Split Stays

[Aliceacc]

I was just reading another thread where the point was to decide which split stay the OP should book.

We've never even considered a split stay. It just seems like so much trouble to pack up all our stuff to switch resorts.

So, probably just for the sake of argument, I'll consider it.

Let's assume we can get a great deal and that we'll be able to book both the Poly and the Beach Club at a rate we can swing. Or, as long as this is pretty hypothetical, the Beach Club and any other resort that can accomodate 5. (So that lets out WL and AKL... their standard rooms only accomodate 4.)Our trip is in August 2014... we're already saving. Let's assume 8 nights, so 4 and 4, I'm guessing.

How does doing a split stay compensate for the work involved in packing up and moving?

And which resort is the other half of the split? And in which order?

 

[AThrillingChase]

The closest thing to a split stay for me is that myself and my cousin arrive the night before the rest of our family. We have 9 total, so we are doing connecting rooms at POR. But for that 1st night, we just booked ASMu.

That said, packing up would take me less than 5 minutes. I leave my clothing in my suitcase so at most I would have to put my toiletries from the shower away. A quick drop at baggage services who will deliver to POR, and right in the bus line!

 

[mmmears]

The reason doing a split-stay makes it "worth it" for my family is that it usually means less buses (like if we do an AKL/monorail split or a monorail/Epcot resorts split) and because we have a hard time choosing 2 resorts. It's really mostly that we can't choose just one -- we WANT to stay at both and experience both, so it makes it "worth it" for us to move.

 

[goofyredraider]

I think it honestly depends on the length of your vacation, and what exactly you have planned.

For example, last year, we did a split between POR and BC as a family of 5. It was 13 nights. We did 6 at POR and 7 at BC. We had down days planned, and did not do parks every day. In fact, we did 8 days at the parks and a lot of resort time. If I remember correctly, one day was arrival day, we had two resort days at BC, a movie night in DTD, a day at DisneyQuest. It truly did feel like two different vacations. We experienced no difficulty doing our switch.

This year, we have a 17 day trip booked with a triple split. Part of it is just the kids and I, and the other part is with DH. We do not plan for many rope drop to park close days...in fact, as of now, I only have 2 or 3 of them planned. The breakdown of this trip is like this: 3 days at POFQ after my long drive, 7 days at AKL, and 7 days at BC (DH is flying in to join us at BC). We opted for POFQ and AKL because we knew, as a family of 5, that we could never stay their otherwise. Right now, the plan is to pack one bag for JUST the three days at POFQ and one large one for AKL. We will do laundry on a downday before we switch to BC.

As far as the packing goes, you just must pack and plan accordingly. I do a packing spreadsheet with outfits, ziploc dated baggies, etc.

Now, if it was a shorter trip, like 8, I would have two different bags packed if at possible. One would be for, say, the Poly and one for BC. The only thing needing packed up is tolietries. I would pack the laundry nightly.

 

[kimmar067]

.....I'm trying to book a vacay for 4/5 to 4/'10 and am seiously considering a slit stay because of finances...we'll stay at a value for the weekend and check into AKL for the rest of the stay...

 

[jenjersnap]

The reason doing a split-stay makes it "worth it" for my family is that it usually means less buses (like if we do an AKL/monorail split or a monorail/Epcot resorts split) and because we have a hard time choosing 2 resorts. It's really mostly that we can't choose just one -- we WANT to stay at both and experience both, so it makes it "worth it" for us to move.

This is us exactly. We just struggled this week with our booking decision. Both the adults felt like we might not want to split this time (and we usually do) because our trip is slightly shorter, but my boys were adamant that they wanted both the monorail and Stormalong Bay (amongst other advantages for both YC and Poly). In the end, I felt relieved by the decision- I think they are right!

I am a very organized packer and getting it back together to move takes very little time. Typically, I pack up the night before and we get a little time in the closest park before check out, then officially check out, eat lunch and check in to the second hotel. The room is usually ready then or shortly after. We rent a car or taxi to the next location so it is very little hassle and bother and a whole lot of getting to experience two different unique locations.

