getting what we would need the week after Easter.
This will only be our 2nd DVC stay so still learning how to do things. Any advice would be great. Thanks

 

[htd3sid1]

Animal Kingdom is amazing.
I'd probably do option 3.

 

[RanDIZ]

Option 1 is probably unnecessary splitting since both POP n BWV have skyline access and in close proximity to EP n HS. Option 3 sounds ideal and will cover 3 DVC resorts evenly.

 

[Marionnette]

Starting to figure out how we are going to book our trip for Easter 2021. (April 2-11)
Option 1: pay for two rooms for two nights at pop, then do 3 nights in a 2 bedroom at BW, then 4 nights in 2 bedroom at SSR.
Option 2: 9 nights in 2 studios at SSR
Option 3: 3 nights in 2 studios at AKL, then 3 nights in 2 studios at BW, then 3 nights in 2 bedroom at SSR.

Our home resort is SSR. It will be my husband and I and 6 “kids” 19,18,16,15,13, and 10 year olds. We would love the adventure of switching but don’t know the chances of actually getting what we would need the week after Easter.
This will only be our 2nd DVC stay so still learning how to do things. Any advice would be great. Thanks

BWV studios and 2BR villas will be tough to get at 7 months. Every 2BR is a lockoff so when all of the studios are booked, all of the 2BRs are also unavailable. I would give you a less than 50% chance of success there.

Given that, my advice would be to book the 9 nights in 2 studios at SSR at 11 months (option 2). Do it in separate reservations of 3 nights each. At 7 months switch to option 3. Try to change the first reservations to 3 nights in AKV studios. Change the second reservations to BWV when that 7 month window opens, knowing that it's possible that you could get one studio but not 2.

Personally, I would not attempt 3 resorts in 9 nights unless I could not avoid it. Too much time spent moving around.

 

[jo-jo]

I have never done this, so take this just as a off the top of my head idea.....

I'm assuming you are out of points since you speak of staying at POP What would be the cost difference if you rented points for the first two nights and stayed at AKL in studios.

The 2 bedrooms later in the week will be great with your group with the wash/dryer and kitchen.

 

[CraigInPA]

Going from Pop to a 2 bedroom will seem like such a huge upgrade that you'd probably swear never to stay at Pop again.

I'd do option 2, because I wouldn't want to wrangle all those teenagers and their stuff for 2 moves in the middle of your stay.

 

[MNDisneyMommy]

We wrangled our kids through a three resort split stay on a trip - we did AofA one night, then AKL for a few, then BLT for the rest. It was a LOT of moving. We've done a two resort split and it seemed to work better, but the three was choppy. That said, we made the resorts part of our plans (so the AofA night was all about exploring AofA itself... AKL we did all the parks that are a bus ride from BLT anyway....so the BLT days were Epcot and MK.). Disney makes split stays SUPER easy... it just takes time to pack, and time to get things with bell services, and you spend a day homeless (if you're in the parks no big deal, but if you take a break you might be frustrated...and then time again to get your bags at the other resort). They will keep refrigerator items cold during the move as well. But, figure each move is a couple hours of pack-bell services-waiting away from doing something fun.

I think if I were in your shoes I would be trying to spend as much time in a 2BR as possible. First, an actual 2 bedroom is going to have one more 'real' bed (if the queen side has two queens) and since some of the 'kids' are adults they might really appreciate that. You and your husband will definitely appreciate having a king to yourselves I'm sure! Remember that a 2BR is actually three 'rooms'... one is a king, one is a queen/sofa or two queens, and the middle is the kitchen/living area with a sofa bed. Having the extra space over two studios (one whole 'room' worth) plus having a kitchen (teenagers eat like crazy, you could save a lot of money having some meals in the room) might help.

 

[Sandisw]

I think the hard part will be to be able to get both rooms at the 7 month window in Option 3 as you’d need to book one, and then try for the other, especially for BWV.

