Why the split stays?

[If U Had Wings]

I'm doing my first split stay next year. I would have loved to do a deluxe for the entire trip, but it's just not financially possible. Since it's a solo trip for me I really want to spend time relaxing at a resort. A split stay was the only way to get in a bit of a deluxe.

 

[mom2princessj]

We have just added on a night to our trip and unfortunately GF doesn't have any availability so we are going to stay our first night at CSR. It will work out fine though. Our original plan wasn't to drive straight from home to Disney but now that dh is on board with a straight drive in we can leave earlier and get to Disney so we can sleep in and relax on sunday before we start with our scheduled ADR and park days.

 

[CleveRocks]

I hate the idea of a split stay. Like the OP, the idea of packing up in the middle of vacation really turns me off.

BUT WE'RE DOING IT ANYWAY. WHY???

The one word answer is MONEY.

The main reason we're going is my wife's 40th birthday (along with our 2 young kids). Her favorite favorite favorite thing in all of WDW is watching and listening to Wishes. The idea of providing her with a MK view room with balcony at Contemporary - so she can watch Wishes and listen to it on Channel 19 from the TV in the room - almost brings tears to my eyes. It will be a very special experience to her.

However, I know her very well, and even though we can afford it I know she would be upset if we paid soooo much money for a room at Contemporary for an entire week.

So we are staying our first 4 nights at Coronado Springs ($536), and then moving to Contemporary for the last 3 nights ($1,404). A few weeks after making the reservation in June (for Feb. '09), I decided to try to make it 3 nights at CSR and 4 nights at COntemporary. Unfortunately, even that early, Contemporary was sold out for that one night ... I've been calling every single day but haven't snagged that one extra night yet.

What has been consistently open for that one night is an Atrium Club room with a MK view. I decided not to take this ... even though it would give us the extra night at Contemporary that I want, we would be able to stay in that room for only one night and then we'd have to move again. I'm drawing the line at that ... packing up and moving once is bad enough, but I'm not going to plan to do it 2 separate times in an 8 day/7 night trip.

 

[bookwormde]

For us split stays come from several reasons. Keeping vacations affordable (or being able to afford higher level accommodations) is part of it. Second is since the resorts are a big part of our vacation, we go during the summer so we have long days with midday breaks. I think part of this is that we do not “commando” tour the parks. We like to experience different resorts just like we go to different parks during our vacations.

Our methodology is to do 2-3 days CRO, then switch to a 1 BR or larger DVC for 5 weekdays and then back to CRO for the final 2-3 days. This allows us to be able to do deluxe accommodations most of the time. To avoid the big packing/unpacking issue we pack 2 small bags like we are going away for a weekend, then we pack 2 bigger bags with the additional items for a longer stay. On our first stay we only unpack the smaller bags then once at DVC we unpack everything. Upon leaving DVC we wash everything and repack the larger bag (nice because most of the wash is done before arriving home) and pack our smaller bags for use during the last few days. We find this leaves us less stress and more time on our final day since packing is limited.

I think also part of it is that we are a low key, low maintenance family so in general we travel “light”.

We are a family of 4 and would get “bored” staying at any resort for more than 5 days. I also do not think being in a hotel room for 10+ days would work for us either. We also get to do some park dining at the beginning and the end (or do club level and just snack out way through a couple of days) and are able to fix more “comfortable” foods for the kids without all the extra “effort” of dining out every meal when we are at DVC.

I do not think a 50/50 split, like many people do, would work as well for us.

This is the nice thing about WDW every family can adapt their vacation to the needs and wants of their family.

bookwormde

 

[WendyisDarling]

I posted a thread trying to decide whether or not to do a split stay for our next trip.
Pretty sure we have decided against it. It would have ended up costing us more money because DH really wants to the the DDP and buying an AP would not be a good use of money (we don't go more than once a year).

We wanted a split stay because we did this on our previous stay and it was a lot of fun. It really did feel like two vacations. 4 nights at Poly and 4 nights at AKL --totally different feeling. It was practical then because FD started right in the middle of our trip, so the change in ressie let us take advantage of FD while at AKL.

Definitely the downside is packing everything up and unpacking again. IMO, at Disney time is money and this took up a few hours. Add to some other financial costs. We chose to have Disney move most luggage but some personal items we wanted to take ourselves, which was easier with a cab ride. Plus, a nice tip to bell services who showed up to our room and around the resort on the way.

Still, enough upside to seriously consider it again.

However, I believe we will stick with one resort this time. Now the hard part, chosing!

 

[scrappindad]

We frequently do split stays. We don't plan our vacations very far in advance so sometimes it's difficult to get all the nights we want at one hotel. Another reason for us, that I haven't seen mentioned yet, is a combined business and pleasure trip. We are fortunate in that DH has a meeting about every other year at WDW. We will stay in the meeting hotel for a few nights while DH has work and then move to a different hotel for our official vacation portion.

Packing up isn't a big deal to us.

Debbie

 

[disneyin2008]

Ok, I guess it's a good thing some of you aren't coming with us on our trip, lol....we'll be sleeping in FIVE different places:

9 nights at POP
3 nights at Grandma's
2 nights in Ft Myers (we won a trip)
8 nights at POR
9 nights at CBR

But...we travel quite a bit with my DH on business, so we're used to packing/unpacking or for short stays living out of suitcases. If you do this often enough you learn how to pack so that you're not having to tear apart everything to find what you need.

