Split stays - why?

[ArwenMarie]

We are doing one this time. Beach Club and then Contemporary.
We are doing it so we can be walking distance from Epcot and DHS and then see MK walking from the Contemporary. We will have our car, so not so concerned about the moving part of it, although it sounds easy enough even without a car.

 

[gert]

I've only done one split stay - this past December. I had a villa at AKL booked for Wednesday - Sunday for a few months. When it came time to purchase our plan tickets, the difference between leaving Tuesday afternoon & Wednesday morning was greater than the cost of a single night at a value. So we arrived in MCO Tuesday night, used ME to go to AoA and called bell services in the morning to transfer our luggage from AoA to AKL while we hit the parks.

I'm one that likes to unpack everything as soon as I arrive, so I can't see us doing a split stay often, but it worked in this case. Plus we got to experience the newest resort

 

[Kaarin]

we are doing for 11 days in july/aug. and wanted a couple of different experiences. first 5 night with a dining plan at the wl, last 5 nights, no dining plan at a club room at the gf. we plan to get in all the character dining/signature experiences while we are at wl...and relax a bit more at the gf! the magical express seems to make the moving process rather hassle free.

 

[BringingUpDisney]

We are doing our first split stay in December. We are starting with 4 nights at the Poly for the easy access to MK and just to soak up that relaxing Poly atmosphere. Then we move to BC so we can walk to EP and HS that way we only have to take the bus to AK.

We felt that packing and moving once was worth easy transportation and we also really wanted to experience both of these resorts. This trip is myself, my best friend and DD who will be having her 3rd birthday celebration during the trip.

 

[wdwlver]

We are doing it on our upcoming trip. We are flying into Orlando around 6 pm - the kids can go to school for half a day, and we can get up and get going in the parks after decent sleep.

We are spending the first night at POR in a royal room, then scooting over to BLT to get our package tix/food. A bit of an inconvenience, but it's a cheaper room for that quick overnight than BLT, and we didn't have to pay for an extra day of food on the dining plan.

We always do exact same thing. Also doing POR royal room for arrival night then waking bright eyed and bushy tailed for check in to BCV. I much prefer adding a night before trip so our first full day is not a travel day.

 

[bookgirl]

Did one because I ended up changing dates and my solo trip was right after a family trip so Deluxe while the family was there then switched to a mod by myself to save money.

Another trip I had dates that a friend and I were going, but then I ended up having a longer vacation so I needed on night before and two nights after. A combination of no availability the night before, and no more sale prices the two nights after meant that I took the opportunity to stay at the new resort one night and the last two I just moved to a value again to save money since I was solo and didn't really care where I stayed.

I don't mind changing, I find it fun plus I tend to organize my trip into commando/slow days, Epcot/Mk/offsite days, or even bus/boat/monorail days to suit where I'm at on a particular night.

Next trip should not have any switches. Going with mom and she hates switching and it's a short trip. Neither of those things is conducive to split stays. Both my split stays were on trips of 7 or 8 days and I was solo no herding of the masses.

 

[herb102211]

We do split stays all of the time as well. It's only myself and DH and we usually live out of our suitcases for the week anyways, so the luggage aspect of moving isn't a big deal for us. We usually do a split stay between an Epcot resort and an MK resort so that we can walk or take the monorail to MK, and then walk or take the boats over to Epcot and HS ( can you tell we aren't fans of waiting around for the buses )

 

[goofy4tink]

Love doing split-stays...it's like multiple vacations in one. THe worst one I did? Back about 3 years ago, I traveled with a friend. We were booked at BWV, but I found terrific airfare if we arrived a day early, So, booked AKL DVC for the night. Then moved to BWV for four nights with my friend. Well, she went home and I met up with another friend...stayed two nights at Kidani, with her. Then I had 5 nights booked at Pop for free dining!!! And because I got better airfare if I stayed another few nights, I moved back to BWV for my last two nights!!!
I have to tell you...I had to stop and think before I got on a return bus to my resort!!!! And I'll never do a two week stay again...way too much Disney at once for me.
But, I do like to break up my stays...for instance, my 19 y/o dd and I are heading to ASMusic for four nights, then move over to AoA-LM for our final two nights. We sometimes start at a DVC resort and then end our stay with a few nights at a 'regular' resort, usually a value or moderate, depends on what we feel like.

The one thing I hate is being without my stuff for a day. I think Disney could do better when it comes to luggage delivery. It shouldn't take more than a few hours to move bags..there just aren't that many people moving around on any given day!!!

 

[Christinaxo]

Hello!