So, you’d have to be prepared for that to happen, and decide how to deal. You could wait until 9 am to call MS, as they can tell you if more than one room is there...you can’t tell online,

I love split stays so I always vote for some mix of that!

 

[TexasChick123]

The less splits the better with all those kids. We only switch with 2 kids, but I am having to make sure everything is packed up, and it’s a pain. I’d recommend getting a 2BR for the whole stay if you can. If you’re out of points, look into buying some points via a transfer. It is cheaper than you think if you try and get some SSR points. You could look into transferring points from a different resort if you have your heart set on a split stay. My recommendation is two-fold I guess:

1) minimize, or eliminate, split stay
2) buy some points and transfer them in from another owner so you can book it all at once for a 2BR

 

[cjbcam]

Yes wouldn’t have enough for a Two bedroom for the entire stay unless we got a two bedroom at AKL. So in order for us to do two bedroom we would have to pay for 2 nights.
I have one more option
2 nights pop then the rest in a two bedroom at SSR.

2 of my kids wanted AKL and one kid and I really wanted BW. But if I don’t have a very good chance of getting it I won’t even try.

 

[Dizzydizney]

Will you be driving, flying and taking ME or flying and renting a car?

 

[starry_solo]

I wouldn't do that many split stays. If you have to do a split stay, I would do it only at two resorts, AKV and BWV.

But, you have to first start with making your original reservation at SSR and have different lead guests for each portion of the stay (4 days, 5 days). With two adult children, that would be easier.

Then, modify at the 7 month mark and hope there are two studios available at both resorts....

 

[cellomom]

Yes wouldn’t have enough for a Two bedroom for the entire stay unless we got a two bedroom at AKL. So in order for us to do two bedroom we would have to pay for 2 nights.
I have one more option
2 nights pop then the rest in a two bedroom at SSR.

2 of my kids wanted AKL and one kid and I really wanted BW. But if I don’t have a very good chance of getting it I won’t even try.

Three split stays in nine days, ya‘ll are an adventurous group! IMHO I would do the entire stay at AKL. AKL Kidani 2 bedroom is 1173 sq ft with “3“ bathrooms and numerous resort activities.

If the split stays are your hearts desire, I think Marionette’s advice of booking three separate reservations at SSR, then at seven months, moving two reservations to different resorts would be the way to go. At 11 months, our family will secure our vacation time at our home resort, then at seven months, look around to see what other DVC resort options are available.

AKL Kidani 2 br= 3 bathrooms

 

[cjbcam]

Will you be driving, flying and taking ME or flying and renting a car?

Flying, and not renting a car.

 

[Dizzydizney]

Ok, I was going to recommended staying at one of the Marriotts that are close to Disney Springs for your first and last days if you had a car, but never mind that.

I agree with @cellomom about staying at Kidani the whole time if possible. And splitting your SSR reservations into two separate ones as someone recommended if you really want to move 3 times. I’m not sure how quickly standard view 2 bedrooms go during Easter week at Kidani. But moving 7 people plus your groceries can be a little daunting unless you’re super organized. We do split stays all the time, but it only entails one night in a studio to take advantage of the DxDP and then moving to a one bedroom. It’s only two of us usually but I still hate moving around.

Kidani is a great resort although a little inconvenient when traveling to MK or Epcot. But SSR is further out too so that’s a wash.

 

[jo-jo]

One thing to note and I don't know if others are having issues now, but we had issues moving our bags in early Dec. We had done a three resort split in .....5 nights BLT, 2 BCV, 1 SSR.......we thought for sure the one night at BCV would have come through but didn't.

When we moved from BLT to BCV, we assumed we would get our luggage and groceries around 4 ish. We were at Epcot until 4:00ish . The plan was to check into room, (we had room ready text) gets bags and groceries , make quick dinner ( like frozen chicken fingers and fries), and then go to campfire from 5:30 to 6:30 with the cookies and chocolate we had stashed in our luggage. Get to room,( bands didn't work of course, used phone) called BS and was on hold forever. Left one person waiting on phone and others went to front desk to get bands fixed and check on luggage. Well there was no luggage. At 5, no one from BLT had gotten their luggage. We got our's around 6:30 or so.

