Split Stays - Please explain??

[jrandtysmom]

Can someone explain how split stays works? I was set on ASMo because my kids are smaller and will LOVE the theme at ASMo but then.....I was looking to book them a pirate cruise and came across POR. From the pics it looks absolutely gorgeous, so I was thinking of switching over to there for the last 2 nights of our stay so that I could experience that. Yay or nay on that idea with a DS7 & DS4 by myself? How does split stay work with the dining plan and paying for the package? It's confusing to me of how that would work and maybe today has just been a long day at work and I can't wrap my mind around it right now.

 

[Sammie]

if you want two resorts then you will have to have two reservations. Two deposits, two packages etc.

To me it is not worth the hassle of moving and rechecking in. Basically on the day of the move you are without a room for most of the day.

 

[danceintherain]

Split Stay means two separate reservations... two separate packages. You would pay two separate deposits, and all packages need to be paid 45 days in advance.
If you get the Dining Plan for the first part it will not carry over to the second part of your trip. If you still wanted to have it then you would have to book a second package which means a one day ticket for everyone, even if you have enough tickets for the rest of the days.

If you were going to do this I would recommend not doing the Dining Plan for the 2nd piece of your trip. Your dining credits will not expire until midnight the day you check out of ASMo, so you would only be without the plan for 1 day, and part of the 2nd day.
For example, if you do 4 nights in ASMo with a 5 day ticket it's only about $5 more to add 2 extra days. A 1-day ticket is $75.62 (adult). It's practically impossible to make up for that in the savings from the dining plan.

Really, you're the only person who can decide whether it will be worth it for you. You'll get both sides of the story on here. I was considering doing a split-stay, but decided against it, because I'd rather be completely settled for my entire trip, instead of dealing with transferring hotels halfway through my trip.

I have never done a split-stay, but I think it would be difficult to manage by yourself with two young boys. You would have to wait to check-out of ASMo in the morning, then wait to check-in to POR later. Your boys would just have to sit and be patient while you did both things. If you chose to go straight over to POR after checking out of ASMo, then your room may or may not be ready, which means you could potentially not have a room for a few hours (possibly many hours) I can see that it would be wasting precious park time checking out and then in again. If your children were older, or you had another adult with you that could take them to a park, or sit with them at the pool while you took care of all the paperwork, then I think it would be much easier, but since that is not the case I would just stay at ASMo the whole trip, and save POR for a separate trip.

 

[mmmears]

We do split-stays and love them since we get to stay at 2 different resorts in 2 different locations, all within WDW. But we're 2 adults with 1 child, so one of us (DH) can deal with the luggage, check-out, check-in stuff while the other is with our DD. I dont know if I would do it if I were alone with her, since it means not having a room for the mid-day rest we usually take and if there were delays with getting the room or luggage it would be a pain for me to deal with, dragging a child along for all of it.

It just depends if you're willing to put up with a "potential" hassle -- most of our moves have been so easy it wasn't a big deal. But it does mean packing and unpacking again, too.

Good luck with whatever you decide. There are definitely both pros and cons to a split-stay.

 

[bluwater]

As with most other things at WDW, there are pros and cons for both.

We are doing a split-stay later this month. We have not done one before.

From what I have read, it may be significantly easier if you have a car to use to transport your luggage. Otherwise, using Disney Resorts to transport your luggage may take longer than you expect.

We plan to use the Dining plan/ticket package for the second part of our stay. The first resort is room only.

We are coming with tickets that we have leftover from another visit. The tickets that we get with the package on this trip will not be activated. As long as you don't activate your tickets, you do not have to add the no-expiration option - and can add days at a later date or even transfer the tickets to someone else who is going later.

I am not sure if we'll use our resort change day as a park day or a pool day. We know we can check out of our first resort, check into the second at any time of day (if the room is not ready, they'll give you a key and a number to call to get the room assignment at a later time). We can have our swimsuits on when we check out of the first resort, check into the second and just head to the pool if the room is not ready. Or, we may just head head to the park that day.

You can pack a light "transfer" bag with what you might need at any time - and let Disney move the rest of your luggage for you.

The split stay will also allow us to use the DDP for part of the stay and not for the rest - which is why I am thinking of using the DXDDP for that half.

Good luck with your decision and havea great time!

 

[dizydreamer]

Curious- I have a few questions about this....

Besides the experience of the two resorts, what are the benifits of doing a split stay? Is it worth is if you are there only a week?

 

[carlamouse]

I have never done a split-stay, but I think it would be difficult to manage by yourself with two young boys. You would have to wait to check-out of ASMo in the morning, then wait to check-in to POR later. Your boys would just have to sit and be patient while you did both things. If you chose to go straight over to POR after checking out of ASMo, then your room may or may not be ready, which means you could potentially not have a room for a few hours (possibly many hours) I can see that it would be wasting precious park time checking out and then in again.

You don't have to go to the front desk to check out unless there is a dispute on your room charges. Once they swipe your credit card at checkin, you're done. On the morning of checkout, they slip the receipt under the door and your are free to leave. When we did a split stay last year at Pop, we let bell services know the night before, and they tagged and picked up our bags early that morning for the transfer to the Poly. Then we took a bus to the MK and the monorail to the Poly to checkin. Our room happened to be ready at 9:30a.m., so we took a quick look and then hopped back on the monorail and headed for the MK. By the time we took an afternoon break (3:00p.m or so) our bags had been delivered, so bell services brought them up to the room. Of course, we were not on a package, just room-only with separate park passes. We did 3 nights at Pop, and 4 nights at the Poly. It may be a bit more difficult if your tickets are tied to your reservation with a package.