Split Staying and Booking Dining Reservations...Not that fun.

[DisneyisMARVELous]

Hi everyone! I am posting this just to kind of get my opinion out there of how Split Staying on Disney Property has its plus and minuses. This is all just my opinion after learning about how dining reservations work with split stays.

My family and I are doing a split stay for Thanksgiving week. We have been to WDW a handful of times and know about the 180 day mark. The grind of waking up at 4am west coast time to get those lovely Be Our Guest or California Grill or especially Liberty Tree Tavern on Thanksgiving Day reservation. Though this time I learned something very quick and it kind of frustrated me.

Yes, I know I am going to get that lovely "internet" response of, "well that is how it works!" or "deal with it", just can't wait to read those replies...*sigh*. So, here is my purpose of this thread:

Since we are doing a Split Stay at both the Grand Floridian and then mid trip switching to our first ever stay at the Animal Kingdom Lodge- Jambo House (which has been a dream of my brother's to stay since it opened) our trip dining reservation days began to book. Our dates are November 16th-26th, 2018 in which on the 21st we will be switching to the AKL.

I now understand that Disney will let you book 180 plus the rest of stay within 10 days of that stay, but only if you choose to stay at one resort. I believe this is faulty if you are paying the price of Disney hotels. I say this because how hard is it for the system to show that you have two hotel reservations and that you are staying on property from one hotel to another. I believe if you are doing this that it should still count for the 180 plus 10 days out. Might just be my opinion, but I think it seems valid.

I learned this the hard way on the phone this morning when I was told the day before that I could book Thanksgiving, today which is May 21st, 2018. Now after an hour on hold and having the reservations with the cast member only needing my credit card. The cast member comes to stop and says, "I must wait until May 25th to book the rest of my stay which switches over to Animal Kingdom Lodge". Yeah, yeah, I know deal with it. I get it folks. Just wanted a chance to vent and see any other like minded DISers feel the same way about this process. Doesn't it just feel that you should be able to if staying on property, but just changing Disney hotels for a change of scenery? I think so. Maybe not. Who knows.

This will not ruin our trip 100%. Just thought it as now a split stay is cool to becoming an inconvenience if you decide to do so with how making dining reservations will go. Oh well. Tell me your thoughts on your split stays. Not expecting any civil response or a response for that matter. Just needed to get this off my chest.

God bless the Dis. God bless you all. God Bless America. Long live Mickey Mouse!

 

[BuzzyBelle]

I totally agree. If you are staying on property for the duration of your trip it should be considered one reservation for ADR purposes. FP booking at 60 days lets you make your selections for the entirety of your vacation, so why don't ADRs work this way? We like to do split stays because we can never decide which resort to stay at and have a hard time picking a favorite. This upcoming trip we are doing 3 nights at one, 4 nights at the next and then 3 nights at the last so I had to wake up 3 times I know these are first world problems, but Disney should figure out a way so split stays aren't penalized.

 

[SteveH]

It really makes no sense that Disney can't figure it out. But then again consider the MDE app and how bad it can be, so I understand... some what.

They need to take some of those parking fees $ and upgrade their IT department.

 

[Hopefully]

I DON’T agree. You have 2 UNIGUE hotel reservations. What you ask screws the one Resort ( maybe the majority, I don’t know) folks. Each UNIQUE reservation has it own dates. That sounds right to me
@SteveH it is not an IT issue. It is what is right

 

[verleniahall]

I'm going to be one that says "That's just how it is" - we had a 2 week stay over vacation last year with so we had 14 TS ADR's to make - I was only able to make the 180+10 and then I had to get up daily for the next 3 days to get the other reservations - and we were NOT changing resorts!

Would it have been NICE to do it all at once? Of Course! But that isn't how it works!

 

[BuzzyBelle]

I DON’T agree. You have 2 UNIGUE hotel reservations. What you ask screws the one Resort ( maybe the majority, I don’t know) folks. Each UNIQUE reservation has it own dates. That sounds right to me
@SteveH it is not an IT issue. It is what is right

I'm not sure how this "screws" anyone. If you have a reservation at BC for 6 nights and I have one at BC for 3 and then transfer to GF for 3 nights we are both staying on property for 6 nights. I can make my FP selections for the entire stay. If MDE recognizes it as one single vacation for FP why not ADRs? I understand if I stay 3 nights on property, move off to Universal or whatever, and come back on property for another 3 nights and want to make all of my ADRs at the same time; that would be an unfair advantage. How is making ADRs for a continuous on property stay screwing anyone?

 

[MinnieMSue]

I agree that contiguous on-site hotel stays should fall into the 180+10 for both stays. We did a split stay a few years ago and it was upsetting to find out that I had to book dining on more than 1 morning. It was quite the pain. This year I had to split our 15 night stay into 3 separate parts at the same hotel to get the discount. (Eventually blended into two parts). Luckily my 180 days was before the discount came out but even then I had to call twice to get all dining scheduled. Luckily we only needed one late trip restaurant so I just had to call twice to get reservations. FP reservations were easy. I could make 14 days using my annual pass all on the same day.