But by luck, they had fixings for smores at the campfire at BCV that night. So we did smores, then dinner.


At SSR, we didn't call for luggage until about 9 at nights (after having issues getting into room, neither bands or phones worked) and they bought the bags. As I was putting away groceries , I realized we are missing this , that and the other. I called bell services. They hunted, they call back and asked me what was missing. The did find it, but again just more issues to deal with.

So with all that......what are the chances of that happening with your group, probably slim, but it left a very bad feeling with moving with a flock of kids again.

Wanted to add...my DH and I do 2 resort split stays almost every trip and never had issues as the Dec trip with all the grand kids. Having it happen with all the kids there made the issues ten times as worse.

 

[TexasChick123]

One thing to note and I don't know if others are having issues now, but we had issues moving our bags in early Dec. We had done a three resort split in .....5 nights BLT, 2 BCV, 1 SSR.......we thought for sure the one night at BCV would have come through but didn't.

When we moved from BLT to BCV, we assumed we would get our luggage and groceries around 4 ish. We were at Epcot until 4:00ish . The plan was to check into room, (we had room ready text) gets bags and groceries , make quick dinner ( like frozen chicken fingers and fries), and then go to campfire from 5:30 to 6:30 with the cookies and chocolate we had stashed in our luggage. Get to room,( bands didn't work of course, used phone) called BS and was on hold forever. Left one person waiting on phone and others went to front desk to get bands fixed and check on luggage. Well there was no luggage. At 5, no one from BLT had gotten their luggage. We got our's around 6:30 or so.

But by luck, they had fixings for smores at the campfire at BCV that night. So we did smores, then dinner.


At SSR, we didn't call for luggage until about 9 at nights (after having issues getting into room, neither bands or phones worked) and they bought the bags. As I was putting away groceries , I realized we are missing this , that and the other. I called bell services. They hunted, they call back and asked me what was missing. The did find it, but again just more issues to deal with.

So with all that......what are the chances of that happening with your group, probably slim, but it left a very bad feeling with moving with a flock of kids again.

Wanted to add...my DH and I do 2 resort split stays almost every trip and never had issues as the Dec trip with all the grand kids. Having it happen with all the kids there made the issues ten times as worse.

There were many posters who complained of issues with switching resorts over Christmas break. I think it was just too many people at WDW for them to handle it.

I will re-recommend moving your bags and groceries yourself via and Uber or Lyft. That way, you know where your bags are at all times.

 

[jo-jo]

There were many posters who complained of issues with switching resorts over Christmas break. I think it was just too many people at WDW for them to handle it.

I will re-recommend moving your bags and groceries yourself via and Uber or Lyft. That way, you know where your bags are at all times.

This was the first week in Dec.

Having never used Uber or Lyft, I'm guessing moving bags and groceries for 8 people would have been a bit much.

 

[Sandisw]

This was the first week in Dec.

Having never used Uber or Lyft, I'm guessing moving bags and groceries for 8 people would have been a bit much.

Less expensive then you think, but you can always have just a few people go with the luggage and meet the group. Not everyone has to Uber/Lyft with the stuff. I’ve gone from. BLT to BCV and it was $10...they have larger ones you can order..minivans...that might work for that many things!

 

[jo-jo]

Less expensive then you think, but you can always have just a few people go with the luggage and meet the group. Not everyone has to Uber/Lyft with the stuff. I’ve gone from. BLT to BCV and it was $10...they have larger ones you can order..minivans...that might work for that many things!

Yes I would think one or two people. If we had all gone, you would be talking all the stuff which was about 3 or 4 suitcases, 8 carryons and about 5 bags of groceries. plus wheel chair, double and single stroller....We'd need a bus. LOL