Why split your stay b/t resorts?

[DWjunkie]

I have read where many of you have split your stay b/t resorts. What is the advantage/ disadvantages of doing that?

 

[Geoff_M]

Different themeing at the resorts, different amenities (like a nicer pool), taking advantage of a new rate code period, etc. At WDW the resort is part of the fun.

 

[ksc37]

We did our first split stay in September.

Basically, I wanted to try the Grand Floridian, but didn't want to pay $300+ for 7 nights. Stayed at a value for 3 nights, THEN spent the big bucks at the GF. Would I do it again? I don't know. I wasn't happy with our room at the value, so I found myself wishing for the second half of our trip (which was awesome, by the way).

 

[eleanor]

We do it for 2 reasons. The codes and the proximity to each park. This year we satyed 2 nights at AKL and did the AK then 2 nights at the Poly and did the MK and then 5 nights at the BWV and did EPcot,MGM and relaxed around the Boardwalk. We are just 2 adults and travel light.

 

[DisneyDotty]

Reason to split stay: to try as many different WDW resorts as possible!
Recommendation: If going to two or more resorts of different levels, go to lower level first(eg., moderate followed by deluxe.)
Disadvantages: Can make you feel a little disoriented going from one to other. But Disney does accommodate very well--moves your stuff, etc.--that's it hasn't ever been a big deal.
I just love comparing the different resorts, and while I know we will always be back, sometimes I'm too impatient to wait another 3-4 years to try a resort!

 

[KPeterso]

We did our first swplit stay this year. I saved money on the first 7 days by renting points at OKW, and then splurged for 4 nights at AKL. I loved the change of scenery at that point in our trip. Disney made it super easy, and moved everything for us. I will do a split stay again in a heartbeat. It was a great way to see 2 resorts in one trip!

 

[huskies90]

We are trying it at the end of the month. Originally, we were splitting because our stay is crossing seasons. But when the Fall discount code came out, that reason went away. We were excited about trying two resorts over 10 days that we decided to keep the split. POR for the first half (with tix and dining plan) and AKL for the second half (room only).

Wow! Less than three weeks away!!!

 

[Brina]

I really wanted to stay at the akl with my kids, but I did not want to have to get from akl to mk. so, we are starting at the akl, visiting sea world, ak, mgm and epcot. then we are moving to the gf and visiting mk.

 

[Sammie]

We don't do this anymore due to the disadvantages so I can share those with you since others have provided why they do it.

On the day of the move you are essentially homeless. You can not get your luggage until after 3pm so plan accordingly. Also there is no way to know for sure when you will get into the new room therefore its very hard to plan ADRs for that evening. We have missed a few due to moving, did not get our room until late, luggage arrived late etc.

On the day of the move it always seems the little ones in our group, nieces, nephews etc really, really needed a nap and we had no place to go. One time one got sick right after lunch and it was a miserable afternoon. My Dad just went on and on about how if we had stayed put the kid could be back in the room.

Also you can't get settled in, as you know in a few days you will have to pack up and move. Also my Dad did not like the thought that on the day of the move he was paying for a room we might not get into until late afternoon. If we had stayed put he would have had use of a room all day instead.

Due to check in times, you truly at times pay a full day's for not much time before bedtime especially with little ones. He just does not want to do that more than once.

 

[Cinderella]

Main disadvantage was missing the afternoon nap. We have done it before to take advantage of staying in a MK resort and an Epcot resort.

This time we are doing a major split stay when we do the cruise - 3 nights poly, one night Radisson at the Port after doing Kennedy Space, four night cruise then 6 nights SSR. Will let you know how it works out.

 

[Camping Griswalds]

Well one disadvantage not mentioned here that i have just experienced...because you are essentially booking 2 vacations, your "code" rates that come out, aren't as helpful as if you just stayed in one resort. We would have had to purchase extra tickets for all of us for the second part of the stay to add on the dining code. By keeping the split stay and adding on dining it would have cost us 250.00 more than discounts for single resorts . We could have saved money staying at first resort, or staying at second, but because we stuck with the split we only saved 24.00 bucks. However we were so excited to see 2 resorts, that we feel it is worth it.

We have I hope, solved some of the previous posters issues by this...

One..staying at POP for 5 nights than AKL for 5 nights. i figured we would have to do laundry by day 6 anyway, so the clothes will have to be "packed up" one way or the other.

Two...we always plan an "off day" when we stay that long. What that means is, no parks, no Disney Quest, no DTD etc. We just plan on being at the pool or enjoying the resort all day. So even though we may not have a room, we just relax and enjoy where we are. As for this trip, we're planning on going to AKL and doing all of their various activites like storytelling, cookie making, tours etc. The 17 month old might not get a nap, and might be cranky, but hey she can get a bed by 3-4 pm and an early bed time if needed.

 

[kirbsam]

we jsut did four nights at yc and four nights at poly. main reason was just wanted two different resorts and convenience to different resorts. went to mgm and epcot alot when we wre at yc, and went to mk and ak when we were at poly. worked out great. would definately do it again. poly was more relxing and we went there the second half of our stay when we were ready to relax a little more. yc for first half of stay to be in themiddle of the action.

 

[iliketoby]

The good part is that you get to try out a new hotel. Or, if you can't afford the hotel of your dreams for your whole stay, you can do it for a few days.

The bad part:

You have to pack up all your stuff, and if you want your clean clothes not to get more wrinkled the dirty ones gotta be folded up nicely. And the dirty ones have to be in bags or they soil the clean ones.

