Split Stays?

We just came back from a 10 day trip with 4 different hotels.

We usually stay at the GF but this was a last minute trip planned around our Passholder Preview for Galaxy's Edge and I thought that being close to HS on our preview day would make things easier. It was myself and my three youngest children for the first three nights as my husband (dh) couldn't join us until night 4.

I wasn't sure if I'd make the whole 10 hour drive in one day since my dh usually drives so I decided to not book anything and I'd just see how far we got. In the end I decided to drive all the way and we stayed at a Disney Springs hotel.

Nights 2 and 3 we stayed at Beach Club's CL. I'd always wanted to try BC, but it only allows 4 in a club level room so once dh joined us we had to move on. Nights 4- 6 we stayed at the Boardwalk Inn CL because the room we wanted wasn't available at the GF and we thought it would be fun to mix things up since this was our second trip of the summer. Then on nights 7-10 we stayed at our favorite GF main building club level (RPC)

We had no issues with moving, but we drove so if you are not driving it may be a bit different. I had our transition days planned around it. I packed different bags for the different resorts and then had a medical/personal and shoe/accesory/swim bag that came in to all of the resorts.

On the morning we checked out of the Disney Springs hotel I had a plan to take the boat from Disney Springs to POFQ for beignets and tour around those two resorts which are lovely btw. That took us until early afternoon and we checked into BC around 1 and we were fortunate our room was ready.

When we were switching from BC to BWI I planned a late breakfast at Wilderness Lodge Whispering Canyon for us. We packed up our bags that we had brought in to the BC and then drove to WL and parked (we use the valet service). After our breakfast we took the boat to the MK where I had our fast passes for the day. We spent the afternoon there and then took the boat back to WL got our car and then went and checked in at BWI and enjoyed the club level offerings. I didn't feel like we lost out on anything that day by switching resorts.

When we switched from BWI to GF we had our breakfast in the Club Level then packed up and drove to GF. We left our bags with bell services and went to MK and they text us when our room was ready.

If you are flying, I'm assuming you would just have all your bags sent from the one resort to the other. Just carry a backpack or something with things you'll need for the day. It's really only like 4-5 hours where you won't have a room and if you have your day planned, it shouldn't be an issue at all.

I really enjoyed our split stay and would definitely do it again.
 
I have also hear numerous things about magic bands. Some people say each reservation and that sometimes it doesn’t register new resort. Others say no worries and one band will do the trick. What should I do w magic bands with three reservations?

We didn't have any real issues with this. We got new bands at each resort of our 3 Disney Resort split stay, but I had gotten us all special upgraded bands for the first resort. My daughter and I ended up wearing the special ones the entire time, while my sons switched them up at each resort and we didn't have any issues with park entrance/ fast passes or unlocking our room doors.

The only issue we had was that charging got booted from my MDE account at our last resort and it took 4 visits (two to our club level concierge and two to the front desk to get it sorted out) but the bands still worked for our room so it had just been booted off somehow and eventually was fixed.
 
I have also hear numerous things about magic bands. Some people say each reservation and that sometimes it doesn’t register new resort. Others say no worries and one band will do the trick. What should I do w magic bands with three reservations?
We've done many split stays and we always get the magic band with the first resort and decline it for the others. We've only had an issue one time with one band not opening a door at the second resort. Otherwise, no issues and no need to change bands.
 
I enjoy split stays quite a bit. After nearly missing a dinner reservation due to luggage not showing up until late on one, I have gotten in the habit of just bringing by bags over to the next hotel on my own by taxi or Uber. That way I know they are there if needed. I can come back and get my bathing suit if I want to go swimming and not have to bring all that to the park. I usually stop by the front desk when I drop the bags as well, check in on a room request or anything like that. Let them know I'm in their orbit I suppose. I've done the multiple magic bands, and have been told that at least the first ones if not all of them would work for the entire trip, but I make the switch just to avoid any complications. The dining plans take a little extra planning. I had one case in an "overlap" period between two stays where I wanted to use a credit from the first stay and a credit from the second stay on a two-credit meal, and that caused some consternation, but they figured it out. I also had some remaining snacks from the first stay moved to the second stay at the front desk, so it was more flexible than I had originally thought. Hope you have a great time.
 

Love love love split stays! It is like 2 vacations in 1!

I always pack one suitcase for the first resort based on what park I will be going to while I am staying at that resort and a second one for the second resort. Makes it way easier to keep one entirely shut and not touched until we are at the new resort. We try to stay at the one where we like the pool the best when we are going to have a rest day..so we can enjoy it.

I don't really have any cons for it. On our switching day we just stay at the park until we get the text that our room is ready and every time our luggage has been waiting for us in our room. Sometimes when we have our car, we just get up early and park our car at the new resort. Every time our room has been ready that early and DH makes us unload our stuff before we can head to the parks! :-)

It really is a great way to experience two resorts!

Happy Planning!
 
I have also hear numerous things about magic bands. Some people say each reservation and that sometimes it doesn’t register new resort. Others say no worries and one band will do the trick. What should I do w magic bands with three reservations?
We had 2 magic bands each. Every day we would switch between them to match what we were wearing. There was no problems at either resort or in the parks. Totally interchangeable with no glitches during our stay.
 
I will be doing a split stay in April and have concerns about the magic bands and the luggage being there. Some people say drop some luggage off at bell services the night before so that it gets there. Also magic bands- how were you able to interchange them without it affecting your fast passes? Are they all linked to DME
 
I will be doing a split stay in April and have concerns about the magic bands and the luggage being there. Some people say drop some luggage off at bell services the night before so that it gets there. Also magic bands- how were you able to interchange them without it affecting your fast passes? Are they all linked to DME
We did a split stay this past December. We used the same magicbands for both halves, despite having two sets. Everything is connected in MDE. We had no fastpass or ticket issues. We dropped our luggage at bell services around 10 our moving day at All Star Music and it turned up at AoA around 3. We went to a park that day so I wasn't really paying close attention. Bell services was happy to deliver it to our room once we called.
 
I will be doing a split stay in April and have concerns about the magic bands and the luggage being there. Some people say drop some luggage off at bell services the night before so that it gets there. Also magic bands- how were you able to interchange them without it affecting your fast passes? Are they all linked to DME
Dropping off luggage at bell services the night before to make sure that it gets to the next hotel is not necessary. You can do it in the morning that you are moving. Luggage will arrive at your new resort in the late afternoon or early evening.

MBs are linked to your MDE account. All MBs assigned to your name are clones of each other and will work the same for tickets, FPs and room charges.
 
Going to be trying 3 resorts over 7 nights in April. GF, YC, then BLT. Probably the biggest hassle is the packing up, but we dont usually fully unpack. So we are the ones wearing wrinkled t-shirts and shorts in the parks. :laundy:
 












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