Splitting your Stay-Pros or Cons

[barbnjmom]

Considering splitting our stay (Pop Century -just looks like fun and affordable....and possibly Contemporary-Garden Wing...my dream place to stay).

What are the pros and cons?

-From what I can tell we won't be able to get a Dreamaker Package if you split the stay?
-Having to move your luggage and such.

Any other thoughts???

Would the Park Hopper be the best ticket to get?

 

[goodferry]

I guess it depends on how long will you be there.I have heard people say that you really need a five night stay to really enjoy a split stay, so if you are going to be staying less than that, you have to consider whether it will be worth it to you to move or not.
It is easy enough to get your luggage moved from one resort to another if you split your stay, but only you know if you will mind having to pack and unpack twice.
I would love to do a Poly/BC split stay on our next trip, but I know that my family likes to nest in and relax in one place when on vacation as opposed to moving about, so I decided to stay at the Poly the whole time.
As to the tickets, you can save money by getting Park Hoppers as opposed to the Dream maker if you aren't going to disney parks every day of your trip.

 

[daannzzz]

I have done a lot of split stays and to get a good feeling for a resort you need at least 3 days in each. I think it is exciting to explore your resort and enjoy it and then look forward to a new one. Moving luggage for me is not a problem. I understand for those who have kids and unpack everything and iron it (like my mom) it may be more of a hassle. Being a single 48 year old male who doesn't iron, it isn't hard to move! You get to enjoy two different themes and environments and it can be quite a different feeling.
The cons can be that you need to be out of your first hotel by 11:00 and may not get into the new one until 3:00-4:00. I usually schedule move day for a day not at the parks. We can sleep in a bit and have breakfast then check out and go check in at the new place. If the room isn't ready we head to downtown Disney ( I always rent a car for my WDW trips) or off property to tour the area or other things like A world of Orchids (a bit disappointing), Splendid Chine (very interesting but now closed) or Celebration.
If you don't have a car it can be a bit more of a hassle but you can still go to Downtown Disney or do some resort hopping. Or got to one of the parks.

 

[3for Me]

we did this on our last stay and although we truly did not lose any park time, I do not think I would do it again unless, as the previous posts stated, it would be more than 5 or 6 nights in each. I thought it would feel like more than one vacation or at least make the vacation seem longer, and actually, it made it seem shorter.

It really wasn't the hassle of it as much as it just did not "feel" like an 8 day vacation.

 

[TJA]

Cons~do you have kids? It took us at least an hour to unpack just the stuff for our 7-mon-old twins! I couldn't imagine packing all that up and then unpacking it again at a different resort, then packing yet again to go home. Ugh! Actually, even before we had the babies, we didn't like to move around. Like a poster above, we also enjoy unpacking and "moving in" for our stay.

Pros~experience 2 different resorts in one trip.

Just depends on if you desire to do the packing and unpacking thing two times in one trip. Many people don't mind.

 

[catnik]

I agree with TJA; if you have young children, it may not be worth it to move mid-trip (a disruption for them and a lot more work for you to pack/unpack everything). If it is just adults or a family with older (and fairly self sufficient) kids, I think it would be fun to split a stay, but only if I would get at least 3-4 days at each resort. To split a stay of less than 7 days would seem to be too hectic to truly enjoy the benefits of each resort.......