My criteria for deciding order was about crowd levels for the parks. In October, Epcot has F&W which makes weekends very crowded and we decided to avoid that, for the most part.

 

[Wood Nymph]

I've never considered a split stay. We never stay more than six nights, and we really like to "move" into a hotel room. We unpack our suitcases, set up the toiletries, and plan all activities from that location. I would think that a split stay would take too much time from our day. We like to get into the parks at rope drop, stay until lunch time, and then return to the resort for a relaxing afternoon. A split stay means that you can't check into the next resort until 3pm, usually, and hanging around until then could be annoying. And then there is all that unpacking again.

But, if I was to do a split between a MK resort and an Epcot resort, like WL/BC, then I would spend the weekend at the Epcot resort since the MK tends to be really crowded on the weekends.

 

[jenjersnap]

But, if I was to do a split between a MK resort and an Epcot resort, like WL/BC, then I would spend the weekend at the Epcot resort since the MK tends to be really crowded on the weekends.

This is completely dependent on the time of year. As I mentioned earlier, F&W brings in locals on weekends which makes Epcot uncomfortable. BTDT, didnt like it at all. OTOH, MNSSHP makes MK close at 7 on Fridays and Sundays...making it undesirable for those without Parkhoppers or those who want the evening entertainment. The various crowd calendars and our experience totally back this up. Saturdays should pretty much always be avoided at MK though, LOL.

 

[Aliceacc]

Well, I ran the idea past my family... and every single person HATED it.

So I guess that makes it easy . If we can get a deal, it will be the Beach Club. If not, then it's looking like the teacher's discount at the Dolphin, for a Deluxe Alcove room.

Fingers and toes crossed... we REALLY love the Beach Club!!!!

 

[momto3gr8boys]

Well, I ran the idea past my family... and every single person HATED it.

So I guess that makes it easy . If we can get a deal, it will be the Beach Club. If not, then it's looking like the teacher's discount at the Dolphin, for a Deluxe Alcove room.

Fingers and toes crossed... we REALLY love the Beach Club!!!!

Well that was easy

I usually book directly, but this August *** (a certified Disney travel co.) had such an amazing deal at the BC, I opted to go with them. I don't know if this is something they do every year (I just stumbled across it on a post here after I had booked directly with Disney), but it may be something to look into.

We really love the BC too, and there is nothing more peaceful and relaxing to me than walking over to Epcot and just soaking up the entire atmosphere. I didn't want to give that up on this trip. But when my DS(soon to be 17 - yikes!) was three, I took him to the Poly one night. We got Mickey rice krispy treats, and we sat on the beach and watched the EWP and fireworks. He asked me if we could stay there sometime (we were in the All Stars budget back then) and I told him someday we would. And now he's going to be starting his senior year, and while I certainly hope we continue regular trips, I don't know feasible a family trip will be for a while. So that was my impetus behind this split stay, aside from the fact that I've wanted to try one for years now.

And as to your original question, although it won't apply to your trip, I factored in a number of things to "justify" the move time.

First of all, I almost always do a load of laundry at Disney. 10 days x 5 people, in August (meaning we almost always shower/change for evening) equals more clothes than I want to bring. So on our last full day at the BC, which will be about our halfway point, I will do a load either early in the am before we head out or during our pool break. Those clothes will just get repacked at that point (which isn't requiring any more time than it would if I were just putting them back into drawers), leaving just toiletries and an outfit or two to pack up in the morning.

Then on the morning of the move, we will drop our bags with bell services, check out, and walk over to HS. We have an ADR for lunch there at 12:30, and will probably hit one or two things after lunch. We will then take the bus to the Poly, check-in, and head to our rooms for a bit if they are ready or explore the resort. We then are planning on going to the MK that night, so we will just take the monorail over.