So we decided to do a split stay because we are getting in at 8pm so to stay at POP and then move to WL the next day saves us almost $400! We are planning on checking in at night. Getting up super early to check out, off to the park, then checking in at WL. I read that the bellhop handles all the luggage and what not. But my question is how would that work in regards to tickets? If I book the package for WL & WDW Tickets, will the tickets be active only after I check in to WL? Or should I Book the package with POP, but then how would that work when I check out? Sorry, first timer here! lol
Thanks!

 

[twinklebug]

I was taught to live out of a suitcase when traveling (my mom insisted there were things living in the drawers ) So picking up and moving is usually no harder than packing the bathroom toiletries back up and making sure we have our chargers for camera and phones packed.

I love split stays as they make the 1 trip feel longer and like I've had 2 experiences not just one. Points I keep in mind when doing split stays:

- Stay at least 2 nights in any one room to get a feel for the resort.
- Make the second stay as long or longer than the first stay.
- Make the second stay at the larger accomodations (don't want to move down in room size)
- Switch rooms/resorts no more than once during a week long trip.

 

[goofy4tink]

Hello!

So we decided to do a split stay because we are getting in at 8pm so to stay at POP and then move to WL the next day saves us almost $400! We are planning on checking in at night. Getting up super early to check out, off to the park, then checking in at WL. I read that the bellhop handles all the luggage and what not. But my question is how would that work in regards to tickets? If I book the package for WL & WDW Tickets, will the tickets be active only after I check in to WL? Or should I Book the package with POP, but then how would that work when I check out? Sorry, first timer here! lol
Thanks!

I think your best option is going to be to get up nice and early and grab your bags yourself, and get a cab over to WL. If you can, get there by 8am. Then you can check in, leave your bags if the room isn't ready, get your tickets and head over to a park. I don't think it will work if you try tying it to Pop. But, I could be wrong.

 

[ML_LovesDisney]

We are DVC members so we have done split stays in order to save points or because one resort didn't have all the days available we needed. Yes, it is a PITA and my DH hates to do it. I don't mind so much, and I like to see different resorts as well. When we did it the last time we just left all of our stuff in the suitcases for 2 days and then moved on day 3 for the remainder of the trip. It wasn't too bad, we called a taxi instead of using Disney transfer (people report this takes awhile to get your stuff).

 

[CTH3]

Mostly for the convenience. In May we're spending a few nights at the BWI and we'll have an easy walk to Epcot and HS. Then we'll do a few days at the Contemporary and have an easy walk to the MK.

Partly because we enjoy experiencing different resorts. But then, we spend a good deal of time at the resort, relaxing; we're not park commandos.

 

[tndisneyfan]

Why do people do split stays?

I never heard of such a thing until I started reading here. I notice it's something many people do. It just seems like such a PITA to me. I wouldn't want to pack up all my stuff and move in the middle of vacation.

Is it just to experience different resorts? Maybe want to spend some time in a deluxe but not pay for the entire vacation there? Those are the only two scenarios I could come up with and neither would be enough inspiration to make me go through the hassle.

Just wondering...

We've done a few times. We tend to take longer vacations, usually 10-12 nights. We wanted to experiece AKL and WL (on different vacations) but can't afford to stay there the whole time.

To me it's only worth it if you stay for several nights at the second resort. One time we just spent one night a WL. We enjoyed it but it seemed like a waste.

 

[Syndrome]

We almost always do split stays. We like to move around and get bored at any one resort for too long. We generally do longer vacations.........10 days +, so its not a big deal to split it up a bit. Then we get to stay at our favorite resorts...........it would be hard for us to pick just one resort to stay, lol.
Probably the biggest reason why it works for us...........we have gotten to the point where we are not commando in the parks from open until close every day. We actually like to relax at the resorts for a good portion of the vacation, so we consider it like hopping in a way.
Imagine just going to MK for the whole trip...........thats the way we feel about just staying at one resort .

This upcoming vacation we are visiting for 11 days. First 6 days are at ASMU in a Family suite, and the last 5 days we are moving over to BC club level. The whole family gets a say in where we stay. We vote on it, and spliting makes everyone happy.

I will say that this time I am a bit nervous about it. It will be the first time of spliting stays where we will NOT have a rental car. Will have to rely on Disney for the luggage transfer . Hope it goes well !

Syndrome

 

[Christinaxo]

I think your best option is going to be to get up nice and early and grab your bags yourself, and get a cab over to WL. If you can, get there by 8am. Then you can check in, leave your bags if the room isn't ready, get your tickets and head over to a park. I don't think it will work if you try tying it to Pop. But, I could be wrong.

I actually was able to book and the cast member gave me the same advice! Its exactly what I plan to do thanks so much!!