Split Stay

[deltadisney]

We are looking at the potential of a split stay between BC and Poly for an upcoming trip. It sounds so good in theory, but I wanted to get some insight from those who have done one and know what issues there are potentially that I may be over-looking and whether you would you di it again. The trip is likely going to be a 4/5 night trip, and I was wondering for that type of time period, is it going to be more of a headache. We typically like to take mid-day breaks and stay at the parks very late, so I am just wondering if the 11:00 checkout v 3:00 check-in (or possibly later) has worked and also how it has been to get luggage/bags switched internally by Disney. It just sounds so good, but I am wondering about the switch day and potentially getting in a situation where we are without a room for a significant amount of time.

Thank you so much for any thoughts and opinions!

 

[kylenne]

We are looking at the potential of a split stay between BC and Poly for an upcoming trip. It sounds so good in theory, but I wanted to get some insight from those who have done one and know what issues there are potentially that I may be over-looking and whether you would you di it again. The trip is likely going to be a 4/5 night trip, and I was wondering for that type of time period, is it going to be more of a headache. We typically like to take mid-day breaks and stay at the parks very late, so I am just wondering if the 11:00 checkout v 3:00 check-in (or possibly later) has worked and also how it has been to get luggage/bags switched internally by Disney. It just sounds so good, but I am wondering about the switch day and potentially getting in a situation where we are without a room for a significant amount of time.

Thank you so much for any thoughts and opinions!

I finally tried a split stay for the first time recently, 8 days with 4 at GF then 4 at YC. From a practical standpoint it was the best of both worlds, because I only had to take the bus to AK. I'm also an avowed midday break person so on transfer day, what I did was call Bell Services to pick up my stuff around 6:15 am, then got a Lyft to AK for Pandora rope drop. I took a little packing cube in my park bag with a swimsuit, flip flops and a change of clothes just in case, but I ended up getting my room ready text at around 1p. I could have left then but ended up sticking around AK and arrived at YC at 4pm, my bags were already there at Bell Services and I got them. It was very seamless and if I wanted to leave the park I could have easily hung out at SAB.

Personally I wouldn't do a split stay for anything shorter than a week. By the time you really get settled at one resort you'll have to move. If I were you, I would pick one of BC or Poly depending on which parks you will spend the most time at. But if you really want to split, I would do BC first then Poly.

 

[Sue M]

It’s a personal choice. I won’t do split stays for short trips. It’s just not “worth it” to me. It would just feel like I’m continuously packing. You’d have your check in day, one full day, then check out day.
Just pick a resort and enjoy it.

 

[deltadisney]

@kylenne and @Sue M - thank you both so much!!

 

[rangerxenos]

I've done two split stays for longer trips, and honestly am not a fan. The days you end up switching resorts are a PITA, you have to pack up everything and either schlep it over to the new resort yourself, or have Disney do it and wonder when everything will show up. For a 4/5 day trip, not worth it.

 

[Marthasor]

We are looking at the potential of a split stay between BC and Poly for an upcoming trip. It sounds so good in theory, but I wanted to get some insight from those who have done one and know what issues there are potentially that I may be over-looking and whether you would you di it again. The trip is likely going to be a 4/5 night trip, and I was wondering for that type of time period, is it going to be more of a headache. We typically like to take mid-day breaks and stay at the parks very late, so I am just wondering if the 11:00 checkout v 3:00 check-in (or possibly later) has worked and also how it has been to get luggage/bags switched internally by Disney. It just sounds so good, but I am wondering about the switch day and potentially getting in a situation where we are without a room for a significant amount of time.

Thank you so much for any thoughts and opinions!

I think 4/5 is a perfect split - it gives you enough time to enjoy both resorts. Although I'm not a huge fan of packing and unpacking, our transfer days during splits have been relatively painless. On transfer days, I usually spend the morning making sure I have everything together, call bell services to pick up our bags in the room (you have to be present when they show up) and then head to a park from there. We've never gotten our room later than 4 pm and have never gotten our luggage later than 5 pm, but YMMV. If you arrive at your second resort later in the evening, that's fine too. I would just make sure you keep any essential medications with you in case the luggage takes longer than expected.