 

[tlcoke]

I did my split for my upcoming trip, as it was the best deal for the available discount code. I am getting a week at a Mod and then a week at a Value. My original booking was all at the Value, but all of my dates were not available. So I was able to upgrade the first half of my trip to the Mod and still saved $400.00 off my original ressie. Neither resort had all my days available.

 

[kldmom2000]

Ok, I guess it's a good thing some of you aren't coming with us on our trip, lol....we'll be sleeping in FIVE different places:

9 nights at POP
3 nights at Grandma's
2 nights in Ft Myers (we won a trip)
8 nights at POR
9 nights at CBR

But...we travel quite a bit with my DH on business, so we're used to packing/unpacking or for short stays living out of suitcases. If you do this often enough you learn how to pack so that you're not having to tear apart everything to find what you need.

Oh my gosh! I can't even dream of spending a WHOLE MONTH on vacation.... AND IN DISNEY to boot! Have fun!!!

 

[MickeyNicki]

DH and I love split stays on our 9 night trips because it is like 2 vacations in one and we get to change it up a bit.

Sometimes it is because of discounts....for instance we are staying AKL and BWI next month but I could not get the entire week CL at AKL for the 40% off code so I had to switch it up.

Saving big on a resort by having to switch mid stay is no prob for us

 

[jjharts]

We really like staying at different resorts even for short stays. I guess we must have an over abundance of gypsy blood or something..........don't like to stay in one place more than a couple of days. We will be at the world for 7 days in Oct and are staying at 3 different resorts: 2 nights at WL, 3 nights at AKL, and 2 nights at Boardwalk. Disney makes it soooo easy to move between resorts that it would be a shame not to try different ones!

 

[ROEDISNEY]

I could never do this. Pack & unpack would drive me nuts and then you have to wait for your new room to be ready. I know you can go out for the day until it's ready . Iam to OCD !

 

[mi*vida*loca]

Ok, I guess it's a good thing some of you aren't coming with us on our trip, lol....we'll be sleeping in FIVE different places:

9 nights at POP
3 nights at Grandma's
2 nights in Ft Myers (we won a trip)
8 nights at POR
9 nights at CBR

But...we travel quite a bit with my DH on business, so we're used to packing/unpacking or for short stays living out of suitcases. If you do this often enough you learn how to pack so that you're not having to tear apart everything to find what you need.

Seriously HOW do you do that!!!!! LOL I would love that one day but probably stay at a condo or something. No kids??? Work??? Man I would have died and gone to heaven. One day.....one day!

 

[disneyin2008]

Seriously HOW do you do that!!!!! LOL I would love that one day but probably stay at a condo or something. No kids??? Work??? Man I would have died and gone to heaven. One day.....one day!

Actually, it's no husband this trip, lol. Just me and the girls (twins, age 12). They're homeschooled and we live in Arizona where a "cool" summer day is still 105 degrees (and average days are over 110), so we stay inside all summer long doing our school work and then make the wonderful wintery days (where "cold" around here is when it gets to the low 70s, lol) our time to get out and about.

We normally stay at a vacation home....more space, lower price, but the kids have always lamented not staying on site....so this time since we're going for the holidays and there will be something special about being at a resort, I decided to surprise them and we'll be at three different resorts. They still think we're staying at the same house, so are they ever going to be super surprised when I drive past the street to turn to the house and instead head for Disney. But I plan to still keep it a secret and tell them I just want to get on Disney property for a little while and we can unpack later....then I'm going to drive over to POP and hopefully keep them thinking I'm just wanting to see the decor (our touring plans include hitting most of the resorts to see the decor, we're big Christmas fans)....then finally I'm hoping to make it into the lobby and go up to the desk with "a question" and THEN they'll hear me tell the desk we have a reservation.

I shall apologize in advance for anyone with senstive ears who is within a mile of POP's desk when they realize that not only are we staying onsite, but I was able to get FREE dining for that time as well!

Still working on the surprise for the other two resorts.....I think they're too smart to believe we'll be going back to the house after Grandmas, so I'll probably just keep WHERE a secret....maybe driving around to several different resorts to visit the decor and making them wonder at each one if THIS is the place we'll be sleeping, lol.

And the final surprise.....they think we're going home on the 7th, instead we'll be moving to the last resort to stay another week. This was because it turned out Daddy isn't going to get back on the 9th like he'd planned, he'll be at least a week later so why go home to an empty house???

I love surprising them, and they love it too, but it gets harder and harder as they get older and wiser! Can't tell you how many surprises I've got planned and then they read a guidebook and ask if we can do this....drat those good readers!



Oh and RoeDisney.....you don't have to move your bags....simply pack up, call the desk and tell them that you're moving to this resort and they'll come get the bags, deliver them to the other resort and whenever you get over there and check in your bags will be waiting at Luggage Services. You can pick them up and take them to your room, or tip a nice young man to carry them for you (guess what I'll be doing, lol).

 

[mi*vida*loca]

Wwweeeeeeeellllllllll I'm moving in with you!!!

What a wonderful gift for your girls! ENJOY!!!

 

[RustManFan]

I did a split stay once. Was there for Music Days when my DD's choir sang. Could get a short notice reservation at a mod for all but one night so I decided to check out WL for the last night. No way was a paying for a deluxe for the whole trip for me going solo. Choir was at AS somewhere....

 

[beansmom]

We are splitting because DH said I could stay anywhere I wanted for the first two days but he wants to stay at the Contemporary when his conference begins there. That's how I got 2 nites at the AKL.

We just don't unpack everything...anywhere.. We're visiting, not moving in.