What would be the ultimate split stay scenario?

[DelaneyJ]

I recently booked 8 nights for April 6th, 2013 at BLT with a theme park view. My husband and I are celebrating our 10 year anniversary and we wanted to take the kids on their second Disney trip for spring break. So instead of doing two separate trips, we are doing it up at Disney for 8 nights. Woohoo

So I am having second thoughts about spending that kind of money on the room. Pretty sure there will not be a discount at BLT???? Last year I had a 40% pin at boardwalk villas and we saved a ton.

So I am rethinking our plans. So if you could do any split stay situation what would it be?. I need advice......and some prayers that a discount comes. Hehe (FYI. The kids will be 3 and 5)

 

[Fall1]

We did a split stay between the GF and the BC for our Honeymoon and loved it!!!

But with kids I'd do a split between the BC and whichever other fits in your budget, maybe AKL, my kids LOVE it there.

 

[Sue M]

Just my opinion, but for 8 days, and having 2 young ones, I wouldn't do a split.
You could wait till WDW releases the discounts for that time period, to see what resorts are on the discount, and book then. Unless you're going to pay rack rate if there isn't a discount released there is no benefit to booking before discounts come out. And it could work against you. If the resort fills up without discounts, WDW won't release a discount- example is WL for recent summer discount- only 5% WDW is now becoming more selective with discounts, and is only releasing discounts for resorts that have lower booking.

 

[Masonmj84]

For me, it would be Poly/BC. Doing a split stay at these two resorts would be my dream Disney vacation.

I just think it would be so cool to be on the Monorail line for half the vacation and in the Epcot resort area for the other half. I also find the theming of both resorts to be very attractive and like how the theming is totally different at both (giving it the feel of two vacations in one).

In addition, both resorts, when combined, just offer so much.

You'd have the Poly's magical ambiance, Wishes from the beach, SAB, and being able to walk back to your resort after Illuminations or Fantasmic, all in the same vacation.

You could easily plan your vacation so that you could eat at a different restaurant every night and never have to take a bus back to your resort.

For that matter, you could easily plan your vacation so that you never had to take a bus at all, except when visiting AK (but you have to take a bus there regardless of where you stay).

I may just do it mid-December this year if the discounts are good enough (and, in that regard, I think there will probably be a decent enough one for BC but not so optimistic about the Poly).

 

[mydisneyobsession]

If you wanted the benefit of the Magic Kingdom/ Epcot area split, but wanted to spend a little less, you could split your BLT stay with the Swan/ Dolphin.

 

[shannonstar]

We are doing our first split stay. 5 nights at BCV and then 4 nights at AKV. I am guessing that a split closer to MK would be better for you with young ones, but the pool at BCV can't be beat.

 

[Claudia Kellenberger]

For me as a solo, with out children, my dream vacation would be 7 nights at Boardwalk Villas, then 7 more nights at a Wilderness Lodge Villa.
I think I'll take the one bedroom units instead of the studios.

 

[pooh4brains]

My dream split stay would be 4 days at BLT or CR and 4 days at BC/YC. For us, it's all about convenience and with that plan you will be able to walk to 3 out of 4 parks. I think it would be doable for your fam. My kids were 7, 3 and 10mos when we did our split stay and it wasn't at all stressful.

We did a 3 day Poly/5 day BW split stay. We checked out of the Poly, left our bags with bell svcs, monorailed to EPCOT, let the kids ride Spaceship Earth and Nemo, wandered over to BW, checked in and rolled out to the WS for dinner. If your room isn't ready, bell svcs will hold your bags for you.

You would save a bit if you did at BLT/CR split with AKL, and that is our other fav resort. We love everything but the bussing situation there, but that's just because we are spoiled and prefer to walk as much as possible. I agree with a PP who suggested BLT and then Swan or Dolphin. There you can save quite a bit and still have the fabulous location. I don't know how luggage transfer would work there though...

Anyway, good luck deciding!

 

[DISNEY1975]

I was staying at the Poly for 11 nights a couple of years ago. Our flight sis not arrive at MCO until 7:30pm. I did not want to spend $400ish dollars to arrive at 9:00pm only to eat something then sleep. I decided to go onto Priceline and book a "Downtown Disney" area hotel for the first night, then go over to the Poly in the morning.

