Split stays: Annoying or Awesome?

[artemis908]

I can't decide between two great resorts: AKL and BWI. I have gotten some great advice/feedback/opinions, none of which has helped me decide because they both sound so great. I am going to talk to my husband about (he's sometimes good at talking me out of things) but wondering about a split stay. I didn't even realize it was possible until I came on these boards. It seems sort of annoying in a way because you gotta pack up all of your stuff and can't settle into your room. But it's nice that they take all of your luggage for you and move it.

So I am wondering what everyone's experiences are with these kinds of stays.

 

[Masonmj84]

I'm about to take the plunge on this.

Looking at a Poly/BC split in mid December (haven't booked the resorts yet, hoping for discounts).

My plan for minimizing the inconvenience of changing resorts is to move on a day we visit Epcot. Basically, the plan is to pack our stuff the night before, have bell services pick it up early the next morning (except what we bring into the park, which will include swim wear), head over to Captain Cook's for a quick bite, then jump on the Epcot monorail.

Then, after about 5-6 hours at EP (which will include a sit-down lunch), we head over to the BC around 3 pm to check in (since we'll have our swim wear, we can hit SAB while waiting for our luggage).

Overall, I see this as a net convenience. We plan to do MVMCP one night and see Illuminations on another. The split allows us to have an easy commute back to our room on both nights (we can also see Wishes from the beach on all the rest of the nights we're at the Poly). And we only have to take buses on the day we go to AK (but we'd have to do that regardless of where we stay).

I've already booked all of our ADRs so that they're convenient to the resort where we'd be staying. Now I just have to wait on discounts

 

[elaw]

I personally think they are awesome. (see signature for my split stay pedigree ... lol)

If you pack accordingly, its not that big a deal. I arrange my suitcase so that I only remove the stuff I need for any given leg of a split and leave the rest intact. I found that bringing an extra empty duffle bag for the dirty clothes is helpful when its time to move .... after each night I put the dirty clothes in there ... that way its easy to pack up the main suitcase and transfer everything.

I generally don't recommend splits less than 3 nights at a given resort.

 

[Pakey]

I'm a split stay fan. I've done it for the past 4 vacations. However, I am a carry on only kind of person and I don't need to unpack.

I've had 2 less than perfect luggage transfers so we now take a cab and move our own luggage.

The reason I like them is that we get to experience 2 resorts and we can arrange our meal reservations for convenience to the hotel. The extra time we take to check in to a hotel twice is more than offset by the saved time not traveling to meal reservations.

 

[skitt]

We're thinking of doing a split stay on our next trip. Are there downsides? Besides the obvious having to pack and move. Can it affect discounts?

 

[ppony]

We're fans of the split stay as well. We've done it about 2/3s of our trips. We've been able to experience more of the resorts Disney has to offer as a result. Additionally, becuase the resort itself is a huge portion of our vacation, it's new experiences with each split.

 

[ThumpersWorld]

We did our first split stay in May. BWV to BCV. Will definitely be doing this on our next trip. I would only do it for week stays or greater but bell services makes it so easy to do.

 

[Kim1964]

We are also split stay fans. I agree that a minimum of 3 nights per resort is a good idea. We always rent a car so moving our luggage isn't a big deal. I am a super organized person. I pack two suitcases for the kids and me. One of them doesn't even get opened at the first resort, so packing to move doesn't take very long.

We started doing split stays in 2006 when airfare was higher than we anticipated and we had to stay at a moderate for part of the trip instead of deluxe for the whole trip to stay within our budget. Since then we have booked them by choice. It was a nice way to try several more resorts and never be "stuck" too long in a place we didn't like. I don't know if we'll do them anymore, as I am now pretty sure it's YC or stay home for me, but when we have done them it wasn't a big deal at all, and all of the "work" of it fell to me.

 

[mommysdb]

If you believe they are a hassle, then they will be. For me, I believe the fun of a new resort is worth it so I find them amazing.

 

[katyjeka]

I think split stays are fun, but I'd never do it again with kids. I'm probably not as organized as everyone else, but moving day for us was a nightmare. It felt as if I lost a day of vacation.

 

[madelyn]

In the past I've been supportive of split stays but this last trip was not a good experience. Booked a last minute DVC stay and ended up with 2 nts Boardwalk Villas, followed by 2 nts Bay Lake Tower. Couldn't find 4 straight nights through DVC at any resort we wanted to stay at. At the last minute the chance for 4 nights at Beach Club came up. Should have snatched those up but DH said he was looking forward to staying at BLT for the first time. What made the split stay so hard was that we drove from Texas and before we made it to Orlando, we had already been away from home for 4 nights. We already had been to 2 other destinations and stayed 2 nights and moved, then stayed another 2 nights and moved. So it was moving every 2 nights FOUR times! We also had many random bags, a sleeping cot, snacks and drinks, things we purchased, etc and attempted to move ourselves and not through bell services. It put DH in a bad mood. We did finish up our Orlando stay with 7 nights at an off-site Marriott condo. If we attempt another split stay it would be for no less than 3 nights in one place and we would also pack better. If we had a car we would only take out what we needed, although just taking out what is needing for a family of 5 (3 kids) plus 2 extra adults still would have been a lot of stuff. One positive thing was that we were able to buy the dining plan for only 2 nights (first two nights). So we had dining credits that we used until our check in and until check out day at midnight.