 

[JulieBeeRN]

We’ve had a couple split stays and the transfer days are a PITA but tolerable if you have a plan for those days. We’ve only had the split stays out of necessity so I wouldn’t necessarily do it on purpose. In fact, we have a three way split in October (YC-BLT-OKW) and I’m not really sure how that’s going to go…….

Anywhos, we’ve gone for a Walmart run or to the Outlets stores if we have a car. Otherwise, we usually Uber to the next resort and left the bags with the front desk. Then we would go to DS or to a park.

 

[KristaZ]

We love split stays - it doesn't bother me to have to pack up and move in the middle of a trip (generally we do around 3 nights at a resort). I'm fairly organized so I pack one suitcase for one resort, and the 2nd suitcase for the 2nd resort. Then it's generally just toiletries that need to be pulled from one suitcase to the other. I love the convenience of walking/monorail to the parks and the ease of taking mid-day breaks. We always plan AK for our moving day because it's the one park you can't walk/monorail/boat to from anywhere anyway. We just drop our bags at bell services on our way to the buses and we're on our way, then bus to the new resort when we're done. Generally, we find by the time we're done with AK our bags have been moved and our room is ready (though recently our rooms have NOT been ready by check in time - it's been nearly 30 minutes to an hour late). If you're worried, you could always pack a swim suit in your bag and you can still use the pool or other amenities at either your old or new resort.

 

[CynBeth]

I also would not do a split stay for such a sort trip. We have done a few split stays for 9 day trips and they were fine we rent a car so moved our own luggage. One bad thing about doing one is it 2 different reservations so when making ADRs you can only make them at 60 days for the first hotel plus day you switch and then have to wait until 60 days of the second hotel to do the rest.

 

[bookgirl]

I've done a few split stays on 4-7 day stays and it's doable. But I was usually solo on both or one part of the split. That makes a difference because of the amount of stuff I needed to get sent over to the new hotel was a factor. I wouldn't do it with a lot of luggage/bags.

Also if you are a midday person even if your room is ready by 1 or 2 pm there's a good chance your luggage wouldn't get to your new resort that early, so part of your rest time would either be without your items or tracking down and getting your items from bell services.

 

[DWillowBay]

I love both BC and Poly, however, for a 4 - 5 night trip, I wouldn't do a split-stay. We have done splits several times, but only on trips of 8 days or more. It just gives you less to manage and more relaxation to stay in one place for 4 -5 nights.

 

[loves to dive]

I'm a fan of split stays, it's the best of both worlds. As others have said, just do AK on your move day since you have to bus to it no matter where you stay. I think it depends on your habits. I'm an early morning riser, even on vacation I'm up between 6 and 7 am and am not a rope drop person. We do have a car with us so it makes it a little easier. On move day I (or we if my son goes with me) just get up, get breakfast, go finish packing if I didn't do it the night before, check out and drive to resort #2. The room is rarely ready that early in the morning so I just store the bags with bell services and head to a park. I do like mid day breaks but if I don't get one on move day, it's not the end of the world. Sometimes I head back to the resort when the room ready text comes, sometimes finish out whatever I'm doing at the park. If I'm tired of the park and haven't gotten the text, I might take the opportunity to go eat at a resort I wouldn't normally eat at or even go back to resort #2 and have a meal there.

My son never unpacks his suitcase, even if we aren't doing split stays. I always do, if I'm doing a split stay I will just unpack what I'm using for that stay. In those cases, I take packing cubes and put my dirty clothes in cubes and that way dirty clothes aren't mixed with clean. I always have a hanging toiletry bag which stays packed no matter if I'm doing a split stay or not. I just hang it in the bathroom and use stuff and put it back in the bag after I've used it. I don't like my toothbrush or hair brush laying on the bathroom counter, keeps the bathroom more tidy.