I bid $45 !!! and got the Best Western Lake Beuna Vista Resort on Hotel Plaza Blvd! I immediately went to do some research on this hotel and saw nightmare stories about dirty rooms, bed bugs, broken furniture etc... I was scared, but just kept telling myself it was only one night!!

We arrived at 9:00pm-ish and went to our room to drop our bags then out to dinner. As soon as I opened the door, I saw the Epcot fireworks from our huge balcony! The room was HUGE too! I watched the fireworks, then headed 30 seconds away to a big plaza with 10+ chain restaurants. We ate at Olive Garden.

We went back to the hotel and went to bed. I barely had the lights turned on for 5 minutes. In the morning, all excited about heading to the Poly, I woke up early and took myself on a self tour of where I was! I looked at the towels..clean! Bathroom..shining! Quick look under the covers..no bugs!! I went downstairs and there were 2 gift shops, a "grab and go" quick service counter. A full restaurant, game room etc.. I went to the pool area and it was lovely! When I got back upstairs, my daughter was awake. We went down for breakfast and she saw the pool. She begged to go for a swim before leaving, so I agreed. Poly, youll have to wait another hour! There were a couple of other kids in the pool, not crowded at all! While watching her, I noticed shuttle buses pulling up to the front every 10 minutes or so to bring guests to the parks...for free!!!

Basically what took me 25 paragraphs to say is that if I had known this place was going to be so great, so close to Disney with great ammenities, I would have booked more nights and saved a ton of $$$. Yes, I loved the Poly, but the pool area is always super crowded, the restaurants are always packed with guests all over the lobby, gift shops etc..waiting for their table. Being 2 minutes off site gives you quiet, relaxing time, you dont get inside the park. I will always do a week at a Disney resort, but any extra days will be at a hotel outside.

 

[bcrook]

I was staying at the Poly for 11 nights a couple of years ago. Our flight sis not arrive at MCO until 7:30pm. I did not want to spend $400ish dollars to arrive at 9:00pm only to eat something then sleep. I decided to go onto Priceline and book a "Downtown Disney" area hotel for the first night, then go over to the Poly in the morning.

I bid $45 !!! and got the Best Western Lake Beuna Vista Resort on Hotel Plaza Blvd! I immediately went to do some research on this hotel and saw nightmare stories about dirty rooms, bed bugs, broken furniture etc... I was scared, but just kept telling myself it was only one night!!

We arrived at 9:00pm-ish and went to our room to drop our bags then out to dinner. As soon as I opened the door, I saw the Epcot fireworks from our huge balcony! The room was HUGE too! I watched the fireworks, then headed 30 seconds away to a big plaza with 10+ chain restaurants. We ate at Olive Garden.

We went back to the hotel and went to bed. I barely had the lights turned on for 5 minutes. In the morning, all excited about heading to the Poly, I woke up early and took myself on a self tour of where I was! I looked at the towels..clean! Bathroom..shining! Quick look under the covers..no bugs!! I went downstairs and there were 2 gift shops, a "grab and go" quick service counter. A full restaurant, game room etc.. I went to the pool area and it was lovely! When I got back upstairs, my daughter was awake. We went down for breakfast and she saw the pool. She begged to go for a swim before leaving, so I agreed. Poly, youll have to wait another hour! There were a couple of other kids in the pool, not crowded at all! While watching her, I noticed shuttle buses pulling up to the front every 10 minutes or so to bring guests to the parks...for free!!!

Basically what took me 25 paragraphs to say is that if I had known this place was going to be so great, so close to Disney with great ammenities, I would have booked more nights and saved a ton of $$$. Yes, I loved the Poly, but the pool area is always super crowded, the restaurants are always packed with guests all over the lobby, gift shops etc..waiting for their table. Being 2 minutes off site gives you quiet, relaxing time, you dont get inside the park. I will always do a week at a Disney resort, but any extra days will be at a hotel outside.

Great post, thanks.

 

[TX Momof2]

Thanks for the great info on the BW Lake Buena Vista resort. I"m thinking we'll be doing something similar for our next trip.

My ideal split stay (if my husband would do splits) would be Contemporary and Boardwalk Inn. Maybe with a night at AKL!!!