 

[peabody58]

For our 9 day trip in Sept 2013, we are planning our 1st split stay: AKV Studio Standard for 4 nights, and then live it up at BCV 1 BR for 5 nights. We are both excited about getting to experience 2 new DVC resorts and have an enjoyable relaxing end stay. We'll have our own car, so packing up and changing resorts won't be a problem at all. Now the wait for the 7 month window.

 

[tinkbyday]

We did a split stay once and it wasn't a good experience. We were there for 9 days that trip, so fortunately, the fact that we ended up losing a whole day due to the fiasco we endured, was not a big deal.

 

[Sue M]

We do split stays on trips 10 days and over. This does give us a chance to settle in to each resort and experience it. On shorter trips I stay put.

 

[buzznina]

For us, it is yes to both Was awesome when it was just the DW and I, but a lot more inconvenient with our 2 DD's. We drive so we take a LOT more stuff then we would if we had to fly, so packing it all up to move was a hassle. We would probably do it again if we ever stayed for like 14 days. It is nice to see 2 resorts in one trip though

 

[Rosanne]

I've only done a split stay once. We got out before a snowstorm hit and added two days to our trip on the front end. We stayed at ASMovies for two nights and then moved to CBR for four (or five? ... can't remember) nights.

Since it's usually just me and my two girls (3 and 8 at the time but 6 and 11 now) it wasn't the easiest thing to do... moving our stuff. But, it was mostly pretty fun. I wouldn't intentionally do it again with the girls but if I was by myself or with just another adult I think it would be fun doing split stays. For me, with the girls it was a lot of work since I have to drag them with me when I bring stuff in and out from the car. Of course, I'd brought snacks, water and our own pillows and stuff so if you were flying and brought less stuff it would be less of a hassle. I guess you'd have to let them know with Magical Express and figure that part out. Lots of people on the DIS have it down smooth.

 

[PoohsFan1]

We did our first split stay this past January and found that it was soooo easy. We loved it so much that we are doing another one on our upcoming trip. At first I thought why in the world would anyone want to pack up and move to another resort right in the middle of their vacation. But once we did it (moved from BCV to SSR) ourselves, I understood. It is great to be able to stay in two resorts, especially if you can't decide which one to stay at in the first place . If you are doing a longer stay and you can't decide which resort to stay at (if it is between 2 resorts, I personally could not do a split with any more than that), I highly recommend it .

 

[mirage0306]

We just did a split with three resorts--and BWI and AKL were two of them. You have good taste!

I am not sure we'd do it again, but that is probably because we like the feeling of settling in to one resort for the length of our stay. There really was nothing annoying about changing resorts, except packing stuff up multiple times. That wasn't *too* bad, and if I'd done a better job packing I think it would have been even easier.

Anyway, aside from having to pack up a couple extra times, it was fine! Disney makes it very easy--they'll move your luggage for you. Both times we switched, we just packed up, had bell services take the bags to our new resort, went to a park, and in the late afternoon went to the new resort, checked in, got our luggage, and went to EMH, or whatever we had planned for the evening.

I haven't read all the responses so I don't know if anyone mentioned this, but one reason this worked okay for us is we only do room only stays. It can get a bit more tricky if you want to have the dining plan.

If you really can't decide and are going for long enough (at least 8 nights), I would do the split. You may love doing it that way--give it a try!

 

[Deb & Bill]

Aw.....FUL. You are homeless for most of the day. If you have Disney move your stuff, you won't get it unti later in the day. If you have refrigerated items, they will refrigerate them while your stuff is still at the first location, but while it is on the truck, it won't be.

We like to unpack and settle in until it is time to go home.

 

[danceintherain]

While I LOVE the concept of a split stay, I don't think it would work for us. DH likes to take a break, including a nap, every day. It would be very difficult to get him to agree to not getting a nap one day. I suppose it would be possible if we were planning a day offsite, which would make going back to the hotel less convenient anyways. We'll see. Maybe one day I'll suggest it and he'll think it's a great idea, but I doubt it.

My other deterrent is that even on our 9 night stay at AKL, we didn't really get to experience the resort to it's full extent. Part of that was due to the fact that we hadn't worked out our touring habits yet (DH's first trip and my first planned trip) but when we were at the resort we spent most of the time in our room. I would have to get better at taking advantage of the resort amenities before a split stay would make sense for us.

EDIT: I thought of one more reason. As of now it takes up to three nights for our son to adjust to a new sleeping environment. Even though moving between resorts would likely result in the same sleeping arrangements, it could still throw him off enough to make it an exhausting endeavor.