 

[ChimCher-ee]

If they can do it for FPs, they should do it for ADRs, too. Now, I hope they don't close a "loophole" and make FPs like ADRs!

That said, does anyone know how far out Open Table lets you book? I haven't tried it, but maybe that's an option now?

 

[Pumbaa_]

You learned something new. The 180 +10 is for your reservation not necessarily your stay

 

[bffdisney]

Just wondering, do you think they do this to stop you from making 2 reservations back to back, then cancelling the first one once you have your adrs for your "actual" trip? I know that's not what you are doing, but I'm sure some people do this!

 

[mster425]

I agree with you.

 

[amymgould]

I actually didn't know this! We are hoping to do our first split stay next April, so this is good information to have.

 

[kaytieeldr]

I now understand that Disney will let you book 180 plus the rest of stay within 10 days of that stay, but only if you choose to stay at one resort. I believe this is faulty if you are paying the price of Disney hotels. I say this because how hard is it for the system to show that you have two hotel reservations and that you are staying on property from one hotel to another. I believe if you are doing this that it should still count for the 180 plus 10 days out. Might just be my opinion, but I think it seems valid.

I believe it's because, despite all 20+ hotels being under the same ownership, each operates as its own individual business. I just Googled 'split stay' and the ONLY results were a hotel in Split Croatia, and Walt Disney World.

The term simply doesn't exist in the hotel industry. It was created by Disney visitors. There doesn't seem to be any valid business reason to change.

 

[okienick]

I DON’T agree. You have 2 UNIGUE hotel reservations. What you ask screws the one Resort ( maybe the majority, I don’t know) folks. Each UNIQUE reservation has it own dates. That sounds right to me
@SteveH it is not an IT issue. It is what is right

I'm sorry, but that doesn't make any sense to me. If I were staying in one resort for 10 days instead of 2 resorts for 5 days each, I would get to make 10 days worth of reservations. Whether I'm in AKL or POR, it's still the same guests making a reservation regardless of where I'm resting my head on Disney property, already paying the Disney prices and getting the benefits associated of being a Disney onsite guest. If it works for FP+, the same logic should apply to restaurants. So I don't see how anyone is getting screwed just because I switched to another Disney resort.

 

[kaytieeldr]

If I were staying in one resort for 10 days instead of 2 resorts for 5 days each

One continuing stay is not the same as two consecutive stays.

Again, despite both properties being owned by one company, they are operated as separate businesses.

It might be comparable to staying three nights at Cabana Bay followed by three at Portofino Bay, but expecting express access all six nights. Both on Universal property, both owned by Loews.

There's no business benefit to Disney changing this.

 

[okienick]

One continuing stay is not the same as two consecutive stays.

Again, despite both properties being owned by one company, they are operated as separate businesses.

It might be comparable to staying three nights at Cabana Bay followed by three at Portofino Bay, but expecting express access all six nights. Both on Universal property, both owned by Loews.

There's no business benefit to Disney changing this.

The logic in that still doesn't make sense, though...it's not like I have to make reservations at the hotels where I'm staying, thereby those restaurants get my money. I'm making reservations anywhere on Disney property, regardless of where I'm sleeping. Why shouldn't I expect the same "express access" that I get for FP+ with a continuing reservation? I'm basically doing the exact thing...making reservations for rides operated at different parks.

 

[G719]

Just wondering, do you think they do this to stop you from making 2 reservations back to back, then cancelling the first one once you have your adrs for your "actual" trip? I know that's not what you are doing, but I'm sure some people do this!

This would definitely happen.

 

[porschegrl]

I've done only one split stay - I want to say it was in 2012 or 2013? - and I think at that time you could make ADRs for both stays starting at 180 days from the first check-in date. I don't remember when it changed (I think I've seen a date mentioned here on the DIS, but I don't remember it). But it appears that there was a conscious decision made not to allow it anymore.

 

[okienick]

I've done only one split stay - I want to say it was in 2012 or 2013? - and I think at that time you could make ADRs for both stays starting at 180 days from the first check-in date. I don't remember when it changed (I think I've seen a date mentioned here on the DIS, but I don't remember it). But it appears that there was a conscious decision made not to allow it anymore.

That's interesting, b/c that is what I thought I remembered too. It was a surprise to me when I was booking my reservations last month for my split stay in Oct that I couldn't do all of them. If that is the case, I'm sure there is a reason whether I like it or not!

 

[Sandiz08]

Just made dining reservations for a split stay a few days go. I got my must haves, just couldn't get them at the times I wanted, for example, (cali grill and be our guest dinner). Would be nice if we could them for entire length of stay, but then again that would just be too easy. I guess I understand why we could only do this for fastpasses.