Staying at one resort for 7-9 nights vs two separate resorts for 4-5?

[kboo]

We almost always do split stays when we visit. Usually we are there for 8-10 nights and I try to stay at a new WDW resort for the first half, do animal kingdom and magic kingdom. Then we switch to the Swan or Dolphin as I have a lot of Marriott points, then we just walk or boat ride to hollywood and epcot. Plus walking around the boardwalk on a rest day is so nice.

We also have a lot of Marriott points, so when we bought our first contract at BLT, we stretched our points by splitting with Swan/Dolphin for EP/HS. When the kids were in strollers, we avoided buses and having to fold strollers as much as we could.

We usually do longer trips every other year (9-10 days) and we have always done split stays with these trips - mainly because we love so many resorts and also because we can optimize MK resorts and EP/HS resorts. In our experience it works best to have a park day on the resort transfer day. We notify bell services that we are moving resorts and have our stuff packed that morning and they come pick it up. We head to the parks and then return to our new resort (we are not big mid day break people). I found I did not enjoy a resort day as much without a room - once we did not get a room until 5ish and it was pouring outside. I also pack our stuff into two different suitcases - one for each stay - this makes it much easier. While it is a bit of a pain to have to repack and unpack - the benefit of 2 resorts is worth it - and I think it encourages us to be neater during stay #1. When we have stayed less than 7 nights we stay at one resort.

I probably could have written this post, except we fly with carryons only, and do laundry every 3 days or so. We usually just do laundry the day/night before a move, throw it all into our bags without really sorting it, pack a separate pool bag (swimsuits, goggles and sunscreen) in case we want to hit the pool later, and head to the park. We also love so many resorts, and very much enjoy dinners at various resort restaurants, so this makes it easier to visit our old favorites.

We had a little juggling to do this last trip because I thought we were staying at BLT, so we made reservations at all our favorite MK-area restaurants at 60 days out. Then around 35 days out, our waitlist for BWV standard (!) filled - i should have just removed it, since I was assuming it wouldn't fill anyway - and there were some changes to be made. It's all good.

 

[kanerf]

I normally do 2 10 night stays every year and split them 3,3,4. Since I bought more points. I am usually able to afford 1 bedrooms for two of the split stays, and use a studio for one of them. Here is an example for my upcoming Oct trip: 3 nights BRV 1BDRM, 3 nights BWV 1BDRM, 4 nights RIV SV STD.

 

[ray3127]

We used to do split stays if staying 8-10 nights, about half at each resort. BLT and BCV.

As others have said, we would hit MK/AK from BLT, and Epcot/DHS from BCV, minimizing our bus/transportation time. It worked GREAT, especially when we had a stroller (we don't anymore, but still strongly prefer walking over Disney transport).

The reason we stopped is because of dining. They used to count both consecutive stays as one big stay, and let you book dining for your entire trip at 60 days out of day 1, resort 1. They took that away, which basically killed split stays for us. We still care about those hard-to-get reservations, so we haven't done a split stay since. If they reinstated that rule, we'd split stay in a heartbeat.

 

[crisi]

It took me 20 years to fully come to terms with my feeling on split stays. There are two scenarios where I think it's tolerable:

1) Staying in a different resort for one night at the beginning or end of a trip. If we have to alter plans due to flight prices or some other unexpected factor, it's not so bad to basically live out of suitcases for that one night.

2) If it's just my wife and I staying in a studio. With just us 2 adults, no perishables and presumably no more than 2 suitcases worth of gear, I can handle packing up and moving to another studio. It's fairly quick and painless.

For anything else, forget about it. If we're staying in a 1-2 BR villa, we usually have groceries which are a pain to pack up and move. If our kids and/or their friends are with us, I'm not managing a move that involves 4+ people. Plus if you're getting help from bell services and tipping people appropriately, it's probably going to cost a minimum of $40-50 to move bags and groceries between the two hotels. Maybe more if you need an Uber or rental car.

I'm with you on 1. Probably on 2 as well, except we don't book studios.