I also planned our park days to focus on our area (we are Epcot and HS heavy on the BC days, MK heavy on the Poly days) to take advantage of shorter travel times.

The only two negatives I am anticipating are the extra time it takes to pack and the possibility of our bags not arriving at the Poly until 5. The positives, for our family, outweigh those. But I am not really sure why people say they lose a whole day "traveling" on their move day. I don't even lose a whole day traveling when I come from NY to Disney

 

[Masonmj84]

We just did a Poly/BC split stay in December and everyone loved it (4 nights at each resort). It was really fun getting to experience two resorts on the same vacation.

While at the Poly, we focused mostly on MK and while at BC, we focused mostly on EP and HS (only had to use the buses to go to AK).

We went to EP on our transfer day. Basically, our transfer day went like this:

-Call bell services to get bags (they came about 10 minutes later)
-Quick breakfast at Captain Cooks
-Walk over to TTC and hop on EP Monorail
-Enter EP at Rope Drop and stayed in the park until mid-afternoon
-Walked over to BC from the IG and checked in around 4 pm (at check-in we told the CM we were transferring from the Poly and he called bell services to see if our bags had arrived and, if so, to bring them to our room - they arrived in our room about 15 minutes later)

Overall, I thought it was a net convenience because we were almost always close to the parks and rarely had to use buses.

In fact, we liked it so much that I'm now in the process of planning a quadruple split stay at WL-Poly-AKL-BC over 12 nights (3 nights at each resort).

 

[Princess Disney Mom]

I'd say you need a minimum of 6 nights or its not worth doing a split stay. We have done it many times and you just have to be organized. One year we did 2 nights at the contemporary and took ME to the resort. We picked up a rental and went off site for 7 nights. There we went to the beach and outlets and water parks and a theme park. Then we went back to the contemporary for 3 nights. We took advantage of extra magic hour and ME back to the airport. We did save money by not paying deluxe prices when doing off site activities. We did have to be organized with packing and have one suitcase with stuff not needed at the contemporary since that was the shorter of the stays. We did laundry when off site as not to waste deluxe staying time.

I did the same with Pop Century. Sandwiched it around an off site stay. We had family with us with a small budget and this way we took advantage of ME extra magic hours and the kids got the whole Disney resort feel.

But anything 6 nights or less to me would not be worth it.

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

 

[EmilyJ517]

We probably won't do a split stay again until the kids are not napping - it was kind of a pain to not have access to the 2nd room until 4. BUT! If you have 4-5 days at each resort it might be worth it.

We did a 10 day split stay starting at BWV - which was great because it was F&W and we could walk home at night with two sleeping toddlers after illuminations and plop them right in bed. But MK was kind of far and the bus was a PITA, so our 2nd resort was

BLT! We had tickets to MNsSHP and never would have been able to stay as late if we hadn't been able to walk back to the resort. So that half of the vacation was more MK oriented.

it was perfect - we actually got totally sold on both resorts and bought into the DVC via resale as soon as we got home for both

But it was kind of a pain to pack everything up and unpack again. But bell services made it as easy as possible - they came to the room and took everything, even groceries (including refrigerated stuff), and it was all ready at BLT when we got there. Even the stroller rental company was fine with dropping off at BWV and picking up at BLT.

 

[gritzel4]

We did a 3 resort split stay over 6 nights in February. That is what happens when you decide at Christmas that it would be fun to go to WDW in February. We did 2 nights WL, 3 nights SSR, 1 night BLT. It was a pain living out of suitcases and transferring (we spent big $$ on tipping bell service), however, we did get to experience 2 resorts we had never stayed at before, we were able to book DDP for only our 2 nights at WL (we planned our sit downs during those days) and we fell in love with WL!

 

[NHBelle]

We are considerng this as well. We are going for 9 nights and are a family of 5 on a budget, but I really want to stay at a monorail resort, so I am thinking squish into POR for 4 night and then splurge on Poly for 5 nights....I just don't know how a package with the dining plan and tickets would work

 

[elaw]

How does doing a split stay compensate for the work involved in packing up and moving?

