Taxi Transfer

[robertpien]

We are going to be transferring between hotels on our next trip. I have heard Disney provides the service to move your luggage from 1 resort to the next. Has anyone ever utilized a taxi or other form of transportation (not rental car) to switch between resorts? Just wondering if that would be easier because then I would have my luggage imediately.

 

[mar2728]

We recently spent 4 nights at CBR and then transferred for 5 nights at the Poly. We did not have a car. On the day I checked out of CBR we enjoyed the CBR in the morning until around 11AM then I called the bell hop number on our phone and told them our situation. They said to just leave all the baggage by the door (and suggested leaving a tip with it!) and it would be transferred sometime in the afternoon.
So we did that but brought our airplane carryon with us separately to the Poly. We rode the bus from CBR to MK and then hopped the monorail to the Poly. Checked into our room at 11:00 AM with our carryon and then left for the parks. Came back around 4 and asked to have our luggage brought up, which they did immediately.
Piece of cake.

 

[wdwgoofeeee]

You can catch a taxi outside all the Disney resorts. The only problem with your plan is that check out is normally 11am and check in is 3pm. Although you can check in as early as you want, there is no guarantee of a room being available until later. So if you take a taxi and your luggage to another resort you may still have to check your luggage if your room is not available. You wouldn't gain anything by doing this. Better to let Disney transfer your luggage and spend the day in a theme park.

 

[pepe of ohio]

Did this once from AKL to Poly. Left AKL early around 8:30am. Gave most of the luggage to bell services and took the Disney bus to MK and then took the monorail to the Contemporary for breakfast. What they didn't tell me at AKL bell service is that the luggage doesn't go until 3pm. That sucked cause our room was ready at the Poly and they won't deliver luggage unless you're there. Never again, for all the luggage we had, we could have taken them with us on the Disney bus when we left AKL, then we would have had all our stuff, in the room, all put away instead of waiting on it. Either way, its a hassle that I'll never do again, switching resorts blows a whole day and is not worth unpacking, then packing up to move then unpacking again.

 

[Janet2k]

Has anyone ever utilized a taxi or other form of transportation (not rental car) to switch between resorts?

We resort hop all the time (a few of our vacations have found us switching resorts five times). We love staying in new resorts, and also staying in our old favorites, so that is primarily why we resort hop. We also never rent a car while vacationing in WDW. We mostly use taxis when transferring from one resort to another. We use taxis for convenience. Sometimes we even let Disney transfer our luggage while we take a taxi to our next destination (for example, if we have breakfast/lunch reservations at the new resort, we don't bother taking our luggage with us -- we let Disney transfer it).

My only minor complaint about resort hopping is that the Bell Services bills and taxi bills can take a nice chunk out of the vacation budget. But everything in life is a trade off, so I don't let it bother me too much. I have a lot of fun resort hopping and don't see that changing any time in the future.

Whatever you decide to do, I hope you have a fun vacation.

 

[Janet2k]

I should also mention that if we are transferring resorts, I put our bathing suits into a small tote bag and take that with me. Then when we get to our new resort, we can change into our bathing suits and enjoy the pool.

Upon check-in, the Front Desk always gives us our room keys plus a business card that states a phone number. The Front Desk never tells us our room number in advance -- that is what the business card is for. We keep that card handy and then use a House Phone at the pool deck to find out if our resort room is ready. If it is, we either swim some more or immediately head over to our room. Once we're in our room, we call Bell Services and ask for our luggage to be delivered.

 

[shellybaxter]

We've transfered resorts twice. Both have been easy, but letting Disney transfer the luggage was way easier then transfering it by car ourselves and took way less time. We went from POFQ to AKL this last trip. Packed up the night before, finished packing in the morning. Called bell services at 7:45AM. They came before 8:00AM to pick up the luggage. We got on a bus for AK and spent the day there until we headed to the lodge at about 2:30PM (just like we would have on any day, we never stay past mid afternoon). Our rooms were ready when checked in and we got to them about 3:00PM. Called bell services and our luggage had already been brought over. They delivered it in a few minutes and we were off to MARA for a snack. It didn't ruin a park day for us. It was just like any other day, only we woke up in one hotel and went to bed in another.

Shelly

 

[Kala]

We have transferred resorts many times, and most times we let the resort transfer our luggage for us and catch Disney transportation to a park then back to the new resort to check in as early as possible. Usually our room is not ready yet, but we have always believed that the earlier we check in, the better chance we have of getting our room requests met. As soon as we check in we head off to the park and just call back to see when our room is ready, go back at mid day and get our luggage and rest.

Last trip we decided to take a taxi directly and take our luggage with us. It was SO much simpler. It cost only about $10, took less than half an hour to travel and check in, our room just happened to be ready (but we were prepared to leave our luggage with bell services and get it later), and we were still able to have a nice breakfast buffet at Boma and get to the park by opening. Other than being faster and more efficient, we also knew where our luggage was and could access it at the new resort bell services storage if we needed to.

Both ways work and it's just a matter of preference.

 

[minniesota]

We also do split stays almost every trip and have transferred both ways. If your plan is to go to a park for the day and not return until later in the afternoon, the Disney transfer works fine. We much prefer the taxi transfer for a few reasons - we like to "check-in" to our new resort as early in the day as possible, even if it means we can't get into our room yet. The lines are generally non-existent earlier in the morning; we've had several times when we had a selection of rooms/views to choose from; and we know our luggage is there regardless of when we get back from the parks. I've found that by handling the transfer first thing in the morning, I relax the rest of the day knowing everything is taken care of. By the way, I usually handle the move myself while DH and the kids head to a park. I just meet up with them later in the morning. No sense tying everybody up! Works for us...