 

[intamin]

We used to do split stays if staying 8-10 nights, about half at each resort. BLT and BCV.

As others have said, we would hit MK/AK from BLT, and Epcot/DHS from BCV, minimizing our bus/transportation time. It worked GREAT, especially when we had a stroller (we don't anymore, but still strongly prefer walking over Disney transport).

The reason we stopped is because of dining. They used to count both consecutive stays as one big stay, and let you book dining for your entire trip at 60 days out of day 1, resort 1. They took that away, which basically killed split stays for us. We still care about those hard-to-get reservations, so we haven't done a split stay since. If they reinstated that rule, we'd split stay in a heartbeat.

This just means you need to buy more points and have enough to book a SSR (or whatever's cheapest) standard studio at 7 months for the entire duration of your trip, then you add the trip to your account, book your dining 60 days out. After you've booked your dining, go ahead and cancel your SSR trip and add back in your split stay

 

[ray3127]

This just means you need to buy more points and have enough to book a SSR (or whatever's cheapest) standard studio at 7 months for the entire duration of your trip, then you add the trip to your account, book your dining 60 days out. After you've booked your dining, go ahead and cancel your SSR trip and add back in your split stay

Somehow the answer around here is always "more points"!!!

 

[intamin]

Somehow the answer around here is always "more points"!!!

But somehow we're not wrong..

 

[Jay S]

We are considering a long stay (7-9 nights). It seems it may be challenging to find a reservation to rent for such a long period. We will be traveling with a few small children; would it be an issue at all to instead switch to two shorter stays back to back? Apparently bell service will transfer the luggage for us?

Option 1: Stay at DVC near contemporary for duration of stay (7-9 nights). Monorail and bus to epcot/hollywood studios. Will we be able to find a reservation to rent for this duration?

Option 2: Stay at DVC near contemporary for 3-4 nights (for magic kingdom), then switch to DVC near Epcot for 3-4 nights (for epcot/HS)

Preferred approach? Planning ahead for the 11-month out point, for xxxxxx (details removed)

We are exclusively option 2 every time we vacation. To us being able to walk to the closest park (or parks) is soooo worth the move.

 

[Chili327]

We are exclusively option 2 every time we vacation. To us being able to walk to the closest park (or parks) is soooo worth the move.

That is my ideal thinking as well, but do you really go to one park for 3 days straight, and then move on.?? (i've never been to WDW, but i can't imagine not going back to a park later in the trip)

 

[ray3127]

That is my ideal thinking as well, but do you really go to one park for 3 days straight, and then move on.?? (i've never been to WDW, but i can't imagine not going back to a park later in the trip)

Absolutely. It's two parks at each hotel though.

MK/AK from the monorail resorts (ideally BLT for walking).

DHS/Epcot from Crescent Lake resorts.

Only AK requires a bus.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

I’m not the biggest fan of split stays for a variety of reasons:

- Homeless for half a day. Things can happen during this time, especially with kids, where you just want to be in your room. (Stomach bug, bad headache, etc).

- We are midday pool break people or we go to the pool and start later in the parks. I do not want to change at the pool locker rooms. Not my family’s idea of fun.

- I like to unpack and settle in. I also despise packing and unpacking so doing it mid trip annoys me.

- If you have perishable food items Disney won’t transport them so it calls for a second grocery order.

- Not having your luggage until later in the day unless you Uber it over to your new resort yourself.

- For Me I don’t truly feel relaxed until I get to the second resort.

A big selling point for split stays is the transportation options for the parks. That’s never been a selling point for us when we’ve done split stays. We go 8-10 days. I’m not going to only do MK and AK for 4-5 days straight and then Epcot and HS for the next 4-5 days. We switch it up the entire trip with our park hoppers. We usually don’t do the same park two days in a row either.

We’ve done two split stays and we don’t regret them. The first was an awesome deal years ago so we decided to do a Poly/BC split since we never knew when we’d get a deal like that again. The second was POFQ/BWV split and came about since I added two days after I rented points and couldn’t add two BWV days but it wasn’t something I went in wanting to do.