And which resort is the other half of the split? And in which order?

How does doing a split stay compensate for the work involved in packing up and moving? IMO, if you pack with the split in mind, and have a spare duffle bag for dirty clothes, it's not too much of an issue.

And which resort is the other half of the split? And in which order? I guess the order might depend on which park/area you want to do first. If you start out in the MK area then start with the POLY and end with BC

 

[Masonmj84]

We are considerng this as well. We are going for 9 nights and are a family of 5 on a budget, but I really want to stay at a monorail resort, so I am thinking squish into POR for 4 night and then splurge on Poly for 5 nights....I just don't know how a package with the dining plan and tickets would work

There are a couple of schools of thought if you want tickets and dining plans throughout your trip:

The first way is to buy a big enough ticket package with your first resort reservation to cover your entire trip (at both resorts). Then buy a 1 day ticket for everyone with your second resort reservation (in order to get the dining plan) that you'll keep unused and save for a later trip.

The second way is to have one member of your party buy an AP and then get AP holder ticketless room and dining packages at both resorts. Then buy everyone else's MYW tickets seperately (this can be done through a discount broker like Undercover Tourist - you can even buy the AP this way by buying a discounted MYW ticket, price bridging, and then upgrading).

There is a third option, which I'd strongly advise against and that is to buy seperate ticket packages that coincide with each stay and then use the first ticket package at the first resort and the second ticket package at the second resort. This is a very expensive way to buy tickets.

When we did our split stay, we opted for the second option. This also enabled us to get an AP discount, which was 5% more than the GP discount at the time and essentially compensated for the difference in cost between the AP and an 8 day MWY ticket.

 

[cadale]

Considering doing a split stay this November. I didn't realize that bell services would transport your stuff to the next hotel. I assume they will take everything inlcuding owners lockers and groceries, right?

Can you check in at the next hotel anytime or do you still have to wait till 3PM? One of my hold backs was the idea of having to transport refrigerated items and how to keep them cold.

Just wondering but has anyone ever just transferred by taxi? Was it easier or more of a hassle (I know my dh will ask)?

 

[SA mom]

We did a split stay on our first trip of 10 nights. Basically, we couldn't afford all 10 nights in a moderate so we opted for 5 at Coronado Springs and 5 nights in a one bedroom suite at Buena Vista Suites for about half the price.

Our split stay trip of 7 nights was between Royal Pacific at Universal (to get the early entry into Harry Potter the first year it opened) and the Swan. We now stay only at the Swan or Dolphin on points.

 

[catho72]

We've done a split stay a couple of times and we are doing another one this summer. Packing and unpacking really isn't that big of a deal...it took maybe 20 minutes total. I put all of our dirty clothes in one suitcase and all of the clean clothes in another. Bell Services will store your items for you and deliver them to the next resort, but your luggage won't arrive until after 3pm. You can check-in to your new resort at any time (doesn't mean your room will be ready, but you can enjoy the amenities until the room is ready).

If you were going to not stay in the same category of hotels for both parts of your trip, then I would recommend staying at the most expensive resort last. This way there is no let-down.

Our family enjoys staying at two different resorts...we are doing 4 nights at BC and 4 nights at Poly. We've never stayed at Poly before and I can't imagine being at WDW and not staying at BC for at least part of our trip. We enjoy seeing what each resort has to offer. It's my goal to stay at each WDW resort. We've stayed at POR, BC, AKL-Kidani, AKL-Jambo House and BLT.

Now that our kids are older, we spend more time at the resorts (which makes our resort choice more important) and less time in the parks. We've been enough times to know what we want to see and experience. When the kids were younger, we were park commandos...getting there at rope drop and staying all day. Now, we lounge around the pool until mid-afternoon then go to the parks in the evening and stay until closing.

What our family enjoys isn't necessarily what other families enjoy, and that's OK too!