 

[jen7233]

We did a 3 and 3 in December at YC and Contemporary. On the cons, it felt a little too rushed and didn't feel settled. That's probably the biggest thing I can think of, so it feels like I don't really want to unpack, but is that a bad thing, I don't know. Kept the room cleaner and easier to actually leave to the airport on the last day of the whole thing as never really unpacked. Easy to transfer luggage they did it for us at the front desk. Not sure what the policy is at the present moment. The checkout and in was easy enough, except making sure I had the bags out and ready. That's the other con, bags out on checkout when trying to get to a park. But, just a little preplanning required the night before and add time in for doing that in the am.

We then had a park reservation and went to MK that day, and walked back and checked in to the CR in the afternoon. On the plus, they felt so very different to us with the theming, so even being a whirlwind it felt like we were fully immersed and got to see and do so much. Also it was Christmas time so got to experience both atmospheres, electric parade and quick walk to MK. We had a great time, overall it was an awesome trip. I'm not sure it would feel all the same another time of year plus we were ready to travel by that time hadn't been anywhere in quite a while and 2020 was a rough year.

 

[Have3Kids&aHusband]

We have done two split stays and enjoyed them. We are planning another split stay for next year. However we do stay 8 nights. Like a previous post we pack for each resort. We use the move day as our non park day. We drive so it is a bit easier since we leave the luggage for the one resort in our car. We also use our move day as our non park day. Last summer we did a pool day at the resort we switched to. Next summer we plan on doing a pool day at our first resort and go over in the late afternoon to our other resort.

 

[fairygagamother]

I am a split stay advocate! But would only recommend it with a 6 day minimum stay. the one time I stayed in the same resort for 6 straight days, I was almost bored by the familiarity. I love splitting Epcot/HS with a MK area stay. I agree that a split stay is the best of both worlds!

 

[Chami]

We did a split stay during our last trip. Though I am a worrier, it all went smoothly. We didn't have any trouble with the process at all.

Pros: We live out of the suitcase, so packing took us about 10 minutes. Dropping off our bags with bell services was fast and painless. Our bags were waiting for us at when we arrived at our next resort when we came back around 6:00.
Cons: We are midday break people. It was hard not to have that soft landing place on this one day. I was fine, but my husband got a bit cranky.

Overall, it went well enough that we plan on doing a split stay our next trip as well.

 

[OThopeful35]

We are actually doing a split stay next month with Poly for 3 nights and BC for 8. We've done many split stays before but we usually stay a minimum of 11 nights. We will call Bell Services to transfer our luggage while we rope drop AK. We will hang out there until the room is ready. Our transfers usually go smoothly.

 

[Fusslebottom]

We’ve done two split stays. One starting at Caribbean Beach then moving to AKL-Kidani Village. The other was AKL starting at Jambo then moving to Kidani.
For the CB to AKL, we had Disney move our luggage between resorts. Overall, the experience was ok, but our cooler did get a little banged up in the process (think airline luggage handling). We were checking in a day ahead of the rest of our party, so this got us on property at a cheaper rate. CB was going under refurb/demo the next week so Riviera construction could start and the rate was super. We did a park on the transition day and the move was pretty seamless.
For the stay between Jambo and Kidani, we just packed two sets of bags. One for each resort. We didn’t do a park that day and just hung around the resort and Disney Springs. That time we really felt like we lost a day of vacation since there was a limbo time between check out and check in.
Never say never, but I don’t think we would do do a split stay again. We had to dread two check outs vs. settling in for a longer stay.

 

[queenadnama]

I've never done a split-stay either, but this sounds like the best of both worlds! I will be doing a YC/BC split stay in October (5 nights YC, 2 nights BC) so I am going to follow this thread to see what people's general experiences are.

Not sure if any veteran split-stayers can confirm that the transfer from one room to the next can take a while?

 

[bakerworld]

November '21 was a cruise sandwich where the cruise portion had to be rescheduled. We stayed 2N at AK, 3N at WDW Dolphin and 2N at SSR. It just solidified the feeling that it would've been more restful to chop the vacation off 2N and stay in one hotel but, at that time, it wasn't feasible. When we were newer at WDW we use to do split stays to try out different hotels, or afford a more expensive location.