Then you have to unpack in the new place...and have it hanging over your head that you'll have to pack it all up again when you leave.

The absolute worst part is that Disney doesn't get you a room in the new place. You might as well be walking in off the street. If there isn't a clean room, you don't have a room. So, if you go to the MK at 9:00 and need a break at noon, you have nowhere to go.

My humble advice: pick a resort and stick with it.

 

[MagicKingdom05]

It's a good way to try more than one resort.

 

[johnvree]

It does take some planning, but we usually split our stay at two resorts.

On the transfer day, first, we make sure we pack a day bag that has the stuff we need (like swim suits if we are going swimming). Then we let the resort transfer our luggage first thing in the morning. After our luggage is gone, we go for breakfast at the old resort and then check out. We head over to the new resort around 10:30 and check in. If no room is ready, but one will be ready in a couple of hours, we go swimming and have lunch at the new resort and then unpack when the room is ready. If the room will not be ready til later in the day, we just go to a park and unpack at night.

Packing also takes some planning. Instead of everyone getting their own suitcase, we will pack two suitcases for the first resort and two suitcases for the second resort. This way, when we are done at the first resort, we just throw the first suitcases in our car when we transit to the second resort and leave them in the car.

The benefits outweigh the inconvenience in our opinion. We always spend at least three nights at each resort. I don't think we would stay at a resort for just two nights. Then I think you would definitely have that "never-settled-in" feeling.

In May, 2004, we did the Royal Pacific Resort (3 nights), AKL (3 nights) and Poly (6 nights) and loved it. We did not regret the resort hopping. Next August we are planning on doing AKL (4 nights), YC (5 nights) and the Poly (4 nights).

 

[TAKitty]

Like others have said, I really like to experience different resorts. We are doing a split stay because I couldn't get a discount for the first night of our trip, but I could all the other nights. This summer we will not split stay because we are doing the dining plan.

 

[MAGICinMYHEART]

How we became Resort Hoppers...

While I live close to WDW it's still about a two hour drive. I hate Orlando's morning traffic so I talked my DH into driving down the night before our reservations started and we would stay in a inexpensive motel on hwy 192.

This worked for a few years until the Motels kept getting sleazier. On one trip the person checking us in asked if we wanted a telephone for our room? He then produced a telephone from behind the front desk and said that it would be a $25.00 deposit. We said "No Thank You."

Our next trip I just booked one of the Values for the first night, then we would just drive over to the Poly the next morning and check in by 8:00am. Yes sometimes they did have a room ready, if they did we would take our luggage in and unpack if not we just headed over to one of the Parks for the day.

After staying in a Value we enjoyed the price and had no problems with staying a few days there, I would just keep adding a day or two each trip. (longer stays) It never seemed like much trouble to move so we did this for a few years.

Then we purchased DVC and I couldn't see using the extra points on Friday and Saturdays so we would book at one of the other Deluxe Resorts for the week-ends. Because we are DVC Members and live so close we take several long trips each year with a few long week-ends.

We have managed to stay in all the Values, Moderates and most of the Deluxes. (Still have a few to try) After so many trips and so many resorts I can honestly say, if the budget doesn't allow for a Deluxe we had rather stay in a Value instead of a Moderate.

While the Moderates are beautiful with their landscaping and theming we find them too spread out to be convenient.

 

[ciera321]

We are trying it at the end of the month. Originally, we were splitting because our stay is crossing seasons. But when the Fall discount code came out, that reason went away. We were excited about trying two resorts over 10 days that we decided to keep the split. POR for the first half (with tix and dining plan) and AKL for the second half (room only).

Wow! Less than three weeks away!!!

May I ask you how many nights of dining you're getting and how many days your tickets are for??? We are planning a split stay in August 5 nights CSR and 5 nights BC. We'd love to do the dining but we were told we'd have to buy 2 sets of tickets, sending the price up of the tickets to where it's not worth it... !!!

 

[VSL]

I'm planning on splitting stays in the future, but between UniStudios resorts and WDW resorts (spending the 1st 2-3days in the US resort and then moving to the WDW resort for 10-14days - could never do it the other way around!).

I kinda wish we had planned for that this time, but it's our first 'no parents' holiday and we wanted to make it as simple as possible (so we'll be using Mears to get to/from US/IOA).

The reason? I can take advantages of staying on-property at both resorts and will only need to transfer from one to the other once!

 

[tinagirl]

This coming January we are splitting our stay at 3 nights all star-3 nights dvc.

Main reason for this idea...didn't want to spend nearly 3 times the points for a Friday/Saturday stay (hence all star). We are two adults-no kids.

Pros:
*3 nights gives you enough time to feel sorta settled.
*MUCH CHEAPER than staying at DVC over weekend.
*Able to get dining plan for 3 nights (all star) and all tickets (7days) in one package at all stars. That meant that we paid less for tickets.
*Able to get more value (for us) out of dining plan. We will then have 4 full days to use 3 nights of credits (Checking in Friday at All star/transfer on Monday). We are used to splitting counter service meals, and I don't eat that much, so we were afraid of wasting food/having unused credits if we had dining the entire stay. We also think we'll need a few days to recoup from eating GIGANTIC amounts of food, by just grazing on fruit stands and counter service salads for the last days of our trip.

Cons:
*homeless for a day, but we are crazy opening to closing then followed by Pleasure Island tourism folk. We don't spend a lot of time in the room, so it's not bad for us.
*Don't have time to experience EVERYTHING in a resort, but get to hit the main draws.

It's a great idea to us.
Works out Monetarily