Why mix up resorts?

[Espiriwin]

Why does it seem like so many people change their resort at least once (twice?) during a vacation?

Is there some savings to be had by booking shorter stays?

We are family of five with young kids so I’m looking to do a trip that doesn’t have too much shuffling.. but the larger resort rooms are killer pricing.

 

[coronationday]

Why does it seem like so many people change their resort at least once (twice?) during a vacation?

Is there some savings to be had by booking shorter stays?

We are family of five with young kids so I’m looking to do a trip that doesn’t have too much shuffling.. but the larger resort rooms are killer pricing.

At least I do it to experience more resorts in one vacation, and to be closer to the parks I want to visit. In terms of savings I believe some people spend a couple of nights in a deluxe hotel and then change to a value to save some money.

 

[stinkpickle]

DVC renters have to do that quite a bit just to work around availability issues.

 

[_19disnA]

You can find lots of older threads where people talk about staying at multiple resorts during one trip. We like to unpack once during our vacation and only repack on our last day when heading home. Doing that multiple times is a hassle, but to each their own. You might also look into rental properties in the area since you can often find a much larger place for a more reasonable price then Disney.

 

[Smugpugmug]

I don't like split stays - I like staying at one resort the entire time. However for my family's next trip we had to book two different resorts due to lack of availability for the entire week.

 

[jo-jo]

Next trip we are staying at BLT and BWV. Mostly for being able to walk to a park. We figure the time we spend moving is less than the time we wait for buses. However, it's just the two of us. With kids, I'm not so sure I'd move.

 

[GADisneyDad14]

Depends on length of stay, IMO. I like to settle in, but don’t mind switching if it’s a longer stay. Change of scene, two vacations in one, maybe closer to certain parks/different transportation, etc. I think it’s easier once you’re experienced Disney travelers and know your needs. Early on and when mine were much younger, no thanks on moving!

You’ll find lots of opinions, no real right or wrong, just whatever fits with your travel needs/preferences.

 

[pryncess527]

I’m doing it because different people are with me for different parts of my trip. My mom will greatly prefer the Grand Floridian but my goddaughters wouldn’t, so I’m moving to AKL when they arrive

 

[luvmarypoppins]

We only did a split stay this past week because the Swan was sold out for our date so we stayed at the Yacht Club for 2 nights and just about fainted at the price. Lol. Then did the Swan for 3 nights. You get most of the deluxe benefits at a much lower cost so it’s a no brainer for us.

 

[gottalovepluto]

I split because it's a budget friendly way to still enjoy some great park access- like an EP area resort with IG access and spend the rest somewhere like CSR/off-site. If you stay in the disney bubble/swolphin Disney will transfer the luggage for you.

 

[CarolynFH]

We’d much rather stay in one place for our usual 7 nights, but sometimes we’ll book 3 nights at the newest DVC just to try it out, then 4 nights at our home resort. However, it’s just DH and myself. We wouldn’t do it with small kids.

 

[mrsap]

We like to do longer stays, so we prefer to split our time between two resorts to always be within close proximity to the parks.

 

[Sweettears]

Cost averaging. Part stay at a deluxe with high pricing DS with a much lower price point.

 

[Marthasor]

I would never do a split of less than 3 nights per, resort and even that is pushing it. We do splits mostly for park access - one part of trip near MK or AK and the other part near EP - in order to keep transportation time down. With three little kids, I would not recommend splitting, especially if you still have children who nap. It's way too much packing, IMHO.

 

[Cheburashka]

Why does it seem like so many people change their resort at least once (twice?) during a vacation?

Is there some savings to be had by booking shorter stays?

Sometimes you might only be able to get a discount for certain nights at a given resort. Sometimes people split their stay between a cheaper and more expensive resort, usually staying at the cheaper one during the first and more parks-oriented part of the trip, and then staying at the more expensive one at the end of the trip, for some resort-only time.

Some people stay at a resort close to Epcot/HS during days focused on those parks, and stay at a resort close to MK during days focused on that park. Being able to walk, monorail or Skyline between parks & resort is a lot more convenient than using buses or driving, so some people plan where they'll stay around that.

Some people really enjoy the resorts for themselves and have more than one favorite, so arrange a split stay to be able to experience both.

Split stays can have advantages but can also be a hassle, so wanting to only stay at one resort makes perfect sense, too.

 

[Forevermarypoppins]

I've split stayed twice and really enjoyed that I did.
My vacations are saved for and planned pretty far in advance. Some years more money has been available OR a discount. When I was working my vacation days were set in stone far far in advance.
So split stays made sense when a discount started a few days after my planned arrival and I wanted a Mod/Del resort. I booked 2 nights at a value and then the remaining days with that discount.
Another time, The Mod we wanted for 8 nights was booked for our weekend arrival so again we did 3 nights at a value and then switched over. For me it's a matter of money, not because I want to experience different resorts.

 

[Memorymakerfor4]

I've done it twice because we added on a day or two and our original resort was sold out. Other than the hassle of having to move, one big negative for us is DVC used to be able to call into Member Services and link the two reservations but they don't do that anymore, making hard to get ADRs even more difficult to get. So for example, instead of a 60 + 7 reservation day window, you have a 60 + 5 and a 60 + 2.

But regardless of hassle, extra days at Disney is usually worth it!

 

[toodycat]

We’ve only done this when flight problems forced us to or we didn’t like a resort and moved unexpectedly. However, some people do it because they are curious about different WDW resorts and aren’t visiting frequently enough, so they try two per trip. Also, if you know you are arriving late at night and just need a place to sleep, paying for a deluxe or moderate may not make sense when you can just crash at a less expensive resort and then have your stuff transferred the following day while you are at the parks. Finally, some guests like to average down the cost by changing resorts. We also rarely stay more than 5 nights, so changing resorts isn’t worth it. But, if I were staying for 10 nights, changing it up might be fun.

 

[KristaZ]

We do split stays for basically 3 reasons:
1. I'm on a bucket list mission to stay at every resort.
2. I like staying Deluxe, but the cost isn't always possible for a full vacation, so we balance it with a value.
3. I like to avoid transportation as much as possible, so being able to walk (or skyliner, or monorail) to a park is important. On a trip where we can swing an Epcot and MK area resort split, we only need to use busses for AK and DS.

 

[megs1313]

we like trying different resorts if we have a long enough stay.

I think I've landed on my ideal vacation being a split stay so that I'm on the monorail when I'm touring EPCOT and MK and on the skyliner when I'm touring DHS.